Revelation Six - When The Four Horsemen Ride
We are just about halfway through the 23 verses that use the term 'Day of the Lord'. I wasn't expecting to take this long to get through these references, but the context of each one is fascinating. And, I hope that this longer-than-anticipated discussion has given you food for thought. This time we will be looking at the rest of the references to the 'Day of the Lord' in the Hebrew Scriptures: Amos, Obadiah, Zephaniah, Zechariah and Malachi That's a lot. In fact, this post is going to be extra long, but it's chock full of interesting stuff that you will like. ———————————— Keep this ministry alive with a donation. Subscribe for free to Revelation Six and receive my articles in your inbox: And, read my two books: I created five Android Apps that will help you read through the Bible in a Year. You can find them here: https://revelationsix.com/android-apps/ If you miss my rantings about geopolitics, idiocy, resource collapse and incompetent globalism, follow me on Twitter. ———————————— The Day Of The Lord - Part ThreeIt never ceases to amaze me that there are Christians who have never thought that the Hebrew Scriptures have anything important to say. They are literally missing out on an incredible amount spiritual growth because they're missing all the passages that talk about God's character. This is tragic, so I'm glad that we can dig deep into what the prophets have said about the Last Days and the Day of the Lord. AmosAmos 5:18 Amos 5:20 Amos was a shepherd from Tekoa, and no one is considered lower in status than a shepherd. It's the lowliest job that anyone can have. That's why David, the youngest son of Jesse, was out with the sheep when Samuel the prophet came to anoint him to be king. Even today, everyone in the Arab world looks down upon the Bedouin - the shepherds. I once made the mistake of describing someone in Jordan as a Bedouin when I was visiting Petra. I had seen someone dressed like a Bedouin soldier as part of some exhibit. Then, the next day, as I was looking for a taxi down to Aqaba, that same guy was the driver of my the taxi. I said to him, "So, you are a Bedouin?" And he raised up an imperious finger and declared, "No! I am Fellahin!" I was a bit surprised since this was new to me. But, he had a sense of humor and proceeded to describe the difference. The Bedouin are shepherds. They are nomadic and are among the poorest and least educated in Jordan. While the Fellahin are farmers - more prosperous, better educated. Even in Israel, when driving out into the more arid countryside, you will find Israeli Bedouin encampments perched on the sides of hills. It has taken Israel a long time to convince the Bedouin to give up their nomadic lifestyle so that they can have better education, more prosperity and an increase in their quality of life. But, I digress... So, when God called Amos to be a prophet, He was picking the lowest kind of peasant to deliver His words to a disobedient Israel. From verse two of chapter one, the Book of Amos is destruction after destruction. Everyone and everything is broken in pieces and scattered. Everyone from Phoenicians to Philistines to Moabites to Amonites and especially to Israel are prophesied against. And, Amos spends most of his time prophesying against the children of Jacob. And, all that Amos prophesies has been fulfilled except for the last part of the book. The turning point comes here: Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the Lord. - Amos 9:8 (KJV) In fact, the rest of the chapter is a fascinating description of the Redemption of Israel: 9 “For surely I will command, And will sift the house of Israel among all nations, As grain is sifted in a sieve; Yet not the smallest grain shall fall to the ground. 10 All the sinners of My people shall die by the sword, Who say, ‘The calamity shall not overtake nor confront us.’ 11 “On that day I will raise up The tabernacle of David, which has fallen down, And repair its damages; I will raise up its ruins, And rebuild it as in the days of old; 12 That they may possess the remnant of Edom, And all the Gentiles who are called by My name,” Says the Lord who does this thing. 13 “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “When the plowman shall overtake the reaper, And the treader of grapes him who sows seed; The mountains shall drip with sweet wine, And all the hills shall flow with it. 14 I will bring back the captives of My people Israel; They shall build the waste cities and inhabit them; They shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them; They shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them. 15 I will plant them in their land, And no longer shall they be pulled up From the land I have given them,” Says the Lord your God. - Amos 9:9-15 (NKJV) That has NOT happened yet. And, I find it interesting that God includes you and me - the Gentiles who are called by His name. We are a part of this prophecy! But, wait... what about that Day of the Lord in chapter five? God is decreeing judgment upon Israel: 16 Therefore the Lord, the God of hosts, the Lord, saith thus; Wailing shall be in all streets; and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing. 17 And in all vineyards shall be wailing: for I will pass through thee, saith the Lord. 18 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. 19 As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. 