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What Does the Bible Say About..The Lord's Day?

What evidence is there in the Bible that Lord’s Day in Rev 1:10 is either the first-day or the seventh-day. Sunday worshipers use this verse in a lot of their arguments saying it’s the resurrection day of Christ (First). Likewise Sabbatarians use this verse a lot saying it’s the day hallowed after creation (Sabbath). Is there any evidence in the context or the whole bible on what day is the Lord’s Day?

Answer

There is no direct evidence in the Bible whether John was referring to Saturday or Sunday when he spoke of “the Lord’s day” in Revelation 1. This is the only time this phrase, in this form, is found in the Bible. If the writer is, as is generally accepted, the apostle John, then he would most likely be referring to Saturday, since he was Jewish by birth and training.

It really doesn’t matter which day it was. If it happened to be a Thursday that he saw the visions he could just as easily stated that. Whether he was given the Revelation on Saturday or Sunday may have no bearing on the Revelation itself.

That’s the simple answer. Here is a little more complex take on the issue. The other form, in the Greek, is “the day of the Lord.” (The Greek for “Lord’s” and “of the Lord” are different forms of the same word.) Generally in the Bible, “the day of the Lord” is a day of punishment or judgement, but usually not referring to the final judgement. Some interpret the passage then, since Greek has no punctuation, to say “I was, in the Spirit, on the Day of the Lord.” That would mean not that the vision was received on “the Lord’s day” but that it was about “the Day of the Lord.” In the sense that the whole book is about the Roman persecution of the church, this is a possibly valid interpretation. He would be saying that, whatever day he received the vision, he saw himself as present at the coming persecution of the church. Considering the similarity of the language of the book to that of Ezekiel, this is a strong possibility.