Thursday, June 21, 2018

The Day of the Lord

Content:

  • The Day of the Lord
    • General
    • It's described in the Old Testament
    • It's described in the New Testament
    • General Interpretation
  • The Day of the Lord and the Day of God
    • 2 Pet 3:10–13
    • Interpretation


The Day of the Lord


"The Day of the Lord" is a term reserved for the future and 
isn't just a single day, it's a period of time, see time 25:43–26:22
in 2 Peter 3 (Part 1) :1-18 • The Day of the Lord".
It covers a number of end-time events. It includes the following:
It always involves some kind of judgement, see The Sheep and the Goats.

The Rapture will come unexpectedly, at least for the unbelievers
(1 Thess 5:2). The believers may have knowledge about it (1 Thess 5:4), see End of Time in When Did Jesus Die and when Was He Born? 

Where it means the Return of Jesus is described in this article.
See also Messiah's Second Coming in The Prophecies of Isaiah.

It's described in the Old Testament:


Isaiah 2:12: 
"For the Lord of hosts has a day against all that is proud and lofty, against all that is lifted up—and it shall be brought low." 
Isaiah 13:9–10:
"Behold, the day of the Lord comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the land a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it. For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be dark at its rising, and the moon will not shed its light."
Isaiah 34:4:
"All the host of heaven shall rot away, and the skies roll up like a scroll. All their host shall fall, as leaves fall from the vine, like leaves falling from the fig tree."
See Messiah's Second Coming in The Prophecies of Isaiah.

Jer 4:23: 
"I looked on the Earth, and behold, it was without form and void; and to the heavens, and they had no light."
Jer 46:10a: 
"That day is the day of the Lord God of hosts, a day of vengeance, to avenge himself on his foes." 
See Prophet Jeremiah.

Ezekiel 13:5: 
"You have not gone up into the breaches, or built up a wall for the house of Israel, that it might stand in battle in the day of the Lord." 
Ezekiel 30:3–6: 
"For the day is near, the day of the Lord is near; it will be a day of clouds, a time of doom for the nations." 
Ezekiel 32:7–8:
"When I blot you out, I will cover the heavens and make their stars dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give its light. All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over you, and put darkness on your land, declares the Lord God."

Joel 1:15:
"Alas for the day! For the day of the Lord is near, and as destruction from the Almighty it comes."
Joel 2:1–9, 3:12–14: 
"Blow a trumpet in Zion; sound an alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming;
it is near."
Joel 2:10–11:
"The earth quakes before them; the heavens tremble. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining."
Joel 2:30–31:
"And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the Earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes." 
This occurs when the sixth seal is opened, see (Rev 6:12)
The Horses in the Book of Revelation.
Joel 3:15–16:
"The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining."
See also The Book of Joel.

Amos 5:18–20:
"Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! Why would you have the day of the Lord? It is darkness, and not light." 
See The Book of Amos.

Obadiah 1:15:
"For the day of the Lord is near upon all the nations. As you have done, it shall be done to you; your deeds shall return on your own head." 
See The book of Obadiah.

Zephaniah 1:7–10, 14–16:
"Be silent before the Lord God! For the day of the Lord is near; the Lord has prepared a sacrifice and consecrated his guests."
See The Book of Zephaniah.

Zechariah 14:1–9:
"Behold, a day is coming for the Lord, when the spoil taken from you will be divided in your midst."
See The Book of Zechariah.

Malachi 4:5–6:
"Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes." See the interpretation of the coming Elijah
at the end of The Book of Malachi.

It's described in the New Testament:


Acts 2:19–20:
"And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the Earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes,
the great and magnificent day."
This occurs when the sixth seal is opened, see
The Horses in the Book of Revelation.

Mat 24:29–30:
"Immediately after the Tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the Earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory."

Mark 13:24–26:
"But in those days, after that Tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the 
Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory."

Luk 21:25–27:
"And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the Earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory."

1 Cor 5:4–5:
"When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in
the day of the Lord."
2 Cor 1:13–14:
"For we are not writing to you anything other than what you read and understand and I hope you will fully understand—just as you did partially understand us—that on the day of our Lord Jesus you will boast of us as we will boast of you."

1 Thess 5:2–3:
"For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, 'There is peace and security,' then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape."
2 Thess 2:1–2:
"Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come."

Rev 6:12–14:
"When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood and the stars of the sky fell to the Earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place."

General Interpretation:


The following signs will appear:
  1. The sun will be darkened.
  2. Stars will be darkened ("fall from heaven" is a metaphor).
  3. The moon will be darkened ("turns to blood"). Blood is a metaphor for the Moon looking red (lunar eclipse), getting darker, seen from Earth.
  4. "The skies roll up" is a metaphor of great manifestations in the sky.
Something obscures the sun, moon and stars so that they appear darker.
This occurs on two different occasions: 
  1. When the sixth seal is opened,
    s    ee The Horses in the Book of Revelation.
  2. Later it occurs again even more strongly when Jesus returns.
Jesus came the first time as a Savior, as a sacrificial lamb, to give his life to the people, to make it possible for the people to spend eternity with God, see Salvation.

Most of the verses above describe what happens when Jesus returns. 
He will then come as a king to deal with the sin on Earth and to reign for a thousand years, see The Millennial Kingdom. It's the day of wrath. Jesus and the ascended believers, see The Rapture, will come and Jesus will defeat the forces of the enemy attacking Jerusalem. The sun and moon will be darkened and it won't be possible to see the stars. Jesus will punish the leaders of the forces attacking Jerusalem and the people who have rejected him, see The Sheep and the Goats. Antichrist will be cast into the
Lake of Fire, see Who is the End Time Antichrist?



The Day of the Lord and the Day of God


2 Pet 3:10–13:


2 Pet 3:10a:
"But the day of the Lord will come like a thief," 

2 Pet 3:10b–13: 
"and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the Earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new Earth in which righteousness dwells." 

Interpretation:


The first part of verse 10 states that the day of the Lord will come as a thief. That part reflects The Rapture. 

 The remaining part that says the heavens will disappear, the elements will be destroyed by heat, and the Earth will be burned up, is after the thousand years kingdom (Revelation 21:1), when there will be a new heaven and a new Earth, see A New Heaven and a New Earth. That day won't come as a thief, it will come after the Great White Throne Judgement (Rev 20:11–15).

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