1689 LBCF 22:7 The Appointed Day for the Corporate Worship of God

Explain our relationship to the Confession, etc.

Pray

Begin with this from Sam Waldron:

The thrust of paragraph 1 of this chapter is that God has and exercises the right to appoint how he will be worshipped. Man does not have the right to intrude his ideas, his opinions or his authority into divine worship...

Confessing the Faith: The 1689 Baptist Confession for the 21st Century (XXII. Religious Worship and the Sabbath Day)

22:1 The light of nature demonstrates that there is a God who has lordship and sovereignty over all. He is just and good and does good to everyone.

Therefore, He should be feared, loved, praised, called on, trusted in and served—with all the heart and all the soul and all the strength.

But the acceptable way to worship the true God is instituted by Him, and it is delimited by His own revealed will.

Thus, He may not be worshipped according to human imagination or inventions or the suggestions of Satan, nor through any visible representations, nor in any other way that is not prescribed in the Holy Scriptures.

Just as every other major element of worship is appointed by God and not by ecclesiastical authority, even so the day of public worship is not left for man to decide . . . God appoints the day. — Sam Waldron

-Chapter 22, Paragraph 7, begins like this:

Confessing the Faith: The 1689 Baptist Confession for the 21st Century (XXII. Religious Worship and the Sabbath Day)

It is the law of nature that in general a portion of time specified by God should be set apart for the worship of God.

So, first of all, the Confession (like in article 1)...

…appeals to “the light/law of nature”

i.e., GENERAL REVELATION

1.) Are they correct about this?

2.) If so, why is this the case?

Well, God has woven the Sabbath...

…into the very fabric of the created order:

Genesis 2:1–3 (ESV)

1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.

2 And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.

And, sure enough, this has been (and still is)...

…a pretty universal concept.

(The days often differ)

(Sometimes even the intervals)

But a periodic day of rest, has been almost universal...

And MANY have associated it with a day of worship.

(If you’re a naturalist… where does that come from?)

Waldron has these observations:

A New Exposition of the London Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689 (1. Its Institution (Para. 7))

The Confession teaches that the law of nature requires an appointed day for worship. Several things should be evident by the light of nature.

First, God must be worshiped by men. Of course, the light of nature makes this clear.

Second, God should be worshiped publicly and corporately by men. Mankind is corporate. There is human society. Worship, therefore, must be corporate and social.

Third, such public and corporate worship requires a corporately agreed upon proportion of time. Such a proportion of time must be appointed by God, because the only alternative (that men should appoint it) would violate the prerogatives of God in His worship.

-So, to ascertain that, we need something...

...beyond General Revelation, right?

We need ___________?

Special Revelation!

Look back at paragraph 7:

Confessing the Faith: The 1689 Baptist Confession for the 21st Century (XXII. Religious Worship and the Sabbath Day)

So by His Word, in a positive-moral and perpetual commandment that obligates everyone in every age, He has specifically appointed one day in seven for a sabbath to be kept holy to Him...

(“positive-moral” = in addition to natural law)

“moral” = not merely ceremonial

“perpetual” = ongoing, doesn’t change

We see this in the Perpetual Moral Law (10 Commandments):

Exodus 20:8–11 (ESV)

8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work,

10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work...

11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

What does that indicate to us?

It wasn’t a new moral Law

(There is no such thing, btw)

(They are based on God’s nature)

(His nature is immutable and eternal)

The Sabbath was/is a creation ordinance (very important):

Genesis 2:1–3 (ESV)

3 So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

And indeed we see...

…the Sabbath being observed...

…before it was given on Sinai:

Exodus 16:29 (ESV)

29 See! The Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Remain each of you in his place; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.”

The idea behind a Creation Ordinance...

…is that it remains in effect...

…as long as that Creation continues.

Many examples of this in the NT:

Matthew 19:3–6 (ESV)

3 And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?”

4 He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female,

5 and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?

6 So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”

1 Timothy 2:11–14 (ESV)

12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet.

13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve;

14 and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.

-Let’s read on in the Confession:

Confessing the Faith: The 1689 Baptist Confession for the 21st Century (XXII. Religious Worship and the Sabbath Day)

From the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ the appointed day was the last day of the week. After the resurrection of Christ it was changed to the first day of the week, which is called the Lord’s Day.

Why the Resurrection?

Why did that necessitate a change...

…in the circumstances of perpetual Sabbath Worship?

Because the Resurrection began:

A New Epoch of Time

A New Order of Creation!

And it ratified:

A New Covenant with God...

Wherein the Eternal Moral Law...

…again, takes a particular shape.

(elaborate on how this worked in the Law of Moses)

Now, on the latter (A New Covenant)...

…we have many clear proof-texts:

2 Corinthians 3:7–11 (ESV)

7 Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses’ face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end,

8 will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory?

9 For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory.

10 Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it.

11 For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory.

Hebrews 8:6–13 (ESV)

6 But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises.

7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.

8 For he finds fault with them when he says: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah...

13 In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

-Now, on the first (A New Creation)...

…we don’t have the same kind of proof-text.

But, it seems to be...

…the clear understanding of NT authors:

First, remember the promises:

Isaiah 65:17–18 (ESV)

17 “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind.

18 But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness.

Revelation 21:1–5 (ESV)

1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.

2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God...

3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.

4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” . . .

Colossians 1:18 (ESV)

18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead...

Revelation 1:5 (ESV)

5 and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth....

2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV)

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Galatians 6:15 (ESV)

15 For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.

John 3:5–6 (ESV)

5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

So while there’s no singular proof-text...

…the concept is replete in the NT.

-Now, how does that connect...

…to the Lord’s Day?

Lots of ways!

1.) First of all:

The Resurrection began on the first day of the week:

All 4 Gospel writers point that out.

That’s pretty rare

Shows that it mattered!

(This is why Sunday...

…came to be called “the Lord’s Day”. . .

…even during the era of the NT)

2.) Jesus appeared to his disciples...

…on the Next Sunday as well:

John 20:19 (ESV)

19 On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”

3.) Also, since Pentecost was 50 days after Passover...

…it would have been on a Sunday!

4.) Plus, we have instances in the NT church, like these:

Acts 20:7 (ESV)

7 On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight.

1 Corinthians 16:1–2 (ESV)

1 Now concerning the collection for the saints: as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do.

2 On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come.

And last, but not least...

…the last deposit of divine revelation...

…was given on a Sunday:

Revelation 1:10–11 (ESV)

10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet

11 saying, “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches...

Why was the New Creation/New Covenant Sabbath...

...moved to a different day?

Because The Work of Jesus Christ...

Was that formative

Was that transformative.

It changed EVERYTHING… FOREVER!

-Alright, finally we read this in the Confession:

Confessing the Faith: The 1689 Baptist Confession for the 21st Century (XXII. Religious Worship and the Sabbath Day)

This day is to be kept to the end of the age as the Christian Sabbath, since the observance of the last day of the week has been abolished.

Let’s finish with this magnificent summary:

A New Exposition of the London Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689 (1. Its Institution (Para. 7))

The new creation Sabbath is designated on the same principle as that of the old creation Sabbath. It is the day of God’s rest.

The first day of the week is the day upon which Christ’s labors to atone for the sins of His people came to an end and He entered His rest in resurrection glory.

The Lord’s Day is the first day, the day of new beginnings.

As the seventh day was associated with and memorialized the old work of creation, so the first day is associated with and memorializes a new creation.

Questions?

Pray