The Day Of The Lord

The Day of the Lord is mentioned quite frequently throughout the Bible and is described in various ways. Sometimes it is mentioned in such a way that makes it appear to be only one day and at other times it's described in an expanded manner that covers years. Any mention of the Day of the Lord, however, is always referencing the same time period and collection of events. There is a reason why it is used in different ways. When the Day of the Lord is described as though it were a single day event, it is because the first day is the most meaningful and eventful day of the entire collection of events that are a part of the Day of the Lord. In fact, it may be the most meaningful day of all creation. Not to downplay the birth or resurrection of Jesus Christ, but, from the creation of man and throughout the entire plan of redemption, it has all been leading up to this one moment in time. The final deliverance of God’s people into heaven, by way of the Rapture, and the punishment of the evildoers who are left behind.

The Day of the Lord is the time that God has set aside to punish the wicked of the earth by the outpouring of His wrath. But before that can happen, one other significant event must take place. That is the rapture of the Church. On day one of the Day of the Lord, every light in the sky will cease to shine and the world will be engulfed in total darkness, until the Son of man appears on a white cloud in His magnificent glory, which will be the light of the world for a brief time during the Rapture. After the Church is gone, God can begin to pour out His wrath on sinners.

God has stated that we are not appointed unto wrath, and Jesus has promised to return for us before God’s wrath begins. The description of the Day of the Lord always begins with the sun, the moon and the stars withholding their light. This event is described in many different ways by the different authors in the Bible. For instance, one writer may say that the heavens are rolled up and the lights cease to shine as a consequence of this, another may simply say that the lights fall from the sky. However it is stated, it is always speaking of the same event. Let’s look at a few of the places that speak of the Day of the Lord.

The Old Testament is a good place to begin. That is, after all, where God started to give warnings through the Jewish prophets that a day of punishment was coming upon the entire world for the sinfulness of the inhabitants. Each description of the Day of the Lord throughout the Bible varies to some degree. Sometimes the description is very in-depth, and at other times it is very brief, only highlighting certain aspects of that time. Isaiah 13 gives a very clear description of the Day of the Lord and leaves no doubt that it comes from God.

Verse 6 says that it comes from God and verse 9 declares that it is aimed at sinners. The 2 verses in between tell us that these sinners are going to be overwhelmed with terror because of the destruction that they see coming their way. Verse 10 gives us one of the greatest observable signs that alerts us to the fact that the day of the Lord has come. Everything that is in the sky that either gives off light, such as the sun and stars; or that reflects light, as the moon and planets do, will cease to shine and be darkened. This is only a temporary condition that occurs at the beginning of the Day of the Lord, as we will see later. We will also see that this is the very first event that takes place when the Day of the Lord finally arrives.

Verses 11 and 13 continue to make the point that this a punishment that comes directly from God. This time doesn’t come all of a sudden, because God has just suddenly run out of patients and gets really ticked off. It is something that He has planned for since before Adam breathed the first breath of life. He is just waiting for that time of perfect balance when everyone who is going to get saved, gets saved and everyone who is not, is hardened in their hearts beyond salvation. James 5:7 says, “Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.”

Isaiah 13:6-13

6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.

7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:

8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.

9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.

10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.

11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.

12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.

13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.

Verse 12 doesn’t seem to go along with the other scriptures. It seems out of place. God is punishing the world for their sins, and yet He is going to make a man more precious than fine gold. He’s not talking about the sinners that are under the gun at this time, for the sins that they live by. It’s not talking about Jesus either. It is more of a generic statement referring to all the men and women that Jesus died to redeem. That doesn’t really come through here but after we compare Isaiah to other writers it should become clear.

Joel 3 is talking about the very same day of the Lord that Isaiah was, but yet it sounds so different. In Joel, God is calling the same sinners that Isaiah was talking about, who are the target of His wrath, to a battle. The valley of Jehoshaphat is where the Battle of Armageddon will be fought. In verse 10, we see God telling then to beat their farm tools into weapons of war. This is just the opposite of what we hear coming from the more liberal unbelievers among us. They want to quote Isaiah 2:4 and Micah 4:3, which both refer to the time after the heathens are judged. Both of these references say that they shall beat their swords into plowshares. There will be people remaining after the Day of the Lord, which is the wrath of God. These are the people that we will reign over for a thousand years alongside our Lord with a rod of iron.

