THE DAY OF THE LORD—ITS CHARACTER.
By M. C. W.
THERE is a prominence given in the Scriptures to the day of the Lord, second to no other period. The Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament repeatedly refer to that great day, and the New Testament is by no means silent on the subject. But as with all other important Bible subjects, there is a wide diversity of opinion in the Christian world in regard to the character, length, and scope of the great day of the Lord, as well as its relation to man. Where Satan cannot hide from the professed people of God the importance of a subject, he will divide their ranks concerning that subject. He will move upon men who have pet theories to support to connect those theories with the truth of God in such a way that, to the uninstructed, the truth seems to be dependent on the false theory, and it is accepted as truth; just as men persuade themselves that evil is good, in order that they may accomplish a certain purpose which seems good. The doctrine of the day of the Lord has suffered in this way. It has been made to do service to the temporal millennium theory and to the age-to-come doctrine. The theory has obtained that somehow the whole world is to be converted before Christ comes, or there is to be a new probation granted to men. The majority are to be saved someway. They do not see it accomplished here, therefore it must be in the day of the Lord. Thus they reason; and we would that it were true that the majority would be saved; but we cannot belie the words of our Saviour that few comparatively enter the way of life, many the way of destruction. We propose to show in a series of independent yet connected articles the character and length of the day of the Lord, as well as the principal events to occur in that day. What is the character of that day? is it a day of peace and safety and mercy? is it an accepted time, a day of salvation? It would seem that this must indeed be the case if it is true that in this day the great majority, at least, of the inhabitants of earth are to be converted. But it is not what we may believe, dear reader, that will decide this question. What does the Bible say? It is there alone that we learn that there is such a period, and it is evident that there alone we can learn its character. That it is not a day of peace, safety, and mercy to the inhabitants of earth, in which man may enter upon a new probation, is evident from the following considerations:— 1. It is nowhere represented in the Bible that a new probation will be given to man. No direct proof has ever been produced in support of the theory. The best arguments have been unwarranted inferences, sophistries, or appeals to man's selfish nature. On the other hand the word of Inspiration declares: "For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have succored thee; behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." 2 Cor. 6:2. "To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts." Heb. 3:7, 15; Ps. 95:7. 2. The positive testimony of the Bible concerning that great day. We have space for only a small portion of what is said in regard to the character of "that day." A part of the testimony of "the gospel prophet" is as follows:— "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 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. 13:6-9, 12, 13. There can be no mistaking this language. It is "the day of the Lord" that is referred to; the prophecy applies to that time when it is near at hand. It comes not as salvation, but "destruction." It will not cause joy, but fear and faintness; for that day shall be cruel both with wrath and fierce anger to lay the land desolate, and the sinners shall be destroyed. The world will be punished for evil, and the wicked for iniquity. The whole passage indicates the character of the day of the Lord in language too plain to be misunderstood. But it is said that this refers to the land of Israel which shall be made "desolate." And further, "the day of the Lord" does not always refer to the great day of God. While we would not contend for a moment that the prophecies of "the day of the Lord" had exclusive reference to the great day of God, that day is always included. The day of God's providential judgments upon lands and nations are only figures of the last final judgment, where the promised wrath will be poured out to the uttermost. The word translated "land" in Isa. 13:9 is erets, the same that is translated "world" in Ps. 22:27; Isa. 23:17; and Jer. 25:26; it is translated "earth" in Gen. 1:1, 2, 10, 11, 12, and in more than six hundred other places. That it refers to the earth in Isa. 13:9 is also evident from verse 11. The same day is referred to in Isa. 2:10-21, and chapter 24. Isaiah certainly represents the day of the Lord as a day of wrath; but let us hear the testimony of another prophet:— "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 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." Zeph. 1:14-18. The above language is much more terrible than that of Isaiah. It is so explicit, it is "the great day of the Lord." And how clearly is its character revealed by such terms as wrath, trouble, distress, wasteness, desolation, darkness, gloominess, and alarm! Those who have sinned shall be destroyed and no earthly ransom or power can save them; for "the whole land [earth, erets] shall be devoured," and "speedy riddance" will be made of all who dwell in the land [erets]. The earth-dwellers are the wicked. Luke 21:35. One more testimony in regard to the character of the day of the Lord, and that from the New Testament. "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." 2 Peter 3:10. In this passage the same character is given as in the prophets. It was given by the same Spirit. In that day, says the Lord, the atmospheric heavens will pass away, be rolled together like a scroll (Rev. 6:14), the earth shall be melted, and all marred by sin, burned up. In the seventh verse of the same chapter, Peter calls it the day of judgment and perdition (utter destruction) of ungodly men. Certainly this is sufficient to establish its character. All other testimony is in harmony with these quoted. They surely do not represent the day of the Lord as something to be desired by the inhabitants of earth. Yet it is to this that many are looking as a time of deliverance; but they will look for deliverance from earthly ills and will meet greater ills; they will look for peace and find tumult. In view of the scriptural testimony regarding the character of that day and these erroneous ideas now prevalent concerning it, we can realize the force of the scripture:— "Woe 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. In "that day," there is no hope for the sinner; and he who solaces himself with refuge then, will, like the one who seeks shelter in the house and support against its wall, find a greater evil than he fled from. Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation."