Thursday, January 5, 2023

Those 8 Sunday Texts SERIES: SixthText

"The first day of the week is mentioned in the New Testament only eight times, and is not in a single instance spoken of as a Sabbath, a day of rest, or a sacred day. It is simply called the first day of the week. 
On the other hand, inspiration gives the seventh day of the week in the New Testament the sacred title of the Sabbath fifty-nine times.
 
Sixth Text
John 20
19
Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the
week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were 
assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the
midst and said unto them, Peace be unto you.
 
From the 19th verse, it is asserted that the disciples met on the day of our Lord’s resurrection to commemorate that event, and that Jesus sanctioned this meeting by uniting with them. 
To this assertion we reply:
*The disciples at that time did not believe that their Lord had
been raised from the dead. Mark 16:9-14 proves this. 
It is there stated that He first appeared to Mary, who...
Mark 16
10
...went and told them that she had been with Him, as they
mourned and wept.

11 And they, when they had heard that He was alive, and had
been seen of her, believed not.

They did not believe Mary.
12 After that He appeared in another form unto two of them
as they walked, and went into the country.
13 And they went and told it unto the residue; neither did
they believe them.

They would not believe the two disciples to whom Jesus
had that day made himself known at Emmaus. Read Luke
24:13-36.
14 Afterward He appeared unto the eleven as they sat at
meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness
of heart, because they believed not them which had seen
Him after He was risen.

Jesus reproved the disciples for their unbelief in regard to His resurrection. And it is not remarkable that He should find
His disciples together that evening, inasmuch as they had one
common abode.
 
*But ministers gravely assert that they were assembled for
religious worship, commemorating the resurrection of their Lord! Whether assertions of this kind be made 
--in ignorance of the facts in the case, 
--or to deceive the people, 
it is time that those who make them be rebuked, and the people read the facts in the case for themselves out of the New Testament." 
James White