As we get further into the subject of the Day of the Lord, and as we compare this subject to others, we are going to see that this portion from Joel is not meant to give us an ordering of events as much as it just describes different aspects of the Day of the Lord. After God calls the heathen to war, He back tracks in verse 14 to a time prior to this war when there is still an opportunity to make a decision between sin and righteousness. Multitudes in the valley of decision. The Day of the Lord is near, but it hasn’t quite arrived yet. Verse 15 mentions the darkened skies again, which will actually happen quite some time before the battle of Armageddon.

After everyone makes their decision in verse 14 the day of the Lord can begin with the darkened skies in 15 and then the Lord comes roaring out of Zion in verse 16. This is figurative language which refers to coming out of the heavenly city of God. It also means that it will be suddenly and with much fanfare. But, look what happens in the same breath, or the same verse, it says the Lord shall be the hope of His people. In Isaiah, it said that he would make a man more precious that fine gold. In 1 Thessalonians 5:9 it says that “God has not appointed us unto wrath.” Jesus is coming prior to the Day of the Lord to deliver His people or more precisely, He is coming on day one of the Day of the Lord to rapture believers. The Rapture will be the fourth observable sign of the Day of the Lord. The first is the lights of the sky darkening as they bow their knees to the Lord of all creation. The second observable sign is when Jesus appears in His glory, riding on a white cloud. The third observable sign is the resurrection of the dead. And finally, the fourth sign of the Rapture.

The rest of the verses are talking about the ages to come after the heathen have been judged, and the kingdom of Jesus Christ has been established on the earth. Verse 20 says that Judah shall dwell for ever, but that does not mean that the Day of the Lord will last forever after it begins. The final result of the Day of the Lord, after God judges sinners with His wrath, and Jesus Christ takes over the earth, will be an everlasting kingdom with Jerusalem as its capitol.

Joel 3:9-21

9 Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up:

10 Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.

11 Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O LORD.

12 Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.

13 Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great.

14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.

15 The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.

16 The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.

17 So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.

18 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the LORD, and shall water the valley of Shittim.

19 Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.

20 But Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.

21 For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: for the LORD dwelleth in Zion.

The Day of the Lord is a big part of the book of Revelation, but it is often misunderstood, because so many aspects of the book of Revelation have been misunderstood. The story about the faulty original lens of the Hubbell Telescope is that the lens grinder did not sit perfectly level on the floor of the laboratory, so someone put a nickel under one corner to support it. This inappropriate remedy caused the lens to be flawed. With a flawed lens, the telescope was not able to see into the mysteries of the sky the way that the creators had envisioned. The book of Revelation is the same way. Sometimes when people think that they almost have the answer, but yet there are a few loose ends that don’t make sense, they tend to prop up their main ideas on a nickel to make it all seem all right. This is never the right way to get to your final destination, which in this case is a clear understanding of the end times. If you start with a flawed idea and base all of your subsequent ideas on that original flawed idea, your final conclusions are going to be flawed beyond usefulness.

In the book of Revelation there are seven seals, seven trumpets and seven vials which are spread throughout the middle of the book. We will study each of these in different chapters of this book, but for right now we are going to give a brief description of each to help us to understand the Day of the Lord. The seven seals appear first and with good reason. They help us to understand the rest of the book of Revelation. These are the seven seals that seal up the book that Jesus receives out of the hand of God. As Jesus opens each seal of the book, it reveals a new set of events. The first seal reveals the anti-Christ as he appears on the scene. He is shown riding on a white horse because he will be accepted as a righteous saviour by many. He is shown wearing a crown because of the position of authority and leadership that he will hold. It is then said that he goes forth conquering and to conquer. The large collection of scriptures that describe the anti-Christ show us that this is all true.

