This question implies required sabbath observance; therefore, the Westminster Puritans answer the question thusly:
I previously stated that at no time in the New Testament is sabbath observance commanded of the Christian. In fact, the seventh day, in many instances in the New Testament is missing. In the 19th chapter of the Gospel According to John, Jesus is left buried in a tomb on the day proceeding the sabbath, then the 20th chapter of the Gospel According to John begins on the 1st day of the week.From the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, God appointed the seventh day of the week to be the weekly sabbath; and the first day of the week ever since, to continue to the end of the world, which is the Christian sabbath.
Genesis 2:3 speaks of God resting after His creative work on the seventh day; and therefore, God sanctified the seventh day. However, in the Gospel According to John we see a change from the storyline of Genesis. In John’s storyline, the Incarnate Word is not resting on the seventh day, as God did in Genesis 2:2-3. In John 19:31-42 the Incarnate Word is dead!
On the first day of the week, Christians gather together to fellowship and break break because it was on the first day of the week that the Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead and appeared to the first disciples who were together behind a closed door. (Jn. 20:19) The first day of the week is observed by Christians in remembrance of the Lord Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, ascended to heaven, seated at the right hand of the Father God almighty, and will return to judge the living and the dead. We meet together on the first day of the week because the first disciples gathered to break bread in remembrance of Jesus Christ on the first day of the week, (Acts 20:7) not because it is a change in the sabbath day!
Michael Peek
Your Servant for Jesus’ Sake
