In verse one the prophet gives reference to the time/age/day he speaks of, calling it a day the LORD is coming! All of the prophets of Old speak of the same period of time when the promised Messiah would come, calling it the day of the LORD. So, all that is written of Old regarding this "Day of the LORD" the prophets foretell would come to pass must come to pass within that day/age/time, even to the very end of the age. Where in the writings of the prophets of Old can we find this period of one thousand years of time when you appear to believe this prophesy from Zechariah shall be physically fulfilled?
The prophets often spoke of the
Day of the LORD as the time when God Himself would come to judge the wicked, deliver His people, and establish His reign. Isaiah said, “Behold, the day of the LORD comes, cruel, with both wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate” (Isaiah 13:9). Joel declared, “The day of the LORD is coming, for it is at hand, a day of darkness and gloominess” (Joel 2:1–2), but he also said that afterward the Spirit would be poured out and salvation offered to all who call on the name of the LORD (Joel 2:28–32). Zephaniah called it “the great day of the LORD” that is near and hastens quickly, a day of wrath, trouble, and distress (Zephaniah 1:14–15). From their view, this was one great climactic time when the LORD would act.
Jesus Himself spoke of this same day. He said His coming would be “as the days of Noah” and “as the days of Lot,” sudden destruction upon the wicked but rescue for the righteous (Luke 17:26–30). He tied it directly to the cosmic signs: “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven… then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven… and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matthew 24:29–30). This is the same day Joel foresaw when he said, “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD” (Joel 2:31).
When Jesus returns, He will gather His elect with angels and a great trumpet (Matthew 24:31). He will sit on the throne of His glory and judge all nations (Matthew 25:31–32). Zechariah says His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, and the LORD will be King over all the earth (Zechariah 14:4, 9, 16). The prophets describe this reign of the Messiah as a time of peace and justice: “They shall beat their swords into plowshares… nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore” (Isaiah 2:4; Micah 4:3). “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb… for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11:6–9). Jerusalem shall be filled with joy, and long life will be given (Isaiah 65:18–22). All nations will go up year by year to worship the King and keep the Feast of Tabernacles (Zechariah 14:16).
The prophets did not give a measure of this reign, but John was shown the length. He saw Satan bound so that he should deceive the nations no more for one thousand years, and he saw those who had been faithful to Jesus live and reign with Christ for that period, which he calls the first resurrection (Revelation 20:1–6). Thus the reign the prophets described is the same age John reveals to be a thousand years long.
Peter gives us further understanding of how this “day” is to be understood. When speaking of the coming of the Day of the LORD, he warns against scoffers who doubt the promise, and he says, “With the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Peter 3:8). He does not mean numbers have no value, but that what men call a day can stretch far longer in the purposes of God. So the prophets, when they spoke of
the Day of the LORD, were right to call it one day, though in God’s unfolding it stretches across the thousand-year reign of Christ before the final renewal.
At the end of this reign Satan is released for a short time, deceives the nations, and gathers them for battle against the beloved city, but fire comes down from God and devours them, and the devil is cast into the lake of fire forever (Revelation 20:7–10). After this comes the great white throne judgment when the dead, small and great, stand before God, and anyone not found in the Book of Life is cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:11–15). Then John saw a new heaven and a new earth, and the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God. A loud voice declared, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them” (Revelation 21:3). In that eternal kingdom there is no more death, sorrow, or pain, and His servants shall serve Him and reign forever and ever (Revelation 21:4; 22:3–5). Isaiah had also said, “For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before Me, so shall your descendants and your name remain” (Isaiah 66:22).
So the Scriptures show that
the Day of the LORD is not only a single moment, but the whole age beginning with the visible return of Jesus, continuing through His reign of a thousand years, and reaching to the final judgment and the new creation. The prophets described the reign itself, John revealed the thousand-year length, and Peter helps us see how in God’s eyes that entire age is rightly called “a day.”
