Bible Study Advice and Example
When you sit down with your Bible for a quiet time with the Lord, don’t just read—look for something. Like what, you ask? Listen to this 32-minute sermon by the late Walter Wilson. In it, he lists dozens of things you could look for after he gives that one simple piece of Bible study advice. Walter Wilson, a Kansas City medical doctor, is remembered for his evangelism methods, founding Calvary Bible College (now Calvary University) and writing many books—including a free dictionary of Bible types. Knowing his love for types and key words, I found his sermon refreshing and inspiring. His excitement over the treasures you can chase through the Bible is contagious.
The Day of the Lord
Here’s one of my personal favorite examples of “looking for something.” Study the phrase the Day of the Lord. Why? Because it’s a key phrase in God’s prophetic plan—a future time of intervention and judgment revealed in 10 Old Testament prophetic books and the New Testament.
On a Bible app or computer program with the King James Bible, search the exact phrase the Day of the Lord. Examine all 31 references. You’ll quickly see it centers on the Lord’s second coming. If you’ve pictured that day as glorious and awesome, it is—but in a judgment sense. (And be thankful you won’t be here for it if you’re a believer in the Lord Jesus. You’ll already have been raptured out.)
Prophecy Watchers, Let’s Make This Easy
I was listening to a prophecy watcher’s podcast recently as he wrestled with whether all the talk of “peace and safety” surrounding the recently brokered Hamas–Israel peace deal was the same peace and safety Paul mentions in 1 Thessalonians 5:1–3 after which comes sudden destruction. He sounded genuinely torn. But God has already given the timing answer in the very passage he quoted:
1 Thessalonians 5:1–3 But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
The peace and safety plus sudden destruction isn’t pre-rapture. It points to a sudden, catastrophic event long after the church is gone.
Peter confirms and expands the meaning: 2 Peter 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
Look up every reference to the day of the Lord and take notes.
Another key phrase, that day, points to the same event. Key references joining the two phrases include Isaiah 2:12–17, Zephaniah 1:14–15 and Zechariah 14:1–4.
These two phrases serve as registration marks for coming world events. In the Ezekiel 38–39 Gog-Magog war, the day of the Lord or that day appears, showing that the timing of the war is tied to Christ’s second coming. The same is true of the Battle of Armageddon. Read Joel 3:14 with this in mind: Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.
We often hear this verse in evangelistic appeals followed by an altar call to make a decision for Christ—but the context is God’s courtroom, not man’s altar call. It’s His decision, His verdict, at the day of the Lord. Joel 3 alternately calls the valley of decision the valley of Jehoshaphat, which in Hebrew means “Jehovah has judged.” He does this at His second coming, the day of the Lord, the Battle of Armageddon.
To conclude, here are two rich assignments.
1. Listen to Walter Wilson’s sermon on how to study the Bible.
2. Search and study your KJV for every reference to the day of the Lord.
You’ll see prophecy come into sharper focus and deepen your understanding of God’s unfolding plan.
R&J Shee