Introduction
The Bible, unfortunately, isn’t precise in distinguishing between imminent (i.e. things that are now happening, or about to) judgments of God, judgments that are to occur in the future (but, while assured, still temporal), or events associated with far future “end things” – the end-of-days eschatological prophecies. The Bible contains hundreds of literary passages that speak of a looming catastrophe. Most of these use descriptors shared in some measure by all the others.
The prophecies that use the oft-repeated term “day of the Lord” in describing a pending judgment by God resulting, typically, in some cataclysm, are unsurprisingly referred to as Day of the Lord (DOL) prophecies. Most of the occurrences of this phrase appear in the writings of the Minor Prophets: the so-called “Book of the Twelve”[i].
It’s not uncommon for a DOL prophet to mix separate prophecies having to do with two or more imminent, future, or far-future prophecies[ii]. When all these prophecies use elements of the same apocalyptic language to describe their events, it becomes somewhat difficult to discern which is which – i.e. which context is a local event and which is a cosmic, eschatological event.
For this reason, many readers make the mistake of zeroing in on the similarities in the descriptive language of disparate events to conflate local context into cosmic.
Which Apocalypse?
In Christianity, there has been much debate over the years as to which verses (mainly in the New Testament) are about Christ’s return (the Parousia), and which have to do with the cataclysm of the destruction of Jerusalem, its Temple, and up to a million Jews by the Romans in 70AD. The question they are trying to answer is: “What’s left for God to do?”
Some (the preterists) think that there is nothing left for God to do externally to His Creation, including sending His Christ back to earth to gather His Church and inaugurate the New Heavens and New Earth. He’s done. It is what it is and is going to be.
The historical/literalists (a.k.a dispensationalists) think He’s got all kinds of stuff left to do; rebuild the Jerusalem Temple, fight against the forces of evil at Megiddo, have the New Jerusalem sent down from heaven, regather all the Jews from around the world there, etc.
A third group thinks most of the Bible’s prophecies have been accomplished, but not all. They await Christ’s second coming and the implementation of the New Heavens and New Earth. These folks are appropriately called “partial preterists”.
To some degree, the language and its words and symbols themselves have helped to create this situation where three people can read the same Bible prophecy verses and come away with three different interpretations of what and when that prophecy was about both when the author wrote it, and now in our day.
The History of the “Day of the Lord” (DOL)
Initially in Israel’s history there apparently developed an understanding that God, ultimately, would bless and prosper Israel with abundance, people of the world would stream to Jerusalem to worship Israel’s God, and Israel’s (and their God’s) enemies would be destroyed[iii]. They expected success, safety, and abundance assumedly because they were the chosen of God.
The Prophets had to inform them that while, yes, ultimately God’s mercy would (typically) act to preserve them, there was nevertheless a real price that they had to pay for their disobedience.
We can’t say if this (God’s favor) was a widely held belief among the common people in ancient Israel or if just among its elites. However, it seems to have been a general expectation within this culture, at least until the Prophets. And, the Israelites might be forgiven for this read on their future as, after all, they were God’s chosen people.
What Are the Elements of a “Day of the Lord” Prophecy?
At a high level, DOL prophecy generally consists of the following elements:
- God (through his prophet) condemns the subject of the prophecy (usually Israel, but not always) typically for sinning against Him and may implore the subject to repent (in limited cases. Usually we encounter DOL language after the people have long refused to repent/change, and so God’s decision is unconditional — final).
- God executes His judgment on the subject people. The judgment is usually war by an invader or exile. Those who repent are saved from the worst consequences of God’s judgment and are praised by God. Those who do not repent do not recover.
- The repentant remnant experience renewed blessings from God in a restoration. This is the phase of the prophecy that harkens back to Israel’s initial understanding of their ultimate destiny in the “Day of the Lord”, and serves as a form of Sabbath rest for the subject.
