| News and Views | December 1946 |
The Day of the Lord
THE “day” of the Lord is a period of time in which the Lord intervenes in the affairs of men to re-establish the sovereignty of his will throughout the earth. When our first parents disobeyed God’s law he drove them out of the garden home prepared for their enjoyment and life and cast them off from his favor. As the human race increased in number the increasing selfishness of the people led them further and further from God; and as Paul explains, the Creator “gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts.” (Rom. 1:21-32) Thus throughout the thousands of years of human experience God has interfered but little with the race, and then only when it was necessary in order that the preparatory features of his plan of salvation might go forward without interruption.
God has permitted evil to reign so that the human race might learn by actual experience the terrible results of disobedience to divine law. The Lord explains this, saying, “I have long time holden my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself.” But he continues, “Now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once.” (Isa. 42:14) It is the period following the time when the Lord has “refrained” himself that Paul designates in our text as the “day of the Lord”—the day when the Lord takes action against a sinful world, the result of which, according to Paul, is “sudden destruction”; and according to God’s own statement through the Prophet Isaiah, a time when he will “destroy and devour at once.”
Ordinarily we consider the works of the Lord as being those of good will and peace. If we think of him at all in connection with trouble we are prone to ask, Why does God allow experiences of this kind? For this reason it might at first seem strange that the “day of the Lord” should be one of destruction, and that the Lord himself should be a destroyer, yet this is the way the matter is presented to us in the Scriptures.
However, the reason for this is not difficult to discover. Divine intervention in human affairs is to put down rebellion against the Creator’s will and to destroy all the works of selfishness. This will be done through the thousand-year reign of Christ, and we are assured by the Apostle Paul that Christ must reign until he has put all enemies under his feet, with death as the last enemy to be destroyed.—I Corinthians 15:25,26
The Kingdom Period
The “day of the Lord” is the period during which the long-promised kingdom of Christ will manifest itself among men and ultimately dominate in human affairs. For this reason the prophecies associate the second coming of Christ with this “day,” for it is the time during which Jesus, as “King of kings and Lord of lords” will become the undisputed Ruler of earth, his return and second presence among men being for this purpose.
As this “day” of the Lord is in reality a thousand years long, the prophecies outlining the divine purposes appertaining thereto vary widely in the things they portray, yet they are all harmonious when studied in their proper sequence and relationship to one another. As we have seen, the ultimate objective of the day of the Lord is the destruction of death, which will of course mean the end of sickness and pain, and the wiping away of tears from off all faces. This goal of accomplishment will not be attained until near the close of. the day of the Lord; so it is not contradictory to this thought to find prophecies relating to the beginning of the day of the Lord descriptive of worldwide destruction and death, that the “slain of the Lord” will in that day be from one end of earth to the other; and that “all the tribes of the earth shall mourn because of him.”—Jer. 25:33; Matt. 24:30; Rev. 1:7
Another group of prophecies portray the day of the Lord as a time of general enlightenment concerning God and his will for the people, as well as the, joy and blessings which will result from the doing of his will. The “sun of righteousness” shall arise “with healing in his wings,” declares Malachi. (Mal. 4:2) The “books” of divine revelation shall be opened, the Revelator assures us. (Rev. 20:12) “The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea,” the prophets Isaiah and Habakkuk write.—Isa.11:9; Hab. 2:14
Yes, ultimately the “day of the Lord” will be a bright day indeed, bright with the knowledge of God; and with blessings of joy and health and life. But not at the start, for concerning the beginning of that period we read that it is “a day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains.” (Joel 2:2) The early dawn of the day of the Lord is a day of darkness and gloominess because it is a day of trouble upon all nations, a time when, according to our text, “sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child.”
Partly Light and Partly Dark
While the day of the Lord is a time when he is “King over all the earth,” the prophet describes it as a period when “the light shall not be clear, nor dark.” However, of that same day the prophet explains that “at evening time it shall be light.” (Zech. 14:6-8) Here we have the day of the Lord described as one which becomes progressively light until its close, at which time it is fully light, the blessings of the kingdom having permeated to the remotest corners of the earth, enlightening the minds and hearts of all people and giving them an opportunity to enjoy the blessings of health and life provided for them through the redemptive work of Christ, and reaching them through his kingdom reign.
