The Last Day

What is the Last Day and when will it come?

The Last Day is an actual day in history. It is the day that Yahshua, the Messiah, will come back to this earth in the same way He left. He will claim His Bride who belongs to Him and to establish His kingdom, His rulership over the earth. He told his disciples He would do this when He was with them on the Mount of Olives, just before He went up into the heavens and disappeared in the clouds. On the day He returns, He will come down to earth through the clouds in flaming fire, accompanied by His mighty angels. On that day He is going to give relief to His people on the earth who are all being persecuted and afflicted — to His strained and stressed ones who have endured to the end.[1] He will give His faithful ones rest — those who have proved their love for Him by their patient endurance and their obedience to Him. At the same time He is going to deal out tribulation and vengeance to those who have suppressed the truth in their consciences (what they know about God), and also to those who have heard and have not obeyed the gospel of our Sovereign, Yahshua the Messiah. This is the day when He brings an end to this wicked and perverse generation.[2]

He is not going to give relief to His people by taking them up in the sky somewhere before the Last Day. Relief to the disciples of Yahshua will come on the same day He deals out retribution to His enemies.[3] When is this Last Day? It is on the last day of the seven years of the Great Tribulation[4] when the last trumpet sounds.[5] At this moment the Sovereign Yahshua will descend with a shout, and the dead in Messiah will rise out of their graves. Those who are alive and have remained faithful to Him will at that time be caught up together with those disciples who come out of their graves to meet their Master Yahshua in the clouds. From that time on they will always be with Him.[6]

Who will He come for?

Our Master Yahshua made it clear in John 6:39,40,44,54 that the resurrection of His people would come on the Last Day of this age. This is the true rapture. This is the Second Coming of Messiah for His Elect, His Bride who is crying out for Him in the wilderness day and night.[7] The Bride who will be raptured is depicted in the Book of Revelation as a woman clothed with the sun, with a crown of twelve stars on her head, and with the moon under her feet.[8]

This woman has fled to the wilderness to a place prepared for her.[9] There she is cared for during a period of 1,260 days (time, times, and half a time). She has been persecuted and forced out of society, because her way of life is a testimony against the world that its deeds are evil.[10] She is hated by all men, just as her Bridegroom promised she would be.[11] She was hated by all nations and persecuted — not because she has committed mass murder or molested children or isolated herself in some far away compound or armed herself to fight against the evil empire of the Beast — but because she had the love of her Bridegroom, Yahshua, filling her, producing the unity and peace that qualified her as the true witness of God’s salvation (Isaiah 43:12). As a restored twelve-tribed nation she fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah 49:6. She became the witness of the kingdom[12] that Yahshua is waiting for as the sign heralding His Second Coming (see The Sign of the End). This woman in the wilderness is the Stone kingdom cut out of the mountain of the world in Daniel 2. There is no more room for this Stone in this evil age. She is in her final moments of crying out to her King, longing for His appearing,[13] just before her Bridegroom calls for her and takes her with Him to destroy all the kingdoms of the world.

From the beginning, when she first fell in love with Him, she knew that she would have to go outside the camp to be with Him.[14] She could no longer be comfortably conformed to the way of the world. She now lives only to please her Bridegroom. Soon He will come for her, and He will not delay long. She can even count the days: 1,260 of them. At that time, she knows when to expect Him. He will come on the last of the 1,260 days.[15]

… we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. (1 Corinthians 15:51-52)

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17)

These deep mysteries cannot be understood unless, by the mercies of God, He reveals it to His faithful ones. The Messiah, Yahshua is our Bridegroom and we are His Bride and wife to be, just like He said many times.[16] When she has been made ready, He will come.[17] So, who is the Bride? The Bride is the we that will be "changed in a moment … at the last trumpet" and the we who will be "alive and remain [when we are] caught up in the air to meet Him in the clouds." So, who are the we? Are you the we or are we the we … or are we both the we? Our eternal destiny depends on how we answer these questions.

What will be happening on the earth at that time?

Just before the woman flees to the wilderness, she gives birth to a generation of pure young virgin men. This means they are sent out from her, 12,000 from each of her Twelve Tribes. After she flees, the Man of Lawlessness, who is Satan incarnate, goes after these 144,000 pure ones. They will be warning all the inhabitants of the earth of the coming judgments of God. As the plagues of the Great Tribulation come upon the earth in the midst of their preaching, they let the people know that the strange occurrences of Isaiah 24:6 and Revelation 16:9 are a result of men breaking the age-lasting covenant with God[18] (see also Can you hear Creation speaking?).

