DEFINING THE DAY OF THE LORD

1
DEFINING THE DAY OF THE LORD

• I, LIKE YOU, WAS RAISED BELIEVING THAT THE DAY OF
  THE LORD IS AN EARTH BURNING, TIME ENDING EVENT,
  WHEN JESUS COMES OUT OF THE SKY, RIDING ON A
  CLOUD, ATTENDED BY ANGELS BLOWING A TRUMPET! THE
  BIOLOGICALLY DEAD BODIES OF ALL THE DEAD WOULD BE
  RECONSTITUTED, RESTORED, AND RAISED, ETERNITY
  WOULD BEGIN.
• HOWEVER, IS THIS THE CORRECT VIEW?
• MY ANSWER IS NO!

2
The Day of the Lord

• My view is that the Bible defines its own terms,
  and we must allow those definitions to guide us.
  It is not dictionaries, traditions, or history.
• The O. T. defines the Day of the Lord for us, and
  in doing so, shows that the Day of the Lord never
  refers to a literal, visible, bodily, coming of
  the Lord.
• It can be shown that the Lord had come many
  times, in the Day of the Lord, but had never come
  literally, visibly, bodily, and Christ was to
  come in the glory of the Father.

3
The Day of the Lord- Ps. 18

• David looks back on his deliverance from his
  enemies, specifically Saul, seeking his life.
• David prayed for deliverance, and YHVH answered.
• THE EARTH SHOOK AND TREMBLED (7)
• JEHOVAH CAME OUT OF HEAVEN (9), SMOKE FROM HIS
  NOSTRILS, FLAMING FIRE, AND A SHOUT (V. 7F
  13-15)
• CREATION WAS DESTROYED! (13-15)
• THIS WAS A PAST EVENT!!

4
The Day of the Lord- Edom

• Isaiah 34-The Day of the Lords anger-- not near-
  This was against Edom and the nations (v 8f)
• Jeremiah 25 Ezekiel 25/ 35 the nations
• Obadiah Jeremiah 46-49It was now near on Edom
  and all the nations!
• Malachi 12 Malachi looks back on the
  destruction as past fulfillment!!

5
The Day of the Lord- Is. 19-20

• Jehovah would ride/come on the clouds!
• Against Egypt
• Date 712 B. C.
• Fulfilled at a time when idolatry practiced (v.
  3).
• Fulfilled when Egypt ruled by a Pharaoh (v. 11)
• Egypt destroyed by Assyrians under Sargon in
  approx 711!!
• Sargon was YHVHs instrument of wrath and
  judgment. YHVH came through him!

6
The Day of the Lord- Assyria

• Isaiah 30-31Assyria stood before the walls of
  Jerusalem
• YHVH would come out of heaven, with a shout,
  fire, hail, destruction (3030f 314f).
• New Creation! Sun would become seven times more
  powerful!! (3026f)
• Very little while (2917f)
• Fulfilled- Isaiah 37-- 185,000 destroyed!

7
ZEPHANIAH-AGAINST JERUSALEM

• THIS DAY OF THE LORD WAS VERY NEAR (17, 14F)
  DAY OF DARKNESS, CLOUDS AND FIRE (V. 15F).
• IT WAS AGAINST JERUSALEM (112F)
• DESTRUCTION OF MAN AND BEAST, EVEN THE BIRDS OF
  THE AIR AND FISH OF THE SEA (V. 2-3-CF JER.
  425F)!
• THE EARTH DESTROYED (38F)
• THIS WAS THE FALL OF JERUSALEM IN B.C. 586!!
• THIS IS UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE APPLIED TO A
  LOCALIZED JUDGMENT! AND, THAT DAY WAS FULFILLED
  IN B. C. 586!

8
SUMMARY TO THIS POINT

• WHAT THESE PASSAGES SHOW US IS THAT IN THE O.T.
  THE DAY OF THE LORD WAS A HISTORICAL EVENT, IN
  WHICH YHVH MANIFESTED HIS SOVEREIGNTY BY USING
  ONE NATION IN THE JUDGMENT OF OTHER NATIONS.
• THE O.T. FORETOLD THE END OF THE AGE DAY OF THE
  LORD, THE TIME OF THE RESURRECTION, AND THE NEW
  CREATION.
• IS THE LAST DAYS DAY OF THE LORD DIFFERENT THAN
  THE OTHER DAYS WE HAVE SEEN?

