Audio Download

Rev 1:10 – Part 1 – The Day of the Lord

Before we get into this verse I want to point out something that was brought to my attention last weekend after our study. Steve Morris pointed out that the name ‘Patmos’ means ‘the place of dying.’ For all who know that the old man must be “crucified with Christ, and die daily,” (Gal 2:20, 1Co 15:31)  this name of the island to which John was exiled, and on which he receives this revelation of Jesus Christ, is very apropos, simply because all of God’s Word is about the birth of the new man through the judgment and death, the ‘Patmos’ of the old man.

Rom 6:6  Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

Eph 4:22  That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;

That is exactly what it takes to bring us to being “in the spirit on the Lord’s day.” There are many who understand the phrase “the Lord’s day” to mean the first day of the week. To those people, and they are very many, they believe John wants us to know that he was “in the spirit” on Sunday morning. Such a doctrine witnesses against that person that His Lord has but one day in His week, and the other six are his own days in which to do his own carnal works.

What do the scriptures reveal “the Lord’s day” to be?

Isa 2:12  For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low:

Does that verse have any relevance to you personally? Before your defensive, self-righteous, old man decides there is no way he has ever or will ever live those words, let’s remind ourselves of the words that set the stage for understanding this entire revelation of Jesus Christ:

Rev 1:3  Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

So “the day of the Lord” is upon every one that is proud and lofty and upon every one that is lifted up: “and he shall be brought low.” Of course, if you have never had a problem with pride, then this verse has nothing to do with you. On the other hand, if you have ever once taken credit for anything the Lord has caused to be done, then you must experience “in spirit… the Lord’s day,” and you must be “brought low” in that “day of the Lord.” This entire vision is a vision of what takes place “in spirit on the Lord’s day.”

What is “the Lord’s day” to those in Babylon?”

What does this phrase mean to orthodox Christian scholars? Here is one of many Christian scholars who tell us what this phrase “the Lord’s day” means and why it means that to them. Here, for your consideration, is what Barne’s Commentary has to say about what is meant by this phrase “the Lord’s day.”

“On the Lord’s day – The word rendered here as “Lord’s” (κυριακη  kuriake), occurs only in this place and in 1Co_11:20, where it is applied to the Lord’s supper. It properly means “pertaining to the Lord”; and, so far as this word is concerned, it might mean a day “pertaining to the Lord,” in any sense, or for any reason; either because he claimed it as his own, and had set it apart for his own service, or because it was designed to commemorate some important event pertaining to him, or because it was observed in honor of him. It is clear:

(1) That this refers to some day which was distinguished from all other days of the week, and which would be sufficiently designated by the use of this term.
(2) that it was a day which was for some reason regarded as especially a day of the Lord, or especially devoted to him.
(3) it would further appear that this was a day particularly devoted to the Lord Jesus; for:

(a) that is the natural meaning of the word “Lord” as used in the New Testament (compare the notes on Act 1:24)
[Act 1:24  And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all [men], shew whether of these two thou hast chosen,]; and
(b) if the Jewish Sabbath were intended to be designated, the word “Sabbath” would have been used.

The term was used generally by the early Christians to denote the first day of the week. It occurs twice in the Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesians (about 101 a. d.), who calls the Lord’s day “the queen and prince of all days.” Chrysostom (on Psa 119) says, “It was called the Lord’s day because the Lord rose from the dead on that day.” Later fathers make a marked distinction between the “Sabbath” and the “Lord’s day”; meaning by the former the Jewish “Sabbath,” or the seventh day of the week, and by the latter the first day of the week, kept holy by Christians.”

Mr. Barnes asserts that ‘the Lord’s day’ means the first day of the week. Am I the only person who has noticed that the authority upon which every word of Mr. Barnes’ assertion is made is “the epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesians (about 101 A. D), who calls the Lord’s day ‘the queen and prince of all days’?” 101 A. D. was, without a doubt, the time of the height of an incredible apostasy away from the doctrines of the apostles. While there may well have been orthodox Christians who would “give their bodies to be burned”, it is still evident that Phygellus and Hermogenes, Hymenaeus, Alexander the coppersmith, Philetus and Diotrephes, and no doubt many other such men, were “casting them out of the church.” “Them” means those who had sided with the apostles John and Paul.  It is scripturally manifested that “all they in Asia had forsaken” God’s true apostles in favor of following the doctrines of what Paul called “false apostles” with “another spirit” preaching “another Jesus”, and that this complete apostasy of the church Christ and His apostles had raised up was an accomplished fact before the apostles themselves were dead:

2Ti 1:15  This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me; of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes.

