The Day of the Lord is Dreadful and Glorious
By Raul Delgado - August 7, 2005
How can the Day of the Lord, also known, as the Day of Wrath or Vengeance be both dreadful and glorious? At first glance, there appears to be a contradiction here, but actually there isn’t. Joel 2:1-2 …for the Day of the Lord is coming. It is close at hand- a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness… Joel 2:11 …The Day of the Lord is great; it is dreadful. Who can endure it? These are but a few scriptures, which describe the Day of the Lord in this manner and certainly there are many more. Let us now turn our attention to the Book of Acts. Soon after Pentecost, when Peter was addressing the crowd (2nd chapter), he quoted the words spoken by the prophet Joel. But, in Acts 2:20-21, Peter describes the Day of the Lord as …the great and glorious Day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Here we see this apparent contradiction. How can the Day of the Lord be both dreadful and glorious at the same time? Besides this, many students of prophecy have suggested that the Day of the Lord encompasses all of Daniel’s 70th Week and is thus 7 years in length. While others, suggest that the Day of the Lord is 3 ½ years in length. Then, there are some that believe that it is a literal 24-hour period. But what do the scriptures say? After reading the next couple of verses, you will see a piece of the prophetic puzzle, which has often been overlooked and not fully appreciated. Prepare yourselves, for this might challenge your eschatology. First, Isaiah 34:8 states, For the LORD has a Day of Vengeance, a year of retribution, to uphold Zion’s cause. And then, Isaiah 63:4 says, For the Day of Vengeance was in my heart, and the year of my redemption has come. These two verses tell us that the Day of the Lord will be a time of vengeance, but also redemption. And, we are also clearly told that the Day of the Lord will be one year in length or duration. When the Day of the Lord (Day of Wrath/Vengeance) is at hand, two things occur simultaneously. First, believers are raptured or redeemed, since we are not destined for His wrath. This is why Peter describes the Day of the Lord as glorious. Second, unbelievers will be left-behind on earth to suffer His wrath and vengeance for one year up to the end of Daniel’s 70th Week. Now that we have established the above, let us again see what the scriptures say about the timing of the Day of the Lord to further support these statements. Matthew 24 gives us an overall outline of the End of the Age. Matthew 24:15 states, so when you see standing in the Holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel-let the reader understand… Here, we see the revealing of the man of lawlessness, the son of perdition, the anti-christ, who will claim to be God in the temple. This is when his 42-month reign begins. Then verse 21 states, for then there will be great distress (the Great Tribulation). If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect (believers) those days will be shortened (verse 22). Here we see that those days are cut short. In other words, believers will endure 2 ½ years of Great Tribulation. While, unbelievers will have an additional year to deal with (3 ½ years total). Verse 29 then says, immediately after the distress of those days (the Great Tribulation) the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken. Verse 30 goes on to say, at that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth (unbelievers) will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. Verse 31- And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other (the Rapture or redemption of the believers). Up to now we have shown that once the man of lawlessness is revealed at the abomination of desolation, he will commence his 42-month reign and the Great Tribulation also gets underway. But then at the end of the Great Tribulation (2 ½ years), we see the celestial sign of the sun, moon, and stars; which signals the coming of our Lord Jesus for the Church and to pour out His wrath on the inhabitants of the earth, who refused to repent and be saved. Let me prove to you that the Day of the Lord indeed takes place after the Great Tribulation. First, keep in mind the above, which states that the celestial sign occurs after the Great Tribulation. Now, let’s turn to Joel 2:31 where it reads, the sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. So, thus far, we have hard evidence that the anti-christ is revealed in the midst of Daniel’s 70th Week at the time of the abomination of desolation, which initiates his 42-month reign and also starts the Great Tribulation. I should also add that the two witnesses also begin their ministry at this same time. After the Great Tribulation ends, we see the celestial sign of the sun, moon, and stars. Then, after this sign occurs, we as believers can lift up our heads towards heaven for our redemption draweth nigh. If we now turn to the Book of Revelation, we will see the above scenario played out. But for the sake of brevity, let’s begin at the opening of the sixth seal. Revelation 6:12-17 I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as late figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. The sky receded like a scroll, rolling up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. They called to the mountains and the rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great Day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?’ Concurrently, we then see the sealing of the 144,000 and the Great Multitude in White Robes. Revelation 6:9-14 After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands… (13) Then one of the elders asked me, ‘These in white robes-who are they, and where did they come from?’ I answered, ‘Sir, you know.’ And he said, ‘These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.’ So, again we see the same end-time scenario that we had seen above. Incidentally, the seventh seal contains the actual judgments of the Day of the Lord or Wrath (Trumpet and Bowl Judgments). After the sixth bowl judgment is poured out, our King of Kings and Lord of Lords comes back with the armies of heaven on white horses to the place that is called Armageddon. Soon after, the seventh bowl is poured out. Knowing what we do now, let us revisit a couple of well-known verses. 2nd Thessalonians 2:1-4 Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him (the Rapture), we ask you, brothers, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, report or letter supposed to have come from us, saying that the Day of the Lord has already come. Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day (the Day of the Lord) will not come until the rebellion (apostasy) occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed (in the midst of Daniel’s 70th Week), the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshipped, so that he set himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God. As you see, there is perfect harmony between these verses and the above scenario. Before I finish, let me stress two more things about Isaiah 63:4 For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year of my redemption has come. We have seen that this "day" translates to a literal year. Now, as far as vengeance is concerned, we have already discussed that it will be a year of wrath or vengeance for the unbelievers in the form of the Trumpet and Bowl Judgments. But, concerning redemption, this refers to the redemption and deliverance of the Church, the 144,000, the 2 witnesses, and last, but certainly not least, Israel, who will finally confess that Jesus is Lord. All these people will be redeemed just before and during the Day of the Lord, so it will certainly prove to be a year of redemption. In conclusion, we can now understand why the Day of the Lord will indeed be dreadful and glorious.