"The Day of the Lord," is the most frequently used prophetic term in all of the bible. Yet it is hardly ever preached on, I cannot remember anywhere, in my bible college courses, or over any pulpit ever hearing anybody teach or preach on the whole concept of the day of the Lord. Yet, at least seven O.T. prophets, speak of this as a major theme, the entire book of Joel for instance, is given over to a discussion of the Day of the Lord. You will find it in Isaiah, Zephaniah, etc... In the New testament Dr. Luke uses that term in Acts, Paul uses that term in Thessalonians, Peter uses it in 2 Peter chapter 3. It is an important theme in scripture, it is a day of darkness, a day of gloom, a day of judgment. We are living in what could be termed "man's day," today, God has allowed man under human responsibility to go his own way, God does not directly intervene, and "man's day" will continue until the cup of man's iniquity is full. When the cup is full to a point where God says enough, no more, then God will directly intervene in the affairs of man. When that happens, that is what the prophets of God spoke of as the "Day of the Lord."
Just what is the Day of the Lord? What is it all about? I would like to look at the Day of the Lord in some detail here so you will have an understanding of it.
Under divine inspiration the prophet Isaiah wrote: "I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will halt the arrogance of the proud, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible" (Isaiah 13:11).
It is a solemn and sobering thing to contemplate the judgment of the world by a holy and righteous God. Yet not to do so is to consign oneself to total ignorance concerning the plan of God for mankind and not to know the last chapter of man's history as we know it today is to forfeit any meaningful understanding of the purpose for life itself.
If men and nations know where they are and where they are going, it gives to them important building blocks to gage their priorities, values and direction for life. Sadly, today most men neither know where they are, nor where they are going. No less than eight O.T. writers (Isaiah, Ezekiel, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Zephaniah, Zechariah, and Malachi) and three N.T. writers (Luke, Paul, and Peter) write with clarity concerning this final judgment of the world by God. And they associate the judgment with what the Bible calls "THE DAY OF THE LORD".
The Day of the Lord is that period of time at the end of the age when God will judge the world for its wickedness. That judgment will be relatively brief and will be followed by the righteous reign over the earth by the Son of God Himself.
A listing from the prophet's description of the Day of the Lord is not pleasant to reflect upon. It reveals that the Day of the Lord will be:
A time when God "arises to shake terribly the earth" (Isa. 2:19,21). A time of destruction from the Almighty (Isa. 13:6; Joel 1:15).
A time of divine wrath and fierce anger (Isa. 13:13; Zeph. 1:15; 2:2).
A time when He will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their iniquity (Isa. 13:11).
A time when God's indignation and fury will be directed against the nations (Isa. 34:1-2; Obad. 15; Zeph. 1:14-2:3; Zech. 14:3.
A time when God's vengeance will be revealed (Isa. 34:8).
A time of darkness in the heavens (Isa. 13:9-10; Joel 2:31; 3:15). A time of fire from the Lord (Joel 2:3,5,30; Zeph. 1:18; 3:8).
A time of clouds, thick darkness, gloominess, wrath, trouble, distress and terror (Ezek. 30:3; Zeph. 1:15).
A time of "darkness and not light? Even very dark, and no brightness in it?" (Amos 5:20).
The Day of the Lord is a time of almost indescribable and incomprehensible judgment. The earth will be rocked to its very foundation. This judgment will not be the result of war or natural catastrophe. It will be the result of the direct agency of God through His angelic servants. The seven trumpets and the seven bowls of the Book of Revelation present the most graphic description of the Day of the Lord.
Isaiah recorded his prophecy concerning the Day of the Lord twenty-seven hundred years ago, and still God has not punished the world for its evil.
Some have suggested that the prophets were wrong in their assessments, that they erred in their predictions; and that their prognostications of coming judgment were the words of hyperbole with no corresponding reality, words of shadow without substance. These critics of the prophets say, "After all, so many centuries have come and gone, so many tides have risen and fallen, the sun has never refused to rise and set." They argue that there is pattern and predictability with regard to human history which logically suggests its uninterrupted continuation.
Men who raise such arguments against a time of divine reckoning are scoffers. They do not take seriously God's promise, that His Son will return, and the world will be punished for its wickedness during the Day of the Lord. These scoffers cite an uninterrupted flow of human history, "...all things continue as they were..." as evidence that the future, as the past will continue uninterrupted. Peter's response to such reasoning is that these scoffers willingly choose to reject the facts as they really are.