The next three seals of the book all reveal different horses, each displaying a different color. The first one is red and carrying a great sword. The sword is given to him to take peace from the earth so that men will kill one another. The third seal reveals a black horse that brings great famine. The fourth seal reveals a pale horse that carries death and hell is following behind him. His power is to kill a fourth part of the earth with war, famine, sickness and even with the beasts of the earth. These four horses with their riders represent the Great Tribulation. The fifth seal shows the saints that have been slain for the word of God’s sake during the Tribulation. When they ask how much longer it would be before God judges the sinners of the earth, they are told to wait a little longer until their follow servants should be slain as they were.

The sixth seal brings us back to our topic, the Day of the Lord. In seals one through five, we went through the entire Tribulation, and the slain saints are still waiting on God to pour out His wrath. As we read about the sixth seal in the following verses we see that this is again describing the Day of the Lord. The sun and the moon and the stars all stop glowing, and then something very interesting happens. The men of the earth start to hide and seek death because they know that the day of God’s wrath has come.

Revelation 6:12-17

12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;

13 And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.

14 And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.

15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;

16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:

17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

The day of the Lord and the wrath of God are the exact same thing. The seventh seal of the book reveals the wrath of God beginning in Revelation 8:1. Under the seventh seal, the seven trumpets of judgment and seven vials of wrath are displayed. These vials and trumpets of wrath are where we see rivers and oceans turned to blood, stinging locusts, 200,000,000 destroying horsemen with heads like lions and fire and brimstone that kills a third of mankind, and finally, the Battle of Armageddon. So, if seal seven is the wrath of God, what is seal six, where sinners are declaring that the day of His wrath is come?

The end of Revelation 6, which we just read, and the whole 7th chapter of Revelation combined, make up the sixth seal of the book that Jesus opens. All of this is day one of the Day of the Lord. Remember that we said that the Rapture happens on day one, when the skies are darkened and before God can begin pouring out His wrath on sinners. In the seventh chapter, we see the 144,000 of Israel sealed in their foreheads and then the very next thing we see is all the redeemed multitudes of all nations gathered together beforethe throne. The Church has just been raptured and the 144,000 are part of the body of Christ and they are a part of the multitude before the throne. In verses 13-17 of the 7th chapter, the ones in white robes are described as those who came out of Great Tribulation. Remember under seal five the saints that were slain in the Great Tribulation were given white robes and told to wait for their brethren who would likewise be slain as they were.

With a proper telling of the Revelation, we see that the Great Tribulation comes about as the anti-Christ comes on the scene like a white knight. When he makes the seven-year peace accord with Israel, many will think that he is a decent guy. However, we also see that much destruction will follow his arrival, including the massacre of many Christians. After the Tribulation has run the full three and one half years that God has predetermined that He would allow, Jesus will collect both the dead and the living saints that remain on the earth on the first day of the Day of the Lord. After that, the judgment of the Day of the Lord will begin to fall on the unrighteous sinners that are left behind.

This may all seem strange to the many people who are reading this; who have been taught for all of their lives that the Church is going to be gone before the Tribulation, but the Bible does not say that. The Bible repeatedly says that Jesus comes after the Tribulation and before or at the very beginning of the Day of the Lord which is the wrath of God. This brings us to what is very likely the most important set of Scriptures concerning the Day of the Lord. It may surprise some to learn that Matthew 24:29-31 is where Jesus places the Day of the Lord and the Rapture of the Church together in the same setting and at the same time immediately following the time of Great Tribulation.

The Great Tribulation begins in Matthew 24:15-21 and it ends after Jesus splits the heavens wide open to come and retrieve His people in 29-31. Before He appears in the heavens on a white cloud at the last trump to gather His elect, all of the heavenly lights are darkened in these verses just as they are at all other places where the Day of the Lord is proclaimed. Verses 37-41 of this chapter tell us that this will be just exactly as it was in the day of Noah. On the day that Noah entered into the ark, it began to rain on those who were left behind, even as Noah and his family were, in a sense, raptured up over the flood in the ark of God’s deliverance. Luke 17:26-36 makes things even clearer when it talks about the day of Noah and the day that Lot was delivered out of Sodom, and how all those who remained were destroyed. Verse 30 of Luke 17 says, “Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.” As you begin to read this passage, understand that the first 7 words are telling us when the Day of the Lord and the rapture of the Church are going to take place.

