Examples for our Instruction:

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1 Corinthians 10:11 What happened to your forefathers are examples and were recorded as warnings for us, on whom the end of the ages has come.

Zechariah 2:1-5 I looked and saw a man measuring Jerusalem. It will be a city without walls because of the great number of people and livestock within it. The Lord says; I, Myself will be a wall of fire around it and a Glorious Presence within it.

Although it has usually been assumed that these verses apply to the Millennium period; a careful study of the context and matching passages, especially Ezekiel chapters 40 to 48 and Ezekiel 38:8 & 11, shows that all this will happen before the Return of Jesus.

 

Zechariah 2:6-9 Come away, flee from the land of the North, flee from your dispersion around the world. The Lord says: Escape from Babylon, you people of Zion. My mission is to speak out against those nations that have plundered you, that ‘have touched the apple of His eye’. He will surely raise His hand against them and their former slaves will plunder them.

As soon as the time period decreed for the exile of Israel [2730 years] and Judah [1960 years] is completed, Ezekiel 4:4-6,the Lord will call them out of Babylon.

First Exodus: Egypt, Second Exodus: “Babylon”, a metaphor for all the godless nations. He will punish those who caused trouble to His faithful peoples and they will take goods and treasure back to the Land with them. Exodus 12:35-36

 

Zechariah 2:10-12 Shout and be glad, people of Zion, for the Lord is coming and He will dwell among you. Many nations will give their allegiance to Him on that Day and you will know that I have brought His message to you. He will claim the portion of Judah in the Holy Land and will again make Jerusalem His city.

‘The Lord is coming, He will dwell among you’. This will happen first with the Shekinah glory in the new Temple, Ezekiel 43:1-4, then later, at the Return of Jesus.

‘Many nations’, not the whole world, as it will be after the Return. Revelation 15:4

‘Jerusalem, His city’, This will be completely fulfilled at the end of the Millennium. Revelation 21:1-4

 

Zechariah 2:13 Let all mortals be silent, because the Lord has roused Himself and come down from His holy dwelling place.  Isaiah 28:21

This refers to the next prophesied event – the Lord’s Day of vengeance and wrath, a worldwide judgement of fire against His enemies. Revelation 6:12-17

Zechariah 3:9-10 In a single Day, I will wipe away the guilt of this Land. On that Day, you will call everyone your neighbour, under the vine and under the fig tree.

Israel – the vine, Judah – the fig tree, rejoined at last. Ezekiel 37:15-23, Isaiah 5:7

This time, the Lord will help His people by destroying their enemies in a single Day. From this and other prophecies, we know that this will be done by a Coronal Mass Ejection, an earth directed explosion of the suns surface.  

Jeremiah 25:30-31 The Lord roars from on high, from His dwelling place, against all the inhabitants of the Land. The noise reaches the ends of the earth as He brings judgement against all the nations and the wicked peoples will be killed.

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2 Thessalonians 1:4-10 We hold you [Christians] up as a good example of steadfast faith, because you have kept faithful despite difficulties and troubles. This will show the justice of God's judgement, when you prove worthy to partake in the Kingdom, for which you are currently suffering.

It is just that God should balance the account by sending affliction to those who afflict you and to give you relief when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire. They will suffer the penalty of eternal destruction cut off from any hope of salvation, when on that great Day, He comes to reveal His glory among His own and to all believers. Therefore to you, since you believe the testimony of the Gospel.  

All born again Christians.   This passage describes the Day of the Lord's vengeance and wrath, a terrible fire judgement upon His enemies and how, at that time, He saves and delivers His people. He is not seen by all the world at this first event, only by believers in Him. Many other prophecies parallel this; Isaiah 10:17-22, Isaiah 29:19-21, Isaiah 30:26, Jeremiah 30:4-8, Ezekiel 34:12, Amos 9:8-12

2 Thessalonians 2:1-8 Now, about the coming of our Lord, Jesus Christ, when He is to gather the elect to Himself,  do not be alarmed by anyone who says He is here already. Let no one deceive you: that Day cannot come before the final rebellion against God, when wickedness will be revealed in human form, the man doomed to destruction. He is the adversary who aspires to be worshipped in God's place and he even enthrones himself in the temple, claiming to be God. Daniel 8:10

Already the secret forces of wickedness are at work, but the restraining power of the Holy Spirit will ensure that he will be revealed only at the appointed time. Then, the Lord Jesus will destroy him by His Spirit and His radiant power.

Now - that is: several years after the Prophesied events of judgement and deliverance, Jesus will Return, in glory, visible to all. He destroys the armies attacking Jerusalem and chains up Satan, then commences His Millennial reign. Revelation 19:11-21, Revelation 20:1-6 At this time He gathers 'the elect' to Himself, Matthew 24:31, 1 Thess 4:15-17,  they are the people who have kept pure and faithful to Him, during the Tribulation.

