The Day of the Lord: When, How and Why?
Part One — God Shakes the
Earth
"Wail, for the day of the LORD is near;
it will come like destruction from the Almighty." (Isaiah 13:6)
Introduction
The purpose of this short
series of articles is to contribute some new research towards the
development of a truly Biblical Pre-Trib prophetic timeline. These articles are not meant
to be taken as a challenge to the Pre-Trib position but are instead
presented for the purpose of perfecting and strengthening the teaching of
the Pre-Trib Rapture.
The Pre-Trib discussion
concerning the timeline of prophetic events is currently dominated by terms such as
'seven-year tribulation' and 'great tribulation.' However, when we turn to
the words of the Old Testament prophets and the New Testament Apostles, we
find that the term most consistently used in reference to the end-times is
'the Day of the Lord.' The actual term 'seven-year tribulation' does not
appear in Scripture, and elements of Daniel's 70th Week are not
even referred to in the book of Revelation until chapter 11. When it comes
to the term 'great tribulation' we find that it appears in Bible prophecy
only three times, which helps to explain why Pre-Trib scholars remain
divided as to what period of time it actually refers to. Some say it refers
to the entire 70th Week (Fruchtenbaum), while others teach that
it applies only to the second half of the 70th Week (Ice).
The current Pre-Trib view
was systematically developed with a focus upon the 'seven-year tribulation,'
and today everyone familiar with this prophetic model can explain when, how
and why the 'seven-year tribulation' begins. It begins, we are told, with
the signing of a covenant involving Israel and the Antichrist; it brings a
period of 'false peace' for Israel; and both the Antichrist and the
beginning of the 70th Week covenant is represented in the book of
Revelation through the symbolism of the first Seal (Revelation 6:2).
Additionally, almost as an afterthought, the first Seal is also given the
distinction of marking the beginning of the Day of the Lord.
As far as most Pre-Trib
scholars are concerned the dominant theme of the end-times is understood to
be the 'seven-year tribulation,' and the 'Day of the Lord' is of only
secondary importance. But what if this perspective is wrong? What
happens when the Day of the Lord is viewed as the dominant theme of
the Bible's end-times predictions, which the many references in the Old and
New Testaments suggest? The result of this proposed change in perspective
can be read in the study that follows, as we answer the questions of "When,
How and Why?" regarding the Day of the Lord. In other words, what evidence
can be provided that explains when the Day of the Lord begins in the
book of Revelation? What does the Bible say concerning how this
terrible 'Day' begins? Furthermore, why does the Day of the Lord even
begin? What prompts God to finally 'break His silence' and intervene in
human affairs in a decisive and catastrophic manner? Finally, after all of
these questions are answered, I believe it then becomes clear exactly
when the Day of the Lord begins in relation to the 70th Week
of Daniel.
Before we move on let me be
perfectly clear that the answer to this final question will be in harmony
with current Pre-Trib scholarship. Through this study of the Day of the Lord
a different route will be taken, but we will arrive at the same destination:
the Day of the Lord begins prior to the start of the 70th
Week of Daniel. Of course this also means that the Rapture of the Church
occurs before the 'seven-year tribulation' of the 70th
Week of Daniel, and the Pre-Trib Rapture is thus perfected, strengthened and
preserved.
Characteristics of the
Day of the Lord
Let's begin with the
question of "How does the Day of the Lord begin?" A succinct answer to this
question is provided by Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3,
"Now, brothers, about
times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that
the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people
are saying, "Peace and safety," destruction will come on them suddenly, as
labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape."
When we examine these words
closely we see that Paul is simply re-stating the teachings of Jesus
concerning the Day of the Lord, and there are at least seven common elements
between Paul's message to the Thessalonians and the Olivet Discourse given
by Jesus.
1. Paul says not to worry
about "times and dates" when it comes to the Day of the Lord, while Jesus
says that "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the
angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father." (Matthew 24:36).
2. Both Paul and Jesus
(Matthew 24:43) compare the coming of the Day of the Lord to the coming of a
"thief in the night," which is a comparison repeated by the Apostle Peter in
2 Peter 3:10. This stands in contrast to the actual Second Coming of Jesus
to the earth. The Day of the Lord will begin unexpectedly for unbelievers
and is an unknown day, but the day of Christ's physical return will be a
known day and will be entirely expected by unbelievers, and in fact
militarily resisted, as shown in Revelation 16:13-16, 19:19, and Psalm 2.
3. Paul says that the Day of
the Lord will be preceded by a worldly expectation of "peace and safety,"
while Jesus compares the time before the Day of the Lord to the carefree
attitude of unbelievers prior to the flood (Matthew 24:37-39).
4. Paul says that the Day of
the Lord will begin with "sudden destruction," and Jesus compares it with
the sudden destruction of Noah's flood which surprised and destroyed the
willfully ignorant unbelievers (Matthew 24:39).
5. Both Paul and Jesus use
the metaphor of a pregnant woman. Jesus speaks of the signs that precede the
Day of the Lord as the "beginning of birthpangs" (Matthew 24:8),
while Paul speaks of the coming of the Day of the Lord as the sudden onset
of the actual labor.
6. Going further into Paul's
message in 1 Thessalonians 5 we find that Paul admonishes his readers
saying, "So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be
alert and self-controlled" (v.6), which parallels the warning from Jesus for
believers to "keep watch" so as not to be surprised by the "thief
in the night" (Matthew 24:42-44). We also find the admonition to
"keep watch" for the coming of the Day of the Lord within a passage of
the Olivet Discourse found in the Gospel of Luke:
"Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation,
drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you
unexpectedly like a trap. For it will come upon all those who live on the
face of the whole earth. Be always on the watch, and pray that you
may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able
to stand before the Son of Man." (Luke 21:34-36)
In the passage above Jesus again speaks about the suddenness and
unexpectedness of the coming of "that day" which, as always,
can only refer to the apocalyptic 'Day of the Lord.'
7. The final common element within the teachings of Jesus and Paul regarding
the Day of the Lord that we will examine is the possibility of escape.
In the passage above Jesus says that those who faithfully watch and pray
will be able to "escape" the events of "that day" and "stand before the Son
of Man." Paul mentions escape in the negative sense, saying that unbelievers
"will not escape" the unexpected coming of the Day of the Lord (1
Thessalonians 5:3). If we compare Paul's words and Luke 21:34-36 with
Matthew 24:40-41, we see that those who are "taken" are those who "escape"
the Day of the Lord to "stand before the Son of Man," whereas those who are
"left" are those who "do not escape," who are left behind to face the
wrath of the Day of the Lord.
