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

 

John 1:1-5, Genesis 1:1, 1 John 1:1, Colossians 1:16, John 14:6

Summary: John’s Gospel is based on his personal testimony and eyewitness account of what the Lord Jesus Christ taught, demonstrated, and affirmed to show His people and all humanity that He is God Incarnate come to live among us and fulfill the role of Redeemer and Savior.

Every writer who penned down the Holy Scriptures did so under the anointing of the Holy Spirit and reverence towards Almighty God. Every word was written down with the sense that these men – from all walks of life and who lived at different times in history – were in communication with the Sovereign of the universe, who has all creation under His control and direction.

The Scriptures are the inspired and inerrant account of God’s dealing with fallen humanity and of His plan to redeem us from the sins and rebellion that have polluted the pages of civilization and have brought death upon us. Were it not for His grace, mercy and love, we would be condemned to an eternity in hell where we would pay on our sin debt forever. We would suffer for the wickedness we have brought upon ourselves and this world that groans under the weight of our debauchery (John 17:17; Romans 1:18-32, 3:10-18, 5:6-11, 8:26; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:19-21).

We take the pages of Scripture for granted without realizing that what we possess is the direct record of God’s interaction with us, not merely a collection of good stories and moral lessons from the minds of sages and storytellers. We have forgotten how to handle the Word of God as the writers did, with a sense of unworthiness and a true holy fear of God, who were silent or made silent in His presence. We forget that these men and women were flesh and blood individuals with their own problems and times of triumph but were also aware that they were interacting with the will, plan, and design of the Almighty Sovereign Ruler of all. He has no rivals nor equals in terms of His power, wisdom, love, mercy. He can also bring terror and dread to any heart that would dare to reject or challenge Him in some misguided display of arrogance and pride.

Even in the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, the twelve ordinary men who were chosen by Him stumbled, argued, and misunderstood His mission, to say the least. Yet, throughout the New Testament, each one who had the honor of writing either a Gospel, history, or letter did so with a sense of wonder and gratitude in that He entrusted them to tell His story, teach the people, and spread the message of salvation and true peace with God.

Each Gospel is presented as an account of the One who is the fulfillment of the prophecies within the Hebrew Scriptures and the final and complete sacrifice for our sins. These men and all who have truly followed Jesus have given testimonies of wonder, amazement, and eternal thanksgiving for the redemption He freely offered them and to us.

Why then do we treat the Word and its message of redemption in these times with indifference and apathy? Why do far too many of us approach the Holy Word as if it is no big deal in our lives? We certainly do not find that kind of attitude or viewpoint when we read the Gospel of John, certainly not in the opening verses. John presents the Lord Jesus, not just as the Promised Messiah and the Servant of God as did Matthew, Mark, and Luke, but primarily as God Incarnate, the Creator, Life, and Light of the World who came to Earth and fulfilled the role of Eternal Savior.

John wrote his Gospel, along with his three pastoral letters and the book of Revelation around the end of the first century (90-95 A.D.). By this time, he was an old man and had outlived the other apostles, who had met their deaths years before as martyrs for the faith. The young firebrand had been labeled a “Son of Thunder” for his brashness, temperament, and frequent calls for God’s fire to come down and destroy anyone who dared come against Jesus. Now he was known as the “apostle of love” to the new generation of Christians born years after Jesus ascended to heaven. By this time, the bulk of what would be the New Testament had been written and distributed to the churches who were meeting and spreading the Gospel amidst the might and persecution stemming from the Roman Empire.

John had spent time in prison and in exile for his faith in Christ that never wavered. It is said that he nearly died as a martyr by being boiled in oil at the order of the emperor. Yet, he was delivered from this fate, later to die a “natural” death around A.D. 98 in the city of Ephesus. He had mentored young believers who would carry the Gospel into the next century and beyond, such as Papias, Polycarp, and others who would be referred to as the “church fathers,” with their preaching and teaching of the Scriptures extending into the third and fourth centuries A.D.

John’s Gospel is the most theological of the four, dealing with the nature and person of the Lord Jesus Christ and the meaning of faith in Him. He is presented as the Divine Son of God as described in the titles given Him (John 1:1, 29, 41, 49, 8:12, 10:7, 9, 11, 14, 11:25, 14:6, 15:1, 5). He claims and affirms His Deity with the “I AM” statements (4:24, 26, 8:24, 28, 58, 13:19).

John gives no parables in his Gospel but does write of specific times where Jesus performed miracles (2:1-11, 4:46-54, 5:1-18, 6:6-13, 16-21, 9:1-7, 11:1-45) that demonstrated His person and mission. John’s purpose for writing his Gospel is found in 20:30-31:

“Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that by believing you may have life in His name” (NASB).

John never wavered or compromised in His love for His Master and LORD. He never made His personal relationship with Jesus a source of status or superiority in that he had the firsthand experience and eyewitness testimony that the new generation of Christians did not. Nowhere in John’s account do you see him “dropping” his name but was always referring to himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” He wished to remain anonymous and out of the center of the story, always having his readers focus on Jesus instead.

None of the apostles ever used their office or personal knowledge in any way but to see themselves as mere servants and fellow elders (1 Corinthians 15:8; 1Peter 5:1-4; James 1:1; 1 John 1:1; Jude 1). Would that ministers today have that same kind of reverent and humble attitude in service to the Sovereign LORD. Would that all of us who claim to follow the Lord Jesus see the Word of God as holy, precious, and reverent as did those who wrote it, often at the cost of all they had and with their lives.

I took time away from writing in order to think upon these things and to recapture my own wonder, awe, and gratitude towards Him for allowing me, an unworthy servant, to reverently present these messages from His Word. I wanted to come before His Majesty with a renewed devotion of teaching the Scriptures out of love and compassion for Him and to spread the truth of the Gospel message to as many who will read these sermons and studies over time. I want to possess the same kind of attitude and respect towards the Holy Word of God as did those who first put pen to parchment.

That is what I want for you as well if you have come to the place where the reading and study of the Scriptures has gone flat or practically non-existent in your walk with Him.

Let’s get excited and eager once again to tell not just John’s story about Jesus, the Light and Life of the World, but of the entire collection of the Word of God. Time is running out, the harvest still needs to be collected, and you can’t do the job if your tools aren’t in working order.

donaldwhitchard@gmail.com

www.realitycityreverend.com

My YouTube broadcasts titled “The Reality City Review” will be posted on Facebook, GETTR, Parler, and on my website when completed. My main area of discussion will be on the basics of the Christian faith but will also deal with prophetic issues and other topics as the Lord impresses upon me to handle.