"The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God." (Luke 1:35)

What amazing words these must have been to Mary, a young woman, when she first heard them. Just minutes before she had probably been engaged in some mundane task of daily life in her mother's home, perhaps grinding flour or baking bread, maybe weaving or spinning wool into yarn. If she was like most young women who are shortly to be married, her mind would have been turned to her future life with Joseph, what their home would be like, the children they would have and the life that they would lead together. Happy images of the future would have filled her thoughts. She would have had her hopes, dreams and expectations--images of how her life would be as the future wife of Joseph.

Suddenly with the appearance of the angel Gabriel, her visions of the future contained a new and dramatically different element. The angel told her that she was highly favored and blessed among women, that the Lord was with her and that she would soon conceive and bring forth a son whose name would be Jesus. This child would be given the throne of Mary's ancient forebear, King David, and reign forever.

Mary voiced the question of how this would take place. She knew the order of natural conception and knew that the angel's message did not fit into this order. In explanation the angel Gabriel told her of the greatest miracle of all time saying, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God."

We are called to believe that miracles do occur. Some people are troubled by the idea of miracles based on their picture of cause and effect in this world. They have accepted that the only causes are natural ones, the laws of physics and so on. For such a person the idea of Jesus being born without a natural father is fantastic beyond belief.

But we are called to believe that miracles have and do occur. There are forces that attack this belief. We have grown up in a culture that has a strong sense of natural order. Science today is capable of explaining so many events that previously were mysteries. It is capable of explaining them by means of fundamental laws of nature. For some this sense of natural law can become so strong that the Lord's active presence within creation vanishes. For some there is no Divine intervention within this system. All is fixed and moves along with changes taking place by mere random accident. But it could be noted that according to natural law most changes result in more chaos, not less chaos. Changes tend toward the break down of a higher order into a lower one.

Think of the example of a person quickly typing out a document on a computer. You would expect that errors would be introduced into the typing. What is the likelihood that the errors would improve the original document? It’s possible, but rather unexpected. But the argument for pure natural evolution is that given enough time and the forces of natural selection life as we now know it has developed. Asserting that human life came about purely by random accidents starting with the genetic code of the most primitive life millions of years ago seems akin to saying that given enough time and enough typed copies a simple child’s nursery rhyme could evolve into a Shakespearean play without any plan or higher thought being involved.

We are called to believe that miracles do occur. However, the Writings for the New Church have taught us that we are not to expect to see the miracles of the Old and New Testaments performed today in the same way they were performed in the time those books were written. We read:

The reason miracles are not done at this day, as before, is that miracles compel, and take away free will in spiritual things; and from being spiritual, they make a person natural. All in the Christian world . . . can become spiritual; and they become spiritual solely from the Lord through the Word; and the faculty for this would perish if they were brought to believe through miracles. (True Christian Religion 501)

Partially based on statements such as this, a person can come to a pattern of thinking that does not believe in the Lord’s ability to affect things for good in a miraculous way even today. A person could believe in God, but still tend to view the progression of his or her life as following laws of a machine-like system. Anything that does not fit into this fixed system is believed to be a miracle that would take away spiritual freedom--the very freedom that the Lord was born into the world to reestablish.

Perhaps, though, it is too easy for us to become too limited in our view. So limited that we block out a sight of the miracles that can occur within our own lives without taking away our spiritual freedom. Perhaps it is too easy for this limited point of view to block out a sense of the Lord's presence, a sense of the Holy Spirit's presence. How does the Lord reach out to touch our lives?

What of Mary's life? The events surrounding the first Christmas were a major intervention within her life. The same is true of her husband to be, Joseph. Both of them could have denied the possibility of a miraculous conception and this state of denial would have been far more damaging than that of Zacharias's. Could the Lord's birth ever have taken place if Mary was not willing to accept the angel's words? Her firstborn was to have a continuing effect throughout her whole life. His presence was not without many events that brought a sense of awe and wonder to both Mary and Joseph. We know of at least one event that showed that raising Jesus was not always easy. At age 12, they spent three anxious days searching for Him, only to find Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of teachers, listening and asking questions.

