The Day Of The Lord - Part Two

Last time we looked at four of the twenty two verses that use the phrase 'Day of the Lord'. One of those (Isaiah 2:12) is clearly about Armageddon and the Millennium that follows. Isaiah 13:6 and 13:9 are talking about future destruction of Babylon, but not in the context of Armageddon. And Jeremiah 46:10 was about Nebuchadnezzar's conquest of Egypt, Libya and Ethiopia.

That leaves us with eighteen more verses to look at. That's still a lot, but each of those passages has something to say to us about The Day of the Lord.

This time, we'll be looking at Ezekiel and Joel.

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The Day Of The Lord - Part Two

Remember that the Hebrew Scriptures are just as relevant as the New Testament. All of the Bible is the word of God. Remember that when the Disciples went out, sharing the gospel - they didn't have a Bible that included the 'New Testament'. They only had the Hebrew books that we often call the Old Testament.

Furthermore, most of what we know about the Last Days, comes from the Hebrew Scriptures. And, I think that we have done ourselves a great disservice by ignoring what the prophets had to say. And, let's not forget that God demonstrates who He is by what He says in the first 24 books of the Bible.

So, let's look at Ezekiel and Joel.

Ezekiel 13

Ezekiel 13:5
Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord.

Even though Ezekiel 13 is about the corruption of Israel before they were sent into exile, this hits awfully close to home for us today:

2 Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear ye the word of the Lord;

3 Thus saith the Lord God; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!

7 Have ye not seen a vain vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination, whereas ye say, The Lord saith it; albeit I have not spoken?

8 Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, saith the Lord God.

10 Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace; and one built up a wall, and, lo, others daubed it with untempered morter:

17 Likewise, thou son of man, set thy face against the daughters of thy people, which prophesy out of their own heart; and prophesy thou against them,

22 Because with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life:

 - Ezekiel 13:2-3,7-8,10,17,22 (KJV)

When I look at our churches, I am horrified by the corruption that I see. Preachers aren't giving sermons from the Bible. They're preaching from their own heart. They are building seeker-friendly churches without a foundation in truth (untempered morter). And, they say to the wicked that they don't need to repent and turn from their sins.

God brought the Day of the Lord upon Israel for this. And that means that He will also bring the Day of the Lord upon us for doing exactly the same thing. We talk about the Day of the Lord at the Battle of Armageddon, but the Day of the Lord will come first to our unrighteous churches.

May God have mercy upon us and grant us repentance before His righteous judgment comes upon us.

TRANSLATION NOTE: Every translation of verse 20 gets gets it wrong, except the Young's Literal Translation (which often gets other words wrong). The word לפרחות (leh-for-chote, 'ch' as in Bach) means to blossom or to flourish. It does not mean to fly or anything about birds. This is a really bad mistake for the KJV and other translations to make. Every Friday, in Israel, you will see men buying פרחים (prah-cheem, flowers) for shabbat. I do not understand how Bible translators could be this bad.

So, we can say that the 'Day of the Lord' in Ezekiel 13:5 has already been fulfilled when God judged Israel for her sins.

Ezekiel 30

Ezekiel 30:3
For the day is near, even the day of the Lord is near, a cloudy day; it shall be the time of the heathen.

Okay, so this is against the heathen, but let's check to see if it is in the future:

4 And the sword shall come upon Egypt, and great pain shall be in Ethiopia, when the slain shall fall in Egypt, and they shall take away her multitude, and her foundations shall be broken down.

5 Ethiopia, and Libya, and Lydia, and all the mingled people, and Chub, and the men of the land that is in league, shall fall with them by the sword.

10 Thus saith the Lord God; I will also make the multitude of Egypt to cease by the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon.

 - Ezekiel 30:4-5,10 (KJV)

This is exactly like the Day of the Lord that we saw in Jeremiah 46:10. That also was against Egypt, Ethiopia and Libya. And, God was using Nebuchadnezzar to judge those nations.

So, this is also a Day of the Lord that has already happened.

Joel

Joel 1:15
Alas for the day! for the day of the Lord is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.

Joel 2:1
Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand;

Joel 2:11
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 2:31
The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come.

Joel 3:14
Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.

These five references in such a short book seem to range from the past through to the future. And, the dividing point appears to be here:

Joel 2:25 And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.

So it appears that the references to the Day of the Lord chapter one and the first part of chapter 2 are all about this great plague of locusts. But, the reference to Joel 2:31 is talking about something completely different.

In fact, let's allow Peter to tell us what Joel 2:31 is in reference to. But, before I let Peter speak, let's set the stage a bit. This was the day of Pentecost after Jesus died and rose again, and the Holy Spirit came upon all who had gathered together. And, everyone began to praise God in languages of those from foreign lands who were watching. And, some began to mock them.

This is where Peter steps in and says in Acts 2:

14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:

15 For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.

16 But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;

17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:

18 And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:

19 And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:

20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and notable day of the Lord come:

21 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

22 Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:

23 Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:

24 Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.

