The Day of the Lord ?

The Day of the Lord a Generic Term?

David Michalak

Does the Day of the Lord only mean death and destruction? Will it last, one day, one year? My friends, the Day of the Lord is a generic term representing more than one event, and period in time. The Day of the Lord can be one day, one year, or 1000 years in duration.

The Day of the Lord = one year:

A day for a year reckoning is found three places in the bible, Isaiah 34:8, Isaiah 63:4, and Ezekial 4:4-6.

"For it is the day of the Lord's vengeance. The year of recompense for the controversy of Zion." (Isa. 34:8)

"For the day of vengeance is in my heart, and the year of my redemption has come ." (Isa. 63:4)

The day of the Lord's vengeance, the year of recompense, and the year of redemption, are speaking of the same time period just ahead, called the Day of the Lord, as found in (Joel, Amos, Zephania, etc). The third place in scripture describing a day for a year reckoning is in Ezekiel chapter 4:

"Lie also on your left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it, according to the number of days that you lie on it, you shall bear there iniquity. For I have laid on you the years of their iniquity, according to the number of days 390 days; so you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. and when you have completed them, lie again on your right side, then you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah 40 days. I have laid on you a day for each year ."(Ezek. 4:4-6)

One day = 1000 years:

"But beloved do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a 1000 years, and a 1000 years is as one day." (2Pet. 3:8)

Clearly the Day of the Lord can represent more than one period of time, one year or 1000 years. The day of the Lord can also represent different events in time.

Day of the Lord = different events in time:

Event One:

"Wail for the day of the Lord is at hand, it will come as destruction from the almighty....Behold the day of the Lord comes cruel, with both wrath and fierce anger. To lay the land desolate....I will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their iniquity....Therefore I will shake the heavens and the earth will move out of its place, In the wrath of the Lord of Host (Jesus Christ) and in the day of His fierce anger ."(Isa. 12:6-13)

"I looked when He opened the sixth seal and behold there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood... and the kings of the east, the great men, the rich men, the commander, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves in the rocks of the mountains and said to the mountains and rocks 'Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne (God the Father) and from the wrath of the Lamb (Jesus Christ); For the great day of His wrath (Lamb's wrath & the Father's wrath) has come and who is able to stand;'' (Rev. 6:12,16,17)

"The great day of the Lord is near. It is near and hastens quickly. The cry of the day of the Lord is bitter, There the mighty man shall cry out bitterly. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of devastation and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of trumpet and alarm against the fortified cities and against the high towers And I will bring distress among men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung"(Zeph. 1:14-17)

Zephania called this day of wrath, a day of the trumpet, and the Day of the Lord. Isaiah also called the Day of the Lord, a day of wrath, a day of fierce anger, and the year of recompense. The day of wrath, a day of fierce anger, the day of the trumpet (Joel 2), all take place during the same time period, known as the Day of the Lord. During this one year time period (Isa. 34:8, 63:4), called the Day of the Lord, God intervenes in the affairs of the world, sending horrible plagues upon an evil, and sin, filled world. This Day of the Lord, better called the Day of the Lord's Wrath, belongs to God. It is his day, his year, of vengeance and wrath. The Day of the Lord's Wrath includes two other events, called the Day of the Lord's Return.

Event Two:

"Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." (1Cor. 15:51,52)

"For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God.. and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. and thus we shall always be with the Lord" (1Thes. 4:13-17)

Here Paul describes the first event to befall the world during the year long Day of the Lord's Wrath: the Day of the Lord's Return for his bride, often called the resurrection of the saints. On the Day of the Lord's Return the trumpet will sound, and the bride of Christ (Eph. 5:22-32, Rev. 19:7-9) will rise to meet him in the air. Approximately 115 days latter the second event during the Day of the Lord's Wrath will occur.

Event Three:

The Day of the Lord's Return for his bride (event two, the resurrection of the saints) has occurred. Jesus returns to his Father's house for the marriage ceremony and the wedding supper (See Wedding Supper of the Lamb & Jewish Wedding Customs). Once the marriage and supper have been completed, the Day of the Lord's Return to Mount Olives begins.

