The day of the Lord is coming

This is what the Bible defines as the Tribulation, which is a separated time of 7 years to test the whole world, that is the 70 ^th week of Daniel.

Which John writes “the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.”Rev. 3:10)

The first 3.5 years of the 7 year tribulation is basically trying to have peace (Daniel 9:27; Matthew 24:15-30; 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3). The only other reference to the first part of the tribulation is the first seal (Revelation 6:1-2). The first seal is about a white horse rider which symbolizes making peace throughout the world. The rest of Revelation describes events that will occur during the second half of the tribulation, the last 3.5 years (Revelation 6:3-19:21). The other seals describe war, famine, death, the martyrs in heaven, and terror. That summarizes the last half of the tribulation.

How long does it last, according to the bible it is no longer than 7 years but the 2^nd, last half is the Great Tribulation.

Rev 6:12-7:1 “ I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake ; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and 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 His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?"

At this point the world realizes what has come upon them.

Let the Scripture tell us what it will be like, al the prophets agree

Ezekiel 38:16 “I will come up against My people Israel like a cloud, to cover the land. It will be in the latter days that I will bring you against My land , so that the nations may know Me.” this is preemptive gathering of armies of the world

God gathers his enemies Joel 1:6 “For a nation has come up against My landv,Joel 3:2 “ They have also divided up My land .”

Isa. 34:1-2 "Come near, you nations, to hear;For the indignation of the LORD is against all nations, And His fury against all their armies; He has utterly destroyed them, He has given them over to the slaughter."

Armageddon culminates--The sequence of events God has already mapped out in prophecy.

Nah 1:2-3 God is jealous, and the LORD avenges; The LORD avenges and is furious.The LORD will take vengeance on His adversaries, And He reserves wrath for His enemies; The LORD is slow to anger and great in power,And will not at all acquit the wicked.”

When does it all get really bad?

Joel 1:15 “ Alas for the day! For the day of the LORD is at hand; It shall come as destruction from the Almighty.” This describes the judgements throughout the time. The warning, Joel 2:1-3 “ 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 is coming,For it is at hand: A day of darkness and gloominess,A day of clouds and thick darkness,

Like the morning clouds spread over the mountains. A people come, great and strong, The like of whom has never been; Nor will there ever be any such after them, Even for many successive generations.

A fire devours before them, And behind them a flame burns;

The land is like the Garden of Eden before them, And behind them a desolate wilderness;Surely nothing shall escape them.

Joel 2:10-11 ‘ The earth quakes before them,

The heavens tremble;The sun and moon grow dark,(Revelation 6)

And the stars diminish their brightness.

The LORD gives voice before His army, For His camp is very great;

For strong is the One who executes His word.

For the day of the LORD is great and very terrible;

Who can endure it?

The lord continues to appeal to the people in V.12-13 " Now, therefore," says the LORD,

"Turn to Me with all your heart,

With fasting, with weeping, and with mourning." So rend your heart, and not your garments;

Return to the LORD your God,For He is gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, and of great kindness;

V:16 “Gather the children and nursing babes; Let the bridegroom go out from his chamber, And the bride from her dressing room.”This is the second coming – the last day of the Tribulation

Joel 2:17-19 Let them say, "Spare Your people, O LORD,And do not give Your heritage to reproach,That the nations should rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples,'Where is their God?' "

Gods intention in his judgment “ Then the LORD will be zealous for His land,And pity His people. The LORD will answer and say to His people, "Behold, I will send you grain and new wine and oil,And you will be satisfied by them;I will no longer make you a reproach among the nations .

Isa 13:9-13“Behold, the day of the LORD comes,Cruel, with both wrath and fierce anger,To lay the land desolate; And He will destroy its sinners from it. For the stars of heaven and their constellations Will not give their light; The sun will be darkened in its going forth,

And the moon will not cause its light to shine.

"I will punish the world for its evil,

And the wicked for their iniquity;

I will halt the arrogance of the proud,

And will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.

will make a mortal more rare than fine gold,

A man more than the golden wedge of Ophir.

Therefore I will shake the heavens,

And the earth will move out of her place,

In the wrath of the LORD of hosts

And in the day of His fierce anger.”

Micah 4:11-12 “ Now also many nations have gathered against you, Who say, “Let her be defiled, And let our eye look upon Zion.” But they do not know the thoughts of the LORD, Nor do they understand His counsel; For He will gather them like sheaves to the threshing floor .”

Isa. 34:1-2 " Come near, you nations, to hear;… For the indignation of the LORD is against all nations , And His fury against all their armies; He has utterly destroyed them, He has given them over to the slaughter."

Here God pronounces the commencement of his judgment.

Zephaniah 3:8-9 " Therefore wait for Me," says the LORD,"Until the day I rise up for plunder;

My determination is to gather the nations To My assembly of kingdoms,

To pour on them My indignation,All my fierce anger;All the earth shall be devoured With the fire of My jealousy. "For then I will restore to the peoples a pure language,  That they all may call on the name of the LORD, To serve Him with one accord.