9
ISAIAH 2-4

• ISAIAH FORETOLD THE LAST DAYS, AND THE
  ESTABLISHMENT OF THE KINGDOM.
• HE ALSO FORETOLD THE DAY OF THE LORD (210F,
  19-21).
• THE EARTH WOULD BE VIOLENTLY SHAKEN (v. 19-21)!
• THE LORD WOULD BE EXALTED IN THAT DAY (217CF.
  ZECH. 148)
• IS THIS DAY OF THE LORD DIFFERENT THAN WHAT WE
  HAVE ALREADY SEEN?
• LETS LOOK CLOSER.

10
THE DAY IN ISAIAH 2-4

• ISAIAH 2 FORETOLD THE LAST DAYS DAY OF THE LORD.
• WE ARE TOLD THAT THE LAST DAYS ARE THE CHRISTIAN
  AGE.
• THIS SHOULD MEAN THAT THE DAY OF THE LORD
  FORETOLD BY ISAIAH IS THE FINAL DAY OF THE
  LORD, THE SECOND COMING, AT THE END OF THE
  CHRISTIAN AGE, IF THIS IS TRUE.
• IS THIS TRUE, HOWEVER?

11
DEFINING THE DAY IN ISAIAH 2-4

• THE LAST DAYS DAY OF THE LORD IN ISAIAH 2-4
  CANNOT BE AN END OF TIME, EARTH DESTROYING EVENT,
  BECAUSE
• 1.) MEN COULD FLEE FROM IT! (210F)
• 2.) IT WOULD BE A TIME OF FAMINE (31F).
• 3.) IT WOULD BE A TIME OF JUDGMENT AGAINST JUDAH
  AND JERUSALEM (38,13-18F) YOUR MEN SHALL FALL
  BY THE EDGE OF THE SWORD.
• THESE FACTS ALONE PROVE THAT ISAIAH 2-4 WAS TO BE
  A DAY LIKE THE OTHER DAYS, AN IN TIME, HISTORICAL
  EVENT!
• BUT THERE IS MORE!

12
DEFINING THE DAY IN ISAIAH 2-4

• IN THE LAST DAYS, ISRAEL WOULD BE JUDGED FOR
  SHEDDING INNOCENT BLOOD! (44)
• MATTHEW 2329F JESUS, WHO APPEARED IN THE LAST
  DAYS- SAID ISRAEL WOULD BE JUDGED FOR SHEDDING
  INNOCENT BLOOD, IN HIS GENERATION.
• IN LUKE 2328-31, HE ALLUDES DIRECTLY TO ISAIAH
  219F AND APPLIES IT TO A.D. 70!

13
ISAIAH 2-4 SUMMARY

• ISAIAH 2-4 FORETOLD THE LAST DAYS, DAY OF THE
  LORD--THIS SHOULD BE, THEREFORE, THE CONSUMMATIVE
  DAY.
• HOWEVER, MEN COULD FLEE FROM IT.
• IT WOULD BE AGAINST JUDAHA AND JERUSALEM.
• IT WOULD BE WHE THE BLOOD OF THE MARTYRS WOULD BE
  VINDICATED, AND JESUS IDENTIFIES THAT AS A.D. 70
• JESUS APPLIED THE PROPHECY SPECIFICALLY TO
  JERUSALEM (LK. 23)
• THE LAST DAYS DAY OF THE LORD WAS A.D. 70!

14
ISAIAH 64-65 THE DAY AND THE NEW CREATION

• VIRTUALLY EVERYONE AGREES THAT ISAIAH 65-66
  SERVES AS THE SOURCE OF PETER AND JOHNS
  PREDICTION OF THE NEW HEAVEN AND EARTH.
• HOWEVER, EXTREMELY FEW COMMENTATORS TAKE NOTE OF
  THE ACTUAL CONTEXT OF ISAIAH, OR THE DEFINITION
  OF THE COMING OF THE LORD FORETOLD THERE.
• HOW CAN WE IGNORE THIS CONTEXT, AND THINK WE HAVE
  PROPERLY INTERPRETED EITHER 2 PETER OR REVELATION?

15
THE DAY AND THE NEW CREATION

• Oh, that You would rend the heavens! That You
  would come down! That the mountains might shake
  at Your presence 2 As fire burns brushwood, As
  fire causes water to boilTo make Your name known
  to Your adversaries, That the nations may tremble
  at Your presence!
• ISAIAH (ISRAEL) IS PRAYING FOR YHVH TO COME,
  RESCUE THEM, AND BRING IN THE NEW CREATION!
• WHAT KIND OF COMING OF THE LORD WERE THEY
  PRAYING FOR? END OF TIME? THE END OF THE
  CHRISTIAN AGE?

