The Day Of The Lord"...One Of The Most Misunderstood Subjects In Eschatology.

 

"The Day Of The Lord"...One Of The Most Misunderstood Subjects In Eschatology.

There is no topic that occupies a large place in old testament prophecy and is yet more misunderstood in the present day church like the day of the Lord.

Many confuse the day of the Lord with the coming of the Lord.

When they see the day of the Lord, especially in the new testament, they assume it's just another phrase for the coming of the Lord.

Am compelled to write on the subject because i get so burdened when I see people mix things up, especially those who are quick to quote 2nd Thessalonians 2:1-3 in trying to vaguely prove that the apostasy and manifestation of the man of sin must precede the coming of the Lord for his bride church & our gathering together unto him.

We have to look into the subject of the day of the Lord from old testament prophecies into the new, to understand it's full range and what marks the beginning of the period known as the day of the Lord.

Many old testament prophecies speak of the devastating character of the inception of the day of the Lord as a time that begins with darkness, anguish & unprecedented distress upon the earth 👇🏽

Joel 2:1-2

Blow 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 at hand; a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and gross darkness, as the dawn spread upon the mountains; --a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after them, to the years of generations and generations.

Zephaniah 1:14-15

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. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, 

Jeremiah 30:7 specifically calls it the time of Jacob's trouble for upon the house of Israel, which the Messiah left desolate to itself when they rejected him at his first coming, the day of the Lord will come as sudden travail/birthpangs as a woman that is with child. 

The preceding verse(6) thus clearly says concerning Israel & Judah: "Ask ye now, and see whether a male doth travail with child? Wherefore do i see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail and all faces are turned into paleness?

Verse 7 then says "Alas! For that day is great such that none is like it. It is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it."

Jesus in his mount Olivet prophecy concerning Israel, the temple in Jerusalem & end of the age, also speaks of the unprecedented time of trouble which has not been from the beginning of the world nor ever shall be & speaks of it being cut short for the sake of the elect of Israel in order to save them. This is consistent with what Jeremiah said of the time of Jacob's(Israel's) trouble as a great day such that there's none like it, but he shall be saved out of it. Matthew 24:20-22.

From the 15th to the 21st verse of his mount Olivet prophecy, Jesus however, gave the key by which Jewish faithfuls in Jerusalem at that time of the end will know exactly without doubt, that the time of unprecedented trouble/birthpangs which marks the beginning of the day of the Lord, has started 👇🏽

When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. Matthew 24:15-21.

In Daniel's prophecy, the day of the Lord is thus a period that begins from the midst of the week/7 years of the last week of 70 weeks determined upon Israel for their redemption(See Daniel 9:24-27).

The 27th verse referring to the prince that shall come(antichrist), says: "And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate."

He shall make a peace covenant/treaty for one week(the last week in Daniel's 70 weeks prophecy), and in the midst of the week, he will break it, enter the temple in Jerusalem which will be rebuilt, cause the daily sacrifice and oblations which will be reinstituted, to cease and desecrate the temple by sitting in the temple as God & ordering all to worship him just like Nebuchadnezzar set up his image & commanded all to worship his image such that refusal to do so attracts death penalty. 

This is the abomination that will lead to desolation in Jerusalem and Israel for many will flee while those who refuse to worship the antichrist & didn't succeed in escaping, will be slaughtered.

Prophetically, times and seasons belong to Israel as a people upon whom 70 weeks are determined for their redemption, and when the day of the Lord begins in the midst of the last week, following the setting up of the abomination that causes desolation, it's countdown to the time of their redemption.

The book of Daniel shows this countdown of days to their redemption...."And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and thirty-five days!" -Daniel 12:11-12.

1,290 days is three and half years, and when that timeline is fulfilled the remaining days is 45 days to the 1,335th day of which it is said blessed is he that endureth to see it. 

This is what Jesus meant when he said "if those days are not shortened, no flesh would be saved; but on account of the elect those days shall be cut short." Matthew 24:22.

They shall be shortened for the timeline has already been determined for the sake of the elect, as a divine limit set on the unprecedented destruction & devastation which the antichrist will spearhead.

Also in Luke 21:20-28 Jesus speaking of the days of the desolation of Jerusalem, calls it the days of vengeance & great distress & wrath, that all things which are written may be fulfilled, and that when these begin to happen the faithfuls in Israel are to look up & lift up their heads for their redemption draweth nigh. 

Now this has nothing to do with the church of Christ as the redemption of the church is not tied to times and seasons such that we will have to start doing a countdown of literal days unto our redemption. See Acts 1:7 & 1st Thessalonians 5:1.

For the church there's no such thing as a countdown of days to the Lord's coming and our gathering together unto him.

The church is not to be occupied with times and seasons for the occupation with times & seasons is a countdown of days to the redemption of Israel/restoration of the kingdom to Israel(Acts 1:6-7), and it is what faithfuls in Israel are to be occupied with like a woman in travail, when the day of the Lord sets in with sudden distress & birthpangs of the Messiah. 

From the time the daily sacrifice is taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate is set up, they will be counting down to the 1,335th day slated for their redemption when they shall say blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

In view of all these, it is very important to note that the day of the Lord which will overtake the whole world as a thief in the night/suddenly, will not come upon the church/overtake her with the rest of the world for she will be gathered unto the Lord and taken away before that great and dreadful day sets in.

The apostle speaking of this in 1st Thessalonians 5:4-5 says "But ye brethren, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you as a thief: For you are all sons of light, and sons of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness"

The dawn of day is before the sunrise, and begins with thick darkness, when the night is darkest before the light of dawn comes, when the sun of righteousness will arise over the earth with healing in his wings.

This day of the Lord begins therefore, before his appearing/second coming to the earth, preparing the way for it. 

