The Day of YHWH I. Prayer II. Introduction A. We live in a time and age infatuated with apocalyptic doom 1. In how many movies is the earth all but destroyed? 2. Earthquakes, ice storms, aliens, zombies, etc. B. Such is probably a statement of anxiety in late capitalism 1. We recognize, deep down, that what we have is about as good as it gets 2. Thus, the only way to go is "down" with poorer quality of life 3. We watch stories of disasters lest we live through a disaster C. And yet Amos 5:18-20 should ring in our ears: we do not want to experience a Day of YHWH! D. We do well to explore the Day of YHWH 1. What is a Day of YHWH? 2. What examples of days of YHWH exist in Scripture? 3. Would days of YHWH still exist while Jesus is Lord? 4. Might we experience a Day of YHWH? 5. Is the Day of YHWH the end of the world? III. The Day of YHWH A. The prophets to Israel spoke of a "day of YHWH" as a day of judgment, a day in which YHWH would pour out His wrath and anger (e.g. Isaiah 13:6, 9, 61:2, Jeremiah 46:10, Lamentations 2:22) B. Days of YHWH would come as judgments against the nations 1. Based on Amos 1:1-2:16, many think that prophetic warnings of days of YHWH were first and foremost against the nations for what they had done to Israel; it was thus disconcerting when the prophets would then warn Israel about a similar fate 2. Isaiah 13:6-13, 14:3, Jeremiah 46:10: against Babylon C. Days of YHWH would also come against God's own people, Israel and Judah 1. Hosea, Amos: against Israel 2. Jeremiah, Ezekiel: against Judah D. We can see major events considered to be "Days of YHWH" in Scripture, both against Israel and against the nations 1. The Day of YHWH against Aram and Israel, 732-722 (Isaiah 7:1-14, Hosea, Amos) 2. The Day of YHWH against Assyria, 609 (Isaiah 10:5-19, Nahum) 3. The Day of YHWH against Judah, 586 (Jeremiah 1-45, 52, Ezekiel 1-33) 4. The Day of YHWH against Egypt, 525 (Ezekiel 29-32) 5. The Day of YHWH against Tyre, 333 (Ezekiel 26-28) 6. The vindication of the Son of Man against Jerusalem, 70 CE (Matthew 24:1-36) E. What would the Day of YHWH look like? 1. We can see what the Day of YHWH is like from what happened in the previous events 2. A land might experience a series of droughts and famines, pestilences or plagues (Jeremiah 14:12, 24:10, Ezekiel 5:17) 3. A land would be overrun by an enemy force which would destroy it (Ezekiel 5:1-17, 14:17) 4. Consider Joel's prophecy and warning: the Day of YHWH as a pestilence of locusts or an army (Joel 1:1-3:21) 5. In all of these things, YHWH works through natural forces and human armies; on a historical level, one might explain such events entirely in climatological and socio-political terms F. YHWH and the Day of YHWH 1. How does YHWH accomplish the Day of YHWH, and why? 2. He might well use His powers over the forces of the universe to cause specific climatological events to take place: volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, locust swarms, drought, floods, etc. (e.g. Genesis 6-9, Exodus 6-14, 1 Kings 17-18) 3. Yet it also might well be that God has so created the earth to have within it certain trends and responses to behaviors that precipitate ecological crisis a. Long term climate trends can be perceived; if humans have grown too abundant or exploited too much of a given resource, they may suffer greatly when trends change b. Diseases present in animals may get communicated to mankind and cause pandemics c. Overexploitation of a resource may lead to its extinction 4. In terms of humans, God may cause certain nations to rise and others to fall, yet all generally do so according to the terms of humanity: as they have done to others, so it will be done to them, as evidenced in Habakkuk 5. The Day of YHWH is a day of revelation and humiliation: the pride of man is lowered, God's justice is dispensed, people see their weaknesses and frailty exposed G. But so it was for Israel; what about now? III. Days of YHWH under the Kingdom of Christ? A. The life, death, resurrection, ascension, and reign/kingdom of Jesus of Nazareth were a cosmologically profound series of events, leading to many changes in how God works among mankind (Colossians 1:12-23) B. Thus, can we have any confidence that there would be any "Days of YHWH"? C. We have spoken of the vindication of Jesus as the Son of Man in the destruction of Jerusalem: fulfilling Matthew 24:1-36 and a host of other passages, a visitation of judgment by God upon His people, very much in the "old style" D. Most emphasis on judgment in the New Testament looks forward to the final day, when the Lord Jesus returns