Destruction from the Almighty
One element that appears to be highly stressed regarding the coming of the
Day of the Lord according to Jesus and Paul is the fact that it will come
with great destruction. The Old Testament prophets Isaiah and Joel also
speak about the destructive nature of the Day of the Lord:
Isaiah: "Wail, for
the day of the LORD is near; it will come like destruction from the
Almighty. Because of this, all hands will go limp, every man's heart
will melt. Terror will seize them, pain and anguish will grip them; they
will writhe like a woman in labor. They will look aghast at each
other, their faces aflame. See, the day of the LORD is coming --a cruel day,
with wrath and fierce anger-- to make the land desolate and destroy the
sinners within it." (13:6-9)
Joel: "Alas for that day! For the day of the
LORD is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty."
(1:15)
Isaiah reveals that the
ultimate purpose of the Day of the Lord is to "destroy the sinners" of the
world. Other prophets also mention this aspect of global judgment that is
directed against the nations of the world:
Ezekiel: "The word of
the LORD came to me: "Son of man, prophesy and say: `This is what the
Sovereign LORD says: "`Wail and say, "Alas for that day!" For the day is
near, the day of the LORD is near-- a day of clouds, a time of doom for
the nations." (30:1-3)
Obadiah: "The day of
the LORD is near for all nations. As you have done, it will be done
to you; your deeds will return upon your own head. Just as you drank on my
holy hill, so all the nations will drink continually; they will drink and
drink and be as if they had never been." (1:15-16)
From all of these references
we can see that the Day of the Lord will begin with great destruction and
that it is a judgment aimed at the nations and the sinners of the world. Yet
we still have not discovered exactly how this global judgment will
begin and what form it will initially take.
Proponents of the
predominant Pre-Trib view (Fruchtenbaum, Walvoord) place the start of the
Day of the Lord at the opening of the first Seal, which they teach also
marks the beginning of the 70th Week covenant of Daniel 9:27. We
know that the 70th Week begins with a seven-year peace covenant,
while the Day of the Lord begins with sudden destruction. How can these
seemingly different events, beginning in radically different ways, begin at
the same time? Where is the "sudden destruction" in the first Seal of
Revelation?
There is really nothing in
the Bible that explicitly connects the first Seal with the beginning of the
Day of the Lord. This connection was made by early Pre-Trib scholars because
of their focus on the 'seven-year tribulation.' Once it was decided that the
first Seal represents both the Antichrist and the beginning of the 70th
Week covenant these scholars were "painted into a corner," so to speak, and
forced to conclude that the first Seal must also mark the beginning of the
Day of the Lord. In the next section we will break away from this
questionable emphasis on the first Seal and examine the Scriptures from a
fresh perspective. In the end it will become clear that the Day of the Lord
does not begin with a diplomatic or bureaucratic event such as the
signing of the 70th Week covenant, but with the sudden and
destructive outpouring of the wrath of God upon the entire world!
The Shaking of the Earth
When we examine the Old
Testament warnings about the coming of the Day of the Lord we find that the
catastrophic event that marks the beginning of that 'Day' is the shaking
of the earth. The very first explicit Old Testament warning about the
Day of the Lord is given through the prophet Isaiah, which is a message that
should remind us of a similar passage in the book of Revelation:
"Go into the rocks,
hide in the ground from dread of the LORD and the splendor of his majesty!
The eyes of the arrogant man will be humbled and the pride of men brought
low; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day. The LORD Almighty has a
day in store for all the proud and lofty, for all that is exalted (and
they will be humbled)... The arrogance of man will be brought low and the
pride of men humbled; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day, and the
idols will totally disappear. Men will flee to caves in the rocks and to
holes in the ground from dread of the LORD and the splendor of his majesty,
when he rises to shake the earth. In that day men will throw away to
the rodents and bats their idols of silver and idols of gold, which they
made to worship. They will flee to caverns in the rocks and to the
overhanging crags from dread of the LORD and the splendor of his majesty,
when he rises to shake the earth." (Isaiah 2:10-21)
Similar predictions of the
shaking of the earth and the Day of the Lord are given again by Isaiah, and
also by the prophet Joel:
Isaiah: "Therefore I
will make the heavens tremble; and the earth will shake from its place
at the wrath of the LORD Almighty, in the day of his burning anger."
(13:13)
Joel: "For the day of
the LORD is near... The LORD will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem;
the earth and the sky will tremble. But the LORD will be a refuge for
his people, a stronghold for the people of Israel." (3:14-16)
It is clear that the Day of
the Lord will involve the shaking of the earth, but how can we be certain
that such an event marks the very beginning of the Day of the Lord?
The answer comes when we examine another prophecy given by the prophet Joel.
Both Joel's prophecy and the prophecy of Isaiah 2 are then shown fulfilled
in the book of Revelation. First Joel's prophecy:
"The sun will be
turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great
and dreadful day of the LORD." (Joel 2:31)
There are actually three
Biblical prophecies that must be fulfilled before the beginning of
the Day of the Lord, but this is the one that helps us pinpoint the
beginning of the Day of the Lord in Revelation. (The other two are Malachi
4:5 and 2 Thessalonians 2:3.) Aside from Revelation, the only other time
that a blood red moon is mentioned is in Acts 2 when Peter quotes Joel 2:31
after receiving the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. I believe that Peter's strange
reference to Joel's prophecy was made simply to indicate the duration of the
Church Age. It began with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost,
and it will end just before the Day of the Lord begins after the sign
of the blood red moon. Here is the fulfillment of Joel 2:31 and Isaiah 2 in
Revelation:
"I watched as he
opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black
like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, and
the stars in the sky fell to earth, as late figs drop from a fig tree when
shaken by a strong wind. The sky receded like a scroll, rolling up, and
every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of
the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave
and every free man hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. They
called to the mountains and the 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 their wrath has come, and who can stand?'" (Revelation 6:12-17)
Joel predicts that the sun
will go dark and the moon will turn red like blood before the coming
of the Day of the Lord. Isaiah predicts how the Day of the Lord will
begin when he says that "Men will flee to caves in the rocks and to
holes in the ground from dread of the LORD and the splendor of his majesty,
when he rises to shake the earth" (2:19,21). This shaking of the
entire earth occurs as a result of the sixth Seal and is described by John
in verse 14,
"The sky receded like
a scroll, rolling up, and every mountain and island was removed from its
place."
