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Advent Lessons

Lesson 11 · December 10, 1904

The First Day of the Week

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General Note.—The first day of the week is mentioned but eight times in the New Testament. ; ; ; ; ; . Six of these references refer to the same first day when Jesus rose from the dead. In not a single instance is it called by any sacred title whatsoever. Only that it puts forth such pretentious claims, an investigation as to its sacredness would be no more called for than for any other of the six working days. Baptism, and not the observance of the first day of the week, is the divinely ordained memorial of the resurrection. .

Questions

  1. 1.Where is the first day of the week first referred to in the Scriptures? What work did the Lord perform upon this day? .
  2. 2.How is this day designated in ? Note 1.
  3. 3.When the first day of the week comes to us, where is the Sabbath of the Lord? .
  4. 4.On which day of the week did Jesus rise from the dead? To whom did He first appear? ; .
  5. 5.What did Mary do? How did the disciples receive her report? ; .
  6. 6.To whom did He appear later in the day? How was their statement concerning having seen Him received? .
  7. 7.To whom did He appear in the evening? For what did He reprove them? .
  8. 8.Could the disciples have been commemorating an event they did not believe had occurred?
  9. 9.What other recorded instances have we where the Saviour met with His disciples before His ascension? ; . Note 2.
  10. 10.What record is given by Luke of a meeting upon the first day of the week at Troas? . Who preached on this occasion?
  11. 11.What time of the day was it? . What miracle was performed? . Note 3.
  12. 12.While Paul was holding this farewell meeting with the brethren, what were those who were with him doing? .
  13. 13.What did Paul do in the morning? . Note 4.
  14. 14.Where is the only mention Paul makes of the first day of the week in his epistles? . Note 5. What exhortation is given concerning the day?
  15. 15.What has the Saviour assured us will be rooted up? .

Notes

1. There being but six days in the week aside from the holy Sabbath, the first day of the week is here called a "working day" by the Spirit of the Lord.

2. Neither of these instances could have been on the first day of the week, unless it was the meeting at the sea of Tiberias. The Saviour met with His disciples on other days besides the first day, and we have no record that He, at any time, intimated any change in the Sabbath.

3. As the day begins at the going down of the sun (; ), this meeting, being on the dark part of the day, must have been on what we now call Saturday night. They had been here for seven days, and doubtless had met with them on the Sabbath. Nothing is said concerning this being the Sabbath. "Conybeare and Howson" says: "It was the evening which succeeded the Jewish Sabbath." Special mention is doubtless made of the meeting on account of the fact that it was a farewell meeting of the apostle with the church (verse 38), and to record the miracle of raising Eutychus to life.

4. Paul started Sunday morning to walk across the country, nearly twenty miles, to Assos, where he had arranged to meet those who were traveling with him, and who had sailed the ship around the peninsula. "And strength and peace were surely sought and obtained by the apostle from the Redeemer, as he pursued his lonely road that Sunday afternoon in spring, among the oak woods and the streams of Ida."—Conybeare and Howson.

5. This was not a public gathering, but a work to be done at home, as many excellent translations of the text show. The Syriac reads, "Let every one of you lay aside and preserve at home." Greenfield, in his lexicon, translates the Greek term, "With one's self, i. e., at home." Two Latin versions, the Vulgate and that of Castellio, render it "apud se. with one's self, at home.

Bible texts in this lesson

Matthew 28:1 · Mark 16:1 · Mark 16:2 · Mark 16:9 · Luke 24:1 · John 20:1 · John 20:19 · Acts 20:7 · 1 Corinthians 16:1 · 1 Corinthians 16:2 · Romans 6:3-5 · Genesis 1:3-5 · Ezekiel 46:1 · Mark 16:10 · Mark 16:11 · Luke 24:10 · Luke 24:11 · Mark 16:12 · Mark 16:13 · Mark 16:14 · John 20:26 · John 21:2-14 · Acts 1:4-11 · Acts 20:8 · Acts 20:9 · Acts 20:10 · Acts 20:13 · Acts 20:14 · Matthew 15:13 · Leviticus 23:32 · Mark 1:32

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