1. “Concerning the collection for the saints, just as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also do. On the first day of the week each one of you should lay aside in store to himself whatever he may have been prospered” (1 Cor. 16:1-2).
The early saints also gave their offerings on the first day of the week. They met to break bread on this day, and they gave their offerings on this day. When God’s people worship Him, they must bring their offerings (Deut. 16:16-17). Just as the New Testament saints break bread in resurrection, they should also give their offerings in resurrection. If we give offerings in the old creation, we cannot please God; we must give our offerings in resurrection in order for them to be acceptable. Therefore, the saints made their offerings on the first day of the week because this day was also appropriate to the spiritual significance of their offerings.
1. “When you...reap its harvest, then you shall bring the sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest;...on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it” (Lev. 23:10-11).
Although God wanted the children of Israel in the Old Testament to keep the Sabbath, there were several things that God ordained for the first day of the week. Thus, there are some types in the Old Testament that are related to the first day of the week. The first of these types involves the firstfruits. According to Leviticus, the firstfruits were offered on the day after the Sabbath. In the Old Testament the Sabbath was the seventh day of the week, so the day after the Sabbath was the first day of the week. Every year when the harvest ripened and the Israelites harvested the firstfruits, they would take a sheaf of the firstfruits and have the priest offer it to God on the first day of the week. First Corinthians 15:23 says that Christ is the firstfruits in resurrection. Therefore, this offering of the firstfruits of the harvest to God was a type of Christ in resurrection. Christ’s resurrection on the first day of the week fulfilled this Old Testament type.
2. “You shall count fifty days until the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall present a new meal offering to Jehovah” (Lev. 23:16).
The second Old Testament type concerning the first day of the week involves the Feast of Pentecost. According to Leviticus, the Feast of Pentecost occurred on the day after the seventh Sabbath, which is also the first day of the eighth week. In the Old Testament the Israelites began the count of fifty days on the first day of the week when they offered up the firstfruits. On the fiftieth day they offered up a new meal offering to God. This new meal offering was made up of fine flour with leaven, and it was baked into two loaves that were offered to God as the new meal offering. These two leavened loaves in the new meal offering typify the New Testament church made up of two sections, Jews and Gentiles, both of which had sins, signified by the leaven. The church is a kind of firstfruits (James 1:18; Rom. 8:23), and the day of Pentecost is fifty days after that first day of the week on which Christ (the firstfruits of the harvest) was resurrected. On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit descended to blend together and produce the church. When the Holy Spirit descended on the day of Pentecost, the Old Testament type of Pentecost was fulfilled exactly in the producing of the church.
3. “He who is eight days old shall be circumcised”; “Your oxen and...sheep...on the eighth day you shall give it to Me”; “On the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation...You shall do no work of labor”; “On the eighth day shall be a complete rest” (Gen. 17:12; Exo. 22:30; Lev. 23:36, 39).
The third type in the Old Testament concerning the first day of the week is the eighth day. The eighth day is another way of saying the first day of the week. The first day of the week signifies the beginning; the eighth day signifies another beginning because a week has passed, and now there is another beginning, a new beginning. Thus, it signifies resurrection. Resurrection is a new beginning in which old things have passed away.
The Old Testament speaks of many things that should be done on the eighth day: (1) circumcision, (2) offering oxen and sheep to God, (3) having a holy convocation, and (4) keeping the day holy by not doing any work. These four things were done on the eighth day; therefore, they typify matters in resurrection. Being circumcised on the eighth day typifies the elimination of the flesh of the old creation and the beginning of the new creation in resurrection (Col. 2:11-12; Gal. 6:15). Offering oxen and sheep to God on the eighth day typifies that our offerings to God must be in resurrection (1 Cor. 16:1-2); God does not want us to offer something of the old creation. Having a holy convocation on the eighth day typifies that our meeting before God must also be in resurrection and cannot be in the old creation. Keeping the eighth day holy by not doing any work typifies our enjoyment of everything the Lord has done for us in resurrection without our exerting the slightest bit of effort; everything must be done in resurrection so that we can enjoy God’s rest. Thus, on the first day of the week, which is also the eighth day, the New Testament believers meet, make offerings, and serve the Lord; these are all typified in the Old Testament and are according to the New Testament principle of the new creation in resurrection. Because the Lord’s Day, or the eighth day, in the New Testament is the day of the Lord’s resurrection, it signifies a new beginning. The Sabbath day on the seventh day in the Old Testament was a day of the old creation, signifying the natural man. If New Testament believers still keep the Sabbath of the seventh day, they are keeping a day of the old creation. This is not compatible with our status as New Testament believers or with the fact that we are redeemed and regenerated and have become a new creation. We are people of the new creation, so we cannot keep a day of the old creation; rather, we must keep the day of the new creation. This day is the eighth day, the Lord’s Day, which signifies resurrection. This is a basic principle in the Bible. The principles in the Bible are very important. It is quite precious to find the principles in the Bible. In contrast to the basic principle of resurrection, Seventh-day Adventists want New Testament believers to keep the Sabbath of the old creation; this is a grave error. Because we are people of the new creation, we should keep the day of the new creation.
Thus, the Bible shows that the Lord’s resurrection, the beginning of the new creation, the receiving and descending of the Holy Spirit, the establishing of the Body of Christ, the believers’ meetings, the Lord’s appearing to them, the believers’ breaking bread, and the believers’ offerings all took place on the first day of the week, the day of the Lord’s resurrection. These are all matters of the new creation, so they must be done on the day of the new creation. Moreover, despite the fact that the day of resurrection had not yet come in the Old Testament, there are types in the Old Testament that signify that God wants His redeemed people to meet, make offerings, serve, and worship Him in resurrection on the day of the resurrection. Through these types He signifies we should put off the old creation and do these things in the resurrected new creation. Therefore, the revelation of the New Testament and the types of the Old Testament both show that the New Testament believers should no longer keep the Sabbath. If we continue to keep the Sabbath, we are going against the principle of God’s redemption.