What Day Is That? (1)

Then you will say on that day, “I will give thanks to You, Lord; for although You were angry with me, Your anger is turned away, and You comfort me.  Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation.”  Isaiah 12:1-2 NASB

On that day – What day is that?  That’s what we want to know.  What day will righteousness prevail?  What day will I find comfort from the Lord rather than affliction?  What day will His anger turn away and I’ll be blessed?  What day will I be able to shout joyfully, “God is my salvation”?  If you’re standing in Job’s shoes, that day seems like a long way off.  So must it have seemed to the children of Israel in Babylon.  And maybe to us as we wait—and wait—and wait.  “How long, O Lord,” penned the poet.  The prophet answers, “On that day.”  But what day is that?

The Hebrew offers some alternatives.  The phrase is only a single word in Hebrew: בַּיּ֣וֹם.  Here’s the full first verse:

וְאָֽמַרְתָּ֙ בַּיּ֣וֹם הַה֔וּא אוֹדְךָ֣ יְהֹוָ֔ה כִּ֥י אָנַ֖פְתָּ בִּ֑י יָשֹׁ֥ב אַפְּךָ֖ וּֽתְנַחֲמֵֽנִי

The word combines the preposition בְּ (bĕ) with the noun yôm.  Because the preposition does multiple duties in Hebrew, it could be “on the day,” “in the day,” “from the day,” or even “with the day,” but the idea is that at some reckoned time a change will occur.  Discouragement will become gratitude.  Affliction will become blessing.  Anger will become comfort.  The question is whether or not בַּיּ֣וֹם marks a temporal event or an emotional transition (or both).  If it marks a temporal event, then it appears to be a prophetic announcement of an impending “day” when the current situation will be divinely altered and changed from sorrow to joy.  If it is an emotional transition, then it could be any “day” when the one experiencing God’s anger and punishment sees circumstances in a new light.  The change may be completely internal but the result is a totally different attitude and behavior.

Commentators have often viewed this verse in the first option.  Isaiah is proclaiming that something radical is coming that will shift the interaction between the divine and human.  “On that day” follows the material of chapter 11, a chapter that describes life in Messianic terms.  We are familiar with the opening of chapter 11 as a prophesy about the branch of Jesse.  What follows is a litany of corrective actions resulting in “the wolf shall dwell with the lamb,” “the infant shall play by the viper’s hole,” and the earth “shall be filled with knowledge of the Lord.”  Christians and Jews alike hear Messianic tones in these words.  But clearly that day hasn’t arrived.  Israel is not vindicated (as the chapter later suggests), nature is still filled with violence, and the knowledge of God has not spread across the earth.  Whatever day this is, it isn’t yet.

However, despite the Messianic tenor of the larger text, there is a sense in which “that day” comes to each one of us.  Fortunately, it is not necessary for the Messiah to appear for you and me to say, “God is my salvation.”  We can experience the dark night of the soul, weather the storm, and emerge with the same attitude that will flood the earth when the Messianic reign rightens the world.  Our day is “that day” when we experience the end of tribulation, the end of anger, the renewal of comfort.  We can anticipate it and hope it will arrive soon.  In the meanwhile, we can shift our interpretation of circumstances, viewing them not as permanent affliction but as preparation for “that day” when their real purpose will become apparent.  This altered perspective has powerful results, as we shall see in the next verse.

Topical Index: that day, prophecy, Messiah, attitude, Isaiah 12:1-2