"Behold the day of the Lord is coming, and your spoil will be divided in your midst, For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem. Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, and in that day His feet will stand on the mount of olives which faces Jerusalem on the east" (Zech. 14:1-4)

"And in that day His (Jesus's) feet will stand upon the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split from east to west, making a very great valley...And the Lord shall be king over all the earth. In that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one." (Zech 14:4,9)

"And I looked, and , behold, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him a hundred forty and four thousand , having his Father's name written in their foreheads.....And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beast, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. These are they which were not defiled with women: for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb." (Rev. 14:1,3,4)

The Day of the Lord's Return for his bride, and the Day of the Lord's Return to the Mount of Olives are two separate events, with each event lasting one day in length. Earlier we proved that the Day of the Lord can be, one year, and 1000 years in length. The Day of the Lord's Return for his bride, and the Day of the Lord's Return to Mount Olives, is proof that the Day of the Lord is also just one day in length. So far we have seen that the Day of the Lord can mean three separate events: the Day of the Lord's Wrath, the Day of the Lord's Return for his bride, and the Day of the Lord's Return to the mount of Olives. The fourth Day of the Lord event following the Lord's Return to mount Olives is, the Day of the Lord's Reign.

Event four:

"And I saw thrones, and they (the wife of Christ, the resurrected saints) sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years." (Rev 20:4)

"But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection: on such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years." (Rev 20:5-6)

After the Lord returns to mount Olives he immediately intervenes in world affairs to put down man's rebellion and war (Rev. 17:12-14, 19:11-16). Man does not know the way of peace, and must be shown the way (Rom. 10-18, Isa 59:1-2, 8-9). Once the war and rebellion has been removed Jesus will rule with his wife, the resurrected saints, for 1000 years, and the world will be living in the Day of the Lord's Reign. The next Day of the Lord event is the Day of the Lord's Judgment, often called the great white throne judgment.

Event five:

"For the Father judges no man, but has committed all judgment unto the son:....verily verily I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the son of God: and they that hear shall live. For as the Father has life in himself; so has he given to the son to have life in himself; and has given him (Jesus Christ) authority to execute judgment also, because he is the son of man." (John 5:22, 25-27)

"And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given to them (Christ's wife, the resurrected saints)....and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.....and I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. " (Rev. 20:4-15)

All judgment was given to the son by God the Father. The Day of the Lord's Judgment is the same day of judgment mentioned in Matthew 10:15. All those who ever lived, and died in ignorance, not having known the gospel of the kingdom of God, will be resurrected, and given their opportunity to receive salvation. The book of life will be opened, signifying their opportunity to receive salvation. This is the last part of God's plan for mankind. All those who truly seek to live God's way of life will find salvation, resulting in their receiving eternal life. All who still refused to follow God's way of peace and happiness, even after being resurrected from death to life, will be destroyed for all eternity, in the lake of fire, their second death. The Day of the Lord is truly a generic term representing more than one event, and period in time.

The Day of the Lord's Wrath
The Day of the Lord's Return for his bride
The Day of the Lord's Return to mount Olives
The Day of the Lord's Reign
The Day of the Lord's Judgment

It was more efficient for God to refer to all Day of the Lord events simply as the Day of the Lord. This process used less time, and written space, in having to explain, over and over again, which event He was talking about. Whichever Day of the Lord the scriptures are talking about is determined by the context of the event being discussed.

The Day of the Lord is a much bigger picture than just one day or one year of God's anger and retribution. The Day of the Lord encapsulates the end time fulfillment of God's plan of salvation for all mankind. Beginning with God's anger poured out on a sinning world, followed by the reign of Jesus Christ to teach us the way of peace; and ending in the Day of the Lord's Judgment. A judgment day not of wrath, but a great day of salvation to all who died, and now resurrected to physical life, and never having known the gospel of the kingdom of God. These will rejoice in the Day of the Lord's Judgment for their opportunity to experience the joy of salvation.

Contact address: dvd_michal@hotmail.com