I'm you Welcome back to Bible time. We're in 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2 We did a lesson last time on verses 1 & 2 combined and we ended there. We looked heavily at Matthew chapter 24 And we ended there where Jesus Christ begins to speak of the day of the Lord. We may get back to that. I doubt we get back to that today. We're going to look at verse 2, focusing on that today. 2 Thessalonians 2, 1, Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter, as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let's pray. Father, in Jesus' name, we thank you for your word. We thank you for your goodness to us. We thank you, Lord God, that no matter what anybody's opinions are, Lord, your word is true. I can have opinions, and everybody else can have opinions, and all those opinions don't really amount to a hill of beans, Lord God. There's nothing, Lord, that's going to change you. Your word is true. Your judgments are right and righteous altogether. The law of the God is perfect and we trust you Lord God that your word is pure and therefore we can come to it Lord even though we have differences of opinion and we can let your word adjust our minds and humble us because your word is always true and we thank you for this today and we pray that you would do that for us all. Lord, starting with me, that your word would adjust and alter my way of thinking, that I would submit to your word, and that I would not come and put my preconceived ideas above your word, but rather that I would submit to your holy word. And I pray that for all those that will listen to this, both here and online, we pray that you would let this message exalt your son, Jesus Christ, and to call people's attention to that great and glorious day of the Lord that is coming soon. And we thank you. for that promise in Jesus' name. Amen. Now some of you may be hung up already because I said the day of the Lord is coming soon. It's interesting that Paul here in 2 Thessalonians says, I don't want you to be shaken either by word or letter as from us is that the day of Christ is at hand. He says don't believe that nonsense that the day of Christ has already happened and yet people still preach it to this day. They say well Paul said that then but then twenty years later it happened. Do you track that? They say 20 years later, this passage of scripture was obsolete and no longer applies to the church directly. Now, some people won't go that far, but the ones that are really honest with what they believe do, and they believe that the day of Christ is not only at hand, but some of them believe that we're post millennial beyond the day of Christ right now and that we're now in some kind of weird unprophesied zone of scripture where every man can do what is right in their own eyes and you're not accountable to any of the scripture and they are therefore able to contextualize away And get this, you're going to love this one. Dispensationalize away all of the scripture, even though most of those group of people don't even believe in dispensations. It's absolutely ironic that they would do such a thing. So they think that the day of Christ has already happened. They think that Jesus has already come back. That the rule of Christ is either currently happening in a spiritual sense and will never happen physically. Or they think that the millennial reign already happened. and that we're in some kind of post-millennial world that the Bible has really nothing to say about, and so they're left to their own spirituality to guide them, and their own mind, and the wit and wisdom of their ancestors, and of those scholastic theologians that they like to follow. By the way, all of these kinds of doctrines were prevalent in the Roman Catholic Church, especially back in the 16th, 1700s. Why were they prevalent? Why did people want to say the day of Christ was at hand? Why would they do that? Well, it's really simple. They moved off of the Bible. They had listened to words, they had listened to spirits, they had listened to letters, and they had put them on equal footing of Paul, as from us, that the day of Christ is at hand. So they would go back and they say well Augustine said this and then they'd go a little further and say well this church father said that and they'd go on and they'd quote another guy and they'd quote another guy and they would just slightly and slowly move away from the Bible and make this big wandering arc away from the Bible in their theology until they were teaching something entirely different from the Bible. And then if somebody brought up the Bible, they would say, well, you don't really understand because we have discovered greater truth. And if you will go through our schools and learn what we learned, then you would understand what we understand and believe what we believe. And that's how people arrive at these ludicrous ideas. That if you just had a Bible and you didn't have some nincompoop to guide you, you would never come up with some of these ideas. They would never even enter your mind. You have to be taught them in order to even be able to believe them because it takes generations to be able to substantiate the kind of heresies that people believe. You can't get that far in one generation and be even considered credible. Do you follow me? It takes years and years and years. You have to move away from the Bible as far as your generation will let you. And then the next generation has to take it the next step farther. And it takes literally hundreds of years to come up with the stupid ideas that are prevalent in our culture today. It just can't happen overnight. Otherwise you get tarred and feathered and run out of Independence, Missouri like Joseph Smith. And for some reason people still believe him. Now, 2 Thessalonians 2, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter, as from us is that the day of Christ is at hand. Now, by the way, I mentioned Joseph Smith. Don't the Mormons teach a post-millennialism? I don't know. I can't remember. It seems like they do. I'll just throw that thought in there. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe somebody can comment and let me know about that. I purposefully don't study their garbage. But when I come across them and talk to them, I learn things about them every time I talk to them. And everything I learn is always heresy. Always heresy. Christ deniers. Antichrist. Here he's talking about the day of Christ is at hand and he's going to go into verse three. We'll look at that later. Let no man deceive you by any means for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first and that man of sin be revealed the son of perdition. So then we get into the doctrine of the Antichrist. Has the Antichrist come? Is he to come? This will help clear up the whole question for you. Has the day of the Lord come? Well if you understand the Antichrist at all, it's obvious he hasn't. The Bible says that there are many antichrists in the world, but the son of perdition, the man of sin, has not yet appeared on the scene. We will study that later. I will give you scripture after scripture, Lord willing, and we'll look at it, and we'll be able to see from the word of God that clearly the man of sin has not come. These other things that go down through verse four and et cetera, these things have not happened yet. Therefore, the day of Christ has