A DAY OF DEVASTATION
Since this book is based on the Day of the Lord, and the impending wrath that accompanies it, let's look at the Old Testament's description of the Day of the Lord. The actual phrase “Day of the Lord” is mentioned nineteen times in nine different books of the Old Testament (NKJV), and references to that day (which are phrased “on that day”, or “in that day”) number over 100. We know, according to 2 Tim 3:16, that all scripture is 'God-breathed' and is profitable for teaching and instruction; therefore, the numerous scriptures in the Bible dealing with the Day of the Lord are all inspired by the Holy Spirit and it is only with His help that truth in scripture can be revealed. The following selected verses from the Old Testament clearly illustrate the awesome impending judgment and devastation upon the earth at the time of the Day of the Lord. No matter what one may believe concerning the length of that day, it is obvious there will come a specific point in time when the Day of the Lord will commence. Below are several Old Testament verses which illustrate that the Day of the Lord will be a time of judgment; a day of fierce wrath, poured out from the Lord God upon the nations who have awaited His judgment.
Isa 2:12 “For the day of the LORD of hosts shall come upon everything proud and lofty, upon everything lifted up; And it shall be brought low."
Isa 13:6-7, 9, 13 “Wail, for the day of the LORD is at hand! It will come as destruction from the Almighty. Therefore all hands will be limp, every man's heart will melt. 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. 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."
Isa 66:15, 16 “For behold, the LORD will come with fire and with His chariots, like a whirlwind, to render His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by His sword the LORD will judge all flesh; And the slain of the LORD shall be many."
Jer 46:10 “For this is the day of the Lord GOD of hosts, a day of vengeance, that He may avenge Himself on His adversaries. The sword shall devour; It shall be satiated and made drunk with their blood; For the Lord GOD of hosts has a sacrifice in the north country by the River Euphrates.
Joel 1:15 “Alas for the day! For the day of the LORD is at hand; It shall come as destruction from the Almighty."
Amos 5:18 “Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD! For what good is the day of the LORD to you? It will be darkness, and not light."
Oba 1:15 “For the day of the LORD upon all the nations is near; As you have done, it shall be done to you; Your reprisal shall return upon your own head.”
Zeph 2:2 "...Before the LORD's fierce anger comes upon you, before the day of the LORD's anger comes upon you!"
Zech 14:6-7 "On that day there will be no light, no cold or frost. It will be a unique day, without daytime or night time, a day known to the LORD. When evening comes, there will be light."
The Day of the Lord will be a day of judgment and wrath. God, through the centuries, has continually demonstrated His patience toward mankind. His forbearance and kindness lead to repentance, but those who are unrepentant are awaiting His wrath (Rom 2:4-8). As stated in Acts 17:31 and Revelation 16:5: “...because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He ordained." "You are righteous, O Lord, The One who is and who was and who is to be, because You have judged these things. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and You have given them blood to drink. For it is their just due.” When the Lord is finally fed up with the wickedness of mankind and is ready to judge those who “have shed the blood of saints and prophets”, then this world and all it has achieved will end. Thus, we see that the Day of the Lord will happen at some point in time, at the end of the age, when the final, physical judgment of the unrighteous in this world takes place. Now, of this day and hour no man knows, as we shall see in the scriptures below, but what is the world's attitude toward His coming, and does God want us to be oblivious as to what will take place in these last days? To answer this let's look at several New Testament verses below.
1 Thess 5:1-3 “But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly well that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman.”
Luke 17:26-30 “And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will also be in the days of the coming of the Son of Man. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and took them all away. Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot. They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built. But on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed."
II Pet 3:3-4 Know that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts saying “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.”
Rev 3:3 “Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you.”
Matt 24:32-33 38-39, “Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near; at the doors!” “For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, they were marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them away: so shall the coming of the Son of Man be.”
1 Thess 5:4 “But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief."
As we can see, scoffers will continue to ridicule Christianity for its belief in the return of Jesus. And Jesus warns them that He will come upon them as a thief, in an hour when they are not prepared but are enjoying the “good life” by eating, drinking, marrying, and continuing on about their businesses and lives, not perceiving any of the warning signs given by Jesus concerning His return. As we see above in Matthew 24:39, “they did not understand” any of the signs; they remained in darkness until it was too late. Christians, however, are not going to be in the dark when it comes to knowing the times and seasons of Jesus' return. God has not purposed for us to be ignorant of His Son's return. If Jesus didn't want us to know any of the circumstances surrounding His return, (and have us remain 'clueless'), He would have told His disciples not to watch, not to prepare for it, but just basically let them know, "I'll be back when I'm back...don't worry about it." But Jesus does give us 'signs' concerning His return. He gives us illustrations from nature. A fig tree with sprouting leaves is a sure sign summer is near, just as His warnings are a sure sign that His return is near. But what are His warnings and what does scripture exactly say will happen before the Lord returns? Several places in scripture, including all the gospels, describe a scenario of world events just prior to His return. These will all be discussed later in this book. First, however, I'd like to take a look at what Paul writes in II Thessalonians regarding certain signs preceding the coming of our Lord Jesus.