The Scope/Timing of a “Day of the Lord” Prophecy
A single DOL prophecy can refer to as many as three different scopes of judgment and their timing. It can reference a near-term, local judgment; a longer-term judgment, perhaps on one or more nations, and finally a far-future eschatological judgment of a nation or the entire world at the inauguration of what the prophet sees as the coming of God’s Kingdom. Any or all of these prophetic scenarios can be included in a single “Day of the Lord” prophecy, always moving from the nearest-term scenario to the most future.
The best way to see the structure of such DOL prophecies is to look at an example.
An excellent one is the book of Joel which, along with Obadiah, essentially represents all the themes and images (e.g. darkness, gloom, sun darkened, calls to repentance, promises of ultimate blessing and well-being) contained in any of the DOL prophetic passages.
The following table breaks out each of the prophecy’s elements by their scope/timeframe.
Initially {Joe 1:15) we see a warning to Joel’s hearers that a DOL judgment is imminent/in progress in the form of an agricultural catastrophe. Joel, through the imagery of putting on sackcloth, exhorts the people to repent.
God demonstrates His judgment by the (assumed) drought- and insect-produced famine that is plaguing the people. Joel doesn’t offer any prophecy of restoration from this famine condition immediately.
But in the meantime, he has introduced a future apocalypse in 2:1-17 in which, apparently, Israel will be invaded (this is likely Assyria). Following the verses describing the agricultural restoration, he assures God’s restoration from the (future) invasion (2:28-32).
It is fascinating to me that many see Joel 2 as talking about events to occur in “the last three and a half years of Daniel’s 70th week”.[iv] God, through the prophet clearly states in Joe 2:25 that it was his “army” of locusts that he sent to discipline Israel, that He is now promising to redeem them from. So, this prophecy was indisputably complete in the tenth century BC, the setting of Joel’s writing.
Next, we have Joel’s prophecy of a future judgment of Israel via an (implied) invasion, using his second DOL declaration. God calls Israel to repentance. He doesn’t spell out who the invaders will be, but since Joel is writing nearly 200 years before the Assyrian invasion, it’s likely them.
Confusingly, Joel’s passage on the restoration of the people in Joel 2:18-27 that immediately follows this future prophecy seems to be the restoration promise for the imminent drought prophecy, as it is nearly exclusively about food and the restoration of the early and the latter rains.
The main feature of chapter 3 is to introduce yet another prophecy, this one aimed at the “nations” and occurring at some future point following God’s restoration of Judah and Jerusalem from the previous cataclysms. These nations are given no possibility of repenting, nor does the prophet identify any action to restore them.[v] It’s just a matter of them lining up in the “Valley of Vision” to receive God’s judgment.
In Joel’s future restoration (Joel 2:28-32) we read what at first sounds like it might be an ultimate future restoration:
[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.
[29] Even 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. [31] The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. [32] And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the LORD has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the LORD calls.
But we see in vs 32 that it is specifically targeted to those in Jerusalem. So, a limited set of people. This promise seems to serve as the promised restoration following the (Assyrian?) invasion of Israel and Judah. It’s talking about a Jewish remnant (“those who escape”) in Jerusalem, not mankind in general. And, it is clearly speaking of an invasion of Jerusalem that this remnant will “escape”. So as a historical matter, it might be referring to either the Assyrian invasion, the Babylonian invasion, or possibly even the Roman invasion and destruction.
Interestingly, it is referenced and appropriated by Peter in Acts (2:17f) in his Pentecost speech, claiming it as the prophecy being fulfilled by those speaking in different languages after receiving the Holy Spirit.
