What is …..The Day of the Lord…….and why is so very important that we know what this phrase means and when it will happen?
Let’s first let God’s scriptures give us an overview of what “The Day of the Lord” is…….. and then discuss why it is so important that we as Christians understand that day, and that period……. and all that it entails.
Isaiah 2:12
For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low
Isaiah 13:6
Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
Isaiah 13:9
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.
Ezekiel 13:5
Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the LORD.
Ezekiel 30:3
For the day is near, even the day of the LORD is near, a cloudy day; it shall be the time of the heathen.
Joel 1:15
Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.
Joel 2:1-2
Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand; A day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, like the morning clouds spread over the mountains.
Joel 2:11
And the LORD shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executed his word: for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?
Joel 3:14
Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.
Amos 5:18
Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end is it for you? the day of the LORD is darkness, and not light.
Amos 5:20
Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?
Obadiah 1:15
For the day of the LORD is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head.
Zephaniah 1:7
Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord GOD: for the day of the LORD is at hand: for the LORD hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath bid his guests.
Zephaniah 1:14
The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly.
Zechariah 14:1
Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
1Thessalonians 5:2
For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the LORD so cometh as a thief in the night.
2Peter 3:10
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
The above verses only scratch the surface as to the full magnitude of what happens during …..The Day of the Lord. It will be the most horrific day that this planet has ever witnessed.
Other areas of scripture like Ezekiel 38 and 39, Revelation 6, Joel 2, Obadiah 1, Haggai 2, Isaiah 13, Isaiah 11, Isaiah 5, Zechariah 12 and 14, Deut.32, Habakkuk 3 and Revelation 9 go into greater detail as to what happens at …..The Day of the Lord.
Basically half of the scenario is this, Israel is attacked by a diverse group of people but with basically three common denominators. These people are the modern day descendents of Esau and Ishmael and are followers of Mohammad and the religion of Islam. They are spiritually lead by Gog, a demonic prince, who has controlled eastern Europe and Western Asia for centuries.
Psalms 83 refers to some of these people as….
The tents of Edom
The Ishmaelites
Moab
The Hagrites
Gerbal, Ammon, and Amalek
Philistia
The inhabitants of Tyre
Assyria
[Note…Psalms 83 is not a war but a prayer. A prayer that is answered fully and exactly as prayed by God the Father in the Ezekiel 38 war]
Ezekiel 38 also compliments the above list of peoples by including….
Gog, of the land of Magag
Persia
Ethopia
Libya
Gomer
The house of Togarmah
Again, as per scripture Israel is surrounded and attacked by these Muslim groups and their supporters. Israel as a country then sustains very heavy losses. Jerusalem is taken, the houses rifled and the women ravished. Half of Jerusalem will go into captivity (Zech.14). And as per Zechariah 12 all the nations of the world will be rooting for Israel’ destruction. And that includes the United States under this present day evil administration.
As it is well reported, there is presently and literally 200,000 rockets aimed at Israel by Iran, it’s proxies and others. They are poised and waiting for the call to launch in an effort to decimate and eradicate this small country of Israel.
Thousands of these Islamic fighters are now advancing to the mountainous area between Syria and Israel known as the Golan……just as Ezekiel had predicted.
It appears from scripture that when Israel is attacked she will not be re-supplied by anyone. When she is literally almost out of bullets with little means to protect herself and in danger of being eradicated…….. with the whole world watching…….. God the Father will intervene. Deuteronomy says that…….the Lord will judge His people and have compassion on His servants……when He sees that their power is gone.
The day that He intervenes for Israel will be …….The Day of the Lord …..and everyone on the planet will be extremely terrified by the manor in which He does so.
According to the roadmap of multiple scriptures here is how that day of horror will go down.
