The Christ in Prophecy Journal

Psalm 2: The Day of Wrath

PDF

In the previous part of this study on Psalm 2, we looked at verse 4 for the first reason why God is laughing at His enemies. Today I’ll look at verse 5 for the second reason why God is laughing at His enemies.

A Day of Wrath

Psalm 2:5 – “Then He will speak to them in His anger and terrify them in His fury…”

The second reason God is laughing is because “He will speak to them in His anger and terrify them in His fury” (Psalm 2:5). This statement refers to the fact that God has appointed a day when He will deal with all the kingdoms of the earth and their political leaders by pouring out His wrath through the return of His Son, Jesus the Messiah.

Paul spoke of this momentous day during his sermon on Mar’s Hill in Athens: “God is now declaring to men that all everywhere should repent because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead” (Acts 17:30-31).

This day is often mentioned by the Old Testament prophets. They called it “the day of the Lord” (Joel 2:1). The prophet Zephaniah described it as “a day of wrath, trouble, distress, destruction, desolation, darkness and gloom” (Zephaniah 1:15). He said that the Lord will bring such distress upon people that they will reel about, walking like blind men (Zephaniah 1:17).

Satan’s False God

This day of wrath that God has reserved for the rebellious nations of the world and their leaders is one of the best kept secrets in the universe. Satan doesn’t want anyone to know about it. In his attempt to cover it up, he has created a false image of God that has been bought by both Christians and unbelievers.

The false god Satan wants us to believe in is a push-over that could be characterized as “the cosmic teddy bear.” He is big and warm and soft and cuddly. And when we stand before him to be judged, he will put his arm around us, snuggle us up to him, and say, “I know you never accepted My Son as your Lord and Savior, but that’s okay, because you were a lot better person than the reprobate who lived down the street from you. So you just come on into My kingdom and enjoy eternal life with Me.”

No such namby-pamby god exists. He is a cruel hoax created by Satan. All of us stand condemned before the true God, for “all of us like sheep have gone astray” (Isaiah 53:6). Our only hope is through faith in Jesus (Romans 3:21-24). God does not grade on the curve nor is He some patsy who can be easily hoodwinked. God cannot be deceived or mocked (Galatians 6:7).

Yes, God is full of grace and mercy (Psalm 86:15), and He does not desire that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9), but He is also a God of perfect righteousness, holiness, and justice — and as such, He cannot countenance sin.

God must deal with sin, and He does so with either grace or wrath. That is why John the Baptist declared that every person on earth is under either the grace of God or His wrath (John 3:36).

In the next part of this study on Psalm 2, I’ll look at verse 6 for the third reason why God is laughing at His enemies.

[Watch on Christ in Prophecy!]

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
            

RELATED ARTICLES

ABOUT AUTHOR View all posts Author Website

Dr. David Reagan

Dr. David Reagan is the Founder and Evangelist Emeritus of Lamb & Lion Ministries. He is a life-long Bible student, teacher, and preacher and he led over 45 pilgrimages to Israel. Dr. Reagan was the host of the radio then television program Christ in Prophecy for nearly 40 years.

11 CommentsLeave a Comment

  • RE: The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

    This is what I need to remember everytime I get impatient and want the Rapture to happen NOW!

  • I consider that 'the day of the Lord' begins at the start of Daniels 70th week when the Lord begins to 'have His say'at last with the various judgments. While the Day of Christ begins with the removal of the Church in Rapture with blessings, both 'day's' running very close together time wise.

    Some believe it doesn't begin until half way into the seven years or later and see's both 'day's' as one and the same event.

    I was wondering how Dr Reagan teaches this and defines the beginning of these 'days' for example the Joel 'day of the Lord?
    Thanks
    EI

  • good question E.I. personally i think there are 3 working definitions of the day of the Lord 1)the day of his 2nd coming 2)the tribulation including his 2nd coming 3)his 2nd coming ant the millineum period 4)beginning with the rapture thru his 2nd coming. o.k that was 4 not 3.

