The Lord’s Day, mentioned by that term only in John’s vision of the revelation of Jesus Christ, is not to be confused with the Day of YHVH (Day of the LORD), mentioned numerous times throughout the Bible. The former signifies a particular day of the week; the latter to the ultimate day of judgment, either for salvation and deliverance, or else for condemnation and cutting off.

Can we determine from the Bible which day the Apostle is referring to when he uses the name, the Lord’s Day?

The Sabbath Day in the Bible always refers to the Seventh Day, the last day of the week. (Gen 2:2-3; Ex 20:8-11; Dt 5:12-15; Heb 4:4)  There are certain days occurring on the holidays given to Israel which are to be ‘sabbaths’, or days of rest and cessation from other work, but these are distinguished by the context from the regular weekly Sabbath.  There is a “day after the Sabbath”, sometimes referred to as the day after the Sabbath to present the first-fruits to God (Lev 23: 11,15-16; Mt 28:1; Mk 16:1-2); other times as the first day (“one”) of the week. (Mt 28:1; Mk 16:2; Lk 24:1; Jn 20:1; Acts 20:7; 1Cor 16:2)  The Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, and translated almost two centuries before Yeshua was born, translates “the day after the Sabbath” in Lev. 23 as protos (first), indicating the first day of the week.

There are only two possibilities for which day the Creator and Redeemer intended to be called the Lord’s Day: either the 7th day Sabbath, which is a weekly remembrance of YHVH as the Creator and the Savior, who rested and who gives His people rest; or, the 1st day/8th day-1st day of the week, the weekly celebration of the uncreated Light of the world and of His first-fruits resurrection from death and burial, who gives the children of light eternal life and rest.

What can we learn from God’s prophetic Word?

Ps 2:7; Acts 13:32-33 I will declare the decree: YHVH has said to Me, ‘You are My Son; today, I have begotten You’.

Ps 118:22-24; Acts 4:10-12  The Stone which the builders rejected has become the Chief Cornerstone. This was YHVH’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day that YHVH has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it!

Rom 1:1-4  Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called an apostle, separated to the gospel of God, which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of Holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.

Rev 1:9-11, 17-18  I, John, both your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet, saying, ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last’, and, ‘What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia. . . And when I saw Him I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, ‘Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I AM He who lives, and was dead, and, behold, I am alive forevermore! Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.’

The day after the Sabbath, the first day of a new week, and the one eternal day-light of an everlasting and new creation: this is the day of the Son of God; this is the Day that the LORD has made; it is the Lord’s Day, and we will rejoice and be glad in it! All who are born-again are sons of the resurrection and children of light, having been brought back into the glorious Light — the uncreated light of day one of creation — from out of the darkness of being outside of God, the darkness of evil and death.  Yeshua is the first-born of all creation, and the first-born of many brethren.  God is light, and has bought us with the blood of the redeeming death of Yeshua, His beloved Son, on the cross, that we may live in His eternal goodness and presence!

Let us give the Lord glory, and call His day SONday!

The gospel is neither Jewish nor Greek, but brings both Jews and Gentiles into the new thing which God is doing.  We can see the roots of the faith in the Law and the Prophets, but the flower and fruit which it produces through the truth of the death and resurrection of Messiah is far more glorious as a new creation and as one new man in the risen and glorified Son of Man/Son of God.