Revelation - Part 4 - Lecture 8

Index to Revelation Lectures
Kay Arthur

Click Here for other "Futuristic" Resources on Revelation
Click here for Kay Arthur's Older Lecture Series on Daniel

Click following for literal chapter by chapter chart summary of:
Revelation 4-10
Revelation 11-16
Revelation 17-19
Revelation 20-22

The Day of the Lord is near. What can we do? There are things we are told to do in view of the coming Day of the Lord. What Kay is getting ready to share is not just for Gentiles but also for Jews and if you are a Jewish person who does not accept Yeshua as your Messiah, then you need to listen especially carefully. You are precious to God and God wants to prepare you and He wants you to know about the Day of the Lord that is coming and IT IS NEAR! Nearer than you think. If you are a Gentile (anyone who is not a Jew) and you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ, you need to know that the Day of the Lord is near and you need to prepare for that Day. This is an absolutely crucial message.

Isaiah 13:6 Wail, for the Day of the Lord is near! It will come as destruction from the Almighty. (Not a destruction initiated by the nations but by Almighty God. If this is not the God you know then you don't know the whole character of God.) 7 Therefore all hands will fall limp, and every man’s heart will melt. 8 And they will be terrified, pains and anguish will take hold of them; they will writhe like a woman in labor, they will look at one another in astonishment, their faces aflame. 9 Behold, the Day of the Lord is coming, cruel, with fury and burning anger, to make the land a desolation; and He will exterminate its sinners from it. (This Day will be so awful that men's hands will hang limp, they will writhe like women in pain, their faces will be red hot because of what is happening. This burning anger of God is when God Himself will exterminate sinners from His earth.) 10 For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not flash forth their light; the sun will be dark when it rises, and the moon will not shed its light.11 Thus I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; (You may wonder as you see America's morality deteriorating where is God? Why don't You do something God if You are holy, if you are righteous, if You are omnipotent? Why aren't You moving? He is going to move but in HIS TIME & HIS DAY…Day of the Lord when God will punish the world for its evil & the wicked for their iniquity.) I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proud, (How many we see today who fit this description, flaunting their humanity in the face of God, taking His holy name in vain, talking against God, standing against prayer, fighting against the right to worship Him…men standing in arrogant defiance against God Who has given them the breath they breathe!) And abase the haughtiness of the ruthless.12 I will make mortal man scarcer than pure gold, and mankind than the gold of Ophir.13 Therefore I shall make the heavens tremble, (the earthquakes today are going to increase in intensity…they are but a sign that the Day of the Lord is on the horizon and is near and earthquakes will be seen like have never been seen before.) And the earth will be shaken from its place at the fury of the Lord of hosts In the day of His burning anger.14 And it will be that like a hunted gazelle, or like sheep with none to gather them, They will each turn to his own people, and each one flee to his own land.15 Anyone who is found will be thrust through, and anyone who is captured will fall by the sword.16 Their little ones also will be dashed to pieces (Beyond our imagination!) before their eyes; Their houses will be plundered And their wives ravished.

So God writes to the Jews in Zechariah:

Zech 14:1 Behold, a day is coming for the Lord when the spoil taken from you will be divided among you. (there will be retribution) 2 For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured, the houses plundered, the women ravished, and half of the city (of Jerusalem) exiled, but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city.3 Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle.4 And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south….6 And it will come about in that day that there will be no light; the luminaries will dwindle.7 For it will be a unique day which is known to the Lord, neither day nor night, but it will come about that at evening time there will be light.8 And it will come about in that day that living waters will flow out of Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and the other half toward the western sea; it will be in summer as well as in winter.9 And the Lord will be king over all the earth; in that day the Lord will be the only one, and His name the only one.

Another reference to the Day of the Lord…

Be sure to mark the DAY OF THE LORD in your Bible so they are readily visible to you.

Zephaniah 1:7 Be silent before the Lord God! For the Day of the Lord is near, (if it was near ''BC'' then it is much nearer now. There are so many signs that we are right on the brink of this Day. But the Bible says that men are not going to recognize the times and would not even believe that God would judge the world in this way. But you and I have eyes to see so we need to take these truths and we need to proclaim them from the housetops because there are some sheep who will hear the Shepherd who will come into His foal that they might escape the Day of the Lord.) For the Lord has prepared a sacrifice, He has consecrated His guests. (He know who is going to be there!) 8 “Then it will come about on the day of the Lord’s sacrifice, that I will punish the princes, the king’s sons, and all who clothe themselves with foreign garments.

So these verses refer to Israel, to those Jews who have despised their Judaism and who have taken on the ways of the world. Or to apply it closer to home…He is talking to those who have despised Christianity and a relationship with the Lord and clothed themselves with the things of the world rather than clothe themselves with Christ.

