Adonai had meticulously, through His many voices, told His people (including us today) what to look for  when they sense “the Day” approaching.

 1.  The most notable would be the Appearance of Elijah

Mal. 4   :5       “See I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful

                                    Day of the Lord comes”

 There will also be another herald as will be seen from Mal. 3:1 and Isa. 40:3.  They are found in Rev 11:3, where they are presented after the revoking of the delay.  Who is the other herald? Could it be Enoch, the only other person who did not die? 

 2. Events in the heavenly bodies will indicate the imminence of “The Day…”

Isa.    13 :9       “See the day of the Lord is coming - a cruel day, with wrath and fierce   

                                    anger...” 

                     :10     The stars of heaven and their constellations will not show their light.  The

                                rising sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light.”

Isa.    24 :21     “In that day the Lord will punish the powers in the heavens above and 

                                    the kings on the earth below.

                     :23     The moon will be abashed, the sun ashamed; for the Lord Almighty

                                    will reign on mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before its elders

                                    gloriously” (having come as in Revelation)

Isa.    34 :4       “All the stars of the heavens will be dissolved and the sky rolled up like 

                                    a scroll; all the starry host will fall like withered leaves from the vine...”

                          :8       “For the Lord has a day of vengeance, a year of  retribution to uphold

                                    Zion’s cause.”                     

Joel   2   :30     “I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire

                                    and billows of smoke.

                          :31     The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the

                                    coming of the great and dreadful ”day of the Lord.”

Joel   3   :14     ….For the Day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.

                          :15     The sun and moon will be darkened, and the stars no longer shine.

Mat.24:29; Mark 13:24

                        “Immediately after the distress of those days

                                    the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light;

                                    the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be

                                    shaken” (quoting Isa 13:10; 34:4)                    

Rev.  6   :12     “I watched as he opened the sixth seal.  There was a great earthquake.

                                    The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole

                                    moon turned blood red

                          :13     and the stars in the sky fell to earth…”

                          :17     “For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand it?”

 There is clearly great consistency in this expectation.  What could cause such visual, cataclysmic effects?  Rev. here tells of a huge earthquake.  Zech. 14:4,5 also speak of such an earthquake at the time of “the Day”, which is well described in chapters 12-14.  It could be the result of a tsunami-like volcanic eruption with the skies being clouded by volcanic ash as at the eruption of  Pinatubo and Krakatau.  Possibly an eruption of the Yellowstone Caldera which threatens 70% of the United states.  It could be a giant meteorite strike.  Or it could be a nuclear holocaust.  It has not happened and we are still living in the times of the first five seals of  Rev.6, which is a mirror image of  Jesus’s prophetic discourse of  Math. 24, as copied from its source in Mark 13.

 The important point here is that the Yeshua of the Prophetic Sermon radically differs from and repudiates his biographers, who had him introduced by a “Day of the Lord’s Elijah figure”.  Yeshua clearly saw “the Day” and, consequently, the kingdom of Israel, somewhere in the distant, unknown future.  This is confirmed by his answer to the question in this regard;

Acts. 1   :6       “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom of  Israel?

                          :7       He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times and dates the    

                                    Father has set by His own authority”.

 The major question that this study has to deal with is: Why would the Gospel writers insist that “the Day” had come, insist that Yahweh had come, presented an Elijah figure in John the Baptist (on whose identity they also differ, as shall be seen) to facilitate their understanding?

Their position is therefore that the kingdom of Israel had been restored - despite the denial of Jesus.  This “kingdom” has since evolved into a “spiritual kingdom”, which is the Gentile Church.  This happened at the expense of Covenant Israel, resulting in all the anti–Semitic undertones inherent to Replacement Theology.  Replacement Theology is the replacement of Covenant Israel by the Church, who believe that they, as “Spiritual Israel”, are the recipients of the final fulfilment of the prophetic promises of Israel, at the apparent failure of the latter.  As though Yom Yahweh had fully come.  Yet the Yeshua of the Prophetic Sermon, the response of Acts 1:7 and confirmation by the seals of Revelation – as presented by the Lamb of God - puts it in the future.  To the endless confusion of mankind.    

 The Gentile Church has failed to recognise the “Delay” and has been misled into usurping Israel’s kingdom for itself - prematurely.  It has been forced to engage in the process of Allegory (Spiritualising of literal Scripture).  Allegory was developed by Augustine in an effort to explain away Covenant Israel, to be replaced by “Spiritual Israel” - the Church - which has become the recipient of the great promises of Israel at the apparent failure and absence of Israel and the demise of her land, city and temple.  In his great work, “The City of God”, Augustine defines Allegory as “the art of finding the spiritual meaning behind  literal scripture” and comes to the most fantastic conclusions, eg;

 The Vulgate (Latin translation) of  1 Sam.15:23-28 has this to say;

                   “I will take the kingdom of Israel from your hand and give it to one

                    better than you.”

 This is a simple statement of Samuel to Saul, informing him that David is going to succeed him,   

which  has been translated in the Septuagint (Greek translation) to read;

                   “I will take the kingdom from Israel from your hand and give it to

                    one better than you”.

 Augustine comes to the profound conclusion that God had already, at the time of Saul and David, told the world that He was going to take the “kingdom” away from Israel and give it to the Church.  The world has been held captive by this notion ever since - the result of the premature advent of “The Day…” by the Gospel writers.

 Furthermore, in Volume XVII of “The City of God”, he makes numerous outrageous statements of Replacement Theology - all related to the original error.  He calls the Church “the Heavenly or Spiritual City” and Israel “the Carnal or Earthly City”, which is destined to disappear.  Another contentious conclusion is what he terms “Prophecies of Transformation”, which he says predict the demise of the Levitical Priesthood, to be replaced by the High Priesthood of Melchizedek (as found in the rogue Letter to the Hebrews, which is virulently anti-Torah).  This despite Yahweh clearly stating his unbreakable and unchanging Covenant with the Levites to always have a man presenting sacrifices before Him (Jer.33:17-22).  We will show how the High Priesthood of Mechizedek (residing in the Conquering Messiah) and the Levitical High Priesthood (residing in the House of Zadok) will co-exist in the Post Yom Yahweh kingdom of Israel.  No.  The Melchizedek Priesthood will not replace the Levitical Priesthood, but will compliment it.

And so it appears as though Augustine was also a victim of the error of Yom Yahweh - just like the rest of us. 

Appropriation of Yom Yahweh requires the evidence of its preceding signs as described.  The authors of the Synoptic Gospels believed that Yom Yahweh  had come.  Why?  We will have to find out.  They had to find the evidence.  And they found it in one John the Baptist, who became adopted as the Elijah figure.  None of the other preceding signs materialised and they are placed in the distant unknown future by the  Prophetic Sermon and by the sixth seal of Revelation.  This “Elijah” figure would, of necessity, introduce Yom Yahweh and, consequently Yahweh Himself as our next chapter will reveal.  John’s Gospel, however, denies the John the Baptist / Elijah scenario, as will be seen.  This Gospel of John then introduces Yahweh, apparently without Yom Yahweh having come, which is an Eschatological position with no prophetic foundation.

 The main contributor to the John the Baptist / Elijah identity is Luke, who devotes his entire first chapter to this matter.  It is then this “Elijah” figure who introduces Yahweh - obviously in the Yom Yaweh - and calls Him Jesus.  This introduction of Elijah / Yahweh / Jesus will be thoroughly dealt with.  It will be seen why Luke found it necessary to find an Elijah figure to compliment the initial introduction of Yahweh by Mark, whose Gospel was the first and used, as source, material by Luke and Matthew.