The book of Revelation is a time frame of all Bible prophecy. The Father Himself revealed it to Christ, who gave it to John, who passed it on to us. This message comes from the highest level! You will receive incredible blessings if you hear and keep the truth contained in the book of Revelation (Revelation 1:3).

“And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen” (verse 6). What a future awaits us if we will just hear and keep these words!

The Theme of the Book

“I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet” (Revelation 1:10). A single verse thunders to us the theme of this book: the gloomy Day of the Lord. Yet people stumble over this verse—causing them to misunderstand the entire message!

Many Bible skeptics and churchgoers alike are confused by the word “day” here. This is not about a particular day of the week, like Saturday or Sunday. In Bible prophecy, a day is equal to a year (Ezekiel 4:6). Revelation 1:10 and over 30 other prophecies mention the terrible Day of the Lord that will decisively conclude this age! The Prophet Zephaniah says this time is hastening greatly, or exceedingly!

“Therefore their goods shall become a booty, and their houses a desolation: they shall also build houses, but not inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, but not drink the wine thereof. The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly” (Zephaniah 1:13-14).

Notice the phrase “the voice.” The Bible is a lot more specific than people think. A Zephaniah type is delivering a strong warning about the Day of the Lord today. To understand Bible prophecy and, really, the entire Bible, we need to discern where that man is.

“The voice” precedes the arrival of the Day of the Lord, which is now speeding toward us as fast as a rocket launching into space.

To grasp the entire book of Revelation, we must have a clear understanding of Revelation 1:10.

No More Delay

“And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven, And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer” (Revelation 10:5-6).

“Time no longer” should be “no more delay.” A specific event took place that caused world events to speed up rapidly. What was it?

“And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him” (Revelation 12:9).

After Herbert W. Armstrong’s death on Jan. 16, 1986, God cast down Satan and confined him to this Earth. Satan and his demons are no longer free to roam the universe, so they have been creating chaos in this world like mankind has never seen before!

The first thing Satan did was derail God’s Church. “The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see. O Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save! Why dost thou shew me iniquity [or lawlessness], and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention” (Habakkuk 1:1-3).

The phrase: “There are that raise up strife and contention” should be “there is he that raises up strife and contention.” Once again, the Bible gets very specific. Satan used one man to defile God’s Bride! God says this is a sign that the Day of the Lord hastens greatly!

Meanwhile, another man is applying and practicing what God says (verse 4). Despite 95 percent of God’s people turning away, a loyal remnant stood up to the rebellious leadership, and God worked a double wonder miracle for that remnant in a court case. “Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvellously: for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you” (verse 5). This is all thoroughly explained in my free booklet on Habakkuk.

This miracle is another sign that the Day of the Lord is coming exceedingly fast upon us. God wants us to see what He is doing on this Earth and be inspired! Don’t focus on the insane actions of leaders in this world. God continues to work wondrous miracles—He resurrected His own little remnant and raised up another work after His own Bride destroyed it. This should fill all of us with inspiration!

The Day of the Lord

Starting with the Great Tribulation—2½ years of Satan’s wrath—the world will suffer for 3½ years. Here’s how the Great Tribulation begins: “For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwellingplaces that are not theirs” (Habakkuk 1:6).

The Holy Roman Empire has caused so much damage and killed so many people in its past six resurrections. The seventh and final resurrection is almost here! Led by a great false church, Germany and a united 10-nation Europe, it will vie for world domination one last time!

“That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers. And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung” (Zephaniah 1:15-17).

The Day of the Lord and the Great Tribulation are a time of judgment, distress, alarm and rivers of bloodshed! You can find terrifying prophecies about this in both the Old and New Testaments.

Here is what I wrote in the Habakkuk booklet: “Weapons of mass destruction are proliferating rapidly; terrorist groups are arming for religious war; the nations of Israel are collapsing morally, and will soon collapse economically, politically and militarily. Meanwhile, Europe is quickly moving toward a full-scale resurrection of its imperial past. The Middle East is ready to explode and drag the whole world into the deadly morass. And God asks, ‘[W]hy will ye die, O house of Israel?’ (Ezekiel 33:11). Nations are going to die if we don’t wake up and heed God’s warning!”

Look around. Russia is conquering parts of other nations. China is unexpectedly allying itself with Russia and displaying similar aggression in the South China Sea and other areas of Asia. Germany is being flooded with Syrian refugees and dealing with a financial crisis on the Continent. Iran is racing toward the nuclear bomb. The Gentile powers are asserting themselves now much more than in 1995 when I wrote about this!

Man’s governments today think they are better off without God. They go their own way, which leads them to the brink of nuclear annihilation! (Matthew 24:21-22). The Day of the Lord is all about Jesus Christ supernaturally intervening in this end time. He will plague the nations, pass judgments for their sins, and crush them forever!

The Good News

We must look beyond these earthshaking events to the wonderful vision encompassing it all. We need this vision to be able to see past the terrible plagues that are about to come upon this Earth. Unless men do some repenting, they’re going to have to experience that.

The book of Revelation and many other prophecies describe the Day of the Lord in detail. It is coming. But the good news is this: Once Christ topples the governments of man, He will return and set up His own Kingdom on this Earth, which will bring joy and happiness forever and ever. That’s the inspiring conclusion to this dreadful day of God’s wrath.