Non-Day-of-the-Lord-Days-of-the-Lord
Read the following quotations about the day of the Lord.
“…To destroy the whole land.”
“…For the stars of heaven and their constellations Will not give their light; The sun will be darkened in its going forth, And the moon will not cause its light to shine…”
“…shake the heavens…”
“…the earth will move out of her place…”
Did you know that all of these things come from Isaiah 13 which is about the fall of Babylon in 5th century BC?
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What do you think of when you picture the day of the Lord? It may be that you picture a scene where Jesus is in the sky and millions upon millions of people go up to meet Him. Perhaps you think about a time when all of the righteous will vanish off the earth. Some may think of a time when the earth and all that is in it is burned up after all of the dead are raised out of their tombs and those that were turned into ashes are put back together. It may be that you think of everyone who ever has lived or ever will live standing before a huge throne in the sky with books opened up and everyone judged. When we look at the Bible, however, we find many “days of the Lord” that aren’t depictions of the earth-shattering event that so many often picture in their minds. The purpose of this article is to show forth some of those days, analyze the language that accompanies some of them, and discuss why God would use language in the way that He did to describe the overthrow of a nation.
Ancient Babylon
One of the more “colorful” chapters concerning the fall of a nation in the Old Testament is Isaiah 13 and 14 where Isaiah depicts the fall of the ancient empire Babylon. Perhaps one the reasons why such strong language was used to depict their fall is because of their hand in destroying Jerusalem and because they were one of the mightiest nations to ever exist outside of God’s kingdom. Daniel said, “You, O king, are a king of kings. For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory; and wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven, He has given them into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all – you are this head of gold. But after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours; then another, a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth…” (Daniel 2:37-39, emp. added). The nation that would rise up against Babylon would be the Medes who were led by Cyrus. Isaiah prophesied about them in Isaiah 13:17, but he mentioned Cyrus by name in Isaiah 44:28 and Isaiah 45:1. Babylon fell seventy years after they destroyed the temple in Jerusalem. Isaiah called the fall of Babylon “the day of the Lord” in Isaiah 13:6 and Isaiah 13:9. For time’s sake, we will only notice chapter 13 of Isaiah. You can read the chapter yourself, or read the following verses.
“The burden against Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw” (Isaiah 13:1, emp. added).
“The noise of a multitude in the mountains, Like that of many people! A tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together! The LORD of hosts musters The army for battle. They come from a far country, From the end of heaven—The LORD and His weapons of indignation, To destroy the whole land. Wail, for the day of the LORD is at hand! It will come as destruction from the Almighty” (Isaiah 13:4-6, emp. added).
“And they will be afraid. Pangs and sorrows will take hold of them; They will be in pain as a woman in childbirth; They will be amazed at one another; Their faces will be like flames. Behold, the day of the LORD comes, Cruel, with both wrath and fierce anger, To lay the land desolate; And He will destroy its sinners from it. For the stars of heaven and their constellations Will not give their light; The sun will be darkened in its going forth, And the moon will not cause its light to shine” (Isa 13:8-10, emp. added).
“Therefore I will shake the heavens, And the earth will move out of her place, In the wrath of the LORD of hosts And in the day of His fierce anger” (Isaiah 13:13, emp. added).
"Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, Who will not regard silver; And as for gold, they will not delight in it. Also their bows will dash the young men to pieces, And they will have no pity on the fruit of the womb; Their eye will not spare children. And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, The beauty of the Chaldeans' pride, Will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah” (Isaiah 13:17-19, emp. added).
In the Old Testament prophets, God used very dramatic language to describe the fall of various nations. Imagery such as “the sun being darkened” and “the earth moving out of its place” are all used to described the destruction of a prominent nation or city. God used this language in order to show forth His power and His wrath on nations that would not do right in His sight. The readers of the Hebrews scriptures knew to not take this language literally because they understood that prophecy was often written using a type of poetic language – in some cases called “apocalyptic language” (which is not to be taken as woodenly literal). No individual looks back on the events surrounding the fall of Babylon and thinks, “Well, God was wrong because the earth is still here, and He said it would be moved out of its place.” Nobody says that because they understand the nature of prophetic language.
