The Day of the Lord

Photo credit to Peter Kraayvanger, Pixabay

"This is the day the Lord has made.  Let us rejoice in it, and be glad!"  (Psalm 118:24).
What a wonderful way to make up our minds to live each day God gives!
Today, I am studying along with you the topic of The Day of the Lord which, actually, is not merely one calendar day.  Rather, this term is used in Scripture to designate a period of a few years, beginning with the Natzal (snatching away, harpazo, Rapture) of the Bride of Christ (aka as The Church), and ending with the establishment of the Millennial Kingdom of Yeshua HaMashiach, Jesus Christ.
Secondly, we are going to do a bit of speculating as to how the One and Only, my Beloved, my Savior, may choose this holy time of year to bring all of that about, that is, during the Fall Feasts.
So, let's get to it.

Because the LORD fulfilled, with His first coming, the four Spring Feasts, it is reasonable to conclude that He will similarly fulfill the three Fall Feasts when He returns.  Why?
It is crucial to remember that the seven mo'ed . . . (remember that this term means - - a time appointed by God, a holy observance keyed to a specific calendar date, Jewish religious festivals which foreshadow and serve as rehearsals for the work of Messiah)  ...all seven Festivals are rehearsals for the work of Messiah, based on an examination of Jesus' first earthly ministry.

As another reminder: the Day of the Lord permeates scripture, from Deuteronomy through Revelation.1  It goes by many names.  Here are just a few others:
Day of Adversity, Great Day of His Wrath, Day of Redemption, Day of Jacob's Trouble, Day of Rebuke, Day of Battle. There are many more.

The first element of the Day of the Lord is a disappearance.  That's right, the snatching away of The Church.  I've mentioned this briefly in prior posts in this series.  The living Church of Jesus Christ, that worldwide body of true believers, will suddenly disappear from the Earth, immediately after the severe disruption of graveyards all over the world as the righteous dead are snatched from their graves.

You might think, how could this occur without a worldwide revival happening afterward?!
In short, based on the research of Christian theologian, David W. Lowe2 , I believe this cataclysmic event will be accompanied by a worldwide earthquake, such as the world has never seen.  This will be the first of many Earth cataclysms which will be the hallmark of the Day of the Lord, and it will mask, obscure, the disappearance.
In the aftermath of such an event, the disappearance of relatively few religious nuts is not going to be the uppermost thing in the minds of the remaining earthlings.  Survival will be; and, here will come the Antichrist, a worldwide ruler, to "save the day".  (Please note, this is just a private interpretation; a worldwide earthquake to mask the resurrection of the righteous is not clearly indicated in Scripture.)

Let's overlay:  Rosh HaShanah is the first of the Fall Feasts.  What indicators do we have that the Rapture of the Church will occur at a future Rosh HaShanah?
Rosh HaShanah is called Yom Teruah, Feast of Trumpets (shofars).  Paul spoke of "The Last Trump" in 1 Corinthians 15:50-57 and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.  This event is also prophesied in Zephaniah 2:1-3.  Many trumpet/shofar blasts are blown on Rosh HaShanah, but the very last one, the 100th one, is one long, loud blast.  Jews refer to it as "the Last Trump".  As mentioned in a prior post, one of the names for Rosh HaShanah, according to Jewish tradition, is Yom HaKesh, Day of Concealment.  In that post, that name was applied to the concealment of the moon, which is often a symbol of the Bride in Scripture. The moon is "hidden", concealed, during Rosh HaShanah, just as the true Church will be "concealed" at its Natzal, it's snatching away to Heaven.

1Gather together, yes, gather,
O shameless nation,
2before the decree takes effect^a
—before the day passes away like chaff—
before there comes upon you
the burning anger of the LORD,
before there comes upon you
the day of the anger of the LORD.
3Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land,
who do his just commands;^b
seek righteousness; seek humility;
perhaps you may be hidden
on the day of the anger of the LORD.

