What Is the Day of the Lord? A Biblical Guide to the Rapture and Tribulation
The term “the day of the Lord” is a reference to end times.
From the fall of man, God has stepped in at times to reconstruct what man has destroyed: the sacrifices, the flood to remove evil and begin again, the Tower of Babel, the ten plagues, and the parting of the Red Sea to deliver Israel are only a few of the times God has had to step in and correct what man and Satan have done.
But since Jesus’ ascension and through the Church Age, God has been seated, and Jesus is also seated at the Father’s right hand. “The Lord [Father] has said to my Lord [Jesus], “Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool’” (Psalm 110:1). Throughout the 2,000 years of our dispensation, Jesus has had to set a number of things right; but as a whole, has left the Church in charge, having been given Jesus’ authority against Satan and demons, and supernatural power to lay hands on the sick, and see them recover, and raise the dead. When Satan runs into a wise Christian, it is like meeting Jesus face-to-face all over again.
But as powerful as the Church is, we cannot correct the problems of the world’s empires, and we were never told to do it. We are to win souls, get people filled with the Holy Spirit and God’s Word, and make disciples out of each new believer. Only God, Jesus Himself, the Holy Spirit, and elect angels can bring the world out of the situation we see present now. Once Jesus comes for His Church and takes it into heaven, the Father and the hosts of heaven will go to work like never seen before to stop Satan, his demons, fallen angels, and man’s armies during the Tribulation.
At the end of the seven years of Tribulation, it will look like Satan is going to win, but Jesus will return and destroy all the armies of the earth with the most powerful weapon in the universe—His voice. During these seven years, believers on earth will not be in bunkers or caves hiding from Satan and the devastation he is causing. They will be doing what every believer’s job has been since the Old and New Testament began—winning souls and making disciples out of them. The Tribulation will be a time of the greatest evangelism the world has ever seen. People will be swept into the kingdom of God like never before because, where sin abounds, grace does much more abound (Romans 5:20). Sin will abound at record levels during the Tribulation. Believers will win souls and God will defeat Satan.
In our opening verse, “the day of the Lord” refers to the whole of the Tribulation, including the end, the return of the Lord Jesus to the earth to establish His kingdom. The Tribulation will begin immediately after the Rapture, the appearing of Jesus for His Church.
The Rapture of the Church Is an Ending and a Beginning
I must clear up the meaning of the word rapture. Although the word is often called the coming of the Lord, it is not a coming. The Rapture—the taking away of the Church—is an “appearing.” Jesus never comes back to earth at the Rapture. He appears in the sky with the Church Age saints from heaven. They receive a resurrection body along with us; then Jesus gathers all members of the Church Age and takes them back to heaven to prepare them as His bride.
This will occur immediately after the Church has gone through the Judgment Seat of Christ and received rewards for their works on earth. This is not a judgment to see if members of the Church get to remain in heaven; this was a settled fact at their salvation. The Judgment Seat of Christ will see the burning up of our works done in the flesh (wood, hay, and straw) and a rewarding of our deeds done in the power of the Holy Spirit (gold, silver, and precious stones) (1 Corinthians 3:10-15). Jesus’ second coming, the advent, will occur seven years later, after the Tribulation is over.
The Tribulation will be the completion of Daniel’s 70 weeks (70 segments of 7 years, 490 years). At 483 years, Jesus went to the Cross and Daniel’s 70 weeks were stopped. There is still seven more years of Jewish time to be fulfilled; the Tribulation. Another name for the Tribulation is Daniel’s 70th week. The Tribulation will last for seven years, completing Jewish time, and will end at Jesus’ second coming to end the Tribulation and begin the Millennium. This will be the beginning of the Millennium, the first 1,000 years of Jesus’ eternal reign on earth.
After the Millennium, the earth will be renovated, and heaven will come and rest over Jerusalem. All sinners and the hosts of hell will be sent to the lake of fire and no sinners will exist on earth ever again. Then Jesus will rule from Jerusalem for eternity.
It has been told that Joel spoke prophetically of two coming invasions in the life of the nation of Israel. We learned that one these two events was the invasion of Israel by Assyria. In the day Joel wrote, the Assyrian invasion had not yet taken place. Yet we know with certainty that this prophecy was literally fulfilled.
All of God’s Promises Are as Good as Done
This is the basis of our faith—what God has spoken, He will perform. Ezekiel 12:25 tells us, “For I am the Lord. I speak, and the word which I speak will come to pass….” This is why a knowledge of the Word of God is essential to faith. Our faith is not based on the words of men, but on the Creator of all things. He knows the future and what events will occur. He has let us know many events yet future in His Word. Without knowledge of the Word, we have no foundation for our faith. We know that as surely as God has told us what has happened, He has also told us what will happen.
In the first chapter of Joel, two future events are prophesied. Taking as his theme the locust invasion that had already occurred in his day, Joel spoke of two occurrences he said would take place in the existence of Israel. The first event already came to pass; the invasion of Israel by Assyria. This is now past history.
But Joel spoke just as assuredly of the coming of “the day of the Lord.” As surely as Joel’s prophecy of “the day of the Lord” was given, it will also be fulfilled. God sees the future as clearly as He sees today and the past.
