218 - The Day of the Lord [B]

The Day of the Lord. Revelation 19:16; Isa 2:10-22, 24:1-8; Obadiah 1-21

Jesus Christ is going to establish Himself as the King of kings and Lord of lords and conquer the nations. This is summarized in Revelation but what is behind it is a host of passages in the Old Testament, found in the prophets—Jeremiah, Ezekiel, many of the Minor Prophets which give us snapshots of these events. It is somewhat difficult at times to put all these together but that is what we will start doing. 

The "day of the Lord" is a description of this whole judgment as a focus of God establishing His rule on the earth and how that plays into the prophecies related to Israel is the preliminary or introduction to the study on the details of the Armageddon campaign. There is no place in Scripture that gives a chronological flow that puts everything together so it takes some time and study to do this and to correlate these passages.  

Revelation 19:16 ^NASB "And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, 'KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.'" This indicates that what He is doing at the Second Coming is establishing Himself as the true ruler over all of the nations on the earth. That fulfills Old Testament prophecy specifically related to the term "the day of the Lord." This is a term that is crucial for understanding what is happening during the end times. This phrase occurs in nineteen Old Testament verses. That is, in reference to a special time of divine judgment. It is complicated because it is not just that simple phrase "day of the Lord" that is of significance but there are additional phrases that allude to that—"that day, on that day, the day, the great day of the Lord (Zephaniah 1:14), the great day of God (2 Pet. 3:12; Revelation 16:14)." Then there is another group of terms that talk about the day of the Lord's wrath, the day of intense wrath, the day of the Lord's anger, the Lord's day of anger. These do not use the precise phrase "the day of the Lord" but they do seem to relate to this whole concept of a special time of divine judgment.

We must recognize that the term "the day of the Lord" refers to a time of God's special intervention into the course of world events to judge His enemies, to accomplish His purpose for history, and thereby demonstrate who He is as the sovereign God of the universe. That is why this fits within our study when we see Jesus returning as the King of kings and Lord of lords. He is establishing His rule, His reign as the Son of Man who has been given the kingdom by the Father. That is in a narrow sense the meaning of the term "the day of the Lord," but in a broader sense the term includes much more than just the immediate events surrounding the return of Christ to the earth, broader than the Armageddon campaign. Broadly speaking it includes the Tribulation period or Daniel's seventieth week. The term, or variations of it, are also used to refer to certain historical judgments that God brought against Israel in the Old Testament, such as in 586 BC when the southern kingdom was conquered by Nebuchadnezzar, but that was not the day of the Lord that we think of in terms of the future judgment related to the Second Coming. All of these references have as their fulfillment the return of the King of kings and Lord of lords to establish His kingdom on the earth in Revelation 19.          

We will look at some of the passages where the term "day of the Lord" is used so that we can develop our understanding of this biblically. One of the first mentions of the day of the Lord is in Isaiah. Chapter two starts out talking about the Millennium and then about the day of the Lord. Verses 1-4 give indications of what the Millennium (the kingdom) will be like for Israel. This ties into Revelation 20:1-6. In those verses it is Mount Zion which is to become the focal point of all worship in the Millennial kingdom and all nations will come to it. Isaiah 2:2 ^NASB "Now it will come about that In the last days The mountain of the house of the LORD Will be established as the chief of the mountains, And will be raised above the hills; And all the nations will stream to it." The "mountain" is not the present temple mount. The future temple is roughly one mile square, so it is going to be enormous. All of the Gentile nations will have as the focal point of their worship in the Millennial kingdom the temple in Jerusalem. [3] "And many peoples will come and say, 'Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob; That He may teach us concerning His ways And that we may walk in His paths.' For the law will go forth from Zion And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. [4] And He will judge between the nations, And will render decisions for many peoples; And they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, And never again will they learn war." 