Joel 2:25-3:1To Israel he says, "So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten,The crawling locust,The consuming locust,And the chewing locust,My great army which I sent among you. 26 You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied,And praise the name of the LORD your God, Who has dealt wondrously with you;And My people shall never be put to shame. Then you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel: I am the LORD your God And there is no other. My people shall never be put to shame. "And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh;Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,Your old men shall dream dreams,Your young men shall see visions. And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. "And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke. (What Peter referred to in Acts 2). V.31The sun shall be turned into darkness,And the moon into blood,Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD. 32 And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the LORD Shall be saved.( What Paul referred to in Rom. 10)( For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, As the LORD has said,Among the remnant whom the LORD calls.”

God intentionally gathers the nations who are against him and his people.

Joel 3:2-4 “ I will also gather all nations, And bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat;

And I will enter into judgment with them there On account of My people, My heritage Israel,

Whom they have scattered among the nations;

They have also divided up My land. They have cast lots for My people,

Have given a boy as payment for a harlot,

And sold a girl for wine, that they may drink.

"Indeed, what have you to do with Me,

O Tyre and Sidon, and all the coasts of Philistia?

Will you retaliate against Me? But if you retaliate against Me,

Swiftly and speedily I will return your retaliation upon your own head;

Joel 3:12-13" Let the nations be wakened, and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat;

For there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations .

Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe.

Come, go down; For the winepress is full,The vats overflow--

For their wickedness is great."

This is further described in Rev. 14:18-20 “ Thrust in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for her grapes are fully ripe." So the angel thrust his sickle into the earth and gathered the vine of the earth, and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trampled outside the city, and blood came out of the winepress , up to the horses' bridles, for one thousand six hundred furlongs.”

Isa 63:1-2 writes “ Who is this who comes from Edom,With dyed garments from Bozrah,

This One who is glorious in His apparel,Traveling in the greatness of His strength?--

"I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save." Why is Your apparel red,And Your garments like one who treads in the winepress”

The answer V.3-“ I have trodden the winepress alone,And from the peoples no one was with Me.
For I have trodden them in My anger, And trampled them in My fury ;Their blood is sprinkled upon My garments,And I have stained all My robes. For the day of vengeance is in My heart,
And the year of My redeemed has come.”

Rev. 19:15-1And “ out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.”

Joel 3:14-17 “Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. The sun and moon will grow dark, And the stars will diminish their brightness. The LORD also will roar from Zion, And utter His voice from Jerusalem; The heavens and earth will shake;

But the LORD will be a shelter for His people,And the strength of the children of Israel.

"So you shall know that I am the LORD your God, Dwelling in Zion My holy mountain. Then Jerusalem shall be holy, And no aliens shall ever pass through her again."

The future of the nations according to Zechariah

Zech. 1:15-17”I am exceedingly angry with the nations at ease;For I was a little angry,And they helped--but with evil intent." 'Therefore thus says the LORD: "I am returning to Jerusalem withmercy;My house shall be built in it," says the LORD of hosts,

"And a surveyor's line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem." ' "Again proclaim, saying, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts: "My cities shall again spread out through prosperity;The LORD will again comfort Zion, And will again choose Jerusalem."

Zech 2:8-9 For thus says the LORD of hosts: "He sent Me after glory, to the nations which plunder you; for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye. For surely I will shake My hand against them, and they shall become spoil for their servants. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent Me.

Zechariah 12:7- "The LORD will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall not become greater than that of Judah In that day the LORD will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; the one who is feeble among them in that day shall be like David , and the house of David shall be like God, like the Angel of the LORD before them. It shall be in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.”What we see here is those in jerusalem fight like David, even those who are weak while the Lord first rescue those of Judah in Bozrah.

Zech. 14:1-4 “ Behold, the day of the LORD is coming, And your spoil will be divided in your midst. For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem;The city shall be taken,The houses rifled,And the women ravished. Half of the city shall go into captivity,But the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city. , Then the LORD will go forth And fight against those nations, As He fights in the day of battle. And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives,

They, Israel are saved, (Romans 11) not destroyed as so many hope will take place. Instead, they will be destroyed

Then his people are continued brought into the land as believers in their Messiah. Zechariah 8:7-" Thus says the LORD of hosts: 'Behold, I will save My people from the land of the east And from the land of the west; I will bring them back, And they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem.They shall be My people And I will be their God, In truth and righteousness .'

Isa 31:4 - “For thus the LORD has spoken to me:"As a lion roars, And a young lion over his prey (When a multitude of shepherds is summoned against him,He will not be afraid of their voice Nor be disturbed by their noise), So the LORD of hosts will come down To fight for Mount Zion and for its hill. 5 Like birds flying about,So will the LORD of hosts defend Jerusalem.Defending, He will also deliver it;Passing over, He will preserve it."

Amos 1:2 “ The LORD roars from Zion, For thus the LORD has spoken to me:" As a lion roars ,And a young lion over his prey (When a multitude of shepherds is summoned against him,He will not be afraid of their voice Nor be disturbed by their noise),So the LORD of hosts will come down To fight for Mount Zion and for its hill.Like birds flying about,So will the LORD of hosts defend Jerusalem.”

 

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