The Day of the Lord

Jesus will arrive and gather his people on the Day of the Lord, and in the New Testament, this event becomes the Day of Christ. In his second letter to the Thessalonians, Paul refutes claims that the “Day of the Lord” is imminent or has even begun, as some voices apparently were claiming. That Day will not arrive until the “Apostasy” and the “Revelation of the Man of Lawlessness, the Son of Destruction.” Jesus will destroy this deceiver at his “arrival,” the latter an event the Apostle links to this final day.

The “Day of the Lord” is a term found often in the Hebrew Bible. It is applied to the time of visitation and judgment of God, the “Day of Yahweh” when He intervenes to rescue His people and judge His enemies, and a day characterized by celestial and terrestrial upheaval and chaos - (Isaiah 2:12, Joel 1:15, 2:1, 2:31, 3:14, Malachi 4:5).

In 2 Thessalonians, Paul connects this “Day of the Lord” to the “arrival” or ‘Parousia’ of Jesus, the “gathering” of his elect, and the destruction of this Lawless Man.

[Photo by Tobias Rademacher (Auckland) on Unsplash]

In the same Letter, he describes the “revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven” when he will “take vengeance” on all those who disobey the Gospel. Christ will also be glorified in the “saints” on the same day. Both the righteous and the wicked will receive their rewards when Jesus appears - (2 Thessalonians 1:5-10, 2:1-12).

Paul also discusses the “Day of the Lord” in 1 Thessalonians. That day will mean “sudden destruction” for the unprepared, but the “sons of light” will not be overwhelmed by its arrival. Instead, they will “acquire salvation” when Jesus returns - (“For you know accurately that the day of the Lord is coming as a thief in the night” - 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, 5:1-8).

Elsewhere, Paul identifies the “Day of the Lord” as the “Day of Jesus Christ,” the moment when he vindicates his righteous ones but judges the wicked. Thus, the “Day of the Lord” described in the Hebrew Bible becomes intimately connected with Jesus and his arrival from heaven - (1 Corinthians 1:8, 5:5, 2 Corinthians 1:14, Philippians 1:6-10, 2:16, 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11).

The link between the “Day of the Lord” and the return of Jesus did not originate with Paul. Jesus himself applied language from key Old Testament passages when describing the future coming of “the Son of Man”:

• “But after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give her light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in the heavens. 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. And he will send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” – (Matthew 24:29-31).

• (Isaiah 13:10) – “The day of Yahweh is coming <…> For the stars of heaven and the constellations will not give their light. The sun will be darkened in its going forth, and the moon will not cause its light to shine.”

• (Joel 3:15) – “Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision, for the Day of Yahweh is near <…> The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.”

• (Zechariah 12:10) – “They will look unto me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for him, as a man mourns for his only son <…> On that day, there will be a great mourning in Jerusalem.”

• (Isaiah 11:12) – “And it will come to pass on that day <…> He will set up an ensign for the nations, and will assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.”

• (Daniel 7:13) – “I saw in the night visions, and behold, there came with the clouds of heaven, one like unto a son of man.”

PETER AND THE APOCALYPSE

The Apostle Peter also links the “Day of the Lord” to the ‘Parousia’ at the end of the present age. Despite “scoffers” who ask, “Where is the promise of his coming?” That Day will come, and when it does, “the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fervent heat.” In the meantime, believers must live righteously and “earnestly desire the coming of the Day of God.” By so doing, they may “hasten” the arrival of that glorious Day - (2 Peter 3:1-12).

The Book of Revelation also uses the Old Testament language that originally described the “Day of Yahweh,” only now, it is linked directly to the “Slain Lamb,” Jesus Christ:

• “Behold, he comes with the clouds; and every eye will see him, and they that pierced him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over him” - (Revelation 1:7).

• “And I saw when he opened the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the whole moon became as blood; and the stars of the heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts her unripe figs when she is shaken of a great wind. And the heaven was removed as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the princes, and the chief captains, and the rich, and the strong, and every bondman and freeman, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains. And they say to the mountains and to the rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath is come! And who can stand? “ - (Revelation 6:12-17).

And so, the New Testament identifies the “Day of the Lord” of Old Testament expectations with the “arrival” of Jesus from heaven when he will gather his saints and judge his enemies. It will be a day characterized by celestial upheaval and tremendous events on the earth, a time of vindication for the elect of God but also of condemnation and punishment for his enemies.

However, as the Apostle Paul makes clear, that day will not begin before the final “falling away” and the unveiling of the “Man of Lawlessness, the Son of Destruction.” He will take his seat in the “Sanctuary of God” and employ “all power and signs and lying wonders” to deceive all those who refuse the “love of the truth” and choose to believe the lie.

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SEE ALSO:

• God's Righteous Judgment - (The arrival of Jesus will mean vindication and rest for the righteous, but everlasting loss for the wicked - 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10)

• One Final Judgment - (Each of the three sevenfold series of Revelation concludes with a final judgment scene that transpires at the End of the Age)

• The Apostasy - (Paul warned of the coming Apostasy and linked it to the unveiling of the Man of Anarchy when he takes his seat in the Assembly)

• Missing Events - (Two events must occur before the day of the Lord - The apostasy and the unveiling of the Man of Lawlessness)