1. What is the nature of the day of the Lord?
"Howl ye; for the DAY OF THE LORD is at hand; it shall come as a DESTRUCTION from the Almighty. Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt: and they shall be afraid; pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames. 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." Isa. 13:6-9.
2. Will there be any refuge on earth from that day?
"The GREAT DAY OF THE LORD is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. That day is a DAY OF WRATH, a DAY of TROUBLE and DISTRESS, a DAY of WASTENESS and DESOLATION, a DAY of DARKNESS and GLOOMINESS, a DAY of CLOUDS and THICK DARKNESS, a DAY of the trumpet and ALARM against the FENCED CITIES, and against the HIGH TOWERS. And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung. NEITHER THEIR SILVER NOR THEIR GOLD shall be able to DELIVER them in the DAY OF THE LORD'S WRATH; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of His jealousy: for He shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land." Zeph. 1:14-18.
NOTE.—Men are making many predictions as to the character of that great day of God. Thousands have been led to believe that it is a day when the world will be converted, and that a millennium of peace and abounding prosperity will prevail; that it is a time to be joyfully anticipated and longed for. What the character of that day is, is clearly set forth in the scripture above quoted. There are many others.
3. What are the words of the prophet to those so deceived as to desire that day?
"WO unto YOU that DESIRE the DAY OF THE LORD! to what end is it for you? THE DAY OF THE LORD IS DARKNESS, and NOT LIGHT. As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light? EVEN VERY DARK, AND NO BRIGHTNESS IN IT?" Amos 5:18-20.
NOTE.—The thickening perils of the times preceding the day of God, the multiplied diseases and troubles, will lead men to long for that fabled millennium of peace upon this earth. Yet it will be filled with greater calamity than the world has yet known, and they who look for it as a time of peace from present trouble will be greatly deceived. They will be as when one flees from a lion, and a bear, more cruel and tenacious, meets him; as when one goes into a house to seek shelter from the tempest, and is bitten by a deadly viper. The day of the Lord upon this earth offers no hope.
4. What conditions in the world will precede the coming of that day?
"Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; PREPARE WAR, WAKE UP THE MIGHTY MEN, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning-hooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong. Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord. Let the heathen [nations] be awakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. Put ye in the sickle, for the HARVEST IS RIPE: come get you down for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great. MULTITUDES, MULTITUDES IN THE VALLEY OF DECISION: for the DAY OF THE LORD IS NEAR in the valley of decision." Joel 3:9-14.
NOTE.—The great preparation for war is only one of many signs and conditions which will precede the coming of that day. There will be the great heaping-up of riches foretold in James 5:1-8; there will be the great spiritual declension and backsliding foretold in 2 Tim. 3:1-5, 2 Peter 3, and other scriptures; there will be the deceptions of Spiritualism; there will be heard the predicted false cry of "peace and safety;" there will be the convulsions of an earth burdened by sin; the perplexities and distresses of nations; in fact, all the culminating woes of earth's long travail of sin and misery.
A Warning Message.
5. A message of warning and reform will precede the coming of this dreadful day.
"BLOW YE THE TRUMPET in Zion, and SOUND AN ALARM in My holy mountain; let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the DAY OF THE LORD COMETH, for it is NIGH AT HAND." Joel 2:1.
"Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired; BEFORE THE DECREE BRING FORTH, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you, BEFORE THE DAY OF THE LORD'S ANGER COME UPON YOU. SEEK YE THE LORD, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought His judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord's anger." Zeph. 2:1-3. See also Rev. 14:6-12.
NOTE.—It is God's call to a backslidden and world-loving people. "O nation not desired" may well apply to God's remnant people who have "wrought His judgment," or kept His law, the rule of judgment. See Rev. 12:17. The margin reads, "O nation not desirous;" the American Standard Revision, "O nation that hath no shame," margin, "no longing." It is an appeal to a people who do not appreciate the need. See Rev. 3:3, 15-18. The decree is that which marks the close of probation, of salvation's day, the beginning of the day of wrath.
The Beginning of the Day.
6. Where is this decree given?Rev. 22:11: "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still; and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still; and he that is holy, let him be holy still."
7. The next great event is the coming of Jesus Christ.
"And, behold, I COME QUICKLY; and My reward is with Me, to give every man according as his work shall be." Rev. 22:12.
8. How will God's wrath be manifested?
"And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having the SEVEN LAST PLAGUES; FOR IN THEM IS FILLED UP THE WRATH OF GOD." Rev. 15:1.
9. How long will the pouring out of these plagues continue?
"Therefore shall her PLAGUES come in ONE DAY, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her." Rev. 18:8.