Zephaniah 2:1-3  

According to Jewish tradition, the First Trump and the Last Trump refer to the two horns of the ram sacrificed at Mt. Moriah, in place of Isaac.  Similarly, each prefigures the redeeming work of Messiah.  The First Trump sounded at Mt. Sinai, with the giving of the Torah to God's People.  The Last Trump, in Jewish tradition, will be blown at the coming of Messiah.  Believers in Jesus Christ know, from Paul's writings, that the Last Trump refers to "the resurrection of the righteous", the Rapture of the Righteous.

Keep in mind the rabbinical tradition that, on Rosh HaShanah (Yom HaDin - - Day of Judgment), all people of Earth are divided into 3 groups:  the righteous, the in-betweeners, and the evildoers.  Although this tradition is not part of the Biblical canon, I'm discovering that God, in His perfect wisdom, has allowed some Jewish traditions to come about and to be given as prophetic pointers toward the future.  These do not carry the iron-clad authority of holy scripture, certainly, but they are interesting to note.
Going on... the Rapture of the Church takes the righteous out of the Earth, and to Heaven for examination.  Some might call this a "judgment", although Jesus Christ has already taken our hell for us through His work on the Tree/Cross.  This judgment seat will be one of examination, commendation and rewards.  (The BEMA Seat of Jesus Christ.)
The coronation of Messiah (a separate topic, which will be explored later) will occur during this period in Heaven, and the Bride (Church/righteous) and Bridegroom (Jesus/Bridegroom) will celebrate the spiritual marriage for seven years, the seven years of the Day of the Lord as it continues to unfold on the Earth.

As of this writing, today is Tishri 2, the second day of Rosh HaShanah, October 1, 2019.  Rosh HaShanah 5780 began at dusk on Sunday, September 29 and will conclude at dusk "today", October 1st.  It is a two-day celebration.  Today is also the second day of the Days of Awe (Yomim Noraim), a designation given by Jews down through the centuries to refer to the 10 holiest days in the Jewish calendar.  They are the first 10 days of the civil new year and the last 10 days of Teshuvah, the season of repentance.

These 10 days correspond to, prefigure, the future Day of the Lord.  Events unfolding on the Earth after the Church is taken are horrendous.  "Awe" is a mild word to describe them.  Beginning with the worldwide cataclysm that masks "the disappearance", the Earth will be plunged into events which will rival the Great Flood in destruction. Over the course of the seven years, the majority of the Earth's population will die, and the planet will be nearly destroyed.  Sin's utter hideousness will be on full display, as those remaining on the Earth will either become more entrenched in their hate of and rebellion against the true God, and His Son.  OR, they will turn to Him for the salvation of their souls.

There is disagreement among Evangelicals as to whether people will be able to find Jesus as Messiah during this Tribulation Period, so called.  Some contend that the Holy Spirit will leave Earth during this time, because the Church will be in Heaven with Jesus.  But, because of the picture presented in the 10 Days of Awe (Rosh HaShanah to Yom Kippur), I believe that not only will some people turn to Jesus Christ as Savior, but that many of them will be Jews.
Remember that Tishri 1 - 10 are the most intense days of self-examination, repentance and restoration in the Jewish year.  We have not yet talked much about Yom Kippur.  But, according to Jewish tradition and the mo'ed of God revealed in Scripture, Yom Kippur is the day the eternal fate of all is finalized.  (I'll devote an entire post to Yom Kippur to end this series.)
During literally the worst time on Earth in its nearly 7000 year history, many will be saved.  In fact, they will be martyred for their faith in Jesus Christ.  These are pictured in Revelation 7:14 "those who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of The Lamb".  Hallelujah!  Gives me chills!  These include the 144,000 who are "sealed" during the Tribulation, so that they may bear witness of Messiah Jesus to the Earth.  12 tribes of Israel, 12,000 from each tribe.  They will be evangelists such as the world has never seen.  Yes, it will be a great and terrible time.

Are you seeing the parallels yet?  What do you think?  Do you believe that Jesus will fulfill the Fall Feasts upon His return?  Next post: the Coronation of Messiah.


