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The Daily Word of Righteousness
Preparing for the Battle of Armageddon, #5
Before them the earth shakes, the sky trembles, the sun and moon are darkened, and the stars no longer shine. The LORD thunders at the head of his army; his forces are beyond number, and mighty are those who obey his command. The day of the LORD is great; it is dreadful. Who can endure it? (Joel 2:10,11—NIV)
I don't know about you but it seems to me that the above two verses are a bit heavy for a description of locusts.
The shaking of the earth, the trembling of the sky, the darkening of the sun, moon, and stars, are the leaves of the fig tree that tell us the return of the Lord and the resurrection of the dead are at hand. It it likely that at no other time in the history of the world, past, present, or future, have these signs appeared or will they appear. They are the Lord's calling card.
Immediately after the distress of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other. (Matthew 24:29-31—NIV)
Of particular interest is the following statement:
Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy hill. Let all who live in the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming. It is close at hand— A day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness. Like dawn spreading across the mountains a large and mighty army comes, such as never was of old nor ever will be in ages to come. (Joel 2:1,2—NIV)
The second chapter of Joel is the sounding of an alarm. The alarm is directed toward the Lord's people—Zion. The alarm concerns the coming of the Day of the Lord.
Perhaps the important thing to notice is what characterizes the return of Christ. The primary aspect of the return of Christ is the appearing of a large and mighty army such as never was of old nor ever will be in ages to come. This, to our knowledge, is the coming of the sons of God, those who have been prepared to return with Jesus Christ and establish the Kingdom of God on the earth.
This passage of course fits many other descriptions of the return of Jesus Christ. When the Lord comes He will not be alone. He will be followed by His army on the white war stallions.
Jude informs us that one of the main targets of the judgment of the Lord, performed at the hands of the saints, will be the hypocrites in the churches.
Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men [the sinners in the churches]: "See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones To judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him." (Jude 1:14,15—NIV)
To be continued.