Zephaniah 1:9 “And I will punish on that day all who leap on the temple threshold, who fill the house of their lord with violence and deceit. 10 “And on that day,” declares the Lord, “There will be the sound of a cry from the Fish Gate, a wail from the Second Quarter, and a loud crash from the hills.11 “Wail, O inhabitants of the Mortar, for all the people of Canaan will be silenced; all who weigh out silver will be cut off. 12 “And it will come about at that time that I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who are stagnant in spirit, who say in their hearts, ‘The Lord will not do good or evil!’

Isn't this like today? When people say God is not involved. God does not care. God doesn't know what is going on in this universe and if He did He's too busy to be bothered! God's not going to punish evil or good. But these people are stagnant in their spirit and God is going to search them out.

Zephaniah 1:13 “Moreover, their wealth will become plunder, and their houses desolate; yes, they will build houses but not inhabit them, and plant vineyards but not drink their wine.”14 Near is the great Day of the Lord Near and coming very quickly; (reminds of Jesus' message to John of the ''things that are shortly going to come to pass'' so that we His bondservants will not be caught asleep. Even in Revelation Jesus warns us ''Behold, I am coming quickly.'' When these things start, there will be no stopping them.) Listen, the Day of the Lord! In it the warrior cries out bitterly. (NOT a cry of victory.) 15 A day of wrath is that day, a day of trouble and distress, A day of destruction and desolation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness,16 A day of trumpet and battle cry, against the fortified cities and the high corner towers.17 And I will bring distress on men, so that they will walk like the blind, because they have sinned against the Lord; and their blood will be poured out like dust, and their flesh like dung. 18 Neither their silver nor their gold Will be able to deliver them On the day of the Lord’s wrath; (In Schindler's List we saw him redeeming men and women with gold and diamonds but God is saying in this Day there will be no ransom that can be paid for their life. Why? Because this DAY is a UNIQUE DAY, a day of destruction from the Almighty, a day of cleansing of sinners from the earth.) And all the earth will be devoured In the fire of His jealousy, For He will make a complete end, indeed a terrifying one, of all the inhabitants of the earth.

Zephaniah 2:1 Gather yourselves together, yes, gather, O nation without shame, 2 Before the decree takes effect—The day passes like the chaff—Before the burning anger of the Lord comes upon you, before the Day of the Lord anger comes upon you. (What can we do then? See verse 3.) 3 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.

Humility is me bowing the knee saying God I am simply man and I am not in control of my own destiny. God you are the One Who gives me breath. I can't even number my days. God You are the One that kills, that heals, that makes alive, that wounds…God I am before you in humility. Humility means to be brought low to humble yourself. We are not seeing humility today. In fact what we see is a brazenness, a flaunting of sin, man saying ''I am wiser than God." The society of the United States is in such a shambles and such a devastation such as we have never seen before. When Kay was in high school the main problems were running in the halls and talking, not drugs, guns, rape, murder, AIDS! What has happened to us? You can trace it back to the time when the United States of America cast prayer out of the schools. What is prayer but a humbling of ourselves before God. Prayer is acknowledging that we are impotent apart from God. Wail, for the Day of the Lord is coming.

How can you be prepared? FIRST, you need to SEEK THE LORD, whoever you are, wherever you are, Jew or Gentile…there is only One God and you can know Him in His Word, which is without error and has been preserved and not one jot or tittle will ever be changed. It will all be fulfilled. So you need to get into the Book. You need to seek the Lord. You need to say ''God, I want truth." And if you search for Him and seek for Him with all of your heart, you will be found by Him. The Day of the Lord is coming. Seek the Lord. Seek righteousness. Put away your secret sins. Why? Because when the Lord comes He is going to remove sinners. If you do this THEN you will be hidden the Day of the Lord's anger.

Joel 1:15 Alas for the day! For the Day of the Lord is near, and it will come as destruction from the Almighty.

Joel 2:1 Blow a trumpet (shofar) in Zion, (either the literal earthly Jerusalem or the heavenly Zion…the trumpet was sounded to let the people know something…this is referring to earthly Zion.) and sound an alarm on My holy mountain! (Moriah Moriah, current site of Temple Mount and the Mosque of Omar) Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, (yes blow it in Zion BUT it is so that ALL the earth would tremble!) for the Day of the Lord is coming; surely it is near, 2 A day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness. As the dawn is spread over the mountains, so there is a great and mighty people; there has never been anything like it, nor will there be again after it to the years of many generations. (When this DAY comes there will never be another like it SO sound the ALARM! It is a UNIQUE DAY!)

CROSS-REFERENCE: Da 12:1-note, Mt 24:21, Mk 13:19. We want to know when this DAY begins and when it ends because it is an important DAY! CONTEXT OF DAN 12: In Dan 11, we saw the Antichrist, the king of the last days, the head of the kingdom ruling when Jesus Christ returns.