not come yet, cannot come yet. Cannot will not come until this happens. That's what verse 3 says. We'll get to that later So let's look at this day of the Lord now the day of the Lord is a huge topic in the Word of God. Absolutely huge topic. If you look up the phrase, Day of the Lord, it appears 29 times in the Bible. The first mention is Isaiah 2.12, For the Day of the Lord of Hosts shall be upon everyone that is proud and lofty, and upon everyone that is lifted up, and he shall be brought low. That is very ironic because the first mention of the Day of the Lord deals with the proud and the lofty. And it's The irony of it is that people that get this idea that the day of the Lord has already passed are always, without exception, building some kind of earthly kingdom for themselves and have some kind of proud and lofty heresies that they've embraced. Isaiah 13 6 how ye for the day of the Lord is at hand it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty now this here in Isaiah 13 6 this is the burden of Babylon so Isaiah is actually talking to the city of Babylon of course there's Babylon in typology and we could go into how do you know when the Bible's talking literally how do you know what it's talking figuratively we were just talking about that as a family And my children could answer that question. Most theologians can't figure it out. My children can figure it out. Why would I say that? Am I just proud and arrogant? No. The reason is that God wrote the Bible on a fourth grade reading level and he said you must become as little children to enter into the kingdom of heaven. What is it about a little child that makes them able to understand the deep things of God? I'll tell you, it's really simple. They believe God. That's what makes them able. And a little child can get it because they just take the Bible at face value and they go, oh, and they believe it really means what it says, even though it's absolutely far out. And theologians and wise people and smart people, they say, well, that's impossible. So they redefine and restructure everything in the word of God to fit their own preconceived ideas. And then they can't get it. And that's why my kids can get it. And you can't, sorry. Now if you become like a little child, you'll get it too. You just believe the Bible. Just believe the Bible. Now the burden of Babylon here, he's talking to Babylon. There is typology. You know it's a type when God says it's a type. That's how you know it's a type. You say it can't be that simple. It absolutely is that simple. We're not gonna get into that right now. Maybe another Bible time we'll really examine that and look at a lot of the typology in the Bible and things like that. That'd be wonderful, but we gotta move on. When the Bible says it's a type, it's a type. When the Bible doesn't say it's a type, you can't say it's a type. When the Bible says it's figurative, it's figurative. When the Bible says it's literal, it's literal. The Bible is literally figurative when it's figurative, and its figures are always literally interpreted in the scope of the Scriptures and the limits of the context that God has given us in Scripture. We've got to keep moving. Isaiah 34 8 or 13 9 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 Isaiah 34 8 for it is the day of the Lord's vengeance in the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion Jeremiah 46 10 For this is the day of the Lord God of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries. And the sword shall devour, and it shall be satiate, and made drunk with their blood. For the Lord God of hosts hath a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates." Now all of these verses, to really grasp each of these verses, you've got to go and read the context of every one of them in order to really understand which day it's talking about. Now as we talk about these days of the Lord, there are actually many days of the Lord. There's a day of the Lord for Edom. There's a day of the Lord for Babylon, literal physical. There's a day of the Lord, a literal physical day of the Lord that would come on Jerusalem for rejecting the Messiah. That's not the great day of the Lord in prophecy. There are days of the Lord. There are many days. God sets days. And this is probably one of the most important things to grasp with the idea of the day of the Lord, which is an idea of judgment. It's an idea of judgment. Now judgment is not negative if you're the good guy. How many of you can figure that one out all by yourself? Judgment is a good thing if you're the widow woman and the big rancher has dammed up the water and your little milk cows drying up. and you don't have any milk left because the cattle ranch is too greedy to let water run across the fence line and you need some help and you go up to the county sheriff and he says to that cattle rancher, you take a plank out of that or I'm going to come up there and blow the thing up with dynamite. And the little widow woman ain't crying on the Day of Judgment. It's the big cattle rancher who's crying. So one of the things you need to know about the Day of the Lord is that the Day of the Lord has two sides. It's a day of light and a day of darkness. It's a day of joy. It's a day of sadness. It depends on who God is talking to at the time. If it's the person who is being delivered, it's a day for dancing and shouting and singing and praising and shouting hallelujah. If it's the person who is an enemy of Almighty God, it's a day of darkness, anguish, wrath, and vengeance. So this day of the Lord speaks of judgment. And there is a day of the Lord for every nation. There is a day of the Lord for every individual. You are going to stand before God and be judged. and you better be ready for your day of the Lord. So you gotta look at the context here to understand which day of the Lord that he's talking about. And that's why we're not going to read all of these. Ezekiel 13, five, Ezekiel 33, 30 verse three, that is, Joel 1, 15, Joel 2, verse one, two, verse 11, two, verse 31, Joel 3, verse 14, Amos 5, 18. Let's read that one real quick. Woe 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. Amos 5.20, shall not the day of the Lord be darkness and not light, even very dark and no brightness in it? Obadiah 1.15, for the day of the Lord is near upon all the heathen, as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee, and thy reward shall return upon thine own head. Now, I'm going to bring up something here I'm going to try to bring up something, something I can barely grasp myself because there's just so much scripture. And really to see this, we need to look at the word, at the search, if you typed it into a search function, you pull up Day of God. Day of God in the Bible. And the reason we pull up Day of God is because it's the same thing as the Day of the Lord. And the Day of God in the Bible, it only has two mentions. And interestingly, the Day of God in the Bible covers both of the main uses of the judgment of God for the Day of the Lord. There's one for each. You say, wait a minute, what do you mean one for each? Well, we'll get to that. Let's look at it. 2 Peter 3, 12. Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the Day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. Go over to 2 Peter. We'll take a little closer look at this one here in a minute. As you're turning there, Revelation 16, 14 is the other mention of the day of God. And it says, For they are the spirits of devils working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world to gather them to the battle of that great day. of God Almighty. Now there's a bunch of people that will try and parse this all out and say that Day of Christ is a certain thing and Day of the Lord is another thing and they just parsing everything all out all together. And I don't believe that that really works. If you look at the context, it doesn't hold. It just doesn't hold water. There's places in the Bible where it says Day of the Lord and Day of Christ back-to-back, speaking of the same day, it just doesn't hold water. But rather, what we can do is look at the context, see what's going on, and see, are there any different days that this could be? Here, Peter's going to illuminate this thing for us quite a bit. Revelation 16 14 where these spirits are going out. This is in its direct context This is the time of Jacob's trouble now This gets into Daniel 70th week and we're gonna have to go to the book of Daniel for this Daniel I believe chapter 9 Excuse me. And we're gonna have to look at the day of the Lord there. It's not even mentioned by name there, but Daniel's 70th week, and this stuff gets really, really, really, really thick because the book is thick. There's a whole lot of scripture about the subject. It has to be rightly divided. And we can get the skeleton of this thing, but as far as fleshing this thing out, we see through a glass darkly. We're gonna see through the glass. We're gonna see face to face someday and know all things. Right now, there are some things that are dark, there are some things that are hard to understand, but I truly believe that if we compare Scripture with Scripture, we can gather all of the information that God has clearly laid out, and we can clearly understand what God has clearly said. How many of you would agree with that? We can clearly understand what God has clearly said. And just because some big dude with numbers and letters behind his name doesn't understand it doesn't mean you can't, by the way. Just because some guy that has all kinds of erudition and higher learning can't understand it doesn't mean that you can't. You just need your Bible. Believe what your Bible says. Read your Bible. Believe it. God will straighten you out on what you're wrong about whenever you get to heaven. And if that big dude with all the numbers and letters is saved, then when he gets to heaven, God will straighten him out on all his stuff because he's just a guy too. He's got to put his pants on in the morning the same way as Farmer John down the road. One leg goes in this hole, one leg goes in that hole. He's just human just like anybody else. He can drive a Rolls Royce and have 14 different rings on his fingers. but he's just a human being and he's not God. We have got the Word of God, the Bible. Trust your Bible. Read your Bible. Believe your Bible. Obey your Bible. So here in Revelation 16, you have the day of God Almighty and you have this where Christ is going to return and destroy the nations. That's Revelation 19 when Jesus appears from heaven. So that would be the one great judgment of the day of the Lord. But over here in 2 Peter 3, verse 12, we have a day of God. And this is one of those places, by the way, where the day of God and the day of the Lord will be used interchangeably. So here in 2 Peter 3, we have the day of God, verse 12, where the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. Now in the first section that we mentioned, or the second, Revelation 16, you have Jesus Christ about to set up His rule and reign on earth for a thousand years. And if you read the Bible, it's very clear about that. Satan's bound for a little season. Go read it yourself. Revelation 19. Satan's bound for a thousand years. He's loosed. Everybody gathers again attacks Jerusalem fire comes down from heaven Wait a second now that sounds like we're what we're reading here But the first part where Jesus destroys the armies around Jerusalem and sets up his millennial kingdom that doesn't line up with 2nd Peter 3 12 the day of God were on the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved in the elements shall melt with fervent heat that lines up with the second part of Revelation 19 not the first part the second part is where Satan is loosed for a little season and gathers all the nations the world against Jerusalem and fire comes down out of heaven and burns them up And that lines up here. The first time is a sword. The second time is fire. We're going to find that that actually is the best way to separate these verses out in the Old Testament prophets and figure out which part of the day of the Lord is being talked about. Is this a day that comes with fire and total destruction? Or is this a day that comes with a sword and ruling and reigning? And if you just separate it by how the Bible separates it, it pretty much lays out. Just gave you the key to the whole thing You could shut this thing off run all the word searches yourself and do the study for yourself You've got the key in your hands right now. You could do the study and come to a biblical conclusion about this But we'll just go on a study it together if you'd like to keep it rolling. We'll keep going 2 Peter 3, so seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, the heavens, the elements, what manner of persons ought you to be in all the holy conversation and godliness looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. Now if you go back here, In Peter, the Lord is not slack concerning his promises. Go to verse 10. The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens shall pass away, is verse 10. And the elements shall melt with the fervent heat. So you have the day of the Lord and the day of God used interchangeably here in 2 Peter, verses 3, or verse 10 of chapter 3 and verse 12 of chapter 3. Excuse me. So this great Day of the Lord is a post-tribulation, post-millennial application of this term, Day of the Lord, Day of God. This is when Satan is loosed. And then the Revelation 16-14, Day of God Almighty, is a, at the end of the tribulation, pre-millennial Day of the Lord that comes in. Jesus Christ starting the day of the Lord. I may have mentioned before, I think I mentioned in one of my messages that the rapture kicks off the day of the Lord. Well, in one way it sort of does, but I do kind of have to back up on that a little bit. I'm not, I'm still trying to figure some of that stuff out. But as you read the Bible, as you study the Bible, the day of God, the day of Christ, is specifically two parts, and we find that here in the day of God. The day of the Lord is, first of all, it's a day of the judgment of the whole world, which is the absolute final judgment of the world, mentioned in 2 Peter 3.12, and it is a day of excuse me, the conclusion of the judgment of Israel and the restoration of Israel. And this is where we get into Daniel's 70 weeks. Before we go there to Daniel chapter 9, which is where we're going to go next, we have here in chapter 3 of Peter, I wish I had written it down. Verse 8, here it is. But beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. So you say, which day is it? You're telling me there's two days of the Lord. No, there's two major applications of the days of the Lord. There's actually a lot of references in the Bible about things that go on during the day of the Lord. We do not have time to get to all of them. But just for example, I'll throw you one right now, and then we'll go to Daniel chapter 9 in Zechariah. Let's see if I can find that one. That would be... that be Zechariah 14 of 20. In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses holiness unto the Lord, and the pots in the Lord's house shall be like the bulls before the altar. Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holiness unto the Lord of hosts, and all that sacrifice shall come and take of them and seed therein. And in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts. We'll jump into that maybe a little bit later if we have a chance, but that's something do need to mention. If you look up that day in the Bible, you'll come up with 219 references to that day. Not all of them have to do with the day of the Lord. You have to parse through it, verse by verse, context by context, chapter by chapter, book by book, and carefully divide the Word of God, and you find a whole bunch more references to the day of the Lord that are not specifically titled the day of the Lord because in one verse you'll say the day of the Lord and six days six verses later he'll say in that day and twelve verses later he'll say in that day and in the context of those verses also apply to that day of the Lord there's also other days like the day of Edom you'll find that in the Bible maybe we'll get to that today maybe not this thing is so big and there's so many verses that deal with it Daniel chapter 9 verse 24 this is absolutely critical to understand as you go into a study of what people call eschatology, end times theology, the doctrine of what is going to happen at the end of the world. So Daniel chapter 9 and verse 20, here an angel speaking to Daniel. He's been fasting and praying, begging God for understanding of the visions that he's got. He wants to know when this stuff is going to happen. He's been seeing these amazing visions. Verse 24, 70 weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city to finish the transgression and to make an end of sins and to make Reconciliation for iniquity and to bring in everlasting righteousness and to seal up the vision and prophecy and to anoint The most holy so this most holy this that's going to be anointed. He's going to be anointed after 70 weeks of judgment upon the nation of Israel these people that replace Israel with the church don't know what they're asking for The church is in, or the nation of Israel is under the judgment of Almighty God right now. You don't want to be those guys. So here in these 70 weeks that are determined against the people, we can find, and we're not going to study this all out in detail today, but you can study it. We may get to study it another day, that these weeks here are prophetic for years. That each of these weeks is seven years. 70 weeks are determined. And how do you know that? by comparing scripture with scripture. And again, we'll study that out another time. Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the prince shall be seven weeks and three score and two weeks. The street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself. And the people of the prince shall come and shall destroy the city and the sanctuary, and the end thereof shall be with a flood. And unto the end of the war desolations are determined." So you have the seven weeks and threescore and two weeks. How much does that add up to? Three score is three times 20. So that equals 60 and two, 62. Three score and two is 62. And he had seven weeks there in verse 25. Seven plus 62 is 69. So that leaves one week. Well, let's see what it says in verse 27. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week. There it is, Daniel's 70th week. And in the midst of the week, he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations, he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. Now we're gonna look at this more as we get into the study of the man of sin, the son of perdition. Because this is a parallel passage with the other verses in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. This is dealing with the Antichrist and what he will do setting himself up in the temple to be worshipped as God and that hasn't happened yet. We'll get to more of that later. But what we want to focus in on right now is that we have these 70 weeks in Daniel that are what? What is the point of these 70 weeks? What did he say back here in verse 24? 70 weeks are determined upon who? Thy people. That's exactly right. How did he get that? He read a Bible. Amen. That simple. Now there's scholastic theologians that have gone to school for 45 years that can't figure that out. Because they've read too many books and not enough Bible. So 70 weeks are determined upon thy people. Who are Daniel's people? Now this takes a rocket scientist to figure this one out. Who are the people of Daniel? The Jews. Very good. That's obvious, isn't it? It's what the Bible says. You don't have to go to school to figure that one out. You just need to know how to read. You say, well, you have to go to school to read. You don't even have to do that. Now, I'm for education, and I'm for a good education, but I'm not for the mess that they call school today. Good grief. Now, moving on. Daniel chapter 9 here. Seventy weeks are determined against the Jews. So what it says, 70 weeks and after there's seven weeks and then there's 32 weeks or I'm sorry, it says seven weeks and then three score and two weeks is 62 weeks. What was this seven weeks? He says here. after three score, or I'm sorry, verse 25, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem. Well, where do you find that? You go back to the book of Ezra, and you go to the end of, I believe, 2 Chronicles, and I believe the end of Jeremiah, and you have the account of the commandment of the going forth to restore and build Jerusalem. There was one man that did the math on this and did all the history study and everything and he studied this thing out and he found that by his calculations, he was only two days off on his calculations. All of his amazing studies, he came in within two days of what the Bible says. So that's how I know he was two days off. Everybody thinks, wow, he did so good proving the Bible. I said, well, the Bible is right. And he did good getting close to the Bible. Anyway, he was Sir Somebody or Other. He is knighted by somebody in England, as if that makes any difference, I don't know. But anyway, Sir Somebody or Other, and he did all these studies in history and archaeology, and he found out that the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem was exactly 7 and 62 times seven years with two within two days of Jesus's triumphal into entry into Jerusalem From the day that the commandment went out to go build Jerusalem. Remember the story of Ezra. I Remember that? From the day that that commandment was put into law to the day that Christ came back into Jerusalem riding on a white full of an ass. Here comes Jesus riding on this full of an ass, and does it say white? Maybe I added that one in. He's coming back on a white horse when he comes the next time. But he's riding into Jerusalem on the full of an ass, that that was exactly seven and three score and