and judges the living and the dead on the day of resurrection (Matthew 24:37-25:46, Acts 17:30-31, Romans 2:5-11, 8:18-23, 1 Corinthians 15:1-58, Philippians 3:20-21, 2 Thessalonians 1:6-9, Revelation 20:11-22:6) E. Yet when we look in Revelation, John perceives patterns of judgment for Rome which are spoken of in terms of the "Days of YHWH" of old 1. Revelation 20:11-22:6 represents the least ambiguous judgment scene that looks like a final judgment; perhaps also Revelation 11:15-19 2. Yet well before then, before the "millennium," John is shown judgments spoken of in terms like the Days of YHWH 3. Revelation 6-11: judgment scenes portrayed like the plagues of Egypt, the locust swarms of Joel, etc. 4. Revelation 13-19: judgment against the beast, false prophet, and whore Babylon as the pouring out of the unmixed cup of the wrath of God, also in terms of plagues and what the prophets promised Israel and the nations F. The history of the Roman Empire after John's vision supports the conclusion that Rome itself saw a "Day of YHWH" 1. When John saw Revelation Rome was predominantly pagan, as had been almost all cultures and societies beforehand; they were the beneficiaries of a rich and developed civilization which they thought would never end, and why would they? 2. The series of events which would begin transpiring after 150 would profoundly change all of that 3. The Antonine Plague of 165-180 caused great distress in the Empire, and weakened the army and trade 4. After 235 the leadership of the Empire was constantly weak, with few moments of strong, robust, centralized leadership; emperors constantly being proclaimed and fighting among one another, depleting army resources, sapping nerve and strength 5. The Cyprian Plague of 249-262 was even worse than the Antonine, reducing the population of Alexandria by 62%, leading to reduced manpower and resources 6. Throughout this whole time the Roman Warm Period was ending; a global cooling, caused by natural variations in Earth's orbit as well as volcanic eruptions, would reach its nadir in the middle of the sixth century; fields were not as fertile, famine and drought became difficulties in many places 7. Plague, famine, and perceived weakness led to invasions by the "barbarians" from the north; the Sassanid Empire had arisen from the ashes of the Parthians in Persia, and would defeat many Roman armies in the 3rd century 8. The Roman Empire of 280 might have been around the same size as the one in 180, yet looked profoundly different; more localized, more fearful, more authoritarian 9. Things would not improve terribly in the 4th century: more invasions of "barbarians," leading to the division of the Empire and the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the fifth century 10. The legacy of Rome would last in many ways in both West and East, but by 600 the judgment on Rome prophesied in Revelation had come to pass; in many respects "civilization" did not "recover" from the collapse of Rome fully until the 19th century G. These events which took place in Roman history bear the hallmarks of the prophetic "days of YHWH": a series of disasters, natural and artificial, internal and external, which brought a proud, haughty society to utter ruin, and all of which could be explained without any reference to God or His work if so desired H. If such a "day of YHWH" was visited upon Rome according to what was made known in Revelation, and even Revelation speaks of these things in terms of the kinds of judgments seen by the prophets regarding earlier nation-states, and thus these judgments follow a series of patterns, and since Jesus remains Lord, we can explore the possibility that other nation-states have seen a "day of YHWH" 1. In all that we have seen so far we have seen explicit prophecies directed at specific peoples and nations in specific timeframes; regarding them we are on more firm ground 2. Going beyond this, either backwards or forwards, means that we recognize a more speculative realm: while we can know that Jesus is Lord of lords and King of kings, and God causes nations to rise and fall according to His purposes (Jeremiah 18:7-10, Ephesians 3:11, Hebrews 13:8, Revelation 19:16), we cannot know for certain if God is behind these events specifically for specific reasons 3. After Rome we have seen a series of nation-states rise and fall according to similar patterns, arrogating against God's purposes, being humbled by natural and artificial disasters, from internal and external sources: medieval fiefdoms, Spain, the Hapsburgs, France, England, the Nazis, the USSR, etc. 4. Even