The Day of the Lord; Hopefully Our Great Day!

     The day of the Lord is the day that the Lord will become our salvation. When exactly is "the 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.

     It is the day the Lord shall destroy sinners, implying it is the day the Lord will preserve or save the righteous. What makes the distinction between those who will be destroyed and those who will be saved?

Isa 34:8 For it is the day of the Lord's vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion.

     This is the only mention of "controversary of Zion" in scripture. A "controversary" is disagreement over the significance of the same event. This particular controversary is over the events at Zion which is specifically the Temple Mount, or more broadly Jerusalem and even Israel. I believe this applies specifically to the Temple Mount or the Mount Moriah of Abraham. It is where Abraham was willing to make the sacrfice of his son Isaac to cover the sins of the Hebrew people. Not by accident, the location of that sacrifice was to be hundreds of years later, the very site of Solomon's Temple:

2 Chron 3:1 Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

     Thus, Zion, or The Temple Mount, is where "the controversary of Zion" would occur on "the Day of the Lord". Having "Church" is God threshing the good grain from the bad and the chaff.
     What occurs on the "The Day of the Lord"?

1 Cor 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.

     Those who are born-again, which one must be (John 3:7) have their spirits (souls) saved on the Day of the Lord Jesus. Thus, "salvation" is on the "great and terrible Day of the Lord" (Joel 2:31) - great for a few and terrible for most. However, it is likely that since the world has yet to be cleansed by fire that the Day of the Lord shall be in the City of God - New Jerusalem in Heaven. There is the present location of God's Temple where God sits on His throne. The Day of the Lord will follow The Great White Throne Judgment.

Rev 20:11 Then I saw a great white throne and the one who sat on it; the earth and the heaven fled from his presence, and no place was found for them. ¹² And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Also another book was opened, the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works, as recorded in the books.

     Notice that on "Judgment Day" that "the dead were judged according to their works", implying that those who were alive and raptured were already judged as they ascended with Jesus in the heavens. They never died! Their judgment was at that time! On the other hand, those dead in Christ who were raptured will be judged. There are two types of books from which to judge: The first book and the Book of Life. Those who were dead in Christ will be judged righteous, and those whose names are not found therein will be judged guilty: a great and terrible day! (This notion is not the standard theological interpretation, so please test it with scripture yourself.)
     It seems that the Day of Salvation is at the rapture for some but on the Day of the Lord for others. Let me make it clear as I can: Nobody has yet to be saved. The sacrfice has been made and those who trust Jesus's blood atonement for their own sins are "born-again". With that sazos (safety) they have "the hope of salvation" (1 Thes 5:8), and each day they are "nearer the day of their salvation than when they first believed" (Rom 13:11). Of course, "now is the day of salvation" (2 Cor 6:2) because the dead are incapable of trusting Christ. That implies that the decision must be made now to be saved on the Day of the Lord.
     Isaiah understood salvation even though most Christians seem to not. People ask, "Are you saved?" Those who have the assurance of salvation respond, "yes". That is a good thing! Let's examine two passages:

Heb 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

     We have seen that those born-again have "the hope of salvation" (above). That "hope" is what faith is! Those sure of their relationship with God are effectually saved. Satan's role is to test that faith by placing doubt in the lives of the faithful Christians just as God allowed Satan to do with Job. Keeping the faith is not easy. Job persevered as must all Christians! (The entire Book of Job is representative of a Christian's Struggle with faith and service. Job believed but God allowed his faith to be tested. We are not exempt from that same struggle.)
     The other verse validates the first:

Heb 6:11 And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end:

     Let me be transparent. This commentary strongly refutes Calvinism and I make no apologies! Satan wants people to believe they are saved when they are not! They are indeed "safe" in that the Lord restrains Satan from killing them (Job 1:12) but Christians are still vulnerable. The Christian life is about testing whether one has "cheap grace" or not. (See my earlier commentary on "Cheap Grace"; http://kentuckyherrin.blogspot.com/2017/03/cheap-grace.html).
     In Heb 6:11 "full assurance" of salvation is maintaining hope or keeping the faith until the end. That is until we are either raptured or die in which case we shall have the reward of salvation on the Great Day of the Lord. Let is now look at Isaiah's inspired insight:

Isa 12:1 And in that day thou shalt say, O Lord, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me. 2 Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation. 3 Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. 4 And in that day shall ye say, Praise the Lord, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted.

    "In that day" is the Day of the Lord! That is the day that "God is my salvation". until then, as with Isaiah who said, "I will trust, and not be afraid" that is the faith Christians are to maintain to be saved in the end. (Of course, those passages pertain to the controversy at Zion but also at New Jerusalem. As usual, Isaiah's prophecy is two-fold: for the Hebrews and for everyone else.)