Reference: Day Of The Lord
Hastings
The day in which Jehovah was expected to punish sinful Hebrews and the enemies of Israel, and to establish at least the righteous remnant of His people in political supremacy. The Hebrews believed implicitly that their God Jehovah was certain to defeat all rivals. Before Amos this view had not reached a definite eschatology, and probably involved only a general expectation of the triumph of Israel and Israel's God. With Amos, however, the conception of punishment became less ethnic and more moral. The sins of Israel itself deserved punishment, and Amos declared that the luxury of the nation, with all its economic oppression, had grown hateful to Jehovah, and unless abandoned would bring fearful punishment (Am 2:6-8; 3:9-15; 5:10-13; 6:4-8). The righteousness of Jehovah demanded that the sins of His people as well as those of the heathen should be punished. After Amos the thought of an awful day of Divine punishment was extended from Israel to a world of sinners. According to Zephaniah (Am 1:2-15; 2:4-15), punishment was now to come upon all wicked persons, both Jews and Gentiles, because of wrong. So, too, the unknown prophet who wrote under the name of Malachi. Ezekiel (Eze 30:2 f., Eze 34:12; 39:8 f.), however, reverted to the same national thought of a 'day of battle,' in which Jehovah would conquer all Israel's foes; and to some extent this same national idea is represented by Joel (Joe 2:18-27). With the later prophets there is to be seen an element of reconstruction as well as punishment in Jehovah's action. Sinners, whether Jews or Gentiles, are to be punished, but a pious remnant is to be saved, the beginnings of a new Israel.
It is clear that this conception of a great Day of Jehovah underlies much of the Messianic expectation of apocryphal literature. The establishment of a remnant of a pious Israel was the germ of the hope of the Messianic kingdom; and the Day of Jehovah itself became the Day of Judgment, which figures so largely in both Jewish and Christian Messianism. It fact, it is not too much to say that the eschatology of Judaism is really a development of the implications of the prophetic teaching as to the Day of Jehovah.
Shailer Mathews.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
As a shepherd seeks out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered on a cloudy and dark day.
Behold, it is come, and it is done, says the Lord GOD; this is the day of which I have spoken.
Then will the LORD be jealous for his land, and pity his people. Yea, the LORD will answer and say unto his people, Behold, I will send you grain, and wine, and oil, and you shall be satisfied with them: and I will no more make you a reproach among the nations: read more. But I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the eastern sea, and his back toward the western sea, and his stench shall come up, and his foul smell shall come up, because he has done great things. Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for the LORD will do great things. Be not afraid, you beasts of the field: for the pastures of the wilderness do spring up, for the tree bears her fruit, the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength. Be glad then, you children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he has given you the former rain faithfully, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month. And the threshing floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with wine and oil. And I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the crawling locust, and the consuming locust, and the cutting locust, my great army which I sent among you. And you shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, who has dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed. And you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed.
And he said, The LORD will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither. Thus says the LORD; For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron: read more. But I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, which shall devour the palaces of Benhadad. I will break also the gate of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitant from the plain of Aven, and him that holds the scepter from the house of Eden: and the people of Syria shall go into captivity unto Kir, says the LORD. Thus says the LORD; For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they carried away captive the whole captivity, to deliver them up to Edom: But I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, which shall devour its palaces: And I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod, and him that holds the scepter from Ashkelon, and I will turn my hand against Ekron: and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish, says the Lord GOD. Thus says the LORD; For three transgressions of Tyre, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they delivered up the whole captivity to Edom, and remembered not the brotherly covenant: But I will send a fire on the wall of Tyre, which shall devour its palaces. Thus says the LORD; For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because he did pursue his brother with the sword, and did cast off all pity, and his anger did tear perpetually, and he kept his wrath forever: But I will send a fire upon Teman, which shall devour the palaces of Bozrah. Thus says the LORD; For three transgressions of the children of Ammon, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they have ripped up the women with child in Gilead, that they might enlarge their border: But I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it shall devour its palaces, with shouting in the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind: And their king shall go into captivity, he and his princes together, says the LORD.
