I, John, both your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet, saying, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last,” and, “What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.” (Revelation 1:9-11)

Closed On Christmas But Open On Sunday

Yesterday was Christmas. Today is Sunday. Yesterday was a holiday. Today is the first day of the week. Christmas allowed families to gather together away from jobs and other distractions as a holiday. Almost all businesses were closed on Christmas – even Walmart. Major chains of restaurants closed their doors for Christmas. In most communities, the sidewalks were rolled up and hardly anyone was on the road. Christmas is on a list of about six major holidays where much of the nation shut down, including New Years Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, and Thanksgiving.

Today is the day following Christmas and except for courageous companies like Chick-Fil-A and Hobby Lobby, businesses return to normal with everyone opening their doors. Sunday has become the forgotten day it used to be remembered for. Calendars no longer reflect Sunday as the “first day of the week” but put Sunday as a “weekend” stuffed with Saturday at the end of the week. There is a total disregard for the “day of worship and rest” that was considered the importance of Sunday for many generations. On any Sunday, long streams of cars headed off to church and people dressed in the Sunday best walked to the community church. For many years, communities followed blue laws on Sunday prohibiting all activities except religious. Those laws have died with the horse and buggy.

The one thing that has never changed in the dichotomy of human nature is how he demands certain things for himself and denies the requirements of the God who made him. Imagine the outcry if Christmas was canceled as a holiday. There would be stiff resistance to cancel Christmas. Today is the first day of the week and most people have little concern for the Lord’s Day. What is more tragic is that many Christians did not want to work on Christmas but have no qualms working on the Lord’s Day week after week. They expect and demand days off on holidays. Missing the assembly on the first day of the week has become an accepted pattern in the church of the Lord.

Sunday is the Lord’s Day and will always be His day. The Holy Spirit set forth a pattern of worship delivered by the Father; the first day of the week is a day of remembrance. Early disciples followed the divine pattern of meeting to worship on the first day of the week (known as the day after Sabbath). God’s word has not changed. The Lord said nothing about Christmas, yet men give more honor to an erroneous day of frivolity than God’s command. Everything will return to normal today because Sunday is not a holy day anymore in the eyes of most people. The unfortunate thing is that while the world rejects God’s will, Christians act as if Sunday is a day of choice; as if they can assemble or not assemble. They will use their jobs as excuses to forsake the assembly and would not dream of working on Christmas. When Jesus returns, Christmas will be taken away with all the other pagan nonsense of human wisdom. The Lord’s Day? That will be some day on that day.