A key question to consider is this… does the term the “day of the Lord” cover the entire 7-yr. period of the Tribulation or just the 2^nd half or just from the 6^th seal onward as some say? The first half of the Tribulation – the first 3-1/2 years will bring judgments that seem somewhat the norm in that we have always had earthquakes, Tsunami, and volcanic disasters, wars, droughts, famine, and death; but these judgements will be more frequent and severe than is common. These will be the result of “The Lamb of God,” the “Lion of Judah, [Jesus Christ]” opening the FIRST FOUR of THE SEVEN SEALS, which summons forth four beings that ride out on the White, Red, Black, and Pale horses of the Apocalypse. This occurs well BEFORE the Sixth Seal and they bring great death. The four riders are seen as symbolizing Conquest, WAR among nations and peoples, Famine, and Death, respectively. Just consider the “Pale Horse.”

Revelation 6:8 And I looked, and behold a PALE HORSE: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.

Some say only the 2^nd half of the Tribulation is “the Day of the Lord’s wrath.” Well, certainly these first four ‘seals’ found in Revelation 6, the DEADLY 4 Horsemen judgments, which are God Ordained are part of the FIRST half of “the day of the Lord,” His “vengeance” as “the wrath of God.”

A certain and serious sign just AFTER the Rapture and just prior to the revealing of the Antichrist will be the religious Apostasy we see today will come to full, it’s the “falling away” of the ‘church at large.’ Then will appear “the False [religious] Prophet” in support and affirmation of the Antichrist being revealed when Antichrist signs a 7-year covenant to protect Israel. Being already Raptured, Christian grace believers will not see the FULL Apostasy of the church, nor the “False Prophet,” or the ‘Antichrist’ to be revealed.

The 2^nd half “Great Tribulation” period brings Inordinate, Extraordinary Supernatural Judgments upon the whole world; NUCLEAR war, Wormwood asteroids striking the earth, great pestilence, famine, etc.

“And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth. Zechariah 14:12 (KJV)

Also note that the present ‘tempering influence of the Holy Spirit’ who indwells the individual members of “the body of Christ” today will be removed by the Rapture, thus Permitting “the man of sin [Antichrist]” to reign as he wills.

Notice below how Paul writes assuredly to anxious grace believers, making clear that “the day of Christ” had NOT arrived (vs 1-2). There had been False Reports [fake news] that the believers at that time had missed the Rapture and that the judgments of “the day of Christ” were now upon them. No! Paul says, their sufferings were the normal Christian persecution that the believers of all ages may endure. So, Paul gives them some indication of what Must Occur First, BEFORE the judgments of the “day of the Christ.”

2 Thes. 2:1-8 Now we beseech you, … by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him [at Rapture], ² That ye [believers] be NOT soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by [untrue] letter [circulating] as [though it was] from us, as [saying] that “the day of Christ” is [already] at hand.

So, there were those back in the 1^st century who were speaking of future events (the tribulation, the 2^nd coming. the resurrection and so on) as Though They Had Already Taken Place. This is precisely what many are doing today. And the result today is the same as in the 1^st century: “they upset the faith of some” (2 Tim. 2:18). The hearers were having their faith “shaken” or “disturbed” (2 Thess. 2:2). So, Paul goes on in 2 Thess. 2;

³ Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day [of the Lord] shall NOT come, except [UNTIL] there come (a wholesale) Falling Away FIRST [APOSTASY of the so-called ‘church at large’ as we see today], and [THEN] that ‘man of sin’ [Antichrist] be revealed, the son of perdition (Antichrist); ⁴ Who opposeth [God] and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that He As God Sitteth In The Temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. ⁵ Remember ye not, that, when I [Paul] was yet with you, I told you these things?

⁶ And now ye know what [The Holy Spirit] withholdeth [restrains] that he [Antichrist] might Be Revealed in His Time.

 ⁷ For the mystery of iniquity doth already work [in Paul’s day]: only he [the Holy Spirit] who now letteth will let, UNTIL he [the Holy Spirit] be taken out of the way [by the Rapture of the body of Christ].

⁸ And THEN shall that Wicked [one] be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

We today also need to know the truth of these Pauline verses that we be not deceived!