All in due time

Isaiah coined the term “the day of the Lord,’ and the term “that day” was coined by Moses. All through the major and the minor prophets (Isaiah to Malachi), the expression “that day” is used over and over, consistently as a reference to “the day of the Lord.”

Isaiah 2 says, “Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty.
[11] The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.
[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:

The chapter goes on, “And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.
[20] In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats;
[21] To go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.”

Ezekiel 30:1 says, [1] The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
[2] Son of man, prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Howl ye, Woe worth the day
[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.”

Jordan explains, “The day of the Lord begins when the Lord arises to come and shake the earth. Notice verse 3 is fascinating because there is the origin of the term Jesus used in Luke 21 when He talked about ‘the time of the Gentiles.’ When Jesus said that He was referring back to this thing here.

“What you learn in Daniel 2 with the image that Nebuchadnezzar sees, is the Gentile nations that are going to be given charge over the earth from the time Israel is sent into captivity to the time when Jesus comes back. So in that vision given to Nebuchadnezzar, you get a picture of the course of the times of the Gentiles.

“Verse 10 says, ‘The Chaldeans answered before the king, and said, There is not a man upon the earth that can shew the king's matter: therefore there is no king, lord, nor ruler, that asked such things at any magician, or astrologer, or Chaldean.’

“So when Nebby comes in, Jeremiah 25 calls him ‘my chosen one’; he’s God’s instrument to bring judgment and wrath upon a whole bunch of different people but especially on the nation Israel and it begins the times of the Gentiles.

“The idea is, ‘Nebby’s coming to get you dudes.’ You don’t think he’s coming but he is and he does, and when he does, what is it? ‘Even the day of the Lord.’ Israel is proud, haughty and arrogant and God says, ‘You’re going to be brought low. I’m going to put you under the heel of the Gentiles.’

“You go back to Leviticus 3 and you can see why he does it. Deuteronomy 31. It all goes back to Moses and the curses and blessings he promised them back here.

“People argue, ‘When is ‘the day of the Lord,’ and people say it’s just His Advent and maybe it starts at the middle of the week and maybe it starts at the beginning of the 70th week.

“The day of the Lord began at the beginning of the Babylonian captivity as far as God’s concerned. Now the intensified form of it is over at the end. There’s a time schedule and that’s what the book of Daniel is all about. It’s to explain to them, ‘Here’s this intensive judgment at the beginning and then there’s going to be a time schedule out here for the sins and when the time comes, God’s going to get you!’

“What you have in Leviticus 23 is when Israel came out of Egypt, before they wander in the wilderness, and it’s repeated in Deuteronomy 38 years after they’ve wandered for those years. Sometimes you forget in Deuteronomy, the second giving of the law, that Moses is at the end of his life, at the end of Israel’s wandering in the wilderness, just before they’re going to go into the Promised Land, and he’s talking to a new generation.

“Those he brought out of Egypt they all died in the wilderness and the younger ones are now in charge and he reminds them about what he taught them back there.

"In Deuteronomy 28-31, he reminds them of what he teaches them back in Leviticus 26 about those courses of judgment but now, instead of just giving it to them doctrinally and, ‘This is the way it’s going to be if you do this,’ now he says, ‘You remember you did that and God did this. That’s why.’ They’ve got 40 years almost of history that he can flesh it out with.

“He reports in chapter 31, ‘[15] And the LORD appeared in the tabernacle in a pillar of a cloud: and the pillar of the cloud stood over the door of the tabernacle.
[16] And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them.
[17] Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them; so that they will say in that day. Are not these evils come upon us, because our God is not among us?
[18] And I will surely hide my face in that day for all the evils which they shall have wrought, in that they are turned unto other gods.’

“What a prediction! ‘Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day.’ Now that’s where that term ‘that day’ comes from originally. ‘That day when I’m going to settle this issue of their rebellion!’

“Lamentation 1:12 says, ‘Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the LORD hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger.’

“Does that sound like a good thing to do? Got a bunch of laments. That’s why Jeremiah’s called ‘the weeping prophet.’ This whole book is one long dirge about the destruction of Jerusalem. Historically by Nebuchadnezzar, and prophetically by Christ at His Second Advent.

"Notice how he describes the beginning of the captivity under the heel of Nebuchadnezzar. It’s 'the day of his fierce anger.'

“You go on down through there and what you see is the Lord is destroying Israel. He’s bringing Nebuchadnezzar in. 2:17. I read that so you understand that when the captivity began, they understood it was the wrath of God; the anger of God on Israel and it was the beginning of the day of His wrath. ‘The day of the Lord’s’ been around a long time.

“Now there are some aspects in connection with the Advent; it’s called ‘the great and notable day of the Lord’ when the Lord shows Himself to be terrible. An intensified form of it. But there are a lot of phases in ‘the day of the Lord.’ And that’s why Paul lays those things out in the career there of the Antichrist in II Thessalonians 2.

“The point in verse 2 when Paul says, ‘Don’t be shaken,’ they were misidentifying what was going on there. Every time Paul used the term ‘the day of Christ,’ and taught about it, it was a happy time.”

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John, in the introduction to his book, says in verse 17, and this is John the Baptist’s actual testimony, “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.”

“You can give something to someone from a distance and in the law, distance was always the issue. In the law, there was a separation. The people stood without. The Gentiles couldn’t even come close. The nation Israel stood without and only the priests went into the temple and then only one man of all of Israel, once a year, went into the very presence of God in the Holy of Holies.

“The law required a one-two-three step separation. The law was given by Moses. It was SENT by Moses, but grace and truth CAME by Jesus Christ. You know what that is? You’re personally present. When you come somewhere, your presence arrives there. Grace wasn’t sent, you see. Grace CAME in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace isn’t given from afar; grace is something that is up close and personal because of the rise, and it focuses and comes in Jesus Christ.

“This is not some system of doctrine; some theology that you get from a distance in that you hold out for it there. This is something that COMES right in.

“Romans 3:24, I think, is the great verse in the Scripture that defines the grace of God for you. God’s grace is what He’s able to bestow upon you, in unmerited favor. It’s all that God can do for you through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ at Calvary. Everything He won there through this redemption that’s in Christ Jesus comes under this category of grace.

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“For years I’ve thought about it as . . . people talk about God’s love and ‘God so loved the world.’ ‘God commended His love toward us. A man wrote a book recently called, ‘Love Wins,’ and the idea is that in the end, God’s love is going to reconcile everybody back to Him, even the devil. And you think, ‘Wait a minute! That might be a little too much!’

“Love never lets you go. Love will never let you down. But love also doesn’t let you off. When you let someone off from responsibility for their choices and actions, you’re called an enabler. You’re not a friend. Love will stand there with you as you have to deal with the problem, but it will require you, and equip you, to deal with the problem. It won’t just push it under the rug like it isn’t real.

“He loves you with an everlasting love but there’s a problem. ‘Through the disobedience of one.’ Sin is rebellion against God—‘I’ll do it my way, not your way.’

"God will love you in spite of your sin but love isn’t all that God is. God is righteous, God is just. His throne is established in His righteousness and His justice. These are the personal attributes of God that establish what He does and who He is.

“ ‘In Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.’ The wisdom of God devised a plan that He called grace. You see, grace is not one of the characteristics of God; grace is the plan of God whereby His character can include you too. Grace is all that God’s wisdom has designed to accomplish our redemption and life. So His attributes are not in conflict with one another; they work together and so the wisdom of God made the plan.”