NOTE.—Evidently prophetic time, one year. "It is the DAY of the Lord's vengeance, and the YEAR of recompenses for the controversy of Zion." Isa. 34:8. God's wrath is not the petty personal revenge held by the human. It is divine indignation against sin which has ruled so long. If men choose to identify themselves with the sin, they must meet the just wrath against it. The pouring out of these plagues is but setting in operation the agencies of destruction which men have invited in their sinning. One plague does not cease when the next begins; once started by the withdrawal of God's restraining mercy, they continue to operate till all punishment against sin is at an end.
Events at Christ's Coming.
10. At Christ's coming two great events occur: the resurrection of the righteous dead, and the making immortal of all the righteous.
"For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord." 1 Thess. 4:16, 17.
"This is the FIRST RESURRECTION. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall REIGN with Him a thousand years." Rev. 20:5, 6.
11. The righteous are then taken to heaven to the mansions which Jesus has gone to prepare.
"Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me. In My FATHER'S HOUSE are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I GO TO PREPARE A PLACE FOR YOU. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I WILL COME7AGAIN, and RECEIVE YOU UNTO MYSELF: THAT WHERE I AM, THERE YE MAY BE ALSO." John 14:3.
"And after these things I heard a great voice of MUCH PEOPLE IN HEAVEN, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honor, and power, unto the Lord our God: for true and righteous are His judgments; for He hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of His servants at her hand." Rev. 19:1, 2.
12. Here for a thousand years, in connection with Christ, the righteous sit on thrones of judgment determining the guilt and punishment of those who have rejected Christ as well as that of the evil angels.
"Do ye not know that the SAINTS SHALL JUDGE THE WORLD? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? KNOW ye not that WE SHALL JUDGE ANGELS! how much more things that pertain to this life?" 1 Cor. 6:2, 3.
"And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and JUDGMENT WAS GIVEN UNTO THEM: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and THEY LIVED AND REIGNED WITH CHRIST A THOUSAND YEARS." Rev. 20:4.
The Earth Desolated—Satan Bound.
13. Many of the wicked of earth are slain during the falling of the plagues and in the great conflict of Armageddon; but those that survive are slain by the glory of Christ's presence.
"And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him [Christ] that sat on the horse, and against His army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before Him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshiped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. And THE REMNANT WERE SLAIN with the SWORD OF HIM that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh." Rev. 19:19-21.
14. The earth is then left desolate without human inhabitant, the righteous are in heaven, the wicked are dead, and the devil and his angels are confined to this earth in its chaotic, desolate condition for a thousand years, to meditate upon the ruin they have wrought.
"Behold, the Lord maketh the EARTH EMPTY, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof. . . . The land shall be UTTERLY EMPTIED, and utterly spoiled: for the Lord hath spoken this word. The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world
languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish. The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have TRANSGRESSED THE LAWS, CHANGED THE ORDINANCE, BROKEN THE EVERLASTING COVENANT." Isa. 24:1-5.
"And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit [the deep, the chaotic earth], and a great chain in his hand, and he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and BOUND HIM A THOUSAND YEARS, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season." Rev. 20:1-3.
The Close of the Thousand Years.
15. At the end of the thousand years the wicked dead are raised, and Satan is permitted to deceive them again.
"But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. And when the thousand years are expired, SATAN SHALL BE LOOSED out of his prison, and shall go out to DECEIVE the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea." Rev. 20:5, 7, 8.
16. Jesus comes down from heaven, stands upon the Mount of Olives, the mountain divides, forming a very great plain. Upon this plain is "the camp of the saints," who descend with Jesus, and upon the territory of this camp and plain descends the holy city.
"And HIS FEET SHALL STAND IN THAT DAY UPON THE MOUNT OF OLIVES, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall CLEAVE IN THE MIDST thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a VERY GREAT VALLEY; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD THY GOD SHALL COME, AND ALL THE SAINTS WITH THEE." Zech. 14:4, 5.
"And He carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God." "And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." Rev. 21:10, 2.
Destruction of Sin and Sinners.
17. Around the holy city gather the hosts of Gog and Magog, deceived by Satan, believing that they can triumph over God and take possession of the earth. The Lord appears in majesty, and in the glory of His presence the earth is set on fire, and Satan and all his minions are destroyed. The last judgment is executed. It is final, forever.
"And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and COMPASSED THE CAMP of the SAINTS ABOUT, AND THE BELOVED CITY: and fire came down from GOD OUT OF HEAVEN, AND DEVOURED THEM. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever. And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the DEAD WERE JUDGED out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the8dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the SECOND DEATH. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." Rev. 20:9-15.
"But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; IN THE WHICH the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up." 2 Peter 3:10.
The Triumph of Righteousness.
18. Beyond all this is the new heavens and the new earth; and sin and wickedness shall be no more.
"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. . . . And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And He that sat upon the throne said, BEHOLD, I MAKE ALL THINGS NEW. And He said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful." Rev. 21:1-5.
"And THERE SHALL BE NO MORE CURSE: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and His servants shall serve Him: and they shall see His face." Rev. 22:3, 4.
