Does the expression "that great and notable "day of the Lord" (Acts 2.20) refer to "the day of the Lord" or to a specific day or period within "the day of the Lord".
We must carefully distinguish between "the day of the Lord" and "the great and notable day of the Lord". The former has Israel especially in view, whereas the latter has more to do with Israel’s enemies. It will greatly help if it is appreciated that "the day of the Lord" is a comprehensive term for the whole of the period on earth including the Tribulation, the darkening of the sun and moon (Joel 2.10), the great and notable "day of the Lord" when He personally appears, this in turn being followed by the establishment of His millennial Kingdom and all that follows after it. All these four things are embraced in the entire period denoted as "the day of the Lord".
"The great and notable day of the Lord" is a crisis point in "the day of the Lord", a pivotal event. It refers to the manifestation of Christ on earth to destroy Israel’s foes. This is referred to in Zechariah 14.1 and Revelation 19.11. There are times in Scripture when "the day of the Lord" has the same meaning as "the great and notable day of the Lord". This will be clear from the context (see Zechariah 14.1 and Isaiah 2.11 and 12). Isaiah twice says, "The Lord alone shall be exalted in that day" (Is 2.11,17). It cannot be correct to claim that the Lord alone is exalted when the Beast and False Prophet hold sway over the minds and hearts of men. Therefore "the day of the Lord" in such passages refers to its climax as mentioned above.
"The day of the Lord" is the intervention of the Lord in the affairs on earth. It includes the events that lead up to the appearing of the Lord in glorious majesty (Zech 14.1-4), but we must distinguish these events from their climax. In Joel 3.14 "the day of the Lord" is connected with the gathering of the nations, which is the same event as Matthew 25.31-46. This follows the appearing of the Lord in His Second Advent, so "the day of the Lord" also refers to events that follow "the great and notable day of the Lord".
John J Stubbs
Where was the Lord Jesus in the time from the cross to the resurrection?
The Lord Jesus, as to His humanity, is tripartite, i.e. spirit, soul, and body. Thus we read, "In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit" (Lk 10.21); with the cross still looming before Him, He said, "Now is my soul troubled" (Jn 12.27). When the Lord Jesus said, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up", John explains, "But he spake of the temple of his body" (Jn 2.19,21).
It was in His body on the tree that Christ bore our sins, "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree" (1 Pet 2.24), and only while bearing our sins was He forsaken of God. After the death of the Lord Jesus, "a rich man of Arimathæa, named Joseph...went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered. And when Joseph had taken the body, he...laid it in his own new tomb" (Mt 27.57-60). Thus His body was buried.
The AV of Acts 2.27 reads, "thou wilt not leave my soul in hell"; however, the idea conveyed by the original Greek is that His soul was not left to go in the direction of hell and could be rendered, "thou wilt not abandon my soul to hades". The Hebrew of Psalm 16.10 apparently has a similar force, where the RV gives, "Thou wilt not leave my soul to Sheol".
The last of the Lord’s words from the cross were, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost" (Lk 23.46), i.e. He dismissed His spirit. Thus His spirit went to the Father in heaven. Whilst the soul and the spirit are distinguishable, they are inseparable, except by the act of divine power (Heb 4.12). The promise given to the repentant thief was, "To day shalt thou be with me in paradise" (Lk 23.43), and this assures us that the Lord Jesus was in paradise that very day. Paul, in 2 Corinthians 12.2,4 shows us that paradise and the third heaven are one and the same place. Thus on His death, the spirit and soul of the Lord Jesus went to the Father in heaven.
In resurrection, the spirit, soul, and body of the Lord Jesus were reunited.
David E West
