The Day of the Lord

THE DAY OF THE LORD

When most Christians hear the phrase “the Day of the Lord,” their minds immediately go thousands of years beyond the New Testament into our future. They picture the end of planet Earth, the destruction of the physical universe, and the conclusion of human history.

But is that how the Bible itself uses the phrase?

Before deciding what “the Day of the Lord” means in the New Testament, we need to go back into the Old Testament and allow Scripture to establish its own language.

The prophets repeatedly spoke of a “Day of the LORD,” and those days were not the destruction of planet Earth. They were historical judgments of God upon nations, kingdoms, cities, and covenant people.

Once we understand that prophetic language, the New Testament becomes much clearer.

THE DAY OF THE LORD AGAINST BABYLON

The first place we will look is Isaiah’s prophecy concerning Babylon.

The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see.

Isaiah 13:1

Notice the subject. Isaiah tells us from the beginning that this prophecy concerns Babylon.

Now listen to the language he uses.

Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.

Isaiah 13:6

Isaiah called the coming judgment upon Babylon “the day of the LORD.”

Was this the end of planet Earth? No. it was God’s historical judgment upon Babylon.

Yet notice how dramatic the prophetic language becomes.

For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.

Isaiah 13:10

Did the literal stars disappear? Did the literal sun stop shining? Did the literal moon cease giving light? Again the answer is no. This was prophetic, apocalyptic language describing the collapse of a kingdom.

Isaiah continues:

Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.

Isaiah 13:13

The Heaven was shaken. The Earth was moved.

The heavenly lights were darkened and Isaiah called it the Day of the LORD. Yet the physical universe remained.

This establishes something extremely important.

The biblical phrase “Day of the Lord” does not automatically mean the end of the physical world. It describes a time when God comes in judgment.

THE DAY OF THE LORD AGAINST EGYPT

Ezekiel uses the same language concerning Egypt.

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

What Day of the Lord was Ezekiel talking about?

Let’s keep reading:

And the sword shall come upon Egypt, and great pain shall be in Ethiopia, when the slain shall fall in Egypt, and they shall take away her multitude, and her foundations shall be broken down.

Ezekiel 30:4

This Day of the Lord concerned judgment upon Egypt. Once again, the phrase did not mean the end of human history. God was judging a nation within history.

THE DAY OF THE LORD AGAINST ISRAEL

Amos used the same expression while warning Israel.

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

Apparently some Israelites expected the Day of the Lord to mean judgment upon their enemies. Amos gave them a shocking warning. The Day was coming upon them.

As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.

Amos 5:19

Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?

Amos 5:20

The Day of the Lord was covenantal judgment.

God was coming against His own covenant people because of rebellion. That background becomes extremely important when we reach the New Testament.

THE DAY OF THE LORD AGAINST JUDAH

Zephaniah gives us another example.

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

Notice the time language.

It was near. It was hastening greatly. That language meant something to the people hearing the prophecy. Neither their audience nor ours needed to push that “near” day thousands of years into the future.

Zephaniah continues:

That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness,

Zephaniah 1:15

A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers.

Zephaniah 1:16

Here again, this was historical judgment described with powerful prophetic imagery.

By the time we arrive in the New Testament, therefore, the phrase “Day of the Lord” already has a long-established biblical meaning.

It is the coming of God in judgment.

Now watch what happens when we enter the New Testament.

PETER SAID THEY WERE IN THE LAST DAYS

On the Day of Pentecost, Peter quoted the prophet Joel.

But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;

Acts 2:16

Peter did not say, “This will happen thousands of years from now.” He said: THIS IS THAT.

Then he quoted Joel.

And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh.

Acts 2:17

According to Peter, they were living in the period Joel called the last days.

But keep reading.

And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:

Acts 2:19

The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:

Acts 2:20

There it is. The Day of the Lord.

Peter places the outpouring of the Spirit, the last days, the prophetic signs, and the approaching Day of the Lord within one prophetic framework.

Pentecost did not begin an undefined “last days” period stretching endlessly through thousands of years.

It announced that Israel’s covenant age had entered its closing period. And Peter immediately warned the very people standing before him.

Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.

Acts 2:38

And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.

Acts 2:40

Notice the connection. Peter had just announced the approaching Day of the Lord and then warned that generation. That should sound very familiar.

JESUS HAD ALREADY WARNED THAT GENERATION

Jesus had given Jerusalem the same warning.

Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:

Matthew 23:34

That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.

Matthew 23:35

Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.

Matthew 23:36

Jesus did not leave the timing uncertain. All these things would come upon that generation.

Then He turned directly to Jerusalem.

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee…

Matthew 23:37

Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.

Matthew 23:38

Their house was going to be left desolate. Then Jesus walked out of that house.

And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple.

Matthew 24:1

And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.

Matthew 24:2

That is the setting of Matthew 24. The subject is Jerusalem. The temple. The approaching desolation. And Jesus eventually gives the same time limitation.

Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.

Matthew 24:34

That statement should control our interpretation of the entire discourse.

THE 40-YEAR TRANSITION

Jesus began His public ministry around AD 30.

Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed in AD 70. That gives us approximately a 40-year covenant transition. Once again this pattern should sound familiar. Israel came out of Egypt but wandered forty years before entering the promised land.

Likewise, the New Covenant was inaugurated through Christ, yet the Old Covenant system continued functioning outwardly for approximately another forty years until the temple, priesthood, sacrifices, and city were removed.

During that transitional generation, two covenantal orders overlapped. The Old Covenant was becoming obsolete. The New Covenant was established in Christ.

Hebrews explains it beautifully.

