The Return of Messiah : Part 2

Missed Part 1? Catch it here! The Return of Messiah : Part 2 Joel 2:28-32 The Next ACTION (that will accompany the return of Messiah) is,             The Signs are Appointed             Here are verses 30 and 31, “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.” None of these were evident at the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost.             Those who teach that this prophecy has been fulfilled in the past point to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in AD 70. That truly was a horrific time for the Jewish people, but those who hold this view are compelled to say that some of this language is figurative. Joel doesn’t imply that and neither does Jesus in Matthew 24 where He speaks of similar signs occurring at the close of the Great Tribulation. It is certainly true that “a day of the Lord” did occur in AD 70, but this particular one is designated as “that great and terrible [or awesome] Day of the Lord.”             Jesus said in Matthew 24, “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. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”             In verses 30 and 31 Joel describes scenes that are associated with the destruction of war. Bloodshed is prominent in wartime, and blood will be poured out in abundance during the Great Tribulation. When the fourth seal judgment is opened in Revelation 6:8, one-fourth of the world’s population will be killed – tremendous bloodshed. The trumpet judgments of Revelation 8 and 9 tell us that another one-third of human and sea life will be destroyed. And during the bowl judgments what remains of the sea will be turned to blood, Revelation 16:3.             In Revelation 14 we read, “So the angel thrust his sickle into the earth and gathered the vine of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trampled outside the city, and blood came out of the winepress, up to the horses’ bridles, for one thousand six hundredfurlongs [or stadia].” That’s a lot of blood; about 184 miles worth!             Fire is predicted by Joel as another one of the signs. Again, Revelation gives us numerous pictures of the fire of judgment. At the opening of the seventh seal, in Revelation 8:5, “Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. And there were noises, thundering, lightning, and an earthquake. So, the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. The first angel sounded: And hail and fire followed, mingled with blood, and they were thrown to the earth. And a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.”             And then, further, we read in Revelation 16, “Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and power was given to him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great