Bible Study Seattle

God has provided a judgment of parents in their kids. The kids mimic the parents behaviors and speech. This provides a mirror that is sometimes alarming. When you hear your kids say something you do that’s ugly, it provides a gentle reminder of bad behavior. This has to be a taste of the bigger judgment in the Millennium. The judgment will not be harsh, but just the right amount to bring self awareness to the matter.

“and lo, there came a great earthquake, for a messenger of the Lord, having come down out of heaven, having come, did roll away the stone from the door, and was sitting upon it, and his countenance was as lightning, and his clothing white as snow,
and from the fear of him did the keepers shake, and they became as dead men.”  Matthew 28:2-4

Sometime around dawn, as the women arrived, there was a great earthquake.  Will there be a great earthquake around the dawn of the Millennium?  
“Behold, a day is coming for the Lord when the spoil taken from you will be divided among you. For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured, the houses plundered, the women ravished and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city. Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle. In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south. You will flee by the valley of My mountains, for the valley of the mountains will reach to Azel; yes, you will flee just as you fled before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord, my God, will come, and all the holy ones with Him!” Zechariah 14:1-5
Aren’t these two accounts similar? An angelic being, white as snow, comes down with a huge earthquake, and they are very afraid. Perhaps this is reading too much into the resurrection morning account, but who knows?

Young’s literal translation of Matthew 28:1 is:

“And on the eve of the sabbaths, at the dawn, toward the first of the sabbaths, came Mary the Magdalene, and the other Mary, to see the sepulchre,”.  

Most other translations render this the ‘first of the week’.  Isn’t that interesting?  Young’s is right.  Jesus arose on a Saturday, not Sunday! It should be the first Sabbath in the count of seven regular weekly Sabbaths to Pentecost.  Isn’t that interesting??  Is this showing that the resurrection of both first and second born will be completed before dawn of the Millennial Sabbath?  The first 500 years of the Millennium are ‘evening’ and dark.  It is also interesting that 1 Kings 6:1 says that it was 480 years from the Exodus to the beginning of construction of Solomon’s temple.  20 years were required to complete the temple and Solomon’s palace.  That’s 500 years.  

“Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard. For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said,

“As I swore in My wrath,
They shall not enter My rest,”
although His works were finished from the foundation of the world. For He has said somewhere concerning the seventh day: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”; and again in this passage, “They shall not enter My rest.” Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience, He again fixes a certain day, “Today,” saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before,

“Today if you hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts.”
For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that. So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:1-16

Here Paul is very clearly delineating the Millennial Sabbath rest that believers look toward. Those that do not believe will find that day not so restfull as they will be tried by their own actions to repent. Believers who repent ahead of time will have a much easier time. But we will all be disciplined, as Hebrews 12 points out. A restorative discipline, not punitive.