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Continuing our discussion from part one, the reason why it is important to establish when Ezekiel was in Babylon and began prophesying, is because it reveals that similar to Zephaniah, Jeremiah and other Prophets, he specifically used the phrase "the day of the Lord" to describe God's soon-coming, fierce judgment against Judah and Jerusalem, which at that time was only six years into the future from Ezekiel's perspective. We can easily verify this point with the following verses:

"And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear ye the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing! O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts. 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."


It is quite evident that the Prophet Ezekiel is addressing the lying prophets of Israel when he uses the phrase "the day of the Lord". He is most certainly NOT talking about a future return of Jesus Christ in the twenty-first century. Regarding why God is having Ezekiel say this, if you take the time to read some of my other BBB articles -- or simply read the Book of Jeremiah -- you'll discover that there was a verbal battle going on between Jeremiah and the deceptive false prophets in Jerusalem who were bad-mouthing Jeremiah, and prophesying peace, when in fact utter destruction upon Judah and Jerusalem was only years away.

Aside from the previous example, there's only one other place in his prophetic book where Ezekiel employs the use of the phrase "the day of the Lord". Once again, it has absolutely nothing to do with the return of Jesus Christ sometime in the twenty-first century, as many modern Christians anticipate. That second instance of the phrase is found in the following verses where the Lord has Ezekiel pronouncing judgment and destruction against the Egyptians and their allies. Exactly how will this great destruction arrive? By the hand of King Nebuchadnezzar and his armies. Now what is interesting about this, is the fact that in part one I mentioned how Jeremiah ALSO used the phrase as a judgment against Pharaoh Necho and the Egyptians. Consider the Scriptural proof:

"The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying, Son of man, prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Howl ye, Woe worth the day! For the day is near, even the day of the LORD is near, a cloudy day; it shall be the time of the heathen. And the sword shall come upon Egypt, and great pain shall be in Ethiopia, when the slain shall fall in Egypt, and they shall take away her multitude, and her foundations shall be broken down. Ethiopia, and Libya, and Lydia, and all the mingled people, and Chub, and the men of the land that is in league, shall fall with them by the sword. Thus saith the LORD; They also that uphold Egypt shall fall; and the pride of her power shall come down: from the tower of Syene shall they fall in it by the sword, saith the Lord GOD. And they shall be desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate, and her cities shall be in the midst of the cities that are wasted. And they shall know that I am the LORD, when I have set a fire in Egypt, and when all her helpers shall be destroyed. In that day shall messengers go forth from me in ships to make the careless Ethiopians afraid, and great pain shall come upon them, as in the day of Egypt: for, lo, it cometh. Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also make the multitude of Egypt to cease by the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon. He and his people with him, the terrible of the nations, shall be brought to destroy the land: and they shall draw their swords against Egypt, and fill the land with the slain."


The fact that Ezekiel very specifically tells us who is the target of God's wrath -- the Egyptians and their allies -- and who will be used to mete out God's wrath -- the armies of King Nebuchadnezzar -- provides us with the precise time frame for this instance of the phrase "the day of the Lord". So I am sure that it is obvious to you that just as in all of the other Scriptural examples I have thus far provided for you, the phrase "the day of the Lord" is being used to describe a past, fulfilled prophetic event which occurred literally thousands of years ago. In the Book of Ezekiel, the phrase has absolutely nothing to do with our current time.

To continue, let us examine another one of the Minor Prophets by the name of Amos. Unlike Zephaniah who was a contemporary of the Prophet Jeremiah, Amos lived many decades earlier and was a contemporary of the Prophet Isaiah. While Jeremiah and his contemporaries primarily warned the Jerusalemites of the impending invasion by the Babylonian armies, Isaiah and his contemporaries warned the Israelites of the northern ten tribes of the coming invasion and conquest by the Assyrians.

However, they likewise warned that the Assyrian scourge would eventually reach deep down into the southern kingdom of Judah as well. In fact, in the opening chapter of his book, Prophet Amos also warns of coming judgment against the nations which surround Israel.

Just as we pinpointed the timing of Jeremiah, Zephaniah and Ezekiel's prophesying by discovering who was king at that time, or by closely looking at other facts they mention in their books, we can do the very same thing with regard to Amos. Thus, in chapter one of the Book of Amos, we read the following lines:

"The words of Amos, who was among the herdmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the earthquake."


