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"And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the
month, as I sat in mine house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the
Lord God fell there upon me. Then I beheld, and lo, a likeness as the appearance of fire:
from the appearance of his loins even downward, of fire; and from his loins even upward,
as the appearance of brightness, as the colour of amber. And he put forth the form of an
hand, and took me by a lock of mine head; and the spirit lifted me up between earth and
heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem."
The description of the wondrous being who appeared to Ezekiel is very similar to the
description of the Lord Who appeared to John. The vision is a prelude to a revelation of
dark apostasy and the retiring glory of God. It is also in the book of the Revelation.
There is no mystery about the meaning of John when he tells us that he "came to be in
the day of the Lord in spirit." It cannot possibly mean that he felt in a specially spiritual
frame of mind on a Sunday--such a suggestion is too trivial to require refuting. We
should, moreover, be thankful that the expression "I became," has been used in verse 9 in
a sense that is literal. John became in Patmos literally and really. He became in the day
of the Lord in spirit, and not literally and really. There are a great number of believers
who, if they were asked for their Scriptural warrant for calling the first day of the week
"the Lord's day," would immediately point to Rev. 1: 10 as their authority. Further, many
of those who use this title of the Lord's day abstain from using the word Sun-day because
of its pagan connection (though to be consistent they should follow the society of Friends
and omit the names of days altogether, for Moon-day, or Thors-day are equally as bad).
It would doubtless come as a shock to such that their term "Lord's day" is equally Pagan!
The title for the Sun is "Lord." In Hebrew it is Baal. The Syrians call in Adonis, from
adonai, Lord. Pagan Rome called the first day of the week Dies Dominica, omitting the
word "Sol" because the Sun was pre-eminent. Other days had the planets mentioned by
name. There is nothing to choose therefore between Sun-day and Lord's-day as applied
to the first day of the week--both alike are pagan--one masking the paganism by a
traditional sanctity.
The book of the Revelation is taken up with something infinitely vaster than days of
the week. It is solely concerned with the day of the LORD. To read that John became in
spirit on the Lord's day (meaning Sunday), tells us practically nothing. To read in the
solemn introduction that John became in spirit in the Day of the Lord, that day of
prophetic import, is to tell us practically everything. Traditional bias is seen even in the
rendering of en by "on" instead of "in." The Hebrew language does not allow such a
construction as "The Lord's day," it can only be expressed by "The day of the Lord."
The Greek language, however, like the English, permits of both modes of expression, and
the one used here is "The Lord's day," making the word Lord's an adjective. There can
be no difference between the thing signified, whichever mode of expression be chosen, it
is the same day, the difference is one of emphasis. Rev. 1: 10 means "the Lord's DAY";
had it been set out as in the Hebrew it would have meant "the LORD'S day," but no other
day than this could be meant by either expression.
A parallel expression is found in I Cor. 4: 3 where the A.V. translates, "man's
judgment"; it should read "man's day," the construction being the same as Rev. 1: 10.
Man's day manifestly means man's day of judging, as evidenced by the context.