The phrase, the day of the Lord, found in chapter one of Revelation, appears only once in the New Testament. What basis do we have for determining what day John was talking about (the day his readers would have understood him to mean)?
The ways in which it seems to be generally understood are as follows:
Christians generally believe that John refers to Sunday, the first day of the week.
Christian Sabbath keepers, such as Seventh-day Baptists and Messianic Christians, believe that John is referring to the Lord’s Sabbath (seventh day).
The Church of God believes that John is referring to the day of the Lord, a day of judgment.
What concrete textual evidence do we have to indicate what this day is or is not?
I’m looking for logical, traceable steps that lead to a logical conclusion.
It is unlikely that John intended the phrase to refer to the “day of the Lord” as found in the prophets.
While the phrase found in Revelation 1:10 is found nowhere else in the New Testament, the phrase “day of the Lord” is found in several places. When the phrase is used elsewhere in the New Testament, the grammar matches that found in the prophets. In 1 Thessalonians 5:2, for example, the phrase “Lord’s day” is ἡμέρα κυρίου, where κυρίου (Lord) is in the genitive case. The same is true in 2 Peter 3:10. In the LXX, the phrase “Lord’s day” always appears with the genitive.
In Revelation 1:10, the phrase used is κυριακῇ ἡμέρᾳ, where κυριακῇ is in the dative case and is used as an adjective. This does not rule out the possibility that it refers to the same thing, but it makes it highly unlikely and puts the burden test on those who would claim otherwise. Authors tend to retain phraseology when it carries great theological weight.
The context also suggests that John does not intend to refer to the eschatological “day of the Lord” found in the prophets. The phrase of the prophets is accompanied by a fear of expectation and judgment. However, John’s experience, while disturbing, is shaped not after the day of the Lord, but after Daniel’s experiences with his visions.
(Supplementary answer)
kuriakē (i) (LSJ) (from κυριακῇ ἡμέρᾳ) is an adjective form of kurios, “lord”, which could be translated “lordly” (in analogy with “royal” = “royal”, roughly!). As the adjective “royal” indicates something that belongs to the monarch (“the royal palace”), kuriakos indicates something that belongs to the “lord”.
Revelation 1:10 uses it with day: “on the Lord’s day” (= mistranslation! Just to try to clarify) + see other phrases in the link, above; while “Sarah’s Day = Sarah’s Day” is like “Lord’s Day = Lord’s Day” of the OT.
Some other early Christian writings use the phrase from Revelation 1:10. In Didache 14:1, for example:
On the Lord’s Day, gather together, break bread and celebrate the Eucharist, after confessing your transgressions so that your offering is pure.
It is not specified which specific day takes these options into account (first day? Sabbath day? Easter day?). However, one or two early Christian apocryphal writings are explicit about which day this is, for example Acts of Peter, in the prologue:
The first day of the week, that is, the Lord’s day…
However, these are from the second century and it could be considered too late to determine the use of the phrase in Revelation 1:10.
James Moffat has already touched on some of these references and themes in the Expositor’s Greek Testament (Hodder & Stoughton, 1897), vol. 5, p. 342 . For a more modern treatment, see (among many options) David Aune, Revelation 1-5 (Word; Dallas, 1997), p. 84.
Just about all the facts and assessments one could want on this are gathered together in R. Stefanovic’s article, “‘The Lord’s Day’ of Revelation 1:10 in the Current Debate,” Andrews University Seminary Studies 49/2 (2011) 261-284.
Revelation 1:10 says
“I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard a loud voice behind me, like a trumpet.”
The Lord’s day is defined as the seventh day Sabbath in Isaiah 58:13-14.
“If you turn your foot away from the sabbath, from doing your will on my holy day, and call the sabbath day delight, holy day of the honorable LORD, and honor it, not making your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words, then you will delight in the LORD
Jesus, the apostles, and even Gentile Christians observed the seventh-day Sabbath for a few hundred years after the resurrection (Acts 13:42, Luke 23:55-56, Matthew 28:1, http://www.sabbathtruth. com/) This is best proven in Hebrews 4:9, which says
“There remains, then, a rest for the people of God.”
