In the book of Isaiah there is a term used there throughout the book from chapter 1 through to chapter 66 and it is the term “in that day”. It is actually used 43 times by Isaiah. It is very important to know what day he was talking about. When Isaiah was using that term he was not talking about today, this present day we are in nor was he talking about the present day he was living in either. What he was talking about when he said “that day” was the day of the cross. He was prophesying what was going to happen on the day of the Lord which is the day Jesus went to the cross.

When reading Isaiah keep in mind that all prophecy was fulfilled by Jesus at the cross. (Luke 24:44) When we used to sing the chorus “this is the day that the Lord hath made, I will rejoice and be glad in it” we always thought of it as the day we were singing it as being “this is the day”. We were always told that regardless of how awful our day was at the time, we were to rejoice because it was the day the Lord had made.

Well I know I had some days in the past that did not have a whole lot of things to rejoice about and I am sure each and every one of you can say the same. So what day should we think about when we sing that chorus? Which day was Isaiah talking about when he constantly mentioned “in that day”. The day that he talks about is the day of the cross. That is the true meaning of the day of the Lord. We have been told over the years that the day of the Lord was future because that was when His judgments and wrath would be poured upon the earth.

If you go back and read the book of Isaiah and each time you come across the term “that day” you think of the cross, because that is what it means, then you will begin to see that wrath and judgment is past and not future. In yesterday’s post I mentioned Romans 1:18 where it says that the wrath of God is already revealed so that righteousness could be revealed as well. This ties in well with Isaiah 26:9 saying that when God’s judgments are upon the earth then the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

This is only one of the many places in Isaiah that he mentions “that day” as being the Day of Judgment as well as the day of righteousness being revealed as the same day. This is not future but it was the Day of the Lord at the cross. If judgment and wrath have not been revealed at the cross, then neither has righteousness. If righteousness has not been revealed then we are still in our sins and the Bible is clear that is not so. Wrath and judgment was revealed at the cross so righteousness could be revealed as well. The latter could not be revealed until the former was revealed. There is no Gospel of Grace and Peace if it didn’t happen this way.