Doctrine
"...he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ."
Philippians 1:6
The Bible speaks of more than one great "day" yet to come — the day of the LORD, the day of Christ, the day of redemption, "that day." Are these all the same thing? Many have supposed so, and have fallen into needless confusion and even fear because of it. But the Word of God does not confuse its terms, and when we rightly divide it, a beautiful truth shines out: the day of Christ is not the day of the LORD's judgment. It is His day — a day of blessing, reward, and glory for His people.
God has given us a solemn charge to handle His Word with care, distinguishing the things that differ.
"Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." (2 Timothy 2:15)
To rightly divide the Word is, in part, to keep distinct what God keeps distinct. And among the things we must not blur together are these two great days: the day of the LORD, which is a day of wrath upon a Christ-rejecting world, and the day of Christ, which is a day of joy for the redeemed. To confuse them is to rob the believer of his comfort and to misread the plan of God.
Throughout the Old Testament, "the day of the LORD" is a day of darkness, wrath, and judgment upon the ungodly. The prophets spoke of it with trembling.
"Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it." (Isaiah 13:9)
The New Testament carries the same meaning forward. This day comes suddenly and terribly upon a sleeping world.
"For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night." (1 Thessalonians 5:2)
"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..." (2 Peter 3:10)
This is the day of God's reckoning with the world — the time of tribulation and the judgment of the nations. It is a day of wrath, and it falls upon those who have rejected the Lord Jesus Christ.
But when the apostle Paul writes to the churches, he speaks again and again of a different day — the day of Christ, also called the day of Jesus Christ, the day of the Lord Jesus, and the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. And every time, it is a day not of wrath but of blessing, reward, and completion for the believer.
"Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." (Philippians 1:6)
It is the day when the good work God began in us is brought to its glorious finish.
"That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ." (Philippians 1:10)
And it is the day when faithful labour for the Lord is at last rewarded, and none of it found to be in vain.
"Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain." (Philippians 2:16)
On that day the believer stands blameless — not because of his own goodness, but because of the Lord Jesus Christ who confirms him to the end.
"Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Corinthians 1:8)
Let none be troubled by the different titles. "The day of Christ," "the day of Jesus Christ," "the day of the Lord Jesus," and "the day of our Lord Jesus Christ" are one and the same day — the day belonging to the Lord Jesus Christ and to His people. And the apostle Paul was careful to comfort believers who feared they had somehow entered the day of judgment, assuring them they had not.
"That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand." (2 Thessalonians 2:2)
He would not have his readers shaken or afraid, for the day that awaits the church is not a thing to dread but a thing to long for. That very comfort depends upon keeping this day distinct from the day of the LORD's wrath.
Why is it called the day of Christ? Because it is His day — the day the Lord Jesus Christ is glorified in His saints and gathers His people to Himself. It is bound up with the blessed hope of His coming for the church, our gathering together unto Him.
"Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him." (2 Thessalonians 2:1)
The day of the LORD is the day the King comes to judge the world; the day of Christ is the day the Bridegroom comes to receive His bride. The one is a day of terror for the ungodly; the other is a day of unspeakable joy for the redeemed. They are not the same day, and they are not for the same people.
In that day the believer will indeed stand before the Lord Jesus Christ — but let no child of God tremble at it, for it is a judgment of works for reward, not a judgment of sin for condemnation.
"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." (2 Corinthians 5:10)
There our works, not our souls, are put to the test; the fire tries what we have built, and faithful service is rewarded, while worthless works are burned away — yet the believer himself is saved.
"If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire." (1 Corinthians 3:15)
This can never be a day of condemnation for the believer, for the Word of God has already settled that question forever.
"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." (Romans 8:1)
Here is the great comfort of rightly dividing these days. The child of God is not waiting for the day of the LORD's wrath; he is waiting for the day of Christ's blessing. God has plainly promised it.
"For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Thessalonians 5:9)
The world dreads the coming day of the LORD, and well it may; but the believer looks up for the day of Christ, when his Saviour shall appear and take him home. Two different days, for two different companies — the one under wrath, the other under grace.
The same bright hope shines in the other "days" of which the apostle Paul writes. There is the day of redemption, unto which every believer is sealed by the Holy Ghost — the day our very bodies shall be redeemed and glorified.
"And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." (Ephesians 4:30)
And there is simply "that day" — the day the apostle Paul longed for, when the Lord would give him his crown.
"Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing." (2 Timothy 4:8)
Every one of these days belongs to the believer's bright and blessed future — not one of them is a day of dread.
Since such a day is coming, how shall we live now? We are to live so as to be found sincere, faithful, and unashamed when He appears — laying up treasure that the fire will not burn.
"And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming." (1 John 2:28)
The thought of the day of Christ is meant not to frighten the believer, but to spur him to a holy and useful life, that he may rejoice in that day and not lose his reward.
Here, then, is the question that decides everything. For the one who has trusted the Lord Jesus Christ, the day to come is the day of Christ — a day of blessing, reward, and glory. But for the one who rejects Him, the day to come is the day of the LORD — a day of wrath and judgment. The dividing line between the two is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Trust Him today, and the coming day changes for you entirely: the day of wrath becomes the day of blessing, and you may look up, with all His people, and love His appearing.
"Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ."Philippians 1:6