The naming of all these apostate men demonstrates that there was a conspiracy in the church itself against the very apostles the Lord had used to establish His church. It was such a “strong delusion” that it swept away from the apostle Paul three men whom he calls his “fellowhelpers”:

2Co 8:23  Whether any do enquire of Titus, he is my partner and fellowhelper concerning you: or our brethren be enquired of, they are the messengers [G652: ‘apostolos’] of the churches, and the glory of Christ.

Here are those three apostles, and Titus is one of them:

2Ti 4:10  For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.
2Ti 4:11  Only Luke is with me. Take Mark, and bring him with thee: for he is profitable to me for the ministry.
2Ti 4:12  And Tychicus have I sent to Ephesus. Paul does not say that he sent Crescens to Galatia, nor Titus to Dalmatia]
2Ti 4:13  The cloke that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and the books, but especially the parchments.
2Ti 4:14  Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil: the Lord reward him according to his works:
2Ti 4:15  Of whom be thou ware also; for he hath greatly withstood our words.
2Ti 4:16  At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.
2Ti 4:17  Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.
2Ti 4:18  And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Years earlier Paul had warned of this very situation and this very time:

2Co 11:4  For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or [if] ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with [him].

2Co 11:13  For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.

This is what he had said to the elders of Ephesus when he met them at Miletus for he last time:

Act 20:28  Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
Act 20:29  For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
Act 20:30. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.
Act 20:31  Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.

2Th 2:10  And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
2Th 2:11  And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:

They transform themselves through miracles and good works, all of which are void of obedience to God’s words.

Rev 13:13  And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
Rev 13:14  And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.

It is called “strong delusion” for a good reason. It is called “strong delusion” because it would deceive the very elect if it were possible. However, it is not possible to deceive anyone who knows that it is only those who obey and live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God:

Luk 6:46  And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

Mat 7:21  Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

The difference beween kurios and kuriakos

I was surprised to discover that this Greek word translated Lord is ‘kuriakos‘ as Barnes tells us, and it appears just one other time in the New Testament, in 1 Corinthians.

1Co 11:20  When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s supper.

The word ‘Lord’, on the other hand, is found many times in the New Testament.

Mat 1:22  Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,

The word ‘Lord’ in this verse is ‘kurios,’ and this word, according to my e-sword KJC, appears 747 times in the New Testament, and according to Strong’s Concordance means “supreme authority.” It is translated as “God, Lord, master and sir.” On the other hand, the word ‘kuriakos‘ appears only twice, and it means ‘belonging to the Lord’ according to Strong’s Concordance.

What “The Lord’s day” means scripturally

What is the day that belongs to the Lord? Are you “in spirit on the Lord’s day?” If you are, how long does “the Lord’s day” last? Let’s see what the scriptures reveal to us about this “day of the Lord”, or as John worded it, “the Lord’s day.”

 Isa 13:6  Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.

Joe 2:1  Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand;

“The day of the Lord is at hand?” What are we told about “keeping the sayings of the prophecy of this book?” Here it is again:

Rev 1:3  Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

So “the day of the Lord” and the time to “keep the sayings of the prophecy of this book” are both “at hand.” What else can we learn of this day of the Lord?

Isa 13:9  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.

Who is affected by “the day of the Lord?”

Remember what we saw in Isaiah 2 in our introduction? Remember how “the day of the Lord is upon all who are proud? Remember and do not forget how applicable all admonitions are against pride in all men.

Isa 2:12  For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low:

Now ask yourself, is the pride of life not in all who are in this world? What do the scriptures say?

1Jn 2:16  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

“The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life” are all common to all mankind, and “the day of the Lord [is] upon everyone that is proud and lofty…” In other words “the day of the Lord” is upon all flesh. What is the Lord going to do to all those upon whom this “day of the Lord” comes?

Isa 13:9  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.

Joh 3:36  He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

God is angry and is coming “cruel both with wrath and fierce anger” to lay the land desolate and “destroy the sinners” out of the land. What is the land? The “land” is inhabited with great giants that make us feel like grasshoppers in their sight. It is you and I who declare that we cannot overcome those giants:

Num 13:31  But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.
Num 13:32  And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, [is] a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature.
Num 13:33  And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.

We have all cried out, “We be not able… Who can make war with the beast?”

Rev 13:1  And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.

Rev 13:4  And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?

The answer is, Christ and Christ alone, can and will make war with and destroy the beast. Christ alone is “cruel both with wrath and fierce anger” against all the giants in the land and with all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who know His Word and yet deny it in unrighteousness:

Rom 1:18  For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
Rom 1:19  Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.

Who among us has not read God’s Word and yet clung to the doctrines of Babylon? Who among us has not blasphemed the name of God among the Gentiles? The apostle Paul did, and so have all of us:

1Ti 1:13  Who [Paul] was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did [it] ignorantly in unbelief.