Peter reminds his readers that history is not an uninterrupted flow of events as these scoffers contend. The fact is, God did directly intervene in the affairs of human history, He judged the world for its evil in connection with the universal flood in the days of Noah, "For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water"(2 Peter 3:5-6). Having reminded his readers of that fact, Peter adds: "But the heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word [God's pledge] are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men" (2 Peter 3:7). In the days of Noah God said He would judge the world by flood--He did. God has said that at the end of this age He will judge the world by fire--He will. This is inviolable prophecy, it is a done deal. Judgment is coming whether men believe it or not--whether men like it or not--whether men are prepared for it or not.
If the world is wicked, if it is in need of divine judgment, why has God not outpoured His wrath before now? Because He is long-suffering, not willing that any should perish and He cannot intervene until the earth lease that He leased out to Adam and Adam in turn leased out to Satan as run out. Now, no one should mistake God's long-suffering as indecision, weakness or toleration of evil. When the cup of man's iniquity is full which will be when the lease runs out, God will intervene directly, omnipotently, and righteously.
Hear the apostle once again on this theme: "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up" (2 Peter 3:10)
Peter stated that the Lord's coming to commence the Day of the Lord will be "as a thief in the night." If that statement is true, and is made without any qualifying statement that would shed further light as to His coming, then it would mean that Christ's coming is signless and it could happen at any moment. It would mean that no prophesied events need precede His coming.
If Christ is coming "as a thief in the night," without qualification, it would then seem logical to conclude that everyone will be caught of guard at His coming.
From a pre-tribulational point of view, both the saved and the unsaved will be taken by surprise and caught of guard at Christ's coming, for that is the significance of the expression, "thief in the night." But is that what the word of God teaches? Will the Church be caught off guard and unprepared at her Lord's coming?
Let's take a look at what the apostle Paul says about the Day of the Lord. A vital element of Paul's evangelistic ministry related to the Second Coming of Christ (1 Cor. 4:5; 15:23; 1 Th. 2:19; 2 Th. 2; Ti. 2:13; Heb. 9:28).
During Paul's second missionary journey, he visited the Macedonian city of Thessalonica. There, under God, he was able to establish a small and struggling body of believers. However, his time with them was limited. After what is generally thought to be about three weeks of ministry, he was literally driven from the city by some of the Jewish leaders who opposed his teaching (Acts 17:5-9). But while with the Thessalonians, he taught them that Jesus was coming again. And when He would come, they, as believers, would experience deliverance, and the unsaved world would be judged during the Day of the Lord.
However, something happened within the Church at Thessalonica which brought about great concern. Some of the believers died and the Lord had not yet returned. And in the thinking of the Church, these "loved ones" had now missed the hope of deliverance at Christ's coming. It was crucial that Paul correct their erroneous thinking on this vital issue.
He wrote: "But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep [who have died], lest you sorrow [over those who have died] as others who have no hope" (1 Thes. 4:13)
The important expression in this verse is, "But I do not want you to be ignorant brethren." It was an expression that Paul frequently used and always in the same way. To be "ignorant" did not mean to be stupid or the possessor of a low IQ in Pauline theology. Rather it always implied a wrong understanding of the subject under consideration. Whenever Paul said "I don't want you to be ignorant," his listeners were ignorant every time.
For instance. to the Romans, Paul wrote: "Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you, [but was prevented thus far,] that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles" (Rom 1:13). Some had erroneously concluded that, although Paul had visited many cities during his missionary journeys, he deliberately avoided visiting Rome out of fear of preaching the gospel at the very center of the Roman Empire. The Roman believers were "ignorant" concerning this subject. They were thinking wrongly. For Paul, it was never a question of fear. It simply had not yet been God's timing to visit Rome. He was not "ashamed of the gospel," nor its compelling logic, nor its divine power to save, not even in the mists of Rome herself.
In the same epistle Paul wrote: "For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in" (Rom 11:25). The Roman believers were thinking wrongly concerning the extent of Israel's blindness (it was "in part"--the nation is blinded excluding a remnant with perfect vision), and they were thinking wrongly concerning the duration of Israel's blindness (it is temporary, it will last "until the fullness of the Gentiles be fulfilled"). They thought God had cast away the Jewish people. They were "ignorant"; their thinking had to be corrected.
