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The Day of Adoni (continued):
 With all of this complete destruction and annihilation of all inhabitants of the Earth, it is logical for us to ask, "But what about us?" This same question is asked while describing the sixth seal of the book of Revelation.
And I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. And the sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come; and who is able to stand? REV 6:12-17
Who is able to stand in such fierce wrath of Almighty God? There are many references given in Scripture to answer this question. I will summarize them for you. The Remnant of Israel, the overcomers, the survivors, the elect of God, the tribulation saints, the 144,000 sealed sons of Israel, and the believers of Yeshua the Messiah are those who see God's judgments but do not receive them. As incredible as it may seem, God's complete justice on all of mankind and the inhabitants of the Earth is NOT directed toward His people. His people are saved out of His wrath because we are not on the Earth when the Day of the Lord occurs. We are lifted off of the Earth at the resurrection and rapture into the clouds. Our new bodies apparently float.
For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, 1 TH 5:9
Seek the Lord, all you humble of the earth who have carried out His ordinances; seek righteousness, seek humility. Perhaps you will be hidden in the day of the Lord's anger. ZEP 2:3
"Therefore, wait for Me," declares the Lord, "For the day when I rise up to the prey. Indeed, My decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, to pour out on them My indignation, all My burning anger; for all the earth will be devoured by the fire of My zeal. For then I will give to the peoples purified lips, that all of them may call on the name of the Lord, to serve Him shoulder to shoulder." ZEP 3:8-9
And I will display wonders in the sky and on the earth, blood, fire, and columns of smoke. The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And it will come about that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be delivered; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem There will be those who escape, as the Lord has said, even among the survivors whom the Lord calls. JOE 2:30-32
And it will be said in that day, "Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation." ISA 25:9
Behold, a day is coming for the Lord when the spoil taken from you will be divided among you. ZEC 14:1
The promises of God's salvation and protection from His wrath are emphatic and sure. However, this next passage gives us an additional clue about how we will be found by the Lord and thus receive His protection.
Shout for joy, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! The Lord has taken away His judgments against you, He has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; you will fear disaster no more. In that day it will be said to Jerusalem: "Do not be afraid, O Zion; do not let your hands fall limp. The Lord your God is in your midst, a victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy. I will gather those who grieve about the appointed feasts__ they came from you, O Zion; the reproach of exile is a burden on them.ZEP 3:14-18
The Day of the Lord in the Feasts of Israel
As many of you already know, the appointed times of the Lord are defined in
Leviticus 23 beginning with Sabbath and then with the annual feasts of Passover, Unleavened Bread, First Fruits, Weeks, Trumpets, Atonement, and Tabernacles. One of the seven Levitical Feasts of the Lord is a model to prepare us for the Day of the Lord. It is the Day of Atonement, which is 10 days after Trumpets and 5 days prior to Tabernacles. The Day of the Lord is referred to by the Lord as a sacrifice. It is a solemn day, one that we are to be silent in and humble our souls. This is the same instruction for Atonement.
These are the appointed times of the Lord which you shall proclaim as holy convocations, to present offerings by fire to the Lord__ burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and libations, each day's matter on its own day– LEV 23:37
On exactly the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement; it shall be a holy convocation for you, and you shall humble your souls and present an offering by fire to the Lord. Neither shall you do any work on this same day, for it is a day of atonement, to make atonement on your behalf before the Lord your God. If there is any person who will not humble himself on this same day, he shall be cut off from his people. As for any person who does any work on this same day, that person I will destroy from among his people. It is to be a Sabbath of complete rest to you, and you shall humble your souls; on the ninth of the month at evening, from evening until evening you shall keep your Sabbath." LEV 23:27-30,32
The Day of Atonement is the 10th day of the Days of Awe. They began on Trumpets with trumpet blasts. However, the last trumpet blast is reserved for the Day of Atonement. The days of awe are said to be a time when God's eyes move to and fro over the Earth to see who will live or die. The greeting for those days is "May your name be written in the book of life." The Last Trumpet in the Book of Revelation is called the Seventh Trumpet.
The Day of the Lord in the Book of Revelation
And from His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may smite the nations; and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. REV 19:15
Previously, I shared the description of the sixth seal in Revelation as describing the Day of the Lord. It begs a natural question. What about the seventh seal and the rest of the Revelation judgments? How do they correlate to the Day of the Lord? The seventh seal calls for the same silence described in the Day of Atonement.
REV 8:1 And when He broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour
One of the keys to understanding the Book of Revelation is to understand the Day of the Lord and how Revelation describes it. The Day of the Lord in Revelation is modeled in the Sixth Seal, the Seventh Trump, and the Seventh Plague. The comparison is striking.
