The Day of Christ

Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not, Matthew 24:23.

As was mentioned in my last post, believing in Christ is not the same as believing that Jesus is the Christ. Since the Lord prophesied to the serpent in the Book of Genesis, the faithful have awaited the coming of the Christ who is also called the Anointed, or the Messiah depending on which language is being used. And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel, Genesis 3:15.

The Jews in the time of the gospels clearly believed in a coming Christ. And as the people were in expectation, and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ, or not, Luke 3:15. The Jews believed in Christ. "What they did not know was who that Christ was." During the trial of Jesus Christ, the high priest in his indignation was not inquiring of Jesus Christ so that he could believe on him.

He was demanding that Jesus plainly state whether or not he claimed to be the awaited Christ; But Jesus held his peace. And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God, Matthew 26:23. In Psalm 2 which plainly speaks of the coming anointed, the anointed is prophesied to be the one that the Lord calls his Son; I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee, Psalm 2:7.

It was to this coming Christ that the priest referred. He had believed all of his life that such a Christ would come. What he would not accept was that the man standing in front of him was that Christ. What every reader of the Old Testament knew was that a day would come in which the Christ would reveal himself.

Isaiah 63:1 Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save.

Isaiah 63:2 Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat?

Isaiah 63:3 I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment.

Isaiah 63:4 For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come.

Isaiah 63:5 And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold: therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me; and my fury, it upheld me.

Isaiah 63:6 And I will tread down the people in mine anger, and make them drunk in my fury, and I will bring down their strength to the earth.

It is to this day that Jesus Christ refers when he says in Matthew 24:23, Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.

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

Matthew 24:25 Behold, I have told you before.

Matthew 24:26 Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.

Matthew 24:27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

Do not mix up that day with the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in the clouds (1st Thessalonians 4:17). That is the Day of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6). The Day of Christ is a day long awaited since the Book of Genesis and to which reference is made throughout the prophets. All who believe in a coming Christ believe in that day. When it comes, every eye shall see him; Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen, Revelation 1:7.

The world calls this day the Second Coming of Christ. That is the day that ends the great tribulation. That day is a far cry from the day in which we are delivered from the wrath to come.

1st Corinthians 15:51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

1st Corinthians 15:52 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.

1st Corinthians 15:53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

1st Corinthians 15:54 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.

Jesus Christ warned his hearers that many would falsely prophesy of that day when he warned in our opening verse; Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not, Matthew 24:23. The Apostle Paul picked up on that warning and expanded upon it for the Church at Thessalonica. That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand, 2nd Thessalonians 2:2. He then went on to explain why that day was not at hand.

2nd Thessalonians 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

2nd Thessalonians 2:4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

Keep in mind that the Apostle Paul admonished his readers by two things; Now we beseech you, brethren,

1. by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,

2. and by our gathering together unto him, 2nd Thessalonians 2:1.

Those are two distinctly different events. There will be a time in which the Lord is revealed from heaven with his holy angels.

2nd Thessalonians 1:7 And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,

2nd Thessalonians 1:8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

He is not coming for his church on that day. He is coming with his church on that day. And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, Jude 1:14. By that time, the believers in Christ have been with him since our gathering together unto him.

If it helps, keep these three days in mind:

1. The Day of the Lord, that day encompasses the tribulation and the millennium. Read Zechariah 14 if you have trouble with that. Remember, But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day, 2nd Peter 3:8.

2. The Day of Christ is the second coming. It is the dividing day between the great tribulation and the millennial kingdom of Jesus Christ. It happens during the period of time referred to as the Day of the Lord.

3. The Day of Jesus Christ is that day in which Jesus Christ comes for his saints. He does not touch the earth. He is not seen by every eye. It is a day for those who not only know there is a Christ, but they know that Jesus is the Christ. That day signals the beginning of the Day of the Lord.

   
   
   
   

Immediately after that day, the antichrist appears. He cannot appear until the Holy Ghost who has bound all believers together and has let us depart from iniquity (2nd Timothy 2:19) is taken out of the way. (Not that the Holy Ghost is not on the earth during the great tribulation. He is not there in the same capacity in which he is here now.) If you have trouble believing that, look at how Jesus Christ breaths the Holy Ghost into his disciples in John 20:22, and how they receive him differently on the Day of Pentecost.

2nd Thessalonians 2:6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.

2nd Thessalonians 2:7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.

2nd Thessalonians 2:8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

2nd Thessalonians 2:9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,

2nd Thessalonians 2:10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.