The Day of the Lord

The Greek word chilioi, 'a thousand', does not occur outside the book of the Revelation except in one place, namely in 2 Peter 3:8: 'but beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day', and this is interposed by the apostle to assure the reader that 'the Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness', nevertheless, in spite of the apparent delay 'the day of the Lord will come'. Moses had to deal with the same feeling when he said: 'For a thousand years in Thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night' (Psa. 90:4), and although in Habakkuk 2:3 there is no reference to the simile of a thousand years, he is assured that: 'The vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry' (Hab. 2:3).

These are precious concessions to human frailty which should be treasured. It is, however, not true exegesis to take this figure of a thousand years as a day, as a 'proof' that the Millennial kingdom is in view, although the actual references to 'a thousand years' are limited to those of 2 Peter and the Revelation. We do note, however, that Peter's figure of the thousand years is linked on to the day of the Lord, which must include the Millennium. Going back to the opening chapters of Genesis and the record of the six days' work and the one day of rest, everyone, we believe, acknowledges that 'the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary' (Isa. 40:28). The seventh day, in which the Lord 'rested' was a sabbath keeping (Heb. shabath) even as 'the land' is said to 'rest' and enjoy her sabbaths, every seventh year. Again, no one in his senses would deny that if God so pleased, He could have spoken the word, and the present heaven and earth would have appeared as instantaneously as did light on the first day. The adoption of six days for the 'work' and the seventh day for the 'rest' was evidently symbolical of things to come.

Again, the solar year, in all places, and for all people, is a year of 365 days, yet, the festival year of Israel is limited to the first seven months, after which there is blank until the beginning of the new year.

Unless this dislocation of the year was necessitated by the requirements of symbolism, there seems no good purpose served by it. We therefore believe that we are justified in the idea, that the Millennium is the seventh day of a week, in which the other days are also of the duration of one thousand years. The six days of creation fall into three pairs: 1st and 4th days light (Gen. 1:3 -5) and lights (Gen. 1:14 -19); 2nd and 5th days firmament and waters (Gen. 1:6 -8) and creatures for firmament and waters; 3rd and 6th days dry land (Gen. 1:24 -28) and creation for the earth. In the same way we find the week of the age purposes similarly subdivided.

The only 'assumption' being the last item. But the horizon is crowded with signs that the end is approaching. Nebuchadnezzar's Image is all but complete, the nations of the Middle East are lifting up their heads, and the stage is being set for the great tribulation and the rise of the Man of Sin.

We are, however, only students of prophecy; we are not prophets and must be prepared to find that some of our theories will need adjusting, and some will have to be discarded. We do believe, however, that all is in perfect harmony, it is only our limited vision that prevents us from seeing 'the end from the beginning' but that is the prerogative of God only.

Before considering the testimony of the Scriptures concerning the Day of the Lord, we should remember that there is a period called 'man's day'.

The only 'assumption' being the last item. But the horizon is crowded with signs that the end is approaching. Nebuchadnezzar's Image is all but complete, the nations of the Middle East are lifting up their heads, and the stage is being set for the great tribulation and the rise of the Man of Sin.

We are, however, only students of prophecy; we are not prophets and must be prepared to find that some of our theories will need adjusting, and some will have to be discarded. We do believe, however, that all is in perfect harmony, it is only our limited vision that prevents us from seeing 'the end from the beginning' but that is the prerogative of God only.

Before considering the testimony of the Scriptures concerning the Day of the Lord, we should remember that there is a period called 'man's day'.

Six is the number of man (see The Companion Bible, Appendix 10, or Number in Scripture by Dr. E. W. Bullinger), and Paul refers to the present system as 'man's day' in 1 Corinthians 4:3 (margin). From Adam, until the Coming of the Lord, man's day will run its course, ending in the blasphemous assumption of the Man of Sin. The awful conditions that will obtain right up to the Second Advent, will not automatically cease as the clock strikes the closing hour, for when the Lord returns, He comes to 'Make War', and comes to 'Smite The Nations' and to 'Tread' the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God (Rev. 19:11 -15). These are not symbols of universal peace, although they do reveal how this peace will eventually be accomplished. It is the 'God of Peace', says the apostle, that shall 'bruise Satan under our feet shortly' (Rom. 16:20). If such Scriptures contradict our theories what must we do? Hold on to our wishful thinking? Me genoito 'God forbid'.

