DAY

As I was thinking of a subject for this week’s article I came across the word “day”. As I looked in a concordance I thought “this is interesting”, so here goes. We know that the word “day” signifies light to us; we also know in Genesis chapter one that God said “Let there be light, and there was light” (Gen. 1:3). Have you ever wondered how the “light” came to be called “Day”. According to the Bible, God gave the light the name of “Day”: (Gen 1:5) “And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day." And so it has been ever since! Have you ever thought it strange that we call the rising of the sun “the break of day”? This is a phrase that we have picked up from God’s Word: (Gen 32:24) "And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day." (Gen 32:26) "And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me."

According to God’s Word we have divided periods of the day by certain words; such as morning, noon and evening: (Exo 29:39) “The one lamb thou shalt offer in the morning; and the other lamb thou shalt offer at even:" (Psa 55:17) “Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice." Sometimes the day has even been divided into four parts: (Neh 9:3) "And they stood up in their place, and read in the book of the law of the LORD their God one fourth part of the day; and another fourth part they confessed, and worshipped the LORD their God." Later the “day” was subdivided into twelve parts: (Mat 20:3) “And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace," (Mat 20:5-6) “Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise. {6} And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle?" (John 11:9) "Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world."

Do you know that the “day” and the “night” proclaim the glory and wisdom of God? (Psa 19:2) "Day unto day uttereth speech and night unto night showeth knowledge." I must also point out that God controls the “day”: (Amos 5:8) “Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name:"

Here are some more interesting facts about the “day”! A day can be a “day of trouble for us: (Psa 102:2) “Hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble;” We can have a “day of calamity”: (Jer 18:17) “I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will show them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity." Or it may be a “day of adversity” for us: (Prov 24:10) “If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small." We may even face a “day of vengeance”: (Prov 6:34) “For jealousy is the rage of a man: therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance." There is a “day of vengeance” that we must do everything possible to avoid: (Isa 61:2) “To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;" No one wants to face the vengeance of our God!

The word “day” also brings good news to us. There is the “day of salvation, which is good news to all who have been saved by the precious blood of Jesus Christ: (2 Cor 6:2) “(For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)" It is hard to think of a more joyous day. If you remain faithful unto death you are “sealed” by the holy Spirit of God unto the day of redemption”: (Eph 4:30) “And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." “The day of redemption” may refer to the day that you die when you are freed from temptation and all the woes of this world. Or it may refer to that great day of resurrection when Christ comes again. In either case it will be a great day for those who have not grieved the Holy Spirit of God!