God the Father being composed of “extreme light” and being an omnipresence force (being everywhere at the same time) will break through our earthly atmosphere everywhere at the same time. This will cause multiple terrifying events to happen for all to witness. A great terrifying noise (2 Peter) and a world wide earthquake as seen in Ezekiel 38 and Revelation 6. Also the earth’s atmosphere (our blue sky) will roll up and then retract like a scroll. (Rev.6:14) This retraction I believe will cause the earth’s gravity to be extended much farther out into space. The result of this is that all the near earth satellites and space junk will fall back to earth burning as they do Rev.6:13.…..the stars of heaven fell to the earth. Remember John the Revelator wrote this and had no idea what satellites looked like. What he saw was burning objects that looked like stars falling to earth.
After the retraction of our atmosphere, everything in our atmosphere as we look up will be abnormal. There will be no blue sky world wide. As per the descriptions of multiple bible verses that I listed above …… the whole world will experience a day of darkness, gloominess, a day of thick darkness. In some areas complete darkness with no light. The sun where it can be seen will appear black as sackcloth and the moon will appear the color of blood. (Rev.6)
The prophet Habakkuk in chapter 3 (a must read) also tells us that at this time the sun and the moon stood still in their habitation. Meaning that God is going to stop the rotation of this planet for a time to fulfill His plan……and you wonder why there will be a worldwide earthquake?
When one reads the first four trumpet judgments which appear to happen just after the sixth seal is opened, all the calamities portrayed there now seemingly make perfect sense…….. if our planet’s atmosphere is indeed retracted, as God tells us it will be in Rev.6:14. Then without the protection of our atmosphere these first four trumpet judgments become reality.
I see this as God doing some “housekeeping” to remove the trash we earthlings have deposited into His pure creation above the earth. He then casts back to earth all the satellites, space station and space debris that we have put there. He just pulls back the sheet (atmosphere) so to speak and lets all the trash fall back to earth burning as it does. 2 Peter 3:10 portrays this accurately
Obviously there will be nuclear components to some of these satellites. Who really knows what nuclear weaponry the U.S., Russia and China have put into orbit. Whatever is there, it appears that when the earth’s atmosphere is temporally removed, these things will fall back burning to earth and the nuclear components of this stuff will pollute one third of the rivers and springs with “Wormwood” ie. nuclear contamination. Rev.8:10-11
Without our atmosphere to absorb and deflect the sun’s rays the side of the planet facing the sun will have no protection, no sunscreen if you will. And keep in mind Habakkuk says that God the Father stops the rotation of the planet for a period of time which will make it much worse for the area of the planet facing the sun.
This will fulfill the first trumpet judgment where it says a third of the trees will be burned up and all of the green grass will be burned up. The side of the earth facing the sun when the atmosphere is removed will loose all trees and all grass. The bible says one third meaning one third of the planet.
We know that this will not happen to Israel’ part of the planet because the seven years of Jacob’s trouble have to occur, so obviously the sun at that time will not be facing Israel. One of the places where I believe it will be facing is the Americas. This answers the often asked question of ……where is the United States in end time scripture? I believe the Americas fell into the third of the earth that was facing the sun when the atmosphere was temporally removed.......... and they were toasted like a marshmallow.
I have gotten off tract, let me return to the scenario of …..the day of the Lord.
One can gauge from multiple scriptures the extend of how irate and upset God the Father is when His chosen people Israel are on the verge of being wiped out directly and indirectly by the forces of Satan.
God the Father’s response at His intervention as per scripture is unmatched in the annals of the world. He rains down on Israel’ enemies great hailstones, flooding rain, fire and brimstone.(first trumpet judgment) He dispenses great pestilence and bloodshed and strikes the enemy troops with madness so that they turn on each other.
But the most unprecedented thing he does as per Revelation 6:16 and Ezekiel 38:18 is to show His face to the bad guys. The effect and consequences of looking at the extreme light energy of the face of God is recorded in Zechariah 14:12. Here it states…….that their flesh shall dissolve while they stand on their feet, their eyes shall dissolve in their sockets, and their tongues shall dissolve in their mouths……I believe that He also looked at Damascus. Isaiah seems to indicate that Damascus was there in the evening and in the morning it was gone. Remember scripture says….the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night…..Could it be He destroys Damascus during the night and in the morning it is gone?