After the sixth Seal is
opened the sky will go dark and there will be a magnificent meteor shower of
falling stars appearing "like figs falling from a fig tree." Then the earth
will tilt on its axis, changing the position of every mountain and island,
and causing the fixed stars in the sky to appear to move overhead just like
the letters on a scroll move as the scroll is rolled up. In other passages
Isaiah gives further descriptions of this shaking of the globe that causes
the sky to roll up like a scroll:
"The earth is broken
up, the earth is split asunder, the earth is thoroughly shaken. The earth
reels like a drunkard, it sways like a hut in the wind; so heavy upon it
is the guilt of its rebellion that it falls--never to rise again. In that
day the LORD will punish the powers in the heavens above and the kings
on the earth below." (Isaiah 24:19-21)
"Come near, you
nations, and listen; pay attention, you peoples! Let the earth hear, and all
that is in it, the world, and all that comes out of it! The LORD is angry
with all nations; his wrath is upon all their armies. He will totally
destroy them, he will give them over to slaughter. Their slain will be
thrown out, their dead bodies will send up a stench; the mountains will be
soaked with their blood. All the stars of the heavens will be dissolved
and the sky rolled up like a scroll; all the starry host will fall
like withered leaves from the vine, like shriveled figs from the fig tree."
(Isaiah 34:1-4)
The Day of the Lord will
begin with the catastrophic shaking of the entire earth by the hand of God.
Isaiah declares that "The LORD Almighty has a day in store for all the
proud and lofty" (2:12), and after the sixth Seal is opened and the
earth is shaken the "proud and lofty" ("the kings of the earth, the princes,
the generals, the rich, the mighty"), along with everyone else, flee in
terror to hide in the caves and hills. Then they cry out to the rocks in
desperation and unmistakably declare that this great day has finally
come:
"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 their wrath has come, and who can stand?"
(Revelation 6:16-17)
Conclusion
The great and terrible Day
of the Lord can be conclusively shown to begin after the opening of the
sixth Seal of Revelation. Just as Jesus, Paul, and the Old Testament
prophets predict, it will begin suddenly and destructively, and it will
affect every single person on the face of the earth. The Day of the Lord
will be preceded by Joel's sign of a darkened sun and blood red moon,
and then it will begin with the shaking of the earth by God's own
power. It will be an unmistakable display of God's "wrath and fierce anger"
against an unbelieving and sinful world, and every person on the face of the
earth will react in fear and know that God has acted.
Part Two — God Saves
Israel
"For the LORD has a day of vengeance, a year
of retribution,
to uphold Zion's cause." (Isaiah 34:8)
Introduction
In Part One of this series
we discovered that the Day of the Lord begins when God suddenly shakes the
earth after the opening of the sixth Seal of Revelation. Now we must figure
out exactly why God decides to strike the earth with such a
devastating judgment. The answer, once again, can be discovered by examining
the words of the Old Testament prophets concerning this long-expected
apocalyptic Day.
Anger, Wrath, and Divine
Protection
According to Isaiah 34:8,
the purpose of the Day of the Lord is "to uphold Zion's cause." The divine
purpose of the Day of the Lord is also revealed by the prophet Joel:
"For the day of
the LORD is near in the valley of decision. The sun and moon will be
darkened, and the stars no longer shine. The LORD will roar from Zion and
thunder from Jerusalem; the earth and the sky will tremble. But the
LORD will be a refuge for his people, a stronghold for the people of
Israel." (Joel 3:14-16)
Joel writes that the Day of
the Lord will be a time when the Lord will "roar from Zion" and "thunder
from Jerusalem" and that He will be a "refuge" and a "stronghold" for His
people Israel. God will protect the faithful of Israel during the Day of the
Lord, which other prophets describe as a day of judgment that is the result
of God's anger and wrath:
"See, the day of the
LORD is coming --a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger-- to make
the land desolate and destroy the sinners within it... Therefore I will make
the heavens tremble; and the earth will shake from its place at the
wrath of the LORD Almighty, in the day of his burning anger."
(Isaiah 13:9,13)
"Gather together,
gather together, O shameful nation, before the appointed time arrives and
that day sweeps on like chaff, before the fierce anger of the LORD
comes upon you, before the day of the LORD's wrath comes upon you.
Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land, you who do what he commands. Seek
righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of
the LORD's anger." (Zephaniah 2:1-3)
But what
could possibly arouse God's anger to such an extent that He would reach out
and shake the entire earth? This question is very clearly answered by the
prophet Ezekiel:
"This is what will
happen in that day: When Gog attacks the land of
Israel, my hot anger will be aroused, declares the Sovereign LORD.
In my zeal and fiery wrath I declare that at that time there shall be a
great earthquake in the land of Israel. The fish of the sea, the birds of
the air, the beasts of the field, every creature that moves along the
ground, and all the people on the face of the earth will tremble
at my presence. The mountains will be overturned, the cliffs will
crumble and every wall will fall to the ground." (Ezekiel 38:18-20)
The passage that you have
just read is part of Ezekiel's description of the events that provoke God's
anger and wrath, causing Him to strike out in judgment against the nations
of the world in defense of His people Israel. This text is a description of
the beginning of the great and terrible Day of the Lord and it is the very
same event that is described in the sixth Seal judgment of Revelation
6:12-17. The parallels are clear and unmistakable and they become even more
obvious when compared with the descriptions of the beginning of the Day of
the Lord that are provided by Jesus and Paul. We will now examine five of
these parallels.
1. Peace and Safety
Paul writes that "people"
will be saying "peace and safety" prior to the Day of the Lord, and Jesus
speaks of a similar attitude with people "eating and drinking, marrying and
giving in marriage" just before "that day" comes (Matthew 24:38). In another
passage Jesus warns believers to resist the temptations of "dissipation,
drunkenness and the anxieties of life" (Luke 21:34) which also implies an
apparently peaceful setting leading up to the Day of the Lord.
When we turn to Ezekiel we
find that Israel is living in "safety" (38:8 and 38:14), and Israel
is described as a "peaceful and unsuspecting people" (38:11).
Furthermore, in an enigmatic reference, we are told that God will also
strike "those who live in safety in the coastlands, and they will
know that I am the LORD" (39:6).
Author and Bible scholar
Doug Berner has specialized in the study of Ezekiel 38-39 and in his article
"A False Sense of Security" (see
www.thesilenceisbroken.us) he focuses on the meaning of the word
"safety" (betach) in Ezekiel's context. He concludes that Israel can
be more properly described as "dwelling carelessly under a false sense of
security" rather than existing in "an actual condition of safety." Once
again this compares favorably with Paul's description of the attitude of
unbelievers prior to the Day of the Lord. They will be saying "peace and
safety" but then "destruction will come on them suddenly... and they will not
escape" (1 Thessalonians 5:3).
2. Sudden Destruction
The references above also
point to the fact that the Day of the Lord, from all perspectives, will come
suddenly and with great destruction. The initial "destruction" of the
beginning of the Day of the Lord is described in Ezekiel 38:20, "The
mountains will be overturned, the cliffs will crumble and every wall
will fall to the ground." From Ezekiel's description it seems as
if the mountains and rocks will answer the plea voiced by the people of the
earth as a result of the sixth Seal: "They called to the mountains and
the rocks, 'Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on
the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!'" (Revelation 6:16).
