If we would understand the day of redemption, the Day of the Lord, the installation of the Kingdom of God on the earth, we must learn about the army of God.

There are four stupendous signs that will announce the return of the Lord Jesus to the earth. They are His calling card:

The sun shall be darkened.

The moon shall not give off light.

The stars shall fall from heaven.

The powers of the heavens shall be shaken.

When we study the Old Testament to see what is said about these signs we sometimes find they are associated with a large, powerful army.

The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining: And the LORD shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it? (Joel 2:10,11)

We are aware that this passage can be interpreted to mean a swarm of locusts or the invasion of the nation of Israel by one of its enemies. But the wording of the passage, as in the case of many other writings of the Hebrew Prophets, goes far, far beyond any immediate application. In this instance the text portrays the army that is associated with the four great signs in the heavens of which the Lord spoke in the twenty-fourth chapter of the Book of Matthew.

Referring to the second chapter of the Book of Joel:

"The day of the LORD cometh"—verse 1.

"A great people and a strong"—verse 2.

"A strong people set in battle array"—verse 5.

"They shall march every one on his ways"—verse 7.

"The earth shall quake before them"—verse 10.

"The heavens shall tremble"—verse 10.

"The sun and the moon shall be dark"—verse 10.

"The stars shall withdraw their shining"—verse 10.

"The LORD shall utter his voice before his army"—verse 11.

"The day of the LORD is great and very terrible"—verse 11.

Notice how the writing of Isaiah (that follows) parallels the second chapter of the Book of Joel, speaking of the heavenly signs that will accompany the return of the Lord Jesus to the earth and also of the army that will accompany the Lord.

I have commanded my sanctified ones, I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger, even them that rejoice in my highness. The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together: the LORD of hosts mustereth the host of the battle. They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even the LORD, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land. Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt: And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames. 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. 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. (Isaiah 13:3-10)

To be continued.