Day of the Lord - Essay Example

The Day of the Lord By ID. No. No. 7th May, The Day of the Lord Day of the Lord in the Old Testament The expression “The Day of the Lord” was first used by Prophet Amos in warning the Israelites that the day of the Lord would be a day of doom, when the Lord God’s wrath would be visited on the sinners and all the enemies of the Lord1. According to prophet Amos therefore, the day of the Lord is the day when the Lord God would powerfully move in the scene to execute His wrath upon all the people who had disobeyed and sinned against him. Prophet Amos saw the day of the Lord as a day of total darkness, “Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it? For prophet Amos therefore, the day of the Lord would be a day of great horrors. Since the time of Amos, the expression, “The Day of the Lord”, became a common expression among the prophets of Israel; the expression. “The Day of the Lord”, is used several times in the Old Testament. But in the Old Testament, the expression, “The Day of the Lord” is not only used to refer to the day of doom, but also the day of blessings and restoration of God’s people. The expression, “The day of the Lord”, is also used in the New Testament with different meanings and connotations. This paper looks at the meaning and the usage of the expression, “The day of the Lord” in the Scriptures. To achieve this end, different verses of the Scriptures bearing the expression are quoted, and explanations are given on the different meanings of the expression. Besides Prophet Amos, prophet Isaiah was one of the earliest Major Prophets to use the expression, “The day of the Lord”. And just like prophet Amos, prophet Isaiah conceived the day of the Lord as the day of destruction and doom. Prophet Isaiah says the following about the day of the Lord, “Howl ye; for the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty”2. Prophet Isaiah also says the following of the day of the Lord, “Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it”3. This passage shows that prophet Isaiah conceived the day of the Lord as being immanent. On this verse, Young says that prophet Isaiah conceived the day of the Lord as sudden and irresistible4.Also, prophet Isaiah says the following on the day of the Lord,” Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it”5. Again, he says, “For it is the day of the Lords vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion”6. From these quotations from prophet Isaiah, we learn that Prophet Isaiah meant by the day of the Lord, a day of destruction when the Lord God would punish all the sinners. For Isaiah, the day of the Lord would also be a day when the Lord God would punish the enemies of his people, and recompense the Israelites for all the ill-treatment that they received from their enemies. For prophet Isaiah, therefore, the day of the Lord has some promise of restoration of the people of God, i.e. the Israelites. Hill and Walton agree with this view when they say, “In the Day of the Lord, justice is done. This is a positive time for victims, but a day of reckoning for oppressors.”7 Prophet Jeremiah also conceived the day of the Lord as the day of vengeance when the Lord God would avenge of His adversaries. Prophet Jeremiah says the following on the day of the Lord, “For this is the day of the Lord God of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries: and the sword shall devour, and it shall be satiate and made drunk with their blood: for the Lord God of hosts hath a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates”8. For prophet Jeremiah therefore, the day of the Lord is primarily the day of vengeance when the Lord God would punish His adversaries. For prophet Jeremiah, the adversaries of the Lord included the Israelites who had strayed away from the covenant that God had made with the Israelites. For Jeremiah therefore, the day of the Lord is the day of punishment for all sinners. This fact shows that Jeremiah and Isaiah conceived the day of the Lord in the same way. We find the same meaning of the day of the Lord in the book of Lamentations. In this book we read the following, “Thou hast called as in a solemn day my terrors round about, so that in the day of the Lords anger none escaped nor remained: those that I have swaddled and brought up hath mine enemy consumed”9. The author of Lamentations in this verse is complaining to the Lord because of the horrors that characterised the day of the Lord on which the Lord God had punished his people because of their sins. Unlike prophets Amos, Isaiah, and Jeremiah, who prophesied about the arrival of the day of the Lord, the author of Lamentations is talking about the day of the Lord which has already passed, a day in which the Lord God punished the Israelites severely because of their disobedience against him. But despite this minor difference, the author of Lamentations understood the day of the Lord as a day of doom and vengeance, a day in which the Lord God punished his people for their sins. Prophet Ezekiel, on the other hand saw the day of the Lord as being immanent, and being almost being experienced in the present. Prophet Amos says the following on the day of the Lord, “The morning is come unto thee: the time is come, the day of the Lord is near, and not the sounding again of the mountains”10. Prophet Ezekiel therefore saw the day of the Lord as being so immanent, and not in the distant future. Ezekiel emphasise the nearness of the day of the Lord when he says, “For the day is near, even the day of the Lord is near, a cloudy day; it shall be the time of the heathen”11. For Ezekiel therefore, the day of the Lord is a day of doom, and a day that is imminent. The same conception of the day of the Lord is found in Prophet Joel. Prophet Joel saw the day of the Lord as being immanent and present. Prophet Joel says