We learn that these events cause great panic worldwide. Revelation 6 states that all manors of mankind from all social classes……. hid themselves in caves and reinforced structures in an attempt to hide themselves from the “face” of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb.
Is this the extent of the horror and retribution against these peoples who have terrorized the Jews and Christians and others over all the years? Not even close….. for the bible says in Ezekiel 37 that God the Father literally resurrects from the dead the whole house of Israel / Jacob and uses these resurrected beings to form His own exceedingly great army that are in-filled with the Spirit of God Himself. Ezekiel 37:14
What constitutes the whole house of Jacob? These are all the people who are descendents of Jacob who have died over several thousand years.
God said in Ezekiel 37:10 that these resurrected beings would comprise or form an exceedingly great army. And we learn in Joel 2:11 that they are God the Father’s end time army.
We learn in Revelation 9 that this ‘exceedingly great army” numbers 200 million personnel. And we learn in Revelation 9 and Joel 2 and other areas that these resurrected spirit filled beings from the lineage of Jacob ride fire breathing horses that dispense fire and brimstone and are able to leap over mountains and waterways if necessary. Basically meaning that they can also fly. And we learn that their God given mission is to kill one third of mankind by fire and brimstone.
The ride of this massive army of God is portrayed in Revelation 9, Joel 2, Haggai 2, Isaiah 5, Isaiah 11, Isaiah 13, Isaiah 31, Habakkuk 3 and other areas…….but somehow this army is seemingly ignored by the so called bible scholars.
The bible says in Revelation 9 that this army is mustered and dispatched at the Euphrates River which is the northern border of the original land mass given to Abraham by God. (Joshua 1:4 and Deuteronomy 11:24)
This massive army will start it’s ride from there at the Euphrates and spread out across the earth.
It appears that there will be a general or a person in charge of this army under the command of God the Father as it rides. As per Haggai 2:23 this resurrected man’s name is Zerubbabel who was a governor of Judah. It says in this verse that God will make him like “a signet ring” meaning he will have the authority of God Himself while leading this army and dispensing the judgment.
The bible says in Joel 2 that the land may be like the Garden of Eden before this army but after the fire breathing horses ride through it will look like a desolate wilderness. The noise of this army as recorded in Isaiah is extremely loud and terrifying and can be heard from great distances as it ravishes the planet.
Who are the people who will comprise the over two billion people that will be killed by God’s end times army? From a righteous perspective and taking God and Israel’ enemies into consideration I believe we can all speculate whom that may be. The bible says God knows the hearts of men…..enough said.
We know that after God the Father intervenes for Israel in Ezekiel 38 and 39 that Israel burns the spoils of this war (meeting it’s energy needs) for 7 years. One could only assume then that this happens at the start of the 7 year period called Jacob’s trouble.
When then does God’s end time army start it’s ride? Is it at the same time that God the Father shows His face and intercedes for Israel which is definitely at the opening of the sixth seal or is it later in the tribulation period? When you see in the timeline of Revelation that this army starts it’s ride from the Euphrates River at sixth trumpet judgment in Revelation 9, one would have the knee jerk reaction to say that this army’ ride happens later in the 7 year period of Jacob’s trouble.
But when you examine scripture (Revelation) you realize that many things happen during the sixth seal opening and these happenings could easily happen concurrently with the trumpet judgments. In fact, the descriptions of these trumpet judgments (as I stated above) seem to be a direct reflection of what God the Father did at the opening of the sixth seal. So yes, I believe that God the Father’s end times army makes it’s ride soon after or concurrently with when God meets Israel’ enemies on the northern mountains of Israel in Ezekiel 38.
So here’s the scenario and the many events that take place at the opening of the sixth seal comprising……the Day of the Lord. (That day and that period of time)
Remember above I said in red that God the Father’s intervention at the start of the 7 year period or the start of Jacob’s trouble was half of the story of…..the Day of the Lord………well, the other half of the story is Jesus’ part……..the rapture of the church.
