The Day of Yahweh

The Day of Yahweh

 

One of the most pervasive notes played in the Old Testament is “the Day of Yahweh.”  And it is a note that is played both in major and minor key.  And we should not be surprised that it can describe many partial fulfillments and an ultimate fulfillment, just like the conflict between the Seed of the woman and the Serpent.  The Day of Yahweh is the time when Yahweh comes in judgment to bring justice to the earth.

 

Immediate Days of Yahweh

Isaiah 7 describes a more immediate Day of Yahweh, in which Judah, the southern of the two kingdoms Israel and Judah, is guaranteed that her judgment will come in the form of Assyrian conquest.  Ahaz, the king of Judah at the time of this prophetic word from Isaiah, has been terrified by the alliance of Israel, the northern Jewish kingdom, and Syria, an alliance that threatens Judah with war.  Yahweh tells Ahaz through Isaiah that this alliance will come to nothing and offers him the sign that the son of the virgin will only be a few years old when this alliance collapses.  But Ahaz allies himself with Assyria to strengthen his hand against Israel and Syria (2 Kings 16:5-9).  Isaiah must tell him that it is Assyria who is his worst enemy, and who, in the days of Hezekiah, comes and threatens Jerusalem itself with destruction and defeat.  Here is the prophecy:

¹⁷ [Yahweh] will bring on you, your people, and your father’s house such a time as has never been since Ephraim separated from Judah: He will bring the king of Assyria.”

¹⁸ On that day

[Yahweh] will whistle to flies

at the farthest streams of the Nile

and to bees in the land of Assyria.

¹⁹ All of them will come and settle

in the steep ravines, in the clefts of the rocks,

in all the thornbushes, and in all the water holes.

²⁰ On that day [Yahweh] will use a razor hired from beyond the Euphrates River—the king of Assyria—to shave the hair on your heads, the hair on your legs, and even your beards.

²¹ On that day

a man will raise a young cow and two sheep,

²² and from the abundant milk they give

he will eat curds,

for every survivor in the land will eat curds and honey.

²³ And on that day

every place where there were a thousand vines,

worth a thousand pieces of silver,

will become thorns and briers.

²⁴ A man will go there with bow and arrows

because the whole land will be thorns and briers.

²⁵ You will not go to all the hills

that were once tilled with a hoe,

for fear of the thorns and briers.

Those hills will be places for oxen to graze

and for sheep to trample. (Isaiah 7:17-25, CSB)

We can see critical elements of the Day of Yahweh include a time of distress for God’s people that comes from Yahweh’s judgment, in this case flies from the Nile (the Egyptians) and bees and razor from beyond the Euphrates (the Assyrians), the two superpowers of their day meeting in battle in a trampled  Judah.  But even in the midst of this promised judgment there is a positive promise that there will be survivors whose needs will be met by Yahweh.  These are the minor and major keys of the Day of Yahweh.  Because of God’s covenant with Israel He will never totally abandon them to destruction.

Jeremiah 12:3; 50:31; Lamentations 1:12; 2:1,22; Ezekiel 30; Joel 1:15; 2:1, 11; Amos 4:2; 5:18-20; 8:11; Obadiah 1:8,15; and Haggai 2:23 all predict more immediate days of Yahweh in which God punishes His people but also restores the ones who are true believers, the remnant He always keeps to maintain the nation He has promised to make sovereign among all nations and mediator of His knowledge (Jeremiah 3:14-18; Zechariah 10-14).

 

The Ultimate Day of Yahweh

These two aspects of the Day of Yahweh are anticipated in the ultimate Day of Yahweh, the final judgment, in which Yahweh Himself will come personally to carry out both the judgment and the deliverance/restoration.  Several prophets speak of this final Day of Yahweh:

28 After this

I will pour out my Spirit on all humanity;

then your sons and your daughters will prophesy,

your old men will have dreams,

and your young men will see visions.

29 I will even pour out my Spirit

on the male and female slaves in those days.

30 I will display wonders

in the heavens and on the earth:

blood, fire, and columns of smoke.

31 The sun will be turned to darkness

and the moon to blood

before the great and terrible day of [Yahweh] comes.

32 Then everyone who calls

on the name of [Yahweh] will be saved,

for there will be an escape

for those on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,

as [Yahweh] promised,

among the survivors [Yahweh] calls. (Joel 2:28-32, CSB)

It will be a “great and terrible” day, a day when the heavens are filled with “blood, fire and columns of smoke,” a typical way of saying that the natural functions of earth will be interrupted by divine judgment.  But for those who call on the name of Yahweh and are saved, there will be a way of escape from the judgment.  They will be a remnant of survivors who maintain their identity as the nation of Israel.

¹⁸ Woe to you who long for the day of [Yahweh]!

What will the day of [Yahweh] be for you?

It will be darkness and not light.

¹⁹ It will be like a man who flees from a lion

only to have a bear confront him.

He goes home and rests his hand against the wall

only to have a snake bite him.

²⁰ Won’t the day of [Yahweh]

be darkness rather than light,

even gloom without any brightness in it?

²¹ I hate, I despise, your feasts!