two times seven years. Weeks. Seven years, seven weeks. And we'll show that. The Bible clearly tells us exactly what those weeks are in another passage we're not going to go to right now. But in any case, here, these weeks were Jesus Christ coming. And here Messiah the Prince came, and it says after three score and two weeks, here He came back into Jerusalem. Messiah the Prince came riding on the fold of an ass. And then He was cut off. Not for Himself. Who is He cut off for? Why did He die? Why did Jesus come and die? to save us from our sins, not for us. He was cut off for us. And then it says, let's look at what it says here. And the, it says, and the, the Prince, not for himself and the people of the Prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary and the end thereof shall be with a flood. And unto the end of the war, desolations are determined. Now, we could just be gone off to the races for three days in a row, chasing Bible verses and studying Bible verses and connections and correlations, but we'd all be so exhausted we couldn't think and it'd all fall out of our brains. Matthew 24, remember the people, the disciples came to Jesus. They said, look at all these beautiful buildings of the temple. And Jesus said, there will be one stone left standing upon the other. He was talking about Daniel chapter 9 and verse 26. That the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Excuse me. And the end thereof shall be with a flood. And unto the end of the war, desolations are determined." Now, this time, oh my word, we don't have time for all this. You can go to Revelation, you find the woman has the baby, remember? And then the dragon wants to devour the baby, but the baby is caught up to heaven, to God, and then the dragon is persecuting the woman, and she flies away on the wings of an eagle into the desert. Do you remember all that? That's the war that it's talking about. And doesn't the dragon send out a flood out of his mouth after the woman to destroy the woman in the wilderness? And he says in the end shall be with a flood and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. All this stuff ties together. All of these scriptures line up. So what we are living in right now is the war between the dragon and God who is protecting the woman, Israel. And this time was not seen by men. They could not see the time that would happen here, that there would be a space between. Why did God, you say there's no space in there, then why did God separate it? Seven weeks, three score in two weeks, one week. In between three score and two weeks, and in between the one week, there was a space of grace. Messiah, the prince, is cut off. The prince is coming, destroying the... What's happening here? The time that was determined against the people. The nation of Israel, because of their sins, God said 70 weeks are determined against you. He named the number of years. But when Messiah the Prince came back to Israel, did they submit to his rule? No, they killed the Prince of Life. And when they killed the Prince of Life, God allowed them by that act to pause, to pause the eschatological clock to pause the weeks of Daniel, to pause the judgment of God, and interpose a new period of judgment on Israel that would last throughout what we now know as the Church Age. Now the church age exists in a blip in the middle of Daniel's 70 weeks. Daniel's 70 weeks are called what in the Bible? The time of the Gentiles. This is the time of the Gentiles. Again, other references that I didn't study. 400 references here that I'm trying to get to we're not gonna get to I wasn't trying to get all these ones in today But here the time of the Gentiles 70 weeks 70 sets of 70 years, which we want what 490 should be 400 and 483 years that have already passed of the judgment of the Jews and then within that time of the Gentiles is a space of grace for the Gentile called the Church Age that is a separate time of judgment for Israel because of the rejection of the Messiah. All of this is leading up to the time of Jacob's trouble, which is what? Daniel's 70th week. See, all of this, this just obliterates bad doctrine. When you begin to understand the Bible, why would the church go through Daniel's 70th week? Who was the 70 weeks determined for for judgment? for Israel, literal, physical, earthbound seed of Abraham, bodily genetic offspring of Abraham Israel. In Daniel's 70th week, the time of Jacob's trouble is determined against the people of Israel. The climax of the time of Jacob's trouble, the 70th week, is the second coming of Jesus Christ and the close of the 70 weeks, the restoration of Israel. The 70 weeks will be fulfilled and Israel will be restored to spiritual privilege. David will sit upon the throne of literal physical Israel in Jerusalem on this earth. Praise the Lord. So there's Daniel's 70 weeks and how that ties in here. At the close of those 70 weeks, Jesus Christ returns. Read about it in Revelation 19. Read the whole thing. We've done that before in Bible time. You can do it yourself. Again, read Revelation 19, and it gives you the whole scope of the post-70 weeks Post time of Jacob's trouble millennial reign of Jesus Christ for 1,000 years and it says it explicitly in Revelation 19 1,000 years and Satan is loosed so again as we look at those two verses Revelation 16 14 you have the spirits of Devils working miracles which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty this is dealing with the day of God Almighty in It's inception, which is when Christ comes with a sword. 2nd Peter 3 12 looking for and hastening unto the coming of the day of God where in the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with fervent heat and this is dealing with the Conclusion of the day of the Lord the final judgment of the Gentile nations So whenever you go through the day of the Lord we can find here several different days I mean these two different days There's also the individual days of judgment. That's why you've got to rightly divide this thing. You've got to read. Who's he talking to? What's he talking to them about? Is he talking to them about something that's going to happen? Sometimes God talks about that day and maybe it's Elijah pointing his finger at Ahab. And Ahab's day is what it's talking about. So you've got to figure out which day it's talking about. Is it talking about the day of the Lord or is it not? So here in Obadiah 115, we have the final judgment of Esau, and it says, For the day of the Lord is near upon all the heathen. As thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee. Thy reward shall return upon thine own head. Zephaniah, though, talks about, Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord God. This is Zephaniah 1, 7 and 8. For the day of the Lord is at hand. For the Lord hath prepared a sacrifice. He hath bid his guests, and it shall come to pass in the day of the Lord's sacrifice that I will punish the princes, and the king's children, and all such as are clothed with strange apparel." So you have here, if you read there in Obadiah, the day of the Lord that's spoken of in Obadiah is a final, total eradication and judgment of Edom. They're gone forever. after Obadiah 115 is done. Zephaniah 1, 7 and 8, you have a day of the Lord in which it's a day of the Lord's sacrifice and he punishes the princes and the king's children. So then it says in Zephaniah 114, the day of the Lord is near, it is near, it hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord, the mighty man shall cry there bitterly, Zephaniah 118, 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 even make a speedy reddence of all them that dwell in the land." Read the context. Is that local or global? Before the decree bringing forth, before the day passes 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. Zechariah has a ton to say about the day of the Lord. Zechariah 14.1 specifically mentions it. Many more mentions of that day that apply. So then we go to Malachi 4.5. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great. dreadful day of the Lord." So here's Elijah, the forerunner of Christ, coming before the great and dreadful day of the Lord. Which one is that talking about? Is that talking about the final battle? Or is that talking about the time of Jacob's trouble? If you look at the context, I believe that's talking about immediately post-tribulation. This sun should be turned into darkness in Acts chapter 2 verse 20. Here he's quoting Joel and the moon into blood before that great and notable day of the Lord come. Again, the time of Jacob's trouble. Read Revelation. We find that happening during the Great Tribulation. We find in first Corinthians the day of the Lord is mentioned that we should deliver a wicked unrepentant professing Christian to Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Second Corinthians 114 is also you have acknowledged just in part that we are your rejoicing even as ye also are ours in the day of the Lord Jesus. So here you have a positive. day of the Lord Jesus. You have the salvation of a soul in 1st Corinthians 5.5 in the day of the Lord Jesus. Again, this is more about who he's talking to. The day of the Lord Jesus is a wonderful day for those who have made their peace with God. As it says there all the way back in Zephaniah 2.2 or 2.3 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. So there is the day of the Lord for those who are righteous, those who are meek, who are looking forward to the coming of the Lord to deliver them from this present evil world. And then you have the day of the Lord for the wicked, for the ungodly, for the hypocrite, for the unrighteous, for the workers of iniquity, which is a day of wrath and a day of anguish and a day of darkness. First Thessalonians 5.2 says, for yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. That reference may be where I made reference to the rapture kicking off the day of the Lord. And if I said that wrong in there, I apologize. And I want it to line up with the Word of God. And if I don't line up with the Word of God, I retract anything I said in any of my Bible times. It would be about impossible for me to go back and edit them all. It's kind of a, it is what it is. Besides that, it goes on record in heaven when I preach it, whether I edit it or not. So it kind of just is what it is. It stands where it stands. And I just hope it lines up with the Bible. Doing my best. And I pray that you'll just read your Bible and not be a follower of me. Because I stumble. And I'm just a man too. I put my britches on the same way the doctor of theology does and the same way Farmer John does. And I'm no better than anybody else. So stick to the Bible! Follow the Bible 2nd Peter 3 10, but the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night We read that one in the which the heavens shall pass away with the great noise The elements shall melt with fervent heat the earth also in the works that are therein shall be Burned up when the earth is burned up. There is not a millennial rain going on. That is the post millennial conclusion of the Day of the Lord. Now let's look at that day real quickly. Oh my, 219 references. We're gonna skip through and grab a few highlights. We have other days here we could have looked at. I didn't even begin to get into this. Day of Wrath, Day of Vengeance, Day of Christ, Day of Indignation, Day of Distress, Day of Darkness, and there's several other references that can also be used. Those ones are much smaller, usually one or two or three references for those. So by getting that day, it pretty much pulls in all the references to the day of the Lord as well as all the references to all the rest. So it requires a much more thorough study of the context if you're going to do the search for that day and study out those verses. 219 references. Read above, read below. Understand who's being talked to, what's being talked about. Understand the book that's written, the author of the book, what time he lived in Israel, what's going on historically according to the word of God during his ministry, who he's talking about. All of these things are necessary to bring into your mind. You say, how could I ever understand that? A common man can't understand the Bible. That's absolutely wrong. All of this is perfectly understandable. If that seems daunting to you, Listen to me today if that seems daunting to you what you need to do is don't worry about studying this right now Get your Bible out and read it through in one month the whole thing Set aside the time read through your Bible in one month start to finish and then set yourself up on an aggressive Sustainable reading plan because you can't sustain normal life while you read the Bible through in a month if you have to be Work a job or do something like that you so set yourself up a sustainable bible reading plan get an authorized version bible which is just the straight word for word and meaning for meaning holy ghost directed translation of the word of god from the original texts into english and get that and read it and believe it and read it like crazy and eventually all of those things about context and who's talking And all of that will become second nature to you as you read and soak yourself in the Word of God. And then things will become clear that never could become clear any other way. And by the way, that's how you understand the Bible. And if you're not gonna do that, you're not gonna understand the Bible. You're going to be totally dependent on other people. Now, I'm not saying that you have to read it through in a month to ever understand it. I was recommending that. But if you don't soak yourself in the Word of God, you will never really get it. You will always be dependent on other people, and other people are always going to be wrong about something, myself included. So then you'll just suck up whatever people do wrong. By the way, I know we're pressed for time. We've got to keep moving. I just want to throw this thing in here. If you follow men, human nature combined with the world, the flesh, and the devil will absolutely guarantee that you will suck up every error that every man ever teaches you and you will embrace their errors and you won't even know that they're errors. It's just a law of human nature and the depraved nature of man Which is working in collusion with the world, the flesh, and the devil. That if you will not read and soak yourself in the word of God and study the word for yourself, that you are going to suck up everybody else's stupidity. And we've all got it. You have got to get in the book for yourself. Some of this stuff will help you. God has ordained the preaching and teaching of the Word of God. It's a good thing. But unless you get