Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 48:4 (Dec 2005)
Article: The Day Of The Lord In The Death and Resurrection Of Christ
Author: J. Bergman Kline

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JETS 48:4 (December 2005) p. 757

The Day Of The Lord In The Death
and Resurrection Of Christ

J. Bergman Kline

J. Bergman Kline resides at 36 Martel Road, South Hamilton, MA 01982.

The advent, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ inaugurated a new age characterized by the outpouring of the Spirit, through whom Christ carries out the task of redemptively recreating a kingdom people in his own image.1 That the messianic mission ushered in the eschatological era is indeed the main thrust of the NT revelation. This theme is particularly prominent in the Gospel narratives' portrayal of the events accompanying the crucifixion.2

The eschatological thrust of biblical religion had been present from the very beginning of history, having been established in the crowning consummation of the process of creation by God's assumption of his Sabbath throne on the climactic seventh day. This royal rest marked the genesis of the Day of the Lord concept, that day of divine visitation which, somewhat altered in its character by the entrance of sin into the world, was periodically to punctuate postlapsarian history and whose nature was developed in particular detail in the writings of the prophets.3

Three prominent elements characteristic of the Day of the Lord are inaugurated eschatology, redemptive recreation, and trial by ordeal (the latter two being relevant only after the Fall). It is my intention to set forth evidence

JETS 48:4 (December 2005) p. 758

that each of these (sometimes overlapping) motifs is present in the death and resurrection of Christ, and thereby to provide support for the commonly accepted conclusion that the death and resurrection of Christ constituted a fulfillment (in a sense the fulfillment) of the Day of the Lord concept.

I. The Day Of The Lord

We may begin with a few introductory comments on the expression "the Day of the Lord." This phrase (ירס יהוה in Heb; [ἡ] ἡμέρα [τοῦ] κυρίου in Gk) may refer to any of a number of occasions which are characterized by the advent of the parousia-presence of the Lord. In postlapsarian history such epiphanic appearances result in the judgment of God's enemies and the salvation of his people, which, indeed, are correlative concepts (cf. Matt 25:46).4 Thus the first Passover event, for exampl...

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