The Scope of the Day of the Lord (Doctrinal Bible Church in Huntsville, Alabama)

Doctrinal Bible Church

Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom

Wednesday December 6, 2023

Day of the Lord Series: The Scope of the Day of the Lord

Lesson # 2

One of the major lines of prophecy running throughout the Old Testament and continuing through the New Testament is the prophetic truth related to the “Day of the Lord.”

It is a critical phrase in understanding God’s revelation regarding the future of planet earth, the city of Jerusalem, the nation of Israel as well as the Gentiles.

The writers of the New Testament use this phrase based on their understanding of the Old Testament prophets.

This phrase was used by the prophets of Israel in the Old Testament when they were speaking of both near historical as well as future eschatological events.

The New Testament writers understood this and applied the phrase to both the judgment which will terminate the tribulation period of Daniel’s Seventieth week as well as the judgment which will bring the creation of the new heavens and the new earth.

What is the scope of the day of the Lord?

Have some of these prophecies been fulfilled already in history or all are of them fulfilled at this time and are some of these prophecies yet to be fulfilled?

Answering these questions will allow us to determine the scope of these day of the Lord prophecies.

As we will note, there are many “the day of the Lord” prophecies which have already been fulfilled in history: (1) Assyrian deportation of the northern kingdom of Israel in 722 B.C. (Amos 5:18, 20), (2) locust plague in Joel’s day (Joel 1:15), (3) Babylonian exile of Judah between 605-586 B.C. (Zeph. 1:7; Ezek. 13:5), (4) Babylonian defeat of Egypt in 586 B.C. (Ezek. 30:3), (5) destruction of Edom (Obad. 1-14).

There are several “day of the Lord” prophecies which will be fulfilled during the last three and a half years of Daniel’s Seventieth Week (Zeph. 1:14; Joel 2:1; 2:11, 31; 3:14; Zechariah 14:1-2; Is. 13:6-16).

There are some that will be fulfilled through the Second Advent of Jesus Christ (Zech. 14:3-8) and His subsequent millennial reign (Zech. 14:9-21; Joel 3:17-21).

The phrase “day of the Lord” occurs nineteen times in the Old Testament and occurs only in six minor and two major prophets.

It is found in Obadiah 15 where it is used of God’s judgment of Edom which had a near fulfillment through Nebuchadnezzar, which is indicated by the statements in Obadiah 1-14 which address only Edom.

However, this phrase also pointed to Obadiah 15 being fulfilled in the far distant future and the establishment of Christ’s millennial kingdom which is indicated by Obadiah 15-21.

In verses 15-16 there is an abrupt shift to the prophet addressing all the nations and thus Edom becomes the pattern for future nations.

Also the destruction of the nations in verse 16 is a future event and has not taken place in human history to this point and furthermore, verses 17-21 speaks of Israel’s restoration which will occur during the millennial reign of Christ.

Lastly, verse 21 says that this kingdom will be the Lord’s which is a reference to Jesus Christ’s millennial kingdom.

The phrase “day of the Lord” occurs five times in Joel (1:15; 2:1; 2:11, 31; 3:14) and Joel’s prophecy can be described as having a near eschatological fulfillment with the locust plague taking place in Joel’s day.

It also can be described as having a far view in that it will be fulfilled during the tribulation period of Daniel’s Seventieth Week and Jesus Christ’s subsequent millennial reign.

Joel equates the invading armies during the tribulation with the locust plague that Israel suffered in his day.

Chapter one deals with the locust plague in Joel’s day while chapter two describes the invading armies of Israel during the tribulation period of Daniel’s Seventieth Week.

Joel 2:30-32 is referring to Jesus Christ’s Second Advent in which He will deliver Israel from Antichrist and the Tribulational armies.

Joel 3:1-16 predicts the future judgment of the nations during the tribulation while Joel 3:17-21 predicts the future restoration of Israel and the millennial reign of Christ.

The phrase “the day of the Lord” also appears twice in the book of Amos (5:18, 20).

The prophecy of Amos is directed to the historical situation in his day which is indicated by the fact that he wrote to the ten northern tribes in 7:10 and to King Jeroboam predicting his future exile to Assyria in 5:27, 6:14, 7:19 and 17.

Amos was predicting the fall of Samaria which took place in 722 B.C. (2 Kgs. 17) and the prophet emphasizes the inevitability of this destruction in Amos 5:19-20 and also predicts the Lord intervening on Israel’s behalf (9:11-15).

So Amos only uses the phrase “the day of the Lord” in a near sense meaning that his use of the phrase is only contained in a prophecy which was exclusive to the historical situation in his day and the phrase “the day of the Lord” occurs twice in Isaiah (13:6, 9), but the first reference to this phrase appears in Isaiah 2:12.

