This article is from Old Fashioned Prophecy Magazine (OFPM), September-October 1963. It was sent to me by Ron Bullock of Old Working BOOKS & BINDERY. Eric C. Peters is the son of Rev. Fred J. Peters who wrote The Present Antichrist.

Some of the end-time doctrines the author has presented are new to me! Let the reader decide what is true or not based on his or hers own knowledge of the Bible. If you find anything you consider to be in error, please tell me about it in the comments section.

To Promote Instruction in Prophecy According to God’s Word and History

THAT DAY

There are two general phases of prophetic interpretation today which, with their rapidly accumulating mass of views and counterviews, threaten soon to become such Eschatological Monstrosities, akin to the one of Frankenstein fame, that they may in time devour their creators if something is not speedily done about it. And we do not refer to that phase of interpretation, which is called ‘“Historicist,” represented by such great expositors as Isaac Newton, Birks, Elliott, Guinness, or Cachemaille.

It is OFPM’s considered conviction, and we dare say it should be an axiom for Bible students, that God’s great truths, as revealed through His Holy Word, can be understood by and made plain to the average intellect without recourse to complex formulae or calculations that only an Einstein could unravel.

We need to CUT this intricate Gordian Knot of these modern “prophecy experts” instead of fiddling and wasting time trying to find the ends of the thousands of loops protruding here and there. Protestantism is slipping fast and there is no time to lose.

The particular angle of prophecy whose characteristics we will reveal later; which has so baffled us heretofore due to the fact that every treatise on the subject varies from the one read before, becomes even more confusing the MORE we read MORE writings of the “experts.”

Now this is not to say that we condemn treatises, or commentaries; we still advocate their use; they’re necessary, even if in error, if only they serve the purpose of sharpening our Bible wits. But when there has been evidence (AND THERE IS!) that someone tampered with the machinery of Bible Study, it sometimes pays to get out the Old Worn Blueprint to check up all the parts to see where that MONKEY-WRENCH is that is “jamming up the works.”

The BLUEPRINT returns us to FUNDAMENTALS, and that is what we need. In Scripture the Holy Spirit demonstrates that it is this mania or “YEN” to complicate things in religious belief that leads us into trouble, for the “simple” things, the “foolish” things and the “weak” things will “confound the wise” and give “understanding,” (I Cor. 1:27; Psalms 119:130). So it may be quite possible that, if we consider one of these simple things of God’s Word, we may be able to contribute our little mite towards the confounding of this ultra wise, highly complicated plant of so-called EXEGETIC WISDOM which we are about to examine and whose roots derive their nourishment from fertilizer from Rome. BUT—

The study of the word DAY as it occurs in Scripture is just such a study—simple—possibly foolish—but interesting and revealing, we think. At any rate we can make the study without having it turn into a Goldberg Nightmare (I think this refers to horror novels by Lee Goldberg).

There are many kinds of DAYS in Scripture:

1. The ordinary day of 24 hours, about which we need not talk too much. It is the day of Daniel 6:10; Jonah 1:17; Matt. 20:6.

2. The day of creation in Genesis which, though many extreme literalists consider it as 24 hours, is most certainly one of unknown length but of great duration. Findings of science, logical deduction and inferences from Holy Writ all contribute to the conclusion that such a day is a Great Period.

(Note: I believe it was a literal 24 hours! What determines a period of 24 hours? It’s determined by the length of time of one rotation of the earth! A rotating earth is what gives us day and night.

Genesis 1:5  And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

There was no sun then so what was the light source? Answer: God was the light source.)

3. The prophetic day which equals one year of solar time— Ezekiel 4:1-8.

4. “The day of salvation” is yet another; it is still with us so this particular day is at least 1900 years long. Of which more anon, but see II Cor. 6:2.

And finally, the 5th, we have the DAY which is our main subject in this brief discussion—

“For behold the day cometh that shall burn as an oven… and all that do wickedly shall be stubble and the day that cometh shall burn them up … But unto you that fear my name shall the Son of righteousness arise with healing in his wings .. . Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful DAY OF THE LORD…” —Malachi.

The points we wish to touch briefly, regarding this particular DAY about which Malachi simply and succinctly writes (without benefit of exegetical misinterpretation) are as follows:

I. PURPOSE AND CHARACTER OF IT

The character of this DAY is apparent from the following O.T. and N.T. quotations without added comment. The purpose is inauguration—THE INAUGURATION of the new regime— our Lord’s—after the fall of the old, on this earth.

A. As Seen by the Prophets.

“Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision, for the day of the Lord is near .. .” Joel 3:14.

“In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen and close up the breaches thereof …” Amos 9:11.

“… O daughter of Zion . . . I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord . . . Many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day and shall be my people…” Zech. 2:10,11.

“… I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, shall ye call every man his neighbor under the vine and under the fig tree.” Zech. 3:9,10.

“And the Lord shall be king over all the earth; in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one.” Zech. 14:9.

“And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels .. .” Malachi 3:17.

From these few, of many, Old Testament quotations we see that the prophets of Old Testament times looked FORWARD to some certain period of mundane affairs, called DAY, which certainly is not the type of day coming under any of the 4 above classifications.

B. As Seen by the Lord and the Apostles.

“But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” Matt. 26:29.

“Every man’s work shall be made manifest; for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.” I Cor. 3:13.

“Let no man deceive you by any means; for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin, be revealed, the son of perdition.” II Thess. 2:2.

“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” II Peter 3:10.

“And the angels which kept not their first estate .. . he hath reserved … unto the judgment of the great day.” Jude 6.

