“For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise for the same. For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil” (Romans 13:3-4).

What has been stated above in Paul’s epistle to the Romans spoke of a civil society where law and order prevailed. Very much the case, pre COVID! It was all straightforward; the law-abiding citizen could savor a potpourri of liberties, whereas those who crossed the line were heavily penalized. So long as people did not kill, steal and cheat, they could move about with minimal disruption from the powers that be. The bad crowd would risk numerous interruptions and more than necessary invasions to their lives because they chose the evil path. Simply said, wrath was executed on those who were running counter to the common good.

As the new year kicks off, a lot of people might be questioning the efficacy, if not relevance, of the above-mentioned verses of Scripture. This being the case when they witness the rapid erosion of the time-honored legislative process whereby laws could be introduced, modified and even repealed – all done in a climate of consultation. Nobody envisaged a scenario like what is cause for worldwide worries on the part of the average law-abiding individual. Mandates are indeed alien to many in the United States plus a host of countries in the western world. Many would only see this style of governance in failed states like Venezuela and Myanmar.

Sadly speaking, it has become a shocking reality in once laid-back nations like Australia. The smooth flow of daily living has without question been brutally torn apart for the average ordinary citizen. They are cruelly subject to a plethora of inconveniences that, over time, will morph into being a form of institutionalization! The roughneck bunch with lengthy rap sheets might be familiar with this, but what about the folks that have walked a straight line all their lives? Enough for no shortage of flabbergasted ones thumping tables with their fists and yelling ‘absolute insanity’ as they struggle to make sense of the times.

The wounds are not spared from the unfriendly salt that is rubbed by the thuggish force of an unbelievably wicked nature. Criminals are getting away scot-free for serious felonies. Clearly an incentive to run riot, to shoplift and break into homes. All this against a backdrop of demoralized and defunded law enforcement agencies. You can forget about safe streets and snug security in the comfort of whichever dwelling.

At this very moment, some folks will be querying the two verses mentioned at the beginning of the article. They could view this as a misstep in their fit of angst. But dear brothers and sisters in the Lord, hold your horses on this particular one. When the apostle Paul penned this loving letter to the Romans, it was at the start of the Age of Grace – so all that was stipulated applied to the situation which prevailed. Nothing likened to the days of Lot, which all of us are witnessing at point-blank range!

What was the dominant characteristic of Lot’s time and Noah’s days? Lawlessness! Lawlessness has existed since the fall of man but not to the degree since the time of these Biblical figures, definitely not compared to our present day. It is clear-cut and, by all means, full-blown. Good is penalized, and wickedness is rewarded before our eyes (Isaiah 5: 20) as things move toward a society possessed by a reprobate mind (Romans 1:28).

“For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way” (2 Thess 2:7).

This is why we are seeing all this before our eyes and hearing it before our ears. It is the tail end where the Age of Grace is concerned. The Restrainer could be taken out at any moment in the twinkling of an eye when we will go with Him and be with Him forevermore!

Maranatha

Edwin

Contact me at edwinuk13@gmail.com

 

The DAY OF THE LORD is “The Day of Jehovah,” and its usage is always associated with something dire, with judgment, and with events outside the implementation of man. In other words, it is the intervention of God with the power of God in the affairs of this world. It has a primary application to Israel, but that is always extended often to a wider field, and that involves the world. Its main focus is in the Tribulation that is coming. We continue:

[7]. Isaiah 63:1 “Who is this who comes from Edom with garments of glowing colours from Bozrah, this One who is majestic in His apparel, marching in the greatness of His strength? ‘It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.’ Isa 63:2 Why is Your apparel red, and Your garments like the one who treads in the wine press? Isa 63:3 ‘I have trodden the wine trough alone, and from the peoples there was no man with Me. I also trod them in My anger and trampled them in My wrath, and their lifeblood is sprinkled on My garments, and I stained all My raiment.

Isa 63:4 For the day of vengeance was in My heart, and My year of redemption has come. Isa 63:5 I looked, and there was no one to help, and I was astonished and there was no one to uphold; so My own arm brought salvation to Me, and My wrath upheld Me. Isa 63:6 I trod down the peoples in My anger and made them drunk in My wrath, and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.'”

((The key phrase for these scriptures is “In that day,” but it is absent from our chosen passage. However, the context is 100% in The Day of the LORD. Some might think this is bloodthirsty, but it is the Lord who describes Himself, the Lord, mighty to save, the Lord strong in battle.

His vengeance is against the armies of the world in Israel who will come with hatred to exterminate the earthly people of the Lord. At Armageddon, the full anger of a righteous and jealous God will be exhibited. Let us examine the passage in more detail.

