WHAT WOULD JESUS DO?

  Jesus was triumphant. He defeated death, not only for mankind but for Himself. The stone had been rolled before the entrance, sealed, and guarded until Sunday morning. Jesus arose on the deis Solis, the “day of the sun” from Greek astrology. Not so, it was the “First Day of the Dead,” the Son’s Day!

Now, what about Sunday? It has always been the first day of the week in Christianity and Judaism; to wit: “And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made” (Gen 2:2). The seventh day was then and has always been the “Sabbath” — the Day that God rested from His work. Jesus was in the tomb, resting, on the Sabbath day. He was just “asleep,” as Jesus referred to death. (Mark 9:24). Since the “Sabbath” is mostly Saturday, then Sunday is the first day of the week.

  Now let is examine the millennial “seventh day.” Peter wrote, “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Pet 3:8). Peter did not just come up with that, that came from the First Book of Adam and Eve, or perhaps, the writer of that Book and Peter both got that notion as God inspired them!

  Jesus will rest on the millennial “Sabbath.” That “day” will be His thousand-year reign. “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years” (Rev 20:6).

  “Blessed” is blissed. Bliss is glorified. Christians are part of the first resurrection. Jesus’s death and regeneration in a glorified body was the First Resurrection. Those who look to the Cross and His spilled blood and water beneath it are part of the First Resurrection. The sixth “millennial day” is the “day” that Jesus worked to save mankind. Jesus is coming on the sixth day, just as He promised Adam. The Adamic Covenant was that Adam would be saved in 5-1/2 “days” or 5500 years (1 Adam & Eve 3:2). In darkness, Adam and Eve shall only be twelve hours long, and when ended, light shall arise (1 Adam and Eve 2:16). That is one-half day. More on that shortly.

  “Bliss” for mankind is when Satan is cast bound into the bottomless pit, and Jesus has no work to do. The “first death” is mortal death. The “second death” is the death of the soul. The “first resurrection” then would be when the soul arises from the dead flesh, and the “second resurrection” would be when Jesus snatches up those who are dead in Christ (1 Thes 4:16). On the seventh millennial day, Christians who have been raptured will reign as “priest of God and Christ” one-thousand years: that is during Christ’s thousand-year Sabbath.

  The point to this background is that the Sabbath as the last day of the week is critical doctrine for the ontology (nature of creation) of the world and its eschatology (final events in the world). It is imperative to God who is the Beginning and the End — the Ontology and the Eschatology.

  Did you know that Satan slipped through a spiritual change and Christians neither saw it coming nor knew it happened? Officially since 1988, Sunday has been, not the first day of the week, but the last! (ISO 8601). Scripture does not make sense with that significant change, and that diminished God. In fact, although Sunday remains the first day of the week in the United States, in practice it is part of the “weekend.”

  The Great Tribulation is divided into hours in a day. The first three-and-one-half years are the first half of the Great Tribulation. Many believe that they will be raptured before that time. They are pre-tribulation adherents. Mid- tribulation adherents believe in the rapture half-way in the Great Tribulation period of seven years. In terms of “days,” that is also considered 3-1/2 years. One-half years is 12 months. It seems that Adam would be in the dark “twelve hours” or most likely the last six months of the first half of the Great Tribulation. (One year is also as one day in scripture.)

  Perhaps that can be applied to Jesus’s entombment as well. He certainly was not in the tomb three full days but only part of the day Friday, all day Saturday, and part of the day Sunday. The Sabbath Day is from night fall on Friday to nightfall on Saturday. Jesus surely “slept” on the Sabbath because that was His day of rest. According to Mark, Jesus was crucified in the third hour and died on the ninth hour (about 3 pm).  Jesus “awoke” from His sleep on Sunday morning, the “First Day of the Dead.” It appears that Jesus “slept” only during the Sabbath (Friday to Saturday evenings) but was quite busy in the tomb between Saturday Evening until Sunday morning.

  We know what Jesus did between 3:00 pm and nightfall: Jesus said unto him (the one of the two thieves on another cross), “Verily I say unto thee, ‘Today shalt thou be with me in paradise’” (Luke 23:43). His Holy Ghost was in Paradise with His father and the new creature — the malefactor who the Benefactor turned beneficiary. That day they would be together in Paradise! Surely the Holy Ghost whom Jesus gave up (Mark 15:37) accompanied the thief to Paradise to be with the Father. Perhaps that was the same time that His body was prepared in the tomb that His Ghost was busy. The first thing Jesus did was visit His Father!

  It does not appear that Jesus continued resting after the Sabbath. What was He doing? Delivering sins into Hell — all the sins of mankind. He surely did that in the darkness of night and was back by morning. Not His body, but His Holy Ghost. Perhaps Jesus slept only during the Sabbath and His Holy Ghost rested with His Body. Otherwise, although Jesus’s Flesh rested, His Spirit was quite occupied!

  Now back to the millennial “sixth day.” That is now. Something to Adam would happen on “day” five-and-one-half or on the sixth “day.” Perhaps that is the “day” that he will arise from the dust from which he was generated.

  Adam’s soul was safe from the evil one, but on the sixth “day” it shall be saved. When is “salvation?” It is when the body and soul are fully regenerated at the rapture of the dead. Adam’s soul is safe from the evil one, and in 5-1/2 spiritual “days” his body shall be safe as well. At death, Adam’s soul was made immortal, and after 5-1/2 days his “dust” would be as well. He would be taken to His Father by Jesus just as the thief on the cross was. As Adam’s seed, mankind took up their cross for Jesus, and that thief was the vicarious “day of Adam.” The rapture is the actual day of Adam.

  Where is mankind now? In the sixth “day” awaiting the Day of the Lord; a great day for Christians and a terrible day for those not safe (Joel 2:31). The end of the sixth “day” is eminent. The Christian era (Pisces) is from 6 BC to approximately 2100 BC. The era of the Antichrist is eminent. The sixth thousand-year day is about to end. Stay sober and vigilant because the Devil is cunning. He has already changed the first day of the Lord to the last day. What did Jesus do on His last day? Remained sober and vigilant of the Devil. He saved souls that day!

(picture credit: Therefore, God Exists - "5 Truths We Can Learn From The Thief On The Cross")