Limitless Word

The Day of the Lord

WEBKJVBSBESVNKJVNASBNLT

The thread of judgment and rescue that runs from the prophets to the return of Christ.

No theme gathers the prophets like "the day of the LORD" — a coming day when God acts decisively to judge evil and save his people. It thunders through Amos, Joel, Zephaniah, and Malachi; Jesus folds it into his own promise to return; Paul says it comes "like a thief in the night"; Peter sees the heavens dissolve and a new world dawn; and Revelation shows it consummated when the Rider on the white horse appears. Walk this trail and you watch the dim, fearful "day" of the prophets resolve into the bright return of the King.
  1. 1

    "Let the day of the LORD come"

    Amos 5:18

    ¶Woe to you who are longing for the day of the Lord, For what purpose will the day of the Lord be to you? It will be darkness and not light;

    Amos warns that the day many long for will be darkness, not light — judgment begins with God's own people.
  2. 2

    The sun turned to darkness

    Joel 2:31

    “The sun will be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.

    Joel paints the cosmic signs of the great and awesome day — and promises the Spirit poured out.
  3. 3

    A day of wrath and nearness

    Zephaniah 1:14

    ¶The great day of the Lord is near, Near and coming very quickly; Listen, the day of the Lord! In it the warrior cries out bitterly.

    Zephaniah: "The great day of the LORD is near" — a call to seek the LORD before it comes.
  4. 4

    The refiner's fire

    Malachi 4:1

    “For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff; and the day that is coming will set them ablaze,” says the Lord of armies, “so that it will leave them neither root nor branches.

    Malachi closes the Old Testament looking ahead to the burning day — and the sun of righteousness rising.
  5. 5

    Like a thief in the night

    1 Thessalonians 5:2

    For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord is coming just like a thief in the night.

    Paul: the day of the Lord comes suddenly; children of light stay awake and sober.
  6. 6

    The heavens will pass away

    2 Peter 3:10

    But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be discovered.

    Peter: the day comes, the elements dissolve, and we wait for new heavens and a new earth.
  7. 7

    The great day of their wrath

    Revelation 6:17

    for the great day of Their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

    Revelation opens the sixth seal — Joel's signs return as the day finally dawns.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org