The Day of the Lord

WE learn from Rev. 20:4, 5, that a thousand years intervene between the first and second resurrections. The first resurrection takes place at the second advent of Christ. 1 Cor. 15:22, 23. "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order; Christ the first fruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming." Verse 52. "For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we (the living) shall be changed." 1 Thess. 4:16. "For the Lord shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first." The testimony is explicit that those who are Christ's will be raised at his coming. The first resurrection includes all that are Christ's for the expression is general, and there is no exception. "But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished." The blessed and the holy have part in the first resurrection. All the wicked sleep in death for a thousand years after this—to the second resurrection. "The rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished."

We have seen that the day of the Lord commences with the great day of his wrath before the second advent. That six of the seven vials, in which is filled up the wrath of God, are poured out before Christ's coming; for after the sixth vial, it is announced, "Behold I come as a thief." Consequently, the day of the Lord begins before the advent and first resurrection. Now if it can be shown that the day of the Lord extends beyond the second resurrection, or even to that event, our proposition will be proved, namely that, the day of the Lord is more than a thousand years long.

"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 are therein shall be burned up." 2 Pet. 3:10.

Some have quoted the eighth verse of this chapter to prove that the day of the Lord would be just a thousand years in length; but the text does not affirm this. It merely states that what we deem a long period is not so regarded by the Lord. That he will not fail to fulfill his promise, though it may seem a long time to us, before it is done. "One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." This text says nothing of the day of the Lord. But the verse quoted above, verse 10, does; and I cite it in proof that the day of the Lord extends beyond the thousand years of Rev. 20.

The earth shall quake at the second advent; so that mountains and islands shall be moved out of their places. But there is no testimony to prove that the earth and its elements shall melt at that time. It is true that "the Lord shall be revealed from Heaven in flaming fire;" the earth may be burned to a great extent; (See Isa. 24:6) but at that time the earth seems to be left in a chaotic state, and not melted. See Jer. 4:23-26. But the text affirms that the earth and elements shall melt with fervent heat in the day of the Lord. When will it take place? We pass over the thousand years and come to the second resurrection. The vast multitudes of the wicked stand again on the earth. Now Satan is loosed for a little season, and, seeing those revived who had been the subjects of his deception in their first life, he goes forth to deceive them once more. The countless host that cover the breadth of the earth, deceived and led by that ancient rebel leader who first broke peace in Heaven by seceding from the government of the Almighty, compass the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire comes down from God out of Heaven and devours them. Thus they die a second time; and hence it is said, "This is the second death." A death without the hope of a resurrection. "A night that hath no morn beyond it, and no star." This is their final and utter perdition.

Now let us hear Peter again. "But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men." Verse 7. Both the judgment and perdition of the ungodly are recorded in Rev. 20. The "dead small and great," whose judgment is here recorded, are no other than all the wicked of the earth. The saints—all the blessed and holy—receive their judgment and enter upon their reward a thousand years before. At the time of the second resurrection, they will have "lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. " Hence they are not among the dead that here stand in review before God.

It is to this scene of the final destruction of the wicked that Malachi refers, as the day that shall burn as an oven; when all the proud and all that do wickedly shall be burned up root and branch. Mal. 4. This is the utter "perdition of ungodly men"—all the ungodly. This cannot be before the second resurrection.

But this takes place in the day of the Lord; consequently the day of the Lord extends beyond the thousand years, covers the little season of Satan's last deception, and the time of the final perdition of ungodly men. Then the earth and elements shall melt. But beyond this the renewed earth shall appear. Says Peter, "Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness."

Thus the proposition is sustained, that the day of the Lord is more than a thousand years in duration, beginning before, and not ending till after, the thousand years of Rev. 20.