As mentioned in the table, there is no restoration for the judgment of the nations in the far future. But there are additional assurances of wine and milk and flowing streams for Israel.
| Near-Term/Imminent | Future | Far Future/Eschatological | |
| Warning | Joel 1:15 [15] Alas for the day! For the day of the LORD is near, and as destruction from the Almighty it comes. | Joel 2:1 [2:1] Blow a trumpet in Zion; sound an alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming; it is near, | Joel 3:2 I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And I will enter into judgment with them there, on behalf of my people and my heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations and have divided up my land, |
| Call to Repent | Joel 1:13 [13] Put on sackcloth and lament, O priests; wail, O ministers of the altar. Go in, pass the night in sackcloth, O ministers of my God! Because grain offering and drink offering are withheld from the house of your God. | Joel 2:12 [12] “Yet even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; [13] and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the LORD your God, | The foreign nations are not offered repentance, |
| Judgment | [16] Is not the food cut off before our eyes, joy and gladness from the house of our God? Empty storehouses, seeds that don’t sprout, groaning cattle, etc., etc. | It’s not explicit. But we get a hint that Israel is to be invaded: [17] Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep and say, “Spare your people, O LORD, and make not your heritage a reproach, a byword among the nations. | Joel 3:12 Let the nations stir themselves up and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations. God never says exactly what His judgment on the nations will consist of. |
| Restoration | None – initially But we later read Joel 2:18-27 | Joel 2:28-32 are the promises of restoration following their invasion | There is no restoration for the nations; but there is for Israel. Joel 3:18 [18] “And in that day the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the streambeds of Judah shall flow with water; and a fountain shall come forth from the house of the LORD and water the Valley of Shittim. |
Apocalyptic Language
What we’d like to be able to do is come up with a reliable technique to, when reading/analyzing prophecies (DOL or otherwise), confidently determine whether or not it has to do with the ultimate end judgment and events, or some earlier interim judgment.
In the following table, I have searched for the occurrences of several apocalyptic terms throughout the Bible overall. When I find one AND it occurs in either a DOL prophecy OR Daniel OR the New Testament, I include it within its prophetic scope/context. Many occurrences of these apocalyptic terms occur in simple narrative contexts, and so don’t help our understanding of their prophetic usage. I’ve included Daniel because it is widely recognized that it is an apocalyptic, eschatological prophecy; it just isn’t explicitly declared by its author to be a DOL prophecy.
| Term | Near or Future | Far Future |
| sun AND darkened | Joe 2:10 The sun and the moon are darkened Joe 3:15 The sun and the moon are darkened Mt 24:29 days the sun will be darkened, and the Mk 13:24 tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the | Ec 12:2 before the sun and the light Rev 8:12 of the sun was struck, and a third Rev 9:2 and the sun and the air were darkened (Ec 12:2 isn’t eschatological in the strict sense; it is only that its context is the ultimate disposition, that rates its inclusion here.) |
| clouds of heaven | Mt 24:30 (Mk 14:62 ) of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and Mt 26:64 on the clouds of heaven | Da 7:13 with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man |
| Coming on/in/with the clouds | Mt 24:30 (Mk 14:62) of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and Mt 26:64 Power and coming on the clouds of heaven | Da 7:13 behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man |
| darkness, gloom | Dt 4:11 wrapped in darkness, cloud, and gloom Eze 31:15 Lebanon in gloom for it, and all the Eze 32:8 and put darkness on your land, declares Eze 34:12 and thick darkness Joe 2:2 day of darkness and gloom, a Joe 2:31 turned to darkness, and the moon to Am 5:18 It is darkness, and not light, Am 5:20 the LORD darkness, and not light Mi 3:6 and darkness to you, without divination. Zep 1:15 day of darkness and gloom, Ac 2:20 (Joe 2:28) turned to darkness and the moon to blood | Isa 60:2 For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, Mt 8:12 the outer darkness. In that place there Mt 22:13 the outer darkness. In that place Mt 25:30 the outer darkness. In that place there |