  • There is only one Day of the Lord. It is the definitive article — THE Day of the Lord — which is post-trib only. There is absolutely zero support anywhere in Scripture that stretches the Day of the Lord into tribulation. In fact, it is impossible. Here is why: There are passages that absolutely forbid the "Day of the Lord" from overlapping the tribulation. The two are mutually exclusive.

    Here are five examples:

    1. Throughout the Old Testament, very specific celestial signs are associated with the coming of the Day of the Lord. The darkening of the sun and moon will usher in that day (Isa 13:9,10, Isa 24:19-23, Joel 3:13-15). Here is one example.

    Joel 2:31 "The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD.

    Matt 24:29 "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."

    These verses establish a clear sequence of events. They place the cosmic signs, the darkening of the sun and moon, between the end of the tribulation and the beginning of the Day of the Lord. This absolutely forbids any overlapping of the tribulation into the Day of the Lord. They are distinct events. No other interpretation is possible without purposefully twisting these passages.

    2. The very first time the Day of the Lord is mentioned in the Bible, the text clearly forbids associating it with the tribulation. Isaiah describes the "Day of the Lord" as follows:

    Isa 2:10-19, "Enter into the rock, and hide in the dust, From the terror of the LORD And the glory of His majesty. The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, The haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, And the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day. For the day of the LORD of hosts Shall come upon everything proud and lofty, Upon everything lifted up — And it shall be brought low — Upon all the cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up, And upon all the oaks of Bashan; Upon all the high mountains, And upon all the hills that are lifted up; Upon every high tower, And upon every fortified wall; Upon all the ships of Tarshish, And upon all the beautiful sloops. The loftiness of man shall be bowed down, And the haughtiness of men shall be brought low; The LORD alone will be exalted in that day, But the idols He shall utterly abolish. They shall go into the holes of the rocks, And into the caves of the earth, From the terror of the LORD And the glory of His majesty, When He arises to shake the earth mightily."

    Twice these verses indicate that the Lord alone will be exalted in the Day of the Lord. This is an exclusive statement. No one else can be exalted or worshipped during the Day of the Lord. Yet, during the tribulation, the Antichrist will be worshipped as God (Rev 13:3-8,14, 2 Thess 2:344) and his image will be worshipped as well. Isaiah's statements about the Lord alone being exalted, and the idols being abolished during the Day of the Lord forbids any overlapping with the tribulation and reign of Antichrist.

    — Continued

  • 3. Zechariah 14:7 indicates that the Day of the Lord may just be a 24 hour day. The Hebrew text says “one day” — “But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, [that] at evening time it shall be light.” (Also see Isaiah 10:17).

    4. In Isaiah 13:9, Joel 2:1 and Zech 14:1 we read in each of these verses that “the Day of the Lord COMETH”, and in each verse the text immediately begins to describe the battle of Armageddon. The word “cometh” or "at hand" is the Hebrew word “bow” and it means "to come" or "arrive", and it implies the beginning of the Day of the Lord. In each case the arrival of the Day of the Lord brings about the battle of Armageddon.

    5. Joel 3:9-17 describes the gathering of the armies of the nations around Jerusalem for the battle of Armageddon, the cosmic signs, and the coming of the Lord. AFTER the armies are gathered, but BEFORE the cosmic signs, Joel wrote that the Day of the Lord is “near.” The Hebrew word means “at hand,” “imminent,” or “next in sequence”. The Day of the Lord must begin AFTER the armies of the nations are gathered for the battle, which occurs at the end of the tribulation, according to Rev 16:13-16.

    The pre-trib position tries to stretch the Day of the Lord into the tribulation, but no one has ever provided any biblical requirement for doing so — because it cannot be done. In fact, none of the Old Testament passages support the pre-trib idea, as we can clearly see above. It comes only from a preconceived assumption of a pre-trib rapture superimposed on the text. It is "reverse engineering" of the Scriptures in order to get the desired outcome rather than applying sound rules of interpretation.

    But don't take my word for it, search the Scripture to see if this is so. 🙂

    Blessings!

