Wednesday, January 1
The Day of the Lord
EVIDENCE
Key Text: Joel 1:15
The theme of the day of the
Lord goes back to the early days
of Israel in Palestine and origi-
nated in the concept of the holy
war. In the holy war Israel’s God
fought on the side of His people
as a divine warrior. Dr. Hans K.
LaRondelle traces this biblical
theme in his Chariots of Salva-
tion: The Biblical Drama of
Armageddon (Washington, D.C.:
Review and Herald Publishing As-
sociation, 1987).
Unfortunately, God’s people
began to take the divine promise
as an automatic guarantee of
their safety, no matter what they
did. Thus God, through His
prophets, had to turn the day of
the Lord on its head. Instead of a
promise of hope, it became a
threat against God’s people.
Amos warned the northern king-
dom of Israel that they should not
long for the day of the Lord as in
the past, but should fear it because
it was “darkness, and not light”
(Amos 5:18). It was “very dark, and
no brightness in it” (verse 20). The
judgment would no longer be just
upon the nations, but also upon Is-
rael herself.
Zephaniah told his people to be
silent, for the day of the Lord was
at hand (see Zeph. 1:7). Instead of
something for them to anticipate
with joy, it would be for them “a
day of wrath, a day of trouble and
distress” (verse 15) because the
Lord would turn against Judah
(see verse 4).
Joel speaks of the day of the
Lord in two ways. He portrays it
as a time of doom and destruction
for Israel’s enemies and deliver-
ance for Israel. Yet at the same
time he declares it to also be an
occasion of destruction for those
in Israel who have hardened their
hearts against Him.
The day of the Lord is always
a positive event to those who obey
and a negative one to those who
rebel.
by Gerald Wheeler
Gerald Wheeler is editor of Winner magazine at the Review and Herald
Publishing Association, Hagerstown, Maryland.