Jesus compares the
destruction of the Day of the Lord with the destruction of the flood of
Noah, which destroyed all of the unbelievers. It is true that not all
unbelievers will be destroyed at the beginning of the Day of the
Lord, but this does not mean that the comparison does not apply. The
destruction of the Day of the Lord will come in stages and at the final
stage, prior to the establishment of the Messianic Kingdom, the wicked will
be destroyed and the righteous will be invited into the Kingdom. In the end,
as far as unbelievers are concerned, the Day of the Lord will deliver the
same final and absolute result as Noah's flood.
3. A Global Earthquake
The Old Testament prophets
are clear that the Day of the Lord will begin with the shaking of the earth,
and we have already shown how this event is also described in Revelation as
the sixth Seal judgment. If we look closer we can see exactly how this
shaking of the earth begins. Recall how the events of the sixth Seal are
first described:
"I watched as he
opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake..." (Revelation
6:12).
Apparently the seismic
activity of the Day of the Lord begins as a local earthquake. Ezekiel
reveals exactly where this initial earthquake occurs when he writes, "In my
zeal and fiery wrath I declare that at that time there shall be a great
earthquake in the land of Israel" (38:19). In Ezekiel's description,
as in Revelation, this earthquake expands so that all the people on the face
of the earth "tremble" at the presence of God (38:20). Joel offers words to
the same effect in his description of the Day of the Lord. He says that "The
LORD will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem;
the earth and the sky will tremble" (3:16).
From all of these
descriptions we can deduce that perhaps Jerusalem, God's holy city, will be
the exact epicenter of this great global earthquake. The tremors will
first be felt in Israel, but then they will radiate outwards, gathering in
momentum and intensity until the shaking of the earth affects the entire
globe!
4. The Wrath of God
Virtually all of the texts
that describe the beginning of the Day of the Lord explain that it is the
result of the wrath of God. This is true in Ezekiel, who writes of
God's "zeal" and "fiery wrath" that manifests as the initial
earthquake in Israel, and references to "wrath" are also found in the
statements from mankind after the earth is shaken:
"...hide us from... the
wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come..."
(Revelation 6:16-17)
The Apostle Paul also
mentions wrath in connection with the beginning of the Day of the
Lord,
"...you know very well
that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While
people are saying, "Peace and safety," destruction will come on them
suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But
you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like
a thief. You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong
to the night or to the darkness... For God did not appoint us to suffer
wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ." (1
Thessalonians 5:2-5,9)
5. The Fear of Man
The final parallel that we
will examine, that unites all of these separate descriptions of the
beginning of the Day of the Lord, concerns humanity's fearful response to
God's actions:
Isaiah 2:19, "Men
will flee to caves in the rocks and to holes in the ground from dread
of the LORD and the splendor of his majesty, when he rises to shake the
earth."
Isaiah 13:6-8, "Wail,
for the day of the LORD is near; it will come like destruction from the
Almighty. Because of this, all hands will go limp, every man's heart will
melt. Terror will seize them, pain and anguish will grip them; they will
writhe like a woman in labor. They will look aghast at each other, their
faces aflame."
Ezekiel 38:20, "The
fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the beasts of the field, every
creature that moves along the ground, and all the people on the face of
the earth will tremble at my presence."
Luke 21:25-26 "There
will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be
in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. Men
will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for
the heavenly bodies will be shaken."
Revelation 6:14-17,
"The sky receded like a scroll, rolling up, and every mountain and island
was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the
generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in
caves and among the rocks of the mountains. They called to the mountains
and the 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 their wrath
has come, and who can stand?"
The Destruction of the
Magog Alliance
What we have discovered so
far is that the Day of the Lord begins because of the threat against Israel
that comes from the Magog Alliance of Ezekiel 38-39. Yet the very first
judgment that comes from God is not directed specifically at the armies of
the invasion, or against their home countries, but is a shaking of the earth
directed against the entire world!
It seems that there is a
brief interlude between the shaking of the earth and the subsequent judgment
that is directed specifically against the Magog Alliance. The destruction of
the invaders is described in Ezekiel and, once again, there is a parallel
description in the book of Revelation:
"I will summon a
sword against Gog on all my mountains, declares the Sovereign LORD. Every
man's sword will be against his brother. I will execute judgment upon him
with plague and bloodshed; I will pour down torrents of rain,
hailstones and burning sulfur on him and on his troops and on the
many nations with him. And so I will show my greatness and my holiness,
and I will make myself known in the sight of many nations. Then they will
know that I am the LORD." (Ezekiel 38:21-23)
"The first angel
sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood,
and it was hurled down upon the earth. A third of the earth was
burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was
burned up." (Revelation 8:7)
If the first Trumpet
judgment of Revelation is indeed directed at the armies and nations of the
Magog Alliance then affected areas would include the Middle East, Turkey,
parts of western Asia, parts of Africa, and perhaps all of Russia. The total
of these regions, in addition to the undefined area of the "coastlands"
mentioned in Ezekiel 39:6, would, according to Revelation 8:7, add up to one
third of the land area of the earth.
Isaiah's Descriptions
Once more we find that there
are at least two passages from the prophet Isaiah that help us to better
understand the Magog invasion that leads to God's intervention on behalf of
Israel and the judgments of the Day of the Lord. The first of these passages
begins with a promise from God,
"O people of Zion,
who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when
you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you." (Isaiah 30:19)
God promises that He will
rescue Israel when they cry for help, and then Isaiah describes how Israel's
rescuer will appear:
"See, the Name
of the LORD comes from afar, with burning anger and dense
clouds of smoke; his lips are full of wrath, and his tongue is a
consuming fire. His breath is like a rushing torrent, rising up to the neck.
He shakes the nations in the sieve of destruction; he places in the jaws
of the peoples a bit that leads them astray... The LORD will cause men to
hear his majestic voice and will make them see his arm coming down with
raging anger and consuming fire, with cloudburst, thunderstorm and hail."
(Isaiah 30:27-28,30)
There are so many elements
within this passage that connect with what we have learned so far that it is
hard to decide where to begin. The appearance of the "Name of the Lord" here
in the Old Testament can only be a mysterious reference to the Messiah, the
second member of the Godhead, who is the ultimate savior of Israel. Also,
the Day of the Lord is obviously in mind here because of the references to
"anger," "wrath," and "destruction." But next we should note the order of
events:
─First the nations are
shaken, which lines up with our understanding of how the Day of the Lord
begins, and how God's wrath first manifests in Ezekiel 38:19-20.
