Thank you, Mark, for leading us again in those good hymns and a good time of worship this morning. We are in the midst of a study of the Day of the Lord. We've come to that phrase in 1 Thessalonians 5 and kind of stopped and taken a pause here, and we're doing three messages laying a foundation for the use of the term, the Day of the Lord, in the Scriptures and trying to understand that. 

We did the message on God's creative intent on the centrality of Israel, and now we're doing it on the Day of the Lord today, which is a massive subject. So you'll be patient with me that I fit it all into one sermon. But pay attention and stay with me because this is really encouraging and good stuff. 

Paul brings this term up, the Day of the Lord, in our text in 1 Thessalonians 5, in relation to the judgment that is to come upon the ungodly in this world in the time of Jacob's trouble and the plans of God to fulfill his promises in the kingdom and the new heavens and the new earth. In the context of the book of Thessalonians, Paul's intent is to bring comfort to the believers there concerning the rapture and the Day of the Lord. 

You'll remember that they were concerned that those who had died in Christ may somehow miss the great promise, the hope of the rapture of the church, the coming of the Lord to gather us together to himself. And they were becoming confused about the church and the Day of the Lord, as well as we will see in the second epistle that Paul writes. 

Paul wants them to know that they will not experience the wrath of God on this earth during the Day of the Lord, and that they all, dead and alive in Christ, will be caught up together to meet the Lord in the clouds before the coming of the seven-year tribulation of Israel. These are words of comfort. They are not words of warning concerning the coming judgment, and the truth is that the church will not endure that time of tribulation. 

We will experience the wrath of man in this world. There's no promise of deliverance from persecution in this age. But the time that is to come, the seven-year period spoken of by Daniel, a time for Israel focused on Jerusalem, the church will not be here for those events. And my friends, this is comfort. 

It would not be comforting if Paul were saying you will go into the Day of the Lord and experience the tremendous profound persecution that's coming from the Antichrist. Wouldn't it be strange for Paul to end a teaching like that by saying, therefore comfort one another with these words? 

As we will see this morning, the Day of the Lord that is yet to come is a time for God's culmination of his salvation plans concerning Israel and especially a manifestation of his rule and reign over all of his creation. It begins with the apostasy of Israel and the revealing of the Antichrist, and as we saw last time, it extends all the way to the new heavens and the new earth according to Peter in 2 Peter chapter 3. He says the Day of the Lord in which all of these things will come to pass. 

This is a time where God deals with Israel according to a pattern that we see consistently throughout the Old Testament in relation to the Day of the Lord. This is so important for us to understand, and we're going to develop these thoughts in our study this morning from the scriptures. 

First, let's consider our text together, a text that we will get to in exegete next time. Actually, two times. We have communion next week. First, that’s 5.1. But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the Day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them as labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they shall not escape. 

But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. 

For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep. And again, I want to mention this phrase, whether we wake or sleep, ties us directly back to what he was talking about in 1 Thessalonians 4, 13-18, the rapture of the church. So when he talks about salvation and coming salvation, being appointed to salvation, I believe he's talking about the rapture. Whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. 

Therefore, comfort each other and edify one another just as you also are doing. I have six points on your outline this morning. First, God's creative intent. Second, the centrality of Israel. Third, the pattern of the day of the Lord. Fourth, the broad scope. Fifth, the narrow scope. And sixth, the promise of salvation. 

We saw in our first study in this series God's creative intent, that is that when God created the heavens and the earth and all things in it, His intention was to establish a theocracy, to have Adam, man, have dominion over all things and rule as God's man on this earth. We saw in Genesis that Adam failed by sinning and bringing death and the curse to this world. And we also saw in Hebrews 2 that all things are not now as God intends. 

This world is controlled by Satan and his system in this place in this time. But Hebrews says we have a promise of restoration to God's original creative intent, His plan and purpose. It says we don't see things put under man's feet as God intended, but we see Jesus. Jesus is the promise, is the fulfillment of God's creative intent in the time when God will bring all things to consummation in Christ, and He will rule and reign on this earth on David's throne in the thousand-year kingdom. 

