23. Nothing is more common in the Word than for the word 'day' to be used to mean the particular time at which events take place, as in Isaiah,

The day of Jehovah is near. Behold, the day of Jehovah comes. I will make heaven tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place, on the day of My fierce anger. Its time is close at hand, and its days will not be prolonged. Isaiah 13:6, 9, 13, 22.

And in the same prophet,

Her antiquity is in the days of antiquity. On that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, like the days of one king. Isaiah 23:7, 15.

Since 'day' stands for the particular time it also stands for the state associated with that particular time, as in Jeremiah, Woe to us, for the day has declined, for the shadows of evening have lengthened! Jeremiah 6:4

And in the same prophet,

If you break My covenant that is for the day and My covenant that is for the night, so that there is neither daytime nor night at their appointed time. Jeremiah 33:20, 25.

Also,

Renew our days as of old. Lamentations 5:21.

In some casual references “first” has a pretty literal meaning, as the beginning of a group; on a deeper level the “first” represents the entire group. In connection with measurements of time -- days, months, hours etc. -- it means the beginning of a new spiritual state. It is also used in connection with the Lord, who is the “first” of all existence, because everything is a product of His love. “First” is perhaps most commonly used, however, to represent what people love and desire, because what we love and desire is “first” in us, with our thoughts and intellect following. If we love people around us and desire to serve them, our ideas will follow and find ways to do it. It does not, however, work the other way around -- having ideas of how to be good won't mean anything if we lack the desire to be good. Our loves, then, contain the key elements of all that we are.