It is only as we recognize the day of the Lord as being a long period of time during which sin, selfishness, and death are destroyed that we can find harmony in the prophecies relating to the second coming of Christ and its purpose. At the beginning of that day practically all mankind and the institutions of men are out of harmony with God. It is not God’s plan to reform institutions and governments. Jesus illustrated this by his parable concerning the unwisdom of putting new wine in old wineskins. (Matt. 9:16,17) For this reason the kingdoms of this world are set aside to make room for earth’s new Ruler. The Revelator explains it saying, “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ.”—Rev. 11:15
The prophetic picture is thus seen to be that of a new Ruler—the “King of kings,” the “Prince of Peace”—taking over the rulership of the nations, and the Revelator declares that in connection with this enforced transfer of sovereignty the nations are angry, and that also it is the time when God’s “wrath is come.” (Rev. 11:18) And it is important to note in this connection that God’s wrath is associated with the angry condition of the nations, for both these viewpoints are set forth in many of the prophecies pertaining to the destruction which comes upon a world order in the beginning of the day of the Lord.
A Day of Vengeance
The early morning hours of the “day” of the Lord—the prophetic hours of darkness and gloominess—are depicted as a “day of vengeance” upon the nations. (Isa. 34:2,8; 13:4-13) “Wait ye upon me, saith the Lord, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger: for the whole earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.” (Zeph. 3:8) In this colorful description of destruction upon a world order the Lord makes it clear that he takes the responsibility for it, that he gathers the nations and pours upon them the devouring fires of trouble.
This is in keeping with the prophecy of Revelation 16:13-16. Here we are told of the thief-like return and presence of Christ in association with a gathering of the nations “to the battle of that great day of God Almighty,” the gathering to be “into a place called in the Hebrew tongue, Armageddon.” The term Armageddon signifies “height of Megiddo,” which historically, was a “mount of destruction,” so the general intent of this prophecy is to show that the nations are gathered for destruction.
We have seen from the prophecy of Zephaniah that the Lord gathers the nations, but the prophecy of Revelation 16:13-16 speaks of three “unclean spirits like frogs,” “spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth, unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.” This does not contradict the thought that the Lord does the gathering of the nations, but merely explains that he overrules their selfish desires and efforts to accomplish his purpose. Thus, as the prophet explains, does God make the wrath of man to praise him.—Psalm 76:10
The nations are gathered unto the “battle of the great day of God Almighty,” and “into a place called in the Hebrew tongue, Armageddon.” This part particular “place” was a famous battleground during that period when God was dealing with his ancient people Israel, and the prophetic allusion to it in connection with the “battle of the great day of God Almighty” is for the purpose of illustrating certain principles in connection with that final struggle of the nations.
Armageddon is not the only battlefield of history to which is attached a certain symbolic meaning. The mere mention of Waterloo, for example, conjures up in our minds the thought of defeat; Pearl Harbor, of a sneak attack. Armageddon, therefore, is a term strongly implying destruction. Besides, God took a definite hand in Israel’s battles which were fought at Armageddon. The general picture is of a struggle in which God takes a part to assure victory for the right, and the destruction of all that opposes right.
The Armageddon symbol of destruction is only one of the many employed in the Scriptures to illustrate the day of God’s wrath upon the nations. In our text (I Thess. 5:1-3) Paul speaks of the “sudden destruction” which comes upon the nations in this day of the Lord, and says that it would come as “travail upon a woman with child.” “Travail” is not a symbol of destruction. The apostle is merely using it to illustrate the manner in which the destruction of the day of the Lord would come upon the nations; and the meaning of the illustration is clear; namely, that the trouble comes in spasms, with periods of easement between.
Israel participated in many battles in the place called Armageddon. In most of these God gave them the victory. But which one of these particular battles does the Lord allude to as being especially illustrative of the “battle of the great day of God Almighty”? In as much, as the term Armageddon indicates destruction, and the Scriptures explain that the destruction of the day of the Lord would come in spasms, we think it is reasonable to believe that the Lord would have us draw a lesson from more than one of those typical battles of Armageddon.
While God fought for Israel in many of those ancient battles, he did not always do it in the same way. One of those Armageddon struggles was on the occasion when Gideon and his three hundred defeated the Midianites. In this case, through the strategy given to Gideon by the Lord, the Midianites were turned one against another, thus destroying themselves. On other occasions there were miraculous demonstrations of God’s intervention.
But whether it was by causing confusion among Israel’s enemies or by other means, God took part in those struggles and assured victory for his people when it was his will. So it is in each spasm of the great “time of trouble” by which this “present evil world” is destroyed. (Gal. 1:4) All of them are manifestations of God’s wrath against the nations, although his strategy in bringing about their destruction varies as the spasms more severe and the periods of easement between them, shorter.
In the opening paroxysm of trouble God turns the forces of evil against one another, as he did in the case of the Midianites. This is clearly shown in Isaiah 42:13, which reads, “The Lord shall go forth as a mighty man, he shall stir up jealousy like a man of war; he shall cry, yea, roar; he shall prevail against his enemies.” Note the expression, “He shall stir up jealousy.” It is in this way that the Lord prevails against his enemies, so far as this prophecy is concerned.
