Yesterday I wrote that I am currently trying to find out how long the Day of the Lord is going to last. I mentioned that there is a wide range of views regarding the length of the Day of the Lord-ranging from one year all the way up to one thousand years.
My plan at this point is to address each viewpoint regarding the Day of the Lord’s length. First I address the idea that the Day of the Lord is seven years in length, which some believe equates with the seventieth week of Daniel. I disagree with this belief, and I will show you why I disagree by showing you when I believe the Day of the Lord will begin in this blog post.
- I assume there are some people out there with their own biases regarding the Day of the Lord's length, when the Rapture will begin, etc. I ask that you please read what I am going to say with an open mind.
The first step to finding when the Day of the Lord will begin is to find out what signs are associated with the Day of the Lord. The Bible states that the sun and moon shall be darkened during the Day of the Lord (also see Joel 2:1-10, Joel 3:14-15).
- Isa 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.
- Isa 13:10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
More specifically, Joel 2:31 and Acts 2:20 state that the sun shall turn dark and the moon shall turn into blood before the Day of the Lord begins.
- Joe 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.
- Act 2:20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:
Therefore, we need to know when the sun and moon are impacted to find the approximate time when the Day of the Lord begins.
Christ gave us a good idea of some of the things people will see prior to the start of the Day of the Lord at the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21). Christ mentioned that one of the things people will see is the establishment abomination of desolation that Daniel wrote about.
- Mat 24:15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)
The abomination of desolation that Daniel mentioned arises at the midpoint of the seventieth week of Daniel (three and one-half years through a seven year period)
- Dan 9:27 And he [Antichrist] shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
Christ then warned in verses 16-21 that “great tribulation” will begin after the abomination of desolation is established.
- Mat 24:16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
- Mat 24:17 Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:
- Mat 24:18 Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.
- Mat 24:19 And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
- Mat 24:20 But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:
- Mat 24:21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
Christ later proclaimed in the Olivet Discourse that the sun and moon shall be darkened-the conditions preceding the Day of the Lord-immediately after the great tribulation is complete:
- Mat 24:29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days 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:
Therefore, Christ placed the beginning of the Day of the Lord following the end of the great tribulation and well past the midway point of the seventieth week of Daniel in Matthew 24.
Similarly, the Day of the Lord is not mentioned in the Book of Revelation until after the opening of the sixth seal. The opening of the sixth seal will lead to the sun turning into black and the moon turning into blood (Joel 2:31 and Acts 2:20). Unsurprising, Revelation 6:17 mentions that the Day of the Lord arrives following the change in the sun and in the moon: “the great day of his wrath is come”.
- Rev 6:12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;
- Rev 6:13 And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.
- Rev 6:14 And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
- Rev 6:15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
- Rev 6:16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
- Rev 6:17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?
Thus, the Day of the Lord cannot start at the beginning of the End Times or last seven years. The Day of the Lord cannot even begin when the great tribulation begins. The Day of the Lord appears to begin following the completion of the great tribulation-following the opening of the sixth seal.