In the context now under discussion, Paul was concerned because the Thessalonian believers were ignorant regarding the relationship of the dead in Christ to the Lord's glorious return; thus his statement, "But I would not have you be ignorant brethren." He moved decisively to correct their erroneous thinking in this matter. He wrote: For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus [those who have died as believers]. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, [what follows, Paul says, is not speculation but divine revelation]that we who are alive and remain [literally survive, and what is in view is the persecution of believers by Antichrist] until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep [who have died]. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel [for the purpose of announcing the soon termination of Israel's blindness and the "end of the times of the Gentiles"], and with the trumpet of God [to herald the beginning of the outpouring of God's wrath during the Day of the Lord]. 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 (1 Thes. 4:14-17).
Paul then returns full circle to the issue that prompted this teaching--their wrong thinking (ignorance) concerning those who had died in Christ--and says: Therefore [in light of the fact that those who died in Christ, will in fact, be resurrected and participate in the blessed hope with those still living at His coming], comfort one another with these words (1 Thes. 4:18).
After explaining that the dead in Christ would not be abandoned at Christ's coming, Paul moves on to a consideration of the time when the dead in Christ and the living will experience this blessed hope. Paul wrote: "But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you" (1 Thes. 5:1). The reason that it was not necessary for Paul to write to them concerning "the times and seasons" related to the Lord's return is then noted: "For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night" (1 Thes. 5:2). Whereas the Thessalonians were ignorant concerning the fate of the dead in Christ and their relationship to the Lord's coming (1 Thes. 4:13), they understood "perfectly" that the Day of the Lord would come as a thief in the night. Paul continued: For when they say, "Peace and safety!" then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape (1 Thes. 5:3).
The three pronouns of v.3, they, them, and they, refer to the unsaved. It is the unsaved who shall say "Peace and safety." It is upon the unsaved that sudden destruction comes. It is the unsaved that will not escape the Day of the Lord.
Paul then directs his comments to believers. But you, brethren [in contrast to the unsaved], are not in darkness, so that this Day [the Day of the Lord] should overtake you as a thief [the thief comes unexpectedly] under the cover of darkness]. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. (1 Thes. 5:4-5). In as much as believers are "sons of light," and "sons of the day," Paul admonishes: Therefore let us [believers] not sleep [here the idea is spiritually], as others [children of the night] do, but let us [children of the day] watch and be sober. (1 Thes. 5:6). The apostle then moves on to set forth a crucial principle concerning the Day of the Lord. "For God did not appoint us to wrath [that is, believers will not experience the outpouring of the divine judgment during the Day of the Lord], but to obtain salvation [deliverance by rapture] through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake [are alive at his coming] or sleep [die before his coming], we should live together with Him" (1 Thes. 5:9-10).
Jesus will come as "a thief in the night" as far as the unsaved are concerned because they walk in darkness. They will be unprepared and caught off guard at His coming. In contrast, believers, because they walk in the light, will know the general time period of His coming as a result of the fulfilment of specific prophesied events. Believers can be ready and prepared. For the believers, the Lord's return will not be "as a thief in the night."
Paul's teaching is so clear on this matter, it is doubtful that anyone would have ever challenged it were it not that Pretribulation rapturism requires that Christ come as "a thief in the night" in what is sometimes called a "secret rapture" to sustain an any- moment Rapture (imminency). But Paul's condemnation of such teaching does not stand alone.
What does Jesus say about the Day of the Lord. One of the most important questions ever asked was posed by the Lord's disciples outside the eastern wall of the city of Jerusalem. Like a powerful cyclone, recent dramatic events had been swirling about these dozen men, leaving them off balance, confused, and insecure. In the mists of all their confusion, Jesus stunned them with the announcement that He was leaving, they would not see Him for an extended period of time. Their response to His announcement was predictable. With a sense of urgency they asked, "And what shall be the sign of your coming, and of the end of the age?" (Matt. 24:3).
Their question, though some two thousand years old is important because it served as a catalyst for Christ's teaching on end-time events.
In the first section of His teaching concerning His coming, the Lord gives a series of urgent warnings:
Prior to His coming and the end of the age, there will be false Christs, wars, famines, and pestilences (the first half of Daniel's seventieth week, Matt. 24:4-8)
Prior to His coming and the end of the age, Christians worldwide will be persecuted, betrayed, and martyred, but those who "endure [literally, bear up courageously under suffering]" until the end of the age will be saved (Matt. 24:9-18).
At the middle of the seventieth week, which will be prior to His coming and the end of the age, there will be an abomination of desolation; literally the Antichrist setting himself up in the temple as God and demanding worship (Matt.24:15-22).
