Behold, the Lord 'turneth it upside down'

People focus on parts of “the day of wrath” and try to make “the day of the Lord” only one particular piece of it. That’s the reason God uses different terms: day of the Lord, day of wrath, the great and notable day of the Lord, etc.

Those terms are used in their context to describe different phases of the night, explains Richard Jordan. In your Bible, a day has a night, an evening and a morning. But this day is much longer than the 24-hour period day from Genesis 1 and it has phases to it. As Jesus says, there are four watches in the night.

There’s a broad picture prophetically of the last part of the fifth course of judgment and that final phase of the nighttime loops back and that’s why Nebuchadnezzar is a picture of the Antichrist, and the Babylonian captivity is a picture of what the Antichrist does over here.

That’s why so often the Antichrist is identified as Babylonian, and he’s really identified as the Assyrian. The Assyrians took the northern kingdom because that’s the powerhouse of Baal worship and that’s the satanic deception behind all of it.

Zephaniah 1:2-3: [2] I will utterly consume all things from off the land, saith the LORD.
Now that’s a great way to start a book, isn’t it? God says, “I’m just gonna wipe you dudes out. Clean your clock and consume everything off the land.”

So you know what he’s talking about? Verse 3: [3] I will consume man and beast; I will consume the fowls of the heaven, and the fishes of the sea, and the stumblingblocks with the wicked; and I will cut off man from off the land, saith the LORD.

He’s talking about consuming animals, bird, fish, men, the wicked—He’s talking about doing a total renovation of the culture. When He says, “I will utterly consume all things from off the land,” compare that if you will to chapter 3:19—here’s what He’s going to do in the end, ultimately, after the judgment:

[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.
[20] At that time will I bring you again, even in the time that I gather you: for I will make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth, when I turn back your captivity before your eyes, saith the LORD.

The same one who says He’s going to destroy everything also says, “I’m going to restore Israel.” As Habakkuk said, there’s mercy.

In verse 4, you see He’s talking specifically about Jerusalem and Judah: [4] I will also stretch out mine hand upon Judah, and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place, and the name of the Chemarims with the priests;

He’s going to clean out, as it were, the land. Desolate means it’s going to be devoid of any occupation.

Isaiah 6: [11] Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate,
[12] And the LORD have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.
[13] But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof.

There’s going to be a remnant that’s a tenth of the nation. By the way, a tenth is a tithe and that principal of tithing is back-built into things because, over and over and over, when God gives Israel a tenth, it’s really now looking forward to that remnant He’s going to claim out of Israel in the end.

Talking about the land of Israel, Isaiah 24 says:

[1] Behold, the LORD maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof.
[2] And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him.
[3] The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the LORD hath spoken this word.
[4] The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish.

In other words, nobody, no matter what your status (top, bottom, rich, poor, big, little, powerful, unpowerful) you’re going to get it. Now the land shall be utterly emptied and spoiled:

[5] The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.
[6] Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.

You see the things they’ve done and will do. When He says the earth is defiled and the inhabitants thereof, in Ezekiel 36 He talks about how they’re defiled because they shed blood in the land. Israel’s got to be removed like a removed woman. That issue of blood’s going to have to be taken care of because they have transgressed the laws.

Daniel 9 talks about one of the things the Antichrist does is he changes the times and the laws. They have broken the everlasting covenant. They violated the Abrahamic covenant.

We saw repeatedly in Obadiah that the hatred against Israel is all connected with jealousy over the promise of God in the Abrahamic Covenant.

Isaiah 24:

[6] Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.
[7] The new wine mourneth, the vine languisheth, all the merryhearted do sigh.
[8] The mirth of tabrets ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth.
[9] They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it.
[10] The city of confusion is broken down: every house is shut up, that no man may come in.
[11] There is a crying for wine in the streets; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone.
[12] In the city is left desolation, and the gate is smitten with destruction.
[13] When thus it shall be in the midst of the land among the people, there shall be as the shaking of an olive tree, and as the gleaning grapes when the vintage is done.
[14] They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing for the majesty of the LORD, they shall cry aloud from the sea.
[15] Wherefore glorify ye the LORD in the fires, even the name of the LORD God of Israel in the isles of the sea.
[16] From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs, even glory to the righteous. But I said, My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me! the treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously; yea, the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously.
[17] Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
[18] And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
[19] The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
[20] The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.
[21] And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
[22] And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.
[23] Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.

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Now, Zephaniah’s picking up on that issue. In Jeremiah 4 is a real interesting passage because it deals with more than just the future. He’s going to describe the earth in this condition:

[19] My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.

Here comes Nebuchadnezzar historically, but prophetically he’s talking about the presence of the Lord. He’s talking about what Zephaniah says when he says:

[7] Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord GOD: for the day of the LORD is at hand: for the LORD hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath bid his guests.
[8] And it shall come to pass in the day of the LORD's sacrifice, that I will punish the princes, and the king's children, and all such as are clothed with strange apparel.
[9] In the same day also will I punish all those that leap on the threshold, which fill their masters' houses with violence and deceit.
[10] And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD, that there shall be the noise of a cry from the fish gate, and an howling from the second, and a great crashing from the hills.

Here’s the Second Coming, His coming in flaming fire. Jeremiah 4:

[20] Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is spoiled: suddenly are my tents spoiled, and my curtains in a moment.
[21] How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet?
[22] For my people is foolish, they have not known me; they are sottish children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.

Verse 23 says, [23] I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. Without form and void. No shape, no purposeful shape to it and it’s empty, desolate. And they had no light:

You know Genesis 1:2 is a verse like that, where Moses is describing the earth in exactly the same condition that the earth is going to be in when the Lord comes back in the day of His wrath and judgment.

So what you’re reading in Genesis 1:2 is NOT the earth as God originally creates it but you’re reading about the earth as God has judged it and placed it into a condition of judgment. Because when the earth is without form and void that is a description of the earth AFTER the judgment of the day of the Lord.

If you take your Bible and you take Genesis 1:1, there’s an obvious difference between the first verse and the second verse. Something happened; there’s a gap where the rebellion in the angelic host takes place and god judges that with a judgment so devastating it stops the rebellion and then he introduces a plan of reconciliation with the heaven and the earth and the focus is going to be on the earth.

A battle began and took place in here and here’s the condition of judgment. That judgment lasts all the way until Revelation 20:15: [15] And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

Look at Revelation 21: [1] And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
[2] And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
[3] And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
[4] And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

The original intention in Genesis 1 is now going to be fulfilled over in Revelation and in the interval, there’s a battle that goes on--the battle that goes on in an angelic conflict between Satan and God over who’s going to have the right to be the Most High, the possessor of authority in heaven and earth.