Before examining the passages in the Old Testament that refer to 'the day of the Lord' let us consider the reference to 'The Lord's day' in Revelation 1:10: 'I came to be in spirit in the day of the Lord, and I heard behind me a loud voice as of a trumpet' (Author's translation).

Verse 9 tells us that John came to be in Patmos for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus; verse 10 tells us that he came to be in spirit in the day of the Lord, and verse 11 completes the parallel by saying, 'what thou seest, write in a book'. The word and testimony were received by signs ('He sent and signified', verses 1 and 2) in the isle called Patmos, and are vitally connected with the statement 'in spirit in the day of the Lord'.

There are four occasions where John tells us that he was 'in spirit', viz., Revelation 1:10, he became in spirit in the day of the Lord; 4:2, he became in spirit, and saw the throne in heaven; 17:3, he is carried away into a desert in spirit to see the woman sitting on the scarlet beast; 21:10, he is carried away in spirit to see the Holy City. When John is to be taken to a desert or a mountain he is 'carried away in spirit', and when he is transported into time, 'the day of the Lord', or to the future heavenly sphere, he writes, 'I became in spirit'.

The four references made by John find an echo and an explanation in the statements to a like effect by Ezekiel: 'The spirit lifted me up, and brought me unto the east gate of the Lord's house' (Ezek. 11:1).

'Afterwards the spirit took me up, and brought me in a vision by the spirit of God into Chaldea, to them of the captivity. So the vision that I had seen went up from me' (Ezek. 11:24).

'The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones' (Ezek. 37:1).

In Ezekiel 40:2 we have a close parallel to Revelation 21:10: 'In the visions of God brought He me into the land of Israel, and set me upon a very high mountain, by which was as the frame of a city on the south' (Ezek. 40:2).

The man with the measuring reed (verse 3), and the command to declare what he saw (verse 4), also find their parallels in the Revelation. This and the seven succeeding chapters are punctuated by the words, 'then, and, or afterwards, he brought me'. Ezekiel 43:5 records similar words. Ezekiel was not merely taken in vision from one locality to another, but was taken into the yet future even as was John.

In Ezekiel 8:1 -3 the parallel with the first of Revelation is most pronounced: 'And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in mine house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord God fell there upon me. Then I beheld, and lo a likeness as the appearance of fire: from the appearance of his loins even downward, fire; and from his loins even upward, as the appearance of brightness, as the colour of amber. And he put forth the form of an hand, and took me by a lock of mine head; and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem'.

The description of the wondrous being who appeared to Ezekiel is very similar to the description of the Lord Who appeared to John (Rev. 1). The vision is a prelude to a revelation of dark apostasy and the retiring glory of God. It is so also in the book of the Revelation.

There is no mystery about the meaning of John when he tells us that he 'came to be in the day of the Lord in spirit'. It cannot possibly mean that he felt in a specially spiritual frame of mind on a Sunday -- such a suggestion is too trivial to require refuting. There are a great number of believers who, if they were asked for their Scriptural warrant for calling the first day of the week 'the Lord's day', would immediately point to Revelation 1:10 as their authority. Further, many of those who use this title of the Lord's day abstain from using the word Sun -day because of its pagan connection (though to be consistent they should follow the Society of Friends and omit the names of the days altogether, for Moon -day or Thors - day are equally as bad). It would doubtless come as a shock to such that their term 'Lord's day' is equally pagan! The title for the Sun is 'Lord'.

In Hebrew it is baal. The Syrians call it Adonis, from adonai, Lord. Pagan Rome called the first day of the week Dies Dominica, omitting the word 'Sol' because the Sun was pre -eminent. Other days had the planets mentioned by name. There is nothing to choose, therefore, between Sunday and Lord's -day as applied to the first day of the week; both alike are pagan, one masking the paganism by a traditional sanctity.

The book of the Revelation is taken up with something infinitely vaster than days of the week. It is solely concerned with the day of the Lord. To read that John became in spirit on the Lord's day (meaning Sunday), tells us practically nothing. To read in the solemn introduction that John became in spirit in the Day of the Lord, that day of prophetic import, is to tell us practically everything. Traditional bias is seen even in the rendering of en by 'on' instead of 'in'. The Hebrew language does not allow such a construction as 'The Lord's day', it can only be expressed by 'The day of the Lord'. The Greek language, however, like the English, permits of both modes of expression, and the one used here is 'The Lord's day', making the word Lord's an adjective. There can be no difference between the thing signified, whichever mode of expression be chosen, it is the same day, the difference is one of emphasis. Revelation 1:10 means 'the Lord's Day'; had it been set out as in the Hebrew it would have meant 'the Lord's day', but no other day than this could be meant by either expression.

A parallel expression is found in 1 Corinthians 4:3, where the Authorized Version reads 'man's judgment'; it should read, 'man's day', the construction being the same as Revelation 1:10. Man's day manifestly means man's day of judging, as evidenced by the context. Revelation 1:10 takes us to a future day, when the Lord and not the man shall be the judge. 'The day of the Lord' in the Old Testament is either Yom Jehovah, or Yom l'Jehovah, 'a day for the Lord'. Isaiah 13:6 gives some idea of the day of the Lord.

'Howl ye (referring to Babylon); for the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty'.

Verses 9 to 13 go further and close to the imagery of the Revelation: 'Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger... 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... in the wrath of the Lord of Hosts, and in the day of His fierce anger'.

The prophecy of Joel is entirely taken up with that day. 'Alas for the day! for the day of the Lord is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come' (1:15). Chapter 2:1,2 and 11 show how terrible will be that day; 3:14 links that day with the harvest, and the judgment of the nations. Obadiah 15,16 speak of it as a day of retribution for the heathen in the words that are very similar to Revelation 18:6 -8. Zechariah 14:1 -11 tells us that in the day of the Lord the nations will be gathered against Jerusalem, that He will go forth and His feet shall stand upon the Mount of Olives, that He shall be King over all the earth, and Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited.

The expression 'the day of the Lord' (Heb. Yom Jehovah) occurs as follows: Isaiah 13:6,9; Ezekiel 13:5; Joel 1:15; 2:1,11; 3:14; Amos 5:18 (twice), 20; Obadiah 15; Zephaniah 1:7,14 (twice); Malachi 4:5.

We have given the English chapter and verse, but the student should be aware that in some passages the enumeration is different in the Hebrew. In four places the Hebrew differs from the above, having the preposition 'L' (Hebrew name of letter lamed), meaning 'for' or 'to' -- 'a day for the Lord', or 'a day (known) to the Lord', Isaiah 2:12; Ezekiel 30:3; Zechariah 14:1 and 7. There are other places where the day of the Lord is mentioned, but these have some qualifying word as 'vengeance' or 'wrath', and so while illustrative and of importance, are not listed here. In the New Testament we meet the expression but four times: He hemera kuriou -- 1 Thessalonians 5:2; 2 Peter 3:10.

He hemera tou kuriou -- 2 Thessalonians 2:2 (Revised Text).

Te kuriake hemera -- Revelation 1:10.

Let us gather from these Scriptures what this 'Day of the Lord' will be like, for this will materially influence our conception of what the 'Millennium' itself will be like, for most agree that the Millennium is in 'the day of the Lord'. If the Millennium be a kingdom of universal peace, it is strange to note that we open our quotations with the words 'Howl Ye'! 'Howl ye; for the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.

'Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt: 'And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.

'Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and He shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.

'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.

'And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.

'And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.

'It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there' (Isa. 13:6-11 and 19,20).

This comes under the heading 'The burden of Babylon' (Isa. 13:1) and as Babylon figures largely in the Book of the Revelation, the description of the day of the Lord, as 'a destruction from the Almighty' must be kept in mind.

Following this, is the promise of Israel's restoration 'to their land' (Isa.14:1 -3).

