The Day of the Lord
Throughout the Bible there are references to the coming Day of the Lord. Day can be used symbolically to reference a period in time, like the phrase "back in the day". Understanding that Scripture was written by the Holy Spirit with precision, symbols like day have precise meaning.
Prophetic references in Scripture, like day, are often self-similar or fractal and point to more than one scale of fulfillment. Similarly, day can simultaneously point to multiple time periods with differing orders of magnitude, and each magnitude is precise and not approximate. At the top-level order of magnitude, The Day of the Lord refers to the future thousand year reign of Jesus, visible bodily on earth, following the Great Tribulation, before this universe is destroyed exothermically and the New Heaven and the New Earth is created.
Peter specifically explains that a day can be a reference to 103 years:
2 Peter 3:8
But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
Verses containing day references are listed below, loosely grouped by similar phrasing.
The Day
Zechariah 14:1-4
Behold, the day of the LORD is coming,
And your spoil will be divided in your midst.
For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem;
The city shall be taken,
The houses rifled,
And the women ravished.
Half of the city shall go into captivity,
But the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
Then the LORD will go forth
And fight against those nations,
As He fights in the day of battle.
And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives,
Which faces Jerusalem on the east.
And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two,
From east to west,
Making a very large valley;
Half of the mountain shall move toward the north
And half of it toward the south.
2 Peter 3:10-13
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.
Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?
Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
The Third Day
Hosea 6:2
After two days He will revive us;
On the third day He will raise us up,
That we may live in His sight.
Today, Tomorrow, and the Third Day
Luke 13:32
And He said to them, “Go, tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.’
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Zephaniah 1:14 The great day of the LORD is near; |
Exodus 19:10-11 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes. “And let them be ready for the third day. For on the third day the LORD will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. |
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Zephaniah 1:15 That day is a day of wrath, |
Exodus 19:16a Then it came to pass on the third day, in the morning, that there were thunderings and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain; |
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Zephaniah 1:16 A day of trumpet and alarm |
Exodus 19:16b and the sound of the trumpet was very loud, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled.
Exodus 19:19 And when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by voice. |
TODO: In 1&2 Tim seems to a difference between latter times (1 Tim 4:1) and last days (2 Tim 3:1).