Geoffrey E. Youlden

In the last book of the Bible John the Revelator wrote: “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day...” (Revelation 1:10). So it was very apparent that sixty years after the cross, the Lord has a day. Now, there are sincere Christians who believe it to be one particular day and other equally sincere Christians who believe it to be another day. Regardless of which day it is, the Bible makes it very clear that the Lord does have a particular day.

I have met people who believe that it does not matter which day you keep. They say that one day is as good as another. However, according to the Bible, this reasoning is quite wrong for it speaks about the “Lord’s day.” It is His day.

You and I need to find out which day is the Lord's day and there is only one way to find out and that is to go to the Bible. The Bible says of Jesus, “And He came to Nazareth where He had been brought up; and as his CUSTOM was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for to read.” (Luke 4:16) Here we And that Jesus was in the habit or custom of going to church on the Sabbath.

We could read the Bible from cover to cover and would find that Jesus only ever kept one day. Furthermore, the Bible states in 1st Peter 2:21 that Christ is our example in all things and this means we should follow His pattern of living. Of course, the day Jesus kept was the seventh-day Sabbath, for it is the only Sabbath the Bible ever mentions. For the Son of Man is LORD even of the Sabbath day.” (Matthew 12:8) The question of the Lord’s day is very simple, for Christ only claimed to be Lord of one day and that was the Sabbath. So if Christ is Lord of the Sabbath then the Sabbath is the Lord’s day.

You may well ask, "Why does Jesus say He is Lord of the Sabbath? Simply because He, as Creator of all things, also created the Sabbath. Compare John l:1-3,10, where it clearly states that Jesus created all things.

Coming back to Genesis 2:1-3 we read “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made: and He RESTED on the seventh day from all his work which He had made.” When Jesus finished HIS work of creation the Bible says He rested on the “Sabbath.” The word “Sabbath” simply means “rest.” So the seventh day became the Sabbath of Jesus and it could not be altered. If we wanted another day the only thing that would make it a Sabbath would be for Christ to rest on that day and then we would have two days. But the only day that Christ ever rested on was the seventh day, and as long as facts are facts the seventh day remains the rest day, or Sabbath, of Christ. Similarly, you may not like the day on which you were born, but you can never change your birth date. You were born on that day and nothing can change it. You cannot alter something that has happened. Jesus rested on the seventh day, and this is what made it the Sabbath or rest day of Christ.

Jesus not only rested on the seventh day, but notice what else He did. “And God BLESSED the seventh day” (Genesis 2:3) After resting He put His own very special blessing into the day, and that blessing is worth a great deal. When a man goes so far as to say that one day is as good as another he is virtually making the blessing of God worth nothing. No friend, one day is not as good as another, for one particular day has the very blessing of God upon it. IF Jesus blesses a day, surely that day should mean more to us than a day that is not blessed.

In the early part of my life I was brought up as a Sunday-keeper. I remember my grandfather would not even allow the house to be cleaned on Sunday. But I do not keep Sunday any longer, for after reading the Bible from cover to cover, I discovered that God did not ask me to keep Sunday. Furthermore, Christ never rested on, or blessed Sunday, neither did He keep it while on earth. So the question of the Lord's day is very simple - it is the day He rested on and blessed at the beginning of time and the day that He kept while on earth.

Perhaps I could illustrate it this way. I hold two books in my hands - one is an ordinary book and the other is the Bible. I drop the ordinary book on the ground and walk on it and you would not be very concerned, but what would you say if I dropped the Bible on the ground and walked on it? I could say, “Why are you excited? They are both books made of paper with writing on each page.” You reply that one book is an ordinary book, but the other has the very blessing of God upon it. So it is with the seventh-day Sabbath, friend. Jesus put His own blessing into it and this is what makes it holy and different from every other day.

But that is not all Genesis then states, after God rested on and blessed the Sabbath, He “SANCTIFIED IT: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made.” (Genesis 2:3) The word “sanctify,” means to “set apart for a holy use.” After Christ rested on the seventh day, He put His blessing into it and then He set the seventh day apart for a holy use. This day was made entirely different from any other day. This is why the commandment says, “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.” (Exodus 20:8) This is the only day a person could keep holy as it is only God who can make something holy. This is the reason I stepped out to keep the seventh-day and since that time I have seen hundreds of people do the very same thing.