Joel speaks of the day of the Lord in the same way as Isaiah does, calling it 'a destruction from the Almighty' (Joel 1:15). It is a day of darkness, and very terrible (Joel 2:1,2,11). In that day 'the sun and the moon shall be darkened and the stars shall withdraw their shining' (Joel 3:14,15). The command is: 'Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe... the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great' (Joel 3:13), a link with Revelation 14:14 -20, where both the 'sickle' and the 'winepress' are repeated. Amos 5:18 and 20 stresses that the day of the Lord is 'darkness and not light'. Obadiah has several things to say about the day of the Lord that have a bearing upon the time of the end:

How do these details fit into the usual conception of the Millennium? Zephaniah tells us that the day of the Lord is the day of the Lord's sacrifice, the great day of the Lord is a day of wrath (Zeph. 1:7,8,15).

Malachi says: 'Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse' (Mal. 4:5,6).

We must bring all these several features of the day of the Lord with us when we read Revelation 1:10 and as we continue to read the unfolding of that day as the visions of the Revelation are opened before us. Surely it is a call to pause if these inspired descriptions of the day of the Lord run counter to any theories we may have held. The Day of the Lord ends with the passing away of the heavens, and the Day of God follows (2 Pet. 3:10,12).

The Authorized Version confuses these two days by a faulty translation, it reads: 'in the which the heavens shall pass away', of the day of the Lord; and 'wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved', for the day of God: but the Revised Version corrects this, reading: 'in the which' of the day of the Lord; but 'by reason of which' for the day of God (2 Pet.

3:10,12). Thus revealing the fact that the day of the Lord covers the book of the Revelation up to the End Of The Millennium, when the dissolution takes place and the day of God follows. This in turn points on to the 'New Heavens and new earth' wherein dwelleth righteousness.

The book of the Revelation does not speak of the dissolving of the heavens and the elements with a fervent heat, but it does tell us that at the setting up of the Great White Throne 'the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them' (Rev. 20:11), which phenomena does not permit of a repetition. The lake of fire which is mentioned several times can well be the origin of, or a beginning of that 'fervent heat', and Peter tells us that 'the works that are therein shall be burned up'. If we accept this reading, a reference back to 1 Corinthians 3:12 -15 in connection with the judgment according to works which will take place at the Great White Throne is suggestive. The most ancient manuscripts read 'discovered' instead of 'burned up' (2 Pet. 3:10, R.V. margin). If this word, which in the Greek is eurisko, 'to find', is the original reading, it will fall in with the exhortation that follows, 'be found of Him in peace' (2 Pet. 3:14) and no place 'was found' and 'whosoever was not found written in the book of life' (Rev. 20:11,15).

The day of God is covered by Revelation 20:11 -15, and emerges into the new heaven and earth of Revelation 21:1 -6. See the article, Millennial Studies9. With the words of Revelation 22:8 the record returns to the isle of Patmos and to the angel who had been commissioned to show John these things. While we find many references in the prophets to the day of the Lord, no such reference is made to 'the day of God' in so many words, it is implied in one or two places which we must now examine.

The number eight in Scripture, the octave, the first day of a fresh week speaks of resurrection, or of a fresh start. Christ Himself was raised on the first day of the week, and the feast of tabernacles lasted eight days, covering in type both the Millennial Kingdom and the day of God that followed (Lev. 23:39 and John 7:37). The Transfiguration of the Lord took place 'eight days' after His promise to the disciples (Luke 9:28). Noah, who in type represents 'The Second Adam', is called by Peter 'the eighth person', and in the ark we are told were 'eight persons' (2 Pet. 2:5; 1 Pet. 3:20).

Circumcision was performed on the eighth day, indicating a putting off of the old and a putting on of the new. The numerical value of the Greek name 'Jesus' is 888, that of the 'Lord' is 800. If we omit the name of Ham, from the names of those in the ark, we have once again 888.

The above diagram is tentative, nothing is intended by it except a very rough guide to the movement observed in the Scriptures. Peter speaks of three days in 2 Peter 3, but one reference is obscured by the translation 'now and for ever'. The original reads kai nun kai eis hemeran aionos, 'both now and unto the day of the age', the climax day to which the whole purpose of the ages has pointed, the day when the Son delivers up the mediatorial kingdom, after all rule and authority has been put down and every enemy destroyed, long after the thousand years are passed, that 'God may be all in all' (1 Cor. 15:24 -28).

  From An Alphabetical Analysis Part 8 Terms and texts used in the study of ‘Prophetic Truth’ A to L by CHARLES H. WELCH