─Then the "peoples" are led
astray by God placing a bit in their jaws. The allusion to Ezekiel
38:3-4 here is certainly remarkable, which states, "I am against you, O
Gog... I will turn you around, put hooks in your jaws and bring you out
with your whole army..." We know that the Magog Alliance includes many
nations so the reference to "peoples" (plural) that are "led astray" in
Isaiah's description makes sense.
─Finally, Isaiah says that
the world will see God's "arm coming down" in a judgment of "consuming fire,
cloudburst, thunderstorm and hail." This connects directly with the judgment
that destroys the Magog invasion as described in Ezekiel and in the first
Trumpet of Revelation. The "arm coming down" equates with "poured down" or
"hurled down"; the "consuming fire" equates with the "burning sulfur" and
the "fire" that destroys a third of the earth; the "cloudburst and
thunderstorm" equates with the "torrents of rain" described by Ezekiel; and
Isaiah's reference to "hail" also appears in both Ezekiel and Revelation.
In Ezekiel we are given the
impression that God's wrath is only stirred after the Magog Alliance has
begun its invasion of Israel: "This is what will happen in that day: When
Gog attacks the land of Israel, my hot anger will be aroused..." (38:18).
Yet at the same time we read that it is actually God who pulls Gog into the
conflict, almost as if it is against his will! Furthermore, we find that the
first judgment described in Ezekiel 38:19-20 is not directed specifically at
the invaders, but against the entire world. How can we make sense of this
confusing scenario? We should back up a bit and examine a verse that makes
it clear who first devises the plan for this group of nations to attack
Israel:
"This is what the
Sovereign LORD says: On that day thoughts will come into
your mind and you will devise an evil scheme. You will say, 'I will
invade a land of unwalled villages; I will attack a peaceful and
unsuspecting people--all of them living without walls and without gates and
bars. I will plunder and loot and turn my hand against the resettled ruins
and the people gathered from the nations, rich in livestock and goods,
living at the center of the land.'" (Isaiah 38:10-12)
From this text it is clear
that the plan to invade and destroy Israel is initially conceived in the
dark heart of Gog, the leader of the land of Magog. God does not tempt Gog
into devising the scheme, but it is God who ensures that the invasion takes
place at the time of His own choosing. That is why God pulls the invaders by
the jaws, as described by both Ezekiel and Isaiah.
The scenario that I believe
should be considered is that perhaps the shaking of the earth takes place
first, and then the invasion begins in the immediate aftermath. Is it
possible that Israel's enemies will view the shaking of the earth as a gift
from Allah, creating a tempting opportunity to attack Israel? An event
involving the shifting of the earth's poles would certainly cripple Israel's
defenses, as well as the power of the U.S. Military that is Israel's most
powerful protector in the region. Both countries are highly dependent on
orbiting satellites and fixed points of latitude and longitude for
communication, navigation, and the targeting of weapons, and after a polar
shift all of these technologies would be completely useless.
Indeed, this is the order of
events that is given in Isaiah 30:27-30: first the shaking of the earth,
then the divine act of leading the nations astray by the jaws, and finally
the destruction of those invaders meted out by Israel's divine Savior. When
we look in Revelation at what happens after the sixth Seal (global
earthquake) and just before the first Trumpet (destruction of the Magog
Alliance) we see that there is a curious interlude that is relevant to our
investigation:
"When he opened the
seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour."
(Revelation 8:1)
Is it possible that the
Magog invasion of Israel begins after the shaking of the earth during
this brief period of silence? The other prophecy from Isaiah that may help
us answer this question is Isaiah 18.
"Woe to the land of
whirring wings along the rivers of Cush, which sends envoys by sea in
papyrus boats over the water. Go, swift messengers, to a people tall and
smooth-skinned, to a people feared far and wide, an aggressive nation of
strange speech, whose land is divided by rivers. All you people of the
world, you who live on the earth, when a banner is raised on the mountains,
you will see it, and when a trumpet sounds, you will hear it. This is what
the LORD says to me: "I will remain quiet and will look on from my
dwelling place, like shimmering heat in the sunshine, like a cloud of
dew in the heat of harvest." For, before the harvest, when the blossom is
gone and the flower becomes a ripening grape, he will cut off the shoots
with pruning knives, and cut down and take away the spreading branches.
They will all be left to the mountain birds of prey and to the wild animals;
the birds will feed on them all summer, the wild animals all winter."
(Isaiah 18:1-6)
I am not the first Bible
scholar to see allusions to Ezekiel 38-39 within this text. Cush is a member
of the Magog Alliance, and it could be that Isaiah is describing the
formation of this Alliance when envoys from Cush travel to the land
described as strange, aggressive and powerful (Russia?). In any case, the
result of this diplomatic activity seems to be the raising of a banner on
the mountains, which may be a description of the Magog invasion that comes
"against the mountains of Israel" (Ezekiel 39:2). God's response to this
activity, which parallels the strange "silence in heaven" of Revelation 8:1,
is to "remain quiet" from His "dwelling place." However, it is apparent that
God's silence does not last long, because the end result of the invading
army is compared to grapes that are reaped at the harvest. The final
description of the invaders' fate in Isaiah 18:6 compares almost exactly
with the description that can be read in Ezekiel 39:17-20.
The Aftermath of the
Invasion
Now that we have discovered
exactly "Why?" the Day of the Lord begins we will turn our attention to the
task of connecting the Magog invasion with the timeline of the 70th
Week of Daniel. We are looking for evidence of a specific seven-year period
and, fortunately for us, the prophet Ezekiel provides just such a reference
within his description of the aftermath of the invasion. Notice as well the
first verse of this passage, which should eliminate any doubt that Ezekiel
38-39 describes the beginning of the great and terrible Day of the Lord:
"It is coming! It
will surely take place, declares the Sovereign LORD. This is the day I
have spoken of. Then those who live in the towns of Israel will go
out and use the weapons for fuel and burn them up--the small and large
shields, the bows and arrows, the war clubs and spears. For seven
years they will use them for fuel. They will not need to gather wood
from the fields or cut it from the forests, because they will use the
weapons for fuel. And they will plunder those who plundered them and loot
those who looted them, declares the Sovereign LORD." (Ezekiel 39:8-10)
The appearance of this
seven-year period in the aftermath of the Magog invasion should make it
perfectly clear that the beginning of the Day of the Lord precedes
the signing of the 70th Week covenant. It is simply absurd to
think that the Day of the Lord could begin sometime after the 70th
Week has already begun, because this would mean that these captured weapons
are burned for fuel after the earth has been miraculously renovated and the
Messianic Kingdom of peace and prosperity has begun. In fact, Isaiah 2:4 and
Micah 4:3 both state that any weapons that enter into the Millennial Kingdom
will not be used as fuel, but will instead be turned into agricultural
equipment!
