A Study in 1 Thessalonians Chapter 5

The Day of The Lord

We continue our study in Chapter five of First Thessalonians as we look through scripture verses referring to the day of the Lord.

Peter, at his first sermon at Pentecost referred to the day of the Lord,  he quoted  Joel the Prophet:

 

Peter

Acts 2:16--21

Joel

Joel 2:28--32

 

 

 

No But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
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:
And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:
And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:
The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:
 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

 

And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:
And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.
And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.
The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.

 

In the above passages of scripture, The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the coming of the day of the Lord. As pre-tribbers, they believe at an "any moment" "secret" rapture. However, in the above scripture references, there are signs that happen before the day of the Lord.

 

In the book of Matthew Jesus said the sun will be darkened after the tribulation:

 

Immediately after the tribulation of those days (great tribulation, v. 21) shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:  And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

 

Matthew 24:29-31 

       

 

In reference to the sun being darkened, this will happen before the day of the Lord and after the Great Tribulation. In Second Thessalonians chapter two, Paul says in relation to the day of the Lord:

 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 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;

 

2 Thessalonians 2:1-3

In this verse there are signs that must happen before the day of the Lord, and our gathering to him occurs. The day of the Lord will not come until a falling away (apostasy) comes and the man of lawlessness is revealed.  For further review, please see "He Who Restrains."

 

Paul in his first letter to the Corinthian Church said: 

 

 So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

1 Corinthians 1:7-8

In the above verse we should eagerly await for our the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (an indication this is after the tribulation-- Jesus will keep us strong to the end so that we may be blameless on the day of the Lord. In this verse, the day of the Lord is the day when Jesus returns after the tribulation and not at an alleged "pre-trib" rapture .

 

In Revelation, there are two witnesses described by John: 

 

And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.

                                                                                                             

Revelation 11:3

According to pre-tribbers, one of these two witnesses is Elijah. In Revelation, these witnesses will prophesy for 1,260 days, during the Great Tribulation. Pre-tribbers claim the day of the Lord covers the entire tribulation. Since Elijah is one of the witnesses, as pre-tribbers claim, let's look at the book of Malachi:

 

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD...

Malachi 4:5                                                           

In Revelation, The two witnesses prophesy during the Great Tribulation. In Malachi, Elijah will be sent before the great and terrible day of the Lord. Given the fact  pre-tribbers believe Elijah is one of the two witnesses during the great tribulation, and, in Malachi that Elijah will be sent before the day of the Lord. The day of the Lord is after the tribulation and not before or during.

 

Peter wrote in his second epistle:

 

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all 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?

 

2 Peter 3:10-14
 

Peter described the day of the Lord and it will come like a thief. At this day the heavens will disappear with a roar, the elements will be destroyed by fire and everything in it, and the earth will be laid bare. Does the day of the Lord  look like a secret when the earth will be laid bare? This is clear that the day of the Lord comes after the tribulation and not during it.  Peter tells us to look forward to the day of God, an event that happens after the tribulation!

 

Before concluding this supplement, pre-tribbers often blend the day of the Lord and the tribulation and make them one and the same, i. e., the day of the Lord is the tribulation. Let us examine two key passages of scripture.

 

Isaiah wrote:

 

For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low: And upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan,  And upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up,  And upon every high tower, and upon every fenced wall,  And upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures.   And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.

 

Isaiah 2:13-17

As seen in the above scripture, The Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. If the Lord alone is exalted, therefore no one else will be. Not One. Paul wrote about the Anti-christ during the Tribulation::

 

...who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

 

2 Thessalonians 2:4

 

The anti-christ exalts himself during the tribulation. He can't exalt himself on the Day of the Lord because The Lord alone shall be exalted on that day. Therefore, the day of the Lord and the tribulation are separate.

 

There is another reference to God's wrath and the day of the Lord in another article in this series, Wrath (of God).

 

            

  Articles in this study

Not Destined For Wrath

Like A Thief

Wrath (of God)

Persecution

 

 

Twinkling of an Eye

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