I can’t stand the stench

of your solemn assemblies.

²² Even if you offer me

your burnt offerings and grain offerings,

I will not accept them;

I will have no regard

for your fellowship offerings of fattened cattle.

²³ Take away from me the noise of your songs!

I will not listen to the music of your harps.

²⁴ But let justice flow like water,

and righteousness, like an unfailing stream.  (Amos 5:18-24, CSB)

Israel knows that this final Day of Yahweh will mean blessing for them, an elevation of their nation to primacy among all nations, the day when Yahweh finally makes them secure and prosperous and a leader to the nations.  But Amos must warn them that it will begin with judgment, will be a time of darkness and not light initially, because of their having the form of godliness but not the substance.  It will be a judgment on their failure to show justice and righteousness, a judgment on their unfaithfulness to Yahweh (see 5:25,26).

 

Characteristics of the Day of Yahweh

The witness of the prophets to this Day of Yahweh show some startling and initially seemingly contradictory characteristics:

• It will be a time in which the arrogance of the wicked is brought low, and Yahweh is exalted (Isaiah 2:11,12,17; 28:5; 60:19,20).
• It will be a time in which the Branch of Yahweh is exalted (Isaiah 4:2; Jeremiah 23:5; Zechariah 9:9-10), preceded by Elijah (Malachi 4:5). This is the ultimate Seed of the Woman, the Servant of Yahweh so identified in Isaiah 49:8, the Messiah.  This is the day on which Yahweh’s feet will touch on the Mount of Olives, the place from which Jesus ascended and the angels said he would also return, and the mountain is split in two (Zechariah 14:4).  This is why the Day of Yahweh is called, in the New Testament, the Day of Christ (1 Corinthians 1:8; Philippians 1:6,10; 2:16) or the Day of the Lord Jesus (2 Corinthians 1:14).
• It will be a time in which the nations are gathered against Israel (Zechariah 12:1-9) to judge her, a time of destruction for Jerusalem (Isaiah 22:5-25; Jeremiah 7:32; 15:9; 19:6; Lamentations 1:12;2:1,22; Ezekial 7:1-19; 12:23-25; 13:5; Zechariah 14:2) but also a time in which Yahweh will lead the Israelites in battle (Zechariah 9:11-17; 14:14; Malachi 4:3). This seems contradictory until we realize that…
• This will also be a time of Israel’s national repentance (Zechariah 12:10-14) and healing (Isaiah 30:26; Zechariah 3:9; 13:1-2). It will be a time of purging her from idolatry.
• And so it will be a time of abundance in the land (Isaiah 4:2; Joel 3:18; Amos 9:11ff; Zechariah 3:10; 8:9-13,19; 14:1,14), an outpouring of the Spirit (Joel 2:28ff), a time of protection (Isaiah 4:5; Zechariah 8:4-8; 14:3,10-11), and a time of favor and comfort to Israel (Isaiah 61:2; Jeremiah 23:6; Micah 4:1; Zechariah 8:4-8), Israel’s restoration (Jeremiah 5:18; 16:14; 30:3,8; 31:27-28,38; 38-39; Joel 3:1-3; Zechariah 14:2ff; Malachi 4:1f).
• It will be a time in which the remnant of Israel return to the land, trusting Yahweh (Isaiah 10:20; 11:11; 27:12,13; Jeremiah 3:14,18), as well as when her former enemies come to Yahweh in faith and submission to Israel (Isaiah 19:16-21; Jeremiah 48:47; 49:39; Micah 4:1; Zechariah 2:11; 8:20-23; 14:16-19), because the knowledge of Yahweh has filled the earth (Jeremiah 3:15; 31:33; Joel 3:17)
• It will be a time of vengeance against the nations initially (Isaiah 24:21; 34:8; 61:2; 63:1; Jeremiah 46:10; 47:4; 49:2; Joel 2:18-30; 3:1-3; 3:4,14,19-21; Obadiah 1:8,15; Zephaniah 3:8; 9:1-8; 14:12), as for Israel.
• It will be a time of punishment for host of heaven (Isaiah 24:21), Satan and his fallen angels (Revelation 12,19,20), for their own rebellion and their role in leading humans in rebellion (the Serpent and the seed of the Serpent, the crushing of his head, Genesis 3:15).
• It will be the time of Yahweh’s throne established in Jerusalem (Jesus’ throne to be most exact, Jeremiah 3:17; Zechariah 8:1-3; 14:9; Revelation 20), a time in which the new temple is built (Ezekiel 40-44; Zechariah 14:20-21; Malachi 3:4), during the millennium (Revelation 20), to be followed by the new heaven and new earth remaking and the coming of the heavenly Jerusalem to earth, in which there will be no temple, but the Father and the Son are the temple (Jeremiah 3:16; Revelation 21)

 

The Setting Up of Two Ages

It is no surprise, then, that the anticipation of this ultimate Day of Yahweh leads Israel to think in terms of two ages that comprise all of history, the present age, in which Israel lives in anticipation of the fulfillment of Yahweh’s promises, and the age to come, inaugurated by the Day of Yahweh, in which all Yahweh’s promises are fulfilled.