An object can be so far that it is almost invisible, yet not seeing it from one’s standpoint does not mean that it is not there. As you draw closer to it, it could become visible but indistinct; then clearer and clearer the closer it approaches, or the closer you approach to it. That something can be seen or not seen may be a function of how close you are to it, rather than because the object is unseeable. Visibility, then, may sometimes be a factor of proximity.
Hebrews 10:25 employs the metaphor of proximity to speak about a certain historic “day” that then was far; a day considered unseeable by many because it was distant. The writer of Hebrews cautioned believers to be mindful how they lived, especially “as ye see the day approaching,” implying that the day is ‘seeable,’ although then far.
Prophet Joel spoke of a season that he called “afterward,” when God would pour His Spirit “upon all flesh” (Joel 2:28). The word translated “afterward” in that verse is ‘achar, which is explained by Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary as an adverb or conjunction meaning “the hinder part” (of time), “hinder end.” On the day of Pentecost, 800 years after Joel, Peter clarified the meaning by stating that Joel was speaking of “the last days,” which was that ‘day’ of Pentecost in the calendar of God (Acts 2:17).
If, according to Peter the apostolic decoder of times, the day of Pentecost, about 2,000 years ago, was “the last days,” what time is it now on the clock of God? When Joel saw the day, it was far and indistinct, but Peter was in the day, and spoke of it as “this” (Acts 2:16). Jesus had seen it coming and had told them to await it at the spiritual portal in Jerusalem. They obeyed.
In Hebrews 10:25, Paul spoke of a day that can be seen “approaching,” but a day which some Bible interpreters insist cannot and should not be seen. To eyes not fogged by intractable dogma, that “day” is being seen by many, approaching.
Some days may be unseeable because they have been hidden for a time by the Father (Acts 1:7). Other days are invisible or indistinct merely by reason of proximity. The fact that it was ‘hinder’ to Joel, nearly a century before Peter, was no reason why Peter should not say, “THIS is that.”
Some “day” can be seen; and it can be seen “approaching,” by those not too old to see. Some still cannot see it, because they are far, or blinded. Why should God make the day visible? So that someone still can enter the Ark – before the floods come.
From The Preacher’s diary,
July 10, 2025.
Amen