They will preach their message for 1260 days and will be killed one by one.[19] When the last one is slain, the spiritual mask of the Magnificent Civilization will be ripped away, the dark covering of the earth will be peeled back, exposing the leader as the embodiment of Satan himself. He will be responsible for the death of 144,000 innocent men including the two witnesses whose bodies will lie in the streets of Jerusalem as the whole world rejoices. After three days these two witnesses come back to life and in so doing give witness to the Salvation of our God just as the LAST TRUMPET sounds! The dead in Messiah will rise from their graves and those who are alive and remain in the wilderness will be caught up in the air to meet Him as He comes in the clouds on the LAST DAY.

What will He do when He comes?

When His people are caught up in the air to meet Him, He will go with them to the valley of Meggido in Israel to fight the Battle of Armageddon. All the armies of the earth will be gathered there to wage war against Him.[20] They know He is coming because the 144,000 have sacrificed their lives to proclaim it for 1260 days. Satan, through the Man of Lawlessness, will actually think his armies can destroy the Sovereign Yahshua. He will convince all the kings of the earth[21] to join him because, at this point, the only ones still remaining are the unjust and filthy, liars who pay attention to the father of liars.[22] Instead of being destroyed, our Master Yahshua will wage war and defeat the armies of the earth, putting all His enemies under His feet. This battle will last 30 days and will be like no battle ever before or since. The blood of those slain will be up to the bridles of the horses.[23] Our Master Yahshua’s cloak will be stained solid red from the blood of his enemies. Then He will place His feet down on the Mount of Olives to begin His reign of peace with His Bride for 1000 years.

What keeps Him from coming today?

Our Master Yahshua cannot come back because many of the prophecies of the Bible are not yet fulfilled. One example is the rise and seven-year reign of a world leader variously known as the Antichrist, the Beast,[24] or the Man of Lawlessness.[25]> He will come to power through an alliance of church and state that will bond the whole world together. This alliance is symbolized in Daniel 2 as the ten toes of the statue made of iron and mixed with clay (see The Unshakable Kingdom). The iron is the beast of Revelation 17 and the clay is the woman,[26] an unfaithful bride that has become a harlot. This harlot is also depicted in Revelation 17 as a woman drunk with the wine of her immorality riding on the back of the Beast. She used to be the betrothed Bride of Messiah but has become a harlot by not being faithful to follow the Bridegroom. The description in Revelation 18:2,4 says she has become the dwelling place of every unclean spirit. After the Man of Lawlessness (the Beast) comes into power, he turns on his ally, the harlot, and destroys her with fire in one hour[27] (see A House Divided). After that he will be able to establish his absolute authority over the earth, since the restraint of the harlot’s religious principles will be lifted.

Pray that your flight may not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath; for then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever shall.   — Matthew 24:20-21

Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken, and then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. And He will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other. — Matthew 24:29-31

Messiah can’t just return "any day now". Many things must happen before that Last Day. Not only is His Bride not ready, she hasn’t even been born yet. His people haven’t even been fully formed into a spiritual nation of twelve tribes such as the prophets foretell.[28] The tribes of Jacob have to be raised up, and everything has to be restored that the first-century disciples lost when they left their first love, staining the white garment they had received at their baptism.[29] The pure message that Messiah brought in the beginning has to be proclaimed once again. The witness of the coming Kingdom has to spread to the ends of the earth.[30]

You may wonder why we are writing an article to tell you the Last Day is still a long way off. You may have heard some say that the Bible indicates an unknowable day when Messiah will rapture His people like a thief in the night, at some arbitrary time that is not based on a Bride being prepared ahead of time for Him. But He will not come as a thief in the night to the elect who walk as children of the light.[31]

The Last Day is still a long way off and this fact is part of the good news. Our Master told the story in Luke 14 about two kings who would one day have to face one another in battle.[32] The lesser king with the smaller army considered whether he could stand against the one who was coming. Realizing that he had no hope of resistance, he sent a delegation to ask for terms of peace while the greater king was still far away. He knew that if he waited until the last day to submit, then the conquering king would not be able to trust him.[33]

So this is our message of hope for you — that you would realize that our Master, the Messiah, is the greater king, that He is coming for us, and when He comes for us, He will bring this world and everything that it stands for to its deserved end. There is no hope of resisting Him who conquered death itself. Now, while He is still a long way off, you have the opportunity to meet His terms of peace. If you do, then you will become a part of the we, like us, those who long for His return. Who the we are you can be also.

