5:1-11 What does "the day of the Lord" here signify?
5:1-11 What does "the day of the Lord" here signify?
The Old Testament prophets used this term to designate a future event in time that would seriously affect Israel (cp Isa 2:10-17; 13:6-16; 34:8; Jer 46:10; Eze 30:1-3; Joel 1:15-20; 2:1-11; 3:1-2, 13-16; Amos 5:18-20; Obad 15; Zeph 1:7-13, 18; 2:1-3; Zech 14:1-9; Mal 4:1-6).
These scriptures all fix the day of the Lord as the great tribulation period which is followed by the battle of Armageddon and Christ's subsequent millennial kingdom - His one thousand years reign on earth.
The prediction by Isaiah in Isa 13:6, 9-10 of the darkening of the sun and moon also confirms this because that will occur during that period (cp Mt 24:29-31; Rev 6:12-17; 8:12-13).
Christians need have no fear however as 1Th 5:1-11 teaches that these events will not overtake Christians like a thief in the night because they are not children of darkness, who the events will overtake, but the children of light, and they are not appointed to go through the tribulation, as we just learned in our study on 1Th 4:13-18.
(See also comments on 1Th 4:13-18).