Verses 5-9 focus on the call to Jacob in terms of the present time in light of the future that will come; it is a call to obedience and to reject idolatry because there will be this future day of judgment. Then in verses 10-22 Isaiah looks beyond the immediate and into the distant future and to the judgment that occurs as the day of the Lord. He describes the day of the Lord as a time of judgment upon the nations, upon those who are proud, those who are arrogant, and God will display His power, omnipotence, and righteousness, and all of those who are in rebellion against Him will flee before Him in terror. The key verses we want to focus on are, first of all, vv. 10-13.  

Isaiah 2:10 ^NASB "Enter the rock and hide in the dust From the terror of the LORD and from the splendor of His majesty. [11] The proud look of man will be abased And the loftiness of man will be humbled, And the LORD alone will be exalted in that day." So the focal point of the judgment is against the arrogance of man who has lifted himself up against God—man seeking to be God himself. "That day" is a key term there because the reference is to the day of the Lord. 

Isaiah 2:12 ^NASB "For the LORD of hosts will have a day {of reckoning} Against everyone who is proud and lofty And against everyone who is lifted up, That he may be abased. [13] And {it will be} against all the cedars of Lebanon that are lofty and lifted up, Against all the oaks of Bashan…" Bashan is the area we now know as the Golan Heights. In the ancient world it was heavily forested and the strength of the trees was proverbial, but the power of God is such that even these cedars of Lebanon and oaks of Bashan will be torn down. [14] "Against all the lofty mountains, Against all the hills that are lifted up, [15] Against every high tower, Against every fortified wall, [16] Against all the ships of Tarshish And against all the beautiful craft." Tarshish is another name for Spain. This was at the western end of the Mediterranean and the Phoenicians would sail past the straights of Gibraltar and out into the Atlantic and have trade down around Africa as well as up into Europe. So all of the ships of Tarshish is a reference to all the commerce and trade that was going forth out of the Mediterranean. [17] "The pride of man will be humbled And the loftiness of men will be abased; And the LORD alone will be exalted in that day, [18] But the idols will completely vanish." Sp the picture here is that when the day of the Lord comes He destroys the arrogance of man. How He does that is then described more fully.

Isaiah 2:19 ^NASB "{Men} will go into caves of the rocks And into holes of the ground Before the terror of the LORD And the splendor of His majesty, When He arises to make the earth tremble." This is talking about some kind of physical earthquake that occurs and the response is for men to go into the rocks and caves of the earth in order to escape the terror of the Lord. [20] "In that day men will cast away to the moles and the bats Their idols of silver and their idols of gold, Which they made for themselves to worship, [21] In order to go into the caverns of the rocks and the clefts of the cliffs Before the terror of the LORD and the splendor of His majesty, When He arises to make the earth tremble." If we are thinking in terms of the book of Revelation it should remind us of the sixth seal judgment which occurs very early on in the Tribulation period. Revelation 6:14 ^NASB "The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places." If we think about that description and then the one in vv.20-21 of Isaiah chapter two it is the same kind of response in both places. Revelation 6:15, 16 ^NASB " Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, 'Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?'" So there is a depiction in Isaiah 2:10-14 that sounds just like what is described in the sixth seal judgment. That would put events related to the day of the Lord as very early in the period of Daniel's seventieth week. It is a time of judgment when the proud, the mighty, the strong, the leaders of the earth dwellers are fully aware that God is the one who is bringing judgment against them and yet they continue to resist and shake their fists in His face and refuse to bow down. They are going to try to crawl into the holes in the ground in order to be protected from divine judgment.

Isaiah chapter thirteen deals with a judgment on Babylon, and this is described in Revelation 17 & 18. Isaiah 13:6 ^NASB "Wail, for the day of the LORD is near! It will come as destruction from the Almighty. [7] Therefore all hands will fall limp, And every man's heart will melt. [8] They will be terrified, Pains and anguish will take hold of {them;} They will writhe like a woman in labor, They will look at one another in astonishment, Their faces aflame." What we should note from this is that this is the first time we see a reference to this analogy of labor pains in describing all of the suffering and all of the horrors that go with the day of the Lord. The picture is that something is being born and before this new thing can come into existence there is going to be a time of unprecedented suffering as if the earth is in labor to give birth to this new thing. The new thing that is coming is the Messianic kingdom, but first there has to be this judgment and purification. [9] "Behold, the day of the LORD is coming, Cruel, with fury and burning anger, To make the land a desolation; And He will exterminate its sinners from it. [10] For the stars of heaven and their constellations Will not flash forth their light; The sun will be dark when it rises And the moon will not shed its light." This gives a description of certain astro-geophysical phenomena that occurs in association with the day of the Lord. We have the same kind of thing going on early in the Tribulation period in association with these other judgments.