In addition to the way in which Jesus' birth and life intervened in Joseph and Mary's life, think of the way His presence affected the disciples. Many of them were happily going about their daily jobs when they were called to leave all behind and follow Him. While this intervention sometimes involved something of the miraculous, it also involved an element of free will. Just as Joseph and Mary could have resisted the words of the angel announcing that the Lord would be born, so also the disciples could have heard the Lord call them to follow and shook their heads and returned to their work. There were many, many others who were influenced in this same way. Many others who heard the Lord's words calling to them and had their lives profoundly influenced by what He said.

The Lord comes to each of us in our lives many times each day. While we may not have anything occur in our lives that an objective observer would call miraculous, it is not true that our lives will follow some pre-established route, set by our inborn nature and directed by compelling experience of the natural world. The Lord's first birth represents the way in which He comes in any age to anyone who will receive Him. Just as the words of the angel Gabriel would have been a dramatic intervention within the happy normalcy of the future that Mary would have envisioned, so also the Lord can come to us announcing the conception of a future for us that is far different from the one our natural mind would envision. The Lord comes to us offering and promising a far different set of reactions to daily events from the ones we presently have--a different perspective, a far greater patience in some areas and a stronger resolve and commitment in others. He comes to us bringing light to areas of thoughts that we had resigned ourselves to being in deep darkness and bringing warmth to much that we might otherwise have done from need or duty.

The angel Gabriel was sent to a virgin, whose name was Mary. Ancient prophecies had promised that the Messiah would be born as the child of a young woman. Several hundred years after this prophecy was given, a Greek version of the Old Testament called the Septuagint, introduced a new element of the miraculous by using a word in this prophecy that was not the general one for a young woman, but rather the distinctive Greek term for "virgin." When the angel appeared to Joseph in a dream, the gospel of Matthew records that he quoted this prophecy according to the way it is presented in the Septuagint. The Writings for the New Church make it quite clear that this seemingly added idea is correct and even essential in our understanding of the Lord's advent.

There are two distinct reasons for the importance of a belief in the virgin birth. One reason has to do with the essential need for Jesus to be born with a natural mother but without a natural father if He was going to become our Savior and Redeemer. It was crucial for the work of Jesus that He not derive from His birth any of the internal evils that are passed on through the soul provided by the natural father in any natural conception. His soul and life came directly from the infinite God. His developing mind and life were the ever more perfect manifestation in human form of the Father and creator, our Lord and God. But it was important that He take on a natural mind at first empty of any experience and knowledge as you and I were born with. It was important that He take on the hereditary inclinations to evil that birth to a natural mother brought to His life.

The second reason for believing in the virgin birth exists because of the representation of the term virgin and what this says about how the Lord comes to us in our lives. We are told that a virgin represents someone who willing to have his or her life affected by truth. In this story, Mary represents a state of mind in each of our lives that is not controlled by self interest nor committed to a determined course of action. It is a state of mind that is open to new possibilities.

The Lord comes to us to each of us bringing the promise of a new conception of life just as the angel Gabriel came to the virgin Mary. He comes promising a rebirth or regeneration of life that is radically different from the one we come by naturally. It is not to the hustle and bustle of established life that He appears, but rather to those states of mind that, like the virgin Mary, look forward to something new and different and most importantly are willing to receive the conception of this new life. The life that comes to us naturally, apart from any presence of the Lord, is like a child conceived of a human father and mother. Without the Lord's presence, this life cannot have any other basis than self-interest and worldly concern. Experience may teach us to broaden this self-interest and to temper these concerns, but apart from the Lord's advent within our lives they will never rise above this level. The Lord is born within each of our lives within the states of mind that are willing to be affected by what the Word teaches--by the states of mind that are willing to rise above the prompting of our natural inclinations to be self-serving and natural in our interests, thoughts and actions. He is born within the states of mind that are willing to turn outward to recognize and serve the needs of those around us. He is born within the states of mind that are willing to recognize that natural things exist to serve the needs of mankind and creation as a whole and have their proper uses as well as their abuses.

