When Messiah Descends To Visit Jerusalem, His Temple and the World

The Day of Visitation is clearly foretold in Scriptures--the day of appointment when Messiah will stand up in anger and descend in the cloak of darkness to set His feet upon the earth to punish Israel and the world for their many sins.  The Day of Visitation begins the Day of the Lord events, but this day occurs a short time before the second coming of Christ with all His saints.  The Day of Atonement signifies this moment in the future when the Temple doors will be swung open and the seven angels will emerge with God's wrath (Revelation 15:5-8).  The Seventh Angel sounds [for the "last shall be first"--Matthew 19:30] and great voices in Heaven will proclaim, "The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever," Revelation 11:15.   

The prophet John notes that "the nations were angry, and Thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that Thou shouldest give reward unto Thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth. And the Temple of God was opened in Heaven, and there was seen in His Temple the Ark of His Testament [with the Ten Commandments] and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail," Revelation 11:18-19.

"At that time shall Michael [Messiah] stand up, the Great Prince which standeth for the children of thy people [Israel]: and there shall be a time of trouble [Great Tribulation], such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time Thy people shall be delivered, everyone found written in the book, and many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake [resurrection], some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt," Daniel 12:1-2.

Many Old Testament prophets wrote of this day including Micah, Joel, Amos, Malachi, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Hosea, Zephaniah and Zechariah:

"The earth feared and was still [silent--Isaiah 41:1; 47:1, 5; Habakkuk 2:19-20; 3:1-16; Zephaniah 1:4, 7, 12; Zechariah 2:13] when God arose to judgment, to save all the meek of the earth [Daniel 12:1].  Thou hast with Thine arm [Daniel 12:7] redeemed Thy people. The voice of Thy thunder was in the heaven: the lightnings lightened the world: the earth trembled and shook [Revelation 11:15-19]. Thy way is in the sea, and Thy path in the great waters, and Thy footsteps are not known [darkness prevails]," Psalms 76:8-9; 77:18-19.  

"I will pass through [visit] thee, saith the Lord. Woe unto you that desire the Day of the Lord! to what end is it for you? The Day of the Lord is darkness and not light. Shall not the Day of the Lord be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it? I hate, I despise your feast days . . . your solemn assemblies [such as the Day of Atonement--Yom Kippur]," Amos 5:18, 20, 21.

"Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound the alarm in my holy mountain [on the Feast of Trumpet--Rosh Ha-Shanah]: 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 . . . there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it . . . The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining: and the Lord shall utter His voice [with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel]," Joel 2:1-2, 10-11.

"Multitudes, multitudes in the Valley of Decision [Ten Days of Awe between Rosh Ha-Shanah and Yom Kippur]; 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. The Lord shall roar out of Zion and utter His voice from Jerusalem [with a mighty shout], and the heavens and the earth shall shake [in a mighty earthquake]: but the Lord will be the hope of His people [great multitude], and the strength of the children of Israel [144,000]," Joel 3:14-16.

"I will send My messenger [Elijah], and he shall prepared the way before Me [for 1260 days]: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His Temple, even the Messenger [Angel of the Lord--Michael] of the Covenant [Ten Commandments], whom ye [Israel] delight in: behold He shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. But who may abide the Day of His coming [Day of the Lord]?" Malachi 3:1-2.

"The end of all things is at hand . . . Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy ... for the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God [in Jerusalem, with Christianity, then beyond]; and if it begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God," 1 Peter 4:7, 12, 13, 17.  Peter adds that our conversation should be honest that "by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the Day of Visitation," 1 Peter 2:12.

"We have also a sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed [obey]; as a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the Day Star arise," 2 Peter 1:19.

"The Lord cometh forth out of His place, and will come down, and tread upon the high places of the earth. And the mountains shall be molten under Him, and the valleys shall be cleft, as wax before the fire, and as the waters that are poured down a steep place . . . and all the graven images thereof shall be beatened to pieces . . . for it is come unto Judah; He is come unto the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem," Micah 1:3, 4, 7, 9.

"Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it.  They then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlot's houses.  Shall I not visit for these things? saith the Lord: and shall not My soul be avenged on such a nation as this?" Jeremiah 5:1, 7, 9

"O ye children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet.  Prepare ye war against her; arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe unto us! for the day goeth away, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out [darkness]. Arise, and let us go by night, and let us destroy her palaces. For thus hath the Lord of hosts said, Hew ye down trees, and cast a mount against Jerusalem: this is the city to be visited," Jeremiah 6:1; 4-6.

"They [wicked leaders] have healed also the hurt of the daughter of My people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace. Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? Nay, they were not at all shamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall; at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the Lord.  In the [appointed] time of their visitation they shall be cast down, saith the Lord,.  Shall I not visit them for these things? saith the Lord: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?  And I will make Jerusalem heaps, and a den of dragons; and I will make the cities of Judah desolate without an inhabitant," Jeremiah 6:14-15; 8:12; 9:9. 11.

"And there shall be no remnant of them: for I will bring evil upon the men of Anathoth [priests], even the [Jubilee] Year of their visitation," Jeremiah 11:23.