One of the questions that has been raised is the tendency to try to put all of these at the same time. In Joel chapter two we will see that Joel describes the same phenomenon as occurring right before the Lord returns. But of we try make all of these references refer to that same event we have a problem because we can't fit it all in chronologically. There are several times during the Tribulation period where the light from the sun and the moon are impacted by these judgments. All of this fits the increasing intensification of judgment that is known as the day of the Lord when the Lord will come to judge—Isaiah 13:11 ^NASB "Thus I will punish the world for its evil And the wicked for their iniquity; I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proud And abase the haughtiness of the ruthless. [12] I will make mortal man scarcer than pure gold And mankind than the gold of Ophir."   

In Isaiah 34 we see the emphasis on the judgment of the nations. This focuses on the fact that this is a judgment on the nations, the Gentiles; it is not national judgment, it is individual judgments of individual Gentiles, and because they make up nations that is how they are described.  Verses 1-8 ^NASB "1 Draw near, O nations, to hear; and listen, O peoples! Let the earth and all it contains hear, and the world and all that springs from it. [2] For the LORD'S indignation is against all the nations, And {His} wrath against all their armies; He has utterly destroyed them, He has given them over to slaughter. [3] So their slain will be thrown out, And their corpses will give off their stench, And the mountains will be drenched with their blood. [4] And all the host of heaven will wear away, And the sky will be rolled up like a scroll; All their hosts will also wither away As a leaf withers from the vine, Or as {one} withers from the fig tree." The "host of heaven" here is not a reference to angels but rather to the stars of heaven. "And the sky will be rolled up like a scroll." Where have we seen that same terminology? Related to the sixth seal in Revelation 6:14. [5] "For My sword is satiated in heaven, Behold it shall descend for judgment upon Edom And upon the people whom I have devoted to destruction." Where did Edom come from? This started talking about the nations and now there is a focus on Edom, the homeland of the descendants of Esau. This is the area of Jordan. Obadiah is about judgment on Edom and most of it has occurred historically. That is why when we get into passages like Obadiah and Nahum (prophecy on the destruction of Assyria) they are not books that have a tremendous amount of application of relevance to church age believers. [6] "The sword of the LORD is filled with blood, It is sated with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats, With the fat of the kidneys of rams. For the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah And a great slaughter in the land of Edom." What we will see when we get into the stages of Armageddon is that this is referring to the time when the Lord returns at the Second Coming and He goes to the remnant of Israel that has fled according to Jesus command, that when they saw the abomination of desolation they were to flee to the mountains of Judea and then across into the area of modern Jordan where Petra is located. It is there that they will call upon the Lord to return. There He returns; there He begins to execute His military victory against the armies of the Antichrist. So He will be coming up from Bozrah covered in blood. That is why His robe is dipped in blood in Revelation 19 when He returns. So there is a great slaughter in the land of Edom. [7] "Wild oxen will also fall with them And young bulls with strong ones; Thus their land will be soaked with blood, And their dust become greasy with fat. [8] For the LORD has a day of vengeance, A year of recompense for the cause of Zion." The Hebrew term for "vengeance" is one for judgment. God is executing judgment finally for all of the evil of the nations against Israel. The Hebrew word "day" does not necessarily mean a 24-hour day, it depends on the context. It also refers to a time period in contexts like this where there is no number associated with it and it can be translated "the time" or "the period" of the Lord's vengeance. Notice the focal point here is that God is executing judgment to defend Israel: "for the cause of Zion."

That brings us to the book of Obadiah.