Our preparation for the celebration of Christmas, more than any other event of the season, tends to turn people outward to others. It is a time that can help us to recognize the community of caring people that we live in. And it is a time that can remind us that many are in need--there are many people who can use our help. This help may be a matter of providing food, clothing and shelter for those have not been able to or have not yet come to be provident enough to provide them for themselves. It can be a matter of giving a hand to someone who could use some help with a job, sharing some burden with them. Christmas is a time when we give gifts that symbolize and love and friendship for others. The most lasting gifts are those that we give when we recognize the spiritual needs of others—when we recognize that, by our words and actions, we can help the Lord bring loving warmth to another person's life. We, by our words and actions, can bring the light of greater understanding to another person's life. We have the capability of helping others receive far greater blessings in life than they might otherwise. Our preparation for and celebration of Christmas can remind us of how a truly Christian life is one of wisely giving and of serving. The state of mind that receives this reminder is the one imaged by the virgin, Mary.

The Lord comes to each of us in our lives, just as the angel Gabriel came to Mary. He comes telling of events that can take place, if we are willing, which far exceed anything we might picture ourselves. He promises us a new life, born within our own, but not taking its source from us. He promises the presence of the Holy Spirit within this new life. He comes with a miraculous intervention in the natural course of events. The words of the angel Gabriel to Mary are also words to us with the promise of a new life that will profoundly affect what we care about, think and do each day throughout the year. These words are the promise of a new life for each of us.

After the close of this service you are invited to take the sacrament of the Holy Supper. This act of worship represents our desire to receive the Lord’s gifts of love and wisdom within our lives, represented by our eating of the bread and drinking of the wine. There is a powerful reminder of the words of the angel Gabriel in The True Christian Religion description of this sacrament

...the Holy Supper for those who approach it worthily is a kind of guarantee and seal put on their adoption as sons of God ... the Lord is then present and introduces into heaven those who are born of Him, that is, who are regenerated. (True Christian Religion 728)

As the angel Gabriel said to Mary, so the Lord would say to us, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God."

(References: Arcana Coelestia 1573 [1-8]; Isaiah 7:1-15; Luke 1:26-38)

4. To confirm the reality of this, in this first section I intend only to cite places in the Word where we find references to “that day, ” “in that day, ” or “at that time, ” where “day” and “time” mean the Lord’s advent.

In Isaiah:

It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of Jehovah shall be established on the top of the mountains.... ...Jehovah alone shall be exalted in that day.... ...the day of Jehovah of Hosts shall come upon everything proud and lofty.... In that day a man will cast away his idols of silver and...gold.... (Isaiah 2:2, 11-12, 20)

In that day the Lord (Jehovih) will take away the finery.... (Isaiah 3:18)

In that day the offshoot of Jehovah shall be beautiful and glorious.... (Isaiah 4:2)

It will roar against him in that day..., and he will look down upon the land, which, behold, is darkness, distress; and the light will be darkened among the ruins. (Isaiah 5:30)

It shall come to pass in that day that Jehovah will whistle for the fly that is in the farthest part of the rivers of Egypt.... In that day the Lord will shave...in the crossings of the river.... ...in that day he shall vivify.... In that day every place...will become a thicket of briers and thorns. (Isaiah 7:18, 20-21, 23)

What will you do in the day of visitation..., which is coming? ...in that day...Israel...will rely on Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. (Isaiah 10:3, 20)

It shall come to pass in that day that the root of Jesse, which shall stand as a banner to the people..., shall the Gentiles seek..., and His resting place shall be glorious. (Especially) in that day shall the Lord...seek back the remnant of His people.... (Isaiah 11:10-11)

You will say in that day, “I will confess You, Jehovah....” You will say in that day, “Confess Jehovah, call upon His name.” (Isaiah 12:1, 4)

