Hebrews 4:12 For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power-making it active, operative, energizing and effective; it is sharper than any two edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life (soul) and [the immortal] spirit, and of joints and marrow [that is, of the deepest parts of our nature] exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart. Ephesians 6:10 In conclusion, be strong in the Lord-be empowered through your union with Him; draw your strength from Him-that strength which His (boundless) might provides. 11.Put on God's whole armor-the armor of a heavy-armed soldier, which God supplies-that you may be able successfully to stand up against [all] the strategies and the deceits of the devil. 12.For we are not wrestling with flesh and blood-contending only with physical opponents-but against the despotisms, against powers, against [the master spirits who are] the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spirit forces of the wickedness in the heavenly (surpernatural) sphere. 13.Therefore put on God's complete armor, that you may be able to resist and stand your ground on the evil day [of danger], and having done all [the crisis demands], to stand [firmly in your place]. 14.Stand therefore - hold your ground - having tightened the belt of truth around your loins, and having put on the breastplate of intergrity and of moral rectitude and right standing with God. 15.And having shod your feet in preparation [to face the enemy with the firm-footed stability, the promptness and the readiness produced by the good news] of the Gospel of peace. 16.Lift up over all the (covering) sheild of saving faith, upon which you can quench all the flaming missiles of the wicked [one]. 17.And take the helmet of salvation and the sword the Spirit wields, which is the Word of God. 18. Pray at all times-on every occasion, in every season-in the Spirit, with all [manner of] prayer and entreaty. To that end keep alert and watch with strong purpose and perseverance, interceding in behalf of all the saints (God's consecrated people). [Taken from The Amplified Bible.] Didn't the disciples meet on the 1st day of the week? Acts 20:7? The reason this meeting is mentioned in the narrative is because Paul was leaving the next day and worked a mighty miracle in raiseing Eutychus from the dead. It is clear that the meeting is a night meeting. It is the dark part of the 1st day of the week (Acts 20:7). In Bible times, the dark part of the day prececeded the light part
9 gen.1:5). The Sabbath was observed from Friday night at sunset to Saturday night at sunset. (Lev.23:32, Mk.1:32). If this meeting is on the dark part of the 1st day of the week, it is in fact a Saturday night meeting, Paul has met with the believers all Sabbath. He will depart the next day, Sunday, so the meeting continues late into Saturday night. The next day, Sunday, Paul travels by foot to Assos, then sailed to Mitylene. The New English Bible reading of Acts 20:7 also confirmes this as a Saturday night meeting, with Paul traveling on Sunday. If Paul considered Sunday sacred in honor of the resurrection, why would he spend the entire day traveling and not worshipping? The record indicates that Paul was a Sabbath keeper(see Acts 13:42-44; 17:2; 16:12,13; 18:4).Doesn't Paul imply that an individual goes directly to heaven at death by stating that he "desires to depart and be with Christ" and "death is gain" (Phil.1:21,23)? The Bible does not contradict itself. Paul doesn't state one thing in one place and another someplace else. The apostie is clear. At the Second Coming of Jesus, the rightous dead are resurrected to receive their eternal reward (1Thess.4:16,17, 1Cor.15:51-51). In Phil.3:20,21 the apostle points out that "our citizenship is in heaven from whence also we look for the Savior the Lord Jesus Christ who shall change our vile body that it might be fashioned like His glorious body." Again his desire is the Second Coming of our Lord. Writing to his friend, Timothy, the apostle declares from this same Roman prison, " I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing" (Tim.4:7,8). Paul longed for the return of Jesus when he would see his Lord face to face and be ushered into Eternity. Yes, death is gain! For the apostle it meant freedom from the pain of a weary body, deliverance from bondage of a Roman prison, and security from the temptation of Satan. To Paul, death was a sleep with no passage of time. The next event after closing his eyes in sleep of death was "to depart and be with Christ." Since there is no conscious passage of time from death to the Second Coming, for Paul, death meant closing his eyes in sleep and waking up to be with his Lord.