The dimming of stars and darkening of the sun are concerning the crushing of the glory of the kingdom. The shaking of heavens has to do with the changing out of the government and ruling structure of the time. The power shifted (though it was always with God) from the Babylonians to the Medes on that fateful night recorded in Daniel 5.
This “day of the Lord” was not the second coming of Christ prophesied about in other places in the Old Testament and in the New Testament as well. Instead, it was concerning the fall of Ancient Babylon.
Egypt
The destruction of Egypt was likewise called a day of the Lord in Jeremiah 46:10 and it is included in Ezekiel 30:2. Isaiah, although he did not use the phrase “day of the Lord,” prophesied about Egypt’s fall as well in Isaiah 19:1 where he said, “The burden against Egypt. Behold, the LORD rides on a swift cloud, And will come into Egypt; The idols of Egypt will totter at His presence, And the heart of Egypt will melt in its midst” (Isaiah 19:1).
Again, no one looks back to these events and challenges that these events didn’t actually take place because God didn’t literally ride on a fast-moving stratus cloud. Instead, God used the Babylonians, and even unrest among the Egyptians, to destroy that wicked nation (Isaiah 19:2; Jeremiah 46:2). Hear what Jeremiah recorded: “Come up, O horses, and rage, O chariots! And let the mighty men come forth: The Ethiopians and the Libyans who handle the shield, And the Lydians who handle and bend the bow. For this is the day of the Lord GOD of hosts, A day of vengeance, That He may avenge Himself on His adversaries. The sword shall devour; It shall be satiated and made drunk with their blood; For the Lord GOD of hosts has a sacrifice In the north country by the River Euphrates” (Jeremiah 46:9-10). Ezekiel recorded, “For the day is near, Even the day of the LORD is near; It will be a day of clouds, the time of the Gentiles” (Ezekiel 30:3). The end result, as Ezekiel would say would be to, “…scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them throughout the countries. Then they shall know that I am the LORD.' " (Ezekiel 30:26).
How would they know that God was the true God? Would it be because they would see Him on the cloud, or would it be because He, in His foreknowledge, pronounced judgement on them and fulfilled that judgement through a nation that He chose?
Jerusalem (5th Century BC)
Jerusalem fell in the 5th century at the hands of the Babylonians and was later rebuilt after Babylon’s fall. Just as we have seen in our other examples, the destruction of Jerusalem was described with very similar language and was also called a “day of the Lord” in Lamentations 2:22; Joel 2:1; and Zephaniah 1:7, 8, 14, 18; 2:2, 3. Perhaps the more extravagant of these prophecies is found in Joel 2.
“Blow the trumpet in Zion, And sound an alarm in My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; For the day of the LORD is coming, For it is at hand: A day of darkness and gloominess, A day of clouds and thick darkness, Like the morning clouds spread over the mountains. A people come, great and strong, The like of whom has never been; Nor will there ever be any such after them, Even for many successive generations. A fire devours before them, And behind them a flame burns; The land is like the Garden of Eden before them, And behind them a desolate wilderness; Surely nothing shall escape them. Their appearance is like the appearance of horses; And like swift steeds, so they run. With a noise like chariots Over mountaintops they leap, Like the noise of a flaming fire that devours the stubble, Like a strong people set in battle array. Before them the people writhe in pain; All faces are drained of color. They run like mighty men, They climb the wall like men of war; Every one marches in formation, And they do not break ranks. They do not push one another; Every one marches in his own column. Though they lunge between the weapons, They are not cut down. They run to and fro in the city, They run on the wall; They climb into the houses, They enter at the windows like a thief. The earth quakes before them, The heavens tremble; The sun and moon grow dark, And the stars diminish their brightness” (Joel 2:1-10).