the following on the day of the Lord, “Alas for the day! for the day of the Lord is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come”12. Also, Prophet Joel says, “Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord com eth, for it is nigh at hand”13. These two verses show that Prophet Joel conceived the day of the Lord as being partially present, and immanent. Smith agrees with this view and he says that, the locusts in the Joel 1:16-20, were an indication of the arrival of the day of the Lord14. Prophet Joel also saw the day of the Lord as being a day of great horrors. Prophet Joel prophesied the following on the day of the Lord, “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come”15. For Prophet Joel therefore, the day of the Lord is partially present and immanent, and it is a day filled with great horrors. Prophet Obadiah had similar view on the day of the Lord. Just like prophet Joel, prophet Obadiah saw the day of the Lord as being immanent. Prophet Obadiah says the following on the day of the Lord, “For the day of the Lord is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head”16. From this verse we learn that the day of the Lord for Prophet Obadiah was quite near. From this verse, we also learn that the day of the Lord would be a day of judgement when the Lord God would repay each person according to their actions. For Prophet Obadiah, therefore, the day of the Lord was imminent, and it would be a day of great horrors and a day of judgment. Prophet Zephaniah also saw the day of the Lord as being near. Zephaniah said the following on the day of the Lord, “The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly”17. From this verse we learn that Prophet Zephaniah saw the day of the Lord as being quite eminent. Prophet Zephaniah also saw the day of the Lord as a day of great horrors and a day of judgement. Prophet Zephaniah says, “Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lords wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land”18. In this verse, we learn that Prophet Zephaniah saw the day of the Lord as the day when the Lord would judge His people for their wrong doings, and punish His people because of their sins. Prophet Zephaniah also taught that repentance can avert the wrath of the day of the Lord. Prophet Zephaniah teaches, “Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lords anger”19. In this verse, Prophet Zephaniah advices the Israelites to seek righteousness, so as to avoid the wrath of the Lord on the day of the Lord; this fact show that Prophet Zephaniah called upon his people to prepare, by seeking righteousness, for the day of the Lord. Prophet Zechariah, on the other hand saw the day of the Lord as the day when the Lord God would punish his people because of their disobedience to him. Ezekiel says the following on the day of the Lord, “Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee”20. In this verse, Zechariah is warning the Israelites of the horrible sufferings that would befall them because of their disobedience against God. Zechariah therefore conceived the day o the lord as a day of doom when the Lord God would punish the Israelites for their disobedience against him. Prophet Malachi also saw the day of the Lord as a day of God’s wrath when the people of God would be punished for straying away from the covenant relationship. But Prophet Malachi prophesied that the Lord God would send Prophet Elijah before the terrible day of the Lord. Prophet Malachi says the following on the day of the Lord, “Behold, I will send you Elijah before the coming of the great dreadful day of the Lord”21. These words by Prophet Malachi shows that just like Prophet Zephaniah, prophet Malachi saw repentance and preparation for the day of the Lord as an important element of the day of the Lord. The coming of Prophet Elijah before the day of the Lord would be to call people to repentance before the great dreadful day of the Lord. Prophet Malachi also saw the day of the Lord as a day of the Lord as a day of restoration and God’s blessings. This is because the return of Elijah would herald blessings and restoration for the people of Israel. This therefore shows that while prophet Malachi saw the day of the Lord as a dreadful day of God’s wrath, prophet Malachi also saw the day of the Lord as a day of God’s blessings and restoration of His people. Prophet Hosea also saw the Day of the Lord as a day of God’s blessings and restoration. Prophet Hosea prophesied that the Lord God will bless his people on the day of the Lord, “and in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field and with the fowls of heaven, and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely”22. This verse shows that unlike the other prophets of Israel who conceived the Day of the Lord as a day of doom, prophet Hosea conceived the day of the Lord as a day when the Lord God would bless His people abundantly. Just like prophet Hosea, Prophet Micah also saw the day of the Lord primarily as a day of blessings and restoration of God’s people. Prophet Hosea prophesied that the Lord God would do the following on His day, “in that day, saith the Lord, will I assemble that halteth, and will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted”23. For Prophet Micah, therefore, the day of the Lord would be the day that the Lord God will restore the people of Israel, after punishing them for their iniquities. The day of the Lord therefore would be a day of blessings. In Conclusion, we have seen that in the Old Testament, the day of the Lord refers to either to, first, the time of great tribulations when the Lord God would punish his people for sinning against him; the day of the Lord also refers to the day when the Lord God would punish the enemies of His people for afflicting His people. Secondly, the day of the Lord refers to the day of