The Day of The Lord

 

 

The Day of the Lord is a common theme in the Old Testament, particularly in the writings of the prophets. It refers to a coming day of reckoning, when God’s wrath will be meted out in judgement and destruction. The prophets warned, though, that not only the nations would be judged, but Jerusalem also. The city would be ransacked, the nations would invade, and then Messiah would come and rescue the remnant who survive (Zech 14). The Lord’s army will be innumerable, and the bloodshed will be extreme in the “valley of decision” (Joel 2). “That day” correlates to the battle of Armageddon and the second coming of Christ (2 Thes 2:3-12; Rev 9:13-19; 16:12-16; 17:12-14).

The Day of the Lord also anticipates God’s blessing, restoration, and glory for the remnant of Israel (Jer 31-33; Zeph 3). And that is the ingredient of the Day of the Lord that the Jews focused on. They looked forward to the day when they would have their enemies defeated, when they would be vindicated, and the glory of their nation and their Messiah would be renown in all the world. They must have focused so much on the restoration and glory that they overlooked the judgment and destruction that preceded it. Amos warned them, “Woe to you who long for the day of the Lord! Why do you long for the day of the Lord? That day will be darkness, not light” (Amos 5:20).

The Day of the Lord is still in the future, so it also appears in the New Testament. For the most part, though, the terminology changes to the second coming of Christ. But all the same features still pertain – judgment, destruction, wrath, then restoration and the glory of Christ’s earthly kingdom. Christians have adopted a view of that day similar to the Jews of old. They want to avoid the tribulation, turmoil, and destruction, so they look forward to the rapture rescuing them from that awful tribulation. But when Jesus and Paul said that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night, they were not referring to a rapture, like we have contorted it to mean. They meant the whole shebang – cataclysms, war and destruction, judgment and wrath, then the return of Jesus to defeat the nations, rapture the Church (the remnant who are left), and establish His kingdom.

And there you have it. The Day of the Lord is near -- very, very near. And that does not mean blissful escape before the wars and destruction begin, like so many have been led to believe. We need to consider the words of Amos, “Woe to you who long for the day of the Lord”, who think that the rapture is the only thing you need to anticipate on the near horizon.