“It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
Is the Day of the Lord a single event for the end-time or does it cover historical events too? Or different future time periods? Can humans and Christians themselves experience such an event during their spiritual journey – a microcosm of His wrath, in their lives? Further, is the Day of the Lord restricted to only God’s wrath? In this short study we will explore that Day as historic, prophetic, typological and spiritual events.
In this Bible study, we will go forth and attempt to understand the concept of Days of the Lord. For, as we will find, there is not merely a single Day of the Lord in Scripture, but a number of such days at several “levels.”
What will be demonstrated within this article is that the term “Day of the Lord” is not restricted to the awesome and frightening intervention in world affairs by God Almighty after the Great Tribulation. Rather, the term can be applied to any time of God’s direct intervention in world affairs.
So, let us have a closer look at these various momentous Day of the Lord events and how they inform us of God’s character and various historical and future events.
For these periods are when God takes a very personal interest in commanding destruction upon the earth and mankind. Whenever He decides to intervene it can be regarded as a Day of the Lord (or “that day” or “visitation”) –– various earthquakes, volcanic activity, etc., feature during these periods. A cautionary note: just because similar outpourings of wrath occur in various prophecies, does not mean that the same event is recorded or prophesied, as we shall see.
Prior to exploring the pertinent scriptures that will aid us in this understanding, let us understand what a or the Day of the Lord is, which will provide a framework for our study of the subject.
The Day of the Lord may be best described below:
“Thus, the ‘Day of Yahweh’ is a generic or collective event which gathers together all the antecedent historical episodes of God’s judgment and salvation along with the future grand finale and climactic event in the whole series. Every divine intervention into history before that final visitation in connection with the second advent of Christ constitutes only a preview, sample, downpayment or earnest on that climactic conclusion. The prophet did not think of the day of the Lord as an event that would occur once for all, but one that could ‘be repeated as the circumstances called for it.’” (Willis Beecher, The Prophets and the Promise, p. 311) [emphasis mine]
I am grateful for this observation given that it supports the view that has been held to for some decades by the Church of God family. It is what we term “duality” because some prophecies have more than a single application.
Day of the Lord Characteristics
When we study the subject of the Day of the Lord, several characteristics of these events come to the fore and often appear associated with it, viz:
A time period where God intervenes or claims control over:
• Solar activity: Ps. 19:2-7; 84:11-12; 108:2-6; 113:3-4; Is. 6:4, 13; 59:19.
• Pitch Darkness at times: Is. 13:9-10; Joel 2:1-11; 3:14-15; Amos 5:18-20; Zeph. 1:15.
• Massive earthquakes: Is. 2:12-21; 13:13; Joel 3:16; Rev. 6:12.
• False leaders: 2 Thess. 2:1-11.
• The wicked punished: Is. 13:9; Ob. 1:15-16; Zeph. 1:17.
• Few survive: Is. 24:6; Zeph. 1:2-3; Is. 13:12.
• Earth destroyed, then restored: Zeph. 1:2-3, 18; Zech. 14:8-9; 2 Pet. 3:10-13.
It can be a time of God’s wrath or blessing. The Sabbath is also the Lord’s Day, but a time of rest.
Noah’s flood may itself be regarded as typological of the Day of the Lord and therefore a Day of the Lord in its own right:
“What is significant for our purposes is the way Zephaniah describes this judgment in terms that echo the primeval deluge… then the effect is to portray the Day of the Lord as an eschatological judgment modeled on the primordial flood: it is a universal reversal of creation because of humanity’s overbearing violence and sin.” (Daniel Street, “As it was in the Days of Noah: The Prophets’ Typological Interpretation of Noah’s Flood,” Criswell Theological Review, Vol. 5, No. 1, (Fall 2007), pp. 49-50) [emphasis mine]
Other Days of the Lord could include the punishment upon Sodom and Gomorrah, the Exodus and various punishments upon Israel itself because they are described in Day of the Lord terminology.
The Example of Psalm 97
“The LORD reigneth; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be glad thereof.
“Clouds and darkness are round about him: righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne.
“A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about.
“His lightnings enlightened the world: the earth saw, and trembled.
“The hills melted like wax at the presence of the LORD, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.” (Ps. 97:1-5)
The chief aspects of this day, as we can see from the above, is that it entails the fierce wrath of God Almighty upon the nations and the earth itself. But let us take a closer at this Psalm, for it portrays volcanic activity as does the book of Revelation:
“The LORD reigneth; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be glad thereof.” This describes that the Messiah now reigns during the Millennium. However:
“Clouds and darkness are round about him: righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne.” This portrays the clouds that are exuded by volcanoes which shuts out the sunlight.
“A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about.” Clearly the above has reference to volcanic explosions that rain down fire, rocks and ash for miles around.
