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As I concluded in part two, because Jesus' public ministry was marked by love, mercy, forgiveness and compassion, and NOT by severe judgment, chastisement and destruction, this could not be "the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD" that the Prophet Malachi wrote about. Let me also remind you that Malachi wrote that the Prophet Elijah -- meaning John the Baptist -- would appear in Israel "BEFORE the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD". In other words, John's appearance did NOT signify the arrival of that dreadful day of the Lord. It was simply a precursor to it. You will understand the significance of this point as we continue our examination of the Scriptures.

At any rate, it is due to the fact that Jesus' ministry was NOT marked by severe judgment, chastisement and destruction, that I am personally convinced that Malachi's words are in reality a prophetic warning of what actually occurred in 70 AD when Jerusalem and the temple compound were destroyed by Roman general Titus and his legions. Please notice that the Prophet Malachi writes "lest I come and smite the earth with a curse".

Why would the Lord do this? As I explain in some of my other articles, because many of the Jews did NOT repent due to the preaching of John the Baptist, and they in fact killed their own Savior. Thus, God poured out His wrath on Israel by way of the terrible events which transpired in 70 AD. And truly, that was indeed a "great and dreadful day of the LORD". If you doubt that this was so, then please continue reading this series, and I will provide clear, undeniable evidence of what I am stating here.

Thus far in this series, we have examined the writings of seven major and minor Prophets who used the phrase "day of the Lord". These seven Prophets are Amos, Ezekiel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Malachi, Obadiah, and Zephaniah. In all seven of these cases, the phrase is used to describe a fulfilled prophecy which occurred in the distant past. None of what they wrote has anything to do with our modern times, no matter what anyone tries to tell you.

The next Prophet who we are going to study is Zechariah. As we did with the previous Prophets of the Old Testament era, we can find out exactly when Zechariah lived and prophesied, simply by reading the opening verses of his book. Consider these verses:

"In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying, The LORD hath been sore displeased with your fathers. Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye unto me, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets have cried, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings: but they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, saith the LORD. Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever?"


What is most important to our current discussion is exactly when Zechariah lived and prophesied, because it will help us to understand his prophecies in their proper context, and place them in the right time frame. From the previous group of verses, we can determine that Zechariah began prophesying during the second year of the reign of Darius.

As I point out in other articles, the succession of the Medo-Persian kings is rather confusing. In fact there are conflicting views amongst historians. This confusion is due to the fact that these kings were known by different names by different cultures. To complicate the situation further, there were a number of different Medo-Persian rulers by the name of Darius, Ahasuerus and Artaxerxes. Concerning our current discussion, the Darius we see mentioned in the Book of Zechariah is believed to be Darius I, who was also known as Darius the Great. He was the third "King of Kings" of the Achaemenid Empire, and ruled from about 522-486 BC. His name in Persian was somewhat like Darryoosh or Dayara-Vahusha.

The key piece of information which we need to extract from all of this historical data is that unlike Prophets such as Jeremiah and Ezekiel who lived and prophesied before and during the final invasion by the Babylonians which resulted in the destruction of the city of Jerusalem and the temple compound in 587 BC, as well as during the Seventy Years of Captivity which followed that invasion, Zechariah lived and prophesied at the conclusion of those events during what is commonly referred to as the post-exilic period.

Why is it important to know this? Because in the following verses where he says "the day of the LORD cometh", and then describes the invasion of Jerusalem, and the enslavement of half of the Jerusalemites, he is NOT describing the events that occurred in 587 BC, or about seventy years before the time of his prophecies. He is in fact describing a FUTURE invasion of Jerusalem, when the Jews were once again taken into captivity. In other words, similar to Malachi, he seems to be prophesying about the 70 AD event when Jerusalem and the temple compound were destroyed for the second time by Roman general Titus and his legions, along with his local allies, including King Herod. Consider the following group of verses:

"Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. 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 half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee."


Besides the explanation I have already offered, allow me to share two more interesting points with you. Notice how the previous set of verses state that the Mount of Olives splits in the middle. Are you aware of the fact that quite a few years ago, Holiday Inn had intentions of constructing one of their famous hotels on the summit of the Mount of Olives? However, the project never came to fruition, because a fault line was discovered running right through the mount. Now how did that fault line get there? Do the previous verses provide us with the answer?

