The Day of the Lord

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, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up, 2nd Peter 3:10.

Peter gives us a pretty grim picture of the day of the Lord. He describes the day in which this earth as we know it now is burned up. The heavens pass away and even the very elements which make up all things melt. Its destruction is utter and complete. Surely, Peter describes the coming of the void time between the end of the Millennial age and the new heavens and new earth. And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them, Revelation 20:11.

Joel also speaks of the day of the Lord:

Joel 3:14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.

Joel 3:15 The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.

Joel 3:16 The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.

Joel 3:17 So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.

Joel 3:18 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the LORD, and shall water the valley of Shittim.

Joel 3:19 Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.

Joel 3:20 But Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.

Joel 3:21 For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: for the LORD dwelleth in Zion.

Both Peter and Joel speak of the day of the Lord. When Peter uses the term, he speaks of the first heaven and earth being burned up with fire. Joel speaks of the second coming and the beginning of the Millennium. In fact when we compare references to the day of the Lord, we discover that it is a term which describes a day in which the Lord reveals himself as Jehovah the redeemer of Israel, and it is not always the same day on a timeline.

When the Lord revealed himself to Moses, he made a statement that on the surface appears wrong. And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them, Exodus 6:3. When we go back and look up those places wherein the name Jehovah was used by the Lord, we see that Abraham was familiar with the title. In the Old Testament our King James Bible uses all capitals when the word Jehovah is translated as LORD. Likewise, in the Old Testament it distinguishes that name from other names of God by using the form "Lord". For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, Deuteronomy 10:17.

Yet, when the Lord spoke to Abraham it is obvious that he used the very name Jehovah. And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him, Genesis 12:7. Why then did the Lord tell Moses that he had not been known by the name Jehovah? Jehovah is the redemptive name of God. When the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt and destroyed the Egyptians, they knew God in his redemptive form. The name Jehovah made sense to them. He may have been called Jehovah prior to the Exodus, but he wasn't known as Jehovah in the sense of the power and deliverance that it signifies.

The term "day of the Lord" works much the same way. In every context it is a prophetic day in which the power of God to destroy evil and to establish good for his people is made known. It is not the same place on a timeline in every place where it is used.

Zechariah 14:1 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.

Zechariah 14:2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.

Zechariah 14:3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.

Zechariah 14:4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.

Zechariah 14:5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.

Zechariah 14:6 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark:

Zechariah 14:7 But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.

Zechariah 14:8 And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.

Zechariah 14:9 And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.

Is there anyone who could even begin to think that the day described by Zechariah as the day of the Lord is the same time that Peter calls the day of the Lord? In reality, the term day of the Lord can and does mean the second coming of Christ. It can mean the millennium. It can mean the dissolving of all things. It can mean the tribulation period. Only context will distinguish the time.

What is the difference between the Lord's day and the day of the Lord? I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, Revelation 1:10. What is the difference in the husband of my sister and my sister's husband? What is the difference in the Lord's people and the people of the Lord? We have an English Bible and it is high time that God's people (or should I say the people of God?) begin to mold their theology by the words of God as rendered by the Holy Ghost in English and quit trying to ram old Protestant theologies and charts into the words of God where they don't and won't fit.