But evidently this is not true of all the phases of destructive trouble incident to this day of the Lord. In Ezekiel 38:22,23, is described what apparently is the final spasm of the trouble, a struggle that seemingly is, concentrated against the fleshly house of Israel in connection with their re-establishment in their home land of Palestine. And here we read a description of what might well turn out to be a miraculous demonstration of divine power against the enemies of Israel, a demonstration the meaning of which is so obvious that the eyes of many nations will be opened to recognize the glory of the Lord.
The first military spasm of trouble came upon the nations in 1914. There was a worldwide economic “seizure” in 1929, followed by another military convulsion in 1939. It doesn’t seem possible that the present period of partial easement from world distress will last nearly as long as the previous one. But nothing that has occurred thus become far has caused the nations to realize that God is in any way interfering in their affairs. To date, in fact, the general tendency has been for the trouble to drive the masses of the people further away from God. They do not yet discern the meaning of what is occurring. The day of the Lord has come as a thief in the night.
But in I Thessalonians 5:4 the apostle explains that the day of the Lord and its destruction would not come upon the brethren as a “thief in the night.” This is because we have the “sure word of prophecy” to guide us in understanding the prophetic significance of what is taking place. (II Pet. 1:19) That which is thief-like and unknown to the world is discerned by the “watchers.” They see in the “crumbling thrones of earth” a sure token that the “day of the Lord” has come, that Christ has taken unto himself his power to reign, and that soon the life-giving blessing of his kingdom will become available to the sin-cursed and dying race.
“In the Which”
The Apostle Peter writes concerning the “day of the Lord” in language very similar to that employed by Paul in our text. (I Thess. 5:1-3) He also says that it was to come as a “thief in the night,” and then adds, “in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” (II Peter 3:10) It is well to note in reading this prophecy that the apostle places the destruction of the “heavens” and “earth” and the melting of the “elements” within the day of the Lord, not previous thereto.
To appreciate the weight of the apostle’s argument it is essential to refer back to verses 3 and 4 of the chapter, in which he prophesies that in the “last days” some would raise the question, “Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.” The words “coming” and “promise” are not the best translations of the original Greek words used by the apostle in this prophecy. The correct words are “presence” and “evidence,” or “assurance.”
No one questions the fact that the Scriptures promise the second coming of the Lord. Jesus himself said, If I go … I will come again.” (John 14:3) But inasmuch as his return was to be as a “thief in the night,” unknown to all except his faithful “watchers,” Peter, by prophetic vision, foresaw that, even after Jesus returned and the “day of the Lord” had actually dawned, some would doubt the fact of his presence and would ask for the proof—the assurance that he had come, in view of the fact that “since the fathers fell asleep” all things continued as they have been since the time of creation.
This language of the apostle is found to be pregnant with meaning when examined critically. Note the expression, “Since the fathers fell asleep.” The “fathers” of Israel were the ones to whom God had spoken through his prophets and to whom the many promises of the Messiah and his kingdom had been made. It was Peter himself who explained that what God had promised by the mouth of his holy prophets was “times of restitution of all things.” And he also explained that the fulfillment of these promises would follow the second coming of Christ.—Acts 3:19-21
It seems clear then, as Peter explains it, that the difficulty some have in discovering the true meaning of present world events is that they have concluded that the day of the Lord has not come because there is no evidence of restitution blessings. How could this be the day of the Lord, the day of his presence, when there is so much trouble in the world? Where is there any evidence that the Lord is interested in the people? It is this very question that is being asked by some today, even by some who claim to be students of the prophecies.
Peter’s answer to this objection is most revealing. He says that they are willingly ignorant of a very important factor, in this matter, and then uses an illustration of it; namely, the ending of the world of Noah’s day by the coming of the flood. In using this illustration the apostle is following the same line of argument employed by the Master when the disciples asked him what would be the sign of his presence and of the end of the age. Jesus explained, “As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.”—II Pet. 3:5,6; Luke 17:21
This illustration shows that the opening years of the “day” of the Lord were not to be peaceful, but calamitous. The “days of Noah” embraced the years before the flood “while the ark was a preparing,” and also the remaining years of his life after the flood. (I Pet. 3:20) He lived through a transition period from one world to another; the old world, the “world that then was,” being brought to a full end by the flood.—II Pet. 3:6
After employing this illustration of the “day of the Lord,” Peter continues, “But the heavens and earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” (II Pet. 3:7) In other words, just as the world before the flood came to an end in the days of Noah and as a result of the flood, so the present world, according to the Word of God, comes to an end in the “day of the Lord,” and as a result of a great time of trouble symbolized by “fire.”
It is the climax of this argument that the apostle presents in the 10th verse where he writes, “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat.” In the 13th verse the apostle adds, “Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” Thus Peter explains that what some insist upon seeing before they will believe that we are in the day of the Lord, will surely come, but not until after the destruction of the present evil world, as illustrated by the flood which destroyed the “world that then was.”