The Sixth Seal
And I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. And the sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come; and who is able to stand? REV 6:12-17
The Seventh Trumpet
And the seventh angel sounded; and there arose loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Messiah; and He will reign forever and ever." And the twenty_four elders, who sit on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, "We give Thee thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who art and who wast, because Thou hast taken Thy great power and hast begun to reign." And the nations were enraged, and Thy wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to give their reward to Thy bond_servants the prophets and to the saints and to those who fear Thy name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth." REV 11:15-18
The Seventh Plague
And the seventh angel poured out his bowl upon the air; and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne, saying, "It is done." And there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder; and there was a great earthquake, such as there had not been since man came to be upon the earth, so great an earthquake was it, and so mighty. And the great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And Babylon the great was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of His fierce wrath. REV 16:17-19
The combination of these judgments is described with a very great earthquake, flashes of lighting and peals of thunder (a great storm with hailstones), and major upheaval in the Earth. This is the backdrop to the Last Trumpet call, the voice of the Archangel, and the Messiah returning in great wrath. Part of this storm (the great number of clouds) and the upheaval is initiated by events in the Great Tribulation by the 5th trumpet with the star (asteroid/comet) striking the earth. The darkness in the last months of the Great Tribulation are referred to as the final days of indignation.
And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth; and the key of the bottomless pit was given to him. And he opened the bottomless pit; and smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit.
REV 9:1-2
Smoke and debris from a deep impact scenario would produce both incredible lightening storms and very large hailstones (what goes up must come down).
The Day of the Lord and the Great Tribulation
Many brethren lump these two items together, but it is clear by Yeshua's description that the Day of the Lord comes in the days immediately after the Tribulation.
Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), for then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever shall. And unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days shall be cut short. MAT 24:15.21-22
But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken, and then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other. MAT 24:29-31
According to Yeshua's description, the great tribulation ends and then "all hell breaks loose" in the days immediately following. I believe that the number of those days immediately following will be 45 and the fall feasts will occur in them: the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles. The Apostle Paul also weighs in on getting the sequence of events prior to the Day of the Lord.
Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, and our gathering together to Him, that you may not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so_called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God. 2 TH 2:1-4
Paul's sequence of the Great Tribulation is clearly before the Day of the Lord with the man of lawlessness (the antimessiah) operating in the Great Tribulation prior to the Day of the Lord. Since the man of lawlessness had not emerged, he argued that the Day of the Lord had not happened.
In fact there are number of other prophecy requirements prior to the Day of the Lord not the least of which is the restoration of the two houses of Israel and the gathering of Israel from all nations.
For behold, in those days and at that time, When I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all the nations, and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. Then I will enter into judgment with them there on behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations; and they have divided up My land. JOE 3:1-2
And it will come about in that day, that the Lord will start His threshing from the flowing stream of the Euphrates to the brook of Egypt; and you will be gathered up one by one, O sons of Israel. It will come about also in that day that a great trumpet will be blown; and those who were perishing in the land of Assyria and who were scattered in the land of Egypt will come and worship the Lord in the holy mountain at Jerusalem.
ISA 27:12-13
For the Lord has a day of vengeance, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion. ISA 34:8
The Day of the Lord and the Rapture
Invariably, the subject of the Rapture always comes up when discussing the end times and the Day of the Lord. Many brethren are hoping that the Rapture occurs even
before the Great Tribulation or the Day of the Lord. Their definition of the event is the escape of the church from the Earth with the anti-messiah and any of the Revelation judgments. But the Bible's definition of the Rapture is something different. It is called the resurrection.
The resurrection and the rapture are the same thing. The resurrection is the translation of saints who have died receiving their immortal bodies. The Rapture is the translation of saints who are still alive into their immortal bodies. It happens at the same time with the Resurrection of the dead.
For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, and remain until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord. 1 TH 4:15-17
The Resurrection and the Rapture of the saints will fulfill the prophetic picture of the Feast of Trumpets. This feast of 10 days prior to Atonement. Therefore, we can safely say that the Resurrection and Rapture is just prior to the Day of the Lord. But both events are in the days immediately after the Great Tribulation.
Some who believe in the Pre tribulation Rapture say that no one knows when the Lord comes and this is why He comes before the tribulation. They say this for two reasons: they equate the Great Tribulation with the Day of the Lord and they say He comes like a thief in the night (no one knows).
For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. 1 TH 5:2
Yeshua has defined the Great Tribulation as the three and half year period prior to the Day of the Lord. The Lord's coming as a thief in the night is further confirmation to the Biblical Holidays and their prophetic sequence. The expression "a thief in the night" comes from the temple service. When the High Priest would enter the temple each day, he came early before the dawn. These are the same hours that a thief would break into a house or building. He would enter in a stealthy manner to check on the temple guards. Sleeping guards were awakened by their garments being ignited by fire from the altar. Equating Yeshua's return to the "thief in the night" is a perfect will precede any sound. He is returning as the Great High description. It will be dark with many clouds, the brightness of His coming Priest, after the order of Melchizedek. He will exact justice with fire.
The book of Hebrews describes the Great High Priest's justice
(the Day of the Lord) in the following way.
But a certain terrifying expectation of judgment, and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries. It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. HEB 10:27,31
...for our God is a consuming fire. HEB 12:29
How do you conclude an article like this on the Day of the Lord? I think we need to keep our heads up and be encouraged. It is the day of God's judgment, a day reckoning, a day when the guilty no longer go unpunished. It must be addressed accurately with a sober mind. Let me offer this as a final definition: The Day of the Lord is a day of darkness and clouds (doom and gloom).
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