"Jehovah Elohay" : The Day of the Lord
In the 14th chapter of the prophetic book of Zechariah, the Day of the Lord is described. The prophet saw through his prophetic eyes the end of the worldly rule by the rulers of this world and the establishment of the Kingdom of Christ over all the earth. “Behold, the day of the Lord is coming”, shouts the prophet. Verses 2 to 5 speak about the battle of all the nations against Jerusalem, and the Lord’s fight against these nations. “Thus the Lord my God will come and all the saints with You”, proclaims the prophet. Who is going to come along with the saints? His Name is revealed as “the Lord my God” i.e. “Jehovah Elohay” in Hebrew. Who is this “my God”? He is the Lord Jesus Christ who is going to come again along with the saints. Christ the Word was not only with God but also was God Himself (John 1:1). The prophet proclaims in verse 9, “And the Lord shall be King over all the earth.” Christ is going to return to this world as the King of Kings.
Another historic event that will take place before the Lord’s second advent is the manifestation and rule of the Antichrist. The Antichrist is revealed in the visions of Daniel very clearly as follows:
VISION OF FOUR GREAT BEASTS
Please read Daniel 7:15-28. He is “the other horn” of the ten horns on the head of the fourth beast, which was different from all the others, exceedingly dreadful. Its teeth of iron and its nails of bronze devoured, broke in pieces and trampled the residue with its feet. It had eyes and a mouth, which spoke pompous words.
In this regard, please take note of a glaring fact that this horn “was making war against the saints, and prevailing against them, until the Ancient of Days came and a judgment was made in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the time came for the saints to possess the Kingdom”.
This horn, a king, will arise from amongst the kingdom of the ten kings. He will be different from the first ones. He will speak pompous words against the Most High, and will persecute the saints of the Most High. The cardinal point to be noted here is that he will prevail against the saints till the time of the coming of the Lord.
VISION OF A RAM AND A GOAT
Please read Daniel 8:1-27. He is “a little horn” which grew up to the host of heaven, and which cast down some of the host and some of the stars to the ground, and trampled them. This little horn will trample some of the saints of God who are seated with Christ in the heavenly places. He will be a king, having fierce features and understands sinister schemes. His power will be mighty, but not by his own power. This means he will derive his power from the Devil. He will destroy the mighty, and also the holy people and will even rise against the Prince of princes. But he will be broken without human means. The Lord will consume him with the breath of His mouth and will destroy him with the brightness of His coming (II Thes.1: 7-8).
He will make war against the people of God and will prevail against them. He will persecute them. He will act deceitfully and will become strong with a small number of people (Dan.11: 23). But the people who know their God shall be strong and carry out great exploits (Dan.11: 32).
When the disciples of Jesus asked Jesus to tell them the sign of His coming and of the end of the age, Jesus warned them, “Take heed that no one deceives you” (Matt.24: 3-4). He also warned them of many false prophets and false Christs who would deceive “many” and would show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect (Matt.24: 24). If the people of God are to be deceived through the false prophets and false Christs, this can be possible through certain doctrines, which would adulterate the truths of the Bible in a subtle manner and through great signs and wonders. We find that many preachers quote the Bible from one angle only in the same manner as the Devil quoted the Word from one angle while tempting Jesus in the wilderness. The false prophets have already sown seeds of false doctrines in our fields.
Every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world (I John 4:1-3). Any person, who preaches that Jesus Christ is only a great social reformer or a crusader against the evil, and that Jesus Christ was not manifested in the flesh, is of the spirit of the Antichrist.
How are you prepared to face the Antichrist when he wages a war against you? We should not underestimate the power of the enemy in a war. We should be prepared for the war against our enemy with our own strategy but with the power of the Lord of hosts. The spirit of the Antichrist is already at work. He has already started influencing the Christian nations to obliterate the Name of the Most High. The governments of this world are awaiting a world ruler for ushering in peace into this tumultuous world.
Jehovah Elohay is with us. He is also known as the Lord of hosts. He is equipping God’s people with His armoury to fight against the false prophets, the false teachers and the false christs.
- Job Anbalagan