During the Great tribulation and prior to His coming and the end of the age, there will appear false Christs and false prophets empowered by Satan who will perform impressive false signs to authenticate their false message (Matt. 24:23-26)
The true sign of His coming will occur immediately after God cuts short the Great Tribulation, and it will be both conspicuous and universal (Matt. 24:27-28).
These warnings, however, as significant as they are, all describe events which lead up to the sign of Christ's coming and the end of the age. None of them identify the specific sign of Christ's coming which the disciples had requested. that answer is not given until Matthew 24:29-31.
First, before the sign of His coming is revealed, there will be cosmic disturbance; that is, the sun, the moon, and the stars will be darkened. The natural light-bearers of the universe will be switched off, and the result will be total, awesome darkness (v.29). This is the sixth seal of Revelation and will occur immediately before the commencement of the Day of the Lord.
Second, the sign of the Lord's coming will not appear on earth, but on the "parchment" of heaven itself. The actual sign will be the manifestation of the presence (glory) of God in the heavens (v. 30a).
Third, as a result of seeing the sign of His coming (the manifestation of God's glory), all the tribes of the earth will "mourn" (v.30b).
Fourth, at the very outset of His coming the Lord will send His angels to gather his "elect" from one end of heaven to the other (v.31).
Having by this time answered the specific question raised by the disciples concerning the sign of His coming and the end of the age, the Lord then focused His attention on to two urgent issues which naturally arise out of His teaching.
He taught, "Now learn the parable of the fig tree" (Matt. 24:32).
In the interpretation of the parable of the fig tree, a considerable body of erroneous teaching as been presented over the years. Commenting on the parable of the fig tree, one of America's best-known Christian leaders wrote: "The fig tree is always Israel in Scripture...." The fact of the matter is, the expression "fig tree" is used thirty-eight times in the Bible--twenty-two times in the O.T. and sixteen times in the N.T. In every case a fig tree is a fig tree. The view that the fig tree is Israel in Matthew 24 has become so widely held that it is necessary to discuss this position and its fallacy so the real significance of the parable can be understood. That erroneous position held by so many teachers is summarized below.
1. In the Lord's parable the fig tree represents Israel.
2. The fig tree began to bud when Israel became a nation in 1948.
3. The generation that would be alive when Israel (the fig tree) began to bud would be the generation that would be alive when Christ returns. That is based on the fact that Jesus taught: "This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled" (Matt. 24:34).
4. It is generally understood that a biblical generation is forty years in duration.
5. Since Israel (the fig tree) began to bud in May of 1948, and since that generation will not pass away until "all these things be fulfilled" (consummating with Christ's return), and since a generation is forty years in length, Jesus is to literally return to the earth in 1988--forty years after the fig tree began to bud. (Now, because Christ did not return in 1988 some of these teachers are changing the time span for a Biblical generation).
Obviously the dates that men have set down through history have come and gone and Christ's coming has not occurred. History has conclusively demonstrated that those who espoused the above view were in error. Now, by suggesting that the length of a Biblical generation is approximately fifty-four years, some of these same teachers are predicting that the Second Coming will now take place in the year 2002. These teachers are now compounding their earlier error.
The view just discussed is problematic for the following reasons:
First, there is no legitimate basis for making the fig tree in the parable represent Israel. When the Lord called Nathaniel to be one of His disciples, He said: "When you were under the fig tree I saw you" (John 1:48). Nathaniel wasn't under Israel--he was under a fig tree. In the Bible a fig tree is a fig tree. A fig tree cannot be made to represent something else without a scriptural warrant to do so. There is no such warrant in the Olivet Discourse to make the fig tree represent Israel.
Second, even if, for the sake of discussion, it could have been demonstrated that the fig tree represented Israel in Matt. 24, there is no basis for saying that she began to bud in the year 1948. That is a totally subjective point. Why not start the budding of the fig tree in 1897? That's when Theodor Herzl, the acknowledged "father" of the modern state of Israel wrote his famous brochure, "The Jewish State," and convened the First Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland, calling for a homeland for the Jewish people. Would not that be a logical starting point for the budding of the fig tree after almost 1800 years of world wide dispersion. Or why not the year 1917? That's when Great Britain, having captured Palestine from Turkey during the First World War, instituted the Balfour Declaration calling for a national homeland for the Jewish people. Or why not 1922? That is when the League of Nations (forerunner of the United Nations) gave to Great Britain a mandate to establish a homeland for the Jewish people. Certainly it could be argued, that would be a good time to start Israel's modern budding. Or why not 1967? After all, it was not until that year that Israel captured the city of Jerusalem and made it her capital. The point is, even if it could be demonstrated that the fig tree represented Israel, a starting date of 1948 for when she began to bud is arbitrary and without biblical basis.
