The Most Prophesied Event In Scripture

Notice the Lord’s step-by-step chronological explanation:

1. Immediately after the great tribulation is shortened the heavenly wonders occur (Matthew 24:21, 29)

(The entire planet is miraculously darkened)

2. Then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven.

(The entire planet is miraculously illuminated by His "great [Shekinah] glory")

3. And then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn.

4. They shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven.

5. And He shall send His angels

6. With a great sound of a trumpet.

7. They shall gather together His elect (rapture).

Mark also records this most significant sequence of prophetic events:

“But in those days after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. And then shall He send His angels, and shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.” (Mark 13:24-27)

Luke, too, tells of these future signs in each of the books he wrote:

“And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars… And I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke: The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come.”

(Luke 21:25; Acts 2:19, 20)

John’s record of these supernatural events provides additional detailed information:

“And I beheld when He had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casts her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.” (Revelation 6:12, 13)

While these passages focus upon the sign that occurs before the Day of the Lord, ultimately indicating this sign’s prominence in the Lord’s end times plan, this is only the sign that precedes His Coming and wrath-filled Day of the Lord judgment.

This major prophetic sign and its global effects are referred to in at least fourteen different Bible passages: (Isaiah 5:30, 13:10, 24:23; Ezekiel 32:7, 8; Joel 2:2, 10, 30-31; Amos 1:18; 8: 9; Zephaniah 1:15; Matthew 24:29; Mark 13:24, 25; Luke 21:25; Acts 2:20; Revelation 6:12, 13).

The Biblical importance of this event [the sign of the Day of the Lord/Coming of Christ] is clear, for it is the key to understanding the unfolding chronology of the end times as it is the sign that occurs “after” the great tribulation (Matthew 24:29), and just “before” (Joel 2:30, 31) “the same day” (Luke 17:29) beginning of the Day of the Lord which is initiated by the Second Coming of Christ (Matthew 24:30, 31) to rescue His elect by rapture.

The Day of the Lord is thoroughly described in the seven trumpet plagues (Revelation 8-11), the seven vial plagues (Revelation 15, 16), the destruction of Babylon (Revelation 17, 18) and the culminating battle of Armageddon (Revelation 19:11-21).