16
THE DAY AND THE NEW CREATION

• WHAT KIND OF COMING OF THE LORD WAS ISAIAH
  PRAYING FOR?
• END OF TIME, OR THE CHRISTIAN AGE?
• A LITERAL, BODILY, VISIBLE DESCENT OF JESUS OUT
  OF HEAVEN?
• NO!
• When You did awesome things for which we did not
  look, You came down, The mountains shook at Your
  presence.

17
THE DAY AND THE NEW CREATION

• Isaiah 64 Jehovah had come before and the
  creation had been destroyed before!
• The Lord was coming again, to bring the New
  Creation
• The coming of the Lord was to be in the same
  manner He had come before!
• Therefore, the Day of the Lord to bring the New
  CreationRev. 21 was to be of the same manner as
  He had come before!
• Non-literal, non-visible, non-bodily!!

18
CONTEXT AND FRAMEWORK OF THE NEW CREATION PAROUSIA

• ISAIAH 64-65 AGREES WITH ISAIAH 2-4 IN THE
  FRAMEWORK OF THE DAY OF THE LORD.
• ISAIAH 2-4 THE TIME OF THE JUDGMENT ON ISRAEL
  FOR SHEDDING INNOCENT BLOOD.
• ISAIAH 656F WHEN ISRAEL FILLED THE MEASURE OF
  HER SIN, SHE WOULD BE DESTROYED, V. 13 F, AND,
  YHVH WOULD CREATE THE NEW HEAVENS AND EARTH!

19
OUR ARGUMENT

• THE DAY OF THE LORD PREDICTED BY PETER (2 PT 3),
  AND JOHN (RV. 21-22), WAS THE DAY OF THE LORD
  FORETOLD BY ISAIAH 64-65.
• BUT, THE DAY OF THE LORD FORETOLD BY ISAIAH 64-65
  WAS A DAY LIKE PREVIOUS DAYS.
• ALL PREVIOUS DAYS OF THE LORD WERE IN TIME
  MANIFESTATIONS OF YHVHS SOVEREIGNTY NEVER
  LITERAL, VISIBLE, BODILY COMINGS!
• THEREFORE, THE DAY OF THE LORD OF 2 PT. 3 AND
  REVELATION 21-22 WOULD NOT BE A LITERAL, VISIBLE
  BODILY COMING OF THE LORD!

20
DANIEL 12 AND THE DAY

• DANIEL 12 FORETOLD THE TIME OF THE END (V. 4),
  AND THE RESURRECTION.
• THIS IS CLEARLY THE DAY OF THE LORD!
• YET, HE ALSO FORETOLD THE TIME OF THE GREAT
  TRIBULATION (V. 1) IN THE SAME TIME FRAME AND
  CONTEXT, AND JESUS POSITED THIS FOR HIS
  GENERATION IN THE JUDGMENT ON JERUSALEM (MT.
  2415-21).
• SO, JESUS PLACES DANIEL 12 WITHIN HIS GENERATION
  AND THE JUDGMENT ON JERUSALEM. DOES DANIEL AGREE
  WITH THIS?

21
DANIEL 12 AND THE DAY

• ONE ANGEL ASKS ANOTHER ABOUT WHEN ALL OF THESE
  THINGS GREAT TRIB., TIME OF THE END,
  RESURRECTION, WOULD OCCUR
• HEAVENS ANSWER-V. 7
• WHEN THE POWER OF THE HOLY PEOPLE HAS BEEN
  COMPLETELY SHATTERED, ALL OF THESE THINGS SHALL
  BE FULFILLED.
• SO, DANIEL, LIKE ISAIAH 2 AND 64-65 POSITS THE
  DAY OF THE LORD, AND THE KEY ESCHATOLOGICAL
  TENETS AT THE TIME OF THE JUDGMENT OF O.C. ISRAEL!

22
Summarizing the Day of the Lord

• We have shown that the O.T. defines the Day of
  the Lord as an in history demonstration of the
  Sovereignty of YHVH.
• We have seen that the O.T. predicted the Last
  Days Day of the Lord.
• We have examined three key O.T. prophecies of the
  Day of the Lord, that foretold, the Last Days
  Day, the New Creation, and the Resurrection.
• We have shown that these prophecies defined the
  Day in the same way as the previous Days.

23
Summarizing the Day of the Lord

• It is critical to understand that Jesus and N.T.
  writers were anticipating the Last Days Day
  foretold by the O.T. prophets!
• Jesus-- Romans 158
• Peter Acts 3 1 Peter 1 2 Peter 3
• Paul Nothing but the hope of Israel!
• John the fulfillment of the prophets (Rev. 107)
• There are no new eschatological hopes or promises
  in the N. T.!
• This being true, and given what we have seen,
  where do the N.T. writers redefine the Day?
• Where is the justification for radically altering
  that documented definition?