Many times across the Old and New Testament, something called the "day of the Lord" is brought up in an eschatological context. The eventual destruction of the old universe by fire as mentioned in 2 Peter 3 in connection with the day of the Lord, for example, is plainly a futurist event according to the Bible. So too is the elevation of Jerusalem, the mass submission to Mosaic Law, and the absence of warfare as described in Isaiah 2:1-5, which is all said to take place in the last days. Though these prophecies do not have the phrase day of the Lord, they are said to occur in the last days, and shortly after, Isaiah 2 mentions extreme upheaval of the world from God using language like "in that day" (2:17), which is related to the wording found elsewhere referring to the day of the Lord.
Amos 5:18 emphasizes that there is much to dread about that day, saying "Woe to those who long for the day of the Lord!" This "day," though it becomes clear from the many references to it throughout both testaments that it is very likely not at all a single day, will be like a person fleeing from a lion only to meet a bear (5:19). It is called a day of darkness and not one of light. Similar in its description of utter apocalyptic devastation and yet far more elaborate, Isaiah 24 says there will come a time when humans are scarce in the world (24:6, 13), punished by God to the point of near-extinction for their moral violations (24:5) [1].
During this period, Isaiah says that the planet is split up and vehemently shaken so that the land reels like a drunkard and sways like a "hut in the wind" (24:19-20). It will be the same for masters or mistresses and their servants, for buyers and sellers, and for priests and the common people (24:2). No one escapes the severity on the basis of their economic class. However, not absolutely everything about the day of the Lord is said to be negative; 2 Peter 3:10-13, for instance, says that following the destruction of the cosmos by fire—not with water because God promised to never use a deluge to kill sinners on such a mass scale again (Genesis 9:8-17, 2 Peter 3:5-7)—will come the new heavens and new earth that Isaiah 65 and Revelation 21-22 speak of. Depending on which group a person falls into, that of the punished wicked or the righteous, the day of the Lord and its aftermath could be either thoroughly dreadful or joyful.
For those referenced in Isaiah 2:10-17, it will be a disaster, one that compels them to flee to caves and caverns to escape what seems to be an earthquake initiated by Yahweh. For those who experience the actual Biblical rapture at the Second Coming [2], from that point onward, it would be a glorious, liberating thing—not that it will be easy for followers of Yahweh and Christ up until that moment. However, at least one passage seemingly frames the day of the Lord, which is not necessarily any singular day, as continuing even after the Second Coming, describing the wicked as being burned to ashes (Malachi 4:1-3). As an eschatological event, these verses would correspond to the wicked literally being burned to ashes in Gehenna, or the lake or fire, also called hell (Matthew 10:28, 2 Peter 2:6, and so on), which is after the resurrection, which is itself after the Second Coming.
Are there any indicators said to precede this day of the Lord? The occasional verse does speak of events that occur ahead of this period. Malachi 4:5 says that Elijah will be sent by God before the day of the Lord, adding that this day is great and dreadful, so this prophecy pertains to eschatology in that its contents are fulfilled first (though the gospels teach in verses like Matthew 17:11-13 that, in one sense at a minimum, John the Baptist was Elijah). Likewise, Joel 2:31 describes the sun as turning to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the "great and dreadful" day of the Lord. Again, the Old Testament stresses that it will be dreadful, for the wicked, at least, though not without some sort of prophetic buildup.
While I address why this verse from Joel is distinctly eschatological despite the text saying this, like the sending of Elijah, will arrive "before" the day of the Lord in a later article, Joel does not contain the only warning about the general subject that is incredibly dire. In their emotionalistic frenzy to welcome the events of Biblical eschatology (although they make many assumptions and errors, such as that discussed here [2]), some who identify as Christians overlook the clear cautionary statements about longing for many portions of the last days. Despite how many people who call themselves Christians are just deluding themselves anyway because they do not represent Christianity at all with their theistic irrationalism, gender complementarianism, anti-theonomy, and so forth, perhaps they assume that they would not be among those suffering if they were truly going to live in the eschatological future. If only it was so simple!
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