LifeLink Devotions for Thursday, September 3, 2026

Three words deeply impacted me from the song we listened to yesterday. Now many of you will think the three words are “face to face.” But as powerful an image of hope those words create in my mind, three other words became the foundation of this study.

“On that day.”

That phrase is used ninety-two times in the English Standard translation of the Sacred Scriptures. The usages range from proclamations of impending tragedy and judgement to prophecies of coming restorations and glory. We will uncover an abundance of treasure as we dig into all the ways the Holy Spirit uses those three words to tell us what God intends to do. Some of the “days” have already come and gone, but we will learn valuable lessons from what happened. Some of the “days” are still to come, and learning about them will strengthen our resolve to be faithful until the end. And there is “One Day” that will culminate it all when the world sees the glory of God fully revealed.

The very first usage of the phrase “on that day” is found in Genesis chapter seven. It teaches us a principle which helps us understand all the other uses of the phrase. The principle is this. “God has a specific time for each part of His eternal plan to be revealed. Some parts will be judgment while others will bring salvation.”

It is imperative that we seek to know God and  put complete faith in Him as the Creator and Sustainer of all that exists. Everything is under His Sovereign control.

It is also essential that we believe that God has a purpose for everything that happens. He is bringing an eternal plan of redemption to completion so that the whole world will see His glory, even those who reject Him.

With that in mind, here’s the story from Genesis seven where we see the first usage of “on that day.”

“In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened. And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights. On the very same day Noah and his sons, Shem and Ham and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them entered the ark, they and every beast, according to its kind, and all the livestock according to their kinds, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, according to its kind, and every bird, according to its kind, every winged creature. They went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh in which there was the breath of life. And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him. And the Lord shut him in.”

Two things happen on that day. First, the rains that had been promised for over 100 years finally arrive. Not just a simple ground nourishing rain, but rains that would produce a global flood to destroy almost all life as a result on mankind’s sin. Second, representatives of every kind of animal on the earth and the few remaining people who were still faithful to God were invited into the ark Noah had built. And on that day, God shut them in!

On that day judgment came upon all who rejected the LORD, and salvation was secured for all who followed Him.

One day, maybe soon, all will be brought to completion. Will you stand in judgment before God, or will you stand in victory in the presence of Jesus?

Pastor John