Page 206 - The Rapture Question by John F. Walvoord

The Rapture in 1 Thessalonians 5
2 Thessalonians 2, where the narrower definition of the second
category is illustrated. As this classification is not recognized
by most posttribulationists and some pretribulationists, care­
ful attention should be paid to every indication in 1 Thessalo­
nians 5 as to the nature of the day of the Lord.
As many references to the day of the Lord make clear, the
period involved is not a twenty-four-hour day but rather an
extended period of time—although the symbolism of a
twenty-four-hour day is in view. Significantly the article the is
not found in 1 Thessalonians 5, and therefore the phrase could
be translated “a day of the Lord,” in contrast to days of the
Lord already fulfilled in the past.
References to the day of the Lord, not actually a literal
day, have in mind the symbolism of a day beginning at mid­
night and extending through twenty-four hours to the next
midnight. In this symbolism, the following points can be
noted: (1) the day of the Lord indicates that the preceding day
has ended as a time period and a new time period has begun;
(2) an ordinary day is usually a period of time that, at its
beginning, is without major events—that is, people normally
sleep from midnight until daybreak; (3) with the coming of the
daylight, or after the time period is somewhat advanced,
major events begin as the program for the day unfolds—as in
a sense the day “comes to life” with daylight rather than
at midnight; (4) as the morning hours of the day unfold,
the major activities of the day take place, climaxing in the
events of the evening hours; (5) as a twenty-four-hour day
ends at midnight, so a new day follows with a new series
of events.
If the symbolism of a twenty-four-hour day is followed,
the various facts revealed in Scriptures relating to the day of
the Lord begin to take on meaning and relationship. In its
broadest dimension, the day of the Lord follows the present
day of grace in which God is fulfilling both His work of salva­
tion by grace and His rule of life by grace; God is not at-
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