Now, some of my Futurist-leaning readers might be thinking to themselves, "Now wait a minute there, Bill! Those verses clearly describe Jesus descending and standing on the Mount of Olives!" Yes, my friends, they do indeed. Well if you're wondering how that can possibly be, then I invite you to read my seven-part series entitled "Jesus Christ's Return: Have We Been Deceived?". I urge you to strap yourself in, because it is some pretty heavy meat to chew! You will find it listed at the end of this same series.

The second point I want to share with you regarding those verses from Zechariah concerns the fact that the Prophet Zechariah warns the Jerusalemites to flee to the mountains. Does that sound familiar to you? It should, because it is the very same warning that Jesus gave to His disciples when He told them about the coming destruction of Jerusalem and the temple compound in 70 AD. John the Baptist spoke of it as well. Is all of this starting to click together for you yet? Consider the following group of verses:

"But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?"


"When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened."


"But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains: And let him that is on the housetop not go down into the house, neither enter therein, to take any thing out of his house: And let him that is in the field not turn back again for to take up his garment. But woe to them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! And pray ye that your flight be not in the winter. For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be. And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved: but for the elect's sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days."


"Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?"


"And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto. For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people."


So it seems to me that Zechariah, John the Baptist and Jesus are all talking about the same wrath of God to come in 70 AD when another "day of the Lord" arrived, and severe judgment, chastisement and destruction was meted out to the unbelieving Jews. Amazing, isn't it? As we have seen multiple times now, every time that dreadful phrase is used, the result is always the same, and the prophecy is fulfilled.

The final Prophet from the Old Testament period who we're now going to discuss is the Prophet Joel. Now one problem that we encounter when trying to decipher exactly when Joel lived, is the fact that unlike all of the other Prophets whom we have discussed, Joel isn't too forthcoming regarding any kings who ruled during his lifetime. In fact, he doesn't mention any at all. As a result, scholars have debated for years concerning exactly when the time of his prophesying occurred. Some place Joel in the 9th century BC, meaning that he may possibly have been a contemporary of the Prophet Isaiah. Now one reason why certain scholars place him in the 9th centry BC is due to the similarity between the following two verses, one written by Joel, and the other by the Prophet Amos:

"The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel."


"And he said, The LORD will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither."


As we learned in part two of this series, it appears that the Prophet Amos lived and prophesied around 750 BC. That is to say, about one hundred and seventy years before the fall of Jerusalem to the armies of Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, and only a few decades before the northern kingdom of Israel and its capital, Samaria, was conquered by the Assyrian kings Tiglath-Pileser III and Shalmaneser V.

A second reason why some scholars suggest that Joel lived in the 9th century BC, and possibly around the time of Isaiah, is because both Joel and Amos mention a plague of palmerworm, grasshoppers and locusts. According to the original Hebrew words which are used in the verses below, the Brown, Driver, Briggs, Gesenius Hebrew Aramaic English Lexicon indicates that these are all referring to locusts:

"That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten."


"And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you."


"I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the palmerworm devoured them: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD."


"Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me; and, behold, he formed grasshoppers in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and, lo, it was the latter growth after the king's mowings. And it came to pass, that when they had made an end of eating the grass of the land, then I said, O Lord GOD, forgive, I beseech thee: by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small. The LORD repented for this: It shall not be, saith the LORD."


While these literary similarities seem to support the opinion that the Prophet Joel may have lived and prophesied during the 9th century BC, not everyone agrees with this. I tend to agree with them and likewise view the previous verses as weak evidence for supporting that position. As I point out in the series entitled "The Fruits of Disobedience", due to their long history of stubbornness, rebellion and disobedience, the Lord frequently punished the Israelites via foreign invasions, famines, pestilences, plagues, etc. That being the case, Amos and Joel could very well have been describing two entirely different plagues of locusts.

In fact, there are other scholars who place Joel in either the 5th or the 4th century BC. If this is indeed the case, then similar to Zechariah, Joel lived and prophesied well after the three Babylonian invasions and the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple compound in 587 BC, and after the Seventy Years of Captivity had been completed. So what this means is that in the verses we will now be discussing, Joel is describing another destruction of Jerusalem in the future from his perspective, and NOT the one that occurred in 587 BC. We find evidence that his prophecies describe a future event in the following group of verses.