The coming of Jesus, His sacrifice on the Cross and His Resurrection were all part of the Day of the Lord. But, the Day of the Lord did not end there. It also included the Day of Pentecost, and the destruction of Jerusalem almost 40 years later. And, it was recorded that while Jesus was on the Cross, this happened:

Matthew 27:45
Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.

That was NOT a solar eclipse. They don't last three hours. Whatever that darkness was, it had to have been something miraculous.

Joel - The Future Day Of The Lord

Then there's the last reference to the Day of the Lord in Joel:

Joel 3:14
Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.

Joel 3 provides us with a paradox.

Joel 3
1 For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem,

2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.

Verse one tells us about the Return of Israel, and the end of the chapter speaks of Israel's Redemption. And, those of you who know that Ezekiel 38 and 39 refer to Israel's Redemption at the time of the coming of Gog and Magog. And, this is where things get difficult.

Joel 3:2 refers to ALL NATIONS, while Ezekiel 38 refers to most of them.

What's the difference?

Well, turn to Genesis 10 and Ezekiel 38. In Genesis 10 you have a list of all the main descendants of Noah. In Ezekiel 38, we have a list of the massive army put together by some guy named Gog. Both lists are very similar with some exceptions:

Here is what you will find in Ezekiel 38:

All the sons of Japheth, except Javan - Greece - and his sons.

Half the sons of Ham. (Not Canaan and not Mizraim, also not Sheba and Dedan - sons of Cush)

None of the sons of Shem, except Elam (which became part of Persia)

Are those exceptions small enough to classify the rest as 'All Nations'?

Oh, and there's one other thing. God says that He will bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. (And yeah, that Wikipedia link is actually pretty good.)

Where is the Valley of Jehoshaphat?

Well, in the 4th century, the very first guide book for tourists... err ...pilgrims, said that it was in the Kidron Valley. And, a bunch of other dead guys said much the same thing.

In Israel, we have a name for such things, 'tour guide stories'. They're always fun tales that are very entertaining, but almost always dead wrong.

What does the Bible say?

Well, when Judah was being invaded by a huge army made up of Ammon, Moab and some others, King Jehoshaphat asked the LORD for help. God said that He would take care of this, and that everyone should stand on the hill of Tekoa. When this vast army marched through the valley leading from the Hebron area towards Jerusalem, God drove that army insane, and they killed each other.

You can read all this in 2 Corinthians 20.

This army was carrying so much stuff, that it took four days to haul it all off. When they were done looting this army and burying all the dead bodies, King Jehoshaphat called the place the Valley of Berachah, or Valley of Blessing. And, we know where this valley is. And, it's the perfect place for any army to march through, if you want to attack Jerusalem - all other invasion routes are narrow, hard to get through and easy to defend.

Here's the Google Map location:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/2x92NAYp7wcmu8fw8

And, here's another source that offers a few other options:

https://www.openbible.info/geo/ancient/a71f834/valley-of-beracah

I'm sorry, but I'm not going to believe a tour guide story about where the Valley of Jehoshaphat is. The Valley of Berachah makes more sense and would certainly hold a large army, while this Kidron Valley cannot.

Furthermore, we have a story from the Bible that fits what we are looking for. However, this is not the only place where Jehoshaphat was involved in a battle, but it's the only place where ONLY Jehoshaphat was involved. All the other battles involved other kings.

The Battle Of Gog And Magog?

The next question is:

Is this really the Battle of Gog and Magog?

Here I have gone and spent all of this time talking in terms of Gog and Magog. But, there are two verses that seem to point in two different directions:

16 The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the Lord will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.

And:

19 Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.

Verse 16 would seem to tell us that this is the Second Coming, where the Battle of Armageddon begins at Jerusalem (Zechariah 14). But the Millennium comes after that, and during the Millennium, Egypt will not be a desolation. And, Isaiah 19 speaks of great desolation and upheaval.

Then to add just a bit more confusion, Joel ends with this verse:

3:21 For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: for the Lord dwelleth in Zion.

This could either mean that the Lord dwells at Zion because Israel has accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior, or because this is the Millennium and He is ruling and reigning from Jerusalem.

Also, I'm used to thinking in terms of Gog and Magog AND Armageddon being fought in the Jezreel Valley, which a large number of scriptures confirm. But, we also know that there are references to fighting in Judea - which is where the Valley of Jehoshaphat would be.

Because of the first verse of Joel 3, my instinct is to say that this is referring to the Battle of Gog and Magog, during which Israel recognizes Jesus as their Lord and Savior. And taking this further, it would seem to confirm a significant amount of time between the Redemption of Israel and the coming of the Antichrist.

At the very least, I hope that I've laid out the question with enough clarity for you to ponder it yourself.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
שאלו שלום ירושלים

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My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
Because you have rejected knowledge,
I also will reject you... Hosea 4:6

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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:

https://whengogcomes.com/

https://ezekielsfire.com/

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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