Page 207 - The Rapture Question by John F. Walvoord

The Rapture Question: Revised and Enlarged Edition
tempting to deal directly in any major way with human sin.
Hence the Rapture could well be the end of the day of grace
and the beginning of the day of the Lord. The day of grace, all
agree, is followed by a period in which God docs deal directly
with human sin in a series of judgments continuing into the
millennial kingdom, which will be also a period in which God
deals directly with human sin. All agree also that after the
Millennium the eternal state begins, which is another “day”
that some believe is designated as "the day of God” (2 Peter
3:12), the eternal day.
Before determining the significance of 1 Thessalonians 5
in relation to eschatology as a whole, it is necessary to estab­
lish firmly exactly what the day of the Lord is as it is variously
described in the Bible. It is strange that so many expositions of
1 Thessalonians 5 do not establish a definition of the day of the
Lord and do not take into consideration the specific facts fur­
nished in the Old Testament as well as in the New.
The Old Testament Doctrine of
the Day of the Lord
A study of numerous Old Testament references to the day
of the Lord and “the day,” as it is sometimes called, should
make clear to anyone who respects the details of prophecy that
the designation denotes an extensive time of divine judgment
on the world. Among the texts are Isaiah 2:12-21; 13:9-16;
34:1-8; Joel 1:15-2:11, 28-32; 3:9-12; Amos 5:18-20; Obadiah
15-17; Zephaniah 1:7-18.
Examination of these references indicates, for example,
that Isaiah 2 predicts divine judgment will fall on the wicked.
The passage could be applied to the Old Testament captivity,
now past, or it could be applied to a future time in connection
with the second coming of Christ. The main characteristic of
the day of the Lord brought out in this passage is judgment on
man who has been living in rebellion against God. It is clear
that the judgment is more than a single twenty-four-hour day
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