'Day of' ticket

Zephaniah 3:16-19 says, [16] In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not: and to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack.

[17] The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.
[18] I will gather them that are sorrowful for the solemn assembly, who are of thee, to whom the reproach of it was a burden.
[19] Behold, at that time I will undo all that afflict thee: and I will save her that halteth, and gather her that was driven out; and I will get them praise and fame in every land where they have been put to shame.

Preacher Richard Jordan explains, "That’s a passage we could spend the rest of evening looking at-- how the Lord rejoices over the Believing Remnant in Israel in 'the last day.'

"God’s going to be thrilled and rejoicing as He sees His plan and purpose fulfilled with Israel. You remember the guy on the A-Team: 'I love it when a plan comes together.' That’s God’s attitude.

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"Zephaniah 3 says, [8] Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the LORD, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.

[9] For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the LORD, to serve him with one consent.

"This is more than just Israel. This is future where He's going to have a United Nations. Gather them all together. Why? To pour it on.

"We're talking about the Tribulation. We're not just talking about His wrath on Israel; now we're going to talk about His wrath on the Gentile nations. I've always loved that verse because God says, 'I'll gather the nations and you know why? If I got them all in one place I can nail them. I don't have to chase them down.'

"Zephaniah takes you from the Babylonian captivity all the way to the end of the millennium and that's 'the day of the Lord.' The day of the Lord is the whole compendium of that time period.

"Zechariah 14: [1] Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.

[2] For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
[3] Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.

"The day of the Lord is not just His Second Advent; it extends all the way out into the kingdom.

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Michigan preacher Tom Bruscha says the “the day of” is really talking about a time that a certain event takes place: “A ‘day of’ doesn’t necessarily mean a 24-hour period. The first 35 chapters of Isaiah define 'the day of the Lord.' It means a time period in which a particular event takes place. And you know that just from other terms.

"The Bible talks about ‘the day of atonement’ and ‘the day of first fruits’ (that’s seven days long), for example. Those are certain days in which something is being done and accomplished. An event is taking place.

“There’s certain days of judgment that are expressed just by simply ‘the day of.’ The Bible talks about ‘the day of Midian,’ ‘the day of Egypt,’ ‘the day of Jezreel.’

“When you read a verse like in Zephaniah chapter 1 and it talks about ‘the day of the Lord,’ it says ‘the day of the Lord’ is a day of wrath, a day of trouble, a day of wantonness, a day of darkness.

“So, if you look at ‘the day of the Lord’ in relation to all those other days, you realize what it’s doing is describing certain events; certain activity in that time called ‘the day of the Lord.’ It’s different aspects of ‘the day of the Lord,’ whether it be ‘the day of wrath,’ or the fact it’s darkness or a time of trouble. ‘The day of the Lord’ is called all of those days, so you realize how you can bring that down.”

(new article tomorrow)