Most people wonder when exactly will the Lord return. The Bible is full of clues! The Lord's second coming is also known as the *Day of the Lord* and it's very important for us to be watchful, and prayerful. I did a search at BlueLetterBible.org (link will open in a new window) to find all instances of the keyword phrase of day of the Lord here's what came back, note there are 370 verses throughout the Old & New Testaments with some or all of the phrase words but not necessarily in order so I'm only including the 25 EXACT phrase matches here below! I've removed the Strong's reference numbers, you can see those if you need to from BLB's website by doing the same search. Anything bold or underlined in the scriptures below are my own emphasis, my comments will be in {curly brackets and italicized}! All scripture below is KJV.
The words 'day of the Lord' occur in 370 verses, including 25 exact phrase matches shown:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Isa 2:12 For the day of the LORD of hosts [shall be] upon every [one that is] proud and lofty, and upon every [one that is] lifted up; and he shall be brought low:--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Isa 13:6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD [is] at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------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.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Jer 46:10 For this [is] the day of the Lord GOD of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries: and the sword shall devour, and it shall be satiate and made drunk with their blood: for the Lord GOD of hosts hath a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Eze 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.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Eze 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.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Joe 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.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Joe 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;--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Joe 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?--------------------------------------------------------------------------------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.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Joe 3:14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD [is] near in the valley of decision.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Amo 5:18 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.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Amo 5:20 [Shall] not the day of the LORD [be] darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Oba 1:15 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.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Zep 1:7 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.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Zep 1:14 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.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Zep 2:2 Before the decree bring forth, [before] the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the LORD come upon you, before the day of the LORD'S anger come upon you.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Zep 2:3 Seek ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the LORD'S anger.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Zec 14:1 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Mal 4:5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: {this is interesting, bearing in mind that Elijah was *translated* (caught up) to heaven and never died, and also bearing in mind it is appointed man once to die ... could it be Elijah and Enoch are the two end time witnesses ... both witnesses WILL be killed during the tribulation you know!? Some interpret this to be John the Baptist, which in effect would have to support the reincarnation argument, I do not agree with this theory ... I maintain Elijah & Enoch, the only two men to not have died yet, will be the two end time witnesses and will die as spoken of during the tribulation.}--------------------------------------------------------------------------------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:--------------------------------------------------------------------------------1Cr 5:5 To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------2Cr 1:14 As also ye have acknowledged us in part, that we are your rejoicing, even as ye also [are] ours in the day of the Lord Jesus.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------1Th 5:2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. {Hmmm, did you notice this, and the next one below ... where He comes as a thief in the night!? That inspired me to look up those keywords at BLB ... see more on that below!}--------------------------------------------------------------------------------2Pe 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You can see, from the scriptures above, why I maintain the Lord is only coming back one more time (aside from coming for His birth, ministry, death and resurrection). The next time He comes will be bearing the full wrath of God to punish the wicked and rid the world of them. Notice the references to a trumpet ... this is thought to be the seventh (last) trumpet mentioned in Revelation. The Day of the Lord IS the Lord's second coming, there is no other time when He'll secretly come in the clouds to gather the saints/elect and then scoot on back up to heaven for a short time until the tribulation passes. This is just plain false doctrine.
I think when the Lord returns that is when the dead will rise, we who are alive and remain will be joined with them in the clouds ... we will go to where our Lord is ... He will touch down his feet on the Mount of Olives and so will we in our newly resurrected bodies! We will be with our Lord forever but we will do it HERE on earth. It's IMPARATIVE that we know WHERE the Lord will come back to! Pay attention to this next passage, it may well save your life, and when you hear 'He is in the wilderness or in the upper house', do not believe it! Here's where He's going to be when He returns ...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Zec 14:4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which [is] before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, [and there shall be] a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------I feel there will be a great, unfortunate, falling away during the tribulation because people, Christians, will have believed the Lord would arrive sometime before|during|after the tribulation and He won't. Don't believe me, prove it for yourself, I've given you the references to check, both here and the previous article ... I pray you are wise enough to at least consider this option and not be brainwashed by other theories. Don't make *the when* a basis for your faith ... make the Lord Jesus the basis for your faith and trust Him, no matter when you are taken up to meet the Lord, you will go through trials and tribulations on this earth and during your Christian walk, it's all part of your spiritual development. Trust Him and you will escape the wrath, even if you have to go through the tribulation, He WILL care for you IF you remain faithful!
OK now, let's tend to the keywords as a thief and find what the BLB references are shall we? As above, we'll only keep the 6 EXACT matches:
The words 'as a thief' occur in 11 verses, including 6 exact phrase matches shown:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Job 24:14 The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief. {I'm not sure this is relevant to the topic ... but maybe it is ... who knows!?}--------------------------------------------------------------------------------1Th 5:2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------1Th 5:4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. {We have the light of Jesus Christ within us, the Holy Spirit, therefore we are not in darkness. The Holy Spirit is also portrayed as *oil* as in the virgins below with lamps full of oil (Holy Spirit) and those not full in which some had to go fetch more oil and by the time they returned it was too late. Keep the Holy Spirit alive within friends ... don't let Him get low in your life because he is what keeps your light shining so you can see and be prepared for the times ahead!}--------------------------------------------------------------------------------2Pe 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Rev 3:3 Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Rev 16:15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed [is] he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What's that all about? Simple, when Jesus does come at His second coming, which is the Day of the Lord, He will come with all the wrath of God ... He will come in such a way that NO ONE will expect Him, just as you don't know a thief is coming to your house! He will come by surprise on the whole world. I think the reference to night doesn't actually mean nighttime but that as said in previous passages the sun will darken and the moon will not give her light ... the whole world will experience some sort of world wide darkness as though it were night.
The Bible also says the bridegroom (Jesus) will come for His bride (the church) at midnight ... again, how can we think midnight would be a time of day, which timezone would He be referring to (perhaps Israel's if this is an exact time prediction). But if the world is dark even during the day we'll have a hard time distinguishing the hour as midnight none the less. I think this darkness will include power outages and the world will truly be in complete darkness.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Mat 25:1-13 Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five [were] foolish. They that [were] foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, [Not so]; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
According to the above passages, up to half of the church will not be prepared or ready at His return! Don't be counted amongst the unprepared virgins, watch and pray ... don't believe what you *hear* but PROVE ALL THINGS from the word of God. You have NO EXCUSE not to know the truth! Search the Bible, even online Bibles for keywords ... you will find your answers and you will not be left behind. So true that we don't know the day nor the hour when the Son of man (Jesus) comes, but boy there are alot of hints on what to look for! Please ... watch & pray always!
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© Deb (Sandberg) Murtagh 2006
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