4: "The Day Of Christ" Is "The Day Of The Lord."

Chapter 4: "The Day Of Christ" Is "The Day Of The Lord." A remarkable distinction proposed to us by those who would have us divide the second coming of our Lord is that the passage in 1 Thessalonians 4 describes the Day of Christ, but that the Olivet prophecy describes the Day of the LORD—asserting that the day of Christ is nowhere spoken of in the Old Testament but was a special revelation made through the apostle Paul—and to use the words of C. I. Scofield, D. D. (p. 1212; Dr. C.I. Scofield’s Reference Bible). "The day of Christ relates wholly to the reward and blessing of saints at His coming, as day of the Lord is connected with judgment." When it is averred that we must sharply distinguish between the day of Christ and the day of the Lord, we answer—Why? Is not Christ the Lord? When we read, "Behold the day of the Lord cometh . . . then shall the Lord go forth and fight . . . and His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives ... and the LORD my God shall come and all the saints with Thee" (Zech. 14:1-5), is it not agreed that the Lord whose feet shall stand in that day on Mount Olivet is the Lord Christ? Since the Christ of the New Testament is so emphatically the Messiah of the Old, that we read, "we have found the Messiah which is, being interpreted, Christ," and the Messiah of the Old Testament is decidedly and admittedly Lord, such proposed distinction is shattered by one of the simplest facts of Holy Scripture, namely that "Jesus Christ is Lord." And if Christ is Lord, the day of Christ is the day of the Lord. In numerous passages of Scripture the day of the Lord is:

Connected with Salvation and Reward, not only with judgment. "Behold your God shall come with vengeance, your God with a recompence; He will come and save you" (Isa. 35:4). "Behold your God I Behold the Lord God will come with strong hand, and His arm shall rule for Him: behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him . . ." (Isa. 40:9-10; cf. Acts 2:19-21; Rev. 22:12). That the distinction alleged by Dr. Scofield is unwarranted is proved also by the plain direct statements of the Lord Christ Himself; in which He tells us when He will reward His disciples, e.g. "For the Son of man shall come in the glory of the Father with His angels, and then He shall reward every man according to his works" (Matt. 16:27). This is where the judgment seat of Christ comes in. In direct opposition to the oft-attempted distinctions, we see that in the Olivet prophecy Christ depicts Himself coming as Lord (Matt. 24:42), as rewarding His servants (25:21, 23), as Bridegroom, coming to the marriage (25:1-13), and as Shepherd-King with His flock (25:31-46), whereas in this whole passage from 1 Thessalonians 4:13, which is alleged to set forth the day of Christ as distinct from the day of the Lord, there is no distinctive word of Him as Bridegroom, no word about bride or marriage, nor about Him rewarding His servants (those being in the Olivet prophecy), but the sevenfold emphasis is on His Lordship.

Just as our Lord is spoken of in Scripture by many titles and in many ways, but is always the One same blessed Person, so His day is Variously Termed in Holy Scripture:

"the day," 1 Corinthians 3:13; Hebrews 10:25, 2 Peter 1:19.
"that day," 2 Timothy 1:18 and 4:8.
"the day of Christ," Philippians 1:10
"the day of Jesus Christ," Philippians 1:6.
"the day of God," 2 Peter 3:12.
"the great day," Jude 6.
"the day of the Lord," 1 Thessalonians 5:2; 2 Thessalonians 2:2; 2 Peter 3:10.
"the day of our Lord Jesus," 2 Corinthians 1:14.
"the day of our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Corinthians 1:8.

 
It is surely worthy of note that the Thessalonian passage which is supposed by some to describe the day of Christ as distinct from the day of the Lord does not even contain either of the phrases that such would recognize as referring to the Day of Christ, but emphasizes His Lordship. Thus it is "the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout . . . we shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air . . . and so shall we ever be with the Lord."

It is His Title LORD that is seven times repeated in these verses in the whole context (1 Thess. 4:13-5:11), and in a central verse it is the "Day of the Lord" (verse 4). By dividing the second coming of our Lord into two second comings, placing between His coming for and with His saints a period of years for which they can show no Scripture statement though they are frequently asked for it, the teachers of the modem two-stage coming theory involve themselves in this difficulty (and many others) that they place the day of Christ before the day of Antichrist. But will the Day of Man follow the Day of Christ? Will the day of Christ when "the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout . . ." (which even writers in The Advent Witness have admitted to be a "war-cry"), leave the world to go on as if the Lord’s battle shout did not affect or concern it? The time of Antichrist’s reign will be pre-eminently "man’s day," when man’s pride, blasphemy, and rebellion will reach its very apex. Will "the Lord Himself descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God" and leave His greatest foe to rise and take possession? Nay Christ is Lord. The day of Christ is the day of the Lord, when "the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout . . . and we shall be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord." The redeemed host, thus translated, will be part of the Lord’s Host when He smites the Antichrist and his armies, delivers the remnant of Israel, and sets in Zion the throne of His kingdom. Thus man’s day will be overwhelmed and extinguished by the day of the Christ, which is in very deed the day of the Lord.