An explanation and preview of The Day Of The Lord |
Main Events and Characters of The day of the Lord: The Comet or Asteroid Striking the Earth The Stars Falling (100lbs Each) The Anti-Christ, False Prophet And Beast The Two Witnesses with their plagues Jesus Christ returning to rule Consequences to nature and man: The Earth moved out of its place and wobbling like a drunkard (upside down), War, pestilence, Famine, Water evaporating (“Rivers Becoming Islands”) Fire and explosions, Great Heat, Earthquakes, Volcanoes, Massive Tsunamis Periods of total darkness, Death (“Few Men Left”) The new Millennium The bible tells us that there will be a final period of tribulation and violence such as the world has never previously experienced. It calls these times the “Day of the Lord,” and it will take place over a period of seven years. The day of the Lord begins with a comet or asteroid hitting the earth and ends with the battle of Armageddon. The vision in the book of Revelations concerning this day, at first look, seems to be divided separately between the six seals, the seven trumpets, the three woes and the seven vials. A close look at the verses written in the Old and New Testament will tell us that this is not the case. The events in each section ‘all’ describe the events of that 7 year period, or ‘The Day of the Lord.’ The six seals binding the scroll are like an index (or picture) of what is inside the scroll. They are not a period of time previous to the 7yr day of the Lord like many believe. The seven trumpets represent the great scourge of the earth by God that was prophesied several times in Psalms, Isaiah and Revelations. The fall of Babylon, the three woes, the anti-christ, the 2 witnesses and the 7 vials represent the details of that scourge which ends with the return of the Lord. The great day of the Lord will start with a comet hitting the earth (and at the shining of thy glittering spear, Hab. 3:11; Nahum 3:3 and other places), killing a third of the sea life and destroying a third of the vessels (Rev 8:8). It will also burn up a third of the earth and trees and all grass (Rev 8:7). This area may also hold about the third part of men too, but Revelations 8 doesn’t mention men, just blood. This collision is so great that, not only will it increase the spin of the earth by a third, but it will also push the earth out of its orbit to a place closer to the sun. (Isaiah 13:13; 24:19,20) Jesus said in Matt 24:22 that unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved. Rev 16:2,8,9 tells us men develop sores, are scorched with fire and curse the great heat because of this. Increasing the spin of the earth will shorten the length of a day to 16 hrs. Moving the earth closer to the sun will change the length of the months and years. The only way we will know the time in “the day of the Lord” will be to count the days. How much closer to the sun, the bible doesn’t say, but a third would be near Venus, which is too close. The earth will react to being hit and there will be massive earthquakes, fires, and volcanoes throughout the world during this period. The spin of the earth and heat of coming closer to the sun will cause massive evaporation of the world’s oceans and waterways (Rev 16:4,5). The increased heat and fires, the evaporation of the waters of the world, and the two witnesses who stop the rain from falling; all will contribute to make the earth like a desert. (Rev 8:7 says "all grass will be burnt up") If farmlands become like deserts, where will the food we eat come from? Thus, we can see one of the reasons behind the great famine that will spread throughout the world. The bible says this comet will be thrown into the earth, which means that it will be a special act of God. It will come suddenly, without much warning. The bible describes the trumpets, woes and vials as plagues: “And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues.” (Rev 9:20) Rev 16: says “And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.” Rev 16:20 says “And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great. The bible also says the two witnesses will torment the world with plagues “as often as they will.” Rev 11:6 “These (two witnesses) have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will. Rev 11:10 says “And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over their bodies, (after they’re killed) and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.” It seems likely that these two witnesses will be God’s instruments in delivering the plagues of the third, fifth and sixth trumpets, parts of the three woes and the seventh vial, killing as much as half of the world’s population. It is easy then to see why the world would celebrate their demise and honor their killer; at least until they come back to life for all to see after three and a half days and are taken in a cloud to heaven. The third trumpet and the second and third vials mention water turning to blood; Rev. 11:6 says the two witnesses have power over waters to turn them to blood, The 5th trumpet could be one of the plagues sent by the two prophets in Jerusalem. Two places in the bible tell of harmful beasts at the end times: The first one is Deut. 32:22-25 (”For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains. I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them. They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust. The sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling also with the man of gray hairs”), the second one at the 5rd Trumpet, (“And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle. And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.”) “The sword without and the terror within” tell us this plague is physical as well as mental. There could actually be a creature created just for this plague. Although the first trumpet heralds in the day of the Lord and is the start of the final 7 year period, with the comet hitting the earth (and its consequences) being the main focus of the first three and a half years, the bible (considering the great amount of prophesies found about this period) seems to deal mainly with the final three and a half years. It is in this period that the Heavenly Temple is closed for half an hour and no one may enter. (Rev 15:8) In the first half hour, Heaven was just silent. (Rev 8:1) It is also this time, before the fifth trumpet, that the three woes begin. The beginning of the torments and plagues of the two witnesses, the occupation and rule of the anti-christ in Israel and his stopping of the daily sacrifice, and the pouring of the seven vials are all main events of the last three and a half years of the day of the Lord. The death and destruction from the wars, persecutions, plaques and pestilences will be so great during this period that the bible says there will be “few men left.”