judgement when the Lord God would repay each person according to their actions. Thirdly, the day of the Lord refers to the Day of Lord’s blessing upon His people. These therefore are the three meanings of the day of the Lord in the Old Testament. Having looked at the meaning of the day of the Lord in the Old Testament, let us now look at the meaning of the day of the lord in the New Testament. Day of the Lord in the New Testament The phrase “The day of the Lord” is used several times in the New Testament. Although the phrase “ The day of the Lord” is not used exactly in the same meaning with the meaning that is attached to the phrase in the Old Testament, the meaning of the Lord’s day in the New Testament, however, is actually based on the meaning of the same in the Old Testament. The following are the different ways in which the phrase “The day of the Lord” is used in the New Testament. One of the ways in which the expression “The day of the lord is used in the New Testament is in reference to the second coming of the Lord, Jesus Christ. In the first letter to Thessalonians, St. Paul says the following on the day of the Lord, “But of the Time and seasons, brethren ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the knight”24. In these verses, what St. Paul refers to as the day of the Lord is the second coming of Jesus Christ. Unlike in the Old Testament where the day of the Lord did not refer to the coming of Jesus Christ, the day of the Lord in the New Testament referred to the second coming of Jesus Christ. In these verses, St. Paul is appealing to the Thessalonians to be watchful in their prayer and Christian lives, lest the Lord returns and find them unprepared. St. Paul is appealing to the Thessalonians to be prepared for the day of the Lord because, the day of the Lord would be the day of judgement; on the day of the Lord, Jesus Christ would go with those who would be prepared, and those who would not be prepared would be damned. Jesus Christ himself emphasised on the need for the believers to be prepared for the day of the Lord25. In the Gospel of Mathew, Jesus Christ taught that the day of the Lord would be a day of great horrors, “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be”26. In these words of Jesus Christ, we learn that the day of the Lord would be a day of immense sufferings; this view is similar to the Old Testament view of the day of the Lord where the day of the Lord was conceived as the day of doom. These words of Jesus Christ have been interpreted to refer to the future destruction of Jerusalem Temple by the Romans in the year 70 AD27. In this verse, Jesus Christ therefore used the Old Testament meaning of the day of the Lord as the day of doom, to refer to the day of great tribulation when the Temple of Jerusalem would be destroyed by the Romans. We find another usage of the expression “The day of the lord”, in the Second letter of Peter. The author of 2 Peter writes the following on the day of the Lord, “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare”28. In this verse, just like St. Paul, the author of 2 Peter views the day of the Lord as the day when the Lord Jesus Christ would come again to take those who have lived worthy lives by obeying His teachings. The author of 2 Peter also states that the day of the Lord would come unexpectedly. The author of 2 Peter therefore conceived the day of the Lord as the day when Jesus Christ would come for the second time, and the day is unknown and would come unexpectedly. The idea of the day of the Lord coming unexpectedly like a thief is foreign in the Old Testament, although of course, none of the prophets in the Old Testament disclosed exactly when the day of the Lord would come. Another usage of the expression “The day of the Lord” is in the book of the Acts of Apostles. In the book of the Acts of the Apostles, we read the following on the day of the Lord, “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and notable day of the Lord come”29. This verse is actually a direct quotation of Joel 2:31. St. Luke, the author of the Act of Apostles, therefore, conceived the day of the Lord as a day of Great horrors, just as prophet Joel in the Old Testament had conceived the Day of the Lord. But unlike Prophet Joel, St. Luke understood the day of the Lord in terms of the second coming of Jesus Christ. In conclusion, the main difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament conception of the “Day of the Lord” lies in the fact that, the New Testament viewed “ The day of the Lord” primarily in terms of the Second coming of Jesus Christ. However, as we have seen in this paper, there some instances in the New Testament where the meaning of the “Day of the Lord” is identical with the Old Testament meaning of the same, for instance, we have seen that St. Luke quoted Prophet Joel verbatim in describing the horrors of the day of the Lord. As we have seen in this paper, the expression “The day of the Lord” is used several times in both the Old and the New Testament. One element that is common in both the Old Testament and the New Testament meanings of the “The day of the Lord” is that the day of the Lord is the day when the Lord God would come into the scene powerfully, and cause either sufferings or blessings for His people. The expression “The day of the Lord”, therefore describes this powerful coming of the Lord to His people. References Hill, A. E. and John H. Walton. (1991). A Survey of the Old Testament. Grand Rapids:Zonder vanPublishing House. Print. Odhiambo, R (1994). The Gospel of Mathew. Nairobi, Kenya: Tangaza Press. Print. Smith, Gary V. (1994). The Prophets as Preachers: An Introduction to the Hebrew Prophets.. Nashville:Broadman & Holman Publisher. Print. Young, E.J., ed. (1965). The Book of Isaiah.vol.1. USA: Grand Rapids: William Eerdmans Publishing Company. Read More