In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.

Hebrews 8:13

Notice the language carefully. The Old Covenant was decaying. It was waxing old. And it was ready to vanish away.

The writer did not say it had physically vanished yet. Why?

Because the temple was still standing. The priesthood was still functioning. The sacrifices were still being offered. But judgment was still approaching. The Day of the Lord would bring that covenant world to its final historical end.

THE DAY WAS APPROACHING

Hebrews gives us another powerful time statement.

Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

Hebrews 10:25

They could see the Day approaching.

Think about that. How could first-century believers see a Day approaching if that Day was actually thousands of years beyond their lifetime?

The warning had relevance to them. The signs were appearing around them. The covenant crisis was intensifying. Jerusalem’s judgment was drawing near. That Day was approaching.

PAUL AND THE DAY OF THE LORD

Paul uses the same prophetic language.

For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.

1 Thessalonians 5:2

Many stop there and immediately place the passage in our future. But continue reading.

For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them…

1 Thessalonians 5:3

Notice Paul’s pronouns. They and Them.

Then he contrasts them with the believers.

But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.

1 Thessalonians 5:4

Why warn first-century Christians about being overtaken by a Day that could not possibly occur for another two thousand years?

Paul’s warning had relevance to his original audience. They were living during the covenant transition. The Day was approaching.

PETER SAID THE END WAS AT HAND

Peter becomes even more explicit.

But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.

1 Peter 4:7

Peter did not say the end was thousands of years away. He said it was at hand. Then he connects judgment directly to his own generation.

For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God.

1 Peter 4:17

Notice again: The time is come. Not someday. Not thousands of years later. The judgment had arrived upon that generation.

WHAT ABOUT THE HEAVENS AND EARTH?

Peter later uses the same prophetic imagery we saw in Isaiah.

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…

2 Peter 3:10

If we approach this passage without the Old Testament, we may immediately imagine the destruction of the physical cosmos. But Peter did not invent this vocabulary. Isaiah had already described Babylon’s destruction as the heavens being shaken, the sun being darkened, the moon ceasing its light, and the earth being moved out of its place.

Prophetic language describes the overthrow of covenantal and political worlds as cosmic collapse.

Peter’s audience understood those prophets. And Peter had already told them:

But the end of all things is at hand…

1 Peter 4:7

The Day of the Lord concerned the passing away of the Old Covenant world and the complete establishment of the New Covenant order.

This is why Hebrews speaks of a shaking.

Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.

Hebrews 12:26

And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.

Hebrews 12:27

Something was being removed so that something unshakable could remain.

What remained?

Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace…

Hebrews 12:28

The kingdom remained. The Old Covenant world was shaken and removed. The kingdom of Christ could not be shaken.

MALACHI’S GREAT AND DREADFUL DAY

Malachi also prophesied of this coming covenant judgment.

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:

Malachi 4:5

Who was this Elijah?

Jesus answered that question.

And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come.

Matthew 11:14

He was speaking of John the Baptist. Jesus says it even more plainly elsewhere.

But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not…

Matthew 17:12

Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist.

Matthew 17:13

John came before the great and dreadful Day of the Lord.

If John fulfilled the promised Elijah ministry in the first century, then the Day he was preparing Israel for belonged to that same covenantal crisis. This is exactly what John preached.

And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees…

Matthew 3:10

Notice the urgency. The axe was not going to be placed at the root thousands of years later. It was already laid there.

John continued:

Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

Matthew 3:12

Judgment was approaching Israel. The Messiah had arrived. The covenant lawsuit had reached its climax.

THE DAY OF THE LORD WAS A COVENANT DAY OF JUDGMENT

When we allow the Bible to define its own language, the picture becomes remarkably consistent. Isaiah called Babylon’s destruction a Day of the Lord. Ezekiel called Egypt’s judgment a Day of the Lord. Amos called judgment upon Israel a Day of the Lord.

Zephaniah called judgment upon Judah a Day of the Lord. Joel spoke of an approaching Day of the Lord. Peter stood at Pentecost and said:

THIS IS THAT.

Jesus warned Jerusalem that judgment would come upon this generation.

Peter said the end of all things was at hand.

Hebrews said they could see the Day approaching. The Old Covenant was ready to vanish away. John the Baptist came as Elijah before the great and dreadful Day.

Jesus said Jerusalem’s temple would be completely destroyed. And He placed its fulfillment within that generation.

This is not disconnected prophesy. It is one unfolding covenantal story.

From approximately AD 30 to AD 70, Israel passed through a forty-year transition from the fading Old Covenant age into the fully manifested New Covenant age. The Day of the Lord was the climax of that transition.

Rome surrounded Jerusalem. The city fell. The temple burned. The sacrifices ceased.

The priesthood lost its functioning sanctuary. The Old Covenant world that had centered around Jerusalem’s temple came crashing down. But Christ’s kingdom remained.

That is why we should not automatically read the phrase “Day of the Lord” and push it into our future.

We should first ask how the prophets used the phrase. We should ask how Jesus used their language. We should ask who the New Testament writers were speaking to. And we should take seriously their inspired statements concerning timing: This generation. At hand. The time is come. Ready to vanish away. Ye see the day approaching. The Day of the Lord was not describing the end of planet Earth.

It was describing the end of an age. The judgment of apostate Jerusalem. The removal of the Old Covenant order. And the vindication of Jesus Christ and His everlasting kingdom.

The Day was approaching when the apostles wrote and during their generation, it had arrived, just as the prophets, the apostles and Jesus said it would.

The question is, why is something like this, so vitally important, so overlooked?