What is the day of the Lord?

The day of the Lord is constantly referred to in the prophets. It always has in view the day of the Lord’s intervention in judgment upon the earth, leading to the restoration of Israel, and the blessing of the nations. It is the day when the Lord intervenes in the affairs of this world, dealing with all the evil, and bring in all the blessings of His reign.

But this is not the whole. After comforting the Thessalonians, and exhorting them to "comfort one another with these words," he proceeds to say, "But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you." They had need to be instructed on the points just handled — the resurrection of the sleeping saints and their translation with those who are alive, to meet the Lord in the air — these were new truths, of which they had till now been ignorant. But of the times and the seasons there was no need to write to them. Why? "For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape." Here we enter upon another subject. The descent of the Lord Jesus into the air, and the translation of the Church to meet him there, is one thing. The day of the Lord, and its coming upon the ungodly as a thief in the night, is another thing. The one is all brightness and joy; the other is all gloom, and darkness, and terror. The Thessalonians had to receive a new, fresh revelation through the apostle, to acquaint them with the former: with the latter they were already acquainted by means, doubtless, of the Old Testament Scriptures, as well as by the ministry among them of the apostle and his companions. "The day of the Lord" is a phrase of frequent occurrence in the Old Testament, and always refers, we believe we may say with confidence, to the execution of judgment on the earth. In its full sense, it doubtless implies the yet future day of the Lord's actual presence to execute judgment on the wicked, and to establish by power His own rule over the earth. It may be used in some instances of remarkable interpositions of God in judgment, where the Lord's actual presence is not included in the meaning of the phrase. Still, in such instances we have types and specimens of what "the day of the Lord" is, in its full, absolute sense. And wherever it occurs, it will be found connected with judgment. "The day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up, and he shall be brought low." (Isa. 2:12.) "Alas for the day! for the day of the Lord is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come." (Joel 1:15.) "The day of the Lord comes, for it is nigh at hand: a day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains." (Joel 2:1-2.) "Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?" (Amos 5:20.) "The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hastes greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. 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." (Zeph. 1:14-15.) "For, behold, the day comes, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble; and the day that comes shall burn them up, says the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch." (Mal. 4:1.) "The great and dreadful day of the Lord." (Mal. 5:5.) Such is the force of this expression in the Old Testament. In the New, it is of like import. "For as the lightning that lightens out of the one part under heaven, shines unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day." (Luke 17:24.) Noah and the flood, Lot and the burning of Sodom, are referred to; and it is said, "Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed." (Verse 30.)

Peter, on the day of Pentecost, speaks of "that great and notable day of the Lord." Our Lord Himself warned His hearers to "take heed lest that day should come upon them unawares." "For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth." (Luke 21:35.) We need not give further evidence as to the meaning of the phrase "the day of the Lord." In all these passages, as in the one in 1 Thess. 5, it points to the execution of sudden and overwhelming judgments on the wicked, introductory to the establishment by power of Christ's earthly kingdom. How marked the contrast between the descent of the Lord Jesus into the air, which is presented to the Thessalonian saints as the consummation of all their hopes, and this "day of the Lord," which is to come "as a thief in the night," on the whole world of the ungodly. True, they are but different stages of the one great event, the coming of the Lord; but in their character how distinct! In the one case the Lord descends into the air; in the other His judgments fall on the earth. In the one case the Lord comes to gather His saints; in the other to smite His foes. And the saints are instructed as to the one, that they may know assuredly that they are exempt from the terrors of the other. "But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness." Already, in our hopes and destinies, and in the spirit of our minds, children of the day, ere the day actually bursts on the sleeping world, drunken with its carnal joys, we shall have been caught up to meet the Lord in the air, and we shall be with Him when His appearing affrights and overwhelms His foes. Such is the doctrine of this first epistle. May it be written indelibly on our hearts, and exert there all its consolatory and sanctifying power.

Then the apostle, having left with the Thessalonians the comfort of this about their brethren, turns to the day of the Lord, or His appearing. "But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night." "The day of the Lord" is invariably in Scripture that period when the Lord will come in manifest and awful judgment of sinful men. It is never applied to any dealing with the Christian as on the earth. We find a very particular application of it, which seems connected with the saints. This is not exactly called the day of the Lord, but "the day of Christ." Confessedly there is a connection between the two. The day of Christ means that aspect of the day of the Lord, in which those who are in Christ will have their special place in the kingdom assigned. Consequently, where it is a question of the fruit of labour in the service of Christ, reward of faithfulness, or anything of the kind, "the day of Christ" is mentioned.

But "the day of the Lord," as such, is invariably the day of the Lord's dealing in judgment with man as such on the earth. Of that day, then, the apostle felt no need to write. It was already known perfectly that the day of the Lord is coming as a thief in the night. This was a matter of Old Testament statement and phraseology. All the prophets speak of it. If you search from Isaiah to Malachi, you will find that the day of Jehovah is that moment of divine intervention when man is no longer allowed to pursue his own path, when the Lord God will deal with the world's system in all its parts, when the idols of the nations all perish together with their benighted votaries. But — the Lord Himself shall be exalted in that day, and His people shall be brought into their true place, and the Gentiles shall accept theirs. This will be the time of displayed divine government. Jehovah will take Zion as the central seat of His earthly throne, and all peoples shall submit to His authority in the person of Christ.

The expression 'the day of Jehovah' is found frequently in the Old Testament; 'the day of the Lord' in the New Testament. This 'day', which is always presented as a future time or event, is characterized by judgments which will strike suddenly men and nations on the earth.