in the book yourself, you will be a tool. And you will be a product of whoever you are following. If you follow Christ, you'll be a product of Christ. If you follow me, you'll be a product of me. And if you knew me very well, you would know you don't want to be a product of me. Follow Christ. Now, let's see here. That day. Excuse me. Deuteronomy 31.17, there's several references to that day in the Old Testament that we're just going to skip right past that are local events. Deuteronomy 31.17, Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them, so that they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us? and I will surely hide my face in that day for all the evils which they shall have wrought in that day they are turned, in that they are turned unto other gods." Now this, that day, we give you as illustration that that day is not talking about the day of the Lord. This is talking about, I believe, it's multifaceted. It deals with the day immediately following Joshua where they immediately turned away to false gods in the book of Judges. It deals with every other turning away of the children of Israel and every other rebuke and chasing of God. And the most present application that is currently in force of Deuteronomy 31, 17, and 18 is current day Israel living out the judgment of having cut off Messiah the Prince. They're living in that judgment right now, waiting on Daniel's 70th week to begin so that they can finally finish their chastening for turning to other gods. They're in a double-layered judgment right now, waiting on the Great Tribulation. Boy, isn't that rough. So, someday I'm going to preach a message, so you call yourself a Jew. Oh my word, you don't even know what you're doing if you call yourself a Jew. Right now, Jews are the twofold wrath of God. It's doubled against them right now. Not only are they still waiting on the conclusion of the 70 weeks, but they are in judgment for cutting off Messiah the Prince right now. And boy, has it been bad. Do you remember what Jesus said? Weep not for me. He's carrying that cross. He turns to the daughters of Jerusalem. He says, Weep not for me. Weep for yourselves and for your children. For the day cometh when they shall say, Blessed is the womb that never bare and the paps that never gave suck. He says, It's going to be bad. and boy has it been bad for two thousand years. like they never, never dreamed when they said, His blood be on us and upon our children. So Joshua 4.14, on that day, there's another one that is not the day of the Lord. On that day, the Lord magnified Joshua. Now we're gonna skip on down to 1 Samuel 3.12. Let's see an example of a local judgment. This is Eli's day of the Lord. Now it's not called the day of the Lord, but it certainly was for Eli. It was the day the Lord visited Eli's house with the curse that had been prophesied against or the day prophesied. In that day, I will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning his house. When I begin, I will also make an end." A lot of these Old Testament references, if you really wanted to get deep, deep, deep, deep, deep in the study of the day of the Lord, Don't go get a bunch of archaeological helps and maps and a bunch of apologetists and all this kind of stuff. Just get your Bible out and study. You can get so deep if you just get in the Word of God and get deep in the Bible. All of these Old Testament judgments of God are foreshadows and types of His final judgment because they teach us about His nature. They teach us about His wrath. They teach us about the finality of the judgment of God. As the old preacher says, the wheel of God's judgment grinds slow and fine. It doesn't come quickly most of the time, but when it comes it gets it all. God doesn't miss anything. And you learn that by reading these examples of the Old Testament and the judgments of the Old Testament like Sodom and Gomorrah. Read these accounts. Read about the judgment of the Lord. Noah, the day of the Lord is likened to Noah. We're not even going to hardly get anywhere today. Help us, Lord. But the day of Noah is a judgment of the Lord. You can learn from these examples. It is used as a picture of the final judgment of God of the day of the Lord. You got first Kings 14, 14, a day of judgment for Jeroboam. Trying to move on here. Oh my, all these prophecies. You got all this in Esther. On that day, the number of those that were slain in Shushan, the palace was brought before the king. There's so much here in typology that we can't even get to. Then we get to Isaiah. The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. Isaiah 2 17 to 23 7 3 18 Isaiah 4 1 Isaiah 5 30 Isaiah 7 18 17 14 17 7 17 9 19 16 and 18 and 21 and 23 Isaiah 20 verse 6 22 verse 8 22 verse 12 Isaiah I guess I missed a page back here Isaiah 7, 21, 23, Isaiah 10, 20, and 27, and 32, Isaiah 11, 10, Isaiah 12, 1, Isaiah 12, 4, Isaiah 17, 4, and on and on and on the list goes. And there is so much here that we could study about this. Down here, I wish I could have the time to go through these. There's a day of the Lord where Israel will be the third with Assyria and Egypt. And then there's a day of the Lord where Egypt is going to be destroyed completely. What have you got? You go back to these two different aspects of the day of the Lord. You've got the inception and you have the conclusion. You have the 2 Peter 3, 12 conclusion where Egypt would be wiped out. And you have the Revelation 16, 14 preparation for the day of the Lord where Egypt will have a highway built following that great war during the thousand year millennial reign of God. And Egypt will be called my people, God says. And Assyria will be my people. And the day that Moab and Edom even will have some kind of roles in this millennial reign. Babylon and the people thereof will be destroyed during the tribulation. But many of these people have a role during the millennial reign that they will have to serve. And then after the millennial reign, Satan will deceive them. They will attack Israel again and be absolutely finally crushed and destroyed forever by Jesus Christ. in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God. But as we look at the day of the Lord in all these passages, we've got that day through the rest of the Old Testament, many, many, many more references that we didn't even get to today. As we look at it, we find a common theme throughout all of these verses that the day of the Lord comes with vengeance on them that know not God and peace for them that know God. We find that here, let me see if I can find Zechariah. We've got Joel 3.18, Amos 2.16, 8.3, 8.9, 8.13, 9.11, amazing passages of scripture. You get to Zechariah and it's just full of the day of the Lord. So much to learn about the day of the Lord. And he goes through basically in order. Zechariah 2 11 and many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day and shall be my people and I will dwell in the midst of thee and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts has sent me unto them now this that it is the day of the Lord is evident by the context so if this is if I'm correct in understanding this to be the day of the Lord when he says that day He says, many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day. Is that the final destruction of all the nations on the face of the earth? Or is that Christ setting up his millennial