...the day of Jehovah is at hand! It will come as destruction from Shaddai. Behold, the day of Jehovah is coming, cruel, and one of indignation and wrath and anger.... “...I will shake heaven, and the earth will move out of her place..., ” in the day of the anger of His wrath.... His time is near, and is coming, and (the) days will not be prolonged. (Isaiah 13:6, 9, 13, 22)

It shall come to pass in that day that the glory of Jacob will wane.... In that day a man will look to his Maker, and his eyes...to the Holy One of Israel. In that day his cities of refuge will be as the forsaken places of the forest.... (Isaiah 17:4, 7, 9)

The inhabitant of (the) island will say in that day, “(Behold,) our expectation!” (Isaiah 20:6)

In that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt speaking the language of Canaan.... In that day there will be an altar to Jehovah in the midst...of Egypt.... In that day there will be a road from Egypt to Assyria, and...Israel will be...in the midst of the land.... (Isaiah 19:18-19, 23-24)

...a day of tumult and of a treading down and perplexity as regards the Lord Jehovih Of Hosts.... (Isaiah 22:5)

...in that day Jehovah will pass judgment on...the host of the exalted, and on...the kings of the earth.... After many days they will be visited. Then the moon will blush and the sun be ashamed. (Isaiah 24:21-23)

(Jehovah) will say in that day: “Behold, this is our God; We have waited for Him to liberate us....” (Isaiah 25:9)

In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: “We have a strong city....” (Isaiah 26:1)

In that day Jehovah will visit with His sword.... In that day reply to her, “A vineyard of pure wine!” ...It shall come to pass in that day that the Lord will thresh from the stream of the river to the river of Egypt; and you will be gathered one by one, you children of Israel. It shall come to pass also in that day that the great trumpet will be blown; and those perishing in the land of Assyria will come, and the outcasts from the land of Egypt, and they shall bow to Jehovah in the holy mount at Jerusalem. (Isaiah 27:1-2, 12-13)

In that day Jehovah of Hosts will become a crown of adornment and a miter.... (Isaiah 28:5)

Then the deaf in that day shall hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see...out of darkness. (Isaiah 29:18)

There will be...streams of waters in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. And the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun..., in the day that Jehovah binds up the bruise of His people.... (Isaiah 30:25-26)

...in that day every man shall throw away his idols of silver and...gold.... (Isaiah 31:7)

...the day of Jehovah’s vengeance, the year of His retributions.... (Isaiah 34:8)

These two things shall come to you...in one day: The loss of children and widowhood. (Isaiah 47:9)

...My people shall know My name, (and) in that day that I am He who speaks: “Behold, it is I.” (Isaiah 52:6)

...Jehovah has anointed Me..., to proclaim the agreeable year of Jehovah, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn.... (Isaiah 61:1-2)

...the day of vengeance is in My heart, and the year of My redeemed has come. (Isaiah 63:4)

[2] In Jeremiah:

...in those days...they will say no more, “The ark of the covenant of Jehovah.” ...At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of Jehovah.... In those days the house of Judah shall go to the house of Israel.... (Jeremiah 3:16-18)

...in that day...the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes; and the priests shall be astonished, and the prophets shall wonder. (Jeremiah 4:9)

...behold, the days are coming...when...the land shall turn into a wasteland. (Jeremiah 7:32, 34)

...they shall fall among those who fall in the day of their visitation.... (Jeremiah 8:12)

Behold, the days are coming...that I will visit everyone circumcised among the uncircumcised.... (Jeremiah 9:25)

In the time of their visitation they shall perish. (Jeremiah 10:15)

...there shall be no remnant for them, I will bring evil on (them) in the year of their visitation. (Jeremiah 11:23)

...behold, the days are coming...when it shall no more be said.... (Jeremiah 16:14)

I will look upon the back of their neck and not their faces in the day of their destruction. (Jeremiah 18:17)

...behold, the days are coming...when...I will turn this city into a wasteland.... (Jeremiah 19:6, 8)