| famine | Je 14:1 Chapter 14 Famine, Sword, and Pestilence The Jeremiah contains 28 occurrences Eze 5:12 consumed with famine in your midst; a third Ezekiel contains 11 occurrences Am 8:11 send a famine on the land— Mt 24:7 (Mk 13:8, Lk 21.11) will be famines and earthquakes in various places | Rev 6:8 and with famine and with pestilence and by |
| earthquake | Isa 29:6 and with earthquake and great noise, with Mt 24:7 famines and earthquakes in various places | |
| day of the lord | Isa 13:6 Wail, for the day of the LORD is near; as destruction Isa 13:9 Behold, the day of the LORD comes, cruel, with wrath Je 46:10 day is the day of the Lord GOD Eze 13:5 battle in the day of the LORD. Eze 30:3 the day of the LORD is near; Joe 1:15 For the day of the LORD is near, and as Joe 2:11, 2:31, 3:14, Am 5:18 who desire the day of the LORD! Why would you… Am 5:20 Ob 15 The Day of the LORD Is Near For Zep 1:7-8 The Day of the LORD Is Near Be… Zep 1:14 Zec 14:1 The Coming Day of the LORD Behold, a day is coming Mal 4:5 and awesome day of the LORD comes. Ac 2:20 before the day of the Lord comes, the great and | 1Co 5:5 saved in the day of the Lord 1Th 5:2 aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief 2Th 2:2 effect that the day of the Lord has come. 2Pe 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, NOTE: There are many more references to a judgment day that don’t use the specific “day of the Lord” label e.g. “the day” or “that day”, “day when the LORD”, etc. But these provide a pretty good sample |
Analyzing the Language
Except for the term “earthquakes”, we see each apocalyptic term used in both the near-term contexts and the cosmic, end-of-days context. So they present no reliable test by themselves. We get famine, darkened Sun and Moon, God coming on the clouds (of heaven), and lots of darkness or gloom in both contexts – near term (i.e. my future) and far future, or end times. Even the genre “Day of the Lord” itself is of little use, other than to tell us that if we’re reading the Hebrew Bible it is in association with some non-end-of-days judgment, but when we’re reading the New Testament, it’s about the “end of these things”.
Why is that? As far as I can see there are two reasons. First, when the New Testament authors mentioned a Day of the Lord (except when, like Peter, OT passages are quoted), they’re talking about the second coming of Christ the King to implement the final version of His Kingdom – the merger of heaven and earth in the New Heavens and New Earth. And second, almost all of them, with Paul perhaps being the poster child for this position, believed that Christ was to return imminently to establish His rule and Kingdom. (This belief leads to a lot of Paul’s social/cultural counsel in 1 Cor 7:29-31 and elsewhere.) To first-century writers, Christ’s return was the definition of the ultimate “end of the age”; the end of all things as they had been.
What’s Been; What is Yet to Be?
The real crux of this issue turns mainly on Mt 24, the initial portion of the Olivet Discourse. In fairness, Matthew (nor Jesus) casts this passage as a DOL. However, it is indisputable that the subject is apocalyptic events. So it is quite appropriate to include it, if not feature it, in the discussion.
You’ll notice that I have included many Mt. 24 apocalyptic references in the category of “Near” (imminent) “or future”, rather than “far future”. Thousands of Christians would disagree with this assessment, claiming rather that those verses were prophesying Jesus’ second coming, or other eschatological event.
I don’t think so. The reason I don’t think so is based on Jesus’ own words.
Let’s spend a minute with Mt 24 to understand what’s going on. Jesus and the Disciples have just left the Temple where Jesus had been calling out the hypocrisy of its leaders (Mt 23 – “Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees…”).
The first thing Jesus does is tell His disciples, who have just commented on the beauty of the Temple’s buildings, that those buildings will all be destroyed – “not one stone left upon another.” That seems to pique the Disciples’ interest and so they ask Jesus when that destruction He’s just mentioned will happen, when He will “return”, and when the “end of the age”[vi] will be. There seems to be a built-in presumption in the Disciples’ question that Jesus’ “return”, and the “end of the age” are synonymous.
We don’t get to Jesus’ ultimate answer until Mt 24:34
[34] Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.