As you can easily see, when Amos began prophesying, Jeroboam -- historically known as Jeroboam II -- was the king of the northern kingdom of Israel, while Uzziah was the king of the southern kingdom which consisted of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. This places Amos around 750 BC, or approximately one hundred and seventy years before the fall of Jerusalem to the armies of Babylon, and only a few decades before the northern kingdom of Israel -- with its capital at Samaria -- was conquered by the Assyrian kings Tiglath-Pileser III and Shalmaneser V.

As I mention in the series "The Fruits of Disobedience", as was their custom, in order to weaken an enemy, the Assyrians carried off thousands of captives from northern Israel to serve as slaves in other regions of the Assyrian empire. At the same time, the Assyrians would also import foreigners into the conquered lands, thus polluting the native gene pool. This is one reason why the self-righteous leaders of Judah hated the Israelites of northern Israel, and viewed themselves as much superior to them. Do you remember how the Samaritan woman was surprised when Jesus spoke to her at the well? Do you also recall how Nathanael replied when Philip informed him that they had found the Messiah? This is the reason why. Consider the following verses where these two incidents are mentioned:

"Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see."


"Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans."


According to a number of online sources, a few decades after the Assyrian conquest of the northern kingdom of Israel, the Assyrian kings Sargon II and Sennacherib were likewise able to subjugate the southern kingdom of Judah following a siege against Jerusalem in about 701 BC. However, while the Jews were subjugated, nevertheless, the Assyrians were unable to actually annex the southern kingdom of Judah as a part of Assyrian territory. As I already noted, Jerusalem and the temple compound would not meet full destruction until the third Babylonian siege in 587 BC, as had been prophesied by the Prophet Jeremiah and others.

Incidentally, you should know that while the various names of the Assyrian and Babylonian kings are well known amongst secular historians, some of them are likewise specifically mentioned by name in the Holy Scriptures. Some kings' names are given a localized name in the Bible, so sometimes they can be a little more difficult to identify. As an example, there are several Persian kings -- namely Darius, Xerxes I and Artaxerxes -- who seem to be associated with the Hebrew name Ahasuerus. This important connection adds weight to the validity of the Bible being a reliable source of information. Or, if you prefer, we can look at it in reverse and say that the Biblical record confirms the historical record. At any rate, following are some example verses which mention some of the Assyrian conquering kings:

"In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah began Hoshea the son of Elah to reign in Samaria over Israel nine years. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, but not as the kings of Israel that were before him. Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria; and Hoshea became his servant, and gave him presents. And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea: for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and brought no present to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year: therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison. Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years. In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes."


"In the year that Tartan came unto Ashdod, (when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him,) and fought against Ashdod, and took it; At the same time spake the LORD by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, Go and loose the sackcloth from off thy loins, and put off thy shoe from thy foot. And he did so, walking naked and barefoot."


"Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah did Sennacherib king of Assyria come up against all the fenced cities of Judah, and took them."


"After these things, and the establishment thereof, Sennacherib king of Assyria came, and entered into Judah, and encamped against the fenced cities, and thought to win them for himself. And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib was come, and that he was purposed to fight against Jerusalem, He took counsel with his princes and his mighty men to stop the waters of the fountains which were without the city: and they did help him."


"Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the defenced cities of Judah, and took them."


Returning to our primary discussion, as we have already seen, contrary to the popular, modern opinion which is embraced by some misguided Christians which claims that the phrase "the day of the Lord" specifically -- and perhaps only? -- refers to a future return of Jesus Christ, this phrase is actually used to describe and warn of multiple prophetic events which were fulfilled in the distant past. This terrifying phrase signified severe judgment, chastisement and destruction from the Lord via the enemies of Israel, or in some cases against the enemies of Israel. Concerning the case of the Prophet Amos, he used the phrase in the following manner:

"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, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?"


So considering when Amos lived and preached, it would seem that Amos' "day of the Lord" was referring to the Assyrian conquest of the northern kingdom of Israel during the eighth century BC, and the subsequent subjugation of the southern kingdom of Judah as well. In fact, if you closely read into what Amos wrote, you will see that he repeatedly addressed the house of Israel by name in multiple verses.

But that is not all. As I previously discussed, it was the regular custom of the Assyrians to pollute the gene pool of the people which they conquered by not only enslaving them and carrying them away as captives to other areas of their empire, but also by introducing foreigners into the conquered lands. Thus, it is no surprise that only seven verses later, we in fact find Amos prophesying how the Israelites will be carried away as captives into other regions of the Assyrian empire. Consider this set of verses:

"Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves. Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the LORD, whose name is The God of hosts."