We really don't know who Obadiah was. There are some thirteen people in the Old Testament who have this name of Obadiah but we don't which of those is this Obadiah, and he may not even be one of the other twelve. There is no specific historical peg in these 21 verses that we can go to and identify exactly and precisely when this was written. There are a couple of things that indicate that it was early, and one of those is that it is placed early in the twelve, and these were the early pre-exilic prophets. When we study the issues on the date of Obadiah its content deals with a time when Edom had not helped Israel but had been allied with the enemies of Israel, and there is a partial destruction of Jerusalem. People either identify this time period as being early on, approximately 850 BC, during the time of the ministry of Elisha, or others try to place it at the time of the destruction in 586 by Nebuchadnezzar. The problem with the latter view is that when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem he did it by himself and he didn't need any help from Edom, and secondly, Nebuchadnezzar at the time of the Neo-Babylonian empire totally destroyed Jerusalem. Obadiah isn't talking about a total destruction, it is a partial destruction. On that basis it is probably an earlier date when there is an assault by the Philistines who invade into Judah and into Jerusalem, but it was not a time of total destruction. Edom did ally herself with the Philistines at that battle, during the same time as Elisha. If it is early it is supported by the fact that the Jews historically and traditionally placed Obadiah very early in the Old Testament. The focal point is a judgment on Edom. 

Later on the Edomites are defeated by the Nabataens and they have to move from their traditional homeland. By the New Testament times the Edomites had all moved into the southern territory of Judah and are known as Idumeans and they tried to blend in with the Jews. Herod the Great was an Idumean. Edomites had historically been antagonistic to Israel during the time of the conquest, they refused to allow Moses to bring the Israelites through their land on the way to Canaan. During the early monarchy, during the period of Saul and David, they were hostile to Israel. They were eventually subdued and defeated by David and were under the control of the united kingdom. But by the time of Ahab's grandson Jehoram they are breaking loose from that control and by the time of Jehoshaphat in the southern kingdom they successfully rebel against the southern kingdom and have more of an independence. By the time of the fifth century BC the Nabataeans forced them out and they moved westward and eventually attempted to assimilate with the Jews.

The focus of Obadiah is that this is a judgment on the Edomites because they have failed to be their brother's keeper; they have failed to be a protector of the descendants of Esau's brother Jacob and because of that they are going to be judged by God and removed.

There are three basic divisions in Obadiah. There is a warning of approaching judgment in vv. 1-9. Their indictment is summarized in vv. 10-14. Then there is a shift from historical judgment on Edom to the eventual establishment of Israel's sovereignty in fulfillment of the promises of God to Israel, vv. 15-21. We see that there are a lot of similarities between God's judgment and the indictment on the Edomites and the indictment God brings against the nations in the day of the Lord at the end of history. In that sense we see that the Edomites are used as a type of all of the gentile nations that are in arrogant hostility toward God. So this book shows the destiny of all Gentile nations as enemies of God throughout history and how God will eventually bring a judgment against them and establish Israel as His people.      

Obadiah 1:1 ^NASB "The vision of Obadiah. Thus says the Lord GOD concerning Edom— We have heard a report from the LORD, And an envoy has been sent among the nations {saying,} 'Arise and let us go against her for battle'— "  The "her" here is Edom. It is a call to the nations that God is going to use in order to bring about His judgment on the Edomites.  [2] 'Behold, I will make you small among the nations; You are greatly despised.'" The thrust of the whole indictment is Edom's arrogance and God is going to reduce them and humble them to where they are despised. We see pride here in these verses emphasized. [3]  "The arrogance of your heart has deceived you, You who live in the clefts of the rock, In the loftiness of your dwelling place, Who say in your heart, 'Who will bring me down to earth?'" They were isolated by the terrain which protected them as the Nabateans did after them. Again, this is an indictment of their mental attitude sins of pride and arrogance. [4] "'Though you build high like the eagle, Though you set your nest among the stars, From there I will bring you down,' declares the LORD."

