Historic premillennialism questions???

[AaronBDisney]

Christ's second coming, or "the day of the Lord" has not occurred. It is still in the future. But the Old Testament writers stated that for them the Day of the Lord was near:

Isaiah 13:6 Wail, for the day of the LORD is near; as destruction from the Almighty it will come!
Ezekiel 30:3 For the day is near, the day of the LORD is near; it will be a day of clouds, a time of doom for the nations.
Joel 1:15 Alas for the day! For the day of the LORD is near, and as destruction from the Almighty it comes.
Joel 2:1 Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming, it is near.
Joel 3:14 Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.
Obadiah 1:15 For the day of the LORD is near upon all the nations. As you have done, it shall be done to you, your deeds shall return on your own head.
Zephaniah 1:14 The great day of the LORD is near, near and hastening fast; the sound of the day of the LORD is bitter, the mighty man cries aloud there.

So if the coming of that great "day of the Lord" was "near" in the days of these OT writers, then surely it was also "near" in the days in which John wrote Revelation. But that does not force us to accept 70 A.D. as being the time of Christ's second coming or the beginning of "the day of the Lord". Surely, the time is yet future.

Anyone got a good answer for this?

I understand that the "day of the Lord" in many of the above verses could refer to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 - but still - that was hundreds of year future in some of these cases. I don't yet know all the background of all the prophecies in the books of the prophets, but it seems to me Paidion has a pretty good point against "shortly" and "at hand" not necessarily referring to a quickly approaching fulfillment.

Could it be that all these prophecies are referring to something other than 70 AD? Man, I need to study the prophets!

[look2jesus]

Hey AaronBDisney,

In my opinion, the references that Paidion pointed to show that "the day of the Lord" should not always be seen as the same event but rather is used in the prophets and elsewhwere synonymously for a coming judgment from the Lord that is to be brought to bear upon those to whom the pronouncement is being made, e.g., Isaiah 13 is describing a pronouncement against Babylon; Ezekiel 30 is against Egypt; Joel is calling the current inhabitants of Zion to repentence so that the Lord might repent of the judgment that He is threatening to bring upon them; Obadiah's pronouncement is against Edom; Zephaniah, as well, warns Judah of the impending judgment through Nebuchadnezzar and his armies. This is not to say that there isn't a foreshadowing, in some cases, of the a.d. 70 destruction of Jerusalem or of the 'ultimate' "day of the Lord" as described by Paul in the Thessalonian letters. However, I didn't read that Paul had said that "the day" was near in those letters, only that before that "day" certain things, vis a vis, the man of sin, etc., would be revealed before the "day of the Lord" that Paul had spoken of would take place--without indicating, necessarily, how soon it might take place. So I would have to disagree with Paidion's conclusion here.

Grace to you, brother,

l2j