What Do You Know About The Day Of The Lord?

WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THE DAY OF THE LORD?

Relatively new Christians might not exactly comprehend this, but it is that period of time when the Lord will allow His apocalyptic judgment to rain on the earth. This is one of the prophetic themes of Isaiah the prophet. I believe you will find he uses the term "In that day" during his picture painting of how it will be during this yet to be fulfilled prophecy.
Isaiah's first brush strokes are found in Isa. 2:10 - 22, and Paul referred to this day in Thess. 1:7 - 10; "And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power;" (2 Thess. 1:7 - 9) Truly this will be a day of punishment for the heathen, the pagan, the false teacher, and the atheist! Note at the beginning of the passage, Paul tells the believers to rest in Christ's return, the rebels are the ones with the eternal problem! John in Revelation also referred to this picture Isaiah began to paint; "And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, 'Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?'" (Rev. 6:12 - 17) Note the wicked, who are in power on the earth, have great fear within them!

Jeremiah foretold that Jesus would come with judgment and justice; "Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth." (Jer. 23:5) "And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, 'We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.' In that day shall the branch of the LORD be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel." (Isa. 4:1 - 2) During that time, the wars will be so intense, men will be slaughtered so much that women will want to be self-supporting, wanting to be married, even to the same man, to escape being childless. Isaiah's paint brush continues to paint an ugly picture for those who do evil, and there's more...

"Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir. Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger." (Isa. 13:9 - 13) Signs in the heavens and the scarcity of men are again spoken of here, and Joel got in on it; "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come." (Joel 2:31) Our Lord Jesus also spoke on this astrological phenomonae; "Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." (Matt. 24:29 - 31) (Mark 13:24 - 26, Luke 21:20 - 27 are similarly worded)

Isaiah continues to illustrate the apocalypse in chapter 24 of his book of the Old Testament. He describes how the coming judgment will occur worldwide, no place of escape, and no class of people will be uncathed, all pleasures of any kind vanish, with only a small survival rate. Believers will rejoice that God is executing justice over the evil, treacherous, and perverse.

"Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? This that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat? I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment. For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come. And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold: therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me; and my fury, it upheld me. And I will tread down the people in mine anger, and make them drunk in my fury, and I will bring down their strength to the earth." (Isa. 63:1 - 6) Here Isaiah describes Christ's second coming in His wrath and paints it as a crushing of grapes in a winepress. "And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs." (Rev. 14:20) Armageddon will be bloody, indeed, over 4 feet deep in blood! Isaiah's picture in this last reference paints a grim crimson picture of Jesus' judgment on the wicked in His day!

So be wary of His day's coming, because who can know it?  Who will be able to stand?  It is as Jesus said, "Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come." (Matt. 24:42)