The Day of the Lord

The day of the Lord is referred to many times throughout Scripture in both the Old and New Testaments, and most people think of it as a time of judgment, destruction, and wrath. I have touched on it a number of times in a number of articles for a number or reasons, and I know there are a number of contentious issues in its interpretation.

I came face to face with a couple of those contentious issues recently, and it prompted me to sit down and review some of the important aspects of the day of the Lord—things that many students of Scripture have struggled with for quite a long time.

And as always, no matter how convoluted their interpretation may be, there are gaggles of good, sincere believers who will vehemently insist that their opinion is the bona fide truth of God's Word.

The interpretive issues people often struggle with include a few timing-related questions, such as whether the day of the Lord is connected with one specific event or covers a span of time. And if it does cover a span of time, how long is it? Can we ascertain what events that span of time includes? And can we pin both the beginning and the end of that span of time to any certain events with any degree of scriptural certainty? There are also questions about the nature of the day of the Lord: Is it it nothing but judgment and wrath, or are there some positive aspects associated with it as well?

As I'm sure you know, when the Bible doesn't spell out every specific detail of some doctrinal issue in so many words, a healthy amount of common sense and unbiased rightly dividing of the plain text of Scripture and the given context of certain passages can often shed sufficient light on things to allow us to draw some reasonably solid, scripturally supported conclusions.

And that is my goal in this article. I want to examine a couple of the issues I just mentioned, as well as look at two other "days" the Bible speaks of.

Now all I have to do is follow up on the promise I made in regard to those "gaggles of good, sincere believers" I referred to:

Keep that cudgel of mine

locked up in the closet.

A closer look at one key passage

As I said, the day of the Lord is spoken of in many places in Scripture, and I'm certainly not going to attempt to quote them all. But what I would like to do here is take a closer look at one of the key New Testament passages of Scripture that discusses the day of the Lord to try and get a clear sense of some of the things Scripture tells us about it.

Arguably the premier New Testament passage concerning the day of the Lord is from the pen of Paul in his first letter to the Thessalonians:

¹But of the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need that I write to you. ²For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. [In other words, there's no point in discussing the timing involved—we'll never know with any degree of certainty when it will come.] ³For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction comes on them, [sometimes misinterpreted—see comments below] as travail on a woman with child; and they [not we—they] shall not escape. ⁴But you, brothers, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. ⁵You are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. [So we have no part of that coming period of darkness.] ⁶Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. [We're not watching for destruction—we're watching for something better!] ⁷For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. ⁸But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. ⁹For God has not appointed us to wrath, [otherwise we would go through His wrath during the Tribulation] but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁰Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. [Note that this doesn't speak to our earthly lives—this speaks to something beyond our earthly lives...hint, hint.] ¹¹Why comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also you do. [Hmm...where have we heard that before? Oh yeah, in the final verse of his discussion of the Rapture in the chapter he just finished (1 Thess. 4:18)...hint, hint.]

(1 Thessalonians 5:1–11 AKJV / emphasis & [comments] added)

First of all, note Paul's statement in verse 1 about how the day of the Lord "comes as a thief in the night." Now, I've seen people do some strange things with this phrase, like one guy I read who claimed this phrase can have no connection with the Church or the Rapture because obviously thieves are evil and the Church isn't.

Uhh...no. This phrase simply means what it says: The day of the Lord will come suddenly and without warning, as does any thief worth his salt. That's why Paul says the Thessalonian believers have no need for him to write to them about the timing of the events he is discussing—he's already taught them that the signless event of the Rapture will occur suddenly and without warning, and now he's just telling them that it's ditto for the day of the Lord.

And right off the bat that brings us to one key point I want to make.

As I said, one of the issues people struggle with in regard to the day of the Lord is whether or not we can pin down a specific point in time that marks its beginning. Scripture doesn't tell us point blank, so we're gonna have to just read what the Word says and use that slimy gray thing between our ears.

