Friday, March 25, 2022

Fri.-Sabbath, 3/25-27/22 Devotion

Praise God—Sunday is *almost* here! In order to help prepare us for church worship, here is Thomas Watson, from his excellent work, "Heaven Taken by Storm” . . .

"That there should be a day of holy rest dedicated to God appears from its in-stitution. 'Remember to keep holy the Sabbath.' Our Christian Sabbath now takes the place of the Jewish Sabbath: it is called 'the Lord's Day,' (Rev. 1.10)—from Christ the Author of it.

"Our Sabbath is altered by Christ's own appointment. He arose on this day out of the grave, and appeared on this day often to His disciples, (1 Cor. 16:1)—to intimate to them (says Athanasius) that He transferred the Sabbath to the Lord's Day. And St. Augustine says that by Christ's rising on the first day of the week, it [Sunday] was consecrated to be the Christian Sabbath, in re-membrance of His resurrection.

"This day was anciently called 'dies lucis,' 'the day of light,' as Junius ob-serves. The other days of the week would be dark, were it not for the shining of the Sun of Righteousness on this day. This day has been called by the an-cients, 'regina dierum,' 'the queen of days.' The early church held this day in high veneration. It was a great badge of their religion; for when the question was asked, 'servasti dominicum?,' 'do you keep the Sabbath?'; the answer was, 'Christianus sum,' 'I am a Christian; I dare not omit the celebration of the Lord's Day!' "