Future Days

As students of the Bible we all look forward to the forth-coming Days. 'The Day of the Lord', the 'Day of Christ' and the 'Day of God'.

There are many expressions "Day of the Lord" throughout our Bible. In the OT, Obadiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel Joel and Amos all indicate various aspect of "The Day". It is clear it can be a time of destruction or blessing dependant on one's faith in God. In Amos, for example, "The Day" is to be "longed for" by the righteous. The message then, is that its coming is inevitable. But when? Once we turn to the NT we find an "updated" version, as it were. It sheds new light on the "Day of the Lord" by expanding the period to include judgment before and subsequent to the return of our Lord. From this we conclude that "The Day of the Lord" has a broad meaning ‑ a period of time longer than 24 hours.

The present age, which commenced with the coming of the Holy Spirit, will end with its removal from the world at the time when the Lord Jesus Christ will personally come down from heaven, the dead in Christ will be raised up and together with the living Saints be caught up to meet Him in the air ‑ never again to be separated from Him or from each other. All members of the Church, the body of Christ, will be caught up in this way. It is, of course, most vividly described, in one of our favourite passages of Paul writing to the Thessalonian Church. (1Thess 4:13‑5:10).

Later, the Thessalonian brethren it seems had 'jumped the gun' and assumed the day had already come, so Paul wrote them another letter: "Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, report or letter supposed to have come from us, saying that the day of the Lord has already come. Don't let anyone deceive you in any way…. until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed". (2 Thess 2:1‑3).

Look more closely at the opening sentence: "Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him". This is the most wonderful and encouraging promise to which we all look forward. Now look what Paul calls this in the same sentence: "as though the Day of Christ had come". More modern translations render this as "The Day of the Lord". Thus we see "Our gathering together" begins the time period of "The Day of the Lord". It is like 12 o'clock Midnight. It both ends the day that is 'the Church age' and begins the next ‑ "The Day of the Lord". Notice it will come suddenly like "a thief in the night" and must be longer than 24 hours for the many events to take place.

Peter confirms this. Our reading: 2 Peter 3:10‑12 "But the Day of the Lord will come like a thief …. The heavens will disappear with a shrill noise … and the earth with everything in it will vanish. Since all these things will be destroyed. … what kind of people should you be? Your lives should be holy and dedicated … as you wait for the Day of God and do your best to make it come soon ‑ the Day when the heavens will burn up and be destroyed". Peter's prophecy is a big picture in a small package! He confirms Paul in that "The Day" comes suddenly. However, Peter goes straight to the culmination of "The Day of the Lord" which is at the end of the Millennium Kingdom on earth, the "Day of God" when there will be the new heavens and the new earth. So Peter helps us understand that the "Day of the Lord" extends to the "Day of God" and the coming of a new heavens and a new earth.

Finally, The Apostle John assists us further in our study. In Rev 20 we find the only verses specifically relating to the millennium. "1000 years" is mentioned in each of verses 2 to 7. They came …. and ruled as kings with Christ for a thousand years. …. they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and they will rule with him for a thousand years". They will sit with Him and act as the heaven-ordained Government of the Kingdom of God. This is the time when God makes all things new and wipes away the tears from every eye. Death, sorrow, crying and pain will be abolished. But when will this certain event come about?

To determine a date for these Days, we must study the calendar! The calendar provided by Daniel in his prophecy in Dan 9 is a masterpiece. It involves careful understanding of Lunar and Solar years and requires knowledge of both Biblical and historical facts. There is also a little mystery, as we are dealing with weeks ‑ or sevens, to be interpreted as years. Gabriel explained the meaning of this to Daniel after his dream. The calendar was to commence with the issuing of a command to free Daniel's people and restore the ruined city of Jerusalem. Artaxerxes, the king, gave this order to his cupbearer, Nehemiah in 445 BC. The 70 weeks were divided into 3 sections, 7 weeks (or 49 years), 62 weeks (434 years) and one week (of 7 years). Jerusalem was rebuilt in the first period. (Not without trouble if you read the detail in the book of Nehemiah!) The second 434 years ran from the expiration of the first 49 years "unto the anointed one ‑ the Messiah ‑ the Prince". Then, as Daniel so abruptly puts it in the King James: "Messiah shall be cut off". The crucifixion of our Lord and Saviour happened, as we well know, followed by "the destruction of the city and Temple by the invading army of a powerful ruler" ‑ exactly as prophesied, by the Roman army in AD 70. This concluded the 69^th week.

But what of the 70^th week? Has it begun? Did it follow on? Has there been any sign of a seven-year treaty as Daniel prophesied? Not to our knowledge. The 70^thweek has not begun ‑ The Prince, The Ruler, the Awful Horror or Man of Lawlessness of Dan 9:27 has not yet appeared on the World stage. We are in a sort of parenthesis which, so far, has lasted almost 2 millennia. Daniel gave a hint of this parenthesis when he placed events between the 69^th and 70^th week 'until the end' of the age. It is only after the words 'until the end' that he introduces the last week of 7 years.

So we must be patient and maintain our faith and hope until Daniel's 70^th week is imminent and those final 7 years will be brought about.

Our final point: In our Bible Study Group some time ago, we read the following ‑ again from Daniel: "Daniel, close up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end. Many will go here and there to increase knowledge." (Dan 12:4. NIV). Increase knowledge … Just think how much knowledge has advanced in our lifetime! … Medicine … planes … TV … mobile phones … computers ‑ everything digital, to name just a few. Science confirms we are surely at the "end times". The "end time" ‑ the day ‑ the day when we are closer to the return of Jesus Christ.

The present day too is a day which the Lord has made. "This day" now! …. "we will rejoice" Do we? Do we thank our Heavenly Father for all that we enjoy ‑ our homes - our families and friends ‑ and the freedom we have to gather together and worship the God we love, in peace and tranquility? However most of all, we are grateful for the promise of those wonderful days that lie ahead.

The Psalmist wrote: "Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy; they will sing before the LORD". (Psa 96:11. KJV).

DSS