OK, so the day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night. Consider: What event in the end time scenario comes in a way that is sudden and unexpected?

The launching of the Tribulation? Mmm...not really. I mean, they're going to have the rising global leader who will become the Antichrist wheeling and dealing with both Israel and her Arab neighbors to hammer out what has to be one of the biggest deals in history, and you know this process is going to be headline news for many weeks. The world is certainly going to see this deal coming well in advance with full fanfare and all the requisite pomp and circumstance, so there's no possible way the Tribulation is going to be launched like a thief in the night. On the contrary.

Deal of the Century?! We're talking Deal of the Millennium!

Thief in the night? No way. So scratch the launching of the Tribulation.

Well, what about the Second Coming? I'm thinking no, because here's the problem: When the Tribulation comes to an end, countless legions of people who have become believers during Daniel's 70th Week (and so read the Bible) will be anxiously anticipating the Lord's return. Now, I'm not saying they will know the exact day necessarily, but there will be an incredible sense of anticipation. So it's the same deal: Thief in the night? No way.

And it's the same problem with other major events in the end-time scenario: Millions of Tribulation saints who read their Bibles will be able to see these events coming and view them with expectation and anticipation. And as I said, they may not know the exact day of such events, but these events won't come suddenly and wholly unexpectedly because the Word of God tells them what they need to know. And so they will be anticipating such events.

The more you stop and think about it, the more it begins to dawn on you that there is really only one event in the end-time scenario that genuinely comes as a thief in the night...suddenly and without warning, just like our thief:

¹⁶For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: ¹⁷Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

(1 Thessalonians 4:16–17 AKJV)

The Rapture.

Think about the Rapture for a moment. One key thing that occurs is that the temple of the Holy Spirit on earth is removed (that's us), and as a result the Holy Spirit's restraining influence over evil is removed. This is what allows Satan to go hog wild with his efforts to elevate his man the Antichrist to a position of world domination in anticipation of using him to rule his 42-month kingdom during the Great Tribulation.

Mind your meaning: Be aware that some commentators use the words "Great Tribulation" to refer to the entire seven-year period of Daniel's 70th Week. Many, however, use the words "Great Tribulation" to refer to the second half of this seven-year period, and refer to the whole seven years simply as the "Tribulation." Just to be clear, I happen to be among this latter group.

But that means that as soon as the Rapture occurs, the curtain comes up on Satan's efforts to wipe Israel off the map and rule the world through his man the Antichrist. And you can be sure that some "sudden destruction" is coming down the pike when the Tribulation is launched as a result of the Antichrist's confirmation of the treaty of Daniel 9:27. Not to mention the decimation of Israel's enemies in Gog-Magog that I believe precedes that treaty.

Not only that, but the aftermath of the Rapture itself will initiate no small amount of "sudden destruction." The miraculous, unexplained disappearance of several hundred million people from all walks of life will shake the world like it's never been shaken, and I guarantee you that it will cause the United States to crumble faster than a stale Christmas cookie. And the remains of our not-so-great nation will willingly go along with whatever Satan has planned.

Note also the sharp distinction Paul draws between born-again believers and the world: We are children of the light, or of the day—not children of the night, or of darkness. So the day of the Lord will not overtake us like a thief in the night and plunge us into darkness and destruction for one simple reason:

WE. WILL. NOT. BE. HERE!

So what am I driving at? Pardon me for saying, but if you don't see where this is going by now, you're not exactly the sharpest scalpel in the OR. My point is that it is surprisingly easy and natural to view the Rapture itself as the event that marks the beginning of the day of the Lord. The Rapture comes as a thief in the night, and it will rapidly lead to the onset of sudden destruction as the Restrainer is removed and Satan is free to pursue his grand plan to destroy Israel and establish his kingdom of lies and deception with unparalleled vigor, which will quickly lead to the launching of the Tribulation and the outpouring of divine judgment on the world.

