BTW, a couple things I should add for the sake of discussion, the terms Rapture and Resurrection are one in the same.
And beginning with the Rapture of the Church, through the tribulation period, I believe Scriptures conclude multiple Resurrections/Raptures. The Church, the two Witnesses, the 144,000 Jews, etc.
At any rate, when Jesus returns to the Earth to set up His Kingdom, He returns with those that were Resurrected.
It just occurred to me, could “The Day of the Lord” begin with the referencing of the “mid point” of the 7yr tribulation period and the abomination of desolation? Could this also be the division point between the two Dispensations? Food for thought?
“It just occurred to me, could ‘The Day of the Lord’ begin with the referencing of the ‘mid point’ of the 7yr tribulation period and the abomination of desolation? Could this also be the division point between the two Dispensations?”
The mid-point is certainly significant divider of the timeline of prophetic events. Here are things that happen at that time:
> Michael, the arch-angel and guardian of Israel, stands up (Daniel 12:1)
> A war in Heaven results in Michael kicking Satan out of Heaven (Rev. 12:7-9)
> The two witnesses are killed (assuming their prophecies are during the first half of Daniel’s seventieth week)(Rev. 11:3, 7)
> Antichrist breaks his seven-year treaty (i.e. “covenant”) with Israel (Daniel 9:27)
> Antichrist enters the third temple and sets up his throne, proclaiming himself God, and demands that the world worship him (2 Thes. 2:3-4)
> The Great Tribulation begins (Mt. 24:15-22)
But another significant event that helps clarify the timeline is the cataclysmic celestial event that darkens the sun and moon (apparently simultaneously).
Joel 2:30-32a
And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth:
Blood and fire and pillars of smoke.
The sun shall be turned into darkness,
And the moon into blood,
Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.
And it shall come to pass
That whoever calls on the name of the Lord
Shall be saved.
Matthew 24:29-30
Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
Revelation 6:12-17
I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”
This sign marks the completion of the Great Tribulation, the imminent return of Christ and the arrival of the Day of the Lord.
The Day of the Lord has several names:
The Day of the Lord
The Day of God
The Day of Christ
The Day of Wrath
The End
(And a few other variations)
The Day of the Lord is NOT the same as Daniel’s seventieth week. For Christians it is a day of salvation and rescue. For unbelievers it is a day of wrath and fiery judgment.