Many of the things in the Word of God were prophecies in the day in which they were written. For example, the prophet Isaiah foretold the first coming of the Christ as a child to be born to a virgin (Isaiah 9:6). In chapter 53, Isaiah prophesied of Messiah’s crucifixion and death, and of His bearing of our sins and sickness. At the end of chapter 53 into the beginning of chapter 54, Isaiah foretold of Christ’s resurrection and spoiling of the kingdom of Satan. In Isaiah 28, the Day of Pentecost is prophesied—how “with stammering lips and another tongue” God would speak to His people.
Isaiah is only one author of many in the Old Testament who prophesied to Israel in their day of events yet to come. Other events such as the Tribulation, Jesus’ second coming to the earth to reign, and the eternal kingdom were also foretold. With us, this is prophecy; with God, it is just fact. When we treat God’s Word as fact, great things are about to happen. This is faith. Without faith, we cannot please God (Hebrews 11:6).
It stands to reason that if one part of the Word of God is true, the rest of it must also be true. If God fulfilled the words of His servants concerning the first coming of our Lord, it seems reasonable to believe that He will fulfill their words regarding His second coming. Based on what was written and has taken place in the history of Israel, it is certain the promised “day of the Lord” will come to pass just as it is prophesied.
The Coming of Jesus for the Church
Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming (2 Thessalonians 2:1-8).
“The day of Christ” in verse 2 is the same as “the day of the Lord” in Joel chapter 1. It refers to the same event—the return of the Lord Jesus Christ to this earth. Jesus’ return is first to remove the Church, and seven years later to defeat the armies of the nations who attack Israel, then to rule the earth for-ever. Jesus Christ is the Lord of whom Joel spoke in the Old Testament.
In this passage in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-8, there is a coming mentioned in verse 1 and a coming in verse 8. These two comings are not the same event. The length of time of Satan’s control over the earth, the Tribulation, will be seven years. It begins with a “coming”—Jesus for the Church—and ends with a “coming” of Jesus to judge, then rule over the earth.
The first coming of Jesus is in a split second when we, the Church, will receive a resurrection body and be taken to heaven with Jesus. The world will not see or hear His voice as He comes with a shout (1 Thessalonians 4:16). He will unite the living members of the Church on earth with those of the Church who have died and gone to heaven—the dead in Christ. He will purify the entire Church at the Judgment Seat of Christ, ridding us from all the works of the flesh—spots and wrinkles, wood, hay, and straw (1 Corinthians 3:10-15). We will then be prepared to return to earth with Jesus as His bride. This is the second mention of a “coming” of Jesus Christ in 2 Thessalonians 2:8.
So often we, as Christians, speak of looking forward to “the coming of the Lord.” What we really mean to say is we are looking forward to the day when Jesus will return for us, “our gathering together unto Him.” Then Jesus will “return to earth” seven years later as its eternal King and ruler. He will come “for” us, and then “with” us.
When Jesus comes for us to take us to heaven, it will occur in the clouds, “in the air” (1 Thessalonians 4:17), and it will be quickly, “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye” (1 Corinthians 15:52). The word moment is the Greek word atamo, meaning a time period so small it cannot be further divided, indivisible. In one split second we will be here and then be gone. All of this occurs to take the family on earth to meet and be with the family in heaven. This event—the taking away, the Rapture of the Church—will occur seven years before the Lord Jesus returns to set foot on the earth to eternally rule all nations. On that day His feet will touch the Mount of Olives.
At the Rapture, the appearing of Jesus to take His Church to heaven, we are told “the dead in Christ will rise first” (1 Thessalonians 4:16). This is a reference to all who received Jesus during their lifetime, then died, left their body behind and went to heaven in spirit form. They will receive an eternal resurrection body first, then “we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them” (1 Thessalonians 4:17). We will receive a resurrection body as our present body is trans-formed into an eternal body. Then all—the dead in Christ and those who are alive and remain—will go to heaven with Jesus. It will happen so quickly the world will only know. All they can say is we were here a split second ago, and now we are gone. Jesus’ next coming will be seven years later at the end of the Tribulation. We will return with Him in our resurrection bodies, as His bride. He will remain on earth to rule the kingdoms and nations of the world.
Understand the Day of the Lord—and Live with Unshakable Hope in the Last Days.
Are you confused about end-times prophecy, the rapture, and the second coming of Christ? Do headlines stir fear instead of faith? Have you wondered how the book of Joel connects to your life today—and what the “day of the Lord” really means for you?
The answers are not hidden in speculation or sensationalism. They are found in God’s unchanging Word.
Through careful, Scripture-by-Scripture teaching, Bob Yandian unveils the prophetic timeline revealed in Joel—clarifying the difference between the rapture and the second coming, the Tribulation and the Millennium, judgment and restoration. With pastoral insight and unwavering confidence in biblical truth, he shows you that prophecy is not meant to frighten you—but to anchor you in faith.
In these pages, you’ll discover how to:
Distinguish clearly between the rapture of the Church and Christ’s visible return to rule.
Understand the purpose of the Tribulation and God’s mercy even in judgment.
Recognize the signs and sequence of Armageddon and the Valley of Decision.
Replace fear of the end times with faith in the faithfulness of God’s Word.
Live today in the power of the Holy Spirit—the “latter rain” already poured out.
You were never meant to dread the future. The same Jesus who rescues, restores, and reigns is your shelter and strength. Satan’s rebellion has an expiration date. God’s promises do not. The Day of the Lord is not the triumph of darkness—it is the ultimate revelation of Christ’s glory.