20 Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it? 21 I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. - Amos 5:16-21 (KJV) God, through Amos, was telling both Judah and Israel that He was going to crush them. And that was fulfilled when the Assyrians conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel, and then when the Babylonians destroyed Judah. Even though Amos has a small segment about the Last Days. None of that refers to the Day of the Lord that so many like to talk about. ObadiahObadiah 1:15 This one is a little more difficult. Obadiah (more correctly pronounced Oh-Vad-Yah) is just one chapter that is about the complete destruction of Edom, the descendants of Esau. And, there is literally no trace of them left anywhere. The Babylonians, the Greeks, the Hasmoneans and the Nabateans all obliterated them. And, it's a painful reminder to all that hate Israel, that what they do to Israel, will be done to them. Here's the verse with some context: 14 Neither shouldest thou have stood in the crossway, to cut off those of his that did escape; neither shouldest thou have delivered up those of his that did remain in the day of distress. 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. 16 For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the heathen drink continually, yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been. - Obadiah 1:14-16 (KJV) I've been through southern Jordan something like four or five times. There is literally no sign of the Edomites. None. Everyone in Jordan identifies as Arab, without even a hint of anything else. But, like with Amos, the Book ends with the Redemption of Israel: 17 “But on Mount Zion there shall be deliverance, And there shall be holiness; The house of Jacob shall possess their possessions. 18 The house of Jacob shall be a fire, And the house of Joseph a flame; But the house of Esau shall be stubble; They shall kindle them and devour them, And no survivor shall remain of the house of Esau,” For the Lord has spoken. 19 The South shall possess the mountains of Esau, And the Lowland shall possess Philistia. They shall possess the fields of Ephraim And the fields of Samaria. Benjamin shall possess Gilead. 20 And the captives of this host of the children of Israel Shall possess the land of the Canaanites As far as Zarephath. The captives of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad Shall possess the cities of the South. 21 Then saviors shall come to Mount Zion To judge the mountains of Esau, And the kingdom shall be the Lord’s. - Obadiah 1:17-21 (NKJV) Verse 21 seems to indicate that this is the Last Days. But, in verse 18 we see Israel devouring the last of the Edomites, which did happen under Hasmonean rule. The leadership were forced to convert to Judaism, and what was left of Edom slowly did the same. There was a kind of 'come-back' with King Herod who was half-Edomite, with his father having converted to Judaism and marrying a Jewish woman. But, that would have been the 'last hurrah' for Edom. After AD 70 and the collapse of the Bar Kokhbah Revolt, there's literally nothing left to write, about the Edomites. Herod and his family certainly didn't survive. And, successive invasions by the Persians, Byzantines and then the Arabs finished off anything that was left. So, what are we to make of the prophecy of verse 17 to 21? I think some interesting things could be happening in the future. ZephaniahZephaniah 1:7 Zephaniah 1:14 Zephaniah was a prophet of royal lineage, with King Hezekiah being his great-great grandfather. But, since the kingdom goes through oldest brothers... it was his somewhat distant cousin Josiah who was king. (Cousins are confusing. Especially mine.) And, like every other reference to the Day of the Lord, there's trouble. Lots of it. But, Zephaniah speaks of good endings when he finishes his prophecy. Here's the context of the Day of the Lord for Zephaniah 1:7: 4 I will also stretch out mine hand upon Judah, and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place, and the name of the Chemarims with the priests; 5 And them that worship the host of heaven upon the housetops; and them that worship and that swear by the Lord, and that swear by Malcham; 6 And them that are turned back from the Lord; and those that have not sought the Lord, nor enquired for him. 7 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 1:4-8 (KJV) Remember that the Northern Kingdom of Israel had already been taken into exile by the Assyrians. So, all that is left is the southern kingdom of Judah. And, God is going to obliterate it. It will be completely destroyed, because that's what happens in The Day of the Lord. Oh, and by the way, this prophecy is given while there is a good king on the throne - King Josiah. This Day of the Lord is coming no matter how good the present king is, because it is the accumulation of sin and the vilest of evils that are bringing this Day to come. Here is the context of 1:14: 12 And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men that are settled on their lees: that say in their heart, The Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil. 13 Therefore their goods shall become a booty, and their houses a desolation: they shall also build houses, but not inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, but not drink the wine thereof. 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. 