In this time, God's creative intent for Israel will be restored as well, as they will be a witness to Him and to the nations, as we saw last time in our study. It is a vital point to understand that God will bring about His will on this earth, that His intent and purpose will be accomplished. 

And to deny or twist these end-time events is to deny God's purpose in creation. And a major truth to understand concerning rightly dividing what is to come is the centrality of Israel in God's salvation plan. If we do not see Israel, Jerusalem, at the very center of what is yet to come in the future day of the Lord, then we have no hope of rightly dividing the Word of God concerning these things. 

I want to point you to Daniel 9, 24. You don't have to turn there now, we're going to turn there later. But in Daniel 9, 24 it says, 70 weeks are determined for your people and your holy city. The revelation given to Daniel says that this time, the 70 periods of 7 years, is determined for the Jewish people, for Israel, and for your holy city, Jerusalem. 

And we're going to see down in verse 27 that it says, the Antichrist shall confirm a covenant for many for one week, one 7-year period. 69 weeks have been fulfilled. There is one 70th week, 7-year period yet to be fulfilled, and the Antichrist will begin the day of the Lord, the time of tribulation, when he strengthens an existing covenant, is what it literally says. And we're going to talk about that this morning. 

Daniel was given a prophecy, 70 weeks, literally 77ths, are determined for your people, for Israel. As we follow this text and the rest of the Scriptures, we see even in the historical fulfillment that this prophecy is fulfilled to the letter in the first 69 periods of 7 years. And this takes us all the way up to the time when Messiah is cut off. But there's yet one 7-year period to come, the 70th week of Daniel. 

And if we look at what is to be fulfilled in that time, there is much to come in that one period. What I want you to notice, again, is that it is determined for Israel, for your people, he says to Daniel, in your holy city, Jerusalem. The 70th week is not about the church. It is about the nation Israel, to chasten them, to bring them to faith in Christ and to fulfill all the promises of God made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That's what this time is about. And we must not lose sight of the centrality of Israel in God's eschatological plans. 

He will keep his promises, we looked at that last time, his unconditional promises to his chosen people, the nation of Israel. For if he does not keep the promises that he made in Genesis 12 to Abraham, that he reiterated to Isaac and to Jacob, then what hope do we have that he will keep his promises made to us in Christ? That is what this time is about. 

Now, as we move into a proper study of the use of the Day of the Lord in the Scriptures, I just want to take some time to look at the pattern that is established in the Old Testament concerning Israel and the Day of the Lord, those temporary near-fulfillments of the Day of the Lord in the Old Testament time. 

As I spent many months studying this subject in the Word of God, it became clear to me that God has established a pattern concerning Israel and the Day of the Lord and has fulfilled this pattern again and again consistently throughout Israel's history. I believe this pattern is a foundation for understanding the future fulfillment of the Day of the Lord. God chose out Israel as a nation. He chose them as a people for his name to be a witness to him that he is the only true God. 

And he intended for them to be a witness to all nations, to draw men to God to be justified by faith. But as we look at the nation Israel throughout her history, what do we see? We see a rebellious and stiff-necked people continually going astray. And we see that God would chasten them as a father chastens his child in order to turn them back to himself and set them back on a straight path. 

It is in this chastening of Israel that we find the pattern of the Day of the Lord. It is consistent through time since the time of bondage in Egypt. God uses a human agent, a king or a nation, to chasten Israel. And then we see that God punishes that agent and delivers his people. That's the simple pattern. 

It was the case in Egypt. God brought Jacob and his sons down to Egypt and the people of God were held in bondage there for 400 years. Then we see the great deliverance of the Exodus where God performed miraculous signs and wonders and destroyed Pharaoh and his armies and delivered his people out of Egypt. 

We see this with Assyria. We see it with Babylon, with Medo-Persia, with Greece, with Rome. God warned through his prophets all through the Old Testament of a coming day of the Lord if Israel would not repent and turn back to God. He warned concerning Assyria, but the northern tribes of Israel would not hear his prophets. 

He warned for over a hundred years of the coming siege of Babylon on Judah, but Judah would not repent. They would not listen to Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, warning after warning, but they would not heed the word of the Lord. And so we see this pattern, the Day of the Lord fulfilled in the Old Testament in Israel again and again, a time of chastening by God of his people by the use of a human agent, a king or a nation. 