We have the sense of Edom again representing much wider than the people of Edom. Bozrah was the capital. (As said several times earlier, judgment on Edom means judgment on the nations = Armageddon. This is the terrible Day of the LORD when He saves/delivers His people from the armies of the world in Israel.) The passage begins with a series of questions. Who is this who comes from Edom?

Of course, it is the Lord (majestic apparel, great strength). If there is any doubt, the Lord answers the question, the One speaking in righteousness, the Saviour.

Then the next question regards the red staining all over the clothing. Verse 3 answers the question. It is verse 3 that is graphic in language, the actions attributed to anger and wrath. This is a picture of the angry LORD, now in vengeance against all His enemies.

Usually, several people tread out the grapes in the winepress, but the Lord alone trod down (will tread down) the vile nations in His fury. He trod and trampled so hard that the blood went everywhere, which was why His garments are stained all over with blood. Verse 4 provides the motivation, and that was vengeance. Who is an avenging God like the Lord? No one, and here He is in full vengeance, and the Revelation sharp two-edged sword of chapter 19 is flashing at divine speed to mow down the world’s armies in the great battle in the plain of Meddigo and Jezreel.

Isaiah 63:4 “For the day of vengeance was in My heart, and My year of redemption has come.” Here are two contrasting conditions. We looked at the first already; that was God executing vengeance, but in the second, He works redemption. It is vengeance against the world, but it is redemption for Israel, for the nation will be saved as maybe one-third returns to the Lord as His beloved Tribulation saints.

It is in that 7-year period, after the Church is removed, that God again takes up His rebellious people, Israel, for salvation.

After that intervening verse 4, the passage returns to the wrath of God. This returns to graphic language. The Lord will tread the people down and make them drunk in their own blood as He pours their lifeblood on the earth. It is the Lord’s anger that will do that, for he who lifts up his hand against God’s earthly people will endure the severe wrath and vengeance of the Lord.

This is the great wrath of The Day of the Lord.))

[8]. Isaiah 66:15 “For behold, the LORD will come in fire and His chariots like the whirlwind to render His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire, Isa 66:16 For the LORD will execute judgment by fire and by His sword on all flesh, and those slain by the LORD will be many. Isa 66:18 For I know their works and their thoughts. The time is coming to gather all nations and tongues, and they shall come and see My glory.”

((This is another case where the key phrases “The Day of the LORD” or “in that day” are not used, but it is so clear from parallel passages that this is fully part of The Day of the LORD, so we will look at what is covered here. It begins with the Second Coming, and the first mention is of fire and chariots.

There is a hint of Elijah here who saw these fiery chariots. Both words are terms of judgment and battle, and the Second Coming is for battle, as the remainder of verse 15 declares – to render anger in flames of fire.

These three verses speak of the great Armageddon battle when the Lord will execute His fierce anger. Fire and sword – judgment signs, and they relate to the sharp two-edged sword of Revelation 19. He will gather all nations and tongues to Israel, and they come to do the devil’s bidding, having been summoned by the three satanic frog spirits. Revelation 16:13 “I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs; Rev 16:14 for they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them together for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty.”

God’s glory will be manifested in His destruction of the evil armies; all that is part of the Day of the LORD. We might wonder how a God who destroys nations and people is showing glory by doing that. Yes, it is a hard concept, but glory is in close association with majesty, and God’s majesty is promoted through overcoming all evil and in endorsing good. That is how it will all play out.))

[9]. Isaiah 66:20 “Then they shall bring all your brethren from all the nations as a grain offering to the LORD, on horses, in chariots, in litters, on mules, and on camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem,’ says the LORD, ‘just as the sons of Israel bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the LORD. Isa 66:21 I will also take some of them for priests and for Levites,’ says the LORD. Isa 66:22 ‘For just as the new heavens and the new earth which I make will endure before Me,’ declares the LORD, ‘so your offspring and your name will endure.

Isa 66:23 It shall be from new moon to new moon and from Sabbath to Sabbath. All mankind will come to bow down before Me,’ says the LORD. Isa 66:24 Then they shall go forth and look on the corpses of the men who have transgressed against Me. For their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched; and they shall be an abhorrence to all mankind.”

((This passage moves to and fro through time, so we will look at the parts of it. Again, the Day of the LORD is not mentioned, but the whole concept is there. In verse 20, we are shown one picture in the restoration of Israel when all the redeemed Jews from all over the world will be gathered by any means of transport to return them to Israel when the Messiah has returned and is set up as King over the whole earth. Zechariah 14:9 “And the LORD will be King over all the earth. In that day the LORD will be the only one, and His name the only one.” The restoration of Israel is also part of the Day of the LORD, though most of its application is to the Tribulation period.

