| THE DAY OF THE LORD – A 12-Hour-Day and 1000-Year-Day! 5/15/04 |
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My most astounding discovery in Bible Prophecy sees the Day of the Lord as a 12-Hour-Day and as part of a 24-Hour-Day. The Sign of that Day (Seal Six) launches the Millennium. I use the non-Biblical phrase, “1000-Year-Day,” to counter the claim that it is a “Seven-Year-Day.” This sign will occur at about 6 AM on the east coast of the USA and at noon in Jerusalem. Amos 8:9. The 12 Hour-Day will end in Jerusalem at “twilight.” Zech.14:6-7. Men will be at work there by 6 AM but, 12 hours later, the 1000-Year-Day of the Lord begins…just as each day begins at 6 PM. Joel says the sign of that Day begins *before* the Day of the Lord. On the east coast of America, the sun ceases to shine six hours after it does in Israel; yet it is at the same instant. The difference of six hours illustrates how the passage of one day on earth is like a millisecond to God. The time-span of 365,000 days for finite men is like a single day from God’s perspective of time. “One Day is like a thousand years to the Lord and a thousand years is like one Day.” 2 Pet. 3:8. The Lastday, a 24-hour-solar-day, launches the 1000-Year-Day. That constitutes the “uniqueness of the Day that is known only to the Lord.” The longsuffering nature of God reaches a critical point for billions of people as Jesus suddenly appears. At the Hour of Trial coming like a snare for all mankind, God extends mercy to those “begging to escape” His wrath after taking the mark of the Beast and worshiping a god whose image was man-made. Seven classes of people suddenly recognize this is the Day He “judges the world by the One He raised from the dead and set at His right hand.” Acts 17:31; Rev.3:10; Luke 21:35; Rev.6:15-17. In that literal Hour of Trial “coming on all the inhabitants on all the face of all the earth and with hearts failing from fear” (Luke 21:26-36), the only hope for millions “left behind,” as Christ appears above the Mt. of Olives, rests upon God’s longsuffering mercy being extended to them for another 1000 years. Zech.14:16; 2 Pet.3:9; Rom.11:31-33. The reason for this Unique Day is to extend mercy to billions of Abraham’s descendants! They are ignorantly disobedient in worshiping Allah as God!! When Messiah appears, they too will worship Jesus as God because He alone died for their sins and arose from the dead!!! Rom.11:25-32. One thousand years separates 2 Pet.3:9 and 2 Pet.3:10 during which God will show mercy on all of Abraham’s natural descendants. This finally fulfills His promise to numbers as great as the “stars of heaven and sands of the seashore.” Paul refers to this new hope after God “concludes both Jews and Gentiles in a state of disobedience and unbelief." Rom.11:30-32. Not only will Israel be saved, but God will show “mercy on all.” This is the message of Rom.11:29-32 fulfilled when Messiah appears in glory with all the Saints. God may repent of judgment on those left behind; but His gifts are irrevocable. For the sake of Abraham, God will “bless all nations” including all the survivors of the 12 tribes of Israel and millions of the 12 tribes of Ishmael descended from him. None of the “Left Behind” books anticipates this wondrous mercy. The authors overlook “the depth of the riches both of God’s wisdom and knowledge…that God’s judgments are unsearchable (not determinable) and His ways past finding out. God is not slack concerning His promise (of mercy).” We need to understood the word “slack” applies to an additional period of 1000 years to pour out His mercy to countless millions. It is like one day to God. Rom.11:30-36; 2 Pet.3:9. The starting point of the Day of the Lord is the most controversial question we face for knowing when to expect Christ’s return. All of us believe He could return in our lifetime. “Be patient and have a strong heart because the presence of the Lord has drawn near.” James 5:8. Nearness does not require the cessation of God's mercy in the case of those who know, at the very Presence of Jesus, they deserve to die for killing the "infidels" and they keep begging for mercy. My Search deals with the most immediate sign of that Day. It is the Sign for knowing the 22 major events of that Day will begin after the light turns to darkness. Even with knowing it has begun, all mankind wait for Christ’s sudden appearance with all the Saints to destroy those who continue to blaspheme God’s Name. Even the 7 Plagues of God's anger are intended to lead to repentance. Like looking at a coin, many see “nearness” on one side of the coin because Christ's return is imminent from God’s point of view. On the other side of the coin we expect to see specific signs “before” the immediate sign involves the “sun, the moon, the stars and a great quake.” Could it be that both ideas are being used by God to prepare believers for the Endtime and Lastday? Prepare to consider both ideas. Let us seek to understand Revelation’s order of events expected by those who suffer the great tribulation. For the sake of understanding Revelation, let us lay aside dogmatism on whether Endtime events occur after we leave the scene...on whether the “snatching” of believers to meet the Lord occurs before the great tribulation. For the Book of Revelation