15 That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, 16 A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers. 17 And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung. - Zephaniah 1:12-17 (KJV) What a blistering prophecy against what was left of Israel. And, it all occurred within something like thirty to forty years - depending upon what time during Josiah's reign this prophecy was given. And, there was a good king on the throne when this prophecy was given. But, God doesn't stop speaking to Zephaniah in chapter one. In the next chapter, God says this: Seek the Lord, all you meek of the earth, - Zephaniah 2:3 (NKJV) Is this like the Rapture? Sorry, but No. This is like what God did for Noah, Joseph, Elijah, Daniel, Esther and those who agreed to surrender to Nebuchadnezzar and go into exile. God protected their lives in the midst of terrible trouble and kept them safe even though disaster was all around them. Those who seek the Lord, are meek and humble, who are righteous and uphold justice... ...THEY will have an opportunity to be hidden from the terrible Day of the Lord. Chapter two goes on to speak of how He will devastate the nations that surround Israel, even as far as Ethiopia. Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon did all that, and then every other empire that rose up did it again and again and again. But, the next chapter is different. NOTE: Remember that chapter divisions were inserted by a Roman Catholic priest 800 years ago. These chapter divisions are usually useful, but can obscure the truth if you aren't careful. Chapter three launches back into a scathing rebuke of Jerusalem and then abruptly changes tone in verse eight. In that verse, God starts to speak of the Last Days, judgment upon the Earth, the return of Israel and something interesting... ...A pure language. The purest language in the whole world is Modern Hebrew. Not the biased and often incorrect Hebrew of James Strong. Not the Hebrew of the Rabbis and their Talmud. No, it was the resurrection of the Ancient Hebrew of the Bible by Eliezer ben Yehuda - the orthodox Jew who decided that the Nation of Israel needed the purest Hebrew language to speak. If you know modern Hebrew, you can read the Hebrew Scriptures (what some call the Old Testament). And, a good modern Hebrew dictionary is actually better than anything that you will find in your seminaries. James Strong did good work, and we received much benefit from it. But, he was no Eliezer ben Yehuda. This post has already gotten really long, so I invite you to read of God's intention to redeem Israel in the rest of Zephaniah 3, in the last part of a chapter in my book, Ezekiel's Fire: Jeremiah 30, Micah 5 and Zephaniah 3 ZechariahZechariah 14:1 This is where we finally get to what most people think of, when they say, The Day of the Lord. But, let's step back a bit as we have been doing and look at the Book of Zechariah. HEBREW NOTE: This prophet's name is not pronounced like Zak-uh-rai-uh. It's Zeh-CHAR-yah ('ch' as in Bach). Zechariah is a book of almost unrelenting positivity and promise. God is going to bring His people back. God is promising to reverse all the curses that He put upon them. He promises to bring them back to the Land of Israel and make them His People once more. There is even mention of what looks like the four horses of the Apocalypse. There is reference to Jesus at His First Coming and then Jesus at His Second coming and finally... the Millennium, where Jesus will rule on Earth. But, there is a cost, a terrible one. Two thirds of everyone in the Land of Israel will die, and those that survive will go through a terrible refining process where they will finally see Jesus as their Lord and Savior. The death and suffering will be terrible, and I'm hoping that the two thirds that die are mostly Israel's enemies. But, I have to be honest and assume the worst, because that's what Zechariah 13 seems to be saying. It will be a terrible holocaust. And, I don't want to believe it, but since the Bible says it... I must agree to what it says. Here are the verses that are so terrifying: 8 And it shall come to pass in all the land,” - Zechariah 13:8-9 (NKJV) Again, this is terrible, but is it The Day of the Lord? No. Remember that THIS is the Day of the Lord: Zechariah 14:1 This is AFTER God refines the survivors and makes them His own people again. So, let's look at the Day of the Lord in its proper context, but this time with a different translation: 1 Behold, a day is coming for the Lord, when the spoil taken from you will be divided in your midst. 2 For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken and the houses plundered and the women raped. Half of the city shall go out into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city. 3 Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. 4 On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward. 5 And you shall flee to the valley of my mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azal. And you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him. - Zechariah 14:1-5 (ESV) This passage is three and a half years long, and it ends with the Jesus landing upon the Mount of Olives before going out to destroy the Antichrist at Armageddon. But, there are some translation problems that we need to fix to understand this properly. First, notice the words 'exile'. This is why I chose the ESV for this passage. It is one of the few that gets that word right. Other translations speak of 'captivity', but the Hebrew word גולה (pronounced Go-Lah) does NOT mean becoming captive or a prisoner. It means going into exile. What exile is this? Do you remember the woman who flees into the wilderness for three and a half years? Right. This one: Revelation 12 THAT is the exile that Zechariah 14:2 is talking about. The woman fleeing into the wilderness, chased by the Dragon. Do you know who else spoke of fleeing into the wilderness? Jesus: 15 “Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), 16 “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. 