Thus says the LORD; For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they have despised the law of the LORD, and have not kept his commandments, and their lies caused them to err, after which their fathers have walked: But I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem. read more. Thus says the LORD; For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes;
Thus says the LORD; For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes; That trample on the dust of the earth which is on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek: and a man and his father will go in unto the same maiden, to defile my holy name:
That trample on the dust of the earth which is on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek: and a man and his father will go in unto the same maiden, to defile my holy name: And they lay themselves down upon clothes taken in pledge by every altar, and they drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their god.
And they lay themselves down upon clothes taken in pledge by every altar, and they drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their god. Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath. read more. Also I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and led you forty years through the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite. And I raised up some of your sons for prophets, and some of your young men for Nazarites. Is it not even thus, O you children of Israel? says the LORD. But you gave the Nazarites wine to drink; and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not. Behold, I am weighted down under you, as a cart is weighted down that is full of sheaves. Therefore the flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not strengthen his power, neither shall the mighty deliver himself: Neither shall he stand that handles the bow; and he that is swift of foot shall not deliver himself: neither shall he that rides the horse deliver himself.
Publish in the palaces at Ashdod, and in the palaces in the land of Egypt, and say, Assemble yourselves upon the mountains of Samaria, and behold the great tumults in its midst, and the oppressed in its midst. For they know not to do right, says the LORD, who store up violence and robbery in their palaces. read more. Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; An adversary there shall be even all around the land; and he shall bring down your strength from you, and your palaces shall be plundered. Thus says the LORD; As the shepherd takes out of the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear; so shall the children of Israel be taken out that dwell in Samaria in the corner of a bed, and on the edge of a couch. Hear you, and testify in the house of Jacob, says the Lord GOD, {} the God of hosts, That in the day that I shall punish the transgressions of Israel upon him I will also punish the altars of Bethel: and the horns of the altar shall be cut off, and fall to the ground. And I will strike the winter house with the summer house; and the houses of ivory shall perish, and the great houses shall have an end, says the LORD.
They hate him that rebukes in the gate, and they abhor him that speaks uprightly. Since therefore you tread upon the poor, and you take from him burdens of wheat: you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not dwell in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink wine of them. read more. For I know your manifold transgressions, and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right. Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time.
That lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch yourselves upon your couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall; That chant to the sound of the harp, and invent for yourselves instruments of music, like David; read more. That drink wine in bowls, and anoint yourselves with the chief ointments: but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph. Therefore now shall they go captive with the first that go captive, and the banquet of them that stretched themselves shall be removed. The Lord GOD has sworn by himself, says the LORD the God of hosts, I abhor the excellency of Jacob, and hate his palaces: therefore will I deliver up the city with all that is in it.
Morish
This cannot be separated from Messiah's day. It is often characterised by judgement: "A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness . . . . the day of the Lord is great and very terrible." Joe 2:2,11,31; Mal 4:1. "The day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night; for when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them." 1Th 5:2-3. "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." 2Pe 3:10. This scene is followed by 'THE DAY OF GOD' in 2Pe 3:12, which ushers in the new heavens and the new earth.
It is important to keep the 'day' quite distinct from the coming of the Lord to fetch His saints; for many have misapplied the term, and it has been constantly asserted that the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians was written to show the saints that it was wrong to be expecting the return of the Lord; whereas the fact is they thought the day of the Lord had come (though the First Epistle keeps the two things quite distinct: compare 1Th 4:13-18 with 1Th 5:1-4), and this could not come until Antichrist was revealed. There will be judgements before the millennium, and there will be judgements after the millennium, so that we may regard the Day of the Lord as extending through the millennium: it will be 'the Lord's' day in contrast to 'man's' day.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great and strong people; there has not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, through the years of many generations.
And the LORD shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executes his word: for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can endure it?
The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD comes.
For, behold, the day comes, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that comes shall burn them up, says the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them who are asleep, that you sorrow not, even as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also who sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. read more. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not precede them who are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.
But of the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I write unto you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night.
For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction comes upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction comes upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in 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.
Looking for and hastening unto the coming of the day of God, in which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?