(Isaiah 24:26) The anti-christ will manifest his power in this period (Rev 6:2), coming into power with the help of the church in Rome (Rom. 17:17). He will magnify himself and deceive many (Dan 11:36-39). He will become a dictator who will demand absolute obedience and honor. Dan 8:25 says “And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.” At the height of his power he will control one fourth of the world (Rev 6:8). Many men will die in his conquests. The false prophet will require everyone to worship the anti-christ or his image. Everyone will have to a have his mark in his forehead or on his hand in order to buy or sell anything. (head; meaning worship, hand; meaning service) Man didn’t want to be dependent on (and worship) God, so now he will be 'forced' to become dependent on (and worship) the anti-christ. The anti-christ, along with his false prophet, will be able to perform supernatural miracles to support his claim that he is the real savior of the world. The anti-christ will turn on the church (Babylon) that helped put him in power and he will confiscate all its property and wealth (Rom 17:16). Because he believes he is the savior of the world, he will outlaw all outward forms of religion. He will aggressively persecute and try to kill all the saints and Jews who will not bow down to him. He will come to Israel as a friend but he’ll secretly deal with Israeli traitors and become its ruler; a political coup of sorts. The sixth trumpet says that an army of 200 million will kill a third of the earth’s population (Rev 9:15). But it also says ““And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues.” (Rev 9:20) There seems to be more prophesy about this coming event than any other event in history, aside from the prophesies concerning Jesus and His coming Kingdom. These are the “stars that will fall from heaven” mentioned several times in the bible.(Judges 5:4,8; Joel 2:1-11; Isaiah 28:17; 34:4; 45:7, Rev 6:13, Hab. 3:5,11 Matt 24:29, Mark 13:25 and many more) Revelation 9:18 says that a third part of men were killed by fire, smoke and brimstone; which is consistent with the description of a meteor shower. Each of them will weigh around a talent, or about one hundred pounds. (Rev 16:21) Since these meteors are burning rocks, they will not only smash things but they will also cause massive firestorms around the world. The sixth seal also previews this. The bible says in several places that when the Lord comes he will come with fire, or that the earth will burn. Simple math reveals that this meteor shower will come at a rate of about 32,000 per hour; morning by morning and night by night (Isaiah 28:19) They will fall for a year, a month, a day and an hour. (Rev 9:15) Just like the killing of Egypt’s first born was the defining event that released the Jews from their captivity, it seems this plague will be the final defining event of God’s judgment of the earth. Satan will think he overcame God by killing the two prophets and he will use it as his main justification when He sits in The Temple and calls himself god. Then (within 45 days) Christ, by the brightness of His power (2 Thess. 2:8), (with the brightness of seven suns and seven moons Isaiah 30:26) will return with His saints and destroy him, the false prophet and his army at Armageddon. The sixth seal and seventh vial also mention the greatest earthquake the world has ever seen. Since the earthquake is in the same verse as the falling stars, this probably is the comet hitting the earth, which happens first. Habakkuk 3:11,12 also puts the falling stars and His glittering spear in the same verse; “The sun and moon stood still in their habitation: at the light of thine arrows they went, and at the shining of thy glittering spear. Thou didst march through the land in indignation, thou didst thresh the heathen in anger.” Men will seek shelter “in the crevices of the rock and caves” or any other fortified structure they can get a hold of. (Rev 6:15,16; Isaiah 2:10,19; Micah 7:17) (This is also consistent with a meteor shower). This will also bring out, even more, the selfishness and violence of man and he will fight for, beg, borrow and steal to get any shelter he can, in order to survive. Men will vainly call on God to protect them, but He says He will not hear them. (Isaiah 24:16) Like I said earlier, it is possible the anti-christ will take claim for stopping this meteor shower (Daniel 8:10) by killing the two prophets in Jerusalem. In spite of all the things that are going to happen during the day of the lord, the comet, the meteor shower, the disruption of the earth’s climate, the wars, pestilences, the anti Christ, the famine and all the death; men will still blaspheme God for these troubles instead of repenting for the arrogance of their beliefs. By blaspheme it does not mean curse. When man blasphemes God he denies that God is the one who causes all things. Men will blame the two prophets, the Jews, luck, Mother Nature, science, religion, each other and just about anything else he can think of to get away from this glorifying of God. True believers will go through the tribulation with everybody else on earth, because they will be needed by God to testify for Him. Some will be killed, some will be martyred and some will be needed to convert people to Him; especially, the 144,000 Jews that will be converted and then martyred. The anti-christ will succeed in killing a third of men, including two thirds of the Jewish people in Israel. The comet, meteors, heat, fire, pestilence, famine, persecutions and plagues will kill as much as a half of the rest of the world’s population. Again, the bible says there will be "few men left” (Isaiah 24:6) The arrogance of man in believing that he is a free agent, able to act independently of a God who causes all things, will be shown the value of that arrogance. He will be shown that in falsely worshiping his ‘free’ choices, no choice he can make will relieve him of the coming tragedies. His instinct to survive will take precedence over everything else he does. Love will wax cold under these conditions. Man, who has been guided by a sense of morality and goodness toward his fellow man, will no longer have time, motive or opportunity to be nice, and so he won’t be. It will be -I, me, and mine -to the greatest extent. The evil and violence between men, between men and women, and the death and destruction throughout the world will be greater in this period than in any time in history. God is righteous; meaning everything He does is done for the best possible reason. He has given us a life of opposites; sin/salvation, life/death, love/hate, sickness/health, laughter/sadness, etc, in order that He might show us His infinite love to the greatest degree possible. He, with His infinite power, wisdom and love, cannot bring us TO the uttermost state unless He first brings us FROM the uttermost state. He will make the end times on earth as horrible as possible, in order that he may bless us ever more so in the following millennium; with a healed earth filled with perfect love, peace and happiness for everyone. All those who have died previously, and have entered Heaven or Hell to experience the greatest happiness and unspeakable joy possible for all eternity, will say…”it was worth it!” God, only, will be glorified. |