At the opening of the sixth seal in Revelation 6 we not only see God the Father depicted there on the world stage but also Jesus the Lamb.
The bible in Habakkuk 3 says that at that time, they both leave their resting places.
As per Habakkuk 3 God the Father leaves His resting place called Teman and Jesus the Holy One leaves His resting place on Mount Paran. The prophet Habakkuk was so troubled by what he knew was going to happen that He pleaded with God to remember mercy while administering the wrath. Habakkuk also questioned why God was taking His wrath out on the rivers and seas….ie. Rev. 8 trumpet judgments.
Jesus and God the Father are in my opinion on separate missions, God the Father as I stated and described above is there to intervene for His covenant people Israel. Jesus is also front and center on the world stage at that time to also intervene but His intervention is for His followers who we call the Church. He will take them away, rapture / remove them from the pending wrath but I believe scripture tells us that Jesus’ followers witness what God the Father did for Israel before Jesus removes His Church.
I say this because scripture tells us that the sign of the Son of Man, a “banner” that will be prominently displayed in the sky for all to see and a great trumpet blast will happen after the tribulation of those days, that is, after the tribulation that Israel goes through when she is attacked. Meaning that Jesus’ followers will see the power and glory of the One who sits on the throne (God the Father) being demonstrated….. before Jesus takes us away.
Does all this make sense and logically flow when one plugs it into the verses of Revelation 6, 7, 8 and 9? Yes
When Israel is attacked and in jeopardy of being wiped out God the Father will intervene as I portrayed above kicking off the last seven years of this era referred to as Jacob’s trouble. This prompts the great resurrection of the dead in Christ and the resurrection of the whole house of Jacob. Out of this huge resurrection / harvest of souls the 144,000 are dealt with first as the first fruits of the great harvest. They are sealed with the mark of God on their foreheads and become the personal entourage of the Lamb (Jesus) and accompany Him wherever He goes. Rev.7 and Rev.14.
At some point soon after the events of God the Father intervening for Israel, the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky accompanied by a great trumpet blast. At this point which is still in the opening pages of the 7 year period of Jacob’s trouble, the dead and alive in Christ will be combined and taken to meet Jesus in the clouds. This agrees with scripture because right in the middle of this whole scenario of the sixth seal events we (the Church) show up in heaven as per Revelation 7.
……These were the ones who come out of the great tribulation……Rev. 7:14
(Using future tense verbiage)…….Were we (the Church) not just extracted from the greatest tribulation event the world to this point has ever witnessed? Indeed we were!!
I really don’t think people / Christians have wrapped their heads around the magnitude and severity of what happens at and during…….the day of the Lord. It will be to that point in time, the most “tribulated”(not a word) event ever to happen to this planet.
So that I don’t have to re-write what I posted last week for the ending to this post let me finish by copying what I wrote last week as an ending…… Please keep in mind that we are still in the opening stages of the 7 year period of Jacob’s trouble or the last 7 year period of this era.
From last week…. To continue the story line
Obviously the planet will be in shock and complete chaos from the events that have just transpired. The church is gone (the falling away has happened) so as per scripture the first beast or antichrist will now show himself. He will be a well known world figure and will seem to have all the answers as to what just happened and he will promote a seven year plan to bring stability back to the planet. This plan will embrace a one world government with a one world currency and a one world religion. This man as per Revelation 13 and 17 will be a pope and his world headquarters will be as per scripture in Rome.
Keep in mind the real possibility that the America’s were burned up when our atmosphere was temporally rolled back at the period of the sixth seal when one third of the planet was burned up. (Rev.8:7) That’s why I believe the United States plays no part and does not show up in end time scripture or what’s left of the 7 year period.
During the first 42 months after the “day of the Lord” has transpired, which is the same timeframe as the ministry of the two witnesses, this pope who now becomes indwelled by Satan will as per scripture perform all manors of lying signs and wonders to the point where as per Rev.13 the people were so impressed and fooled that they worshiped him saying……who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him? He was a great orator speaking great things and blasphemies.
