Tomorrow is the Christian Sabbath. Have you ever wondered why Jews worship on Saturday (as some Christians do as well)? Have you ever wondered why two religions so related would have two different days of worship?
The answer is simple, Christ and his resurrection. Tomorrow is the Day that we recognize as being the beginning of a new creation. Revelation 21:1 says,
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea.
God has promised a new heavens and a new earth since the fall of man. God is not interested in throwing this creation away, but instead is making it new. What is often missed is how God is doing this.
Paul tells his readers in 1 Corinthians 15:
"But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ's at His coming…”
We see from this passage that Christ is first. He is preeminent over all of the new creation and preeminent over all of those who are raised with Him. We also see from this passage that if Christ has been raised, then there must be a resurrection of His people and the creation. This is the new creation.
Jesus said in John 5:
"Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.
What good news this is. Jesus is not only promising a future resurrection and creation, but that those who hear His voice may have union with Christ now. Paul says in 1 Cor 5:
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
We are indeed new creatures in Christ. We are now under a New Covenant, a perfect covenant and an everlasting covenant. Therefore, in anticipation of the fulfillment of God’s promises at the end of this present and evil age, the old creation’s Sabbath has been moved. It has been moved to the Day in which all Christian believers find rest in Christ, the Lord’s Day…the Day of His own possession, the Day representing the new creation.
Perhaps tomorrow’s Lord’s Day, this Easter celebration; we would keep in mind all of what Christ has accomplished in His death and resurrection. He has truly reconciled men unto God, and all the creation groans, waiting for that day of the appearing “of our Great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.”
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