These are some of the correspondencies. There are others which the Bible student can find by careful comparison

and altogether it demonstrates that chapters 2 and 3 are a vital part of the book and are linked with the remaining

To separate them as some do, and make them into periods of history covering the present age is to trivialise their

message. There must, first of all, be something directly in common between the symbol and what it represents and

there is none between the conception of a church and a period of history. In any case, those who adopt such

interpretations cannot agree as to what period of time fits each of the churches and as most of them believe in an

`any moment' Second Advent of the Lord clearly this would be impossible if long periods of history had to run their

course before the time represented by the last church Laodicea, came into being.

Just what does John mean when he says `I was in the spirit on the Lord's Day'? Does he mean that on one

Sunday he received the visions he describes? If so then this is the only New Testament Scripture that gives the day

of the week on which it was written and this does not give us useful information as to its date when the month and

the year are left out. In view of these facts one wonders why it was included at all, for it does not yield any basic

help as to the interpretation of the book.

We should also ask ourselves, would those to whom the book was addressed understand the expression to mean

Sunday? The answer is a definite `no' for the simple reason that our Sunday is always described in the New

Testament as `the first day of the week' (Matt. 28:1; Mark 16:2,9; Luke 24:1; John 20:1,19; Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:2).

There is no evidence of any kind that Sunday was called the Lord's day before the Revelation was written and as

Revelation 1:10 is the only occurrence in the Bible of the words `the Lord's day' we cannot use this in the argument.

In fact there is no clear ground in early Christian literature for calling Sunday the Lord's day until nearly a century

later. If John had wanted to convey the thought that one Sunday he received a revelation from God, then he had the

normal expression, namely, `the first day of the week', which would have been understood by all.

The expression `the Lord's day' must mean the same thing as `the Day of the Lord'; the difference lies only in the

emphasis. As this is so, we definitely have Scripture usage as a guide, for this latter phrase occurs 16 times in the

Old Testament and 4 times in the New. A parallel expression is found in 1 Corinthians 4:3 which literally reads

`man's day' as the margin indicates, the construction being the same as Revelation 1:10. `Man's day' means the day

when man is judging, as is shown by the context. Revelation 1:10 takes us to a future time when God and not man

shall be the judge, when God will be exalted and man abased (see its first occurrence in Isaiah 2:10-22 and notice

the likeness to Rev. 6).

The Old Testament `Day of the Lord' is consistently set forth as a solemn day of wrath, judgment, destruction

and darkness. It is not used once as a time of peace and blessing. Isaiah 13:6-13 is typical:

`Howl ye (referring to Babylon), for the Day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the

Verses 9-13 come close to the imagery of the Revelation:

`Behold, the Day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger ... for the stars of heaven and the

constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall

not cause her light to shine ... in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of His fierce anger' (see Matt.

Joel likewise describes this day or period:

`Alas for the Day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come' (1:15).

`... For the Day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand; A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds

and of thick darkness ...' (2:1,2),

and all the other occurrences are in line with this conception of judgment and wrath. It is a time when God breaks

into history and takes an evident hand in world affairs at the height of its darkness, wickedness and rejection of