Verse 21 then moves to a reference to the eternal state, the new heavens and new earth, and they will endure because they will be controlled by God’s righteousness, as referenced by Revelation 20. God’s power is way beyond our even smallest thought. It is said our sun is half used up – Scientists say the sun is 4.6 billion years old and has another 5-7 billion years to exist. Well, in human science, that might be correct, but it is God in control. In the new heavens and earth He will create, the suns of the universe will never grow old. Neither will the earth. This is around 1,000 years after the Second Coming when sin has been put away forever. So if we are wondering if that far out in time also counts for The Day of the LORD, then it is answered by Peter, as we will see later on in this study.

The answer is Yes.

Verse 24 is set in the Millennial reign and is the start of the Millennium when the cleaning up from Gog happens. It will take 7 years for that to be completed, as Ezekiel describes in chapters 38 and 39.

The Gog/Magog war is part of the three world alignments at Armageddon (Gog, kings of the east, and forces under Antichrist). However, the Gog armies are the ones ravaging Jerusalem – Zechariah 14:1-3.))

[9]. Jeremiah 25:29 “For behold, I am beginning to work calamity in this city which is called by My name, and shall you be completely free from punishment? You will not be free from punishment, for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth,’ declares the LORD of hosts. Jer 25:30 ‘Therefore you shall prophesy against them all these words, and you shall say to them, ‘The LORD will roar from on high, and utter His voice from His holy habitation. He will roar mightily against His fold. He will shout like those who tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth. Jer 25:31 A clamour has come to the end of the earth because the LORD has a controversy with the nations. He is entering into judgment with all flesh. As for the wicked, He has given them to the sword,’ declares the LORD.’

Jer 25:32 Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘Behold, evil is going forth from nation to nation, and a great storm is being stirred up from the remotest parts of the earth. Jer 25:33 Those slain by the LORD on that day shall be from one end of the earth to the other. They shall not be lamented, gathered, or buried. They shall be like dung on the face of the ground.”

((Verse 29. This verse addresses Jerusalem, but before it ends, it encompasses all the world.

Calamity shall affect Jerusalem [see Jeremiah 12-14], but also the whole earth will be affected in the Tribulation.

God is going to bring a sword, which stands for punishment and judgment, with the Armageddon conflict in view as the rest of this passage confirms.

These last 4 verses cover the Tribulation judgments and Armageddon. There will be much devastation, and much of the Day of the LORD is about devastation. This is the Day of God’s wrath. Look at the descriptive language of the above passage, and it is great destruction all over the earth. The words say so. In verse 33 – “Those slain by the LORD on that day shall be from one end of the earth to the other” – can only be Armageddon, so great will be loss of life.

In the Tribulation, God will destroy in many judgments, and in a general sense, verse 33 will apply to that, but the final judgment of Armageddon will be intense. Those verses are telling of the great worldwide destruction caused by the wrath of God that passes over the earth like a gigantic storm or tempest, uprooting everything and causing mayhem.))

[10]. Jeremiah 46:10 “For that day belongs to the Lord GOD of hosts, a day of vengeance, so as to avenge Himself on His foes; and the sword will devour and be satiated and drink its fill of their blood; for there will be a slaughter for the Lord GOD of hosts, in the land of the north by the river Euphrates.”

((“For that day” always points to the end. We naturally ask, “What day?” and it can be no other than “The Day of the LORD.” Then you have the word “vengeance,” and that is one of the common words used in The Day of the LORD. This prophecy is quite specific in location and was delivered for the immediate geography, but again, the sentiments here apply to the Day of the LORD in a wider sense.

The Lord God of hosts is mentioned, and it means the armies of the LORD, the angelic armies. They certainly will have their role at Armageddon. See Revelation 19. As said right at the beginning, The Day of the LORD always has application to Israel or to the world, and sometimes it encompasses both, in the sense that it may refer to Israel/Judah but then spreads out according to the language used to the entire world. Most references are heavily placed at the end of the Tribulation and for Armageddon.

That ends most of the Old Testament references to The Day of the LORD. There are others but smaller ones. I have chosen to take the bigger ones, and they are comprehensive and consistent.

All considered, they give a fairly complete picture of the events to come, really traumatic ones, but the Church is in heaven. We are delivered from the wrath to come. These references are not confined to the Old Testament, and we will now consider the references in the New Testament.))

Part 10 is to follow.

ronaldf@aapt.net.au