"The word of the LORD that came to Joel the son of Pethuel. Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers? Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation . . . Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come."


Notice that Joel clearly advises them to tell their children, so that they can then tell their children, and so that those children can likewise tell their children, meaning the great grandchildren. In other words, he is warning them of an event that's yet to come, and he wants to make sure that the future generations are aware of what is coming. Joel is saying that this day of the Lord which will result in destruction, has not arrived yet, as is evidenced by the fact that he says "shall it come", which is future tense.

One reason why we know that his prophecies concern the land of Judah and Jerusalem, is because in both chapter two and chapter three of his book, Joel mentions Zion, Jerusalem, and Judah multiple times. Consider this set of Bible verses:

"And it shall come to pass, ‭that‭ whosoever shall call‭‭ on the name‭ of the LORD‭ shall be delivered‭‭: for in mount‭ Zion‭ and in Jerusalem‭ shall be deliverance‭, as the LORD‭ hath said‭‭, and in the remnant‭ whom the LORD‭ shall call‭‭."


"For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem . . . The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border . . . The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel. So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more . . . Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land. But Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation."


Even though we may not know with 100% certainty exactly when Joel lived, or even precisely where he lived, as I read his book, I noticed certain sign posts or hints, which I believe precisely reveal which coming destructive event he was really writing about. To begin with, consider the following group of Bible verses:

"Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth. For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion."


"Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand; A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations . . . And the LORD shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?"


"And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. And I will shew 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 great and the terrible day of the LORD come."


"I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land. Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining."


So, now, let us decipher a few key hints which are found in the previous group of verses. First of all, who is the great army which God anoints to descend upon Jerusalem in order to mete out His judgment, chastisement and destruction? In the first group of verses above, we find an answer. As you can see, this army is described as having "the teeth of a lion" and "the cheek teeth of a great lion". As I explain in some of my other articles, the Prophet Daniel, who lived in the generation just prior to Joel -- and who may possibly have still been alive -- also wrote about a great empire which he described as having "great iron teeth". Consider this verse:

"After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns."


Many Bible scholars agree -- and I agree as well -- that the chronological historical record confirms that this empire, which Daniel also describes as being divided into a western portion and an eastern portion -- the two legs -- was in fact the Roman empire. Thus, Joel is describing how in the years to come, the Roman armies would sweep down into Israel, under the leadership of General Titus -- who was the son of Emperor Vespasian, and a future emperor himself -- and eventually arrive at Jerusalem, and destroy it and the temple compound.

Now, if an old Prophet Daniel was still alive at the time of Joel, then it seems quite natural to me that Joel would in fact describe Rome in a similar fashion to Daniel. Just as Joel was probably aware of Daniel's writings, Daniel in turn was also familiar with the writings of the Prophet Jeremiah as well. In fact, we know that Daniel came to understand how long the Jewish captivity in Babylon would last, by reading Jeremiah's prophetic writings, as is evidenced by this verse:

"In the first year of his [Darius] reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem."


So again, Joel has provided us with a big hint regarding who this future invading, conquering army would be. Now before we look at our next hint, let me interject another important point. You will notice that in the previous group of verses from the Book of Joel, the Prophet refers to the army as the Lord's army. Why does Joel do this? I can think of two good reasons. First of all, as I have explained a number of times before -- such as in the series "The Fruits of Disobedience" -- throughout Biblical history, the Lord has used the armies of foreign nations as His tools of chastisement against the Israelites. In fact, in the case of the Babylonians, in the Book of Jeremiah, God referred to King Nebuchadnezzar as "my servant", because the king was fulfilling God's Will by invading Israel. This is evident in the following verses:

"Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the LORD, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations."


"And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him."


"Then came the word of the LORD unto Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying, Take great stones in thine hand, and hide them in the clay in the brickkiln, which is at the entry of Pharaohs house in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah; And say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will set his throne upon these stones that I have hid; and he shall spread his royal pavilion over them. And when he cometh, he shall smite the land of Egypt, and deliver such as are for death to death; and such as are for captivity to captivity; and such as are for the sword to the sword."


Please go to part four for the conclusion of this series.

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