Several prophecies in the Bible mention a future event called “the day of the Lord”. Here’s what we know about that day: On the day of the Lord, the sun and moon will be darkened, and the heavens and earth will be destroyed. Jesus will return in between those two events, after the sun and moon have already been darkened, but while the heavens and earth still exist. And when Jesus returns, his dead followers will be resurrected. So those things all happen on the same day.

Another future event is mentioned in the last few chapters of the Bible. It says after many apocalyptic disasters occur, the devil will be temporarily locked up and the world will get a break for a thousand years, before the world truly ends. But when will the day of the Lord occur, relative to the thousand years?

Jesus’s dead followers will be resurrected at the beginning of the thousand years, so they can spend that whole time reigning with him. So the day of the Lord must be at the beginning of the thousand years.

But the heavens and earth won’t be destroyed until after the thousand years are over, after the devil has been briefly released and then imprisoned again. So the day of the Lord must be at the end of the thousand years.