Moving forward with our list of Prophets who used the phrase "the day of the Lord", we come to one of the Major Prophets. In fact, he is viewed as the first Major Prophet, and his name is Isaiah. Once again, we can learn exactly when Isaiah preached his warning messages and saw his terrible visions, simply by reading the very first verse in his prophetic book, and seeing which kings reigned in the southern kingdom of Judah during the time of his preaching ministry:

"The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah."


You might find it interesting to know that if we add up the full number of years which each of the aforementioned Judean kings reigned, we arrive at a total of one hundred and one years according to the Scriptures. While we do not know with any degree of certainty in which year of King Uzziah's reign Isaiah began to prophesy, or in which year of Hezekiah's reign he concluded his work for the Lord, we can still see that he prophesied for quite a long time. Some theologians estimate that the full length of Isaiah's preaching ministry may have been around sixty-four years. This would make his time of warning Israel about twenty years longer than the ministry of the Prophet Jeremiah who arrived on the scene about a century later.

Aside from learning how long Isaiah preached against Israel, what we can also determine from the very first verse of his book is that his prophetic vision was directed to Judah and Jerusalem. However, as I already explained to you, and as we saw in earlier verses, let me point out that it was during Isaiah's lifetime that Assyrian king Shalmaneser V initiated his conquest of Israel, beginning with the conquest of the northern kingdom of Israel -- a.k.a. Ephraim -- and the destruction of its capital, Samaria. As the previous verses likewise explain, in later years, during the reign of King Hezekiah, Assyrian king Sennacherib, conquered and subdued the southern kingdom of Judah, and Hezekiah was subject to him, at least initially.

For a while, Sennacherib was occupied with other battles. But when the Prophet Isaiah encouraged Hezekiah to rebel against Sennacherib, the Assyrian king sent a threatening letter to Hezekiah in which he warned him to submit. However, Prophet Isaiah told Hezekiah to not yield to Sennacherib, because the Lord was going to deliver the Israelites out of Sennacherib's hand. That is precisely what did in fact occur, as we see by the following group of verses. When Sennacherib came against Jerusalem for the second time, the Angel of the Lord smote his army:

"Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shields, nor cast a bank against it. By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the LORD. For I will defend this city to save it for mine own sake, and for my servant Davids sake. Then the angel of the LORD went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh. And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Armenia: and Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead."


Before continuing our discussion regarding the phrase "the day of the Lord", being as we are examining the Assyrian and the Babylonian invasions and conquests of the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel, allow me to interject one other very interesting point. As I mention in other articles, the Assyrians and the Babylonians were basically the same people culturally, socially and religiously. In fact, you may find it interesting to know that Nebuchadnezzar's father -- who was the first king of the Neo-Babylonian empire -- was an Assyrian by the name of Nabopolassar. So in a sense, the Neo-Assyrian empire morphed into the Neo-Babylonian empire.

Concerning the phrase "the day of the Lord", upon delving deeper into his writings, we discover that Isaiah employed this phrase four times in his prophetic book, as we see by the following group of verses. Please notice that in these verses, Isaiah pinpoints Judah and Jerusalem as the target of God's terrible wrath, and he then appears to identify the Babylonians -- "They come‭‭ from a far‭ country‭" -- as the human agents which God will use to punish Israel:

"The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem . . . For THE DAY OF THE LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low:"


"The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see. Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain, exalt the voice unto them, shake the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles. I have commanded my sanctified ones, I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger, even them that rejoice in my highness. The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together: the LORD of hosts mustereth the host of the battle. They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even the LORD, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land. Howl ye; for THE DAY OF THE LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt: And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames. Behold, THE DAY OF THE LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it."


"For it is THE DAY OF THE LORD'S vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion."


One thing you will discover as you really dig into all of prophetic books is that while God very clearly executed His judgment, chastisement and destruction against the nation of Israel -- sometimes the northern kingdom, sometimes the southern kingdom, and sometimes the entire nation -- as I have explained before, at the same time, He also pronounced the eventual fall and destruction of those nations which He used to punish Israel. Thus we see that His judgments and His justice are truly, and always righteous. This pattern of punishing both the target nation and the destroyers who were sent to destroy the target nation, is likewise found throughout the Book of Isaiah.

Thus far in this series, we've discussed Prophets Zephaniah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Amos and Isaiah. We have seen the very same prophetic pattern with all of them. That is to say that whenever they used the phrase "the day of the Lord", it was always, without fail, used to describe a certain prophetic event which occurred, and which was fulfilled, in the very distant past from our modern-day perspective. If we honestly stop to think about this issue, it really makes zero sense to even try to apply the phrase -- as used in their books -- to the second coming of Jesus Christ sometime in the twenty-first century. The reason behind this should be clear to you by now: The Prophets always gave us the particulars, so that we know the who, what, where and when; and those particulars always pertained to and pointed to events of centuries past.

While we have already covered a lot of territory, we're still far from done with discussing this prophetic phrase. In fact, as we continue, we will be discussing the Prophets Obadiah, Zechariah, Malachi and Joel who used "the day of the Lord" on one or more occasions in their writings. Let us begin with the first three, being as they only used the phrase one time.

While Obadiah's prophecy is rather short, being only a single chapter in length, in it he pronounces the Lord's judgment of the enemy nations which surround Israel. However, the Prophet in particular targets the nation of Edom, which, as I have explained in other articles, was populated by the descendants of Esau, who was also known as Edom. In fact, the dynasty of King Herod were Edomites, or Idumaeans. Today, Edom is a part of the nation of Jordan. If you are wondering about the name Edom, the word actually means "red"; and if you are wondering why Esau was called that, consider the following verses:

"And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. And the first CAME OUT RED, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau . . . And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he was faint: And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same RED POTTAGE; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom."


"Now these are the generations of Esau, who is Edom . . . Thus dwelt Esau in mount Seir: Esau is Edom."


At any rate, as you read the following verses, take note of how the prophecy says "thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high" as well as "Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle". This is because Esau and his descendants inhabited the mountainous area of Mount Seir in Edom. So God warns the Edomites that He will humble them and bring them low:

"The vision of Obadiah. Thus saith the Lord GOD concerning Edom; We have heard a rumour from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent among the heathen, Arise ye, and let us rise up against her in battle. Behold, I have made thee small among the heathen: thou art greatly despised. The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground? Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the LORD . . . 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."


So once again we see that the phrase "the day of the Lord" is used to describe the judgment and destruction of a nation which existed a long time ago. Thus, this prophecy was also fulfilled many centuries ago, and has nothing to do with our current time.

Next, we are going to examine the one instance where the Prophet Malachi uses the phrase "the great and dreadful day of the Lord". Being as I amply discuss this prophecy in a few of my other articles -- such as in the series "Elijah: Where Are the True Prophets of God?" -- I won't be going into a lot of detail in this current series. Here are the pertinent verses:

"Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse."


So in a nutshell, as I amply explain in the aforementioned series, the Prophet Malachi was prophesying the arrival of John the Baptist during the First Century AD, just prior to when Jesus would begin His public ministry in Israel. As the Lord confirmed, John was in fact the Elijah who was to come. Furthermore, exactly as Malachi writes, John's ministry was a ministry of repentance which was designed to prepare people's hearts, and to make them receptive to the appearance of Jesus Christ in their midst.

Now please notice that the Prophet Malachi says "before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD". At first glance, we might think that when Malachi uses the term "day of the Lord", he is talking about the events that occurred during Jesus' earthly ministry. However, doing so would be an error on our part. Why do I say this? Well, because in every Scriptural example we've examined thus far, the phrase has without fail been associated with what? Severe judgment, chastisement and destruction from the Lord.

As some of you will know, this most certainly did NOT happen during the time of Christ's ministry on Earth. Quite to the contrary, Jesus' ministry was in fact marked by love, mercy, forgiveness and compassion. Yes, He had some serious clashes with the unbelieving Scribes and Pharisees, but this was a far cry from the harsh judgment, chastisement and destruction we have seen in the previous examples. Furthermore, as Isaiah wrote, Jesus went silently to the Cross as a lamb led to the slaughter. Consider the following verses, taking note of the words I have placed in uppercase letters:

"Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and AS A SHEEP BEFORE HER SHEARERS IS DUMB, SO HE OPENETH NOT HIS MOUTH. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken."


"And straightway in the morning the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council, and bound Jesus, and carried him away, and delivered him to Pilate. And Pilate asked him, Art thou the King of the Jews? And he answering said unto him, Thou sayest it. And the chief priests accused him of many things: BUT HE ANSWERED NOTHING. And Pilate asked him again, saying, ANSWEREST THOU NOTHING? behold how many things they witness against thee. BUT JESUS YET ANSWERED NOTHING; so that Pilate marvelled."


Please go to part three for the continuation of this series.

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