The Day of the Lord

The Day of the Lord

One could not know when the day of the Lord is except nearing the season. Even Jesus did not know when His parousia in the day of the Lord would commence. But we do know once it has started when He will step down on the mount of olives. We can count down the days 42 thirty day months for the first half of the Tribulation and 42 thirty day months for the second half of the Tribulation. Christ steps down at that 42nd month of the 2nd half of the Tribulation. Remember, the last week is 7 years like the other weeks in Daniel's prophecy. This upsets historicalists.

The day of the Lord is when Christ's parousia commences with first rapture for those who were ready to be received come before the throne (Rev. 7.9) before the trumpets of the Tribulation. Then Christ comes down from heaven onto the clouds then in the clouds, and then finally steps down on mount of olives (Zech. 14.4).

Rev. 6 is immediately preceding first rapture (7.9), "and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood" (v.12). Compare this with Act 2: "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come" (v.20).

There are many events that transpire during the day of the Lord which take many more than a single day. First there is the first rapture, then Christ meets the saints in the air at the last trumpet, then Christ returns with His overcomers to step down on the mount of olives and reign with them with an iron rod for 1000 years. The day of the Lord is most extensive and full of Christ.

The discussion changes from verses 29-31 of Matthew 24 from speaking to the Jews in Matthew 24.4-31, to the fig tree which is addressing the Church. Now the Church is addressed from Matthew 24.32-Matthew 25.30, followed by the nations in 31-46. We cite more than a dozen differences in the 24.4-31 text compared to the 24.32ff text. The latter is moral in nature, the former uses Jewish references.

This division is based on internal as well as external evidences, as follows.

A. 24.1-31 concerns the Jews, since everything here is literally interpreted; but 24.32-25.46 concerns the church since everything there is spiritually interpreted. For example, “winter” in verse 20 is literal since it is in actual fact a difficult thing to flee in the winter (“sabbath” too is literal); “summer” in verse 32, however, is to be spiritually interpreted since it points to the soon coming of the kingdom (while the “fig tree” refers to the nation of Israel). Or as another example, in verse 26 “the inner chambers” must be interpreted literally, whereas in verse 43 “the house” is to be interpreted spiritually. Hence what concerns the Jews is to be literally interpreted; but what concerns the church is to be spiritually interpreted (see Matt. 13.11-13).

B. The part before 24.31 is full of Jewish background, as is made clear by the usage of such terms as “the holy place” (v.15), “in Judea” (v.16), and “sabbath” (v.20); but the part after 24.31 is plainly without any localized restriction in its terminology.

C. The things mentioned before 24.31 are physical in nature, whereas all those things mentioned afterwards are moral in character. For instance, the nations, the mothers with children, and the children mentioned in the first part are all physical or literal in meaning; yet the virgins, the servants and the householder, and the goats and the sheep cited in chapter 25 have moral implications about them. In addition, “go . . . forth” in 24.26 and “went forth” in 25.1 are different in character, with the former being literal and the latter being moral in their implications.

D. Before 24.31 there is no moral demand included; what is required is to flee. But after 24.31 there are moral demands presented, such as watch, be ready, and so forth—which actions are the responsibilities of the saints at the end time.

E. Since the Jews are still expecting the Messiah, there are false Christs being mentioned before 24.31; but there is no word about false Christs after 24.31, because the latter part is addressed to the church.

For those that tell you there is no first rapture in Scripture, just ask them to disprove Rev. 3.10, Luke 21.36, Matt. 24.40,42; Mark 13.32; Rev. 7.9,15; 12.5, 14.1-5. If they cannot, they can't.

The 6th seal is immediately preceding the day of the Lord. That's why there is the interjection of the first rapture at Rev. 7.9; then follows the breaking of the last seal which opens up the 7 trumpets starting in chapter 8.

We should refuse legalists who teach all the events of the trumpets through Rev 8 to Rev. 11 happen in one day. The Bible even speaks to us clearly that after the time and times, and half of time of three and a half are followed by 30 more days of the Lord to th 1290th day where He judges, and then 45 more days to the 1335th day were Israel is set up as the center of all nations.

So we conclude there is the first rapture of readiness (see above verses) and the 7th trumpet rapture which completes the raptures of the last week of 7 years (1 Thess. 4.15-17, 1 Cor. 15.23, 50-52, 1 Thess. 5.2,4).

Others object that rapture is part of redemption, that since redemption is according to grace, rapture cannot be based on the concept of worthiness. In reply, it needs to be pointed out that while the act of changing (see 1 Cor. 15.51-52) is indeed according to grace, the act of being taken (rapture) is according to works. Since in 1 Cor. 15:50-52 (“We all shall not sleep, but we shall all be changed”) “all” is the word used, surely this signifies the whole body. Yes, the “all” here does indeed refer to the entire body, but it does not have reference to the same time. For example, we all will die, but certainly not all of us will do so in one day. There is a distinction made in the Bible between wheat and tares, some say, but no difference made between wheat and wheat; consequently, all wheat must be raptured. In reply, it should be noted that the times of ripening for wheat are not the same. Thus there are the firstfruits (Rev. 14.1-5) and the later harvest (14.14-16). I Corinthians 15.23, say some, only mentions “they that are Christ’s” and that nothing is said about works. But let us be aware that this verse does not speak of WHEN of rapture, it speaks of resurrection. Do reject the legalists for we can cite at least 12 different raptures in the Bible.

We need to be careful of those who are antinomian wherein they just declare their rapture not according to readiness. This allows them, so they think, to sin as they may without consequence, yet the millennial kingdom is called the time of recompense for believers because the believers that are included in the 1st resurrection will reign during the millennium while those that lose this reward will spend the time in outer darkness, outside the light of rewards of reigning with Christ. Just as their are these firstfruits in the millennium headed towards the new city, so there was the firstfruits in the Tribulation where there was the first rapture according to readiness. This is God's righteous way of doing things and according to His nature (holiness). If you deny this you can be assured at the very least you will lose rewards.