08.05. Two Prophetic Days Must Be Distinguished
TWO PROPHETIC DAYS MUST BE DISTINGUISHED
Endless confusion in our understanding of the Bible results when “The day of Christ” and “The day of the Lord” are not distinguished. They are wholly different as to time, people involved, events, and movement.
“The day of Christ” is the next prophesied event. It is that for which we are taught to wait, to look, and which we are to love. It is imminent, and has been since the first promise regarding it was given. It concerns only the saved of this dispensation, whether Jews or Gentiles. At that day sleeping saints are raised and living saints are translated, and all together leave the earth to meet the Lord in the air. It is “timeless, sign-less, and unrelated,” excepting to that which is to follow. “The day of Christ” is not the second coming of Christ. It is not a phase of it. It is simply God’s way of getting His people out of the world before His judgments begin (note 1 Thessalonians 5:9). On the other hand, “The day of the Lord” follows “The day of Christ” by about seven years, if Daniel’s prophecies are rightly interpreted (Daniel 9:24-27). It ends the Great Tribulation, delivers Israel and regathers her into her Own land, brings judgments on all the nations, binds Satan, and extends throughout the earth.
“The day of the Lord” is preceded by signs. Paul, speaking of “The day of the Lord,” says:
“Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed" (2 Thessalonians 2:3). The seven signs to which our thought is now to be directed are signs anticipating the farther day, —“The day of the Lord.” We may understand that if “The day of the Lord” is seen to be drawing near, then as certainly “The day of Christ” is even nearer. The mariner sees the distant mountain before he sees the shore.