Andrew Meredith’s Reviews > Paradise Restored: A Biblical Theology of Dominion > Status Update

This is a very important question, and we will seek to answer it in a roundabout way by examining the Biblical concept "the Day of the Lord/Yahweh."

Amos was one of the earliest, perhaps even the first, of the writing prophets (Hosea might be a tad earlier), and it is in Amos's writing where we first encounter the phrase, "The Day of Yahweh" (5:19) in the Bible. What's intriguing about his use of "The Day of Yahweh" is his lack of defining it at all. It's obvious from reading Amos that he is utilizing a common, already established and well known phrase, though he is ardently challenging Israel's enthusiasm about it.

The Day of Yahweh was a coming day of evaluation leading to vindication for the righteous and judgment for evildoers. It's a day when God comes, evaluates, and gives everyone their just desserts. Amos is here saying that Israel, blind as they were to their own wickedness, had no right to look forward to that Day in hopeful expectation. It would NOT be a day of blessed vindication for them, quite the opposite ("It will be a Day of gloom and deep darkness!")

But this begs the question: if "the Day of Yahweh/the Lord" just pops into Scripture as an already fully formed concept, and if God's anointed prophets uncritically accept and adopt it's use, then where did the idea come from?

Anyone following along so far will not be surprised where we go next: Let Scripture interpret Scripture. First, we head to Creation in the very first chapter of the Bible (Gen 1). Each of the Seven Days (except for Day 2)* ends with God's evaluation of the creation so far. Repeated over and over again at the end of each day, God "saw" that everything is "good." He first evaluates, then judges.

Next we turn to the Fall narrative of Genesis 3. The Image-Bearers, Adam and Eve, have both just committed cosmic treason, breaking the Covenant of Life by allying themselves with the Serpent and eating from the tree which Yahweh told them not to eat. We pick up in verse 8: "Then they heard the sound of Yahweh God walking/coming ("halak") in the Garden in the spirit ("ruach") of the Day."

As Covenant keepers before their Fall, these comings of Yahweh would have been moments of Fatherly approval, blessings, and holy fellowship, as He evaluates both them and what they have done as "good," even "very good." But now, as Covenant breakers they sit on the opposite side of the ledger, and the Day Yahweh comes is a day of judgment, curses, and death.

So, moving forward in the narrative, a "Day of Yahweh" is a day that God "comes" or "sees" (or both) for evaluative purposes, and then He mets out judgment (blessings or curses) accordingly. We see this in Genesis 8, when God "sees" that wickedness was rampant on the earth, that men's hearts were only evil continually, and sends a flood to wipe the earth clean (chs. 8-10).

In Genesis 11, we have another example, as, "Yahweh came down to see the city [of Babel] and the tower the people were building" (v.5). This led to Him confusing their language in order to halt the rebellious city builders and scatter them over the face of the earth.

In chapter 18, we have yet another example, "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave. I will come down now and see if they have done entirely according to it's outcry, which has come to me." Do I need to go into detail about how that Day turned out?

Babylon experiences a "Day of Yahweh" (Isa 13:6-13). Edom experiences a "Day of Yahweh" (Isa 34). Egypt experiences a "Day of Yahweh" (Jer 46). Indeed, "all nations" have or will (Obad 15). John the Baptist's whole ministry was to prepare Israel for "the Day of Yahweh" (Mal 4:5-6; the very last words of the OT). He preached the need to repent before the Day brought the incoming wrath.

So, with "The Day of Yahweh" there is the familiar pattern introduced earlier: Definitive->Progressive->Consummative. The Definitive Day occurred at the beginning (The First Day sets a pattern of answering to God's ultimate evaluation), Progressively we see various Days of Yahweh throughout redemptive-history, and Consummatively there will be a "Last Day" where the Lord will judge both the living and the dead. Then, death itself will be judged, as the last thing to be subjected under Jesus's feet. "For he must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death" (1 Cor 15:25-26).

This then leads us to the interpretive key for finding Consummation Passages: The Resurrection. The Resurrection is the great final reversal, when death (the separation of the soul from the body) itself is undone. Therefore, the resurrection of our bodies is intimately connected with "the Last Day" in the Scriptures (John 6:38-40; 44; 54; 1 Cor 15; 1 Thess 413-18; etc.). When Scripture talks about the Resurrection, it is talking about something still future.

On this great and terrible Day, the Lord will evaluate and met out just desserts one last time: "those who did good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed evil deeds to a resurrection of condemnation" (John 5:29). The Resurrection of Jesus is the proof that this Day is coming for us all (Acts 17:30-31).

*[Andrew's Thought Bracket: If you're wondering if there is any theological significance to God's withholding the "Good" evaluation only from The Second Day of Creation, I would say, yes. Let me explain.

Creation Day Two included the formation of the "Firmament" (raqia), the Second Heaven, the expanse that covers the earth. Though wonderously glorious in it's own right (Ps 19), the presence of the Firmament creates a visibly manifest barrier between the Earth+Air (Air=The First Heaven) and the True Holy of Holies (The Third Heaven; 2 Cor 12:2), the throneroom of God.

Original creation ("the heavens and the earth," Gen 1:1) was the typological pattern of which the Tabernacle and the Temple are ectypes (copies, types, shadows; Exo 25:40). Lining up the parts accordingly (with Scripture's clear guidance) the Firmament corresponds to the Veil separating the Holy Place from the Most Holy place (the Holy of Holies) in these holy buildings. When Christ, our High Priest Ascended on high, He "passed through the heavens" (Heb 4:14), beyond the Firmament/Veil (Heb 6:19-20), and into the True Holy of Holies (Heb 9:11, 23-24).

There will come a glorious, consummative Day when, just as a bride removes her veil before her new husband (Gen 24:65-67), the Firmament will be rolled back as a scroll, and Heaven and earth shall gaze upon one another naked and with no shame. This begins the The Marriage Supper of the Lamb when Heaven and Earth shall be truly wed, and be one. God dwelling with man forevermore.

This is why the Second Day was not divinely declared "good." Not that it was "bad," per se, but it was as of yet eschatologically/teleologically incomplete (just as "the adam" was "not good" "alone" before becoming one flesh with his "ishshah"; Gen 2:18, 23). Adam, the image of God, was appointed to lead all of creation as it's head into it's glorious Telos. Where he failed, the Greater Adam has triumphed, and now creation itself, awaits with eager longing for it's glorious Consummative denouement (Rom 8:19-25).

Definitively signified by the rending of the Temple Veil from top to bottom (Heaven to earth) at Christ's death (Matt 27:51), we, the Church, the New Holy of Holies, The Spirit-filled, Perfectly Cubed, City of God descending from Heaven to earth (Rev 21:2, 16) are Progressively fulfilling this mission as we, through Word and Sacrament, carry out our King's command to disciple every ethne through baptism into Christ's Kingdom, teaching them the obedience of faith (Kingdom ethics; Matt 28; Rom 1:5; 16:26), and once again, now as Covenant keepers, taking godly dominion over the earth.]