Gleanings in First Thessalonians
Chapter 5
1Thess 5:2b
… the day of the Lord …
(please note I truncated verse 2, and denoted it with an “b”, just dealing with the middle part of that verse today.)
Part 1 (yes that implies that there will be at least one more part of “the day of the Lord” [DOTL] study.)
So we should know what the Bible refers to when it says “the day of the Lord”. This is a term that God started using in the Old Testament; we see it first in the canonical order showing up in Isaiah, up to Malachi, and then a few spots in the New Testament. So it is only mentioned in the Prophetic books (the Major and Minor Prophets, as it is so designated in ministry and theology classes), Acts, First Thessalonians and Second Peter (however, also note that these are the direct references of the phrase, once you look at the characteristics and attributes of this “day” you can see it is talked about in a multitude of other places, and once you start to peel that onion it can be very interesting and enlightening to your Bible understanding).
Let us learn what the Bible says about this “day”, i.e. the DOTL.
Isa 2:10-21
Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty.
The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.
For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low:
And upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan,
And upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up,
And upon every high tower, and upon every fenced wall,
And upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures.
And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.
And the idols he shall utterly abolish.
And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.
In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats;
To go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.
From this swath of verses we see that the DOTL is the day when:
the LORD alone shall be exalted; the proud and lofty is brought low; idols are abolished; the LORD will shake terribly the earth; men hide themselves.
Isa 13:6-13
Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:
And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.
The DOTL is a day that is:
Destruction from the Almighty; men will have pangs as a woman in travail; men shall be burnt up; wrath an fierce anger of the LORD; sinners destroyed; cosmic disturbances; darkness; the proud brought low; the heaven and earth shaken.
Jer 46:10
For this is the day of the Lord GOD of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries: and the sword shall devour, and it shall be satiate and made drunk with their blood: for the Lord GOD of hosts hath a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.
The DOTL is a day of vengeance; the sword is satiated and drunk with blood.
Eze 13:5
Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the LORD.
The DOTL is a day of battle; a time when Israel is to stand.
Eze 30:2-3
Son of man, prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Howl ye, Woe worth the day!
For the day is near, even the day of the LORD is near, a cloudy day; it shall be the time of the heathen.
The DOTL is a cloudy day; the time of the heathen (for their destruction)
Joel 1:14-20
Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the LORD your God, and cry unto the LORD,
Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.
Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God?
The seed is rotten under their clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered.
How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.
O LORD, to thee will I cry: for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the trees of the field.
The beasts of the field cry also unto thee: for the rivers of waters are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness.
The DOTL is as destruction from the Almighty; when it is at hand, there will be famine and starvation in the land of Israel.
Joel 2:1-11
Blow ye 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 cometh, for it is nigh at hand;
A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations.
A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run.
Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array.
Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness.
They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war; and they shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks:
Neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path: and when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded.
They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief.
The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining:
And the LORD shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?
The DOTL is a day of darkness, gloominess, of clouds, of thick darkness, as morning upon the mountains; with an advancement of an army (referred to as “his”, the LORD’s, army), a burning of the land (Israel); earthquaking, heavens shaking, sun and moon and stars darkened – very great and terrible, who can abide it?
Grace and Peace James
Better to be in “the day of salvation” (2Cor 6:2)
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