No PeterT, not trying to deceive anyone. Just attempting to explain what the passage is talking about in the Context in which it is written in. The Day of the Lord is referring to the Second Coming. Now it can also include at times the 1,000 year Millennial Reign of Jesus Christ. After all, a day with the Lord is a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. Again, the context of the passage will tell you. Now let us look at a great list Scriptures that refer to the Day Of the Lord. That way we can get a better understanding of the context and meaning of what is being addressed and talked about when Scripture refers to the Day of The Lord:
[SUP]12 [/SUP]For the day of the Lordof hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low: - Isaiah 2:12(KJV)
[SUP]6 [/SUP]Howl ye; for the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. - Isaiah 13:6 (KJV)
[SUP]9 [/SUP]Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. - Isaiah 13:9 (KJV)
[SUP]8 [/SUP]For it is the day of the Lord's vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion. - Isaiah 34:8 (KJV)
[SUP]22 [/SUP]Thou hast called as in a solemn day my terrors round about, so that in the day of the Lord's anger none escaped nor remained: those that I have swaddled and brought up hath mine enemy consumed. - Lamentations 2:22 (KJV)
[SUP]5 [/SUP]Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord. - Ezekiel 13:5 (KJV)
[SUP]3 [/SUP]For the day is near, even the day of the Lord is near, a cloudy day; it shall be the time of the heathen. - Ezekiel 30:3 (KJV)
[SUP]15 [/SUP]Alas for the day! for the day of the Lord is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come. - Joel 1:15 (KJV)
2 Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand; - Joel 2:1 (KJV)
[SUP]11 [/SUP]And the Lord shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible; and who can abide it? - Joel 2:11 (KJV)
[SUP]31 [/SUP]The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come. - Joel 2:31 (KJV)
[SUP]14 [/SUP]Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. - Joel 3:14 (KJV)
[SUP]2 [/SUP]I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land. - Joel 3:2 (KJV)
[SUP]12 [/SUP]Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. - Joel 3:12 (KJV)
[SUP]11 [/SUP]In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. - Zechariah 12:11 (KJV)
[SUP]18 [/SUP]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. - Amos 5:18 (KJV)
[SUP]20 [/SUP]Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it? - Amos 5:20 (KJV)
[SUP]15 [/SUP]For the day of the Lord is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head. - Obadiah 1:15 (KJV)
[SUP]7 [/SUP]Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord God: for the day of the Lordis at hand: for the Lord hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath bid his guests. - Zephaniah 1:7 (KJV)
[SUP]8 [/SUP]And it shall come to pass in the day of the Lord's sacrifice, that I will punish the princes, and the king's children, and all such as are clothed with strange apparel.- Zephaniah 1:8 (KJV)
[SUP]14 [/SUP]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 1:14 (KJV)
[SUP]18 [/SUP]Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord's wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: forhe shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land. - Zephaniah 1:18 (KJV)
[SUP]2 [/SUP]Before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you, before the day of the Lord's anger come upon you. - Zephaniah 2:2 (KJV)
[SUP]3 [/SUP]Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord's anger. - Zephaniah 2:3 (KJV)
14 Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. - Zechariah 14:1 (KJV)
[SUP]2 [/SUP]But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap: - Malachi 3:2 (KJV)
4 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. [SUP]2 [/SUP]But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.
[SUP]3 [/SUP]And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts.
[SUP]4 [/SUP]Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.
[SUP]5 [/SUP]Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: - Malachi 4:1-5 (KJV)
[SUP]20 [/SUP]The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and notable day of the Lord come: - Acts 2:20 (KJV)
[SUP]5 [/SUP]To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. - 1 Corinthians 5:5 (KJV)
[SUP]14 [/SUP]As also ye have acknowledged us in part, that we are your rejoicing, even as ye also are our's in the day of the Lord Jesus. - 2 Corinthians 1:14 (KJV)
[SUP]2 [/SUP]For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. - 1 Thessalonians 5:2 (KJV)
[SUP]10 [/SUP]But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
[SUP]11 [/SUP]Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
[SUP]12 [/SUP]Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? - 2 Peter 3:10-12 (KJV)
Now, having showed all those Scriptures referencing the day of the LORD, let us look at the passage in 2 Thessalonians 2:
2 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,
[SUP]2 [/SUP]That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
[SUP]3 [/SUP]Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
[SUP]4 [/SUP]Who opposeth 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.
[SUP]5 [/SUP]Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
[SUP]6 [/SUP]And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
[SUP]7 [/SUP]For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
[SUP]8 [/SUP]And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
[SUP]9 [/SUP]Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
[SUP]10 [/SUP]And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
[SUP]11 [/SUP]And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
[SUP]12 [/SUP]That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
[SUP]13 [/SUP]But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:
[SUP]14 [/SUP]Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
[SUP]15 [/SUP]Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.
[SUP]16 [/SUP]Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace,
[SUP]17 [/SUP]Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work. - 2 Thessalonians 2:1-17 (KJV)
Now Peter, Do you see how comparing Scripture with Scripture helps? Do you see how when you rightly divide the word of truth and when you compare Scripture with Scripture, that the Scriptures will interpret themselves? That's exactly what happens when you compare Scripture with Scripture. They will interpret themselves.
When I see the Day of the Lord being referenced in the Scriptures. It is almost always referring to the Day of the Lord's Anger, the Day of the Lord's Wrath , and the Day of the Lord's Vengeance. The Context is Judgment, Wrath, Darkness, Gloominess, and Vengeance. So, it is obvious that the Scriptures teach that the Day of The Lord is His Second Coming. It is His Second Advent. I don't see how after reading all these Scriptures, that one can still think that the Day of the Lord is referring to the Rapture.
Paul described the Rapture first as a mystery (1 Corinthians 15:51). Out of all those references of the Day of the Lord, I don't think it resembles a mystery. The signs that precede the coming of the Lord in Joel 2:31 and Acts 2:20: (i.e. Sun turning into darkness & moon turning into blood), that still does not appear to me as a mystery. Those are notable signs. How do you interpret that as being a mystery Peter?
Also, if you read the whole passage in 2 Thessalonians 2, Paul was writing to the saints at Thessalonica to comfort them, because what happened was some of them in the church thought that the Rapture had already taken place. And Paul was simply addressing their concern about the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. After Paul had taught the Saints at Thessalonica about the Rapture and after his departutre, there were some false prophets who wrote letters to them claiming to be Paul, and saying that the Rapture already had taken place. That is why Paul, when he was just beginning to address them, told them not to be soon shaken in mind, or troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor BY LETTER AS FROM US, as that The Day of Christ is at Hand. ( 2 Thess. 2:2).
Context always helps. So the context of 2 Thessalonians 2 is the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. The Rapture is also found in that passage, in fact it is right in verse 1. But everything after verse 1, from verse 2 and onward is clearly about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
The Saints at Thessalonica already thought that they were in the Day of The Lord, since they had been wrongly convinced by someone pretending to be Paul that the Rapture had already taken place. Basically, they thought that they missed the rapture. Again Peter, read the context. Compare the Scriptures. If you want to understand a particular passage in the Bible. Then you must compare Scripture with Scripture.
[SUP]13 [/SUP]Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. - 1 Corinthians 2:13 (KJV)