The word rest there is sabbatismos which means to keep the Sabbath – http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G4520&t=NKJV
The day of the Lord in the Hebrew Bible sometimes refers to a coming judgment that did not occur on the day John wrote Revelation…
Behold, the day of the LORD comes, cruel, with wrath, and with fierce anger, to make the land a desolation; And he will destroy her sinners from her. Because the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light; The sun will be darkened when it rises, and the moon will not shine its light. “I will punish the world for its wickedness, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will stop the arrogance of the proud, and I will humble the arrogance of the terrible. (Isaiah 13:9-11)
2 Peter 2: 8-10. From all the research I’ve done on this topic, it appears that “the Lord’s day” in Revelation 1:10 is neither the Sabbath nor the first day of the week, but rather from the context in which it is found. clearly placed would make it prophetic, as is the book of Revelation itself. We see in verse 8 of 2 Peter that a day with the Lord is like a thousand years, hence the Millennium, and verse 10 as a whole quotes “the Lord’s day.” John was taken to the day of the Lord in the spirit, so he was translated into the spirit to be shown future prophetic events. He was taken to the Millennium, from the first day forward. He had to be in that dimension in order to see and record these future events in Revelation. In my studies it seemed to me that most studies from other points of view came close to making this statement, but then returned to the theme that this “Lord’s day” was Saturday or the first day of the week. I believe that Revelation must be read in the context in which it is written. God bless you. Hope this helps and not confuse.
What is the day of the Lord? Let’s start by showing what it cannot mean.
If John had wanted the Lord’s day to refer to any particular Sunday, he would have written it this way.
On the first day of the week Mary Magdalene arrived early in the morning, while it was still dark, at the tomb, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. John 20:1
If John had wanted the Lord’s day to mean any Sabbath (Saturday), he would have written it that way.
And it was the Sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. John 9:14
So what is the Lord’s day?
Lord is an adjective and Day is a noun. The phrase describes a particular day. It is similar to the Lord’s Supper (adjective) (noun).
Therefore, when you come together in one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s Supper. 1 Corinthians 11:20
What day is the Lord’s day?
It is Pentecost, the giving of the Spirit to His church on Sunday.
The Jewish tradition also has the law of Pentecost. The similarities are voice of trumpet, lightning, fire and more.
To reinforce this connection, John specifically says that he was in the Spirit.
I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, Revelation 1:10.
So the Lord’s Day is Sunday as it is known, but not particularly because of the resurrection, but because of the giving of the Spirit.
The expression “Lord’s Day” appears only once in the Bible, in Revelation 1:10:
I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, like a trumpet,… “Write the things that you have seen, and those that are, and those that will happen after this.
There are several interpretations of what this expression means, the most common being that it refers to a specific day of the week.
Sunday: Every reference to Sunday in the Greek scriptures is “the first day of the week” (ie, from sunset on Saturday to sunset on Sunday).
Sabbath: Hebrews 4:4 uses the expression “seventh day,” and all other references are to “Sabbath.”
Consider:
Why would John introduce new terminology, completely out of context, to indicate the day of the week?
Why would John bother to mention what day of the week it was?
Only someone who grew up in a church that refers to Sunday as the “Lord’s Day” would let this experience influence their interpretation of what John wrote.
That method of reasoning is known as confirmation bias, and with respect to scriptural analysis, eisegesis. When trying to prove or derive the meaning of something, such reasoning is highly unreliable.
On the other hand, a much more reliable method is abductive reasoning (looking at things in context, including people’s motives) and exegesis.
In this case, a reasonable man would answer the above questions with “I wouldn’t.” And the obvious factual conclusion is that John was not using “Lord’s Day” to refer to a specific day of the week.
Another way of expressing “Lord’s Day” is “Lord’s Day,” and that expression makes it appear many times in Scripture.
Isaiah 58:13 uses the expression to refer to the Sabbath:
…My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the honorable LORD…
but that appears only in some translations, and it’s just an occurrence.
The other 24 uses of the expression have a completely different meaning, such as:
Behold, the day of the LORD is coming, cruel, with wrath, and with fierce anger, to make the land a desolation; And he will destroy her sinners from her. – Isaiah 13:9
For this is the day of the Lord GOD of hosts, the day of vengeance, to avenge himself on his adversaries. The sword will devour; He will be quenched and drunk with his blood… – Jeremiah 46:10
… For the day of the LORD is near; It will come as destruction from the Almighty. – Joel 1:15
The sun will turn to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. – Joel 2:31
For the day of the LORD is near over all nations… – Obadiah 1:15
The sun will turn to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. – Acts 2:20
For you yourselves know perfectly well that the day of the Lord comes as a thief in the…