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The noise of the day of the LORD is bitter; there the mighty men shall cry out. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of devastation and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of trumpet and alarm against the fortified cities and against the high towers.
The great day of the LORD is near: The term day of the LORD used more than 25 times in the Bible does not necessarily refer to one specific day; it speaks of "God's time. That day is a day of wrath: It is a day of wrath because man will not give up without a fight, and because mankind will receive the just penalty for his rebellion against the LORD. Zephaniah paints the picture powerfully with the repeated description, " a day of … ".
I will … I shall: God wants to make it plain and certain that He will judge a rebellious Judah. If they do not repent, there will be no holding back from the completion of His judgment. Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them: Men trust in silver and gold , but it will do them no good on the day of God's deliverance. Since the text and audio content provided by BLB represent a range of evangelical traditions, all of the ideas and principles conveyed in the resource materials are not necessarily affirmed, in total, by this ministry.
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The Bible has many prophecies of the end time. Right now, it may seem that their fulfillments are proceeding at a slow pace, but the time will come when they will. With respect to its nature, did the Day of the Lord emphasize God's judgment, Following an examination of these questions, the study will.
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Thank you for registering. In reference to timing, did the Day of the Lord refer to a past, imminent, or eschatological event, or is it possible that multiple chronologies were in view?
Following an examination of these questions, the study will conclude with a summary of common characteristics that can be ascribed to the Day of the Lord. Imagery of natural disaster, devastating military conquest, and supernatural calamity is connected to Day of the Lord references. Thus, while divine judgment is certainly a prominent theme in the Day of the Lord, it is only part of the picture.
The dual nature of the Day of the Lord is further illumined by its purposes.
The writing prophets describe the Day of the Lord as coming so that people might turn from idols Isa 2: All of the above purposes highlight the blessing of this day for those who have responded appropriately. Ultimately, all the nations will recognize Yahweh in that day Joel 3: The example of the nations provides a clear picture of the dark side to this same day that is a blessing for others.
In sum, an accurate presentation of the Day of the Lord requires us to recognize that the day has two sides to its nature. Sometimes one side is prominent, sometimes the other.
This should not come as a surprise to those who know the nature of the God who is behind the nature of the day. In light of the fact that the Day of the Lord has a duality to its nature and purpose, it is natural to assume that its scope will encompass the diversity of peoples affected by both the side that brings blessing and the side that brings judgment.
Indeed, the Day of the Lord was connected to the judgment pronounced upon Babylon Isa Obadiah expands the individual references to peoples and announces that the Day of the Lord will bring corporate judgment to all of the nations Isaiah broadens the scope of judgment even further, describing calamity that will fall upon the entire earth on the consummate Day of the Lord This increasing scope suggests that judgment is not only directed toward particular peoples or even the collective nations, but toward evil in general.
Thus, the Day of the Lord is properly spoken of as bringing judgment to evil wherever it may be found in fallen creation. Since the Day of the Lord involves both judgment and blessing, we would expect to see a development of the scope of blessing in a manner similar to the scope of judgment.
By virtue of its diversity the Day of the Lord is not properly viewed as a one-time event, and technical force should be assigned to the phrase with caution. Determining the fulfillment of past references to the Day of the Lord is a relatively easy task. Future references to the Day of the Lord are not difficult to locate.
However, determining whether those referents point toward an imminent or eschatological event from the vantagepoint of the writer is another matter. Some descriptions are clearly eschatological. Since no such collective judgment has occurred up to the present, these references to the Day of the Lord must be yet future.
It would seem somewhat problematic that five different prophets spanning four different centuries would continue to refer to the Day of the Lord in such terms, especially in light of the fact that latter prophets were most certainly aware of earlier ones. Interestingly, both imminent and eschatological aspects of the Day of the Lord are found in close proximity in the Book of Joel. Some may question the validity of telescoping from a near to a far event without regard for events in between, but prophetic telescoping may legitimately be credited to ignorance on the part of the writer.
God only provided that information which was necessary for the writer to know—nothing more and nothing less. Regardless of the reasons for prophetic telescoping, contextual evidence strongly suggests that it is a common feature of Old Testament prophecy. The Day of the Lord constitutes a repeated event that will find ultimate eschatological fulfillment in the future.
However, the diversity found in chronology is held together by the common characteristics that each Day of the Lord possesses. It should be further noted that all non-eschatological references to the Day of the Lord included the use of human instruments and activity to accomplish divine purposes, and this points to a distinguishing feature of the eschatological Day of the Lord. In this respect, the consummate, eschatological Day of the Lord finds similarity with those days that have gone before, but it is decidedly different in that the hand of Messiah and not primarily human instruments carries out divine purpose.