So, when we reach the half way point of these 7 years of Jacob’s trouble or 42 months or three and one half years later from when Israel was attacked…… this pope along with his false prophet side kick will have been able to con, marvel and bewitch what is left of the planet. And behind the scenes during these 42 months this demonic trinity broke the planet into ten areas and developed a power strangle hold on the planet so that they could completely control it.
The bible then says that after these 42 months had transpired (in Revelation 13:6) that this Satanic pope would go much much farther with his rhetoric. At this 42 month mark he declares to the world that he is the true God of the universe and to prove to the planet that he is indeed the true God…….he kills the two witnesses.
We know from scripture that over the course of these same 42 months (the ministry of the two witnesses) that many tried to kill the two witnesses but were killed instead due to the God given powers of these witnesses. Revelation 11 states that God allowed these witnesses to be killed by the antichrist, I believe this was permitted to deceive anyone who had not believed the teachings of these witnesses during their 42 month ministry.
Now at this 42 month mark from the start of Jacob’s trouble or after Israel was attacked this Satanic pope / antichrist who has spent the same 42 months conniving and deceiving everyone behind the scenes and has just killed the two witnesses…… now declares himself to be the true God of the universe and demands to be treated as such.
As per Daniel…..He cancels all sacrifices (such as Catholic Masses) and offerings that are being offered up to heaven from all the people of earth (Hindu’s, Buddhists, etc.) to their God’s because he (the antichrist) now maintains that he is the true God of the universe and all these sacrifices and offerings should now be directed to him here on earth.
He then goes to the newly erected Jewish temple in Jerusalem and there erects a talking statue of himself and forces all to worship the statue and to take his mark on their hand or forehead. Anyone not complying will be killed.
I believe that this is the point in time where all hell breaks loose literally. The antichrist just after half way through the 7 years of Jacob’s trouble starts his full out terror spree on planet earth. And God the Father and Jesus unleash their remaining 14 judgments which compile “the even greater tribulation” for planet earth.
Does God provide a refuge for the people who accepted the teachings of the two witnesses during their 42 month ministry? Are these people raptured along with the two witnesses when the witnesses leave in Revelation 11? Or is there yet another rapture of these now believing souls who have died believing in Christ and haven’t taken the mark of the beast? Or…..
A group of people described as “the woman” whom some align as Israel are hidden and nourished during this timeframe of three and one half years (or the last half of Jacob’s trouble) from the wrath of Satan / antichrist as per Revelation 12. This seems to align with the last 42 months of the 7 year period of Jacob’s trouble that these people would be sheltered and nourished by God.
I won’t go any farther into the great terror of the last half of the 7 year period of Jacob’s trouble except to say that……. at the end, Jesus on His white horse with the armies of heaven descend to earth to put an end to the forces of evil that were controlled by the unholy trinity. Satan is bound for a thousand years and the antichrist and the false prophet are thrown into the lake of fire for all of eternity.
If all of these events I spoke of start when Israel is attacked and God the Father intervenes during a period of a solar eclipse and a blood moon and if one were to factor in the Shimittah cycles and the earthquakes and wars and rumors of wars etc. etc. then it appears 2015 could be quite the year.
If Israel is attacked this year or whenever by her many enemies spoken of in the bible and she appears to be (or is) loosing the fight, then you need to mentally prepare yourselves for several catastrophic events. If you have accepted Jesus as your Savior then, fear not….fear not. For there will be a great worldwide noise and a worldwide earthquake…… our sky….. our atmosphere as we know it will retract like a scroll, there will probably be no blue sky for a period of time and many many objects will fall burning from the sky causing great damage and great pollution on the planet.
Then after the Church witnesses what God the Father has done for Israel there will be the sound of a great trumpet and we will see the sign of the Son of Man….. a banner…. displayed in the sky for all to see signaling that Jesus is coming for us. Is that why in Luke we are told to “look up”. Look up and watch for the banner in the sky…..the sign of the Son of Man. Then we go home…..praise the Lord.
Blessings……..John B