THE DAY OF THE LORD by Samuel T. Spear

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Mar 26, 1896

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 22, No. 13.

THE DAY OF THE LORD.

By Samuel T. Spear

It seems that the Thessalonians received the impression that the second coming of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, and the end of the world, were events then near at hand. The apostle, in his second epistle to this church, corrects this impression, and exhorts these Christians not to be “soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.” He adds that this day will not come until after the occurrence of certain events which he predicts. Eighteen centuries have since rolled away, and that day is still future. It will, however, come, and then what the Bible says on this subject will be fulfilled. Christ’s coming to raise the dead and judge the world, as set forth in the word of God, is not uncertain, because it has not yet occurred.

Peter, in his second epistle, speaks of scoffers as appearing in the “last days,” as walking after their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.” His answer to these scoffers is in these words: “But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 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.”

This “day of the Lord” mentioned by Peter is the period mentioned by Christ himself, when he “shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him,” and when “all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.” The second coming of Christ is no fable. The resurrection of the dead, both of “the just and the unjust,” at his coming is no fable. The judgment of the world by him is no fable. The dissolution of the present earthly system is no fable. All these great events have their date in what Peter calls “the day of the Lord,” which “will come as a thief in the night.”

That “day” is in the plan of God as a part of the history of the world. He has so declared in his word, and so it will be. We shall be in existence when that “day” comes, and all share in its events. Happy will it be for us if God in Christ shall then recognize

us as “heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.” This will make it to us a day of great joy, glory, and honor. Inconceivably ill will it be with us if our character on earth shall then consign us to the “perdition of ungodly men.” May God, by his all-sufficient grace, cause our names to be “written in the Lamb’s book of life,” and secure to us that “holy conversation and godliness” referred to by Peter, that will prepare us for “the day of the Lord,” whether it greets us as the risen dead, or those who are to be “changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump.”—Samuel T. Spear, D.D.