The Day of Wrath
The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. (Isaiah 2:11)
One of the conspicuous features of the thousand-year Kingdom Age, the Day of the Lord, will be the supreme exaltation of God and His Christ, His Temple. The patience and forbearance of God from the time of Adam until now is remarkable. Men have indulged their vanity in every imaginable form of lust, destruction, and idolatry. Yet, "He that sitteth in the heavens" continues to work quietly with those who respond to His Word and His Spirit.
The world is becoming frantic as human beings manifest the powers of darkness that surround us. The hope of finding a way in which humans can live in every manner of pleasure without having to suffer the consequences of their excesses is motivating learned investigators to pursue every program that promises to solve human problems.
Still, the Holy One of Israel continues to instruct those who choose Him and His way, those who tremble at His Word. God has a plan, and everyone and everything remains under His control.
In God’s time, and not one moment before, Christ will appear with His army—with those who have suffered with Him and who therefore will have the privilege of sharing in the vengeance.
Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand; To execute vengeance upon the heathen [nations], and punishments upon the people; To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; To execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints. Praise ye the Lord. (Psalms 149:5-9)
The next coming of Christ to the world will not be that of the gentle Shepherd and His sheep-like followers. The trumpet announcing the King will sound and He will come with His armies. The Word of God in His mouth will be a sword that will cut into every soul. The earth will be as Eden before Him, and behind Him a smoking ruin (Joel 2:3).
On through the earth will rush the forces of Heaven, destroying on the right hand and on the left. Spirits and men will scream in terror and anguish but the fire will become unbearably intense.
Men will seek death, but death itself will be held in the steel fingers of the saints. This is the long-awaited Day of Wrath. The cup of Divine wrath has been filled to the brim. It will be poured on the kingdom of darkness until every unclean force on the earth has been crushed under the heel of God’s Conqueror (Revelation 1:15; 2:18).
The powers of the heavens will be shaken. An earthquake will rock the great city, the centre of civilization. The sun will turn black and the moon will become as blood. The stars of the heaven will be shaken from their places by the wind of God’s Spirit.
The veil that conceals the Face of God Almighty will roll together as a scroll. Every mountain and island on the earth will be moved from its place. Those who have refused the lordship of Christ will cry to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?" (Revelation 6:16,17).
There shall be weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth. The demons know of the Day of Wrath. When Jesus appeared the first time, the demons cried out in terror thinking that Christ had changed His mind and had come before the time set by the Father.
This is the judgment toward which every spirit in the heavens and on the earth is moving. There is no power that can prevent the coming of the Day of Wrath. It is the knowledge of the coming judgment that enables God to work quietly and patiently with those who love and serve Him. God understands well that He and His saints will have the last word.
"The Lord alone shall be exalted in that day." Every spirit, every human, every creature has been allowed to express itself. Now it is God’s turn. He will reveal His authority, His power, His wisdom, His love, His ways, His judgement.
Although the "spirits of devils" will "go forth to the kings of the earth and of the whole world to gather them to the battle of that day of God Almighty" (Revelation 16:14), their efforts will serve only to more perfectly fulfil God’s victory.
All events, all things, all purposes proceeding from every spirit and every human mind will join together (regardless of the motivations of the spirit or person) to insure that God’s victory is total, complete, perfect in every detail. God and His Christ will come suddenly to the world and fulfil every word written by the Apostles and Prophets. There is no way of preventing Their appearing.
And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth. (Isaiah 2:19)
The Jubilee is at hand. Because of the resistance of evildoers, the thousand-year Kingdom Age must be ushered in by means of judgment and destruction of all the works of wickedness. There is no manner in which the land of promise can be entered other than by violence and warfare.
Christ is preparing His army now. In fact, one of the main purposes of the period of time before the appearing of Christ is the preparation of His Body for the Day of the Lord (Ephesians 6:13).
And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem: (Isaiah 4:3)
In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the Lord before them. (Zechariah 12:8)
During the thousand-year Kingdom Age every Christian will be holy. The Wife of the Lamb, the Church, will be pure in God’s sight.
The situation will not be as it was in the days of rebellious Israel, or as it is today where Christians walk in uncleanness, gossiping, hating, lusting, flirting with the things of the world, not serving the Lord. No person, as Paul teaches, ever will enter the Kingdom of God while he or she is practicing such behaviour (Galatians 5:21).
In that day, "he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem" (the remnant who remain after the Divine shaking) will be holy indeed, in word, in motive, in imagination. The servants of the Lord will be righteous, holy, obedient kings and priests, showing in their behaviour and personality the Divine Nature of Christ.