In verses 5-7 the emphasis is on the fact that thieves would come and may just steal a few things and may destroy a few things but in divine judgment everything would be destroyed. Obadiah 1:5 ^NASB "If thieves came to you, If robbers by night— O how you will be ruined!-- Would they not steal {only} until they had enough? If grape gatherers came to you, Would they not leave {some} gleanings? [6] O how Esau will be ransacked, {And} his hidden treasures searched out! [7] All the men allied with you Will send you forth to the border, And the men at peace with you Will deceive you and overpower you. {They who eat} your bread Will set an ambush for you. (There is no understanding in him.)" Those they trusted, the nations they were in alliances with would turn against them just as Edom had turned against her brother Israel. [8] "Will I not on that day," declares the LORD, "Destroy wise men from Edom And understanding from the mountain of Esau? [9] Then your mighty men will be dismayed, O Teman, So that everyone may be cut off from the mountain of Esau by slaughter." So this is the destruction of Edom's leadership, the wise men in verse 8 and the mighty men in verse 9.

Obadiah 1:10 ^NASB "Because of violence to your brother Jacob, You will be covered {with} shame, And you will be cut off forever. [11] On the day that you stood aloof, On the day that strangers carried off his wealth, And foreigners entered his gate And cast lots for Jerusalem— You too were as one of them." They allied themselves with the enemies of Israel. [12] "Do not gloat over your brother's day, The day of his misfortune. And do not rejoice over the sons of Judah In the day of their destruction; Yes, do not boast In the day of {their} distress." The day of Israel's captivity. They were as exultant in their victory over Judah as the enemies of Judah and so for that they are condemned.

Then in v. 15 we have the shift from the historical circumstance to the future day of the Lord. ^NASB "For the day of the LORD draws near on all the nations. As you have done, it will be done to you. Your dealings will return on your own head." Just as God was going to judge Edom, which happened historically, God will at some point in the future judge all the nations. What we see in Isaiah 34 and in Obadiah is that the day of the Lord judgment is a judgment on all of the nations/Gentiles. They are going to reap what they have sown. [16 ]"Because just as you drank on My holy mountain [in Jerusalem], All the nations will drink continually. They will drink and swallow And become as if they had never existed." So this is a description of their judgment that shall come upon them, a picture of drinking in judgment just as they, the Edomites, drank on the holy mountain, i.e. in their victory over Israel, so now the nations shall also drink of judgment and violent defeat in the same way.

Then verse 17 shifts to Israel's ultimate triumph.  ^NASB "But on Mount Zion there will be those who escape, And it will be holy. And the house of Jacob will possess their possessions." This is talking about a future fulfillment when the house of Jacob [Israel] will possess their possessions—the inheritance that they have never possessed fully in history. They will possess all of the land that God promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Then we have the two phrases: the house of Jacob and the house of Joseph, indicating the entirety of the nation Israel, all of the tribes.  [18] "Then the house of Jacob will be a fire And the house of Joseph a flame; But the house of Esau {will be} as stubble. And they will set them on fire and consume them, So that there will be no survivor of the house of Esau," For the LORD has spoken." Fire is picturing purification and judgment. The Edomites will be destroyed but the house of Jacob and the house of Joseph will be established.

Obadiah 1:19 ^NASB "Then {those of} the Negev will possess the mountain of Esau, And {those of} the Shephelah the Philistine {plain;} Also, possess the territory of Ephraim and the territory of Samaria, And Benjamin {will possess} Gilead." So now the mountains of Esau which were not originally given to Israel as their possession will be part of the land and part of their possession in the Millennial kingdom. [20] "And the exiles of this host of the sons of Israel, Who are {among} the Canaanites as far as Zarephath, And the exiles of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad Will possess the cities of the Negev." What this is saying is that at the time of the day of the Lord there is this judgment on all the nations. Following that judgment on all of the nations Israel will finally possess all of the land that God had promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. This prophecy of vv. 15-21 is as yet unfulfilled. [21] "The deliverers will ascend Mount Zion To judge the mountain of Esau, And the kingdom will be the LORD'S."

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