Sometime around the year 750 B.C., the prophet Amos said,
Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord!
For what good is the day of the Lord to you?
It will be darkness, and not light.
It will be as though a man fled from a lion,
And a bear met him!
Or as though he went into the house,
Leaned his hand on the wall,
And a serpent bit him!
Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light?
Is it not very dark, with no brightness in it?
Amos 5:18-20
It would seem that this describes the scenario on Earth immediately AFTER the Rapture. In 1 Thessalonians 5 we read that we (the Church) are NOT in darkness, that we are “sons of light and sons of the day” (NKJV). Those who sleep and remain in darkness are the ones who will NOT escape. We have the hope of salvation, also known as ‘the Blessed Hope’ that Jesus / Yeshua will rescue us from the coming wrath as He promised in 1 Thess 5: 9, “For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ”. The body of Christ already suffered for us on the cross 2,000 years ago. Isaiah 53:5 states,
He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
Other words which stand out in Amos 5:18-20 are the mention of a lion and a serpent, two animals which represent Satan in other scriptures. Satan being the enemy of God who attempts and fails to thwart God’s plan, from the beginning to the end, from Genesis to Revelation.
Be sober, be vigilant;
because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion,
seeking whom he may devour.
1 Peter 5:8
Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field
which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman,
“Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
Genesis 3:3
But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle,
that she might fly into the wilderness to her place,
where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time,
from the presence of the serpent.
Revelation 12:14
The Day of the Lord
But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.
Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.
1 Thessalonians 5
Look at the highlighted words to see how 1 Thessalonians 5 ties into Revelation 12
The Woman, the Child, and the Dragon
Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth.
3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. 4 His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born. 5 She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne. 6 Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days.
Satan Thrown Out of Heaven
7 And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, 8 but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. 9 So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
10 Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. 11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. 12 Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.”
The Woman Persecuted
13 Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. 14 But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. 15 So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. 16 But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. 17 And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Revelation 12
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