Then God exacting punishment on that king or nation and finally delivering his people from them. In Amos 5.18 it says, Woe to you who desire the Day of the Lord! For what good is the Day of the Lord to you? It will be darkness and not light. It will be as though a man fled from a lion and a bear met him, or as though he went into the house, leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. 

Is not the Day of the Lord darkness and not light? Is it not very dark with no brightness in it? I hate, I despise your feast days, God says, and I do not savor your sacred assemblies. Though you offer me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them, nor will I regard your fattened peace offerings. 

Take away from me the noise of your songs, for I will not hear the melody of your stringed instruments. But let justice run down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream. Did you offer me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? He's talking to Israel. He doesn't want their offerings. He doesn't want their worship. Why? Because their heart was not in it. 

We see the same thing in Isaiah 1 and 2. We see a warning here in Amos to the northern tribes of Israel and the coming captivity by the Assyrians, and yet we see later that God judges Assyria as Babylon rises to world power, and God uses Babylon to chasten Judah. 

In Zephaniah 2.1 it says, Gather yourselves together, yes, gather together, O undesirable nation, before the decree is issued or the day passes like chaff, before the Lord's fierce anger comes upon you, before the day of the Lord's anger comes upon you. Seek the Lord, all you meek of the earth, who have upheld his justice. Seek righteousness, seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden in the day of the Lord's anger. 

Lamentation says the same thing, and he talks about taking them captive. These scriptures speak of a time when Nebuchadnezzar came to Judah and destroyed the city and took captive many from Jerusalem, including the prophet Daniel, who remained in Babylon even beyond the nation itself into the reign of Medo-Persia. 

We see this pattern again and again in the Old Testament fulfillments of the Day of the Lord that the prophet spoke of, warning the nation Israel. But we see it most clearly in the future Day of the Lord, where God will turn back to His nation Israel to chasten them in the seven-year time of tribulation, in the time of Jacob's trouble. 

He will raise up a man to rule over this world, to persecute and chasten Israel, the beast of revelation, given power by the dragon, that serpent of old. And we will see a time of trouble such as have never been, a time when God will deal fully and finally with Israel, and He will bring her to Himself and bring salvation to that nation. 

We see this promise throughout the Old Testament, and we will see God fulfill His intent with Israel and bring to pass those promises of old. The Antichrist will chasten his people in the Day of the Lord, and God will bring His wrath on this world system, the beast, and the false prophet, punishing his agent of chastening. You see the pattern? 

And then in a grand and glorious way, we will see God fully and finally deliver Israel when Paul says the Deliverer will come out of Zion and all Israel will be saved. And then God will bring His kingdom to His promised people with His holy king sitting on David's throne, ruling with a rod of iron. 

And Israel will be God's people, and they will worship Him and draw all nations to Him. Remember we looked at that last time as God had always intended. This is the pattern fulfilled in the future Day of the Lord, and this is what we should see or should expect to see. 

The Day of the Lord involves Israel. The purpose is chastening and bringing salvation and deliverance. And it involves the wrath of God on the evil men and rulers and the system of this world to display His glory that everyone will know that He is the Lord. 

We saw it in temporal fulfillments in the Old Testament with the nation Israel, but we will see it in final glorious fullness in the coming of the future Day of the Lord. Now what's interesting as we look forward to that and we look at Peter's comments on that and think about the scope of the Day of the Lord is that there will be darkness but there will also be light, there will be judgment but there will also be deliverance in the coming Day of the Lord. 

There's a two-fold nature to the Day of the Lord and we can characterize it in a couple of ways. It certainly will include darkness, gloominess, judgment, but it will also include light, promise, and deliverance. In the 70th week of Daniel, we see persecution, we see tribulation, we see judgment and wrath. 

But beyond the second coming, we see salvation, we see deliverance, we see the rule and reign of God on this earth. That's the whole point, my friends, remember that. The whole point is to show Him as ruler of all things, to set His King and to have His theocracy on the earth in the millennial kingdom and even in the new heavens and the new earth. 