Sources:

1    Good, J. (1998). Rosh HaShanah and the Messianic Kingdom to come: an interpretation of the Feast of Trumpets based upon ancient sources. Nederland, TX: Hatikva

2 .   https://www.earthquakeresurrection.com/

Battling for Joy

Many mornings, in my personal devotions, I go to John Piper's Solid Joys app on my iPad.  He is one of my favorite theologians, though we don't see totally eye-to-eye on the theological concept of election.  I highly recommend this resource to you for your mobile device.  His daily offerings there are what I'd call a highly nutritional snack for your day, whenever you pop in.  Recently, I read one of his posts on the topic of joy; it sort of flipped me on my head.

I realized I had a bit of a misconception about joy.
What I knew to be true (and still know):

1.  Joy is NOT the same as happiness.  The former is based on the foundational promises of God.  The latter is situational.  Both are wonderful, but the former is indispensable.

2.  Joy is the inheritance of every believer in Jesus Christ as Savior.  It is one of God's precious gifts to His children.

So far, so good, right?

Here's where my misconception came in, though.

I always believed that if I experienced an absence of joy in my life that this indicated some spiritual deficit on my part.  In other words, if joy was not "automatic" in my life, it was my fault.

Have any of the rest of you believers ever believed that?  I'd love to hear your comments on this blog page, with your thoughts....

That misinterpretation, though sincere, is a trick of Satan's to lessen our effectiveness.  He loves to beat us to a bloody pulp with this lie.

Now, wait - - - sometimes, there IS abiding sin in a Christian's heart, and in that case such sin needs to be attacked, by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Exposed, confessed, repented of, turned from, walked away from, left behind.  Repeat, repeat, repeat (in some cases, for habitual sin).  This is a description of the Christian "going to war" over sin in his/her own life.  Pulling it up like a nasty weed.  Tossing it out.  You get the picture. 

But, there are also times when there is no known sin, and in fact, this scenario can occur when a Christian is in the heat of a battle, joy just seems to have fled the scene.  After all, for example, the spiritual weeding I described above is not what I call "fun" or a joyful experience.  It's more like plucking out a stray hair, repeatedly.  Ugh!  James, the half-brother of Jesus, knew about this, and wrote of it in James 1:2-3.  He opened his book with this truth; he must have felt it was critically important!

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,

James 1:2 (ESV)

Going deeper, what I learned from John Piper on this topic is this:  as Christians, despite the fact that joy is our inheritance from our Savior, it is not enough to regard it as joy (as James said).  We must at times FIGHT LIKE HECK for it.

What?

Yes.

Dr. Piper calls it "fighting like a justified sinner".1  What does that mean?
Well, in all honesty, I've not read his book.   (You may want to investigate his book, referenced in the Sources section of this post. I plan to.)  But, I predict he means that we are to fight for joy as one who knows it already belongs to him/her and that we are sure to win the battle to receive it again.
IF joy is our promised inheritance, not only in eternity, but also in the "here and now" (yes!) ...
IF God always keeps His promises (yes!) ...
THEN (yes!), we can fight for joy with confidence that God will restore it in His perfect timing.

Sometimes, as we walk through prolonged battles in our resplendent walk, it takes time.  As we walk faithfully, and fight fiercely, we must simultaneously wait on God patiently.

Allright, so Christian People!  Let's gird ourselves with the Ephesians 6 armor, meditate on God's promises, and plunge into the fight for our joy today.  Are you ready?  Set?  GO!

8Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

1 Peter 1:8-9 (NIV)

I will greatly rejoice in the LORD; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

Isaiah 61:10 (NIV)

17Though the fig tree does not bud

and there are no grapes on the vines,

though the olive crop fails

and the fields produce no food,

though there are no sheep in the pen

and no cattle in the stalls,

18yet I will rejoice in the Lord,

I will be joyful in God my Savior.

Habakkuk 3:17-18 (NIV)

This is the day that Lord Jehovah has made; come, we will leap for joy and rejoice in him!

Psalm 118:24 (Aramaic Bible in Plain English)

Sources:

1     Piper, John. When I Don't Desire GOD: How to Fight for Joy. Crossway Books, 2013.