concerns the Martyrs who "come out of great tribulation" and enter the Temple in heaven to praise God and the Lamb for the first time...on the Day of the Lord! The Immediate Sign of Day of the Lord. Revelation 6:12-14: "A great earthquake occurred and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair. The whole moon became as blood. The stars of heaven fell to earth as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. Heaven departed as a scroll being rolled up and every mountain and island moved out of their places." STEP ONE in My Search begins with Seal Six, the immediate Sign. The "charts" available today place Seal 6 seven years before Christ appears with the Saints. That would mean the Day of the Lord includes the great tribulation. But Jesus placed the signs in the sun, moon and stars "in the days immediately after the great tribulation." Matt.24:29; Mark 13:24. Left Behind books launch the tribulation period (Day of the Lord) with this sign from Revelation as if it is not the sign given by Jesus. They refuse to identify Revelation’s sign with the sign Jesus puts *after* the tribulation. If that Day should begin with the sign of Seal 6 *before* the great tribulation, Revelation would lack that sign of the Day Christ comes with all the Saints! I believe Seal 6 occurs on the Day of the Lord just hours before Christ returns! “It will come about in that day," declares the Lord, “I shall make the sun go down at noon and make the earth dark in broad daylight. It will be a unique day known only to the Lord, neither day nor night, but it will come about that at evening-time there will be light." Amos 8:9; Zech.14:7; NASB. Joel states these signs come *before* the Day of the Lord. I believe he meant "before the major events of that Day". Launching the unexpected events of a 24-Hour-Day as of 6 AM here on the east coast, the sun turns dark for six hours; then the light returns to begin the 1000-Year-Day of the Lord...“at the end of which” billions of mankind will rebel against God’s longsuffering mercy at the "Day of God." 2 Pet.3:10. At the beginning of the 1000-Year-Day of the Lord, God will show mercy; but on the Day of God, billions will be cast into Hell (including the goat nations) and billions (the sheep nations) "inherit a kingdom" on the New Earth forever. Matt.25:31-46; Rev.21:24-26. Peter reveals the damage men would do to this truth if they deny Paul’s teaching that God will extend mercy to “ALL” when the Messiah comes out of Zion. Referencing Paul’s truth of God extending His long-suffering mercy (long-anger; patience) to “All,” Peter reveals the 1000 years offers salvation to all since “God is not willing that any should perish, but that All should come to repentance.” Peter predicts some would “distort” this truth. Rom.11:32; 2 Pet. 3:10-16. On our east coast, from 6 AM until noon, “there will be no light.” In Israel, from noon to 6 PM, “the luminaries will dwindle." As the sun turns dark at noon in Israel, the moon will turn to blood here...with the change in both luminaries seen on the east coast at the same time. During these six hours whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be delivered...there will be those who escape in Jerusalem among the survivors. "Who knows that God may turn and relent"? Amos 8:9; Zech.14:7; Joel 2:12-14; Joel 2:31-32. These signs alert the world to watch events, including the Two Witnesses rising up to heaven and, in the same hour, 7000 VIPs being killed in a tenth of Jerusalem; and 144,000 Jews being rescued from Mt. Zion in the same hour. Rev.11:11-14; Rev.14:1-5. They will take part in the trial of the wicked at the Tribunal of Seal 7. But God’s grace will be open to the offspring of millions begging for mercy. Matt.24:30; Luke 17:33; Luke 21:35-36; Rom.11:30-33; Rev.1:7; 2 Pet.3:9. We can’t remove the sign of that Day in order to start the great tribulation and still allow it to signal His coming with all the Saints! “Left Behind” books put separate signs at the start and end of the seven years of Dan.9:27. The Signs in Mark 13:24-27; Matt.24:29-31; Rev.6:12-14 signal the Lastday has come...and at the 2nd and 3rd soundings of the last Trump...for Jesus to "gather the Saints together above and send the angels to gather them out of the sky so they All come with Jesus.” I Thess.3:13; Zech.14:5; Rev.17:14; John 6:38-40; Mark 13:24-27; Matt.24:29-31. “On that day during the Hour of Trial,” in the presence of all the Saints, all who “do not seek to save themselves, but keep praying (begging) to escape, will be preserved…kept alive.” Luke 17:33; Luke 21:35-36; Joel 2:12-14; Joel 2:31-32. This truth begs recognition. With armies gathered to Armageddon, believers will be "watching and not changing their clothes.” Rev.16:15-16. Knowing the glorious Hour of their “gathering together above” to meet the Lord will occur at any moment, the wrath of God on the wicked must also be imminent. It is the “appointed time to reward the prophets and saints, both small and great and to destroy the destroyers of earth.” That is the message of the 7th Trumpet when it sounds that “God’s wrath has come.” Rev.11:15-18.
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| Step Two in My Search, next month, looks at why Seal 6 signals the Day Christ appears with all the Saints. Mel |