Isaiah Roman

The Day of the Lord’s Vengeance

Jesus entered a synagogue on the Sabbath as he entered His earthly ministry He came proclaiming, “the Kingdom of God is at hand.”

“He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias [Isaiah]. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord (Luke 4: 16-19).”

He stopped short of the completion of that verse which goes on to declare, “To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn” (Isaiah 61:2). That was not by accident. He divided time at that point between that which was to be completed in his lifetime on earth and that which would follow His second coming in the “Year of the Lord’s vengeance” which would fulfill the latter part of that verse.

“The day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come” (Isaiah 63:4). This refers to Jesus’ second appearance on earth at the end of time.

Christians today look on this as a happy or joyous time. They have been taught that by the church. Read the following excerpts; they describe a different scenario. Before the happy time of the “catching out” there will be a devastating time on earth. Building up to that crescendo has already begun. If you have eyes to see and ears to hear you will recognize what is coming on the earth.

There have been two wars on earth that engulfed the major part of the entire planet. The struggles that resulted from the last global warfare, the World War II, have never ceased and the world is not the great happy place lauded in popular stories and songs as that war ended. “When the lights go on again all over the world.” Hope has risen time and time again in a manmade utopia only to be dashed upon the rocks and shoals of despair.
There will be no lasting peace until the “Prince of Peace” returns to defeat the principalities, powers, and rulers of the darkness of this world, Spiritual wickedness in high places the “Prince of Darkness” himself, Satan.

The scriptures record the events as they have unfolded historically; Jesus warned his disciples what to look for as those days approached. They have fallen upon us as he prophesied.

“Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?

Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake Matthew (24: 1-9).

He also warned Christians, “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord” (Romans 12:19).

God will wreak vengeance on all evil, iniquity and wickedness when he comes again to judge the world. He has justified through His sacrifice of himself and will exonerate his people and bring true justice and peace to the world.

“For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low” (Isaiah 2:12).

“Howl ye; for the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty” (Isaiah 13:6).
“Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it” (Isaiah 13:9).

“Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the Lord of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger” (Isaiah 13:13).

“For it is a day of trouble, and of treading down, and of perplexity by the Lord God of hosts in the valley of vision, breaking down the walls, and of crying to the mountains” (Isaiah 22:5).

“For it is the day of the Lord’s vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion” (Isaiah 34:8).

“We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covers us: for we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God” (Jeremiah 3:25).

“And it shall come to pass at that day, saith the Lord, that the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes; and the priests shall be astonished, and the prophets shall wonder” (Jeremiah 4:9).

“O Lord, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit” (Jeremiah 16:19).

“And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground” (Jeremiah 25:33).

“Thus saith the Lord; If ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season” Thus saith the LORD; If ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season; Then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant (Messiah/Jesus Christ), that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne; and with the Levites the priests, my ministers” (Jeremiah 33:20-21).

“For this is the day of the Lord God of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries: and the sword shall devour, and it shall be satiate and made drunk with their blood: for the Lord God of hosts hath a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates [Bagdad] ” (Jeremiah 46:10).

“Alas for the day! for the day of the Lord is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come” (Joel 1:15).

“The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come” (Joel 2:31).

“Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision” (Joel 3:14).

“Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord! to what end is it for you? the day of the Lord is darkness, and not light” (Amos 5:18).

“Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it (Amos 5:20)?”

“For the day of the Lord is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head” (Obadiah 1:15).

“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” (Zephaniah 1:8).

“The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hastens greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly” (Zephaniah 1:14).

“And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts” (Malachi 4:3).

“For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night” (I Thessalonians 5:2).

“The word that Jeremiah the prophet spake unto Baruch the son of Neriah, when he had written these words in a book at the mouth of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, saying, Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, unto thee, O Baruch; Thou didst say, Woe is me now! for the LORD hath added grief to my sorrow; I fainted in my sighing, and I find no rest. Thus shalt thou say unto him, The LORD saith thus; Behold, that which I have built will I break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up, even this whole land. And do you great things for yourself? seek them not: for, behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the LORD: but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest”1 (Jeremiah 45:1-5).

“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up” (II Peter 3:10).

“The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished” (II Peter 2:9).
“Thus saith the Lord, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages” (Isaiah 49:8).

Christians are looking forward to the ultimate ascension of the righteous dead in the “catching out” or “rapture.” God says to Baruch, a righteous Jew, “that which I have built will I break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up, even this whole land. And do you seek great things for yourself?” They are looking at the good things that will come, and those things will come; but, there will be a great deal of anxiety, suffering and sorrow as that event arrives.

If Christians think it will be an easy and peaceful transition into the events that will come in the end time they may be in for disappointment. The end is not in doubt for those who are trusting God in Christ and have the indwelling Holy Spirit They are warned about such a circumstance. They may see what is coming upon them and lose hope.

“For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect” (Matthew 24:24).

“Except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened” (Matthew 24:22; Mark 13: 20). Jesus has given His Spirit to all those who have been “reborn of the Spirit” who will preserve them until the day of His reappearing in victory over sin, Satan and the world.