In Isaiah 2:2-4, there is a prophecy regarding the future establishment of God’s kingdom and in verses 5-9 of this chapter there is a reference the sinful state of Israel during Isaiah’s day and then, in verses 10-22, he issues a prophecy regarding the far future of judgment.

It appears that this prophecy will be fulfilled during the Seventieth Week of Daniel and subsequent millennial reign of Christ rather than God judging Israel through Assyria and Babylon since Isaiah 2:1-2 predicts that Zion will be the world capital and Isaiah 2:2-4 predicts that God will judge between the nations and there will be no more war.

In Isaiah chapter 13 is a prophecy regarding Babylon and Isaiah 13:1-8 addresses God’s use of Babylon as His instrument to destroy Israel (13:5-6).

The fulfillment of “day of the Lord” with regards to this did not take place for a little over one hundred years and so the reference to “the day of the Lord” in Isaiah 13 speaks of a near eschatological fulfillment which was fulfilled by Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar (605-586 B.C.).

But it does appear that this prophecy speaks of far eschatological fulfillment as indicated by Isaiah 13:9-16 which describes even the stars of the stellar universe being affected by God’s judgment of the world for its evil.

The description of God’s judgment in these verses echoes Matthew 24:29, Revelation 6:12-13 and Joel 2:31 which speak God’s judgment of the world during the tribulation portion of the Daniel’s Seventieth Week.

“The day of the Lord” is found in Ezekiel twice (13:5; 30:3).

Ezekiel wrote his book in the midst of the fulfillment of the near judgment and was taken captive to Babylon in 597 B.C. and he wrote in 592 B.C. six years after the second deportation of Jews to Babylon.

In Ezekiel 13, the prophet spoke against false prophets (1-16) and prophetesses (17-23) and in this chapter we have a reference to the time from the beginning of Judah’s deportation in 605 B.C. to the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C., thus Ezekiel like Amos is speaking of only a near reference to the day of the Lord in his day.

In Ezekiel 30, the prophet refers to “the day of the Lord” in the context of the destruction of Egypt (29:19-20) which was fulfilled when Nebuchadnezzar defeated Egypt and all the nations who were in alliance with Egypt also were defeated by Babylon and there is thus no far eschatological reference to all the nations.

Zechariah makes a reference to the day of the Lord in chapter 14 of this book, which deals entirely with the far eschatological fulfillment rather than a near one since the Assyrian and Babylonian judgments from God were already history.

Zechariah 14:1-2 is a prophecy regarding the last three and a half years of Daniel’s Seventieth Week, and Zechariah 14:3-8 is a prophecy regarding the Second Advent and Zechariah 14:9-21 is a prophecy regarding the millennial reign of Jesus Christ.

The day of the Lord appears in the book of Zephaniah (1:7, 14) and the reference to the day of the Lord in Zephaniah 1:7 had a near eschatological fulfillment since Zephaniah 1:8-13 describes the situation in this prophet’s day in Judah.

However, in Zephaniah 1:14, the context would indicate that “the day of the Lord” will have a far eschatological fulfillment since Zephaniah 1:15-18 speaks of God judging the inhabitants of the earth which He will do during the Seventieth Week of Daniel.

The day of the Lord is found in Malachi 4:5 which also will have a far eschatological fulfillment during the tribulation period.

Now, as we noted, there are only four passages in the New Testament in which “the day of the Lord” appears (Acts 2:20; 1 Thess. 5:2; 2 Thess. 2:2; 2 Pet. 3:10), however, this phrase is used often by the writers of the Old Testament.

Thus, Paul and Peter’s understanding of the day of the Lord was based upon their understanding of this use of the phrase in the Old Testament.

The day of the Lord in Acts 2:20, 1 Thessalonians 5:2 and 2 Thessalonians 2:2 is speaking of the seventieth week of Daniel and in particular the tribulation portion of the seventieth week which is the last three and a half years of this seven-year period.

Second Peter 3:10 is the only day of the Lord prophecy which pertains to the creation of the new heavens and the new earth.

Therefore, we can conclude that “the day of the Lord” prophecies described the immediate future as well as those events taking place during the Seventieth Week of Daniel and Christ’s Second Advent and millennial reign.

Thus, in a far eschatological sense, the “day of the Lord” is “not” a literal twenty-four period but rather, it is an extended period of time and it begins with God’s dealing with Israel after the rapture of the church that takes place prior to Daniel’s Seventieth Week and extends through the Second Advent of Jesus Christ and His millennial reign, culminating with the creation of the new heavens and the new earth.

However, the day of the Lord could also be a period of time taking place during the prophet’s own lifetime or not too long after.