You can be as the king in Luke 14:31-32 who became (as we all did ourselves) His disciples by doing what all who are His disciples must do in order to belong to Him (verse 33). Only in this way can you become one of us — one of the we in 1 Thessalonians 4:17. Then we (that could include you also),together with all who have gone before us — we will be taken up to meet him in the air, and so shall we ever be with our Master.[34]

What we need to know

The Last Day is the last day of this age. The Last Day is the day the Messiah will return to earth.[35] This day will be the beginning of the age when Messiah will restore the kingdom to Israel.[36] This will be the day when Messiah begins to restore all things, when He begins to rule from His glorious throne on earth.[37] This present evil age comes to an end only when He returns.[38] When a nation produces the fruit of the kingdom He will return and establish His kingdom.[39] This fruit can only be produced when brothers and sisters are allied together in the same cause, working and living together in communion (not in division), standing as one Man, one Body, serving one Master.[40]

It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also make You a light of the nations So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth. — Isaiah 49:6

Messiah will rule here on earth for a thousand years with His people who have become a kingdom and priests.[41] This is His holy nation, the same nation Isaiah prophesied would be restored[42] and the same nation as the commonwealth of Israel that Paul reminded the Ephesians they had been grafted into.[43] This nation is also the wife of the Lamb[44] and the twelve tribes that James wrote to in his epistle.[45] It is the same twelve tribes that Paul spoke of in Acts 26:6-7, who serve God day and night.

It is during Messiah’s thousand-year rule on earth that the promise to Abraham is going to be fulfilled. At this time the promise made to Israel will be fulfilled. Israel will be resurrected. The dry bones of the natural seed will come up from their graves and return to the land of Israel[46] at the same time that the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of our Sovereign Yahshua.[47] At this time the twelve apostles of the Lamb will sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.[48] Thus the promise to Abraham will be fulfilled — to give him the land from the river of Egypt to the great river Euphrates, the whole land of Canaan. Israel will become a powerful nation and bring about all that God promised to Abraham. This will be fulfilled during our Master Yahshua’s millennial reign.[49]

During this thousand years the restoration of all things will come about. Long ago, God promised through His holy prophets that it would happen.[50] The physical land in the Middle East that was promised to Abraham will be restored to Israel at that time. In that day it will be an enemy-free land and all of its inhabitants will dwell there in peace. But before restoration can come in the next age, restoration has to come first to His holy nation in this age[51] — not reformation, not reform, but restoring the very way of life that was in the beginning in Jerusalem after Peter preached on the day of Pentecost.[52] The restoration of His people can be no other way. That means the church can be no other way. The world needs to see the hearts of fathers restored to their children and the hearts of children restored to their fathers.[53] The world must see husbands and wives living together as one, thus restoring families, clans, and tribes to become that holy nation.[54]

The prophet Jeremiah spoke of this restoration of spiritual Israel in this age when God would "restore the fortunes of Jacob’s tents, have mercy on his dwelling places — rebuilding the city on her ruins". It is a time when "their community will be restored". God promised that "at that time" He will be the God of all the families of Israel.[55] The Hebrew word community in this passage from Jeremiah 30:20 is Edah, which means witness. This witness spoken of by the prophet Jeremiah is the same witness spoken of by our Master Yahshua as the sign of the end of the age. So, this witness must be restored as a demonstration to all nations before the end of this present evil age can come.[56]

Jeremiah also prophesied that these restored families who make up this witness, the Edah, the true church, will be the ones who "survive the sword" (i.e., government onslaught), "find favor in the wilderness," and will be "given rest [or relief]." This prophecy is talking about the Edah, the woman who flees to the wilderness,[57] who survives the sword of the Man of Lawlessness and finds relief or rest on the Day our Master Yahshua returns (just as 2 Thessalonians 1:6-10 predicts).

God’s holy nation, the Edah, are the merrymakers and circle dancers,[58] forerunners of that coming age. We are the harbingers in this age who overcome all the spiritual enemies that keep this life from being demonstrated to the world. We put our spiritual enemies under the feet of our Master Yahshua. Once these spiritual enemies have been defeated by the royal priesthood and holy nation in this age,[59] Yahshua will return to establish His Kingdom,[60] and then the land can be restored to the physical descendants of Abraham in the next age. When He comes back, He will punish those who oppressed His restored Edah[61] and will contend with those who contended with them, who are the restored Twelve Tribes of Israel.[62]

This full restoration is what we are living for, which will be carried out by the spiritual nation[63] that is now being raised up in these last days to bring about the LAST DAY.