in the United States of America we can see more of whore Babylon than we might care to admit (Revelation 17-18) I. Thus, even if we cannot know if any specific event or series of events represents a "day of YHWH" against a nation, or what specific purposes might be accomplished in such a judgment, we yet do well to not just assume that whatever events take place are natural happenstance or just can be explained through socio-political forces: in all such things we must explore whether and how God will get the glory IV. The End of the World vs. the End of a World A. A big handicap people have is the expectation that God's judgments bring about the end of the world 1. People have allowed the most drastic interpretation of apocalyptic passages inform how they view God's judgment 2. Thus, people expect to see the sun darkened, the moon turned to blood, ten plagues and disasters at once, and then the universe to melt, bringing the end of the world (e.g. Joel 2:28-32, 2 Peter 3:1-13) 3. But when we see the referent in the prophets to such events, they are not literally the end of the world: they represent changes in kingdoms and rule, the interruption of the status quo (e.g. Ezekiel 32:7-8, 11, Acts 2:14-36) 4. Even 2 Peter 3:1-11, the "destruction of the world" is paralleled to the Flood: the world was not literally, physically destroyed in the flood, and Romans 8:18-23 gives hope that the world will be more transformed than destroyed when the Lord returns B. Thus, when apocalyptic prophesies are rightly interpreted, they seem disappointing to many people expecting far more Hollywood style magic and fireworks C. And yet we should not diminish or downplay what takes place in a Day of YHWH: the world might not end, but it does represent the end of a world 1. Consider all the "Days of YHWH" discussed beforehand; they all represented a major shift in the way people lived 2. Kingdoms which had existed for hundreds, sometimes thousands, of years were destroyed; their pride humbled, their glory now in ruins 3. For all the people who experienced a Day of YHWH, it might not have been the end of the world, but it certainly was the end of their world: consider Israel and Judah humbled and exiled; Assyria no longer a going concern; Egypt, the stable kingdom of 2600 years, would now spend almost another 2600 years under the dominion of others; the Romans, once the rulers of the world, watching their empire crumble around them D. Therefore, even if the Day of YHWH is not as "apocalyptic" as many might think, it is sufficiently "apocalyptic" for those who endure it; if we experienced the horrors they did, we might better appreciate the metaphors used in the Bible to describe them! V. The Day of YHWH: Revelation and Renewal A. As we have seen, a Day of YHWH is a time of judgment and distress; it is the end of a world, even if not the end of the world B. Days of YHWH are rightly seen as apocalyptic in the truest sense of that term 1. Apocalypse: Greek apokalupsis, an unveiling, a revealing 2. In a Day of YHWH, a lot of things are unveiled and revealed 3. People find the pretense of a lot of things exposed for what they are; mere pretense 4. Trust in anything other than God is proven to be idolatrous; money often cannot save in the Day of YHWH, and the weakness, frailty, and exposure of all of us as humans is made evident 5. In times of distress, real or perceived, people expose that which they truly believe and that in which they trust: idols are made known, faulty reasoning is exposed, pretenses and externalities are shed 6. Just as it is rightly said that our character is revealed in what we do when we think no one is watching, likewise our character, disposition, and faith are revealed when we undergo trials and tests, and so it would also be in a Day of YHWH! 7. Once all such things are exposed, there is no way of going back to the old "normal"; none of what has been exposed can be put back into the box C. Yet, as we have established, the Day of YHWH is not the end of the world; according to the hope given in the prophets, renewal can come in the wake of a Day of YHWH 1. As with humans, so with societies: success breeds complacency, while failure and difficulty in trial lead to the development of character (e.g. 1 Peter 1:3-9) 2. We have not explicitly identified the collapse of the Bronze Age as a Day of YHWH, but it shares many of its characteristics: it was a tremendous loss, but it led to the creation of the Iliad and the Odyssey, set Greece on the trajectory it would manifest in the heyday of its civilization, and opened up space for the