kingdom? Who can figure this out? Many nations shall be joined to the Lord. Which one is it? the millennial reign. So that's pretty obvious. Zechariah 3.10, in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, shall ye call every man his neighbor under the vine and under the fig tree. Restoration of Israel, back in their land. Zechariah 9.16, and the Lord their God shall save them in that day as the flock of his people, for they shall be as the stones of a crown lifted up as an incense upon his land. Again, Restoration of Israel. Zechariah 11.11, and it was broken in that day, so the poor of the flock that waited upon me, that was not what I intended to include because I didn't study that parable out that Zechariah teaches in 11.11. Study that out for yourself. It says, knew that it was the word of the Lord. Zechariah 12.3, and in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people. All that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered against it. all the people of the earth gathered against Israel. In that day, saith the Lord, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness, and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness. This speaking of the day that the blood will run to the horse's bridles in the valley of Megiddo. There's Zechariah 12, six, in that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheath, and they shall devour all the people round about on the right hand and on the left, and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem." Again, restoration of Israel, millennial reign of Christ. Zechariah 12, 8, In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David, and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the Lord before them. And it shall come to pass in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. Now that day, I wish we had time to study it out. Check that one out. Is that millennial reign or is that winding down the millennial reign? Looking at the final judgment, because the nations will gather against Israel twice. Zechariah 13 one, in that day there shall be a fountain open to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. Then it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land and they shall no more be remembered. And also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land. And it looks like that's millennial reign. And it shall come to pass in that day that the prophets shall be ashamed, every one of his visions, when he hath prophesied, neither shall they wear a rough garment to deceive. Zechariah 14, 4, In 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. So this is the coming of Christ in Revelation 19, verse 11. He's got many crowns, a name written upon his thigh, which no man knows. He's king of kings, Lord of lords. A sharp sword proceeds out of his mouth and destroys his enemies. And here's Zechariah 14, six. And it shall come to pass in that day that the light shall not be clear nor dark. Well, that's a little different from other passages that talk about the day of the Lord will be darkness, no light at all. So again, the day of the Lord encompasses more than a 24-hour period and it depends on who it's talking to, who it is that is going through the day of the Lord, where they are at, and at what part and point in the day of the Lord that the judgment is being expressed. And if you try to define all of this the way you want to, you can make it say whatever you want, but if you really want to know the truth, You try to line up scripture as best you can and put scripture with scripture to give you God's truth about the day of the Lord. Zechariah 14.8, And it shall be in that day that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem, half of them toward the former sea and half of them toward the hinder sea. In summer and in winter shall it be, and the Lord shall be king over all the earth. In that day shall there be one Lord and His name one. This is during the day of the Lord. A day is with the Lord as a thousand years and a thousand years as a day. So Christ is ruling and reigning. There's a river of living waters flowing out of the temple in Jerusalem, healing the nations. That's all out of Ezekiel. We skipped over those verses. A whole ton of information in Ezekiel. Zechariah 14.20, "...and that day shall there be upon the..." Excuse me. I skip for 1413 and in that day shall come to it shall come to pass in that day that a great tumult from the Lord shall be among them and they shall lay hold everyone on the hand of his neighbor and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbor study that one out see what it's time about verse 14 or verse 20 of chapter 14 in that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses holiness under the Lord and the pots and the Lord's house shall be like the bowls before the altar and Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the Lord of hosts, and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them and seethe therein, and in that day shall there be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord. Malachi 3.17, And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day, when I make up my jewels, and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son. that serveth him Matthew 7 22 and we could go on from there we're just gonna touch this one I believe and we'll shut her down whole bunch of verses in the New Testament that apply to that day that we didn't even get to Matthew 22 verse 40 or 722 many will say to me in that day Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name of cast out devils and in thy name done many wonderful works he says they're just to quote as best I remember it And then shall I say unto them, depart from me ye that work iniquity, I never knew you. They'll be cast out from the kingdom in that day. Now, this is quite a study, quite bigger than we can handle in an hour, but we've tried to cover the skeleton of it and give you some inspiration through the scriptures for more scriptures to read, more Bible verses to go back and study. I hope that you'll take advantage of that. Let's close with a word of prayer. Father, we thank you for the day of the Lord. We thank you, Lord, that the enemies of God will be destroyed. Lord, there's no peace for the wicked. The wicked are like a troubled sea. They devour, they destroy, they hate, they kill, they murder, they rape, and it's, Lord, nothing that can be done, Lord, to stop them. If they will not repent and believe the gospel, there's no hope for them, Father. And so we thank you, Father, that in your wisdom and infinite justice, you have ordained a day of judgment for your enemies and for the enemies of your people, Father, so that there can be peace, so that there can be a heaven, Lord, for those who love you. We thank you, Lord, that though we deserve the judgment and wrath of the day of the Lord that you made a way for us through Jesus Christ to be joint heirs with Christ, to be adopted sons of God, through faith in the blood of Jesus Christ that was shed on Calvary for our sins, who died for us and was buried and rose again the third day, so that we don't have to face the righteous indignation and wrath of a holy God that you are, but that through the blood of Jesus we can be clean and we can escape the wrath to come. We thank you, Lord, and we praise your holy name. In Jesus' name, amen. you