Remember Peter says in 2 Peter 3 that in the course of the Day of the Lord, all these things will come to pass. So we must understand that there is in the use of this term, the Day of the Lord in the Scriptures, speaking of the future day, a broad scope which begins with a couple of very specific things that we'll discuss in a moment. 

And it runs all the way to the new heavens and the new earth, an expansive time of more than a thousand years. But we also find in the Scriptures that some uses of the Day of the Lord refer to a very specific time, even a literal day. The literal day when Jesus will set His feet on the Mount of Olives and bring final cataclysmic judgment to this earth and its rulers and its system. 

So we're going to look at a broad scope, we're going to look at a narrow scope. It's clear from 2 Peter 3 that the broad scope extends all the way past the millennial kingdom into the new heavens and the new earth, and I think this makes perfect sense because the Day of the Lord is in its essence the manifestation of God's sovereign rule on this earth. 

It is where He steps in and demonstrates His power and might and reign and rule, His sovereignty over all things. This is true in the past and it will be fully and finally true in the new heavens and the new earth. When we look at the broad scope of the future Day of the Lord, we can really understand it this way. It is a process of God manifesting His right to rule and reign over all things. It is God, through Christ, taking back what is rightly His, exercising His right to rule and reign over all of His creation. 

Turn to Revelation 5 with me and let's look at this, please. Revelation chapter 5 at verse 1. John's vision here, he says, I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals? And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look at it. 

So I wept much because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll or to look at it. But one of the elders said to me, Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seals. And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne were the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders stood a lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 

Then He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God, and we shall reign on the earth. 

The scroll is the title deed to the earth. And Jesus is the only one worthy to take the scroll. And what we see when Jesus begins to open the scroll, to break the seals, is a process whereby God is taking back all that is rightly His and delivering the earth, the kingdom, to Jesus for Him to rule and reign in a theocracy as God always intended for His creation. 

So when you think about the book of Revelation and the seven seals, the bowls, the trumpets, this is a process of working out that judgment and God taking back what is rightly His and manifesting His glory and power. It's a little more difficult to nail down a starting time for the coming Day of the Lord in the broad scope, but we do know for sure that it begins in the seventieth week of Daniel and we could demonstrate this in many ways, but what is the sign of the start of the Day of the Lord? 

I think there are a couple scriptures that help us to understand this, and perhaps the most important is that Daniel 9 passage. In Daniel 9, Daniel is praying, repenting for the sins of his people Israel, seeking to understand when the day of captivity would end for Israel and when the promises will be fulfilled. 

And God sends him this vital information in Daniel 9 about the future of Israel, His people, His city, and the time of tribulation and deliverance. Let's look at that in Daniel 9 at verse 24. Here's what God tells Daniel. Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness and to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy. 

Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah, the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. That's sixty-nine weeks. The street shall be built again, the wall even in troublesome times, and after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off but not for Himself, and the people of the Prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. 

The end of it shall be with a flood, until the end of the war desolations are determined. Then He shall confirm a covenant with many for one week, but in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering, and on the wing of abomination shall be one who makes desolate, even until the consummation which is determined is poured out on the desolate. 

I just want to highlight, emphasize again, seventy weeks are determined for your people, your holy city, whatever these seventy-sevens are, they are concerning Israel and Jerusalem, not the church, but Israel, the nation, and for specific purposes. He says a mouthful here, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy. 

Now my friends, all these things have not yet been fulfilled. We know as we study the Scriptures in history that sixty-nine of these seven-year periods have been fulfilled up until the time when Messiah was cut off. We understand that this church age, when God has turned to the Gentiles, Romans 11 says, in order to provoke the Jews to jealousy, carrying out His salvation plans, we understand that this time is a parenthesis in these seventy weeks. 

Sixty-nine are fulfilled, we now live in this church age, but there's coming a time when God will turn back to Israel and He will graft in the natural branches and bring salvation and a fulfillment of His promises. That seven-year period is yet to come. And here's the main thing to understand, it's for Israel, it's for Jerusalem, but there's one more important key in Daniel 9.27. 

It says, and after sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself, and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. This is Rome. The people of the prince to come, Romans. The prince to come is the Antichrist of the revived Roman Empire. The temple was destroyed by His people, Romans 70 AD, after Messiah was cut off. 

The end of it shall be with a flood. Look at verse 27, then He, referring to Antichrist, then He shall confirm a covenant with many for one week. And it tells us He's going to break that covenant at the midpoint. I'm frustrated because I don't have time to go into all the scriptures that speak to this. 

But note, Antichrist will begin the one week, the final seven years, by confirming an existing covenant with Israel. And then Daniel speaks of the abomination of desolation that will occur at the midpoint of that seven years. Now turn over to 2 Thessalonians 2 with me, please, 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 1. 

Now brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, that's speaking of the rapture, we ask you not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means, for that day will not come unless the falling away comes first and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition. 

Well, Paul's writing to them concerning the rapture and the Day of the Lord. They were concerned that maybe they'd missed the rapture, we're in the Day of the Lord, and he says, no, a couple of things have to come first before the Day of the Lord can begin. The apostasy and the revealing of the Antichrist. 

Paul says something really important here, the Day of the Lord cannot come, cannot begin unless these two things happen first. The apostasy is THE apostasy, the great falling away, a specific event noted by the definite article. And second, the man of sin is revealed. 

So if you are a student of Scripture and know Daniel 9, what is it that marks the Antichrist? What is it that he will do that might relate to the beginning of the broad Day of the Lord? I just want to make a comment here, we have many brothers that hold a little bit different position on the timing of the rapture, what's called the pre-wrath rapture. And they have some solid arguments. And one of them is in this place. 

Because the word here means first. These things must happen first, which can present a problem. If this isn't rightly interpreted, I'm going to do my best with that. But I believe that there's an explanation for this. He will confirm a covenant, it says, for one week. It says 1-7, one week, the 70th week of Daniel's prophecy. 

Now we know from Revelation 6 that the Antichrist will conquer, will come to power through peace. The first horse has a rider with a bow and no arrows. He will bring peace in order to rise to power. He will solve the problems of the world. He will bring peace in the Middle East. And I believe he will do this in a very specific way. 

We know that there will be a temple in the seven-year period because Antichrist will desecrate it at the midpoint and end the sacrifices. So we have Israel worshiping again under the Law of Moses, presenting sacrifices in a temple. It seems reasonable to me, based on the Scriptures, we are considering that Antichrist is going to capture the affections of Israel by establishing again the Law Covenant of Moses, the sacrificial system, and the temple in Israel, perhaps even side-by-side with the Dome of the Rock. 

Judaism and Islam in peace, side-by-side, this would capture the attention of the world. So when Daniel says that the Antichrist will confirm an existing covenant with Israel, this is my conjecture, really. I believe that it is the Law Covenant, the sacrifices, and the temple. 

And that the apostasy that Paul speaks of is that of Israel following after the Antichrist, perhaps even receiving Him as their Messiah. And these two things would mark the beginning of the seven years and the broad Day of the Lord, one week, the 70th week. A covenant confirmed, according to Daniel. Marks reveals the Antichrist and the falling away, that of Israel following Antichrist rather than the true Christ. 

Paul says these two events must happen before the Day of the Lord can begin and Daniel says he will confirm a covenant for one week, one seven-year period, not a three and a half year period but a seven-year period. 

I believe that this confirming of the covenant with Israel and their apostasy begins the broad Day of the Lord and of course before this is the rapture of the church, the removing of all believers when the fullness of the Gentiles have come in and God turns back to Israel. The church age will have ended. The fullness of the Gentiles will have come in and the church is raptured out of this world. 

Now let's consider briefly the narrow Day of the Lord. This one's much easier. We could look at many passages, perhaps the most vivid that describes the narrow Day of the Day of the Lord, the time when Jesus sets his feet on the Mount of Olives and comes in final judgment and also delivers Israel is Joel 3 if you'd like to turn to Joel 3. 

Joel 3 verse 1, for behold in those days and at that time when I bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, this is key, God's going to gather together all nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat and I will enter into judgment with them there on account of my people, my heritage Israel whom they have scattered among the nations. They have also divided up my land. 