Splitting a hair: Although it might, it's not essential that the Rapture immediately launch this "sudden destruction." The Rapture launches the period of time during which that sudden destruction will occur.

Those who are children of light will be removed, and only the children of darkness will remain.

Fits like a glove.

And the clues just keep coming. Note how Paul stresses the idea that they will not escape. They (a Christ-rejecting world)—not we (believers that make up the body of Christ, like the people he's writing to). They obviously refers to those who won't be raptured and will enter into this time of judgment and destruction that he's referring to as the day of the Lord.

And it's completely clear that it's the

Rapture and the resulting removal of

the Restrainer that puts things in motion.

Again, note that as chapter 5 begins, Paul has just finished his premier passage on the Rapture (1 Thess. 4:13–18). In other words, he has just finished dealing specifically with the Rapture, and then moves on to the next important topic: the day of the Lord, which he tells us we will have no part of.

Q. What does that suggest to any scripturally competent individual?

A. Well, if you're a post-tribber, apparently it doesn't mean a blessed thing.

 Incoming:   * This is your first warning: Go easy, bro. *   Yes, sir.  

But to people who are willing to interpret the plain text of Scripture in a sensible, straightforward manner, it strongly suggests the Rapture occurs prior to the Tribulation.

Squeezin' it all in: It's interesting to note what post-tribbers typically have to do with what Paul says in order to force it to accommodate a post-trib Rapture. Since they begin with the assumption that the Rapture must be post-trib, they simply have no choice but to lump it in with the climax of the Great Tribulation. Thus for many post-tribbers, the day of the Lord gets morphed into one big, fiery furball that occurs around the climax of Daniel's 70th Week. Never mind that this contradicts a plain-text reading of God's Word, which paints a decidedly different picture.

Along those same lines, one thing many post-tribbers feel compelled to do is take Paul's words in verse 3 ("When they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction comes on them") and claim that Paul doesn't mean there will actually be any peace and safety at that time. Oh no. Paul really means that people are merely expressing their longing for peace and safety since they will be experiencing the horrors of the Great Tribulation at the time.

Uhh...no. They say "peace and safety" because they mistakenly believe they have finally achieved the impossible dream—they honestly believe this charismatic world leader has come on the scene and achieved world peace, or has at least brought the world to the point where such peace is finally within their grasp. Not long after that treaty is implemented, however, the bottom falls out, the false peace it brought is shattered, and the Tribulation and its attendant judgments and destruction is off and running.

And as I hinted at in the Scripture passage above, to me it's a virtual a no-brainer that when Paul says...

⁹For God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁰Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.

(1 Thessalonians 5:9–10 AKJV)

...he might as well come right out and state point blank that God has no intention of allowing the Church to go through the Tribulation.

The parousia

The Greek word parousia is routinely used throughout the New Testament, and is commonly translated as "the coming of the Lord," "His appearance," etc. The word parousia is one common way the New Testament writers use to refer to the general time frame of the Second Coming of Christ to the earth to establish the Millennial Kingdom.

It seems that many people—and I mean people of diverse doctrinal persuasions—see the word parousia as referring strictly to the singular event of the Second Coming itself, and nothing more. But could it be that this interpretation is a bit too narrow, and as a result is actually obscuring our view of some things concerning the day of the Lord?

I won't be dogmatic about it, but I tend to view it that way. One basic problem with the word parousia is how we define it. OK, so how is it defined?

The noun parousia comes from the present participle of the verb pareimi, which means "to be present, near, or near at hand." Parousia is a bit more flexible in its usage than many realize: It can mean an effectual presence, an arrival, or an arrival that results in an abiding presence.

Read the above carefully, because as you can see the word parousia can mean a little bit more than the mere physical arrival of someone—you know, like somebody just shows up at a certain place and BOOM...that's his parousia, end of story. This word refers to the effectual presence of someone, normally following (but possibly even preceding) their physical arrival.

