The Day of the Lord

(A)

The day of the Lord – the concept in the Bible connotes gloom and darkness – there is still a brighter ring eschatologically of the new heavens and the new earth.

At the very beginning, there was an expectation of a coming redeemer who would bruise or crush the head of the serpent (Gen. 315). As time went on, there was a growing enrichment of eschatological expectation. The various items of this expectation were certainly not all held at once, and they assumed various forms at various times (and epochs). As stated before, the Old Testament prophets intermingled items relating to the first coming of Christ with items relating to Christ’s second coming (refer ‘prophetic perspective’). Not until the New Testament times would it be revealed that what was thought of in Old Testament days as the coming of the Messiah would be fulfilled in two stages: a first and second coming.

Nonetheless, the faith of the Old Testament believer was eschatological through and through. He looked forward to God’s intervention in history, both in the near future and in the distant future. It was this forward-looking faith which gave the Old Testament believer courage to run the race that was set before him (refer Hebrews 11; also the faithfulness of saints in Malachi, and other times in the OT).
The NT and the OT have a strong forward look. There is a deep conviction that the redemptive workings of the Holy Spirit which are now experienced are but the prelude to a far richer and more complete redemption in the future, and the era which as been ushered in by the first coming of Jesus Christ will be followed by another era which will be more glorious.
In other words, we, the believers in the New Testament era, should be conscious of the fact that, on the one hand, the great eschatological event predicted in the Old Testament has already happened, while on the other hand, realise that another momentous series of eschatological events is still to come, culminating with the second coming of Jesus Christ and the new heavens and the new earth (what is known as the tension of the “already and not yet”).

The first coming of Christ is the guarantee and pledge of the certainty of Christ’s second coming. God’s victory in the future is based on a victory already achieved in history. It proclaims not merely hope, but a hope based on events in history and its own experience.
The future is the unfolding and completion of that which exists in Christ and the Spirit and which will be carried through triumphantly in spite of sin, suffering, and death (see book of Revelation).

If we see all these clearly, then we would not be disputing with God like the people of God in Malachi’s time despite temporary or prolonged sufferings as His people. We should also not lose heart and lose hope when we know for certain God is true to His promise and He is faithful and perfect; He would bring all that is revealed and promised to pass!!

(B)

The Bible reveals that believers will go to heaven when they die. That they will be happy during the intermediate state between death and resurrection is clearly taught in Scripture (Luke 23: 42-43). But their happiness will be incomplete and provisional: they await the resurrection of the body and the new heaven and new earth.

The Bible assures us that God will create a new earth on which we shall live to God’s praise in glorified, resurrected bodies. On the new earth, we hope to spend eternity, enjoying its beauties, exploring its resources, and using its treasures to the glory of God. Since God will make the new earth His dwelling place, and since where God dwells, there heaven is, we shall then continue to be in heaven while we are on the new earth: for heaven and earth will then no longer be separated, as they are now, but will be one (Rev. 21:1-3).

The work of Christ is not just to save certain individuals, not even countless numbers of blood-bought people. The total work of Christ is nothing less than to redeem the entire creation from the effects of sin. That purpose will not be accomplished until God has ushered in the new earth, until Paradise Lost has become Paradise Regained (Rom. 8:18-25): God’s redemption plan is cosmic in dimensions and He will only be satisfied when the entire universe has been purged of all the results of man’s fall.

It is clear that cataclysmic events will accompany the destruction of the present earth – events which will constitute a divine judgment on this earth, with all its sin and imperfection. Some interpret this as total annihilation – however, there seems to be indications that it is the concept of renewal rather than annihilation; just as there will be both continuity and discontinuity between the present body and the resurrection body (1 Cor. 15:52-53), by way of analogy, we would expect the new earth will not be totally different from the present earth but will the present earth wonderfully renewed. If God would have to annihilate the present cosmos, Satan would have won a great victory, for he would have succeeded in so devastatingly corrupting the present cosmos and the present earth that God could do nothing with it but to blot it totally out of existence. But the reality is that Satan has been decisively defeated and God will reveal the full dimensions of that defeat when He shall renew this very earth on which Satan deceived mankind.

“Repent then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that time of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that He may send the Messiah, who has been appointed for you – even Jesus. Heaven must receive Him until the time comes for God to restore everything He tells you” (Acts 3:19-22).
The expression “restore everything” or “restoration of all things” (ASV) suggests that the return of Christ will be followed by the resurrection of all of God’s creation to its original perfection – thus pointing to the new earth.

The doctrine of the new earth should give us hope, courage, and optimism in a day of widespread despair today. Though evil is rampant in this world, it is comforting to know that Christ has won the final victory. Whereas ecologists often picture the future of this earth in gloomy terms, it is encouraging to know that some day God will prepare a glorious new earth in which the ecological problems which now plague us will no longer exist. This does not imply that we need do nothing about the current problems, but it does mean that we work for solutions to these problems, not with a feeling of despair, but in the confidence of hope.

