one way of referring to it is “the day of judgment” (II Pet. 2:9). In line with this is its designation as “the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God” (Rom. 2:5). By con trast it may be thought of as “the day of redemption” (Eph. 4:30). Again, its connection with the deity may be stressed, for on that day God’s action will be manifested as never before.- Thus we find “the day of God” (II Pet. 3:12), “The day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6), “The day of the Lord Jesus” (I Cor. 5:5), “The day of our Lord Jesus Christ” (I Cor. 1:8). It may be simply “that day” (II Thess. 1:10), or “the last day” (John 6:39f.), or “the great day” (Jude 6). It is clear that the men of the New Testament found a large place for the events of that day, and that it was a major concept for them. The event is vividly before Paul’s mind and he makes use of the present tense rather than the future (“com eth”). Yet for all that it is so vivid to his mental vision, he knows full well that its coming will be totally unex pected. In this we see the combination of two strands of teaching which are common throughout the New Testa ment. On the one hand the day is cer tain, and believers must be continually expecting it. The Lord comes “quickly” (Rev. 22:20). Yet none can know when it will be (Mark 13:32). It will come upon men unexpectedly. It will come as “a thief in the night.” The compari son to the coming of a thief is found elsewhere, but this is the only place where “in the night” is added. The ad dition completes the picture of a whol ly unheralded approach, devastating in its unexpectedness. This does away with all date fixing. However, the surprise will be for the unbelieving world rather than for Christians. The latter are supposed to be awake and on the watch. This is not so with unbelievers: “When they are saying, peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them.” This false sense of security preceding His return was pictured by our Lord. As in the days of Noah, immediately (continued on next page) 21
the one we are considering means that Paul was quite happy with the way the converts had learned this part of their lesson. It is not beyond the bounds of pos sibility that there were some who had been disturbed when they saw some of the believers die, not only as to what would be the fate of such when the Lord comes again, but also as to whether they themselves would live through to see the great day. Yet this did not mean that they were un sound on the matter of “the times and the seasons.” They knew quite well that there was no way of predicting when the great event would take place, but they had been reminded of their own mortality. They feared lest they lose their place in the Parousia. Paul’s answer to the previous difficulty should have cleared up the position for such people. But he leaves nothing to chance. He reminds them of what they already knew on this subject, and helps them to relate this knowledge to their cur rent problem,” says Leon Morris. There was “no need,” not because these times and seasons were known, but because he had previously taught them that the time never had been revealed. “Yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.” “The day of the Lord” means “the day of Christ’s return.” It will be as unexpected and surprising as the entrance into a home by a thief at night. The coming day is spoken of as “the day of the Lord.” This is a very ancient expression, for it was already well known in the time of Amos. That pro phet mentioned it for the express pur pose of refuting erroneous ideas about it that were current (Amos 5:18). The idea was thus older than his day, and perhaps considerably older. The point that Amos made was that the day would be one of judgment upon all men. The Israelites could expect to be punished then for their sins, just as they expected that other people would be punished. This thought of final judg ment carries over into the New Tes tament understanding of the day, and
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