The End Times as God Reveals Them Pt. 61 The Great Day of the LORD is Here!

Righteous Rider on a white horse.

Revelation 19:11  And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. 

Now we are reaching the dramatic climax of John's End Times vision: The Second Coming of Jesus Christ. His first coming or advent was steeped in His humiliation when He was born of the virgin Mary at Bethlehem (Philippians 2:5-11). Then, Christ was a humble babe, newborn, helpless and dependent upon Joseph and Mary to care for Him. 

Christ's Second Coming is vastly different than His first coming as a babe. John describes an All Glorious, Resurrected Son of God who is going forth to battle the devil, Antichrist and False Prophet on earth. John describes the King of kings and Lord of lords, to whom all people will bow and confess that He is Lord of all!

This second coming of Christ is a major prophetic theme in the Bible. (See Psalm 2:1–9; 24:7–10; 96:10–13; 110; Isaiah 9:6–7; Jeremiah 23:1–8; Ezekiel 37:15–28; Daniel 2:44–45; 7:13–14; Hosea 3:4–5; Amos 9:11–15; Micah 4:7; Zechariah 2:10–12; 12; 14:1–9; Matthew 19:28; 24:27–31; 25:6, 31–46; Mark 13:24–27; Luke 12:35–40; 17:24–37; 18:8; 21:25–28; Acts 1:10–11; 15:16–18; Romans 11:25–27; 2 Thessalonians 2:8; 2 Peter 3:3–4; Jude 14–15; Revelation 1:7–8; 2:25–28; 16:15; 22:20).

Jesus literally fulfilled several dozen prophecies at His incarnation in Bethlehem. Every single prophecy regarding His Second Coming will also literally be fulfilled. Remember, the Rapture of the Church falls between the First and Second Comings of Jesus Christ to earth. The Rapture is an event that will take place in the air, not on earth. 

In this text we learn why Christ is returning to earth. Heaven will be opened and Jesus Christ will be seated on a white horse symbolizing righteousness and purity. Christ is called Faithful and True because as Jehovah in the flesh He will complete all of the work of God and keep all His promises. He will show that every Word of God is true and that God is faithful to do that which He said He would do. 

Jesus is coming to be the Righteous Judge and He is going to make war. No power shall be able to stand against Christ in that day. This will be that Great Day of Jehovah's judgment spoken of so often by all the prophets.

Isaiah described a day of judgment.

Isaiah 13:6  Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.

Isaiah 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, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion.

Isaiah saw the day of the LORD as a day when Jehovah will come with wrath, fierce anger. It will be a day of destruction and making the world desolate as God takes vengeance upon sinners. 

Jeremiah saw a day of bloodhshed.

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.

Jeremiah also described this day as the day that Jehovah avenges Himself for all His enemies. His sword will be drawn and it will shed the blood of many sinners until His wrath is satisfied. 

Ezekiel saw the judgment of nations.

Ezekiel 30:3  For the day is near, even the day of the LORD is near, a cloudy day; it shall be the time of the heathen.

Ezekiel tells us that this day is near and that Jehovah will come from heaven in the clouds. It will be the day of reckoning for all the heathen or Gentiles. 

Joel saw a day of destruction, trembling and darkness.

Joel 1:15  Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.

This day of the LORD is a day of great destruction of the satanic world systems that will surely come. 

Joel 2:1  Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand;

Joel described the day of the LORD as the day of sounding the trumpets and alarm, a day when all inhabitants will tremble. It is a day that is nigh, or very close at hand. 

Joel 2:11  And the LORD shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?

Joel tells us that Jehovah will utter His powerful voice (Psalm 29). He will bring an innumerable army as LORD of hosts. He will execute His Word and no one can stop it. 

Joel 2:31  The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.

In that day the sun will be darkened and the moon turned to blood.

Joel 3:14  Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.

All the multitudes of God's enemies will be gathered at Armageddon ready to fight against the heavenly host, but they will be utterly consumed. 

Amos saw a day of darkness.

Amos 5:18; 20  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. 20  Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?

Amos describes it as a day of darkness when divine judgment is measured out.

Obadiah saw judgment on the Gentiles.

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: thy reward shall return upon thine own head.

Obadiah saw the impending judgment and destruction of the nations that were the enemies of God.

Zephaniah saw a day of bloody judgment, bitter weeping and righteous indignation.

Zephaniah 1:7-8  Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord GOD: for the day of the LORD is at hand: for the LORD hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath bid his guests. 8  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.

Zephaniah saw a day where all nations will be silent before Jehovah Elohim. All idolaters will be part of a bloody sacrifice of judgment as God purges the world from idolatry. 

Zephaniah 1:14  The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly.

Zephaniah saw a day of judgment that is coming quickly. All the mighty enemies of God are going to weep bitterly as their time runs out. 

Zephaniah 1:18  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 make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.

Zephaniah tells us that the riches of the wealthy will not help them at the day of the LORD. They cannot pay God as a bribe to overlook their sins. Jehovah is holy and righteous and He will judge all sinners. The prophet also saw the swift destruction that will occur in that day and His fiery judgment will sweep over all the earth.

Zephaniah 2:2-3  Before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the LORD come upon you, before the day of the LORD'S anger come upon you. 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.

God's anger will burn up His enemies like a fire devours the chaff. Zechariah included a call to repentance to the Jewish nation. 

Zechariah saw a day of Jehovah's victory.

Zechariah 14:1  Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.

Jehovah will take spoils from the enemies of God's people who plundered their land.

Malachi tells us that Elijah will come.

Malachi 4:5  Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:

Malachi saw a dreadful day where God's full judgments will be measured out and none will be able to resist.  Elijah was one of the two witnesses we studied about in Revelation 11 and he will be sent prior to the coming of Christ at the day of the LORD. 

Christ at the Day of Jehovah!

Revelation 19:12-14  His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. 13  And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. 14  And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.  

John saw what Jesus will look like in that great and dreadful day of Jehovah. I wanted you to see some of these texts that speak of this very day when Christ returns as Judge and Conquering King. His eyes are like flaming fire and He is crowned with many crowns and He has His own name that only He knows. 

The Lord Jesus Christ will be wearing an upper garment like a mantle that is dipped in blood. The blood represents the blood Christ shed as the Lamb of God. No sinner can say that they are innocent when Jesus died to pay for the sins of all humanity. They are guilty of His blood and they refused to repent when they had opportunity to do so. 

However, it also represents the blood of all the satanic world system that will be vanquished by Christ. We will see more of this aspect in our next post.

Jesus Christ will lead a mighty army composed of the saints of God  from all generations of the redeemed. All of the blood washed believers will be seated on white horses and clothed in fine white linen. We learned previously that the white, fine linen symbolizes the righteousness of Christ that God imputed to each person who believes on the Son of God.

John brings back the name of Jesus Christ that he begins his gospel with: Jesus is the Word of God.  

Thoughts to Ponder...

This day is coming soon. It will be the climactic event of the great tribulation period of Daniel's 70th week. 

The wicked sinners will receive the reward for their evil deeds by being sent to hell for eternity. 

Jesus Christ will lead the heavenly host and fight against the satanic world system with the sword of His mouth.

Victory is certain and righteousness will prevail. 

Now is the day of salvation and the accepted time for all people to respond in repentant faith to the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Call upon the LORD to be saved while you can.

Bob