“His lightnings enlightened the world: the earth saw, and trembled.” If one views documentaries on volcanoes, you will notice how they generate awesome lightnings. The land trembling –– earthquakes –– are also associated with volcanoes.
“The hills melted like wax at the presence of the LORD, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.” Here are portrayed enormous lava flows that destroy all in their paths –– as if they were melting the land and vegetation as it rolls on relentlessly. Other Scriptures that may also portray volcanoes are Ex. 19:16-19 with I Thess. 4:16; Deut. 5:22. Read them for yourselves as you dig into the wonderful truths of God’s Word.
The Day of the Lord is clearly characterized by a pouring out of divine wrath on God’s enemies and sinners. In some prophecies, the Day of the Lord is poured upon individual nations (e.g., Edom –– Isa. 34:8; Philistines –– Jer. 47:4; Egypt –– Jer. 46:8-10; Ezek. 30:3); or even upon the entire world ( Isa. 13:10-13; Ob. 15).
Day of the Lord Predicted In the New Testament
“Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
“And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
“And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matt. 24:29-31). [NB: the elect is dual and refers to both Israel and the Church.]
Other New Testament Scriptures that mention this awesome and majestic day of God’s terrible intervention in man’s affairs include: II Cor. 1:14; I Thess. 5:2-3; II Pet. 3:8-10; Rev. 1:10; Rev. 6:12-17; 19:15-16.
“And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
“And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.” (Rev. 19:15-16. See Ps. 50:3)
The Time of Israel’s Redemption
This Day also heralds the saving of Israel by the Messiah. He is coming to save the Church and marry her; He is also coming to save Israel and covenant with her.
Both these events seem to occur around the same time –– at the last trump (Is. 27:13; Matt. 24:31; I Thess. 4:16-17; 1 Cor. 15: 52-53).
Ezekiel 34:1-14 portrays the restoration of Israel as a resurrection –– it occurs around the same time as the resurrection of the saints or shortly thereafter. Israel experiences an exodus led by angels from enslaved conditions around the world to the Holy Land. While the Church experiences a bodily resurrection –– an exodus from this world (accompanied by angels) into His everlasting Kingdom, Ezekiel 34:1-14 is also about a literal resurrection –– the second resurrection described in Rev. 20:11-12.
“So it shall be in that day: the great trumpet will be blown; they will come, who are about to perish in the land of Assyria, and they who are outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem.” (Is. 27:13. See 11:12)
“For it is the day of the LORD’s vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion.” (Is. 34:8) [i.e., God’s intervention as part of His revenge for what happened to Israel during the Great Tribulation.]
“For it shall come to pass in that day,” says the Lord of hosts, “that I will break his yoke from your neck, and will burst your bonds; foreigners shall no more enslave them. But they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up [resurrect] for them. Therefore do not fear, O My servant Jacob,” says the Lord…” (Jer. 30:8-10). See also Ezek 34:11-16; Is 30:26.
“As also ye have acknowledged us in part, that we are your rejoicing, even as ye also are ours in the day of the Lord Jesus.” (2 Cor. 1:14)
“For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.” (1 Thess. 5:2)
“Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.” (2 Tim. 4:8)
The Great Climax of God’s Wrath
The picture we gather from these prophecies and many more is that there is a build-up reaching a crescendo –– a climactic peak in Day of the Lord activities. The severe and terrifying Day of the Lord heralding the end of man’s and Satan’s rule upon this earth –– who will be supplanted by the Messiah Himself –– is drawing nigh. But first, they must be warned by God’s servants:
“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.” (Mal. 4:5).
The Millennial Reign of the Messiah
Individuals, tribes and nations will be tested during the Messiah’s reign for He will want to know their heart. The 1,000-year reign will not be a “bed of roses.” But overall it will be a time of wonderful outgoing concern for others, fine education and arts, prosperity, peace and health. As such, the good periods of time under God are also Days of the Lord! The term is not limited to periods of His wrath alone.
The remnant of the 200 million army (Rev 9:14-21; 16:12) that are still in existence some years or decades after the return of Christ are described in some detail in Ezekiel 38 & 39:
“And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, that my fury shall come up in my face.
“For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;
“So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.” (Ezek 38:18-20)
So here we have another Day of the Lord. This time it actually occurs during the Millennium. Much speculation has arisen about this particular invasion of the Holy Land by forces to the north and how far into the Messianic period it will occur.
According to The Acts of God by Francis Foulkes,
“Thus we find in the Old Testament the twofold basis of typology. We find that the belief in the unchanging God who is Lord of history leads to the understanding of the repetition of the acts of God. We find also that the Old Testament itself points forward to divine acts more glorious than any in the past. The Old Testament is an incomplete book, it is revelation developing towards a climax. There is the constant prediction of a ‘day of the Lord’, a consummation, a unique revelation of the power and glory of God in the person of the Messiah or in a Messianic age. Then God will reveal Himself in mercy and in judgment more fully than ever before. This hope is expressed in terms of the past, yet exceeds anything experienced in the past’” (p. 33) [emphasis mine].
