When will the Day of the Lord be?

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Christian hope is focused on the coming of Christ, which may be called his ‘second’ coming (Heb. 9:28). Thus the OT term, ‘the *DAY OF THE LORD’, which the NT uses for the event of final fulfilment (1 Thes. 5:2; 2 Thes. 2:2; 2 Pet. 3:10; cf. ‘the day of God’, 2 Pet. 3:12; ‘the great day of God the Almighty’, Rev. 16:14), is characteristically ‘the day of the Lord Jesus’ (1 Cor. 5:5; 2 Cor. 1:14; cf. 1 Cor. 1:8; Phil. 1:6, 10; 2:16).

The coming of Christ is called his parousia (‘coming’), his apokalypsis (‘revelation’) and his epiphaneia (‘appearing’). The word parousia means ‘presence’ or ‘arrival’, and was used in Hellenistic Greek of the visits of gods and rulers. Christ’s parousia will be a personal coming of the same Jesus of Nazareth who ascended into heaven (Acts 1:11); but it will be a universally evident event (Mt. 24:27), a coming in power and glory (Mt. 24:30), to destroy Antichrist and evil (2 Thes. 2:8), to gather his people, living and dead (Mt. 24:31; 1 Cor. 15:23; 1 Thes. 4:14–17; 2 Thes. 2:1), and to judge the world (Mt. 25:31; Jas. 5:9).

His coming will also be an apokalypsis, an ‘unveiling’ or ‘disclosure’, when the power and glory which are now his by virtue of his exaltation and heavenly session (Phil. 2:9; Eph. 1:20–23; Heb. 2:9) will be disclosed to the world. Christ’s reign as Lord, now invisible to the world, will then be made visible by his apokalypsis.

Bauckham, R. J. (1996). Eschatology. In D. R. W. Wood, I. H. Marshall, A. R. Millard, J. I. Packer, & D. J. Wiseman (Eds.), New Bible dictionary (3rd ed., p. 336). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

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