So the apostle confirms, even as other prophecies reveal, that the sequence of events in the day of the Lord is, first, spasms of destructive trouble destroying a world order, followed by the establishment of a new world—the world to come “wherein dwelleth righteousness.” (II Pet. 3:13) Yes, the early morning hours of the “day of the Lord” are dark. The storm clouds of war, revolution, and anarchy are ominous and finally burst with devastating fury upon the selfish institutions of men, leveling them in preparation for the inauguration of God’s new world.
Melting Elements
The “heavens” and the “earth” which are destroyed are, of course, symbolic. The literal earth “abideth forever.” God has “established it”; he “created it not in vain, but formed it to be inhabited.” (Eccl. 1:4 Isaiah 45:18) As symbols, the “heavens” and “earth” represent the spiritual and material aspects of the now crumbling order of things. It is a very apt illustration because, just as the literal heavens exercise a certain controlling influence over life on the physical earth, so the civil institutions of men have been more or less dependent upon the religious viewpoints of the people as an influence to keep the masses in check.
But in the cataclysmic spasms of trouble which break upon the world in this “day of the Lord,” these various elements of society, religious and civil, disintegrate; or as Peter puts it, they “melt.” The Greek word used by the apostle and translated “elements” is the same as that employed by the Apostle Paul when he admonished the early church not to be entangled with the weak and beggarly “elements” of this world. (Gal. 4:3,9) Paul’s reference is clearly to the elements of society as they existed at that time—Judaism, paganism, etc.—and not to rocks and mountains of the literal earth.
Among the many signs which Jesus gave of the time of his presence and the “day of the Lord” was his statement that the “powers of the heaven shall be shaken.” (Luke 21:26) This indicates that the time would come in the disintegrating processes of the “present evil world” when ecclesiastical controls would be broken, accelerating a general breaking down, or melting, of all the “elements” of society. If we are now living in the “day of the Lord” there should be some evidence that the symbolic “heavens” are passing away, and that all the various “elements” of civilization are melting. It is apparent, we think, that such is the case.
A moment’s reflection upon what has occurred since 1914 bears out this conclusion. Think of Russia, and the many other parts of Europe, which prior to 1914 were virtually ruled by the church through the civil powers. Anti-religious forces are gradually spreading over all the land; and with that spread the people are being temporarily held in restraint by dictatorships of one form or another. But everywhere chaos is developing. Nothing but military force can keep the people in check, and that only temporarily.
Even in Great Britain, and according to an admission of an official committee appointed by the Church of England, the masses of the people have lost practically all respect for religious standards by which they were once controlled. In the place of these standards there has developed a sort of moral anarchy in which everyone decides what is right and wrong upon the basis of what suits his own convenience and taste. This condition is not limited to Great Britain, but is true in varying degrees the world over.
Look at the present world order from whatever standpoint we will and we find the same chaotic condition; the same lack of cohesion among the various elements, political, national, and religious. The pledged word no longer stands. Governments, politicians, labor parties, and capitalists, all make promises, but break “them when it suits their purposes to do so. Yes, what was once called civilization is indeed breaking down under the impact of one after another of the spasms of destructive trouble which are coming suddenly upon the world during this “day of the Lord.”
But as Christians who accept the sure “word of prophecy” we can take the position mentioned by David when he said, “Therefore will we not fear, though the [symbolic] earth be removed.” (Psa. 46:2) The destruction of this day of the Lord which has already been wrought, and the further devastation threatened, have brought distress and fear to the people. They want “peace and safety,” and continue to plan for it, but the destruction continues, and will continue until, in the final paroxysm of destruction, in which the Jews will be particularly involved, the eyes of the contending forces will be opened to behold the glory of the Lord and to recognize that he has taken control of earth’s affairs.
From then on the kingdom forces of righteousness will become more and more apparent in the affairs of men. One of the first great miracles of that day will be the resurrection of the ancient prophets and other worthy ones of past ages. These will become “princes in all the earth,” representing the divine Christ. (Psa. 45:16) Finally, all nations will say, “Let us go up to the mountain [kingdom] of the Lord, … and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths.”—Micah 4:1-4
Before the entire thousand years of the day of the Lord are over, the “new heavens and a new earth”—the heavenly and material phases of Christ’s kingdom—will have put down all unrighteousness, and destroyed all the works of sin and selfishness. Sickness and death will be no more, and the dead will be awakened and given their opportunity for life. In view of this, what a blessed thing it is to know that the present world disintegration is evidence that already the “day of the Lord” has dawned, and that the conquering Christ has already begun the work of destroying the enemies of God and of righteousness—the kingdoms of this world being the first to go down before his onward march.