New day dawning: That day

The Verse of the Day for July 5, 2018 comes from Isaiah 12:4 to remind us of what is coming on “that day”:

And in that day you will say: “Praise the Lord, call upon His name; declare His deeds among the peoples, Make mention that His name is exalted.

The New Living Translation says this:

In that wonderful day you will sing: “Thank the Lord! Praise his name! Tell the nations what he has done. Let them know how mighty he is!

The passage of Scripture from which this celebratory verse is taken is labeled “Songs of Praise for Salvation”:

Isaiah 12:1-5 (NLT):

In that day you will sing:
“I will praise you, O LORD!
You were angry with me, but not anymore.
Now you comfort me.
2 See, God has come to save me.
I will trust in him and not be afraid.
The LORD GOD is my strength and my song;
he has given me victory.”
3 With joy you will drink deeply
from the fountain of salvation
4 In that wonderful day you will sing:
“Thank the LORD! Praise his name!
Tell the nations what he has done.
Let them know how mighty he is!

The phrase “that day” is used throughout the Old and New Testaments” to refer to a day in the future, a new day of salvation and judgment:

Malachi 3:17 makes such a reference

And they shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spares his own son that serves him.

Jesus Christ speaks of that day as a time of rejoicing for some:

Luke 6:23 (NLT)

Rejoice in that day and leap for joy!
For indeed your reward is great in heaven,
For in like manner their fathers did to the prophets.

In the New Testament we find references to “that day” as the day of the Return of Jesus Christ:

2 Thessalonians 1:10

When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.

2 Thessalonians 2:3 (NKJV) reiterates with this word of exhortation:

Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition,

In 2 Timothy 1:12 (NLT) Paul again speaks of “that day”:

For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.

The lyrics to the hymn “I Know Whom I Have Believed” offer a series of statements that the hymn writer does not know:

I know not why God’s wondrous grace
To me He hath made known,
Nor why, unworthy, Christ in love
Redeemed me for His own.

The last verse culminates the series, bringing to mind something that neither the song writer nor anyone else knows:

I know not when my Lord may come,
At night or noon-day fair,
Nor if I’ll walk the vale with Him,
Or “meet Him in the air.”

The chorus of the familiar hymn resounds with this assurance found in 2 Timothy 1:12:

But “I know Whom I have believed
And am persuaded that He is able
To keep that which I’ve committed
Unto Him against that day.”

Paul closes his letter to his beloved son in the faith, Timothy, with these stirring words:

2 Timothy 4:7-9 (NKJV)

7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing

Indeed, believers today are looking upward with outstretched necks, looking forward with eager anticipation to the dawning of a new day when the Lord Jesus Christ shall return. “That day” is now nearer than when we first believed. We open our eyes and l recognize indeed:

A New Day Dawning

We have also a more sure word of prophecy;

whereunto you do well that you take heed,

as unto a light that shines in a dark place,

until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:                                                     

II Peter 1:19

 

A new day dawning, look up toward the Eastern sky.

New horizons reveal our redemption is nigh.

All darkness departs, as the sun of righteousness

Arises with healing in his wings in fullness

Of joy to share the bounty of endless supply.

 

He shall gather us in the twinkling of an eye

To seize the final victory no one can deny.

His beloved shall savor forever God’s goodness:

A new day dawning.

 

We shall comprehend each wherefore and every why

As we shall know what mortal hearts could not apply

And bask in the fullness of boundless blessedness

Perfected in the presence of His holiness.

All life unfolds as a gift from the Lord on high:

A new day dawning.

We close as Joseph Habedank paints a vocal picture of “that day” with the classic gospel song “What a Day that Will Be”:

Tags: 2 Peter 1:19, 2 Timothy 4:7-9, Isaiah 12:1-5, Isaiah 12:4, that day, What a day that will be