Zephaniah 1, The Day of the LORD

You will see that there is considerable more in Scripture on today's subject than in the previous two phrases. 

“The Day of the LORD”

DEFINITION ... a time when God sets things right, especially respecting Israel.  He cleanses them, punishes those who oppress them, then restores them.  There have been past times called "the day of the Lord" but they only foretell THE future day of the Lord.

1.    The PURPOSE of the day of the LORD.

a.     To    JUDGE    the sin of the world.  Isa. 13:6-16

b.    To    CLEANSE    Israel as God's people.   Isa.  14:1-3

c.     To    ESTABLISH    Christ as Lord. Isa  2:11-22; Phil 2:11

2.    The LOCATION of the day of the LORD.

a.     On the    EARTH   .

b.    In and around    ISRAEL   .

The "day" is a typical Jewish day, running from sunset  to sunset.  There are some things that must happen before that "day"; then there are events of the darkness, dawn and daytime.

3.    The events related to the great Day of the LORD.

a.     Before the Great Day of the Lord.

                                                             i.      The rapture of the Church, I Thess. 5:1-11.

                                                          ii.      The rise of world-wide apostasy,  II Thess. 2:1-3a.

                                                       iii.      The revelation of the man of sin,  II Thess. 2:3b-4,9-10.

                                                        iv.      The coming of the prophet Elijah, Malachi 4:5.

                                                          v.      The disturbances in the sky.  Joel 2:30-31; Rev. 6:12-17. (This is the last event before the day of the Lord.  Compare the above 2 passages for indications of this.)

b.    The darkness of the Great Day of the Lord.

                                                             i.      God's wrath on a great northern power. Joel 2:20; Ezek 38-39; Dan 11:40-45.

                                                          ii.      God's wrath on the nation Israel.  Zeph. 1:7-13, 14-18.

                                                       iii.      God's wrath on Gentile nations.  Zeph 2:1-15; Isa. 13:6-16

c.     The dawn of the Great Day of the Lord.

                                                             i.      The second coming of Christ.  Zech. 12:10-14

                                                          ii.      The battle of Armageddon. Zech 14:1-8,12-15; Joel 3:9-17; Ps110

                                                       iii.      The doom of the man of sin.  IIThess.2:8

d.    The daytime of the Great Day of the Lord.

                                                             i.      Resurrection of saints.  Isa 26:19; Dan12:1-2; Rev. 20:4-6

                                                          ii.      Regathering of Israel.  Amos 9:11-15

                                                       iii.      Judgment of Israel.  Malachi 3:2-3,17

                                                        iv.      Restoration of Israel. Isa 14:1-3; 52:6; Hos 2:14-23; Isa 12:1-6

                                                          v.      Judgment of the nations.  Mat. 25:31-46; Joel 3:9-17

                                                        vi.      Reign of Jesus over all the earth.  Zech 14:9,16; Isa. 9:6-7

We will have a few things to add about this in our next post.  For now I hope this framework will be helpful in understanding the prophets of the OT.