Behold, the days are coming...when I will raise to David a righteous offshoot, (who) shall reign as king.... In (those) days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell secure.... Therefore, behold, the days are coming...when they shall no longer say.... ...I will bring evil on them in the year of their visitation.... At the end of days you will understand intelligence. (Jeremiah 23:5-7, 12, 20)

For behold, the days are coming...when I will turn again... Alas! For great is this day, and none is like it.... It shall come to pass in that day...that I will break (the) yoke...and burst (the) bonds. (Jeremiah 30:3, 7-8)

...there shall be a day when the watchmen will cry on Mount Ephraim, “Arise, let us go up to Zion, to Jehovah our God.” ...Behold, the days are coming...when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast.... Behold, the days are coming...when I will make a new covenant.... Behold, the days are coming...when the city shall be rebuilt for Jehovah.... (Jeremiah 31:6, 27, 31, 38)

Behold, the days are coming...when I will establish the good word.... In those days and at that time I will cause to grow up to David a righteous offshoot.... In those days Judah will be saved.... (Jeremiah 33:14-16)

...I will bring...words against this city for evil...in that day.... But I will rescue you in that day.... (Jeremiah 39:16-17)

That day is to Jehovah of Hosts a day of revenge, vengeance He will take on His enemies.... ...the day of...destruction is coming upon them, the time of their visitation. (Jeremiah 46:10, 21)

Because of the day coming to lay waste.... (Jeremiah 47:4)

...upon it I will bring the year of...visitation.... Yet I will bring back (its) captives...at the end of days.... (Jeremiah 48:44, 47)

I will bring destruction...upon (them) at the time of their visitation.... ...her young men shall fall in (the) streets, and all the men of war shall be cut off in that day.... ...at the end of days I will bring back (their) captives.... (Jeremiah 49:8, 26, 39)

In those days and at that time...the children of Israel and the children of Judah shall come together...and seek Jehovah their God.... In those days and at that time...the iniquity of Israel shall be sought, but there shall be none.... Woe to them! For their day has come, the time of their visitation.... For your day has come, the time of your visitation. (Jeremiah 50:4, 20, 27, 31)

Such vanity, a work of errors; in the time of their visitation they shall perish. (Jeremiah 51:18)

[3] In Ezekiel:

An end has come, the end has come; the morning has come upon you.... The time has come, a day of tumult is near.... Behold, the day! Behold, it has come! The morning has gone out; the rod has blossomed, violence has sprouted.... The day draws near, the time has come...on its whole multitude.... Their silver and gold will not rescue them in the day of the wrath of Jehovah.... (Ezekiel 7:6-7, 10, 12, 19)

(They said of the prophet,) “The vision that he sees will come to pass many days from now; he prophesies for times far off.” (Ezekiel 12:27)

(They will not) stand in battle on the day (of the wrath) of Jehovah. (Ezekiel 13:5)

You, pierced through, impious, the prince of Israel, whose day has come, at the time of the final iniquity.... (Ezekiel 21:25, 29)

The city sheds blood in the midst of it, so that its time is coming.... You have caused (the) days to draw near, so that you are coming to your years. (Ezekiel 22:3-4)

...will it not be in the day when I take from them their strength...? On that day one who has been rescued will come to you for the instruction of the ears. On that day your mouth will be opened with him who has been rescued.... (Ezekiel 24:25-27)

In that day I will cause the horn of the house of Israel to grow.... (Ezekiel 29:21)

Wail, alas the day! For...the day (of Jehovah) is near, the day of Jehovah is near. It will be a day of clouds, the time of the gentiles.... On that day messengers shall go forth from Me.... (Ezekiel 30:2-3, 9)

In the day that you go down into hell.... (Ezekiel 31:15)

I Myself will seek My flock...on the day that he is among the flock, and...I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered, on a cloudy and dark day. (Ezekiel 34:11-12)

On the day that I cleanse you of all your iniquities.... (Ezekiel 36:33)