II Thess 2:1-4 “Brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together with Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means, for that day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God."
What we see written here is a specific event, or 'sign' if you will, of what must transpire before the return of Jesus. But the question many of you might ask is “How does this affect us as the Church?” Well, the truth is, in a tremendous way. Let's review the verses above concerning the coming of our Lord. "Let no one deceive you...for that day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed...”. Put simply, Jesus will not return and gather us up until after the falling away and the son of perdition is revealed. Paul uses plain language here, and is very emphatic about what events precede the Lord's return. This deception Paul speaks of here is prevailing in the churches today and could play a significant role, I believe, for the Great Apostasy. (Let me explain what this means.) The word apostasy is from a Greek root word which means to “defect from the truth”. In this case it speaks of a large number of people who will defect, or fall away, from the faith and belief in Christ and Christianity. Of course there have always been people who have claimed a saving belief in Jesus, only later to denounce their belief and follow the ways of the world. But I believe, however, that the apostasy Paul refers to here is the Great Apostasy, brought on by the kingdom of 'the man of sin' (Antichrist) and the persecution of those who do not accept his mark and his authority as God, “so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” The Apostasy will most likely be the result of people 'playing church', who are ‘not watching’, and who think that the Church will not experience the wrath of Satan and can therefore accept this worldwide persuasion of a one world government under an impressive leader - the Antichrist. A more detailed description of the Antichrist and his rule will be discussed in the next chapter, but first I want to continue with the concept of the Church remaining during the reign of the Antichrist. I am under the firm belief that the Church will experience the tyranny of the Antichrist and his empirical rule. I cannot find anywhere in scripture where it mentions that the Church will be spared from his oppressive and persecutive reign. I believe that Matthew 24:15-31 and Mark 13:9-27 are given to the believers to prepare them for the coming persecutions, which will take place just prior to the Lord's return and the rapture of the Church. The analogies used by Jesus, shown in the previous verses, remind us that His return will be like in the days of Noah and the days of Lot. This two-fold theme, the rescuing of the righteous and the destruction of the wicked, will be the final climatic event that takes place in our civilization. I personally hold to the view that the saints will be persecuted by the Antichrist and False Prophet, and that it will be a time of refining and purifying for the Church. Let's look at selected verses which support this view.
Matt 24: 9-11, 21 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another; many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.” “For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the creation which God created until this time, nor ever shall be.”
Luke 21:16 “You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death."
Mark 13:9 “So watch out for yourselves, for they will deliver you up to councils, and you will be beaten in the synagogues. You will be brought before rulers and kings for My sake, for a testimony to them."
From the above verses we can see that the believers will endure some serious persecution. Jesus is warning us of a time of tribulation when even relatives will betray us. Before proceeding any further let me take a minute here to clarify some terminology and concepts about the tribulation that are grossly being misused. So much confusion could be cleared up if the definition of the term 'tribulation' were understood. This is what conclusion I have come to, based on these verses above and others to follow. The Great Tribulation is not the wrath of God! The verses above depict a time of persecution upon the followers of Jesus, a time He refers to as “great tribulation”. The reason I believe this view is based on what I can determine, from scripture, exactly what the tribulation is. The phrase “great tribulation”, is used three times in the Bible. (Two times are mentioned by Jesus in Matthew 24:21 and Revelation 2:22, and the other recorded in Revelation 7:14). As a matter of fact, the only place in the Bible where the phrase "The Great Tribulation” is used is in Revelation 7:14 where the elder is speaking to John in reference to believers who have suffered persecution and have been martyred. Other verses that mention tribulation use the word as a general description of distress, but only Revelation 7:14 uses the word as a specific event in time (i.e. many great wars have happened, but we say “The Great War” when we are referring to World War One). So we see that the only time the phrase “the great tribulation” is used in the Bible is when believers are being portrayed as having been martyred! The word most Bible translations use for tribulation is, in the Greek language, thlipsis. This word is defined as affliction, distress and persecution. The majority of verses that use the word thlipsis are not speaking of wrath, but rather persecution. We see that these verses mentioning tribulation are in reference to believers speaking of one another, or of themselves, in some kind of distress and pressure from outside persecutors. For some reason “The Great Tribulation” has been colloquialized to represent the wrath of God being poured out upon the earth, just as the word 'Apocalypse' (which is a Greek word for revelation) in our society represents doom and