From these few quotations, of many, we see that the day to which the Old Testament writers looked FORWARD was the same type of day to which the early Christians and Apostles looked FORWARD in the first century A.D.

II. PLACE OF IT

To locate the position of this DAY we but check our Scriptures carefully. Note the following points:

1. It must come after John the Baptist’s time (Mal. 4:5; Mark 9:13). And it must come after the apostles’ time since “now is the day of salvation” (as stated in the first century A.D. by St. Paul—II Cor. 6:2) and the “day of salvation” cannot by any stretch of the imagination be the same as the DAY of the Lord. But since “the day of salvation” is that period during which the gospel is preached, extending from the first century to Christ’s Second Advent, the DAY of the Lord must follow that period.

2. From our N.T. quotations above it is also clear that the early Christian Church was not lacking in instruction regarding this DAY of the Lord.

St. Paul, in evident reply to queries, gave a more positive proof placing the DAY. In II Thess. 2:3 he says “THAT DAY shall not come except there come a falling away FIRST and that man of sin be revealed.” Since the man of sin is the Papacy, indubitably “revealed” not later than the 7th century A.D. by the best historians and encyclopedias, the DAY of the Lord cannot be construed to have appeared before the 7th century A.D.

But in II Thess. 2:8 we read “whom the Lord .. . shall destroy with the brightness of His coming.” Since we cannot envision the DAY of the Lord without the Lord Himself, it goes without saying that the DAY of the Lord must have to follow the destruction of Popery. Since Popery is still twitching and no signs of rigor mortis evident (1963), we cannot truthfully say the DAY of the Lord is here yet.

3. The DAY of the Lord reasonably follows and most certainly CONTAINS the fiery judgments predicted by Peter upon THE OLD ORDER (II Pet. 2:7-14)—“the DAY of the Lord WHEREIN .. .” It is unbiblical to give a literal view to Peter’s statements in this chapter. Our Lord returns for His DAY before the human race destroys itself (Matt. 24:22) and, if this verse be disputed as authority, the final picture, almost, of the whole Bible is in Rev. 21:3; it is a human one proving that the human race has not been extinguished—‘“the tabernacle of God is with MEN, and He will dwell with THEM, and THEY shall be His PEOPLE.”

The FIERY JUDGMENTS of Peter have not yet been fulfilled even though by reason of atomic energy and the fiery nature of modern warfare we may have already seen the first stages. Therefore the DAY of the Lord is still beyond 1963 (and 2025).

III. PERIOD OF IT

That the DAY of the Lord is a vast period of time, instead of a day of 24 hours solar measure, is what we believe the Bible also shows. Since it is a “day” it must have a beginning and an ending. Therefore it is temporal—not eternal—and it has LENGTH.

How long is it?

The BEGINNING of it as we learned above, is connected with the return of our Lord which was predicted in Acts 1:11 and certified by Paul in II Thess. 2:8 and in other places. But coincident with this Great Event we see the Papacy’s Doom. However, if we turn to Rev. 19:20 we see the Papacy (as the Beast) cast into “the lake of fire” in company with the False Prophet (or apostate clergy of Christendom). Consequently, these two Scripture passages refer to the same event. And if our Lord’s Coming is shown in II Thess. 2:8 to be coincident with the final punishment of Popery, then the Lord’s Coming must be at the same time as the action in Rev. 19:20 even though not mentioned there. FOR THERE CANNOT BE TWO FINAL JUDGMENTS ON POPERY!

Therefore the Apocalyptic Point where our Lord Returns is at Rev. 19:20 at the end of that chapter.

We must not forget what we learned above: the DAY of the Lord must follow His Return.

1. Now the length of this DAY, or period, cannot be LESS than SEVEN (7) years. Proof: Ezek. 39:8,9 “Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord God; THIS IS THE DAY whereof I have spoken; And they that dwell … in Israel shall .. . burn the weapons [of Gog] … with fire SEVEN YEARS…”

2. It cannot be longer than 360,000 years, on the year for a day idea applied wrongly. (Some extremists have claimed this in sarcastic vein, to belittle the year for a day truth of Ezekiel 4.) For the DAY we are considering is in another classification, as we have pointed out above.

Therefore the DAY of the Lord must be a period whose length must be longer than 7 years and shorter than 360,000 years.

Therefore it must be the DAY whose classification David revealed in Psalm 90:4, “For a THOUSAND YEARS in thy sight are but as YESTERDAY .. .”

Therefore it must be the DAY of which Peter spoke in II Peter 3, “But, beloved, BE NOT IGNORANT OF THIS ONE THING, THAT ONE DAY IS WITH THE LORD AS A THOUSAND YEARS, AND A THOUSAND YEARS AS ONE DAY.” And this verse follows the verse in which DAY is used in connection with “DAY OF JUDGMENT” or the DAY OF THE LORD! Everything is complete and within the context; we have removed nothing to prove a point; nor are we swallowing a camel.

Therefore the DAY OF THE LORD must be 1000 years long.

Which brings us to a consideration of the ENDING POINT of this DAY. We cannot do this properly, however, until we briefly mention a few things which are to be accomplished DURING this DAY, namely:

1. The Lord will be the sole King over the earth. Zech. 14:9.

2. Removal of the iniquity of the land. Zech. 3:9.

3. Enemy nations of Israel (God’s people in Christ Jesus) liquidated. Jer. 30:11.

4, Universal acceptance of God as Supreme Ruler. Hosea. 2.23.

5. Tabernacle of David to be raised up and breaches closed. Amos 9:11.

6. Judgment handed over to the Saints of the Most High. Daniel 7:22.

7. Huge burial site (or sites) for the dead of GOG to be in Israel territory. Ezekiel 39.11.

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