  • Methinks you smack of Pre-Wrath this day with your definition of "Day of the Lord," Mitchell. 😉

    For all those Post-Tribbers out there like Mitchell, better keep an eye out, at least here in the U.S. This militia group is hardly Christian wanting to kill and is totally out of line, but Homeland Security is beginning to act on thier view that those who are into Bible prophecy are terrorists, starting with the martyr obsessed Post-Trib view holders. Media's using this oddity to paint all of Christianity as a threat to the Obama administration and the world.

  • Pre-wrath/Post-trib, yes, but not Rosenthal pre-wrath.

    If the reports of that militia group are accurate, then they do not deserve any Christian label. They are a cult along the same lines as The Branch Davidians and deserve to be arrested and prosecuted. "Christians" wanting to kill cops? Ridiculous. It'll be interesting to see if it all turns out to be nothing more than unsubstantiated trumped-up charges. I wouldn't put it past Obama's leftist communist administration.

    Biblical post-trib view holders are not martyr obsessed, btw. I agree however that some in the media will use news such as this to paint Christians with a broad brush. Their tune will change when extremist Islamic terrorism breaks out all across the country in a few years. "Homeland Insecurity" will then be wishing that they focused on the real threat.

  • Hi RG. The post-trib position is the most Biblical position imho. Aside from my previous post proving why the Day of the Lord can only happen immediately after the tribulation (and not during it like the pre-trib position teaches), here is just one more of the many, many reasons why I changed from pre-trib to post trib: 1 Thess 4:17 does not allow a pre-trib rapture when understood the way that it was intended. Here is why.

    Some will point to 1 Thess 4:17 and claim that it is telling us that we go to heaven after we're caught up with them in the clouds. But one can only come to that conclusion if they first assume in a pre-trib rapture.

    1 Thess 4:17, "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."

    The word used for “meet” in 1 Thess 4:16-17 is the Greek word “apantesis”. In "Vocabulary of the Greek Testament" by G. Milligan and James Hope Moulton, "The word apantesis seems to have been a kind of official welcome of a newly arriving dignitary – a usage which accords excellently with its NT usage." And indeed it does! This word only occurs here and in three other places — in Matthew 25:1,6 it describes the virgins going out to meet the bridegroom, to escort him back into the house, and in Acts 28:14-16 it is used to describe brethren from Rome coming out to Appii Foru to meet Paul and his company and then escort them back to Rome. In each example of "apantesis", the escort back is immediate. We don't have them going out to meet the subject, then going to where the subject came from for days, weeks or years, and later returning with the subject. That was not the custom. The subject who was coming is met by those who are already at his destination. And what is His destination? Where we are — EARTH. He is coming to save all of Israel, and to rule from Jerusalem (Rom 11:26).

    Aside from 1 Thess 4:17 these are the only occurrences of the word. In the post-trib view, the elect are gathered in the air to meet Jesus and then we accompany Him back to Earth immediately, according to the "apantesis" of 1 Thess 4:17, which is consistent with its usage in each of the other three verses of Scripture. The pre-trib position, however, suddenly changes the intended meaning of the word. Instead of us escorting Jesus back to Earth immediately for His Second Coming, the pre-trib position has us conveniently going to Heaven instead, which the text does not say anywhere, at any place, at any time.

    Zechariah 14:1a,5b, "Behold, the day of the LORD cometh … And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which [is] before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, [and there shall be] a very great valley … And ye shall flee [to] the valley of the mountains … and the LORD my God shall come, [and] all the saints with thee."

  • I don’t see a need for the DoL and the rapture to be a single event. I think Isaiah 2 is a problem for making the DoL a technical term excluding the great trib. If Matt 24:21-22 excludes the DoL then the DoL cannot logically be as severe as the great trib. Also, Alan D Cole makes legitimate observations re Joel’s DoL, IMO.

    You’d no doubt be aware that the so-called apantesis argument has been countered. For just one example see Kevin Zuber’s detailed response to the technical supposition in Metaphor and the Rapture (Dispensationalism tomorrow and beyond page 343).

    rg

LEAVE A REPLY

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *