Day of the Lord

When Jesus was announcing the program for His kingdom, He gave a lengthy discourse, standing on the Mount of Olives. He  included the details of the regathering of Israel and His return in glory. Israel’s regathering will be a supernatural event, accomplished by Jesus Himself and His angels. At the trumpet’s call, the Jews who believe in the Messiah will be brought from wherever they are on the globe, to be re-established in Israel. They will have seen Him coming (the sign of the Son of Man), and they will be overwhelmed with tearful emotion (all the tribes of the earth will mourn), because they will know exactly Who He is (Whom they crucified-John 19:37), and what His first advent was all about. Jesus speaking:

 

“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. Matthew 24:29-31

Zechariah and other Old Testament prophets also foretold these events.

Behold, a day is coming for the Lord, when the spoil taken from you will be divided in your midst. For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken and the houses plundered and the women raped. Half of the city shall go out into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Zechariah14:1-2

The Old Testament prophets saw many of the end-time events and knew they were writing about the Messiah coming in His glory to re-establish His people Israel and to destroy the evil one. They had no knowledge that His death, burial and resurrection would bring in a whole new dispensation. The Church age was a mystery to them, but the second advent of Jesus Christ was clearly spelled out in details such as Zechariah gives here.

In these verses of Zechariah 14, we see a graphic description of the battle with Satan’s armies when Jesus returns to the earth with His angelic army and the glorified saints. Those people of Jerusalem who have gone into exile (into the hills?) are the Jews left alive who have come to believe in the Messiah and are awaiting His return. He is their only hope for survival in the devil’s onslaught against them. If Satan can annihilate the Jews, God cannot fulfill his unconditional promises to them. That is Satan’s objective: make God a liar by wiping out the Jewish race. God has chosen them. He loves them. He will protect them and restore them to their land as His people. All of human history has revolved around that central truth. It is the focal issue of the angelic conflict.

Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward. And you shall flee to the valley of my mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azal. And you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him. Zechariah 14:3-5

This describes the deliverance of the Jews, some of whom are waiting in hiding and some of whom are fighting in Jerusalem. Their situation is desperate. It looks hopeless. He will be visible to the entire world when he re-enters the atmosphere of a darkened earth. As He and His redeemed ones approach, everyone will see. When He alights on the earth, He will stand upon the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem. There is current evidence of a tectonic rift that is detectable already, through the mount. With the return of the Lord, there will be great topographical changes. That crack in the Mount of Olives will create an escape route for the besieged Jews to flee as the Lord protects them from the pursuing enemy. Much like the Red Sea deliverance from Pharaoh’s armies.

Millennial effects: this seismic chasm will create a canal from the Mediterranean, making Jerusalem a seaport. Then, the Dead Sea which is below sea level will overflow, irrigating the desert, which will “blossom as a rose” (Isaiah 35:1-2).

On that day there shall be no light, cold, or frost. And there shall be a unique day, which is known to the Lord, neither day nor night, but at evening time there shall be light. On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea. It shall continue in summer as in winter.

And the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day the Lord will be one and his name one. Zechariah 14:6-9

The Lord Jesus Christ will immediately set up His kingdom on earth.

 

Notice the vast array of graves on the Mount of Olives. I was not aware of these before.