Eph 2:2  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Eph 2:3  Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

As clear as those words are, many of the churches of Babylon still teach that since the scriptures do say that you will be “delivered from the wrath to come” therefore you have never been under, and will never be under, God’s wrath on your ungodliness and unrighteousness. This orthodox Christian doctrine denies that mankind will each and every one give account of the blood of all the prophets or endure the wrath of God or live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God or keep the words written therein, etc. “The day of the Lord” therefore has no significance for these Christians at this time.

The Lord’s day has proceeded out of the mouth of God, and it will be lived out by mankind, each one in his own appointed time:

Isa 34:8  For it is the day of the LORD’S vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion.
Isa 34:9  And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch.
Isa 34:10 It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever.

Do any of those phrases sound familiar? To whom are they addressed? If you think those words are for others and have no internal, personal application, then you have just been guilty of “taking away from the sayings of this book” and taking your part out of the sayings of this book and out of the holy city.

“The controversy of Zion” is the controversy over God’s dwelling place. It is the controversy over whether God or the beast will sit on the throne of our hearts in the Lord’s temple.

2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
2Th 2:5  Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? [1Co 3:16, “Ye ARE the temple of God…”]
2Th 2:6  And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
2Th 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
2Th 2:9  Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,

In the day that God claims His rightful place on the throne of the heart of any man, “It is the day of the Lord’s vengeance, and the year of recompenses… the land thereof shall become burning pitch which will not be quenched night of day, and the smoke thereof will go up” for the age required to destroy that beast within, and so it will be “from generation to generation… is, was and will be.” That is the nature of the words of God.

Eph 6:17  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

“The Word of God” applies to all men for all time:

Mat 24:33  So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
Mat 24:34  Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
Mat 24:35  Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

Look at what God is doing during the Lord’s day:

Jer 46:10  For this is the day of the Lord GOD of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries: and the sword [His Word] shall devour, and it shall be satiate and made drunk with their blood: for the Lord GOD of hosts hath a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.

“The river Euphrates” is Babylon. “The plains of Shinar” and “the river Euphrates” represent all of Babylon’s lies which cover the light of the Sun of God:

Mal 4:2  But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.

Rev 9:2  And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.

In the “day of the Lord’s anger” none of our false doctrines will escape the purging of His fiery words of Truth.

Lam 2:22  Thou hast called as in a solemn day my terrors round about, so that in the day of the LORD’S anger none escaped nor remained: those that I have swaddled and brought up hath mine enemy consumed.

It is the Lord who is the enemy of our flesh, and all our flesh has been “swaddled and brought up.”

Lev 26:23  And if ye will not be reformed by me by these things, but will walk contrary unto me;
Lev 26:24  Then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven times for your sins.

“In the day of the Lord” our old man and all of his false doctrines will be destroyed with the brightness of His coming.”  Are you, or have you ever been, flesh?

Isa 66:16  For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.

2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked [our own ‘old man’] be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

The fire and God’s sword are both His Word in the mouths of His elect:

Jer 5:14  Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

God’s Word devours the flesh of His own people first. Then He uses His elect to speak His fiery words to others.

Jer 25:31  A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the LORD hath a controversy with the nations, he will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the LORD.

Has the Lord never had a controversy with your flesh? Out of your own mouth you will be judged, but regardless of your answer, His controversy is still with “all flesh,” and His “cruel and fierce anger will lay the land desolate and destroy the sinners out of the land” in “the day of the Lord.” It will all be wrought by His fiery sword which is His fiery Word. Only after His fiery wrath against all our unrighteousnesses has worked its work in us, will we be in a position to have that word in our own mouths, destroying the sinners out of the land.

Isa 13:9  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.

Peter and all of the apostles lived through “the day of the Lord”. Here is where it began:

Mat 26:31  Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.
Mat 26:32  But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee.
Mat 26:33  Peter answered and said unto him, Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended.
Mat 26:34  Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.
Mat 26:35  Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Likewise also said all the disciples.

Christ’s fiery words worked their work to humble all the apostles just as it humbles all of us. He watches each of us as we also are made to eat our own self-righteous words:

Luk 22:54  Then took they him, and led him, and brought him into the high priest’s house. And Peter followed afar off.
Luk 22:55  And when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the hall, and were set down together, Peter sat down among them.
Luk 22:56  But a certain maid beheld him as he sat by the fire, and earnestly looked upon him, and said, This man was also with him.
Luk 22:57  And he denied him, saying, Woman, I know him not.
Luk 22:58  And after a little while another saw him, and said, Thou art also of them. And Peter said, Man, I am not.
Luk 22:59  And about the space of one hour after another confidently affirmed, saying, Of a truth this fellow also was with him: for he is a Galilaean.
Luk 22:60  And Peter said, Man, I know not what thou sayest. And immediately, while he yet spake, the cock crew.
Luk 22:61  And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.
Luk 22:62  And Peter went out, and wept bitterly.