It is impossible to preach Jesus in His fullness without the Sabbath, because it was Jesus who made the Sabbath, and it was Jesus who blessed it. It was Jesus who came down on Mt. Sinai and wrote the Sabbath Commandment with his own finger on tables of stone, it was Jesus who kept it while He was on the earth. It was the Lord’s day when John the Revelator, on the Isle of Patmos, received a vision and message from Jesus. He kept the same day as His Lord kept. Yes, the Sabbath is full of Jesus. It has the very blessing of Jesus.

Now, if Jesus made the Sabbath, He would be the first authority to state for whom He made it. Everywhere I go I find people who say that the Sabbath was made for the Jew. Notice what Jesus said in Mark 2:27,28, “And He said unto them, the Sabbath was made for MAN, and not man for the Sabbath; therefore the Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath. The Sabbath was made for mankind - not just for the Jew.

In fact, it was made 2,500 years before there was a Jew on the earth. It is true, the Jews kept the Sabbath, but it was God's plan that not only the Jews keep it, but all mankind.

The again, over in Luke 23:52f the Bible says, regarding the crucifixion of Jesus, “This man went into Pilate and begged the body of Jesus, And he took it down and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre. And that day was the PREPARATION, and the SABBATH drew on.” I notice in the New English Bible they translate the preparation day as Friday and this is very correct. Then in verse 56, “And they returned and prepared spices and ointments, and rested the Sabbath day ACCORDING TO THE COMMANDMENT.” In the first verse of the next chapter we read, “Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came upon the sepulchre bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them” (Luke 24:1). These devoted women would not even embalm the sacred body of Jesus on the Sabbath, but they came down to do it on Sunday. So even at the time of the resurrection of Jesus His followers were still Sabbath-keepers. Yet many people believe that this is when the day was changed, but we cannot find that recorded anywhere in the Bible. Sabbath is the day in between Friday and Sunday. It is the seventh day of the week or what we call Saturday.

God points out His people in the last days, just before He returns, by saying, “Here is the patience of the saints, here are they that KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD, and the faith of Jesus.” (Rev, 14:12) Notice, the people who keep God's commandments are called “saints” - they are not deluded fools or Jews. We cannot say we are keeping God's commandments if we are only keeping nine of them, for God's saints are a ten-commandment-keeping people who recognise the Sabbath commandment as just as binding as the other nine.

But now I want to take you a step further, The Bible tells us how the Sabbath was made back in Eden, but it also says that the Sabbath will be kept in the Eden to come - on the earth made new. “For as the NEW HEAVENS and the NEW EARTH, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain, and it shall come to pass that from one new moon to another and from ONE SABBATH TO ANOTHER shall ALL flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord” (Isaiah 66:22,23).

In the glory land there will be no fences where half the people will keep the Sabbath and the other half will keep Sunday. Oh no, for every person will be a Sabbath-keeper.

When I get to this point there is usually someone ready to say, you don’t mean, Mr. Youlden, that your group of Sabbath keepers is right and the great majority of people are wrong? Well, let us line up some of the most prominent Sabbath keepers. We have Adam, Abraham, Isaac, Moses, all the prophets and patriachs, Jesus, Peter, James and John. Then thousands, yea millions, who down through the ages have died for the Sabbath. Then in the last days there is a remnant who are still faithful to God.

On the side of Sunday we have Popes and Prelates who boast that they made the change; thousand of preachers who had it handed down to them, but who never saw the light on the Sabbath question and millions of laymen many of whom kept it with perfect sincerity.

As I stand at the cross roads I am tempted to take the easy road, the popular road of Sunday. It looks tempting and easy, but then as I quickly look back at the group of Sabbath keepers I suddenly see Jesus standing there with His nail-scarred hands beckoning me to follow.

If there were no other Sabbath keepers in the world except Jesus it would settle it for me because I want to be like Him. I believe, deep down in your heart also, there is a desire to follow the Saviour and be like him. He is calling you. Will you not join him today?