The day of the Lord is thus not a 24 hour period of night & day that marks the advent/coming again of the Lord to the earth, but a long day known to the Lord(Zechariah 14:7); a long period of time which will begin with the birthpangs of the Messiah(time of Jacob's trouble/the great tribulation), to his advent/coming & his reign for a thousand years to put down every rule & authority and bring in the eternal/perfect state(2nd Peter 3:10).

1st Thessalonians 5:2-4 perfectly captures this truth when it shows the relationship between the day of the Lord coming as a thief in the night, with the sudden destruction and travail upon the earth that will characterise it's coming/beginning.

The full range of the day of the Lord in scripture is actually from what Paul wrote in 1st Thessalonians 5:2-3 to 2nd Peter 3:10. For what Paul wrote is what will mark the coming/beginning of the day of the Lord as a thief by night(sudden destruction & travail), while what Peter spoke of in his own epistle will feature at the end of the day of the Lord, as the thousand years come to an end & the eternal state(new heavens & earth) is ushered in.

When the present heavens and earth will dissolve and give way for new heavens and earth, is what marks the end of the day of the Lord, and that end is also referred to as the day of God(2nd Peter 3:12), when the eternal state is ushered in by the Lord as the son of man handing the kingdom over to God the Father, that God may be all in all(1st Corinthians 15:24-28).

The coming of the Lord and our gathering together unto him which the apostle speaks of in 2nd Thessalonians 2:1, is something that will without fail, happen before the day of the Lord comes with sudden destruction and travail upon the earth.

When false teachers in Thessalonica were teaching that the day of the Lord had come, even by writing epistles to the saints, they were troubling them, trying to overthrow their faith like Hymenaeus & Philetus, who taught that the resurrection had passed.

It was a satanic onslaught against the hope of the church hinged on the Lord's promised coming to receive his bride church to himself & take her to where he is to be with him. 

If the day of the Lord had come then our hope of being gathered to him at his promised coming to receive us to himself, is gone, the hope of the resurrection of the dead in Christ is gone & the church is left to grope in the gross darkness of unprecedented travail & tribulation upon the earth which marks the beginning of the day of the Lord.

The apostle in addressing the false teaching, first beseeches the troubled saints by "the coming of the Lord and our gathering together unto him"(which he earlier wrote to them on in 1st Thessalonians 4:13-18)...words of hope by which we are to comfort one another). 

He thus beseeches them first by this hope of the Lord's coming & our gathering together unto him, not to be shaken in mind or troubled by those asserting that the day of the Lord had come. 

He then went ahead to speak of things which must precede the coming of the day of the Lord....the coming full blown apostasy and the revelation of the man of sin/son of perdition who will head up the apostasy to lead the apostates to perdition/damnation.

There surely won't be full blown apostasy without the harvest of the field of christendom for the apostates will be the rejects(tares left in bundles to the fate of being burnt up), while the wheat is harvested/gathered off the field which is the world, into the heavenly granary - Matthew 13:30; 37-40.

The removal of the restraint & full blown apostasy of christendom will pave the way for the last week of the Jewish age of the law, featuring a full blown return to Judaism, rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem, reinstitution of the daily sacrifices & observation of Sabbath days. 

This return to Judaism will be for the grafting in again of the natural branches(Israel) in their olive tree for their redemption; the partial blindness over them being lifted & the law finally as a schoolmaster bringing them to Christ - Romans 11:23-29.

In Malachi's prophecy, God clearly speaks of this return to the law & prophets to prepare Israel before the great & terrible day of the Lord. 👇🏽

"Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse." Malachi 4:4-6.

The remembrance of the law of Moses & the sending of Elijah the prophet as though he will be literally sent again to Israel, prophetically signifies the return of the law & the prophets in the last week of the 70 weeks determined upon Israel, which is yet to be fulfilled unto their eternal redemption.

This return of the law & the prophets will be embodied by the ministry of the two last witnesses to Israel, who will come in the spirit of Moses & Elijah as their ministry/witness will be accompanied with signs that accompanied the ministries of Moses & Elijah. They will prophesy for 1,260 days(about three & half years) before the great & terrible day of the Lord sets in - Revelation 11:3-12.

Despite wars, and rumours of wars upon the earth, the first three and half years of the 7 years/last week, will be largely characterized by false global peace, prosperity, safety & unity.....the tares/rejects of christendom left behind in the unity of ecumenism and bond of iniquity/apostasy, the man of sin/lawlessness rising to global prominence to broker a peace treaty between Israel and Palestine, pioneering global economic stability in such a way that many will see him as the Messiah and leader of an utopian/ideal one world government that achieves global peace & prosperity for all.

This false global peace will reach it's climax when the two witnesses will be killed by the false prophet towards the end of the first three & half years, as the world will celebrate their assassination in global merriment like Christmas 🎄, sending & exchanging gifts like boxing day 🎁, having seen the ministry of the two witnesses as a torment to their ungodly lifestyles(Revelation 11:7-10).

This is most likely when, according to the apostle in 1st Thessalonians 5:3, they shall profess global peace & safety, only for sudden destruction to come upon them.

This is the deception of peace, prosperity & safety the world will be caught up in, that will make the day of the Lord come upon them suddenly as a thief in the night, taking them unawares, as unprecedented distress and tribulation breaks out like a plague upon the earth.

The period marked by unprecedented tribulation is the last three and half years after the peace treaty/covenant brokered by the antichrist is broken.

The manifestation of the man of sin will be the peak of man's day/government...when the number of a man becomes one with that of the beast in the beast empire/government. 

Then, in the middle of the 7 years when he suddenly breaks & goes against the covenant/peace pact, the day of the Lord sets in like a thief in the night & begins to dawn in travail & unprecedented birthpangs upon the earth.