This common-sense
chronological conclusion is also arrived at by author Doug Berner in his
authoritative study on the Magog invasion,
The Silence Is Broken!,
recently published in the summer of 2006. Berner analyzes Ezekiel 38-39 from
virtually every conceivable perspective and he agrees that the Day of the
Lord begins as a result of God's desire to protect His people Israel.
Furthermore, he also concludes that the 70th Week covenant of
Daniel 9:27 cannot be connected with the first Seal of Revelation, and can
only be signed sometime after the first Trumpet judgment of
Revelation in the aftermath of the destruction of the Magog Alliance.
Conclusion
We have now provided
conclusive answers for the "When, How and Why?" of the Day of the Lord.
It will begin within the sixth Seal of Revelation sometime before
the signing of the 70th Week Covenant; it will begin with the
catastrophic shaking of the earth; and it will begin because of God's desire
to protect Israel from her enemies.
Part Three — God Rescues
His Bride
"Be always on the watch,
and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen,
and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man." (Luke 21:36)
Introduction
In the first two parts of
this series we discovered that the Day of the Lord begins within the
sixth Seal but prior to the seven years of the 70th Week of
Daniel, taking the form of the shaking of the entire earth for the ultimate
purpose of protecting Israel. In this final article of our series we will
examine how the rapture and resurrection of the Church is related to this
great 'Day.'
The 24 Elders: A Closer
Look
The predominant Pre-Trib
chronology places both the beginning of the 70th Week and the
beginning of the Day of the Lord at the opening of the first Seal of
Revelation. It is clear from Scripture that the Church is not destined to
experience the Day of the Lord, and this has led to the Pre-Trib conclusion
that the Twenty-Four Elders in heaven, who are introduced before the
Seals are opened, must be representative of the raptured and resurrected
Church, the Bride of Christ. When it comes to identifying the Church in
Revelation this would be a possible answer, except for one major
problem: Where is Jesus?
The Apostle Paul is clear
that Jesus will play the leading role in the events surrounding the
resurrection and rapture of the Church, and he emphasizes that role in his
letter to the Thessalonians:
"We believe that
Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with
Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord's own
word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming
of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For
the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with
the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in
Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left
will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord
in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever." (1
Thessalonians 4:14-17)
Paul teaches that according
to the Lord's own word Jesus will "come down from heaven," give a "loud
command" to raise the dead, and then gather the living up to meet "with them
in the clouds." This is when we will also "meet the Lord in the air," after
which we will "be with the Lord forever." Another text that physically
describes Jesus and the rapture is in Luke's portion of the Olivet
Discourse:
"Be careful, or your
hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties
of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap. For it
will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth. Be always
on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to
happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man."
(Luke 21:34-36)
From the Lord's own word we
know that those who watch and pray and escape the dangers of the unexpected
day will "stand before the Son of Man." Yet when we turn to the Twenty-Four
Elders they are not standing, but sitting (Revelation 4:4), and more
importantly, Jesus is nowhere to be found!
The heavenly scene described
in Revelation 4 at the beginning of John's vision includes God the Father,
the Twenty-Four Elders, the Seven Spirits of God, and the Four Living
Creatures, but there is no Jesus. In fact, John's vision lasts for an
indeterminate length of time during which the whole universe is searched
for someone who is worthy to open the seven-sealed Scroll, but "no one was
found" (Revelation 5:4).
This is odd because as early
as Acts 7:55 we have testimony that Jesus occupies a position "at the right
hand of God" in heaven. This fact is also mentioned by Paul in Romans 8:34
and Colossians 3:1, as well as by Peter in 1 Peter 3:22 and in Hebrews
10:12. With all of this testimony that Jesus stands right now at the
right hand of God in heaven, then how can the missing Jesus be
accounted for, if the Twenty-Four Elders represent the resurrected and
raptured Church? Does it make any sense that Jesus would descend from
heaven, gather the Church, return to heaven with the Church, and then
disappear to an unsearchable place outside of the universe for a period of
time prior to returning to heaven and taking the seven-sealed Scroll?
Doesn't Paul forbid this nonsensical hypothetical scenario when he says that
after the rapture the Church "will be with the Lord forever"?
The only explanation that
makes sense to me is that Revelation 4-5 describes the heavenly scene
leading up to and just after the ascension of Jesus in Acts 1:9. Jesus
became worthy to take the Scroll when He was slain for the sins of the
world, which is explained within the song that is sung by the inhabitants of
heaven:
"You are worthy to
take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and
with your blood you purchased men for God..." (Revelation 5:9)
If this is true then the
search for someone worthy to open the scroll in Revelation 5:3-4 must have
taken place before the crucifixion. Then in verse five we are told
that Jesus has triumphed; in verse six we see that Jesus has ascended to
heaven; and then in verse seven His first act is to approach the right
hand of God the Father and take the Scroll. Jesus has been at the
Father's right hand for almost two thousand years now, and Jesus will be
there after He briefly descends to rescue His Bride from the Day of the
Lord. Jesus will not be inexplicably missing for any period of time while
His Bride is a guest in His Father's house, and therefore the Twenty-Four
Elders cannot be representative of the Church.
The Great Multitude: A
Second Look
This study has endeavored to
develop a new timeline of events for the early stages of the Apocalypse. In
the first article it was argued that the Day of the Lord begins within
the sixth Seal, rather than at the first Seal. The second article then
connected the "sudden destruction" of the sixth Seal with the Magog invasion
of Ezekiel 38-39, leading to the conclusion that the 70th Week
can only begin sometime after the first Trumpet judgment. With this
perspective in mind we can now look with fresh eyes at the events
surrounding the sixth Seal for evidence of the Pre-Trib resurrection
and rapture of the Church.
The evidence is obvious: the
resurrected and raptured Church is the Great Multitude of Revelation 7:9-17.
If we take the two rapture texts that did not fit the Twenty-Four
Elders (1 Thessalonians 4:14-17 and Luke 21:34-36) and compare them with the
Great Multitude, we find a perfect fit. Paul teaches that Jesus will
be responsible for the resurrection and rapture of the Church, and in
Revelation we see that Jesus, alongside God the Father, is at the center of
the Great Multitude's attention. As Jesus Himself predicted, this is the
group that watched and prayed, and was able to escape the terrible events of
the Day of the Lord to "stand before the Son of Man."
