A Long Day

Joshua 24:7 And when they cried unto the LORD, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them, and covered them; and your eyes have seen what I have done in Egypt: and ye dwelt in the wilderness a long season.

The Hebrew word translated as "season" in the verse above is yom (#3117). It is the usual word for “day,” used over 2,000 times in the O.T.

Israel's long "day" in the wilderness we know from other Scriptures to have been 40 years. The 40 years was a time of God's wrath upon them.

Hebrews 3:8 Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:

9 When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.

10 Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways.

11 So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)

This passage in Hebrews also speaks of a single day (day of temptation) that in actuality occurred over a 40 year period of time. Therefore, it was a long day. Or, as we have been explaining to people since the date of May 21, 2011 – a prolonged judgment day.

The fact that God declares that He swore in His wrath (v.11) reveals to us that the entire wilderness sojourn was indeed a time of God's judgment upon Israel. A 40 year judgment identified as a single day of temptation (testing).

Psalm 95 tells us the same thing:

Psalm 95:8 Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness:

9 When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work.

10 Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways:

11 Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.

A long day of judgment upon the representatives of God's kingdom on earth – a judgment wherein the Lord determines they will not enter into His rest – or – into the promised land of Canaan.

We can see the similarity with our present situation. 1994 was the official year that judgment began upon the churches and congregations of the world. It was then that judgment began at the house of God (1 Peter 4:17).

And 40 inclusive years later, according to Biblical evidence, the elect people of God will enter into the actual kingdom of God on the last day in the year 2033. However, none of the professed Christians that failed God's testing program over the course of this long day of God's wrath (first upon the churches and then upon the world) will enter into His eternal rest. Their carcasses will perish in the wilderness of this world.