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THE NORTHERN KENTUCKY SEARCHER VOLUME 4, NUMBER 50, DECEMBER 12, 2004 UPON THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK It is my plan for the next several bulletins to present the manuscript of a lecture I am scheduled to give in Florida in February. I hope it will be beneficial for you. The inspired writer Mark gives us the following information in Mark 16:1-9: “And when the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices, that they might come and anoint Him. And very early on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. And they were saying to one another, ‘Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?’ And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away, although it was extremely large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting at the right, wearing a white robe; and they were amazed. And he said to them, ‘Do not be amazed; you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen; He is not here; behold, here is the place where they laid Him. But go, tell His disciples and Peter, He is going before you into Galilee ; there you will see Him, just as he said to you.’ And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had gripped them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. Now after He had risen early on the first day of the week, He first appeared to Mary Magdalene, from whom He had cast out seven demons.” On Sunday, the first day of the week, the Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead. With this incredible display of divine power, Jesus was declared to be the Son of God (Rom. 1:4), and a significance was attached to that day which has been recognized and embraced by faithful children of God to the present time and will continue to be recognized and embraced until the Lord returns. The Lord appeared to Mary Magdalene on the very day of His resurrection (John 20:11 -17), and on the evening of that first day of the week, He met with His disciples, Thomas being absent (John 20:19 -24). One week later, again upon the first day of the week, Jesus appeared in the midst of His disciples and had the following exchange with Thomas, “Reach here your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand, and put it into My side; and be not unbelieving, but believing.” Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed” (John 20:27 -29). Fifty days after the Passover Sabbath, another first day of the week, the Jewish feast of Pentecost occurred. Thus the tremendous events recorded in the second chapter of the book of Acts took place upon the first day of the week. It was on the first day of the week that the apostles were baptized with the Holy Spirit “and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance” (Acts 2:4). It was on that first day of the week that the good news of Jesus Christ as the Son of God was proclaimed, with Peter declaring, “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ – this Jesus whom you crucified” (Acts 2:36). That same day saw three thousand individuals being added to the church by the Lord as they obeyed the gospel, and it was the first time the church was spoken of as being in existence (Acts 2:41). Hence, the church was born on the first day of the week. After the church began and the apostles went about fulfilling the Great Commission, making disciples and teaching them to observe all that the Lord had commanded them (Matt. 28:19-20), we find Christians coming together upon the first day of the week to engage in various acts of worship. Indeed, some of those acts of worship were peculiar to the first day of the week and were performed on no other days. On the very night in which He was betrayed, our Lord Jesus instituted the memorial feast, the Lord’s Supper that would serve to commemorate His death until He returns. He used unleavened bread to represent His body, and fruit of the vine to represent His blood. Faithful children of God do not change those elements in the observance of the Lord’s Supper, but simply do as the Lord did. We look to the actions of the first century Christians under the guidance of the apostles to learn when this feast was observed.
To be continued…. Greg Litmer I KNOW SOMETHING GOOD ABOUT YOU The following poem was submitted by Margie Kern. It was written by her aunt, Catherine Schwing, who will be 91 in February. She is in poor health. What a wonderful sentiment she expresses so well in her words!
Wouldn’t
this old world be better Wouldn’t
it be fine and dandy, Wouldn’t
things here be more pleasant Wouldn’t
it be nice to practice
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