Most students of the Bible have no problem connecting the parousia of Christ with His Second Coming. That's pretty much a no-brainer.

But consider: Many students of the Bible also consider the Rapture to be a parousia. (Who said there could only be one?) They see two parousias of Christ in the end times: the first to gather His Bride, and the second to physically return to earth to establish His kingdom, with the scriptural context normally informing the reader of which parousia is being referred to. Although I consider this view plausible, it doesn't happen to be my view of choice.

Why? Because there is another possibility: Some people believe there is only one end-time parousia, but that it includes more than one phase or aspect. They see Christ's parousia as beginning with the Rapture. But following the Rapture, they see the world experiencing the effects of Christ's presence in the form of the judgments He is releasing during the Tribulation, and consider that as a continuation of the parousia. For example, during the seal judgments early in the Tribulation, the book of Revelation makes it clear that the world knows they are experiencing the wrath of the Lamb, or the wrath of Christ:

¹⁵And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every slave, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; ¹⁶And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: [i.e. the wrath of Christ] ¹⁷For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

(Revelation 6:15–17 AKJV / emphasis & [comments] added)

In John 5:22, John says God has given all judgment over to His Son, and we see that here: The judgments of the Tribulation are being released by Christ as He opens the seals on the scroll, and the world is reeling from their effects.

And the world knows it is the wrath of Christ.

So the world knows it is experiencing the effects of Christ's presence in the form of His wrath, although they won't experience His literal, physical presence until the Second Coming. As a result, some commentators view the parousia as beginning with the Rapture, and continuing on through the Tribulation until the Second Coming, or His physical arrival.

OK, but then what? Well, it's easy to see that the world will certainly experience Christ's physical presence and the abiding effects of that presence for the entire duration of the Millennial Kingdom, so it's not difficult to view the parousia as beginning with the Rapture, continuing throughout the Tribulation, climaxing with the Second Coming, and extending throughout the Millennial Kingdom.

In other words, it's not too much of a stretch to consider the parousia as being equivalent to the day of the Lord.

But then what? This is where things get interesting, and really only Paul, Peter, and John (in that order) give us much to work with in regard to what follows the Millennial Kingdom. First, here's what Paul has to say:

²⁴Then the end comes, when he [Christ] will deliver up the Kingdom to God the Father, when he will have abolished all rule and all authority and power. [When the Millennial Kingdom is complete, Christ's work is finally done, and He turns everything over to His Father.] ²⁵For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. ²⁶The last enemy that will be abolished is death. [Note that sin and death will still exist in the Millennial Kingdom.] ²⁷For, "He put all things in subjection under his feet." But when he says, "All things are put in subjection," it is evident that he is excepted who subjected all things to him. [Paul is merely clarifying that in this case "all things" doesn't include God Himself.] ²⁸When all things have been subjected to him, then the Son will also himself be subjected to him ["all things" includes God's Son] who subjected all things to him, that God may be all in all. [In the end, it's all about God...as it should be.]

(1 Corinthians 15:24–28 / emphasis & [comments] added)

In other words, when Christ's Millennial Kingdom is complete (and after the Great White Throne Judgment that wraps things up), His work is finished and He will turn the kingdom over to His Father. At that point all things (including the Son Himself) will be subject to the Father's sovereign authority. This leads to the "eternal state" that John refers to later in the book of Revelation.

As for the transition to this eternal state, Peter gives us a bit more detail:

¹⁰But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night [stealing Paul's line]; 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. [This is a reference to the new heaven and new earth that comes after the Millennial Kingdom, which John mentions about 30 years later in Rev. 21:1.]

¹¹Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in all holy conversation and godliness, ¹²Looking for and hastening to the coming of the day of God, [not the day of the Lord...the day of God] wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? [Peter doesn't spare any of the frighteningly graphic details.] ¹³Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwells righteousness. [This is the eternal state...and nothing unrighteous will ever dwell there.]