18 And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. - Matthew 24:15-18 (NKJV) The 'half that go into exile' in Zechariah 14:2, are following what Jesus warned us to do. When we see the Abomination of Desolation set up in Jerusalem - run for the wilderness. And, half of Jerusalem obeys and gets out quick enough to evade the Antichrist. Then, there's one more translation problem. It's that word 'then' in verse three. There is no 'then' in the original Hebrew of this passage. What the original Hebrew says is 'And'. 'And' and 'then' are two completely different words with two completely different connotations, and there is hardly a single translation that gets it right. 'Then' indicates an even that follows immediately. 'And' indicates something that is added, but it doesn't need to be immediate. So, that word 'Then' in Zechariah 14:3 is three and a half years long. Because that is exactly what Revelation 12 says. What does this mean? It means that Israel is saved LONG before the Great Tribulation begins. Years. Probably decades. Maybe even centuries. I really can't say, other than that there's no way that Redemption of Israel happens at the Second Coming of Jesus. MalachiMalachi 4:5 This is another book where we talk about the First Coming of Christ. But, that happens later in the Book of Malachi. God starts with a fiery criticism of Israel, and how they have been unrighteous and full of hypocrisy toward Him. HEBREW NOTE: Malachi is not pronounced Mal-uh-kai. It's Mah-LAH-chee ('ch' as in Bach). This criticism of Israel goes on for two chapters, until He introduces John the Baptist: Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. - Malachi 3:1 (KJV) And, when Jesus was speaking of John the Baptist, He said: 26 But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and much more than a prophet. 27 This is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. - Luke 7:26-27 (KJV) And, we see John the Baptist again when we get to the Day of the Lord: 5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: 6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. - Malachi 4:5-6 (KJV) We know this because Jesus said this about John the Baptist: 13 For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. 14 And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come. - Matthew 11:13-14 (KJV) And then, in Luke 1, when Gabriel appears to the father of John the Baptist, telling him that he would have a son, Gabriel says this: 16 And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. 17 And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. - Luke 1:16-17 (KJV) Of course, Zacharias - John's dad - is finding this hard to believe, so he asks Gabriel for a sign that this will happen. However, Zacharias should have known that this was real and not something demonic, because he was in the Holy Place of the Temple. So, as both a punishment and a sign, Gabriel makes Zacharias unable to speak until John is born. So, what is this great and dreadful day of the Lord that God speaks of through Malachi? It's the tearing away God's Covenant from Israel and giving it to those Jews who accept Christ and the gentiles who come to Christ through the gospel. Jesus confirms this with what He says here: 37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! 38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. 39 For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. - Matthew 23:37-39 (KJV) So, there was a spiritual Day of the Lord, in which Israel lost her covenant with God as a people, but then there would be a physical Day of the Lord in AD 70 when Jerusalem was destroyed and then when the Bar Kokhba Revolt was put down in AD 136. ConclusionOf the seven verses that we looked at, Zechariah 14:1 is the only one that refers to the 'Day of the Lord' in the classical sense that most think of this term. But, there is one thing common to all mentions of the 'Day of the Lord': It is always a day of terrible judgment. And, there is only one reason why we would seek the Day of the Lord in the Last Days: Because we will receive the blessed hope of the Return of our Lord, and the eternal rewards that He promised His followers. Furthermore, there will be a special reward for those who suffer tribulation and remain faithful, even if it means that we lose our lives. May our Lord guide us through the days that are coming. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. ———————————— My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. ———————————— Keep this ministry alive with a donation. Subscribe for free to Revelation Six and receive my articles in your inbox: And, read my two books: I created five Android Apps that will help you read through the Bible in a Year. You can find them here: https://revelationsix.com/android-apps/ If you miss my rantings about geopolitics, idiocy, resource collapse and incompetent globalism, follow me on Twitter. ————————————
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