God did not begin to reveal the concept of the Day of the LORD until his called out people began to sin with impunity against his Law and to rebel against him. This began in earnest under the reign of Solomon just prior to the division of Israel in about 930 BC into the northern kingdom which was still called Israel and the southern kingdom which began to be called Judah. Solomon first led Israel into sin by marrying foreign women and building temples to their false gods. For this reason God determined to divide Israel and pronounced judgment through his prophet Ahijah.

And it came to pass at that time when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him in the way; and he had clad himself with a new garment; and the two were alone in the field: And Ahijah caught the new garment that was on him, and tore it in twelve pieces: And he said to Jeroboam, Take you ten pieces: for thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, Behold, I will tear the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to you: (But he shall have one tribe for my servant David’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel:) Because they have forsaken me, and have worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the children of Ammon, and have not walked in my ways, to do that which is right in my eyes, and to keep my statutes and my judgments, as did David his father. However I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand: but I will make him ruler all the days of his life for David my servant’s sake, whom I chose, because he kept my commandments and my statutes: But I will take the kingdom out of his son’s hand, and will give it unto you, even ten tribes. And unto his son will I give one tribe, that David my servant may have a light always before me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen to put my name there. And I will take you, and you shall reign according to all that your soul desires, and shall be king over Israel. (1 Kings 11:29-37)

Israel obeyed God no better under Jeroboam, however, for in order to try to prevent his kingdom from reuniting with Judah, he made and set up two calves of gold for Israel to worship.  See 1 Kings 12:26-33. He even established priests for his new kingdom who did not come from the line of Levi. This led to continuing idolatry and apostasy in Israel.

Finally, after about 150 years of decline, God sent the prophet Amos to chastise them and pronounce impending judgment. It is Amos who gives us the popular verse which so many charismatic churches quote (since they at least do still believe prophets exist):

Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, unless he reveals his secret unto his servants the prophets. (Amos 3:7)

This saying was true then. It is true now. Amos began his book by revealing God’s judgment to come upon all the nations which surrounded Judah and Israel, Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom, Ammon, and Moab. Then he pronounces judgment upon Judah for “rejecting the Law of the LORD” and for lying. (Amos 2:4) Next he rebukes Israel for the sins of greed, covetousness, and sexual immorality. (Amos 2:6-8) Almost all the rest of his book deals with the specific judgments that God will soon send upon Israel for their sins.

It is too lengthy to get into today and I have taught about this before, but old Testament Israel (the northern kingdom) prophetically typifies the New Testament Christian Church. Like Israel of old the Church established its idols and its pagan practices. For example, the Catholic Church idolized Ishtar (another word for Ashtoreth) in the form of Mary and then established “Easter” as its primary holiday. The word “Easter” appears nowhere in the Bible. It was wrongly placed there as a translation for “Passover” in the King James Bible. Jesus is our Passover Lamb, not our Easter bunny. Martin Luther broke from the Catholic Church for various reasons, not the least of which was its selling of “indulgences.” If you paid the right price to the Church officials, then you could sin whatever sin you paid for.

In its turn Martin Luther’s reformation birthed thousands of “Protestant” churches. But now those churches have gone the way of their mother and become harlots in their own right, just as Israel prostituted herself hundreds and hundreds of years before. As Solomon taught, “That which has been is now; and that which is to be has already been; and God requires that which is past.” (Ecclesiastes 3:15) The sin of Israel was 2800 years ago. The sin of the Christian Church is now. The Catholic, the Eastern Orthodox, the Coptic, the Protestant, and all other churches today make up the Christian Church. Many protestants mistakenly believe that the Catholic Church is Babylon the Great of Revelation 17 and 18. They are mistaken. Mystery Babylon includes ALL the churches. Only those who come out of her idolatrous and false ways escape her punishment. This is why John called her a mystery and also why he was so astonished when he saw her. “This,” he thought, “is what the Church of Jesus Christ, the Church I taught, has become?” See Revelation 17:6-7.

The prophecies of the Old Testament prophets apply to the Church just as they did to Israel and Judah of old. This series will be too short to examine all of their prophecies concerning us today, but in future posts I will attempt to hit the highlights. (To be continued…)