(2 Peter 3:10–13 AKJV / emphasis & [comments] added)

So I believe it's clear that the day of the Lord or the parousia begins with the Rapture, continues with the effect of Christ's "presence" in the form of His judgments during the Tribulation, includes the Second Coming, and then extends all the way through the Millennial Kingdom. After the completion of Christ's kingdom, there is a transition to what Peter calls the "day of God."

Speaking of which, note with care what Peter says in verse 12 about what will happen after the Millennial Kingdom: The heavens will be dissolved in flames and the elements will melt with fervent heat. This is the creation of the new heaven and new earth referred to later by John:

¹And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away [and Peter already explained how they pass away]; and there was no more sea.

(Revelation 21:1 AKJV / emphasis & [comments] added)

Peter speaks of "looking for and hastening to the day of God." The day of the Lord is complete, and now it's time for the final transition to something Peter refers to as the "day of God."

Peter gives us the only use of the phrase "day of God" in Scripture, and the context of these last three passages tells us that the "day of God" is another name for the eternal state, which is established after the completion of the Millennial Kingdom and the annihilation of the current heaven and earth.

When the day of God arrives, the day of the Lord will be finished, along with the corrupting influence of sin introduced by Satan. All the death, destruction, disobedience, hatred, and rejection of everything holy that Satan's rebellion brought into existence and that corrupted both man and the earth will have finally been completely eliminated and subjected to divine judgment.

It's over...and God wins.

One more day

In addition to the day of the Lord and the day of God, there is a third "day" that Paul mentions four times in his writings—the "day of Christ." Actually Paul uses "day of Christ" twice (Phil. 1:10; Phil. 2:16), "day of Christ Jesus" (sometimes translated "Jesus Christ") once (Phil. 1:6), and "day of our Lord Jesus Christ" once (1 Cor. 1:8). Most people treat all four as equivalent forms.

Although all four verses strongly hint at a certain truth, here's one of them that speaks to this truth with irrefutable clarity:

⁶Being confident of this very thing, that he which has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

(Philippians 1:6 AKJV / emphasis added)

This verse is telling us that God has begun a good work in all born-again believers, and He will continue that good work until the day of Jesus Christ. So in other words, when the day of Christ arrives, He will have finished that good work. It will be complete. Any questions? OK, pop quiz:

Q1. When will God's good work in the lives of all living believers be complete?

A1. The day those living believers transition from being sinful men on earth saddled with a sin nature to being perfected men in heaven.

Q2. And when does that happen?

A2. Hint: It ain't Ground Hog Day.

This verse isn't "hinting" at anything. It is telling us straight out and in no uncertain terms that the Day of Christ is none other than the Rapture.

Of course, post-tribbers have to pull out all the exegetical stops to conflate the day of Christ with the day of the Lord (which most of them have reduced to the Second Coming), and they do it for one simple reason:

Their spurious doctrinal gaffes leave them with no choice.

 Incoming:   * I said "Put. The cudgel. Away." *   Yes, sir. 

So in the end, here's what we've got:

1. The day of Christ: This day is the event of the Rapture.

2. The day of the Lord: This day is triggered by the Rapture, and extends through the Tribulation, the Second Coming, and the Millennial Kingdom.

3. The day of God: This day comes after the conclusion of the Millennial Kingdom and is when Christ delivers the kingdom to His Father. This represents God's final and complete triumph over all the damage initiated by Satan's rebellion, and it is the eternal state of perfection we will enjoy forever.

So I think it's safe to say that there's a bit more to this day of the Lord business than many suppose.

Day and night...or is it night and day?

All right, one last thing...and I'll come right out and admit this blew me away when I stumbled across it recently. I had never heard anyone teach or preach this in my entire life, but it's so drop-dead obvious that it stunned me.

Consider: When we think about a day, we invariably think of it as starting in the morning when we get up, and ending that night when we go to bed. Right? In other words, our day begins with light, and it ends with darkness. Pretty fundamental for most of us. (People who work the midnight shift might feel differently, so I'll make an exception for them.)

