What is the Day of the Lord?

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6Wail, for the day of the LORDis near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty. 7Because of this, all hands will go limp, every heart will melt with fear. 
8Terror will seize them, pain and anguish will grip them; they will writhe like a woman in labor. They will look aghast at each other, their faces aflame. 9See, the day of the LORDis coming—a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger—to make the land desolate and destroy the sinners within it.
10The stars of heaven and their constellations will not show their light.
The rising sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light. 11I will punishthe world for its evil, the wicked for their sins.
I will put an endto the arrogance of the haughty and will humble the pride of the ruthless. 
12I will make people scarcer than pure gold, more rare than the gold of Ophir.
13Therefore I will make the heavens tremble; and the earth will shake from its place at the wrath of the LORDAlmighty, in the day of his burning anger(Isaiah 13:6-13).

After reading this description of the Day of the Lord, who can doubt that this is the wrath of God? It says to us that the Day of the Lord is the day of His wrath (v. 13). How then can some say that this time of God's wrath is going to last seven years and that the rapture is before this time of seven years? If this time that is written about above continues for seven years, how come Antichrist will be able to exercise his authority for 42 months (Revelation 13:5) and make war on the saints? (Revelation 13:7) All at a time, some believe to be while the wrath of God is going on. The Day of the Lord and the wrath of God are the same thing, the same event, and the church will be taken up, caught up, raptured before the Day of the Lord begins. It is not before the seven-year period starts—we have to prepare for and endure the tribulation first. The tribulation is not the wrath of God; it is the persecution of God’s people by the Antichrist. Paul tells the Thessalonians that the saints, the true church, will be “caught up” before the wrath of God is poured out at the Day of the Lord. 

1Now, brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, 2for you know very well that theday of the Lordwill come like a thief in the night. 3While people are saying, "Peace and safety," destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. 4But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. 5You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. 6So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled. 7For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. 8But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. 9ForGod did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvationthrough our Lord Jesus Christ. 10He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. 11Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing (1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11).

In verse nine, the Greek word translated salvationis sōtērίa, whichcan refer to spiritual salvation or physical deliverance. The passage is written to believers, so it should more logically be translated deliverancethrough being caught up, for these people that Paul is writing to are already saved. This gives credence to the thought that the catching away of the people of God (the rapture) happens at a time when Antichrist is persecuting the saints. I believe that this persecution takes place before the Day of the Lord. This persecution is the time of the Great Tribulation that starts at the midpoint of a seven-year period spoken about by the prophet Daniel (Daniel 9:27). Jesus said that there would be an event at that time called the Abomination of Desolation (Matthew 24:15), Daniel talks about the same event calling it a desecration of the Temple of God in Jerusalem (Daniel 9:27). At this moment in time, there is no Temple in Jerusalem.

To summarize, then, there is a seven-year period with an event at the mid-point that Daniel and Jesus called the Abomination of Desolation. An event that Daniel describes as a desecration of the Temple which begins a time of persecution (the Great Tribulation) of God’s people. At some point in the second half of the seven years (no man knows the day nor the hour), the Lord will intervene and rescue His people, snatching them up to Himself, and then begins the wrath of God or the Day of the Lord. May all who read these words find themselves among those who are caught up (raptured) into His presence to ever be with the Lord. What a Day that will be!

Taken from the series The Second Coming of Christ. Click on the study, The Rapture and Day of the Lord.Keith Thomas

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