Why is the Day of Judgment Also Called the Youngest Day?

(Rev. B. Labee of Veenendaal, the Netherlands, conducts a weekly rubric in De Saambinder where he answers questions from readers. The following is translated from De Saambinder 8-11-2016.)

Explanation

We do not literally read the term “the youngest day” in Scripture. The writers of the marginal notes (Dutch Staten Vertaling) speak approximately seventeen times about the youngest day and the return of the Lord Jesus upon the earth. About the well-known words of Job, “I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God” (Job 19:25&26), our forefathers wrote in the marginal notes: “Thereby he (Job) wishes to say, even though at the present time I am so miserable, and in addition to that, doubt is expressed that I fear God nor that I hope upon Him (Job 18:21); Although I have responded to these accusations already (Job 13:15); That I declare unto you now that I believe that the promised Messiah is my Savior, who will raise me up in the youngest day to eternal life” (Marginal note 42).

Now the question is why the Day of Judgment is also called “the youngest day” or the last day. It is because it is a day which shall never end, or to say it differently, it will never become old. No more days will follow it. Time will be no more, and it will be translated into an eternal today which will have no end.

Fear

It will be a dreadful moment when, upon the youngest day, the Judge shall appear. Father Smijtegelt tries to write about this with love and great earnestness in his explanation of the Heidelberg Catechism. He writes. “What fears comes upon you when you hear of the resurrection of the dead?” Answer: That not only upon my dying will my soul immediately be transported to its head the devil, but that also my flesh, raised through the power of Christ, will be reunited with my soul to eternally revile Him.” Also the other answer from Lord’s Day 22 he turns around, “What fear takes hold of you when you hear of the article of eternal life?” Answer: That whereas I feel in my heart the beginnings of the eternal sorrow of hell, in the pressing in, in the anxieties and in the gnawing of my conscience, that I will then after this life will suffer such complete misery as eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor has come up in the heart of man, and there to eternally curse God, and condemn myself.” Our heart must well shudder when we travel for our own account toward the youngest day.

Longing

We hasten to speak about the other side of the youngest day. For the true pilgrims upon earth it will be a day of complete deliverance. In the Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 19, we hear such a traveler to Zion say, “… shall translate me with all His chosen ones to Himself, into heavenly joys and glory.” The youngest day is an eternal day whereupon no night shall ever follow.

In the history of God’s Church we know of many children of God who looked for this day. John, as the old pilgrim upon Patmos, testifies of his longing for the coming of Christ, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20b). The great church reformer, Martin Luther, spoke of this day as that “great, dear day.” The words of Guido de Brés are also wellknown in the closing article (37) of the Confession of Faith. We would like to close this article, however, with the words of John Calvin which he writes in answer 270 of the Catechism of Geneva. “We pray, therefore, that it may constantly increase and be carried forward, until it attain its greatest height, which we only hope to take place on the last day on which God alone, after reducing all creatures to order, will be exalted and pre-eminent, and so be all in all” (1 Corinthians 15:28). Is that also, based upon a sound foundation, your inheritance? p

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