In honoring Jesus’ statement here we need to conclude that everything He has been talking about in terms of apocalyptic events will have occurred before the people He’s talking to are all dead. The Apocalypse that fits that definition is the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple in 70 AD (following a three-year guerrilla war with the Romans).
This is the explanation of why every Mt 24 verse before v34 is categorized as “Near/Future”. Admittedly, when reading a phrase like Mt 24:30:
[30] Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
we tend to imagine that this must be describing the end of all things on earth as we know it. But, what we need to understand is that this apocalyptic language (e.g. “coming in the clouds”) is simply the way God’s judgment on people was described throughout the Bible (see the table, above). They feature a heavy dose of symbolic imagery that communicates the gravity of the judgment. But only in select cases (see the table) are these terms being applied to the end of all things.
In addition, we’re not helped by our English translations rendering γῆς (ges) as “earth” rather than “land” as the domain of “tribes” would imply. (Israel’s “tribes” lived in their “land”, Israel. If the entire earth was what was meant, then it would have been more appropriate to talk of the “nations” or “peoples” of the earth.)
The only other place in the entire Bible that we find this phrase – “tribes of the earth” – is Rev 1:7. And it’s very likely that the translation of this same Greek word, ges, should be rendered “land” there as well, and for the same contextual reason. (We find seventeen or so verses in the Bible in which “tribes” are discussed in the context of their land, Israel.) Certainly, in 70AD, all the tribes of the land of Israel mourned.
A fairly casual analysis indicates that Jesus actually does take up the subject of His return starting in Mt. 24:36f, and continues with it at Mt. 25:31f. The key contextual distinction is that in these verses, He is talking about judging humanity; not just a people, not just a king, not just a city, but humanity in its totality.
Conclusions
The interlinkages between the Minor Prophets in the “Book of the Twelve” are a fascinating study beyond just their common DOL theme. Many of them appropriate his predecessors’ phraseology in describing the impending cataclysm he is writing about. And, their prophecies are full of apocalyptic phrases and images. However, all of them, it seems, were not prophesying “the end of all things” but rather a current or impending drought, invasion, or destruction of Israel’s enemies.
Daniel, a post-exile book, is the only outlier in the Hebrew Bible in terms of his eschatological prophecies[vii]. Daniel is particularly fascinating to apocalypticists because not only does he write about the end times, but he quantifies his timeline.
When we get to the New Testament, everybody is looking for Christ’s return (I.e. “second coming”) as synonymous with the end of all things/”the age”. To them, time was short before ultimately Christ would return as King and His Kingdom would be implemented following the judgment of the world.
However, there was one future event prophesied that had to happen first: God’s judgment on Judah and Jerusalem. And that occurred in 70 AD.
[i] Noch, Stephen, The Day of the Lord in the Minor Prophets: A Discussion of Literary Unity and Biblical Theology
[ii] DeRouchie, Jason, The Day of the Lord., p2
[iii] Williamson, Hugh, The Day of the Lord in Isaiah and the Book of the Twelve
[iv] Day of the Lord 2021 Edition | Bill Wenstrom – Academia.edu This paper is a particularly aggressive expression of the dispensationalist premillennial dogma involving a rapture, a tribulation, a millennial reign of Christ, and a final judgment, resulting in it containing many misinterpretation of the prophets’ words, in my opinion. The stock-and-trade of this dogma is the interlocking of Daniel’s eschatological visions, and Revelation 20. It is the most popular eschatological dogma in America today.
[v] It’s typical of these kinds of prophecies to contain judgments against Israel’s enemies. This form harkens back to the early expectations of the people being that all prophecies would contain good news for them.
[vi] This was a Hebrew idiom that carried the sense of “the end of things as they now are”. It certainly did not carry the connotation of the end of the planet or the cosmos.
[vii] Certainly other prophets’ writings (i.e. Deuteronomy, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel) contain passages that imply a cosmic eschatological context. However, that is not their primary message, as in the case of Daniel.
A Pilgrim's Search 