The Day of the Lord- part two

In my last article (The day of the Lord- part one) we saw how 1 Thessalonians 5 and Isaiah 13 mention not only “the day of the Lord” but a woman travailing in pain to give birth, so clearly these scriptures are linked.

Isaiah 13 also describes the sun, moon and stars being darkened which is important to note.

We looked at Malachi 4, which says that "Elijah" would come before the “great and dreadful day of the Lord” that would “burn as an oven” and we saw the fulfilment of Malachi's prophesy in Matthew 11, where Jesus identified John the Baptist as Elijah.

In Matthew 3 John the Baptist spoke to the pharisees and sadducees in the spirit of Elijah, warning them to “bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance” in order to “flee from the wrath to come”. He said that unfruitful tree would be “cast into the fire”.

In Matthew 21 Christ cursed the unfruitful fig tree and went on to share a parable in which those left in charge of a vineyard, beat, stoned and slew not only the servants but the son of the vineyard owner. 

Jesus finished this parable by saying, directly to the chief priests and Pharisees, “the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof”.

Matthew 22 and 23 continue in a similar vein. The Jews are clearly identified as the ones stoning and killing not only Gods servants but God own son and for that, their city would be “burned up” and their house left “desolate”.

This all flows into Matthew 24 where Jesus prophesied the Jewish temple being “thrown down”.

Also in Matthew 24 we see the SAME cosmological language used in Isaiah 13 that is associated with “the day of the Lord”, AFTER which Jesus said “this generation shall not pass till ALL these things be fulfilled”, suggesting that the “great and dreadful day of the Lord” that would “burn as an oven”, the “sudden destruction” as “travail upon a woman with child”, would happen to the JEWS of THAT GENERATION. 

So how long is a generation? 

A generation is how long it takes a person to replace themselves. For example, if they had a child at twenty, in another twenty years that child would be ready to have a child, thus one generation is about forty years.

Psalm 95

10 Forty years long was I grieved with this generation...

Numbers 32

13...forty years...all this generation...

The number forty is mentioned throughout the bible. Jesus fasted for forty days in the wilderness, also the Israelites wandered for forty years before reaching Canaan land. 

Deuteronomy 8:2

…the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.

Thus the number forty represents a period of testing.

The period from Christ’s death to the destruction of the Jewish temple was about forty years, one generation! 

That’s how long the Jewish nation were given to "bring forth fruits...meet for repentance" before the kingdom of God would be "taken" from them and "given" to a nation bringing forth fruit.

This image is from the Arch of Titus in Rome. It provides archeological proof of the destruction of the temple by Roman soldiers in 70AD. 

Matthew 24:37 mentions the …days of Noah…

What happened in the days of Noah? God wanted to destroy all the people on the earth but he WAITED until Noah had prepared the ark.

1 Peter 3:20…the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing…

2 Peter 3: 6&9

Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished.

The Lord is not slack…but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

Once everyone who was meant to be in the ark was in it, God SHUT the door, meaning time was up for those who’d refused to repent.

Genesis 7:16

And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded -- him: and the LORD shut him in.

In Matthew 25 we have a curious story of ten virgins waiting for their bridegroom to come. Five of those virgins had run out of oil thus were unable to enter the bride chamber in time. The door was “shut” to them.

Matthew 25

10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was SHUT.

11-- Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.

12 But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.

At the destruction of the temple in 70AD, time was up for the Jewish nation. The door was ‘shut” to them in the sense that the kingdom of God was permanently taken from them.

After the olivet discourse, ending in Matthew 25, the pharisees began plotting to kill Jesus (Matthew 26:1-3).

Why? Because they “perceived that he spake of THEM” (Matt. 21:45) and their beloved temple being destroyed. 

He dared to prophesy God’s judgement, the day of the Lord, coming upon THEM.

The gospel of Matthew goes on to describe Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection, which rolls straight on to the book of Acts, where we see the Holy Spirit poured out at Pentecost. 

When Peter, full of the Spirit, descended from the upper room to preach the gospel, he quoted the prophet Joel.

Acts 2

16 But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;

17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh…20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:

21 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

22 Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:

23 Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:

37 Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?

Notice that Peter addressed “men of Israel” and told them that they were responsible for Christ’s crucifixion, to which they replied “what shall we do”. 

These “men of Israel” were eager to avoid God’s judgement, which would indicate that the “great and notable day of the Lord” as prophesied by Joel, was to happen in THAT generation.

Just as John the Baptist had told the chief priests and pharisees to “bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance”, Peter told these “men of Israel” to…

38 …Repent and be baptised…

Once again take note of the cosmological language used in Acts 2

20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come

Similar to that in Matthew 24 where Jesus prophesied the destruction of the temple.

29 …shall the sun be darkened and the moon shall not give her light…

And Isaiah 13

10…the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.

Which I showed you earlier, is linked to 1 Thessalonians 5.

All these portions of scripture are linked! They are all speaking of “the day of the Lord”!

Let’s examine 1 Thessalonians 5 once more.

1 Thess. 5

2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.

3 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.

Now let’s continue to the first chapter of Paul’s 2nd epistle to the Thessalonians, which sheds light on 1 Thessalonians 5.

2 Thess. 1

6 Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble YOU;

And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,

In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:

Who was troubling the Thessalonians? We find the answer in Acts.

Acts 17

1…they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews:

2 And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures…

4 And some of them believed…

5 But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy…

6…drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also;

7 Whom Jason hath received: and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus.

Unbelieving JEWS brought the Thessalonians before the rulers of the city and accused them of having treasonous ideas, causing a wave of persecution to come upon them.

It was unbelieving JEWS that were troubling the Thessalonians thus Paul comforted them by saying that God would “recompense tribulation to THEM that trouble YOU…in flaming fire taking vengeance”

He was speaking of the “day of the Lord”, the destruction of the temple, the end of the Jewish age!

In part 3 we will venture into the book of Revelation, yet another place where the cosmological language associated with the day of the Lord is used. 

I will also address 2 Peter 3 which, for many, is proof that the day of the Lord will happen at the literal end of the world, so let’s be Bereans and search the scriptures to see if the things we believe are really so.