growth and development of the Davidic monarchy 3. The Day of YHWH against Judah was a profound existential crisis; the remnant that persevered in faith gained the strength to endure in their faith in YHWH, and allowed for the existence of Israel into the days of Jesus (cf. Daniel, Lamentations, Ezra, Nehemiah) 4. Through various forms of historical research we are learning just how scientifically advanced Roman civilization became, and yet in their decadence most of the technologies were developed in playthings for the rich and elite; when these same technologies were rediscovered and put to use in the competitive marketplace, they led to the Industrial Revolution which has improved quality of life for most humans beyond the imagination of ancient humans 5. The prophets of Israel did not just prophesy days of YHWH, but also the restoration and renewal of His people afterward 6. We as humans tend to focus on what is lost in disasters and judgment, but we should not neglect the hope of restoration and renewal VI. Conclusion A. We have considered the Day of YHWH 1. God's judgment on nations 2. Natural and artificial disasters; internal and external dangers B. The prophets spoke of them in the days of Israel; John demonstrates they still have relevance since C. Days of YHWH were not the end of the world, but certainly the end of a world D. Days of YHWH expose and reveal weaknesses, arrogance, presumptions, intentions; those cannot be easily brushed aside afterward E. Days of YHWH are disastrous for those who endure them, yet in their wake restoration and renewal are possible, and perhaps lead to a greater good F. Yet all of these "days of YHWH" point forward to the ultimate Day of YHWH, the day of resurrection, when the Lord Jesus will return, and the hearts and thoughts of all will be exposed: those who are in Christ will obtain the resurrection of life, those who are not will obtain the resurrection of condemnation (Matthew 10:26, John 5:28-29, Acts 17:30-31, Romans 2:5-11, 1 Corinthians 15:1-48, 2 Thessalonians 1:6-10, etc.) G. We do not know when this final Day of YHWH will be; thus, we must all be ready, serving the Lord Jesus, whether He returns today or in a thousand years H. May we serve God so as not to be exposed on the Day of YHWH, and obtain life in Christ! I. Invitation Scripture, Meditation, and Application 1: Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain; let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of YHWH cometh, for it is nigh at hand (Joel 2:1). The prophets of Israel warned the Israelites about "the Day of YHWH." Days of YHWH were times of judgment, a pouring out of wrath and anger. Days of YHWH were not only prophesied against the nations, but against Israel and Judah as well. Days of YHWH came to pass against them: plague, famine, sword, and other forms of destruction. May we serve God in Christ and avoid wrath in judgment! 2: And the great city was divided into into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and Babylon the great was remembered in the sight of God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath (Revelation 16:19). Jesus of Nazareth is now Lord and Christ. The Revelation He gave to John spoke of judgments to come which were described in terms of the judgments which had taken place in days of old. Thus, even in the new covenant, nations experience judgments akin to the Days of YHWH. God will get the glory as He always has. May we serve God in Christ and obtain the resurrection in Him! 3: Woe unto you that desire the day of YHWH! Wherefore would ye have the day of YHWH? It is darkness, and not light (Amos 5:18). Days of YHWH were described in apocalyptic ways, and proved apocalyptic to those who experienced them. They were not the end of the world, but they were the end of a world. Those who endured them would never be the same. Much was revealed in Days of YHWH. Another generation would enjoy restoration and renewal. May we trust in God in Christ no matter our circumstances and glorify Him! 4: "Inasmuch as he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead" (Acts 17:31). Nations rise and fall; but a day is coming when Jesus will return and the final judgment will be rendered on all mankind. All thoughts and intentions of the heart will be revealed. Justice will be served. Those who have trusted in the Lord Jesus will obtain the resurrection of life; those who have not known God or obeyed Jesus' Gospel will obtain the resurrection of condemnation. May we trust in Jesus and live prepared for His imminent return in order to obtain the resurrection of life!