But God's idea of a day is different, and we see this during Creation:

³God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. ⁴God saw the light, and saw that it was good. God divided the light from the darkness. ⁵God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." There was evening and there was morning, the first day. [Evening, then morning...darkness followed by light.]

(Genesis 1:3–5 / emphasis & [comments] added)

So while we think of our day as beginning with light and ending with darkness, God's day is just the reverse: His idea of a day begins with darkness and ends with light. This exact same pattern is stated for every one of the first six days of Creation in Genesis 1, in verses 5, 8, 13, 19, 23, and 31.

This helps explain why in traditional Jewish culture a day begins at sundown—same deal: darkness followed by light. They are basically following the pattern God established in the Old Testament. (And it also helps explain why the Jewish calendar is so maddeningly confusing to everybody else.)

So...other than being a cultural oddity for Jewish people, why is this significant? The reason this is significant is because we see the same pattern in all three of the "days" that we have discussed. They all begin with something bad or negative (darkness), and end with something good or positive (light).

Let's consider the three days we have discussed in chronological order:

1. The day of Christ is the event of the Rapture. But consider: In 1 Corinthians 15:51–52, Paul tells us that we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling an eye. Well, changed from what to what? What are we just before it occurs and what are we immediately after it occurs? That's easy:

A moment before it occurs, although we are born-again, we are still sinful men saddled with a sin nature. Even though we have the light of the Holy Spirit sealed within us and are (hopefully) walking in the light of His Word, we're still stuck with our sin nature as long as we live in a body of flesh and as a result are unable to completely stop sinning. That's the darkness part.

A moment after it occurs, we will have a glorified body that will be forever free of sin, and we will now be able to live for eternity in God's presence in heaven thanks to His Son's imputed righteousness. That's the light part.

First darkness, then light.

2. The day of the Lord falls on a world that has persecuted God's people Israel and rejected God's grace and mercy expressed to it through Christ. And it is kicked off by the removal of the every single person on earth who is righteous in God's eyes as a result of being sealed and indwelt by His Spirit, and the temple of the Holy Spirit relocates to heaven. In other words:

The day of the Lord begins with the removal of the light of the world.

So while the Church is enjoying heavenly light, back here on earth the day of the Lord certainly begins with darkness—the light has been removed, Satan is unrestrained, and judgment and destruction are just getting cranked up.

But at the end of the Tribulation, Christ returns and establishes His kingdom, and for the next thousand years there is peace and light in a world ruled by Christ Himself. So, same pattern for the day of the Lord:

First darkness, then light.

3. The day of God comes after the Millennial Kingdom is complete, and it begins with the current heaven and earth being utterly destroyed and melted with fervent heat. So it's not a stretch to say it begins with destruction, or darkness. But out of this darkness God will create a new heaven and new earth, and nothing profane will ever enter into it. God will dwell with His people forever, so the day of God certainly ends with light. Third time's a charm:

First darkness, then light.

And the pattern is complete.

Day one

So we have looked at the day of the Lord and addressed several issues associated with it (and that throw some people off track), and we have seen that the day of the Lord is neatly sandwiched between two other days Scripture refers to: first the day of Christ, and finally the day of God.

One thing that anyone who has studied this stuff understands is that the further we go into the future of God's overall program, the less detail the Bible provides. For example, the final and arguably the most mind-blowing of these three days we have discussed is the day of God, an expression only mentioned in Scripture once, and all we're told is how the current heaven and earth will be destroyed to make way for its creation. That's just about it.

If we want to go much further than that, we have to rely on (hopefully Scripture-based) speculation—and there's certainly nothing wrong with that. But I am reminded of one thing:

God knows we don't need to know

anything more than what He has

clearly revealed to us in His Word.

But take heart, because I am also reminded of the best thing of all:

We're outta here on day one.

From Greg Lauer @ A Little Strength—AUG '25

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