Following this, is the promise of Israel's restoration 'to their land' (Isa.

14:1 -3).

Joel speaks of the day of the Lord in the same way as Isaiah

calling it 'a destruction from the Almighty' (Joel 1:15).  It is a

day of

darkness, and very terrible (Joel 2:1,2,11).  In that day 'the sun

and the

moon shall be darkened and the stars shall withdraw their shining'

3:14,15).  The command is:

'Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe ... the press is full,

the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great' (Joel 3:13),

a link with Revelation 14:14 -20, where both the 'sickle' and the 'winepress'

are repeated.  Amos 5:18 and 20 stresses that the day of the Lord is

'darkness and not light'.  Obadiah has several things to say about the day of

the Lord that have a bearing upon the time of the end:

The day of the Lord has to do with 'the heathen' and their

punishment shall be 'as thou hast done, it shall be done'.

In contrast 'upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there

shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their

The 'captivity' of Israel and of Jerusalem shall possess that of

the Canaanites and the cities of the south.

Saviours shall come up on Mount Zion and 'The kingdom shall be

the Lord's' (Obad. 15 -21).

How do these details fit into the usual conception of the Millennium?

Zephaniah tells us that the day of the Lord is the day of the Lord's

sacrifice, the great day of the Lord is a day of wrath (Zeph. 1:7,8,15).

Malachi says: 'Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming

of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: and he shall turn the heart of the

fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest

I come and smite the earth with a curse' (Mal. 4:5,6).

We must bring all these several features of the day of the Lord with us

when we read Revelation 1:10 and as we continue to read the unfolding of that

day as the visions of the Revelation are opened before us.  Surely it is a

call to pause if these inspired descriptions of the day of the Lord run

counter to any theories we may have held.  The Day of the Lord ends with the

passing away of the heavens, and the Day of God follows (2 Pet. 3:10,12).

The Authorized Version confuses these two days by a faulty translation, it

reads: 'in the which the heavens shall pass away', of the day of the Lord;

and 'wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved', for the day of

God: but the Revised Version corrects this, reading: 'in the which' of the

day of the Lord; but 'by reason of which' for the day of God (2 Pet.

3:10,12).  Thus revealing the fact that the day of the Lord covers the book

of the Revelation up to the End Of The Millennium, when the dissolution takes

place and the day of God follows.  This in turn points on to the 'New Heavens

and new earth' wherein dwelleth righteousness.

The book of the Revelation does not speak of the dissolving of the

heavens and the elements with a fervent heat, but it does tell us that at the

setting up of the Great White Throne 'the earth and the heaven fled away; and

there was found no place for them' (Rev. 20:11), which phenomena does not

permit of a repetition.  The lake of fire which is mentioned several times

can well be the origin of, or a beginning of that 'fervent heat', and Peter