 |  |
The "sanctified ones" of verse 3 need not refer to saints, but to any set apart for a
particular work. The immediate reference may have been to the Medes and Persians that
conquered Babylon, but the fact that the prophecy immediately runs on to the day of the
Lord, shows that the full significance of this passage is future. "The sanctified" and the
"mighty ones" may refer to the angelic powers that will be marshaled against Babylon at
the time of the end.
"The Day of the Lord is at hand" (Isa. 13: 6).
The term "The day of the Lord" occurs first of all in chapter 2: 12 when the Lord
alone shall be exalted (verses 11 and 17). There are twenty such occurrences, sixteen of
them simply reading Yom Jehovah, "Day of Jehovah", and four Yom l'Jehovah, "Day
for Jehovah". In the New Testament is occurs four times, making a total of twenty-four,
all divided in fours or multiples of four. At some time or another we ought to set out
these references, and so we will make sure that the reader is acquainted with them and
their contexts by setting them out here and now.
"The Day of the Lord."
(1) YOM JEHOVAH.--A DAY OF THE LORD.
"Howl ye; for the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the
Almighty" (Isa. 13: 6).
"Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger . . . . .
stars . . . . . sun . . . . . moon . . . . . shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove"
(Isa. 13: 9-13).
"Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel
to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord" (Ezek. 13: 5).
"Alas for the day! for the day of the Lord is at hand, and as a destruction from the
Almighty it shall come" (Joel 1: 15).
"For the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand. A day of darkness" (Joel 2: 1, 2).
"For the day of the Lord is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?" (Joel 2: 11).
"The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and
terrible day of the Lord come" (Joel 2: 31).
"For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon shall
be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining . . . . . heavens and the earth shall
shake" (Joel 3: 14-16).
"Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord! to what end is it for you? the day of
the Lord is darkness and not light. As if a man did flee from a lion . . . . . bear . . . . .
serpent . . . . . Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness and not light" (Amos 5: 18-20).
"For the day of the Lord is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be
done unto thee; thy reward shall return upon thine own head" (Obadiah 15).
"Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord God: for the day of the Lord is at hand:
for the Lord hath prepared a sacrifice, He hath bid His guests" (Zeph. 1: 7).
"The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the
day of the Lord: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly" (Zeph. 1: 14).
"Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and
dreadful day of the Lord" (mal. 4: 5).