...prophesy and say..., “On that day when My people Israel rest securely, will you not know it? ...in the latter days I will bring you into My land.... In that day, in the day that Gog comes upon the land.... In My zeal, in the fire of My indignation..., if there is not in that day a great earthquake upon the land of Israel. (Ezekiel 38:14, 16, 18-19)

Behold, it is coming..., this day of which I have spoken.... It will come to pass in that day that I will give Gog a burial place (in the land) of Israel...that the house of Israel may know that I am Jehovah their God from that day and from then on. (Ezekiel 39:8, 11, 22)

[4] In Daniel:

...God in heaven...has revealed secrets..., what will be in the latter days. (Daniel 2:28)

...the time came for the saints to establish the kingdom. (Daniel 7:22)

“Attend..., because the vision is for the time of the end....” He said, “Look, I am making known to you what shall happen at the end of the indignation; for at the appointed time the end shall be....” “The vision of the evening and morning...is true; ...you must hide away the vision, because it is for many days....” (Daniel 8:17, 19, 26)

I have come to make you understand what will happen to your people at the end of days, because the vision is for days.... (Daniel 10:14)

...the intelligent shall be tested, to purge them and cleanse them..., until the time of the end; because it is still for the appointed time. (Daniel 11:35)

At that time Michael shall rise up, the great prince who stands up for the children of your people; and there shall be a time of distress, such as has not been since there was a nation.... Yet at this time your people shall be rescued, everyone who is found written in the book. (Daniel 12:1)

You, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end.... But from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away, and the abomination laying waste occurs, there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days.... you will arise into your inheritance at the end of the days. (Daniel 12:4, 9, 11, 13)

[5] In Hosea:

...I will bring an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. ...in that day I will break the bow of Israel.... ...great will be the day of Jezreel! (Hosea 1:4-5, 11)

...in that day...you will call Me “My Husband”.... In that day I will make a covenant for them.... ...in that day I will listen.... (Hosea 2:16, 18, 21)

...the children of Israel shall return and seek Jehovah their God, and David their king...at the end of days. (Hosea 3:5)

...behold, in those days and at that time, when I bring back.... (Joel 3:1)

Come, and let us return to Jehovah.... After two days He will revive us, and on the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight. (Hosea 6:1-2)

The days of visitation have come; the days of retribution have come. (Hosea 9:7)

[6] In Joel:

Alas the day! For the day of Jehovah is at hand; and it shall come as destruction from Shaddai. (Joel 1:15)

...the day of Jehovah is coming...it is at hand, a day of gloom and darkness, a day of clouds and haziness.... ...the day of Jehovah is great and very terrible; and who can endure it? (Joel 2:1-2, 11)

...on the menservants and on the maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.... The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and terrible day of Jehovah. (Joel 2:29, 31)

...in those days and at that time...I will gather all nations.... ...the day of Jehovah is near.... It will come to pass in that day that the mountains shall drip new wine.... (Joel 3:1-2, 14, 18)

[7] In Obadiah:

...in that day...I will destroy the wise men from Edom.... Do not rejoice over (them) in the day of their destruction..., in the day of their distress.... For the day of Jehovah is near upon all the nations.... (Obadiah 1:8, 12-15)

[8] In Amos:

The stout of heart...shall flee naked in that day.... (Amos 2:16)

In the day that I visit the transgressions of Israel upon him.... (Amos 3:14)

Woe to you who desire the day of Jehovah! What is the day of Jehovah to you? It will be one of darkness and not light.... Is not the day of Jehovah one of darkness and not light? Very dark, and having no brightness in it? (Amos 5:18, 20)

The songs of the temple shall wail in that day.... ...in that day...I will make the sun go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in daylight.... In that day the fair virgins and youths shall faint from thirst. (Amos 8:3, 9, 13)

On that day I will set up the collapsed tabernacle of David.... Behold, the days are coming...when...the mountains shall drip sweet wine.... (Amos 9:11, 13)

[9] In Micah:

In that day one shall...lament..., “We are utterly devastated!” (Micah 2:4)

...at the end of days the mountain of Jehovah’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains.... In that day...I will assemble the lame.... (Micah 4:1, 6)

...in that day...I will cut off your horses...and...your chariots. (Micah 5:10)

The day of your watchmen, your visitation has come.... The day has come to build your walls.... This day shall come even to you.... (Micah 7:4, 11-12)

[10] In Habakkuk:

...the vision is yet for an appointed time, and it will speak at the end.... If it tarries, wait for it, because it will surely come, and will not delay. (Habakkuk 2:3)

O Jehovah..., do Your work in the midst of the years! In the midst of the years make it known.... God will come.... (Habakkuk 3:2-3)

[11] In Zephaniah:

...the day of Jehovah is at hand.... In the day of Jehovah’s sacrifice I will visit judgment upon the princes and the king’s children.... I will visit judgment also upon everyone who leaps over the threshold, in that day.... There shall be on that day...the sound of a cry.... ...at that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps.... The great day of Jehovah is near.... This day is a day of wrath, a day of distress and oppression, a day of devastation and desolation, a day of gloom and darkness, a day of clouds and fog, a day of the trumpet and its sounding.... ...in the day of Jehovah’s wrath...the whole land shall be devoured..., and He will make a speedy end of all the inhabitants of the land. (Zephaniah 1:7-10, 12, 14-16, 18)

...when the day of Jehovah’s anger has not yet come upon you! ...Perhaps you will be hidden in the day of Jehovah’s anger. (Zephaniah 2:2-3)

...wait for Me...until the day of My rising up for plunder, for My judgment.... In that day you shall not be shamed of any of your deeds.... In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: “Do not fear....” ...at that time I will destroy your oppressors.... At that time I will bring you back..., at (that) time I will gather you; for I will make you renowned and praised.... (Zephaniah 3:8, 11, 16, 19-20)

[12] In Zechariah:

I will remove the iniquity of (the) land in one day. In that day...everyone will call to his companion, under his vine and under his fig tree. (Zechariah 3:9-10)

(Then) many nations shall cleave to Jehovah in that day.... (Zechariah 2:11)

In those days ten men...shall take hold of the sleeve of a Jewish man.... (Zechariah 8:23)

Jehovah their God will save them in that day, as the flock of His people. (Zechariah 9:16)

(My covenant) was broken on that day. (Zechariah 11:11)

...in that day that I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone to all peoples.... In that day...I will strike every horse with stupor.... In that day I will make the leaders of Judah like a fiery furnace in the woodpile.... In that day Jehovah will protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem.... ...in that day I will seek to destroy all the nations.... In that day a lamentation shall grow in Jerusalem.... (Zechariah 12:3-4, 6, 8-9, 11)

In that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem.... It shall be in that day...that I will cut off the names of the idols in the land.... ...in that day the prophets will be ashamed.... (Zechariah 13:1-2, 4)

Behold, the day of Jehovah is coming.... In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives.... ...in that day there will be no light or illumination. It shall be one day which will be known to Jehovah — neither day nor night — about evening time...it will be light. ...in that day...living waters shall flow from Jerusalem.... In that day Jehovah shall be one and His name one. ...in that day there will be a great disturbance from Jehovah.... In that day HOLINESS TO JEHOVAH shall be...on the bells of the horses.... In that day there shall no longer be a Canaanite in the house of Jehovah.... (Zechariah 14:1, 4, 6-9, 13, 20-21)

[13] In Malachi:

Who may endure the day of His coming? And who will stand when He has appeared? ...So that they are Mine...on the day that I make them a special possession.... ...behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven.... Behold, I am sending you Elijah the prophet, before the great and dreadful day of Jehovah comes. (Malachi 3:2, 17, 4:1, 5)

[14] In Psalms:

In His days the righteous shall flourish, and abundant peace.... And He shall have dominion from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth. (Psalms 72:7-8)

And so on elsewhere.