The prophet's first utterance is concerning the day, "Howl ye! Alas for the day! For the day is near, even the day of the Lord is near, a cloudy day; it shall be the time of the Gentiles." What day is this? Other prophets mention the day of Jehovah as a day of judgment and wrath when the Lord will deal in His righteousness with the nations of the earth (Isa. 2, 13:6, 9; Joel 1:15, 2:1, 11, 3:14; Amos 5:18, 20; Obad. 15; Zeph. 1:7, 14; Zech. 14:1, etc). This day in its final meaning is the day on which the Lord Jesus Christ will be visibly revealed from heaven. It is mentioned in the New Testament in 1 Thess. 5:2; 2 Thess. 2:2 (where "day of Christ" should be rendered "day of the Lord") and 2 Peter 3:10. This day will bring "man's day" to a close and usher in a new age, when righteousness shall reign as grace reigns now. This day of coming judgment of all nations is seen also here in a prophetic perspective. All previous judgments of nations as announced by God's prophet's, nations which sinned against Israel the chosen people, foreshadow the one great day, when the times of the Gentiles end in the revealed manner (Dan. 2:34, 7:10-14). What came upon Egypt in the past through divine judgment will happen to the Gentile nations in the future at the close of our age, "when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Thess. 1:7-8). Ever since the times of the Gentiles began with Nebuchadnezzar the divinely appointed head (Jer. 27:4-8), this day of the Lord has been drawing near, till now, with the stupendous present-day events, we can see this day rapidly approaching.

Yet the judgment blow will be struck when the time arrives. The Lord will come when men do not expect Him, as a thief in the night, and thus usher in His day. That "day" will comprise a thousand years as other Scriptures show. It will commence with His coming and not close until the passing away of the earth and its surrounding heavens, dissolved by fire. This will not take place until the end of His thousand years' reign is reached, as stated in Revelation 20:7-11. That same destruction of the heavens and the earth will usher in the "day of God" of which Revelation 21:1-8 speaks, — the eternal state. The "day of the Lord" and the "day of God" are like two circles touching each other and just overlapping at the point where the heavens and earth are destroyed, so that their destruction may be said to be in both of them.

But though this is the character of the coming of the day of the Lord, the day itself goes much beyond this. In Isaiah 2, we see the fearful judgments with which the day commences, but we read also that "the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day." Now this indefinite phrase "that day," here manifestly meaning the day of the Lord, or Jehovah, is constantly repeated, without anything in the context to explain it, throughout the prophetic writings. "In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks" (Isa. 26:1). "In that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness. The meek also shall increase their joy in Jehovah, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the holy One of Israel" (Isa. 29:18-19). "In that day I will cause the horn of the house of Israel to bud forth, and I will give thee the opening of the mouth in the midst of thee; and they shall know that I am Jehovah" (Ezek. 29:21). "In that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven and with the creeping things of the ground; and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely" (Hos. 2:18) "That day," then, is obviously a well understood phrase, which, when used without special connection, implies the period of Messiah's reign and Israel's blessing. It is the day that commences with the coming of the day of the Lord, in other words, it is the day of the Lord, looked at, not in the light of the judgments by which it is inaugurated, but of the blessings which it introduces.

†It is equally true that His return will be with salvation; the day is to be one of mercy as well as judgment: of mercy to the remnant who are waiting for Him in the spirit of repentance; of judgment to the nation. Thus in the several passages above referred to — in Isaiah, the mourners in Sion are to be comforted then, and the full blessing to come upon them (Isa. 61:2-11), — in Jeremiah, Jacob is to be saved out of that day (Jer. 30:7), — in Joel, there is to be deliverance in the remnant whom the Lord shall call (Joel 2:32), — in Zechariah, the third part is left in the land, and made the people of the Lord (Zech. 13:8-9), — and in Malachi the day shall discern between the righteous and the wicked, and those who fear the Lord shall be made up as His jewels, and the Sun of that day shall arise upon them with healing in His wings" (Mal. 3, 4).

We are far from affirming that prophecy never touches on other topics. It always makes sufficient reference to the moral state of those to whom it is actually addressed, or among whom it is proclaimed, to link that state in their consciences with the predictions of final judgment and of ensuing blessing. Old Testament prophecy largely foretells, moreover, the sufferings of Christ; but of these it treats in connection with those final triumphs which we have seen to be the great subjects of yet unfulfilled prophecy; while it passes over in silence the lapse of ages which have intervened. It may further be safely admitted that certain remarkable judicial interventions of God are called, in a subordinate sense, "the day of the Lord" on such or such a place. This is evidently done because of their analogy to "the day of the Lord" in its full sense — the time of which it is said, "The Lord alone shall be exalted in that day." But these interventions are in contrast with the settled course of providential government, and do but confirm, therefore, the principle we are considering, that it is not to the ordinary course of providence that prophecy applies, but mainly to that greatest of all interventions which is yet to take place, and of which these lesser ones are the foreshadowings and premonitions.

The day of the Lord is the open introduction of the age to come by terrific judgments, and is never in Scripture mixed up with His coming to receive His saints to Himself for the Father's house. Hence we saw that the apostle appealed to His presence to gather the saints to Himself, as their bright hope, against the false and foolish notion, introduced by fraud and calculated to agitate and alarm, that the day of the Lord had actually arrived. Its imminence was not the error, for its imminence is an indisputable truth, which is important practically for souls.