"After this I looked
and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from
every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in
front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm
branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: 'Salvation
belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.'" (Revelation
7:9-10)
"Out of the Great
Tribulation"
There is much more evidence
for identifying the Great Multitude as the Church, but first we must address
a counter-argument. The primary reason why the Great Multitude is
eliminated from consideration when it comes to identifying the Church in
a Pre-Trib context is the fact that they are described in 7:14 as "they who
have come out of the great tribulation." From this text, and from the
Pre-Trib assumption that the first Seal marks the beginning of the
seven-year tribulation, it is believed that this group has experienced
at least a portion of the great tribulation, and therefore cannot be the
Church.
The Bible contains only
three references to "great tribulation" in a prophetic context: Matthew
24:21, Revelation 2:22, and Revelation 7:14. The first refers to the
second half of the 70th Week, but with an explanation that
this period is actually the time of "greatest tribulation"; the second
contains a threat against the wicked ("Repent, or you will be cast into
great tribulation!") which also implies a promise to those who do "repent."
Such a promise is given explicitly in Revelation 3:10,
"Since you have kept
my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of
trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on
the earth."
The wicked are warned to
repent or they will be "cast into great tribulation," while the faithful are
promised that they will be "kept from" (tereo ek) the world's "hour
of trial." Revelation 7:14 is the third reference to "great tribulation" and
from it we see that the Great Multitude fulfills the implied promise of
Revelation 2:22 and the explicit promise of 3:10. They are the group that
has "come away from" (erxomenoi ek) the great tribulation. The Greek
word ek (Strong's Concordance: "out of," "from," "by," or "away
from") does not demand that the Great Multitude experienced the great
tribulation. A similar use of the word ek appears in the Greek
Septuagint translation of Genesis 19:29, translated here in English:
"So when God
destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot
out of (ek) the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where
Lot lived."
Lot escaped "out of" the
catastrophe that destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, but he did not experience
the burning sulfur that rained down from heaven. (The death of Lot's wife
was a separate judgment from God). Just as Lot was warned and escaped from
the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, so will the Church be rescued "away
from" or "out of" the "great tribulation." The rapture of the Church is a
"rescue" (Luke 21:36) and an "escape" (1 Thessalonians 1:10). The Great
Multitude of Revelation 7:9-17 is a picture of the Church that has "come out
of the great tribulation" right as it begins, in the nick of time!
Salvation or Wrath?
The question of whether or
not the Great Multitude has experienced the "great tribulation" is actually
a distraction. With only three references in the Bible it is hard to come to
a concrete definition of the term anyway. On the other hand, there are
literally scores of references to the "Day of the Lord" in the Bible, and so
the key question should really be whether or not the Great Multitude has
experienced any of the Day of the Lord. To answer this question let's
return to Paul's definitive passage on that subject:
"Now, brothers, about
times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that
the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are
saying, "Peace and safety," destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor
pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you, brothers, are
not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are
all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or
to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let
us be alert and self-controlled. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and
those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let
us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the
hope of salvation as a helmet. For God did not appoint us to suffer
wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus
Christ." (1 Thessalonians 5:1-9)
The final verse of this
passage says it all: believers are promised salvation from God's wrath,
while unbelievers can expect to face God's wrath. After the sixth Seal is
opened, and after the Day of the Lord begins with the great shaking of the
earth, John reports an audible response from two different groups. One group
has been rescued to heaven, while the other is left behind on earth; one has
received salvation and rejoices, while the other suffers wrath
and cries out in fear and terror:
Salvation for the
Bride of Christ: "After this I looked and there before me was a great
multitude that no one could count... And they cried out in a loud voice:
'Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the
Lamb.'" (7:9-10)
Wrath for everyone
else: "Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich,
the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in caves and among the
rocks of the mountains. They called to the mountains and the 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 their wrath has
come, and who can stand?'" (6:15-17)
The Firstfruits of Israel
The beginning of the
Day of the Lord is also the end of the Church Age, after which God
will turn His attention to Israel. It is no coincidence that the third
group mentioned after the opening of the sixth Seal, in addition to the
Church and the mass of unbelievers on earth, is in fact Israel. The sealing
of the 144,000 will be the first act of grace that God bestows upon Israel
after the end of the Church Age, and in Revelation 14:4 it is said of them
that "They were purchased from among men and offered as firstfruits to God
and the Lamb."
Describing the 144,000 as
"firstfruits" makes sense once it is understood that the 144,000 will be the
very first human beings to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ
after the rapture of the Church, at a time when the earth is briefly
populated entirely with unbelievers. The salvation of these Jews will
be similar to the conversion of Saul on the road to Damascus, but 144,000
times over. Together with the Two Witnesses they will be the "teachers"
mentioned by the prophet Isaiah in connection with the coming of the Day of
the Lord:
"Although the Lord
gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers
will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. Whether you
turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you,
saying, 'This is the way; walk in it.'" (Isaiah 30:20-21)
The Great Earthquake
Resurrection
And now this brings us to
one of the most fascinating elements of the sixth Seal rapture of the
Church. Recall that Paul is clear that the rapture of the living will first
be preceded by the resurrection of the "dead in Christ." Millions and even
billions of Christian souls from throughout the world and from throughout
the Church Age will receive new immortal bodies and be united with Christ
and the Church in the sky above the earth.
One of the most important
books ever written on the subject of the resurrection of the Church appeared
in 2005. Written by Bible scholar David Lowe, it is entitled
Earthquake Resurrection - Supernatural Catalyst for the Coming Global
Catastrophe. Lowe's in-depth study has led him to the same
conclusions regarding the prophetic timeline that are put forth in this
study. (His book also taught me about the ascension of Jesus to the right
hand of God in Revelation 4-5 that was mentioned earlier in this article).
Lowe points out that there are twelve Biblical accounts of resurrections
from the dead. Of these twelve, nine of them are simply resurrections back
into mortal bodies, while three of these accounts describe resurrections
into immortal bodies. In each of these cases of resurrection to
immortality the resurrection is accompanied by an earthquake.
This happens at the resurrection of Jesus (Matthew 28:2-7); at the
resurrection of the "many saints" that appeared after Jesus' resurrection
(Matthew 27:51-53); and at the resurrection of the Two Witnesses of
Revelation (11:11-13). If earthquakes are indeed somehow directly and
supernaturally connected to the phenomenon of resurrection to immortality,
then what does that mean for this world when the dead in Christ from
throughout the world and from throughout time are raised to immortal bodies
at that profound moment prior to the onset of the Day of the Lord? David
Lowe comments on this possibility:
"If the resurrection
power to raise Jesus Christ, the "many saints", and the two witnesses caused
the earthquakes that were associated with each of their resurrections, then
what about the future resurrection of the dead in Christ? Consider the
explosive magnitude of an exponentially larger resurrection of the dead in
Christ in the future. Many millions of those who have died in covenant with
Jesus Christ throughout history will be instantaneously and simultaneously
resurrected from the dead and transformed to immortality with the same
dynamic power... With all this supernatural activity happening in a moment's
time, might it be possible that severe geological activity will result,
causing a magnetic disturbance and changes to the structure of earth's
surface? If this magnitude of energy is unleashed worldwide at the
resurrection event, when the Lord's shout of command and the trumpet sound
of God's voice awakens the dead in Christ, then a global shaking would
certainly result." (p.99)
David Lowe has continued his
investigation of this great shaking of the earth at the beginning of the Day
of the Lord in his second book,
THEN HIS VOICE SHOOK THE EARTH...