Third, there is no rationale for saying a full generation will elapse between when the fig tree begins to bud and the return of the Lord. Such reasoning ignores completely the fact that the text does not say tat the generation living when these events occur will run full course; that is, that it will run until the end of that generation. It simply says that the generation living when the events leading to the sign of Christ's coming begin to happen will also be the generation living when He returns. The significance of the Lord's teaching is this: The events described as preceding His coming take place in a relatively brief period of time--within one generation. It does not mean that there will be exactly one generation in duration from the beginning of the events the Lord described until His return.
Fourth, in the interpretation of parables, the earthly story part of a parable is never given a secondary meaning before the spiritual truth is presented. A lost coin is a lost coin, a lost sheep is a lost sheep, a prodigal son is a prodigal son. The familiar story in a parable is not made to represent something else before the interpretation is given.
What then was the Lord actually teaching in the parable? The answer is straight- forward, logical, important and needs no adornment. When certain things happen to a fig tree--specifically, its branches become tender, and it put forth leaves--men knew that summer was getting close. That was an axiomatic, non-debatable fact known to all. Likewise or in similar fashion, when the generation of people see the things the Lord described coming to pass (the events of Matt. 24:15-26), they will know that His return is getting close--so close, in fact, that the generation then living will not pass away before His return (Matt. 24:34). Dr. Luke recorded it this way: "Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near" (Luke 21:28).
Having taught that discerning believers will know the general time period of His return, specifically because there are signs and the fulfilment of prophesied events, He then gives an important limitation. "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only" (Matt. 24:36).
The fig tree was an indicator of approximation. When certain things happened to it, men knew that summer was getting close. They did not know the specific "day" or "hour" when summer would arrive. Similarly, when the things the Lord described begin to come to pass, the generation then living will then know that His return is getting close. Jesus will not come for His own "as a thief in the night." That is precisely the point of the parable of the fig tree.
Discerning believers will know the general time period of Christ's return once the seventieth week is entered and the Antichrist arises. The unsaved world however, will have absolutely no advance awareness of Christ's coming until judgment is upon them.
The awareness level of the unsaved with regard to Christ's return will be similar to the awareness level of the unsaved prior to the Noahic flood. The Lord warned: "But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be" (Matt 24:37). Then He explained what it was like on earth before the flood: "For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark," (Matt 24:38).
The Lord was not describing debauchery, as some have suggested. It is true that the world was wicked in the days prior to the flood, but that is not what is in view. They were eating, the text does not suggest gluttony. They were drinking. There is no inference of intoxication or alcoholism. They were marrying and given in marriage. These are the most basic of all things. The point is this: Noah was a preacher of righteousness. For some ninety years, as he and his family built the ark, he warned the people that divine judgment was coming--that Deity was about to invade humanity. The people laughed and mocked; they ate and drank; they married and gave in marriage; and they were totally oblivious to what was coming. In the words of the Lord, "they knew not until the flood came, and took them all away." They were caught totally off guard and unprepared. Had it been otherwise they would have been in the ark. Then the Lord makes this sobering observation: "So shall also the coming of the Son of Man be" (Matt. 24:3).
The teaching of Paul in 1 Thess. 5:1-9 and the teaching of the Lord in Matt. 24:37-39 are clearly parallel. If Paul's teaching is related to the Lord's coming, the rapture of the Church, and the judgment of the wicked, the Lord's teaching in the Olivet Discourse, off necessity, must be dealing with the same events. And these events are clearly inside of the seventieth week--not before it commences.
So the Lord will not come as a thief in the night for His own.
But He will come as a thief in the night for the unsaved.
Additional evidence to substantiate this truth can be found in the writing of the prophet Daniel. In the context of the resurrection of the righteous, which occurs at Chris's coming and immediately before the Day of the Lord, Daniel is told: And he said, "Go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. Many shall be purified, made white, and refined, but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand" (Dan 12:9-10).
The teaching that Christ can come at any moment, that His coming is signless, that His coming will be as "a thief in the night" even for the Church which is His body, is based on the traditions of men, however well-intended, not on the truth of God's word.
In the midst of the heartache, sadness, and wickedness of this age, look to the eastern sky, citizen of the Kingdom. Jesus is coming.
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