The Millennium is also called “in that day” in a number of Scriptures including Is. 4:2-6; Hos. 2:18-23; Joel 3:18; Amos 9:11-15; Mic. 4:6-8; Zech. 14:6-9, as is the Day of the Lord just prior to the Millennium.
After the Millennium
God’s authority must not be questioned. He, after all, is the all-knowing and all-powerful One, Creator of all that is.
It would appear from Rev. 20 that God is going to test individuals and the nations at the end of the millennium by releasing Satan to see if they have developed holy, righteous character and will not doubt or question Him.
Mind you, given God’s way of fairness and how He usually performs, He would have undertaken a warning ministry to all on earth prior to Satan’s release which is in accordance with His usual way of dealing with humans.
“And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
“And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
“And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
“And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.” (Rev. 20:7-10)
“And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.” (Jude 1:6)
This would also probably qualify as a Day of the Lord given the punishment and His direct and personal involvement.
Those mentioned above that end up in the lake of fire are found also described below:
“He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
“But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death …” (Rev. 21:7-8)
“Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
“For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.” (Rev. 22:14-15)
This too must be a Day of the Lord for the sinful. But why does it say that those burnt up are “without,” or “outside,” the New Jerusalem if they are already extinct?
According to Strong’s Concordance: “Without = ex’-o Adverb from G1537; out (side, of doors), literally or figuratively: – away, forth, (with) out (of, -ward), strange.”
As is so common throughout the book of Revelation, the prophecies contained therein swing between literal and metaphorical –– in this instance the extinguished are outside of the holy city and will never enter it, for they were ashes when burnt up in the lake of fire and now have become mere molecules.
“And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts.” (Mal. 4:3)
“The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth.
“Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup.” (Ps. 11:5-6)
This is evidently metaphorical but portrays a literal outcome in the resurrection of the sinful –– another Day of the Lord.
“Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies: thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee.
Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger: the LORD shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them. Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth, and their seed from among the children of men.” (Ps. 21:8-10)
Other Scriptures that describe this are: Ps. 68:1-3; 140:9-11; Dan. 12:2; Matt. 5:21-22; 7:18-19; 13:39-42; 18:8-10; II Thess. 1:6-9; Heb. 12:28-29; Jude 1:7-8, 13; II Pet. 3:5-7; 2:4-9, 20-21.
Yet a Further Day of the Lord
After the judgment which Peter refers to (which must be that of Rev. 20:13-15), we have another Day of the Lord. It is self-evident that this one is foreshadowed and typed by the pre-Millennial Day of the Lord but is a much, much larger event –– this time it seems to be taking in the entire universe:
“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, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
“Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
“Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
“Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” (II Pet. 3:10-13)
This universal cleansing by fire –– called a day of the Lord and day of God –– the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, will relocate their universal headquarters to earth –– heaven will come to earth!
“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
“And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
“And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
“And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.” (Rev. 21:1-5)
The Day of the Lord Looms!
I hope that this Bible Study has been interesting and enlightening –– once again we can find the Bible to be the most fascinating book available to mankind. It is filled with great depth, amazing breadth of subject matter and surprises for any researcher.
Its nuggets and wealth are available to all those that seek and endeavour to mine the depths of His Word (Prov. 2:1-10).
At this point it should be stated that even the term “the last day” can refer to several events, including the day of His return at the commencement of the Millennium when the saints are raised (John 6:39-40, 43, 54; 11:24; 12:48) as well as the period after the Millennium. Similarly with the term “That Day.”
Another is “great day,” found in Acts 2:20; Rev. 6:17; 16:14; Jude 1:6, which may refer to both the post-Tribulation Day of the Lord and the judgment of fallen angels which are separate events, occurring at least 1,000 years apart.
So it is with the Day of the Lord. Let us recap the Days of the Lord concept with two quotes which add to our body of knowledge:
Baker’s Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology, article “Type; Typology”:
“As another example, Joel understands the “day of the Lord” (2:31) to be not a single event but a theological concept with multiple fulfillments, or perhaps better, multiple manifestations.” (emphasis mine)
Researcher Thomas Moore stated it in a fashion that is easy to grasp and helpful to our study of the subject: “There are a number of statements by the sacred writers that are designed to apply to distinct facts, successively occurring in history.” (Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi, pp. 396-99)
The Day of the Lord –– a future event pictured by previous, historical events, is obviously a major theme of Scripture, so often overlooked, read over and largely ignored. Yet God considers it important –– VERY important.
Do you see how terrible these Days usually are? This should be of great concern to all of us as the end-time Day of the Lord approaches. It may be sooner than we think. Are you prepared for it?