Once more we ask, did people scoff at Joel and say, “We know Joel was a false prophet because none of the Babylonians came leaping over tall mountains like Superman!” They didn’t, and if they did they would have been wrong in doing so because we know that God had His prophets use very impressive imagery to convey His divine judgement upon a nation.
Pertinent Themes
This section is simply a list of language that was used in the sections we looked at that will be useful for when we draw our conclusion in the next part. It will be useful for you to read these again and remember the context in which they were in.
“…To destroy the whole land.”
“…They will be in pain as a woman in childbirth…”
“…For the stars of heaven and their constellations Will not give their light; The sun will be darkened in its going forth, And the moon will not cause its light to shine…”
“…shake the heavens…”
“…the earth will move out of her place…”
“…The burden against Egypt. Behold, the LORD rides on a swift cloud…”
“…And the heart of Egypt will melt in its midst…”
“…A day of vengeance…”
“…the time of the Gentiles…”
“…Then they shall know that I am the LORD…”
“…The earth quakes before them…”
“…The heavens tremble…”
My Point
We see that God often used very strong language to describe the fall of a nation that sinned against Him. Here’s a question for you: If God used such strong language to describe the destruction of nations such as Babylon and Egypt, shouldn’t we expect similar, if not stronger, language to describe the complete destruction of the people that God worked through for hundreds upon hundreds of years? In fact, just as a sample, notice how the themes above are also employed to describe the day of the Lord at the overthrow of Judaism in AD70.
“…To destroy the whole land.” (II Peter 3:10)
“…They will be in pain as a woman in childbirth…” (I Thessalonians 5:3)
“…For the stars of heaven and their constellations Will not give their light; The sun will be darkened in its going forth, And the moon will not cause its light to shine…” (Matthew 24:29; Acts 2:19-20; Revelation 6:12-17)
“…shake the heavens…” (Hebrews 12:25-29)
“…the earth will move out of her place…” (Revelation 21:1)
“…The burden against Egypt. Behold, the LORD rides on a swift cloud…” (Matthew 24:29-31; Matthew 26:64; Acts 1:11; I Thessalonians 4:15-17)
“…And the heart of Egypt will melt in its midst…” (Luke 21:26)
“…A day of vengeance…” (Luke 21:22)
“…the time of the Gentiles…” (Luke 21:24)
“…Then they shall know that I am the LORD…” (Romans 9:22)
Some may object, “Well, similar language does not mean that the events are the same.” I agree! The coming of the Lord to destroy Egypt in Isaiah 19:1 is not the same coming of the Lord on the clouds to avenge the martyrs in AD70. However, the way in which the language was used is the same. How would people who grew up hearing texts like Isaiah 19 and Isaiah 13 react to what Jesus and the apostles said? They would expect God to use language consistently. If God could use similar language in the Old Testament, fulfill it figuratively, and still be truthful, why couldn’t Jesus do the same?
In fact, Jesus said that His coming would be likened unto the days of the Lord that God had performed in the Old Testament times. “For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom” (Mat 16:27-28, emp. added). How did God make His glory known? By prophesying about the fall of a nation and by then destroying that sinful nation. That is how the Egyptians, for instance, would know that He is Lord. Jesus’s second coming would be in the glory of His Father to show the Jews that truly He is the Messiah that they rejected. Jesus also said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner” (John 5:19). Jesus’s working would be like His Father’s working. Why should we expect Jesus to manifest Himself in a different way then God did throughout the Old Covenant times?
I’ll admit, it is awfully hard to look at the Bible without our Hellenistic glasses on, but we must put ourselves in the first century audience’s shoes and ask, “Was Jesus being serious when He said that He would return in the generation in which He was living?” I believe it! Do you?
In the next article, we will focus more on the nature of the second coming of Christ at the fall of Jerusalem in AD70.