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Day of Christ (Day of the Lord, Judgment Day)
Meaning
The terms “Day of Christ” “day of the Lord” and “Judgment Day” are common expressions found in both the Old and New Testaments. However the most common usage of the phrase is “day of the Lord.” These terms are used to represent those days leading up to, during and immediately following a time known as the “Tribulation period” and the return of Christ. We often hear people in today’s society mocking God by asking the general question of “how come God doesn’t do something about evil now?” And what they forget is that God is long-suffering, not wanting any to perish, but for all people in every nation, to turn to Christ Jesus for salvation. And what these phrases refer to is that time when God’s patience come to and end. A time when the Lord Himself pours out His judgment and wrath on an unrepentant world. This will be a time of punishment for all the evil in the world. This will be a time of terrible judgments.
The book of Revelation shows Jesus standing in the throne room of God, instructing the angels to deliver the judgments of God. However, God will pour out His judgments in such a supernatural way that all people will know it’s God. And the Lord will do so in order to give people on last chance to turn to Christ, even in the midsts of His judgments. In many cases the prophecies concerning the “day of the Lord” had both a near and a far fulfillment. In other words, they were prophecies which included an immediate judgment followed by a future judgment. However, in the majority of cases, they all have been future judgments. Judgments set in the time yet future just before and during the return of Christ and the setting up of His millennial kingdom.
“Woe to you who desire the Day of the Lord For what good is the day of the Lord to you? It will be darkness, and not light. It will be as though a man fled from a lion, And a bear met him Or as though he went into the house, Leaned his hand on the wall, And a serpent bit him Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light? Is it not very dark, with no brightness in it?” (Book of Amos 5:18-20)
“I will show wonders in heaven above And signs in the earth beneath: Blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the Lord Shall be saved.'” (Book of Acts 2:20-21)
“But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, “Peace and safety” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief.” (Book of 1st Thessalonians 5:1-4)
“Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” (Book of 2nd Thessalonians 1:1-4)
“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, 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 which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.” (Book of 2nd Peter 3:9-10)