Da 12:1-note ”Now at that time (go back to Dan 11:45 when this Antichrist pitches his tents of his royal pavilion between the seas and the beautiful holy mountain, and Kay believes his tents will be in Jerusalem. And no one will help him, which could be a reference to his mortal wound and then is brought back to life. Review: He comes up out of the Abyss in Rev 11:7. Then ''at that time''…) Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people (the Jews), will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued. (click lecture on daniel 12)

Many of these prophecies about the Day of the Lord in the OT are given to the Jews but they are also warnings to the nations (In Isaiah there are warnings to Egypt, Damascus, etc…Jeremiah was to be a prophet to the nations to tell them what was going to happen. But as these prophets write they are saying to the Jews that the Day of the Lord is near, a day of gloom and darkness. What can you do? Seek the Lord. Seek righteousness. Humble yourselves so that you might be hidden in the Day of the Lord's anger. So Dan 12:1 is telling us that there is a time of distress coming on the face of the earth such as has never been and at that time Michael, the angel that stands guard over the Jews will arise and during that DAY some of the Jews will be rescued but not all, as we just saw in Zech 14.

Next to Da 12:1-note write Joel 2:1-2, Mt 24:21, Mk 13:19. All of these tell about a UNIQUE DAY that is coming on the earth, a time such as has never been. At that time everyone who is WRITTEN IN THE BOOK will be rescued (we'll study later.)

As we read Mt 24 note carefully the connection between the ''then's'' and the ''when's'', so that you can appreciate the chronology of events.

Mt 24:15 “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), (there will be a rebuilt Jewish Temple in the Day of the Lord on Mt. Moriah, on the Temple Mount, the present site of the golden dome of the Mosque of Omar. The Antichrist will walk into the Temple's Holy of Holies and declare himself to be God as we studied in 2Thes 2:1-4) 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains;17 let him who is on the housetop not go down to get the things out that are in his house;18 and let him who is in the field not turn back to get his cloak.19 “But woe to those who are with child and to those who nurse babes in those days!20 “But pray that your flight may not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath;21 for then there will be a great tribulation, (parallels Da 12:1-note, Joel 2:2, Mark 13:19…tribulation is thlipsis which means to crush or press) such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever shall.22 “And unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved;

Wail! Wail! It's an awful day! It's a dreadful day! It's a day of destruction from the Almighty! It is a day when He is going to purge the earth of sinners. Wail!) but for the sake of the elect (the Jewish elect in Dan 12 whose names have been written in the book of life…those that have sought the Lord & His righteousness, those that have humbled themselves. Many in Israel today exhibit great arrogance and a thinking that the nation itself is the ''Messiah'' and there is not a literal Messiah coming. So there is an arrogance and a lack of righteousness, just as there is not a righteousness and a humility in all of the church.

Mk 13:19 “For those days will be a time of tribulation such as has not occurred since the beginning of the creation which God created, until now, and never shall. (Dan 12:1, Joel 2:2, Mt 24:21)

So we have just ''married'' the Day of the Lord with the TRIBULATION and we have just placed it when the Abomination of desolation takes his place in the Holy of Holies THEN there will be a great tribulation and not before.

Joel 2:11 And the Lord utters His voice before His army; surely His camp is very great, for strong is he who carries out His word. The Day of the Lord is indeed great and very awesome, and who can endure it? 12 “Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “Return to Me with all your heart, and with fasting, weeping, and mourning; 13 And rend your heart and not your garments.”

Remember NOT ONE WORD OF GOD WILL BE VOID OF POWER (Lk 1:37ASV)! When Mary was told she was going to have a child by God and not by knowing a man, she exclaimed ''How can these things be?'' And the angel said to her "With God nothing is impossible.'' Literally in the Greek this phrase means NOT ONE WORD OF GOD IS VOID OF POWER. So if that's what He says is going to happen, then it will happen. If God speaks then that is what is going to come to pass. Why? How did the world get here? He spoke in Heb 11:3-note and brought the world into existence! So He will carry out His word.

When a Jew was in anguish one of the ways they would show it was REND THEIR GARMENTS as King Josiah did when the Book of the Law is found in the house of God and was read to him and he saw how great God's wrath was upon them because they had not kept the words of the Book (2Ki 22:11). What God is saying in Joel is that ''Yes, they were tearing their garments but they were not rending their hearts.'' It needs to go beyond an outward expression.

In the U.S. we look at what is going on and we wail, we throw up our hands in despair, but ARE WE RENDING OUR HEARTS? Kay hears all these things going on and says she does not understand it all. But she clings to His character and to the fact that there is a Day of vengeance and retribution coming when God is going to move. So as we live in this current day, what are we to do? We are to weep, to fast, to mourn, to seek the Lord, to rend our hearts as well as our garments.

