I remember when I was quite young, visiting my grandmother, who was living with her brother, Uncle Creighton. They lived in a beautiful old house in the Kitsilano district of Vancouver, BC, not far from the beach. I would imagine that today that house would be worth several million dollars, due primarily to the location. But if has been well maintained during the last 70 years the house itself would be extremely valuable. There are 4 specific things I remember about that house – the yard and gardens, which included a pear tree. And inside, I remember the smell of well-maintained wood; there was dark wood throughout. It was there I was first introduced to a piano, and the house had a grandfather clock. Every fifteen minutes that clock would chime, and at the top of every hour, it beat out up to twelve loud notes.
I doubt I was awake to hear it, but that kind of clock signaled the beginning and end of the day. To that clock, every day was made up of two, precise, twelve hour periods – twenty-four hours total. Similarly, when we come to the Bible, a day is equal to our standard, twenty-four hour period. But the Biblical day it was never marked with the beat of a clock. Days in the Word of God began and ended with the setting of the sun. So from the first day in Genesis 1, a day has always been equivalent to our twenty-four hours. This means that the universe was created by the timeless God, in a matter of six days, not years or eons.
But Peter reminds us that time in God’s reckoning is not the same as time ours. Creation took six twenty-four days, and that isn’t debated by those who believe the Bible. However, “be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” And therefore, “the DAY of the LORD,” in verse 10 is not necessarily the same length as “a day in the life of man.”
That is the subject which the apostle now brings up in his rebuke of the last days’ scoffers. While the unbelievers say that God has not, and will not, keep his promises and prophecies… Peter is telling them that He most certainly will. BUT, it will be in God’s time and not ours. “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 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.”
This evening I’d like us to listen for the gong which marks the beginning and end of the “day of the Lord.”
What is the definition of “the day of the Lord?”
There are 15 or 16 scriptures which speak about that day, coming mostly from the Old Testament. There also verses talking about “the day of Christ” and the “day of God,” – in the New Testament. The experts argue back and forth about differences between these three. But I’m not going to address that tonight other than to say that “the day of Christ” is usually put into a more positive context than “the day of the Lord.” Peter specifically refers to the “day of the Lord.” He gives us a short description of what that day will contain. He refers to great noise, great heat and great fire with great destruction. And that destruction will be universal – including the heavens and the earth. But he begins by saying, “the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night.” That day will catch people unawares, unready and UNSAVED.
For greater depth please turn to Isaiah 2. In this chapter, God’s prophet is warning the wicked and unsaved Jews of upcoming judgment. Even though there was a more immediate fulfilment in their future, he speaks of some things which are echoed in the Book of Revelation. Verse 10 – “Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty. The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day. For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low…” Remember, Peter is addressing some of these proud and lofty scoffers. They shall be brought down. The Lord alone – Jehovah is to be the one glorified during the day of the Lord.
Isaiah 13:6-12 – “Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man’s heart shall melt: And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames. Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.” How well do you remember the Book of Revelation? How many of these points are reiterated in Revelation’s description of the “Tribulation – Jacob’s trouble?” Are we beginning to see that the tribulation is a part of the “day of the Lord?”
The Prophet Joel refers often to “day of the Lord?” Joel 1:13 – “Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meat offering and the drink offering is withholden from the house of your God. Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the LORD your God, and cry unto the LORD, Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.”
The entire second chapter of Joel is about the upcoming day of the Lord. It is basically a plea for Israel to repent before the judgment begins. I encourage you to read it when you get time.
Joel 3:12 refers to an upcoming battle in the valley of Jehoshaphat – an event during the Tribulation. “Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. 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.”
Amos 5:18 says, “Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord! Do what end is it for you? The day of the Lord is darkness, and not light. As if a man did flee form a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand of the wall and a serpent bit him. Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light? Even very dark, and no brightness in it.”
Obadiah 15 says, “For the day of the Lord is near upon all the heathen; as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee; thy reward shall return upon thine own head.”
Zephaniah 1:7-18 – “Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord GOD: for the day of the LORD is at hand: for the LORD hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath bid his guests. And it shall come to pass in the day of the LORD’S sacrifice, that I will punish the princes, and the king’s children, and all such as are clothed with strange apparel. In the same day also will I punish all those that leap on the threshold, which fill their masters’ houses with violence and deceit. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD, that there shall be the noise of a cry from the fish gate, and an howling from the second, and a great crashing from the hills. Howl, ye inhabitants of Maktesh, for all merchant people are cut down; all they that bear silver are cut off. And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men that are settled on their lees: that say in their heart, The LORD will not do good, neither will he do evil. Therefore their goods shall become a booty, and their houses a desolation: they shall also build houses, but not inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, but not drink the wine thereof. The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers. And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the LORD: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung. Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD’S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.”
I am skipping other Old Testament scriptures on the subject, but I can’t ignore Zechariah 14 – “Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. 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. Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. 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. 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. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark: 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. 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. And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.”
There is no doubt in my mind that “the day of the Lord” involves the seven year Tribulation period.
But what about those words, “the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night?”
How will all this be a surprise? Doesn’t I Thessalonians 5 tell us? “But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that 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, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us to WRATH, but to obtain SALVATION by our Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for us, that, whether we WAKE or SLEEP, we should live together with him.” I am of the opinion that God’s living elect – saved people – will not have to experience the wrath of the Tribulation. We will be safely ensconced in the place which Christ has gone to prepare for us just before the Lord’s fury is unleashed.
At the stroke of the prophetical midnight, when most will be asleep and not prepared for it, the Lord will snatch away His living saints, and “the day of the Lord” will begin. With the saints and their ecclesias gone from the earth at the end of Revelation 3, the Tribulation will immediately begin. And that translation, my friend, will be without warning or much fanfare. “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 which are live 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. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” I find great comfort in knowing that we will have no part in the wrath of the day of the Lord. The judgments which will fall on the unbelieving and scoffing of both the Jews and Gentiles – will begin falling on them after those living saints will have been removed by the Lord.
And then ultimately even though it isn’t as clearly stated as are the judgments, the day of the Lord concludes with the millennial day of the Lord’s earthly glorification. As Zechariah said, “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. And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.”
But for us in our study of this epistle, Peter is not thinking of the Millennium. His thoughts are on the judgment of those who are saying, “Where is the promise of His coming?” Where is it? It is just around the corner.