They have cast lots for my people. I've given a boy as a payment for a harlot and sold a girl for wine that they may drink. Indeed, what have you to do with me O tire and Sidon and all the coasts of Philistia? Will you retaliate against me? But if you retaliate against me swiftly and speedily I will return your retaliation upon your own head because you have taken my silver and my gold have carried it to your temples my prized possessions. 

Also the people of Judah and the people of Jerusalem you have sold to the Greeks that you may remove them far from their borders. Behold, I will raise them out of the place to which you have sold them and will return your retaliation upon your own head. I will sell your sons and daughters into the land hand of the people of Judah and they will sell to the Sabians to a people far off for the Lord has spoken. 

Verse 9: Proclaim this among the nations, prepare for war, wake up the mighty man! Let all the men of war draw near, let them come up! Beat your plowshares into swords, your pruning hooks into spears! Let the weak say I am strong. Assemble and come all you nations and gather together all around because your cause your mighty ones to go down there. Oh Lord! Let the nations be wakened and come to the valley of Jehoshaphat for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations. 

Put in the sickle for the harvest is ripe! Come, go down for the winepress is full, the vats overflow for their wickedness is great. Look at verse 14: Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision, for the Day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon will grow dark and the stars will diminish their brightness. The Lord also will roar from Zion and utter his voice from Jerusalem; the heavens and earth will shake but the Lord will be a shelter for His people and the strength of the children of Israel. 

All the nations gathered against the Lord in the valley of decision. This is the picture of the day when Jesus comes at His second coming and judges the earth. Zechariah 14 tells us the same thing in many other scriptures—the great and terrible Day of the Lord. The Bible calls it the day, the specific day when He comes. 

Means judgment for this world, for the world system, all the nations, for all that offend. But my friends, it means salvation for Israel, and here's the point of Joel 3:17—the purpose of all this he says, so you shall know that I am the Lord your God. That's the whole point. 

We see the same promise in Zechariah 14; I'll gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem. I'll bring them down to the valley, enter into judgment with them. Paul refers to this in Romans 11 verse 25. He says I do not desire brethren that you should be ignorant of this mystery lest you should be wise in your own opinion—a lot of scholars wise in their own opinion today. He says that blindness in part—what does that mean? It’s partial. It’s not total. There’s a remnant today. 

Blindness in part has happened to Israel until—what does the word until mean? Temporary. It’s not final until, he says, the fullness of the Gentiles has come in and so all Israel will be saved as it is written, a Deliverer will come out of Zion; He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob for this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins. 

In verse 29, he says the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. They're unchangeable. We see the broad scope; we see the narrow scope of the use of the Day of the Lord in the Scriptures, and we see the promise of deliverance of salvation for Israel consistent with the pattern throughout the Bible. 

The Day of the Lord is for Israel, my friends, and for the manifestation of God's sovereign rule over all things, and what we will see as we get back to 1 Thessalonians 5 and on into 2 Thessalonians is that Paul's whole point in writing this is that we, the church, are not going to enter that time. It's a time for Israel. We’re going to experience full salvation before this time in the rapture. These are comforting words. 

And do not forget. This was the very intent of Paul: Comfort one another with these words. God is going to do a wonderful work in Israel. He's going to keep His promises; He's going to bring justice on this earth. We long for justice! 

He's going to judge all that offend; He will bring His will to pass, He will glorify Himself, and all will know that He is the Lord in His day. This is not His day, but His day is coming and all will know that He is the Lord in His day. 

Let's close in prayer. 

Father, we're overwhelmed with the revelation that you've given us in a third of the Bible in prophecy, but these things are important because we want to be comforted by Your word. We want to have knowledge; we don't want to be ignorant. We want to be looking for Jesus. We're looking for Christ to come and take us to be with him. He told us that if it were not so, He would have told us. 

He's coming; He's preparing a place; and He's going to take us to be with Him in the Father's house. Thank You for that promise, and thank You for the truth that you're going to manifest Your glory, that you're going to bring righteousness on the earth, that there will be a Kingdom, that there will be fulfillment of the promises to Israel, and that there will be a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells for eternity. 

Father, we thank You that You're in control, that You're carrying out Your plan and that we can trust You, that we can believe You, and we can know that You do not lie to us. That You keep Your word and we can trust You in Christ's name we pray. Amen.