It’s Closing Time
The phrase the Day of the Lord is used in two different, yet connected, ways in Scripture. It is used in a broad way to speak of the whole Tribulation and the Millennial Kingdom. The broad use puts the day of the Lord between the day of Christ, which begins at the Rapture, and the day of God, which is eternity. These parameters tell us that the Day of the Lord will last for at least one thousand and seven years, from Daniel’s seventieth week to the dissolving of this world by fire as described in 2 Peter 3.
Zechariah 14 speaks of this day in a broad sense. In verse 6, it says, “there will be no light,” but in verse 7, the last phrase says that “it will be light.” The first part of the chapter speaks of Christ returning to earth and standing on the Mount of Olives. The last part of the chapter tells of the nations coming, “from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles” (Zech. 14:16).
Joel presents a similar scene: “the sun and moon will grow dark, and the stars will diminish their brightness” (Joel 3:15). However, in verses 17-21, the picture is much different, as he speaks of results that take place after the return of Christ to the earth. Joel presents a time when Jerusalem will be holy, and the Lord will dwell there.
A DAY WITHIN A DAY
The term the Day of the Lord is also used in a narrower and more defined way to speak of the day when Christ returns to earth. This particular day will fall within the broader Day of the Lord. It comes at the very end of the Tribulation period. This is the day that Joel 2:31 presents: “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord.” Malachi 4:5 uses the same phrase in Hebrew as Joel: “the great and dreadful day of the Lord.”
The time leading up to this particular day will be characterized by moral and spiritual darkness. The restraining influence of the Holy Spirit and the effect of the Church as a moral restraint will be removed. Without this restraint, the mystery of iniquity will develop unchecked. The world will live in defiance of God. In the words of Psalm 2:3, they will say, “Let us cast away their cords from us.” Revelation 9:21 says that even while experiencing God’s wrath, mankind will “not repent of their murders, or their sorceries, or their sexual immorality or their thefts.”
Revelation chapters 6 to 18 record the events of the tribulation up to the return of Christ as seen in chapter 19. From man’s point of view, the whole period is pictured as a time of trouble. From the divine point of view, it is a time of judgment. Prophetically, the imagery of a woman in labor and the associated birth pangs is used to describe the increasing intensity of events in this period. An illustration of this can be found in Jeremiah 30:6-7: “…like a woman in labor, and all faces turned pale? Alas for the day is great, so there is none like it; and it is the time of Jacob’s trouble.” The Lord Jesus used similar imagery in Matthew 24:8 when referring to the “beginning of sorrows,” which is, literally, “birth pangs.” The culmination of this travail will be the return of Christ in judgment.
A TASTE OF DARKNESS
In the Tribulation period, there are two notable precursors to the final darkness. In Revelation 8, under the fourth trumpet, there will be a partial darkening of the heavens. One third of the sun, moon, and stars will be darkened. This will cut daylight by one third and will make the nights much darker. The second precursor comes as a result of the pouring out of the fifth bowl in Revelation 16. This darkness seems to be reminiscent of what Egypt experienced under the ninth plague: a darkness that shut out all light. That darkness was selective in that it only touched Egypt and left the Jews with light. In this future day, it is only the kingdom of the beast that will be darkened, as it will be “full of darkness.” Associated with this darkness will be physical affliction in the form of pain and sores, yet men will not repent of their deeds.
In contrast to these two scenes of partial darkness, the Day of the Lord, used in a narrower sense, will be characterized by total darkness. The progression of events that are associated with the revelation of Jesus Christ is given in Joel 3. The nations are called to prepare for war and to come to Israel to do battle. They are to beat their plowshares into swords and their pruning hooks into spears. God summons these armies to appear in the Valley of Jehoshaphat. It is the time of judgment for “their wickedness is great.” When these massive armies assemble, the place is called the valley of decision (concision). The Day of the Lord will be near at hand.
It is at that time that “the sun and the moon will grow dark, and the stars will diminish their brightness” (Joel 3:15). This prepares the scene for the final battle, generally referred to as the battle of Armageddon. This gathering of the nations and the surrounding darkness will set the stage for the return of Christ to earth, the revelation of Jesus Christ. It is then that “the Lord will roar from Zion and utter His voice from Jerusalem, the heavens and the earth shall shake” (Joel 3:16).
This is the same scene which the Lord Jesus describes: “Immediately after the Tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken” (Mt. 24:29). It is against this black backdrop that the Lord Jesus will appear in the blaze of His glory. “For as the lightening comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be” (Mt. 24:27). In verse 30, He is seen “coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”
God covered the earth with darkness 2000 years ago when the Lord Jesus hung on the cross, being judged for our sins. As the Sin-bearer, He suffered; as the Lamb of God, He died for the sin of the world. To those of us who accept Him as Lord and Savior, there is no condemnation. All who are in Christ have passed from darkness to light. However, there will be a day of judgment for a world that still proclaims that it will not have Him to reign over it, that continues to say, “Away with Him!”
The darkness of that coming day will be but a foretaste of the eternal destiny of the false prophet, the beast, and his armies. All of those gathered in defiance of Christ will end up in that place of outer darkness. It is a place characterized by the complete absence of light. Contrast that with our destiny: “and there shall be no night there” (Rev. 22:5), “the glory of God illuminated it, and the Lamb is its light” (Rev. 21:23).
Uplook Magazine, September 2012
Written by Gary McBride