Our old man is exposed “this night” (Mat 26:31). That dark humbling experience was what prepared Peter to admonish us with these words:

2Pe 3:10  But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night [Peter had affirmed ‘that night’ that he would never deny the Lord], 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 [and we will all ‘weep bitterly’ when we are brought to see the depravity of our flesh and how weak we are of ourselves].

As I have mentioned before, on the day of Pentecost, Peter speaking for all the apostles, tells those with ears to hear, that the events surrounding the day of Pentecost were “the day of the Lord” for all those who were given to have a part in the dying of their old man beginning that day.

Act 2:14  But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all [ye] that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:
Act 2:15  For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.
Act 2:16  But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
Act 2:17  And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
Act 2:18  And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:
Act 2:19  And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:
Act 2:20  The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:

“That great and terrible day of the Lord” is “in the last days,” and “Peter, with the eleven,” tells us “this is that…” which Peter quotes from the prophet Joel:

Joe 2:11  And the LORD shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?

Joe 2:31  The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.

The day of the Lord in the New Testament

So, Peter and all of the apostles ought to be able to comment on what is the day of the Lord in the New Testament, and indeed they do. Peter, and all of the apostles, knew what and where the “heavenly signs” were taking place. Peter knew when he denied the Lord three times before the cock crowed that he had been caught as a thief in the night, and he knew that his heavens and his earth had melted in the fervent heat of the word of God in his carnal mind and heart. Look at how this phrase “the day of the Lord” is used through out the New Testament:

Act 2:16  But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;

Act 2:20  The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:

1Co 5:5  To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

2Co 1:14  As also ye have acknowledged us in part, that we are your rejoicing, even as ye also are ours in the day of the Lord Jesus.

1Th 5:2  For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.

2Pe 3:10  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.

Conclusion

We have seen that “the day of the Lord” is not an outward day of the week, as orthodox Christianity teaches. It is rather the day of God’s wrath against all flesh and all the things of the flesh in the lives of all men, beginning at the house of God. We saw that the difference between the words kurios and kuriakos is merely that kurios means Lord and master, while kuriakos means that which belongs to or pertains to the Lord, and that every day in the life of a believer ‘pertains to the Lord.’

Finally, we were shown that the “day of the Lord” is the day of God’s wrath against “all flesh,” and that Peter and the eleven tell us that they themselves were living in the day of the Lord, and had lived through His wrath on all of their unrighteousness and ungodliness as they “died daily” to their old man.  John was “in the spirit on the Lord’s day” because we are to no longer know any man after the flesh but after the spirit:

2Co 5:16  Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.

All who are walking in the spirit and in the Lord’s day are dying daily to the flesh as He is increasing, and we, in our flesh, are being destroyed in the day of the Lord. It all sounds very angry and dire for the flesh, and indeed it is, but it is through that destruction of the flesh that abundant life is realized:

Mat 10:39  He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

It is “the Lord’s day” in which the tares are gathered together first to be burned, and it is in the Lord’s day that every man’s works are revealed for what they really are:

1Co 3:13  Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day [the Lord’s 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.

Here is that fire, and here is what that fire is called:

1Pe 4:12  Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
1Pe 4:13  But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.
1Pe 4:14  If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.
1Pe 4:15  But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters.
1Pe 4:16  Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.
1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

Those who have lived God’s fiery Words know that God has been angry with their past sins. Those who have lived through that fiery trial, know that it was God’s wrath against their own unrighteousness, not the unrighteousness of someone else, that is burning out all the wood, hay and stubble, which is the flesh of all men of all time, “even as other” men who will know God’s wrath at a later date:

Eph 2:2  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Eph 2:3  Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

All who have known that wrath, know that “the Lord’s day” is the judgment day of 1 Peter 4:17, which is “[now] begun at the house of God” so that we will not be judged with the world at that great white throne judgment, which will be used by God to bring all men to Himself through those who have already lived by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God.

1Co 11:31  For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
1Co 11:32  But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

We avoid judgment by being judged now in this present dispensation, and we avoid “the wrath to come” by enduring that wrath now in this dispensation. It is the same for “every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.”

In the next study we will see why John had to turn and look “behind him” to see the voice that spoke to him. When we do we will see that it is because the judgment and the wrath were for the most part behind him, and he is, was, and will be standing in judgment in the “Lord’s day” as long as he is in this vessel of clay.