The doctrine of perseverance of the saints is also another comforting teaching of Scripture. We learn from it that God by His power keeps His people from falling away from Him, that Christ will never permit anyone to snatch them out of His hand, and that the Holy Spirit seals them for the day of redemption. Our heavenly Father holds us securely in His grasp; that is our ultimate comfort in life and death. We rest finally not on our hold of God but on God’s hold of us!
Yet this doctrine also urges us to persevere in the faith – and this is our challenge. We can only persevere through God’s strength and by His grace. But to teach this doctrine in such a way as to present only its comfort and not its challenge, only the security and not the exhortation, is to teach it one-sidedly. And the Bible constantly warns us against such one-sidedness.
In 1 Cor. 13:5, Paul wrote: “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith, test yourselves”.
How can we know that we are in the faith? We can know this from our continuation in the life of faith, our perseverance, our standing firm to the end (Col. 1:23). We can be certain that we shall persevere to the end only because God has promised to enable us to do so. And we rest in Him, for time and eternity, knowing that He will never let us go.

In the meantime, we need fortitude (a combination of courage and endurance) and faith. Faith fosters fortitude by inducing purity of heart in those who are under pressure and suffering distress (but make sure we are not under distress because of our foolish ways and endeavours). Purity of heart wills one thing – that one thing being the command and glory of God (realise that the negative responses of anger, bitterness, and cries for personal revenge and justice do not glorify Him and are not in line with His command).
The purity of heart is advanced by the experience of suffering, for “the testing of your faith produces perseverance; let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:3-4).
Suffering as a Christian with the right response forges Christian character (just like gold is refined by fire). But sometimes we forget that the Refiner of the ‘fire’ is God.
“Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as His children. But what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined – and everyone undergoes discipline – then you are not legitimate children at all… Our parents discipline us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in His holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it” (Heb. 12:7-11).

Do not discount the fact that God may use people and circumstances to discipline us as His children; and oftentime, discipline may be exercised by God again and again because we have not learnt the lessons well and there is no real substantial progress towards holiness in our lives. We may react against the people and the circumstances; we may even react against God like the people in Malachi’s time; but be assured that the heavenly God loves us always and part of not letting us go is to apply the “fire of refining” in our lives.

(C)

The OTprophet Amos summarised the Day of the Lord in Amos 5:19-20, and in it we find some stark warnings relevant to the people of God in the OT as well as in the NT:
“Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! For what good is the day of the Lord to you? It will be darkness, and not light. It will be as though a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him, or as though he went into the house, leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light? Is it not very dark, with no brightness in it?”

Here the passage begins with “Woe” – it is an oracle of doom. We see here graphic images ‘painted’ by Amos that will befall those who have a false expectation regarding the day of the Lord.
Faithful believers could only yearn for the day of the Lord when God’s people will be vindicated, when justice will prevail, and evil will be destroyed. But the essential point should be the question, “Are we ready God’s people; are we truly those whom God would vindicate and approve on that Day?”

Hence the importance of being truly ‘born again’ and manifesting the fruit of the Spirit. It goes back to whether there was true conversion; was there regeneration accompanying repentance and faith in response to an accurate presentation of the gospel in the evangelism? Was union with Christ effected? Was there a relationship with Jesus Christ established that resulted in being made right with God and being justified?
The famous John Wesley went abroad as a missionary but soon realised that he did not have a genuine ‘conversion’ until his experience of being ‘born again’ at Aldergate. Martin Luther, as a monk, before the Reformation, confessed that he did everything he understood to be right with God, practicing penance, fasting, praying, to a point of almost dying physically – yet there was no peace with God until he understood salvation to be experienced by grace through faith in what God had done in Christ.

Countless so-called Christians attending worship service faithfully, undergoing baptism and communion service, and being involved in many Christian activities, may, to their dismay, find themselves among those who do not really know the Lord – for there was no real conversion, no regeneration and no authentic relationship with the Lord Jesus (Matt. 7:21-23). Those who are supposedly converted may not truly be ‘born again’. Those who are doubtful regarding the answers should take pains to ensure that they are truly believers. Otherwise, the irony that will befall them is not joy and vindication, but ‘darkness’ and judgment on the day of the Lord.

If God is to take vengeance on His enemies, what will He not do to the people that had become His greatest enemy, that had rejected Him not unknowingly but in the full light of knowledge?
The book of Hebrews sounds out similar warnings:
‘Today, if you hear HIs voice, do not harden your hearts’ (3:7-8).
‘See to it ..that none of you has a sinful unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God’ (3:12).
“It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance” (6:4-6).

Scripture reveals that God will separate the sheep from the goat and that the tares will be separated from the wheat. Many so-called believers are living their lives with the delusion that God approves of their lives even as they continue to rebel against Him and to live in a manner contrary to what God desires, and also leading others astray along the same path they are travelling to destruction.
Do not be like the people in Malachi’s time who arrogantly declared that ‘it is futile to serve God’.
Instead, “Seek the Lord, all you meek of the earth, who have upheld His justice. Seek righteousness, seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden in the day of the Lord’s anger.” (Zaph. 2:1-3).
Otherwise, “That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of devastation and distress, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness…..” (Zeph. 14-17). It is truly a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Indeed, how can we escape if we deny such a great salvation (offered in Christ Jesus)!