Bulletin Articles: Full Article for Record Number 1018
God’s Memorial Days
by Larry Ray Hafley
Saturday, the seventh day of the week, the Sabbath, was a memorial day. "And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day" (Deut. 5:15). The Sabbath day was for the Jews, not for us. They, not we, were liberated from Egypt. Because God brought them out of Egyptian bondage, he "commanded (them, not us) to keep the Sabbath day."
The first day of the week is another of God’s memorial days. When we eat the bread and drink the cup "upon the first day of the week," we do so, Jesus said, "in remembrance of me" (1 Cor. 11:24, 25). Christians celebrate a memorial day every Sunday.
Let us not grow lax and lackadaisical about God’s memorial day. The Jews, under pain and penalty of death, could not afford to do so. "Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace" (Heb. 10:29).
As citizens of this country, with trembling lips and teary eyes, we recall the sacrifices of those who suffered that we might live in freedom. How much more should we honor the memory of him who died to save us eternally?
