THE DAY OF THE LORD

Friday 30 May

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. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. 2 Peter 3:10-13 (NKJV)

This phrase the ‘Day of the Lord’ is widely used by the prophets and Apostles throughout the Bible. It’s important that we interpret this correctly otherwise we will come to wrong conclusions. Many Christians think it is referring to the second coming of Christ. Is it? As I explained earlier it’s actually the third coming of Christ. Most that hold this view also believe in a rapture from ‘raptura’ in Latin that is pre-tribulation or mid-tribulation. Let me explain.

To believe in a post-tribulation rapture is close to the Biblical account of the day of the Lord. To clarify, the tribulation is a supposed seven year period where ‘the Antichrist’ is ruling the world which is the misinterpretation of scripture we dealt with in Monday’s edition.

Peter says that the earth is going to be destroyed on ‘that day’. If this is true then there can’t be a seven year tribulation or a three and a half year known as the ‘Great tribulation’ after the day of the Lord.

Therefore some futuristic, seven year period is not doctrinal. In fact, between Jesus, Peter, James and John, none of them ever mentioned a specific seven year tribulation that was coming. Why? Is it because it wasn’t a thing? Truth be told, tribulation is currently on. We’ll cover this another time.

So, if there was no set period of any kind it also means there is no rapture either. Another thing to note is Peter was talking to Christians about the ‘day of the Lord coming like a thief in the night,’ which implies that every Christian will still be on earth and has not been ‘raptured’ beforehand. Again, the rapture concept biblically doesn’t hold water. Instead of rapture, think this way; the redemption of bodies.

1 Thessalonians 4:17 says ‘the dead in Christ will rise first then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together’… the Greek word for ‘caught up’ is ‘harpazo’. Caught up into where? The spirit. When does this happen? It coincides with the day of the Lord when saints who died will rise to collect their new bodies and believers will drop their mortal bodies. This occurs sometime after the appearance of Christ to the world and His manifestation through the saints.

Romans 8:11 tells us that the ‘Spirit will quicken our mortal bodies’. It is described as ‘a shout, a trumpet and the voice of an archangel’ The Bible also says that ‘mortality must put on immortality and corruption must put on incorruption.’ This is the time all those alive in Christ are ‘changed’.

While all these amazing things are going on with the sons of God, it is sadly a different story for those who are not in Christ at the day of the Lord. It is also called the day of judgment.

The earth will melt with fervent heat, the atmospheric heavens will pass away. Heavenly bodies will begin falling. The sky will be rolled up like a scroll and everyone who has not been caught up into the spirit will face fiery destruction.

This is the Lake of fire that John describes in the book of Revelation as the ‘second death’. Remember the first death is separation, the second death is annihilation or destruction. This is where those who have died without Christ will be raised up to be cast into the fire along with Satan his demons and all remaining unbelievers. How sad! The final destination and place of judgement for the unrepentant.

We have only briefly touched on this comprehensive subject but I hope this has brought some clarity to you about what the Bible says regarding the day of the Lord and cleared up any confusion you may have had.

Until that day, we have an opportunity to tell of the love, mercy and grace of God in Christ for everyone so they will experience the triumph and not the tragedy.

APPLICATION

Go and study all the verses throughout the Bible related to ‘the day of the Lord’ spoken of by the prophets and apostles.