THE GREAT DAY OF THE LORD.
The Character of the Millennium on This Earth.
There is a period of a thousand years very clearly marked in the prophetic Word, during which time the saints will reign with Christ, and Satan will be bound. The most definite prophecy concerning this period is found in Rev. 20:1–6. There are two general views held as to this millennium by those who believe in Christ’s soon coming: (1) One class believe that the reign of Christ is personal, the 1,000 years literal, and the place of reign upon the earth. (2) Another class believe in the literality of the time and the reign of Christ, as clearly set forth in the prophetic Word, but they believe that the Bible teaches that that reign will be in heaven, in the New Jerusalem, and not on the earth. Which is the true view must be learned by a humble searching of God’s Word. What is designed in this article is to consider, so far as this earth is concerned, the character of “the day of the Lord,” of which the 1,000 years is a part, and the condition of the earth during that time. That the day of the Lord includes the 1,000 years of Rev. 20:1–6 will probably be disputed by no student of prophecy. There have been those who taught that the day of the Lord was identical with that 1,000 years; that the day was one millennium long, no more nor less. But it is sufficient to state here, what is so clearly taught in Rev. 20:1–6 and elsewhere in the Scriptures, that the beginning of the millennium is marked by the second coming of Christ, the first resurrection, and the binding of Satan, and it closes with the resurrection of the wicked dead, and the loosing of Satan. But the day of the Lord begins before Christ comes, and includes the time of the pouring out of the plagues. It continues after the 1,000 years, taking in the “little season” of Satan’s loosing, the destruction of the foes of God, and the cleansing of the earth from all evil. But the greater part of the time of the Lord is included in this millennium, to which so many are looking with hope and anticipation. It is expected that then, on this earth, men will beat their swords into plowshares, their spears into pruning-hooks, that wars will cease, that “society,” nations, and governments will be regenerated, and all will be ushered in by “Christian Citizenship,” and other reform methods now in vogue. In fact, with many the hope of the world lies in the day of the Lord, so soon to dawn upon us. But those who look for peace and happiness and prosperity on this earth during that period will be woefully disappointed. This is what the prophet says to that class:— “Wo unto you that desire the day of the Lord! to what end is it for you? the day of the Lord is darkness, and not light. As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light! even very dark, and no brightness in it?” Amos 5:18–20. The reason why it is wo is stated in the last verse; the day of the Lord upon this earth is such that it has no good in it for any one. He who hopes to flee from the evils now, represented by a lion, and find safety in the day of the Lord, will but find that he has turned from one evil to another, from a cruel lion to a crueler bear. He who looks to that day as a time of shelter, even as a man seeks his house, enters, leans on its wall for rest, and is bitten by a venomous serpent, will find destruction in the day of the Lord upon the earth. Here are a number of passages which reveal to us the character of the day of the Lord and hence the millennium on this earth:— “Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land [erets, earth] desolate; and he shall destroy the sinners3thereof 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 arrogance 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.” Isa. 13:9–13. “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.” Isa. 2:11, 12. “The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord; the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers. And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord; and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung. Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord’s wrath; but the whole land [erets, earth] shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy; for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land [erets, earth].” Zeph. 1:14–18. “For as a snare shall it [that day] come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.” Luke 21:35. “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?” 2 Peter 3:10–12. These are sufficient to show that, so far as this earth is concerned, the day of the Lord gives no promise of peace. It means fear, wrath, trouble, distress, gloominess, darkness, wasteness, desolation, and destruction. It is God’s great day of judgment. It is the culmination of the disease of sin in desolation and death. It is the earth desolate for a millennium, enjoying her sabbath, of which she had been deprived by sinful man, typified by the seventy years’ captivity until Palestine had enjoyed her sabbaths. It is God’s demonstration to the universe during that time of the blasting power of sin upon the fairest planet. Those who hope to usher in a millennium of peace and prosperity by human means, contrary to God’s law, while professing to enforce that law, will find the desolation they themselves have invited. “The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof [thus it is now]; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate.” Isa. 24:5, 6. The true servant of God will labor all he can to save men from the perils of that fearful day. He will proclaim the message, “Flee from the wrath to come.” His hope, his dwelling-place, will not be in a sin-cursed earth, but in the living Saviour, Jesus Christ. And in that day of desolation he will be hid in the eternal mansions. To that shelter, reader, God now invites you.