 

2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 The coming of this wicked person is the work of Satan, it will be accompanied by all the powerful signs and miracles that falsehood can devise and every sort of evil that deceives those who do not open their minds to the truth. They are doomed to perish, because they refuse to listen to the Gospel of the truth, so God has put them under a compelling delusion; which makes them believe what is false. So all will be judged and condemned who have rejected the truth, but have made sinfulness their choice.                  Ref: REB, NIV, KJV. Some verses abridged.

 

Here, in Paul's letter to the Thessalonians, he prophesies about two separate appearances of Jesus. First, His ‘coming’ the sending of 'blazing fire', after that; He will reveal Himself only to His righteous people. He destroys the nations and entities who 'conspire to attack Israel', in fulfilment of Psalm 83, Revelation 6:12-17 and many other prophecies. His righteous Christian people then go to live in the holy Land. Then, several years after that devastating and shocking event, the Anti-Christ will come to power and 'enthrone himself in the Temple', this commences the Great Tribulation and 1260 days later, Jesus Returns to live once again on earth and reign as King over the world.

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When the Son of Man comes:

Luke 17:29-30 On the day that Sodom was destroyed, fire and sulphur rained upon them and killed them all. It will be like that again when the Son of Man is revealed.    Amos 4:11-12
Matthew 24:37-42 As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be when the Son of Man comes. In the days before the flood, they ate, drank and married until the day that Noah entered the ark, they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away. That is how it will be again when the Son of Man comes. In His vengeance and wrath, not in His glory.
Genesis 9:11-14 My covenant to never again destroy all living creatures by a flood is confirmed by the sign of the rainbow.
Deuteronomy 32:22 & 34-35 I have sealed in My storehouse, ready for the Day of punishment and vengeance, a fire that will be set ablaze by My anger. It will envelope the world in flames, burning to the depths of the earth. Jeremiah 50:25
Psalm 110:1-6....I shall make Your enemies Your footstool....In  glorious majesty, You judge the nations, shattering the wicked throughout the world.

Isaiah 24:18-23 On that Day, the Lord will punish in heaven the host of heaven and on earth the leaders of the nations are caught and punished. The sun and moon will be darkened, for the glory of the Lord will be in Jerusalem and is revealed to the elders of His people.
2 Peter 3:5-7 & 10....the world before Noah was destroyed by a great flood. Now, by God’s Word the present heavens and earth are reserved for burning, kept for the Day of judgement when the godless will be destroyed. That Day will come unexpectedly, the sky will dissipate with a great noise and the earth will be enveloped in flames. All its inhabitants will be tested.
Isaiah 66:1-6 My people are oppressed and afflicted and evil people displease Me, they say: Let the Lord come, we do not believe in Him. Therefore, the noise you can hear is the Lord dealing retribution to His foes.  Romans 1:18, Hebrews 10:27
Matthew 24:40-44 There will be two men in a field, one will be taken the other left, two women at the mill, one will be taken, the other left. Keep awake, therefore for the Lord will come unexpectedly.
Isaiah 63:1-6 The Lord comes from the godless nations, in His power and majesty, He tramples them in His fury, their blood spills out and splashes His garments.

 

At the Return He comes in blood splashed garments. As Almighty God, Revelation 16:14
2 Thessalonians 1:6-10...the Day the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in flaming fire….He       will reveal His glory among all believers. Revelation 14:1
What we can understand from the above Bible passages, is that the Day of the Lord, when the Son of Man takes action, is not Jesus’ Return as the Word of God, for the Millennium reign. At the Return: ‘all will see Him’, not as in this Lord’s Day of vengeance and wrath, where He is not seen: Psalms 18:11, Luke 3:17, but ‘His glory will be revealed to all believers’.  2 Thessalonians 1:10
God promised to ‘never again flood the earth’, but He has ‘stored up a fire that will envelope the earth in flames’, a worldwide judgement/punishment, vividly described by all the prophets.
This terrible fire and devastation will come upon the world unexpectedly, ‘While they are saying: All is peaceful, all secure, then destruction is upon them’. 1 Thess. 5:3 Huge numbers will be killed by the fire, earthquakes and the resulting famines afterward. Jeremiah 9:22, Isaiah 34:1-8, Ezekiel 30:2-5
The Lord is not seen on that Day, but His people are saved and protected, [not raptured] Isaiah 30:26b, Isaiah 43:2, Zechariah 9:5-16
Then, as in Ezekiel 20:33-38...by My outpoured wrath, [The Day of wrath] I shall bring you out of the nations and gather you back to Israel. The Lord is: ‘Waiting to show you His favour’, and to bless His true believing people as they fulfill the promises to the Patriarchs and their destiny: ‘to be a light to the nations’. Isaiah 49:8, Matthew 5:4-16