gloom and the end. At some point in time, somewhere in church history past, some theologian 'nicknamed' the judgments in Revelation as "The Great Tribulation". Well, that is not the Great Tribulation! That should be called "The Great Retribution". In II Thessalonians 1, in the New American Standard Version of the Bible, we read: “...when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus." I guess you could say that I am not pretrib, but pre-retrib. God has not destined us for His wrath, but to obtain salvation through Jesus Christ (Amen). However, our being persecuted and suffering as a Christian is the “manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God that we may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which we are suffering.” (II Thess 1:5). "And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. (Rom 5:3-4). The emphasis behind understanding this language is to show, in this world, we will have tribulation-persecution-suffering for being a Christian. As a matter of fact, sometimes I think if you're not suffering as a Christian there may be too much compromising going on. Jesus says in the book of John, “In this world you will have tribulation; but take courage, for I have overcome the world.” What was stated earlier, that God considers us worthy of His kingdom because of our suffering, means that persecution brings about refinement and purification. If this is true then certainly Jesus would want His bride, the Church, purified and refined before His return. The overall condition of the church today portrays a complaisant, materialistic bride for our Lord. How better to purify His church and strengthen our faith than to have it go through the greatest persecution this world has ever known. As Titus 2:14 says, “...who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.” I have come to realize that the primary reason Christians want to believe in a pretribulational rapture is because they don't want to suffer. Well, nobody wants to. But if there is no merit in Christians being persecuted then Jesus owes an apology to His apostles and the first century church. And just talk to someone who's really been persecuted for being a Christian and see if that experience didn't strengthen their faith and their relationship with Jesus. Don’t let anyone tell you God doesn’t want us to suffer, or die, for righteousness sake. Millions of Christians who have been martyred around the world would disagree.
So, based on the accuracy of this information let's look at the sections of the gospels which deal with this ‘Great Persecution’ just prior to the return of Jesus.
Matt 24:6-14 “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come."
Mark 13: 9,11-13 “But watch out for yourselves, for they will deliver you up to councils, and you will be beaten in the synagogues. You will be brought before rulers and kings for My sake, for a testimony to them. But when they arrest you and deliver you up, do not worry beforehand, or premeditate what you will speak. But whatever is given you in that hour, speak that; for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. Now brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. And you will be hated by all for My name's sake. But he who endures to the end shall be saved.”
Mark 13:19 “For in those days there will be tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the creation which God created until this time, nor ever shall be.”
In these verses we see several things. Jesus describes for us 'birth pangs' prior to His return, which He calls the beginning of sorrows. We are told these must take place, but will not occur immediately at the end of the age before His return. Jesus then goes on to describe what will take place before the end; our persecution, being delivered up to councils and synagogues (actually translated as assemblies and congregations), being hated for “My name's sake”, and being delivered over by family members who are offended and who betray one another. Doesn't this betrayal by family members represent a lucid picture of the apostasy spoken of in II Thessalonians? So called Christians, who ‘play’ Christian, won't be playing Christian any longer when it comes to acknowledging Jesus or being put to death.
So, we see that these betrayals and persecutions, being delivered over to councils, and having the Holy Spirit tell us what to say, are just a few of the signs that we are to watch for before the return of Jesus. Another sign Jesus gives us is that 'false prophets' will rise up and show amazing miracles. There have been numerous false prophets throughout history, but I want to take time now to give a detailed description of the greatest false christ and false prophet this world will ever know. I'm including a section on this false christ because of the numerous speculations (past and present) as to who this man is, or will be. The Bible has given us plenty of information on him, and plenty of warnings about him, so that we should be prepared when we see his satanic dynasty unfold. Let's begin with the summary Jesus gives us in Matthew 24:15. Jesus has just briefly given to His disciples a picture of what will happen at the end. Now He summarizes by saying:
Matt 24:15-21 “Therefore when you see the 'abomination of desolation,' spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.”
The 'abomination of desolation', originally found in Daniel chapter nine, is a term many of you may have heard several times in churches, referring to the Antichrist. Jesus refers here to this one “standing in the holy place”, and that when you see him in the holy place to flee to the mountains. Several places in the Bible give us insight into this “man of lawlessness” and his detestable acts. The majority of information on the Antichrist is found in the books of Daniel and Revelation. Starting in Daniel chapter 7 we begin to see a picture of the Antichrist's origins and his reign of terror.