The Day of the Lord is often referred to in scripture as the ‘Last Day”. There are a lot of things that take place on that day:
- Jesus makes His glorious entrance
- The dead in Christ arise
- We that are alive and remain shall be changed and given immortal bodies
- We meet the Lord in the air
- The wicked are judged and Anti-Christ is destroyed.
The Day of the Lord is an eternal day and continues into the Millennial where the lion lays down with the lamb. (In this post we will concentrate on the resurrection and the rapture.)
The Day of the Lord is kicked off by a disturbance in the sky. The sun, moon and stars are darkened and Jesus appears as the light. The earth stops making its trek around the sun and Jesus serves as the light. (Revelation 22:5-6)
This celestial disturbance is not a blood moon or an eclipse that appears and then everything returns to normal the next day. Those are ‘signs in the heavens’ (Luke 21:11) but they are not the event that occurs right before Jesus makes His appearance on the Day of the Lord.
(See Matthew 24:29-31, Luke 21:25-27, Mark 13:23-27, Revelation 22:5-6, John 6:39, 40, 44, 54, John 11:24, 12:48, Joel 2:30-31, Is. 13:9-11)
When the Day of the Lord arrives, our method of measuring time is gone! There is no more night, only light! (Revelation 22:5-6) We won’t know what day it is, or even what time of day it is.
This is the last day, the one spoken of in scripture in reference to the resurrection.
Martha, when mourning the death of Lazarus said she knew he would rise on the last day but was still disappointed Jesus had not come and healed him. (John 11:23-25)
In John chapter 6 Jesus speaks of the resurrection of the dead in Christ occurring on the last day –
John 6:39-44
39 And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.
41 The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven.
42 And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven?
43 Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves.
44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
Clearly He is talking about believers here. Look at verse 44, He is talking about people who have been drawn by the Father and have come to Him. This is a mass resurrection!
It is the one that is spoken of by Paul in his letter to the Thessalonians:
I Thessalonians 4:16-17
16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
It is also the same resurrection Paul spoke of throughout the 15th Chapter of I Corinthians:
I Corinthians 15:
51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
As you can see the resurrection of the dead and the catching away of the living is always linked together in scripture as one event. But in this chapter (I Corinthians 15) Paul’s focus was the resurrection. He doesn’t mention the catching away, only that we will be changed to immortality like those who have already died in the Christ. He notes it happens at the last trump.
John clarifies when this first mass resurrection occurs even further in Revelation 20:
Revelation 20:2-6
2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
3 And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.
4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
This is a very short version of a much longer, more detailed study on the Day of the Lord/Last Day, the celestial disturbance (that Joel says has to happen before the Day of the Lord) and the resurrection of the dead in Christ/Rapture event. My hope is that this little thumbnail sketch will get you started looking at the bigger picture found in scripture.