God what can we do about what is going on in America? It seems like all is lost. It seems like there is no turning around. This generation that is so totally absolutely amoral. And it seems like there is no hope for us. Yet there is hope especially when one remembers wicked King Manasseh and how even in his last days he repented and God heard him but He still judged Israel. Following Manasseh was another son by the name of Josiah who found the word of God in the house of the Lord who heard the word and called for a cleansing of the land of Israel. So there is hope. Yes, the Day of the Lord is coming. None of us can stop it. But we can be prepared for it. We can in a sense stay the hand of judgment by returning to Him with all our hearts, rending our hearts and not our garments. ) Now return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness, and relenting of evil.

Joel 2:14 Who knows whether He will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind Him, even a grain offering and a libation for the Lord your God? 15 Blow a trumpet in Zion, Consecrate a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly,16 Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children and the nursing infants. Let the bridegroom come out of his room and the bride out of her bridal chamber. 17 Let the priests, the Lord’s ministers, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, “Spare Thy people, O Lord, and do not make Thine inheritance a reproach, a byword among the nations. Why should they among the peoples say, ‘Where is their God?’”18 Then the Lord will be zealous for His land and will have pity on His people

WHEN IS ''THEN''? When they weep, fast, mourn, call a solemn assembly…we need to call the people into the churches…we need to sanctify ourselves…we need to set ourselves apart, to cleanse ourselves, to confess our sins, to get on our knees and cry out to a Holy God, and to put up all of our delicacies and we need to fast. We need to let the priest begin weeping that we would see tears in the pulpit. As they weep and we weep and we together seek the Lord, who knows what God might do. Yes the Day of the Lord is coming but it is not here yet. So what can we do? We can occupy until it comes. We can proclaim this great and awesome day of the Lord. We can return. And the CHURCH OF Jesus CHRIST needs to return. Kay is ashamed sometimes to be identified with Christians. Kay's story about a well-known church and pastor who walked out because he was being threatened with exposure by the husband of the woman with whom he was having an affair! In fact he had actually accepted the pulpit position while he was living in adultery! Yes the Day of the Lord is coming. And God is going to move in His righteousness and He will exterminate sinners. But the Day is not yet here. Yes, on the horizon, but not yet here. What are we to do? Weep! Fast…when was the last time you really fasted for the Lord as Isaiah describes that we might break the bonds of wickedness, to let the prisoners go free, to minister to others…this is the FAST that God chooses. This is what God is calling us to do. We need to be ready.

Joel 3:12 Let the nations be aroused and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations. 13 Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread, for the wine press is full; the vats overflow, for their wickedness is great. (cf: Rev 14:17-20-note where He treads the winepress of the wrath of God and the blood comes up to the bridle of the horses for 200 miles) 14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! (This is GOD'S VERDICT!) For the Day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.15 The sun and moon grow dark, and the stars lose their brightness. 16 And the Lord roars from Zion and utters His voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth tremble. But the Lord is a refuge for His people and a stronghold to the sons of Israel. (It will take the DAY OF THE LORD for the Jews to understand…) 17 Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, dwelling in Zion My holy mountain. (Listen Jews!) So Jerusalem will be holy, and strangers will pass through it no more. (Rev 11:8 tells us Jerusalem was not holy as it ''mystically (spiritually) is called Sodom and Egypt''…Sodom and it's immorality…Egypt and it's ways of the world and it's idolatry. But one day Jerusalem will be Holy!) 18 And it will come about in that day that the mountains will drip with sweet wine, and the hills will flow with milk, and all the brooks of Judah will flow with water; and a spring will go out from the house of the Lord, to water the valley of Shittim. 19 Egypt will become a waste, and Edom will become a desolate wilderness, (Refer to Lesson 10) because of the violence done to the sons of Judah, in whose land they have shed innocent blood.20 But Judah will be inhabited forever, and Jerusalem for all generations.21 And I will avenge their blood which I have not avenged, for the Lord dwells in Zion.

The Day of the Lord is coming. It is an awful day. It is a day of gloom & of destruction from the Almighty. It is a day which includes Jesus Christ coming to earth to rule as King of kings and as Lord of lords and He will rule over all the nations of the earth in THAT DAY. And He will be the ONLY ONE IN THAT DAY! So the Day of the Lord is coming. (Click for additional Scriptures on the "Day of the Lord")

Seek the Lord.

Seek righteousness.

Seek humility.

Return to the Lord with fasting and prayer and weeping and mourning.

Call a solemn assembly and seek God together and sanctify ourselves,

from the little children to the bridegroom.

No excuses!

Now is the Day to seek the Lord

because

the DAY OF THE LORD is near

nearer than you think !

A unique day.

A day that you need to be prepared for .

THE DAY OF THE LORD
Scriptural References
{Not Exhaustive}
Related Resource: Day of the Lord

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