Matthew 24:29-31

29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Mark 13:24-27 and Luke 21:20-28 both give the same description as Matthew of the beginning of the Day of the Lord, when Jesus returns for the Church, but from different authors with different perspectives. All of these perspectives reinforce and support what the others have said. We are going to look at a few more Scriptures that concern the Day of the Lord that will help make things even clearer for all of us.

The first is 1 Thessalonians 5:2-4. This is where we are told that the Day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night. Verse 3 says that this day will bring sudden destruction which is what we have seen throughout this study. The Day of the Lord brings the final wrath of God on a sinful world. Verse 9 says that we are not appointed unto this wrath or any other. We will be delivered from the wrath that is to begin on the Day of the Lord, however, verse 4 tells us that it will be just in a nick of time. It says that the day will not come upon us unexpectedly if we remain enlightened. The point is that the Day of the Lord will come upon all of us, and we will either be enlightened and aware of what is going on, or we will foolishly ignore everything that the Bible says about it, and be caught off guard?

1 Thessalonians 5:2-4 & 9

2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.

3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.

9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,

The next set of verses describes the same Day of the Lord, but call it the Day of Christ. It is the day that Jesus will return to gather His people just prior to the wrath of God. Paul had to address many of those of the early church who were disturbed because they believed that the day had already come and gone, and that they had been left behind and were experiencing the wrath of God. Verse 3 gives us quite a bit of enlightenment that many in the present day church seem to want to ignore. The day of Christ’s return will not come until after the man of sin makes his debut. Many people want to put the appearing of the anti-Christ after the rapture of the Church, but the Bible does not say that. If the appearing of the anti-Christ is after the Rapture of the Church, then the falling away must also be after the Rapture, but if the Church has been raptured then there is no one left to fall away. The falling away and the man of sin both happen before the Day of Christ’s return to gather us to Himself. Many people in the latter day church will be greatly disturbed when they see the anti-Christ and the trouble that he brings with him, because they will think that they were somehow left behind to experience the Day of the Lord. However, the Bible tells us that everyone experiences the day of the anti-Christ before the Day of the Lord begins with the Rapture.

2 Thessalonians 2:1-3

1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,

2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.

3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

The three verses that we just read are all a part of the same thought. If we were to paraphrase, simplify and put it into a modern day context it would sound like this. “Don’t be fooled or lead astray by all the books, tapes, preaching and endless interpretations that try to tell you that Jesus is going to rapture His Church before the anti-Christ appears. Don’t let any man deceive you by any means concerning this. Jesus will not return until after the man of sin is revealed.”

The last set of verses that we will look at is from Peter, where he made his famous statement about one day being like a thousand years with the Lord and visa-versa. In verses 10-13, it talks about the heavens and the earth being dissolved in flaming fire, and then a new heaven and a new earth to take their place. Peter has, in effect, stretched the Day of the Lord out to a thousand years and then some. The reason that we can say this is because we have seen that the Day of the Lord begins with the rapture of the Church and continues with the punishment of evil doers. However, the final judgment of all mankind does not take place until after the millennial reign of Jesus Christ and His saints on the earth. That is when Revelation 20 tells us that we will see new heavens and a new earth.

2 Peter 3:7-13

7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

8 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.

9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,

12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?

13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

When the heavenly lights cease to shine on the Day of the Lord, it is only for a brief time, while Jesus is present and gathering His people in the light of His own glory. After the Rapture the Bible clearly indicates that the sun and the other heavenly lights begin to shine again as the wrath of God begins to pour forth on sinners. This is explained later in this the book.

THE END TIMES SIMPLIFIED

TOPICAL STUDY

by JC Alexander

©

Copyright 2001 RevelationStation.com

All rights reserved.