And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
How many of you are like me and mistakenly treat Sunday as the end of the week? If you, like me, try your best to uphold the fourth commandment to rest from unnecessary labor on the Lord's Day, then it does tend to feel like a finish line. Get the cleaning done, get the cooking done, get the lessons done, so that we can actually rest on Sunday. I plop down in my pew (on the left, fifth from the front) with a sigh of relief. "Whew, I made it." I know this isn't right. I know that Sunday is the first day of the week, meant to refresh and fuel me for the rest of it. God should get the firstfruits of my energy and not just what I have left over after an exhausting week. I pray that God will change my attitude about this, so that my Sundays will be more honoring to Him.

While I was pondering that recently, I got to thinking about "first days" and their significance. Old Testament believers rested on the seventh day as God instructed them to do, but New Testament believers rest and worship on the first day of the week in order to honor the day on which Jesus was raised from the dead. This day became known as "the Lord's Day."

There are four significant mentions of "the first day" of the week in scripture. One in the creation story, one in the resurrection narrative, and two in places where it says that the early church was meeting on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:1-2).

On day one of creation week, God spoke and there was light. On day one of resurrection week, the light of men (John 1:4) defeated death and rose to life. On day one of the New Testament church week, God speaks to His people as they gather to hear the good news preached, which is light to their souls.

I love the symbolism of light that we can see among these passages. On day one of creation, we can imagine light exploding out of darkness at the voice of God just as Jesus burst forth from the darkness of the tomb on resurrection day. In church on the Lord's Day, we also hear the voice of God, and we are enabled to keep "our lamps burning" to fulfill Jesus' command to be lights in the world. The Apostle John had his vision of Christ on the Lord's Day (Revelation 1:10), and he described the appearance of Christ's face as light, shining like the sun.

Both Peter and Paul refer to the period in which we live as the "last days." When Jesus comes back to judge the living and the dead, and the light of His glory is seen over the face of the whole earth at once (Matthew 24:27), I have no doubt that we will call it "the first day" of the age to come.

By Grace Barnes, Bible League International volunteer, Michigan U.S.Old Testament Reading
Genesis 25, 26

Genesis 25 -- Abraham's Death; Ishmael, Jacob and Esau

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Genesis 26 -- Isaac and Abimelech

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New Testament Reading
Matthew 9:1-17

Matthew 9 -- Jesus Heals a Paralytic, Calls Matthew and Heals; the Workers are Few

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Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library.