The Day of the Lord, also known as “the Last Day”, and “the Day of Christ”, is the day of judgment when the Lord God intervenes in history to judge the sins of Israel and the world through various acts and to restore the believers. God can do all this because he controls nature, wages war for his people, and interferes in human affairs. The Day of the Lord can refer to several different occasions, sometimes it means a certain day of judgment that has already happened and at other times it is a prophecy of a future Day of the Lord when God will finally judge all his enemies and establish a kingdom of peace in which he himself will reign as King over his people.
Bible Verses
“11The Lord utters his voice before his army, for his camp is exceedingly great; he who executes his word is powerful. For the day of the Lord is great and very awesome; who can endure it? 12“Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; 13and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.” (Joe 2:11–13)
“1“For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. 2But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.” (Mal 4:1–2)
“28“And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. 29Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit. 30“And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. 31The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.” (Joe 2:28–31)
“10But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. 11Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! 13But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” (2 Pe 3:10–13)
“9And the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day the Lord will be one and his name one.” (Zec 14:9)
Study Questions
- Is the Day of the Lord something positive or negative?
- How to prepare for the Day of the Lord?
- Do you know of any biblical example of a Day of Judgment/Day of the Lord?
- Is it possible to know when the Day of the Lord is approaching?
Additional Bible Verses
Joel 1:15, Joel 3:1-8, Gen 6, Gen 19:24, 2 Kings 25, Matt 24