The Day of the Lord by Mary A. Martin

California Conference of Seventh-day Adventists · Oakland, Cal. · Jan 28, 1875

The Day of the Lord.

By Mary A. Martin

We read in holy writ that there is a day coming that is to "try every man's work of what sort it is." The apostles and prophets have spoken of it many times, and generally call it "the great and terrible day of the Lord." When will it come, and how long will it last, are questions not so easily answered. The Saviour said, "This generation" should not pass till all these things be fulfilled. "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away." So the commencement of the day of the Lord is included in his language.

Says Paul, "For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, and they shall not escape." The peace and safety cry has been going forth for years in the popular pulpits of the day, ministers preaching that the world is going to be converted before the end, and so on, contradicting the inspired word that tells us that iniquity shall abound and "the love of many wax cold," showing that professed Christians become unconverted about as fast as sinners are being brought to obey the gospel. Our Saviour says the wheat and the tares will "grow together until the harvest." Then they shall be separated; the good shall be "garnered home," but the bad shall be bound in bundles to be burned.

Isaiah tells us something about our subject. He says, "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." Isaiah 2:11, 12. Please finish out the chapter; it tells how they will cast their idols of gold and silver to the moles and bats, for it will not be able to deliver them in that day; and more, they will try to hide themselves in the clefts of the rocks, and in 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. Alas, for the day! for the day of the Lord is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.

Is the day of the Lord to come upon us without any warning? It would seem not; for says Joel, "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." He pictures it out as being a very dark and gloomy time, a time when all faces shall gather blackness. He says, "Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision, for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision." Joel 3:14. Surely we are in the valley of which he speaks, and the great deciding time is at hand. But, oh! how few are deciding to fear God and keep his commandments and the faith of Jesus. This will be the only shield in that day.

"The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble," and "He knoweth them that put their trust in him." We have the assurance that every one will be delivered whose names are found written in the book of life. Michael the great Prince will deliver the righteous that have made him the Rock of their salvation. Brethren, "ye are not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief." Who are the brethren here spoken of? Surely, they that take heed to the sure word of prophecy, which, Peter says, is as a light shining in a dark place, and by which we can tell where in the world's history we are living. For the day of the Lord is introduced by the day of vengeance which will last one year, even the year after the close of probationary time, when the seven last plagues will cut off the wicked from the face of the earth, and the fowls of the air be called to feast on them, for the Lord has said so, and "God is not man that he should lie, nor the son of man that he should repent."

The good Saviour has given his church a most solemn warning concerning these times in these few words, "And take heed to yourselves lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares, for as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man." Oh! let us be thankful if we are the children of light and not the children of darkness. What excuse will we have if we are not prepared for that day? It is high time to awake out of sleep.

Mary A. Martin.