The following "Question" was asked by a member of the congregation at Grace Community Church in Panorama City, California, and "Answered" by their pastor, John MacArthur Jr. It was transcribed from the tape, GC 70-5, titled "Bible Questions and Answers."  A copy of the tape can be obtained by writing, Word of Grace, P.O. Box 4000, Panorama City, CA 91412 or by dialing toll free 1-800-55-GRACE.  Copyright John MacArthur Jr., All Rights Reserved.

Question

I want to ask you a question about the term the "Day of the Lord."  I was always looking forward to that, in a sense as a good thing to come, and then as I started looking in it I don't think it's a very good thing.  I am glad that I won't be here for that, but in Amos 5:18, when it says, "Woe unto you that desire the Day of the Lord," an so I have a little confusion with it.

Answer

Let me tell you just basically and I will give it to just as simply as I can.  Let me put it this way, simply: the Day of the Lord is any day when the Lord moves in wrath and judgment.  It is not purely an eschatological term related to the Second Coming.  It is a broad enough term when referring to the Second Coming to encompass some good things, like the rapture of the Church and the glory of the saints.  But the Day of the Lord is primarily a judgment term.  It is as if it is contrasted to the day of man.  You got you day buddy, but God is going to have His day.  And in His the essence of it is judgment.  Now, I believe that in the past there have been many Days of the Lord.   Every time God moved in, in a holocaust of judgment to one degree or another, that was the Day of the Lord.  I think there is coming in the future a great Day of the Lord, which will have some good features to it, but which by virtue of the title, "The Day of the Lord," really puts an emphasis on judgment.