4.7 The Day of the Lord Old Testament Backdrop If you’re familiar with the Old Testament Prophets, then you’ve probably seen references to the Day of the Lord. (See The Story of the Old Testament [Greenville, SC: BJU Press, 2018], 206– 10.) The Old Testament defined and described the Day of the Lord (also known as “that day” or “the great day of the Lord.”) What is the Day of the Lord? The Day of the Lord is a unique time when God will intervene in human history in a climactic way. In this context, day refers to a period longer than a twenty- four-hour day. (Note that some have wrongly argued against a young-earth creation by noting that the Day of the Lord is longer than twenty- four hours. They therefore argue that the days of Genesis 1 might be longer than literal twenty-four-hour periods. But the context of Genesis 1 is much different because the day is clearly defined as having an evening and a morning. Also, each day is identified by definite numbering [first, second, third, etc.]; the word day always refers to a twenty-four-hour period when used with such a number. See Robert V. McCabe, “A Critique of the Framework Interpretation of the Creation Account,” Answers in Genesis web­ site, June 6, 2007.) What are the two major parts of the Day of the Lord? There is great judgment and great blessing The Minor Prophets, which predicted the Day of the Lord, dis­ cussed both judgment (on both Israel and its enemies) and resto­ ration (fulfillment of God’s promises to His people). When will the Day of the Lord be fulfilled? In Old Testament predictions, sometimes the Day of the Lord has near fulfillments, and sometimes it has far fulfillments. The near fulfillments are only partial fulfillments (or illustra­ tions/analogies) in the history of Israel of what God will fully and finally fulfill in the future, at the end of the age. What are God’s purposes for the Day of the Lord? • God will finally and fully restore His creation. • God will free His people from the source of sin. • Once God purges sin from His creation, He will rule unopposed and bestow His blessings on the world without hindrance. The threefold purpose can also be identified by the following terms: • recompense, or judgment for the unrighteous; • sanctuary, or refuge for God’s righteous remnant; and • blessing, or restoration of creation’s goodness. All three aspects fit one major purpose: the glorification of God as He rules over His good creation. Remember that the Bible is the true story of what God is doing to glorify Himself by redeem­ ing (restoring) His fallen creation. Where will the Day of the Lord take place? The Day of the Lord will take place over all the earth. That day is universal and comprehensive in its full, final fulfillment. Thus any near fulfillment in Israel’s history can only be a partial fulfill­ ment (or an illustration/analogy) of what God will do at the end of the age. Further New Testament Revelation In the Olivet Discourse (Matt. 24–25), Jesus warned His dis­ ciples against predicting the exact time of His return (Matt. 24:36, 42–44; 25:13). Paul likely taught the Thessalonians based on this very teaching (1 Thess. 5:1–3). Jesus also warned His disciples not to get in a frenzy over the signs of the times (Matt. 24:4–12). All these signs (or birth pangs, as Jesus called them) should be expected in the time between His two comings (the end times). But Jesus indicated that when the disciples would see these very signs, “the end is not yet” (Matt. 24:6). Paul warned the Thessalonians not to be deceived into thinking the Day of the Lord had already arrived because of these signs, just as Jesus had warned (2 Thess. 2:1–3). There is only one sign that the Day of the Lord has come: the whole world will see the Son of Man coming in unmistakable power and glory, and the elect of God will be gathered to Him (Matt. 24:27, 30–31). If Jesus’ return will be so sudden and imminent (able to happen at any time), then why did Paul seem to say that the Thessalo­ nians should look for the revealing of the man of lawlessness (the Antichrist) before the Day of the Lord (2 Thess. 2:3–4)? First, the Day of Lord encompasses more than the Second Coming of Christ. That coming is a climactic part of the Day of the Lord, but the Day of the Lord begins before Christ’s actual return. Second, based on the Greek text, we could understand 2 Thes­ salonians 2:3 to say, “That day is not present except there is a falling away.” In other words, you would know you were living during the Day of the Lord if you were observing these events. Therefore, these events don’t necessarily come before the Day of the Lord. Since the Thessalonians weren’t observing these events, the Day of the Lord wasn’t present as the false teachers had claimed. “But,” some might argue, “doesn’t 2 Thessalonians say that the ‘falling away’ (or total apostasy) will happen first, before the Day of the Lord?” But here, the word first means that the falling away comes not before the Day of the Lord but before the revealing of the man of sin. In other words, there will be total apostasy, and then the man of lawlessness will exalt himself in the abomination of desolation predicted by Jesus (Matt. 24:15). Both the falling away and the revelation of the man of lawlessness will happen during the Day of the Lord. Since these were not the present circumstances of the Thessalo­ nians, they weren’t living during the Day of the Lord. The coming of the Day of the Lord is still imminent; nothing needs to occur before it can begin.