Mount Sinai, the Trumpet of God, and the Resurrection of the Dead in Christ,
which has just been published and is available for the first time here in
Dallas. It focuses on the mystery of the "last trumpet" of 1 Corinthians
15:52, and shows how the "trumpet call of God" relates directly to the
sixth Seal resurrection and rapture of the Church, and subsequent
shaking of the earth.
The Four Horsemen of the
Apocalypse
Back in 1995 Pastor John
Abent of Berlin, Maryland, published a book on Bible prophecy called
Signs in the Heavens: Biblical Prophecy and Astronomy. To my
knowledge he is the first Bible scholar to put forth a comprehensive
prophetic timeline that involves a Pre-Trib sixth Seal rapture of the
Church. In a conversation that I had with him he commented on the
duration of the Day of the Lord in Revelation, saying that the sixth Seal
and seventh Bowl (vial) judgments "form a giant inclusio in the Greek. With
the sixth seal open we are told that the great Day of God's/the Lamb's wrath
'has come' and with the seventh vial we are told 'it is done.' These stand
out like two grammatical parentheses. Thus the judgments of the Day of the
Lord begin with the sixth seal and end with the seventh vial judgment."
If this timeline is correct
and the Day of the Lord begins within the sixth Seal, with the 70th
Week coming after that, then what does that mean for our understanding of
the infamous Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse? If the first Seal does not
represent the Antichrist, then who or what can it represent? The answers to
these questions have yet to be conclusively solved, although several good
theories exist.
Pastor Abent takes the
historicist approach and believes that the first Seal represents the Holy
Spirit. In the description of the first Seal the mounted figure is said to
ride out "as a conqueror bent on conquest." The Greek word translated as
"conquer" is nikao. This exact same word is translated as "overcome"
exactly seven other times in Revelation, once within each letter to the
seven Churches. Clearly the Church will "overcome" or "conquer" with the
power of the Holy Spirit, which was sent to believers forty days after
Christ's ascension to heaven.
The historicist approach is
also taken by Saint Victorinus (d.304 AD) who wrote the earliest full
commentary on the book of Revelation that is still in existence today (Commentarius
In Apocalypsin). He equates the first Seal with the Holy Spirit and he
also states that the sixth Seal marks the beginning of "the final
persecution."
David Lowe favors the
historicist approach as well, but he views all of the first four Horsemen as
negative judgments. Within his well thought out presentation the
first Seal represents the "spirit of the Antichrist," which the Apostle John
said "is already in the world" (1 John 4:3).
On the
other hand, Doug Berner does not find the historicist approach convincing,
and within his entirely futurist perspective he views all of the
Seals as being opened one after the other in only a matter of moments. He
believes that Revelation 5 does not describe the ascension of Christ but
rather the scene in heaven "when God the Father has made God's enemies
Christ's footstool, thus granting Christ the authority to render judgment
upon them." In this way the "powers" or "judgments" associated with the
early Seals apply to the entire Day of the Lord. However, as far as the
earth is concerned, Berner's belief is that God's silence is broken after
the opening of the sixth Seal.
In addition to the
"historicist" and "futurist" perspective of the early Seals there is also
the "birthpangs" perspective. Many scholars have commented on the
similarities and parallels between the first four Seals and the "birthpangs"
mentioned by Jesus in Matthew 24:4-8. In the past Victorinus commented on it
and connected it with his historicist interpretation of the early Seals.
Recently Pre-Wrath scholars Marvin Rosenthal and Robert Van Kampen utilized
these parallels in presenting their futurist interpretation, and Dr. Thomas
Ice does the same thing in presenting his futurist Pre-Trib interpretation.
The problem that I see with
combining the "birthpangs" with a futurist interpretation of the early
Seals, is that these "birthpangs" are then viewed as being fulfilled
within the 70th Week of Daniel. For instance, Ice believes
that the 70th Week starts with Matthew 24:4. I respectfully
disagree. I think the "birthpangs" were mentioned by Jesus as a metaphor for
the end-times spiritual rebirth of Israel, yet they are signs that will warn
the Church of the approaching Day of the Lord within which this
rebirth will take place. If there are no "birthpangs" for the Church to
identify, then why does Jesus continually exhort his listeners to "keep
watch" in the Olivet Discourse? Many scholars argue that the Olivet
Discourse was not given to the Church, but if this is true then why did Paul
borrow so heavily from the Olivet Discourse in his message to the Church in
1 Thessalonians 5? Also, why does Jesus give the following warning to the
Church at Sardis that includes allusions to both the Olivet
Discourse and 1 Thessalonians 5?
"But if you do not
wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will
come to you." (Revelation 3:3)
What happens to this Church
if they do wake up? Obviously, they will not be surprised by the
"coming" of Jesus, and they will know the time. They will not know
the exact day or hour, but they will not be surprised. It is in
pondering these questions that I have concluded that the "birthpangs" are
indeed directly related to the early Seals, and both the "birthpangs" of
Matthew 24:4-8 and the first five Seals of Revelation most likely refer to
events that take place before the rapture of the Church and before
the 70th Week of Daniel. As far as the Church is concerned they
are the "birthpangs" that warn of the approach of the Day of the Lord.
Conclusion
This completes our study that has attempted to answer the questions of
"When, How and Why?" concerning the great and terrible Day of the Lord. In
the first two articles we provided evidence that this Day begins with the
shaking of the earth after the sixth Seal is opened, which is a judgment
from God for the ultimate purpose of saving Israel and making Himself known
to Israel and the nations of the world. By connecting this Day with the
events portrayed in Ezekiel 38-39 we also provided evidence that the
beginning of the Day of the Lord precedes the 70th Week. In this
final article we addressed the subject of the rapture and resurrection of
the Church, finding evidence for that event right where it was to be
expected, in connection with the sixth Seal of Revelation and the shaking of
the earth that marks the beginning of the great and terrible Day of the
Lord. May God continue to give us wisdom and understanding to prepare for
our Savior's soon return. For His is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the
Glory, for ever and ever. Amen.
Peter D. Goodgame
Kailua, Hawaii
Editor —
www.redmoonrising.com
Author — Red Moon Rising: The Rapture and the Timeline of the
Apocalypse
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