Theme · eschatological
Day of the Lord
The prophets speak of a coming day when God will act decisively in history. Amos warns that it will be darkness, not light, for those who presume on God's favor. Isaiah, Joel, Zephaniah, and Malachi all elaborate the theme: a day of cosmic upheaval, divine warfare, and final reckoning. But the Day of the Lord is also a day of restoration for the faithful remnant. The New Testament identifies Jesus's death and resurrection as the decisive turning point, while looking forward to a final Day when he returns. Peter urges holy living in light of the day when the elements will be dissolved and a new world emerges.
Related doctrines
Passages expressing this theme
- 1Cor 1:8 — Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
- 1Thess 5:2 — For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
- 1Thess 5:3 — For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
- 2Pet 3:10 — 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
- 2Pet 3:12 — Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
- 2Thess 2:2 — That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
- 2Tim 3:1 — This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
- Acts 2:20 — The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:
- Amos 5:18 — 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.
- Amos 5:20 — Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?
- Amos 8:9 — And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord GOD, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day:
- Amos 9:1 — I saw the LORD standing upon the altar: and he said, Smite the lintel of the door, that the posts may shake: and cut them in the head, all of them; and I will slay the last of them with the sword: he
- Deut 32:35 — To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.
- Ezek 30:3 — For the day is near, even the day of the LORD is near, a cloudy day; it shall be the time of the heathen.
- Ezek 32:7 — And when I shall put thee out, I will cover the heaven, and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light.
- Ezek 38:16 — And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be s
- Gen 19:24 — Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;
- Hag 2:6 — For thus saith the LORD of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land;
- Isa 2:12 — For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low:
- Isa 13:6 — Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
- Isa 13:9 — 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.
- Isa 13:10 — 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.
- Isa 27:13 — And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall wo
- Isa 30:26 — Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people,
- Isa 34:4 — And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig fro
The Church Fathers on Day of the Lord
The day of the Lord comes suddenly, it says, and in an unexpected way like the pains of childbirth, which forestall all one's efforts to hide them.
These things, then, being to come to pass, beloved, and the one week being divided into two parts, and the abomination of desolation being manifested then, and the two prophets and forerunners of the Lord having finished their course, and the whole world finally approaching the consummation, what remains but the…
But someone could say that it is enough for salvation to work miracles. He excludes that, because On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name...? He says, many, to signify those who secede from unity, because they are included under a multitude, for "the number of fools is…
We are to believe that these will do wonders even as was the case through the magicians of Pharaoh. Not without reason did he recollect their deeds at the mention of the frogs, so that he might foretell that the ministers of Satan will themselves do similar wonders. For until the sign of the frogs the magicians had…
And they go forth to the kings of the whole earth, to gather them for battle, etc. Just as there are holy kings, for whom, with the Euphrates dried up, the way is prepared for the East, so also the wicked are called kings of the earth, who, not gathered from the whole world to one place, but each nation in its own…
Often the number of seven is taken by this saint to correspond to this age and the sabbath rest of the saints. Therefore, also here at the loosing of the seventh seal, the dissolution of the earthly city is signified, the seven angels administering the torments against those people who are deserving of chastisement…