The Day of the Lord.
According to Mal 4:5-6 Elijah is one of the two witnesses who will be sent back before the great and terrible day of the Lord. From Rev 11 we know that the two witnesses will appear during the great tribulation period. From this we can conclude that the day of the Lord occurs after the great tribulation period.
Mal 4:5-6 "Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD. 6 "And he will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the land with a curse.”
Dear Jamesdalbright,
I have read through some of the discussion of this thread and I see that there is a great deal of disagreement on the subject of the Day of the Lord.
I have studied the Day of the Lord extensively
before and after I was converted. Prior to my conversion, I understood the Day of the Lord to be as most on this thread are teaching. But after I was converted, my understanding of the Day of the Lord
completely changed.
Here is some of what I now believe:
Peter made this statement on the Day of Pentecost when he and the others received the Latter Rain and were converted:
Acts 2:14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words: 15 For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. 16 But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; 17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: 18 And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: 19 And I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke: 20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, BEFORE the great and notable Day of the Lord come: 21 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Peter is speaking about "conversion" and when Christ "appears" to a person. After Christ appears, those who "call on the name of the Lord shall be saved". Paul supported this understanding when he said this:
Heb 9:28 So Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
Peter and Paul are both teaching about a person's moment of salvation and conversion. They are
not teaching about a one-time future event which most believe occurs visibly to this world.
The Second Coming of Christ (which is immediately followed by the Day of the Lord) is a
reoccurring spiritual event which occurs "within" each of Christ's Elect. Christ's Second Coming first occurred on the Day of Pentecost when Christ "came again" to the Jewish Elect. Since that time, Christ has been returning to all of the Elect in this same manner.
John even said that the time for the second coming was "at hand", that He will be coming "quickly" and that Christ's coming would be "is, was and will be" (a reoccurring event):
Rev 1:3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for THE TIME IS AT HAND.
Rev 1:4 John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne...
Rev 1:8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
Rev 4:8 And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.
Rev 22:7 Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.
Rev 22:10 And he saith unto me, SEAL NOT the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for THE TIME IS AT HAND.
John even said that the book is not sealed and that the people who "keep the sayings" are the ones who will be blessed. They are the Elect - those chosen from the foundation of the world for this honor.
To believe that the Second Coming of Christ and the Day of the Lord is a one-time future event is to deny these scriptures which I presented above.
The truth is that the Second Coming of Christ and the Day of the Lord is
the spiritual event of CONVERSION.
If a person does not "keep these sayings", they will not be converted and saved during their lifetime.
The Second Coming is when Christ pours out the Latter Rain (Baptism of the Spirit) upon an Elect believer. This is the moment a person is "born again" and when they become a child of God.
The Day of the Lord (His judgment) is when Christ destroys the believer's carnal nature so that he will only be governed by the new nature that the Holy Spirit gives them.
Elijah (as John the Baptist) came to the Jewish Elect with the call of repentance from "works". Those who responded to the call made the pathway for the Lord to come "straight". The straight pathway is by faith alone. After the Jewish Elect repented, they "waited" for the Lord to "come again" with their salvation. Christ then came to them on the Day of Pentecost and converted them.
The Second Coming of Christ/Day of the Lord is now coming to the Gentile Elect and it has been since the time of Paul. And just as the Jewish Elect needed to repent of their "works", so do the Gentile Elect. This is true because the church became apostate shortly after the deaths of the Apostles (Acts 20:29-31). And just as the Jewish Nation fell away, so did the churches that the Apostles started - the pathway is the same for both Jews and Gentiles.
And because the church became apostate (mixes faith with works), Christ will also send a person to the Gentile Elect with the call of repentance. And like the Jewish Elect, the Gentile Elect will respond to the call and make the pathway for the Lord to travel to them "straight". Then after a short time of waiting, Christ will come again and convert them into a child of God.
Conversion requires both the baptism of the Spirit and judgment (the Day of the Lord). John the Baptist made this statement about Christ below:
Mat 3:11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit, and with Fire: 12 Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
The Second Coming of Christ is when Christ will bring both the baptism of the Spirit and the baptism of Fire (judgment). One gives us the new birth and one destroys our old spiritual nature. This is necessary for conversion and salvation.
Supporting this truth is what Peter said below about the heavens and the earth:
2Pet 3:7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
2Pet 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? 13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
Heaven and Earth are spiritual symbols which carry meanings which are different than what man's wisdom teaches (1Cor 2:13).
The Old Earth represents mankind's
carnal spiritual nature. The Old Heaven represents mankind's
carnal mind. They both must be destroyed so that the believer can walk by the Spirit. The Spirit is what will give the believer a New Heaven and a New Earth:
Rev 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. 2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a Bride adorned for her husband.
The Bride of Christ represents all the Elect who are being saved in this age. They will have the New Heaven and the New Earth after they are converted.
Until a person can apply the end-time prophecies in the manner I have briefly presented above, those teachings are going to remain "veiled" from their understanding. The Word of God is written in the spiritual language of Christ. It cannot be properly understood literally and carnally as the church tries to understand them.
Joe