Woe to you who long for the Day of the LORD! What will the Day of the LORD be for you? It will be darkness and not light. Sermons
I. MAN'S NATURE AND POSITION RENDER NECESSARY A MORAL CHOICE. 1. Man's emotional nature impels him to adopt an object of supreme love. Human affection may be diffused or it may be concentrated, it may be languid or it may be intense. But in any case it exists and acts as a principle of the moral life. 2. Man's voluntary and practical nature requires an object of supreme quest and endeavour. We seek what we love, we avoid what we hate. II. THE GREAT ALTERNATIVE WHICH PRESENTS ITSELF TO MAN IS THE CHOICE BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL. This is a real and not a fictitious or conventional distinction. It would be as reasonable to deny the distinction between straight and crooked, between light and darkness, as that between moral good and moral evil. The distinction is vital and eternal, connected with the "nature of things," with the attributes and character of God, with the constitution of man. The choice between pleasure and pain, between worldly prosperity and adversity, is as nothing compared with this choice. The appeals of revelation, from the beginning to the end of the Bible, urge men to choose the good in preference to the evil. There are doubtless inducements to another choice; but this remains the choice enforced by reason, by conscience, by God. III. HOWEVER IT MAY BE REPRESENTED OTHERWISE, THE FACT IS THAT THE PRACTICAL PREFERENCE OF GOOD CONDUCES TO MAN'S WELFARE. The inducements offered to adopt a life of selfishness and of pleasure are many and powerful; there are "pleasures of sin for a season." The way of virtue and religion is a steep and rugged path. Yet it yields a deep and pure satisfaction not to be found in the ways, the broad and primrose paths, of sin. We are not called upon to balance pleasures. The voice of right, of God, is authoritative, and demands obedience without hesitation or calculation. Yet God promises such as listen to and obey his voice that he will "be with" them, that he will be "gracious unto" them, and that they shall "live." - T.
Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord! I. AN AWAKENING COMMINATION.1. What is meant by the "day of the Lord"? The day of death, or personal dissolution. The day of captivity, or national dissolution. The day of judgment, or general account. 2. What is meant by desiring this day? The people are censured for desiring it rashly, because they did not consider it; scoffingly, because they did not believe it; desperately, because they did not fear it. Men desired the day of the Lord from discontentedness in their own condition; presumption of their own innocency; and from ignorance or misapprehension of the thing itself. II. THE CONVINCING EXPOSTULATION. "To what end is it for you? " Here is a calling of them to an account for their desire, or an expostulation. And a discovering to them the fruitlessness of their desire, or a conviction. To all good Christians and believers it is a day of absolution; a day of redemption; and a day of salvation. III. THE EXPRESS CONCLUSION OR DETERMINATION. "The day of the Lord is darkness, and not light." This is to be understood of the day of death and judgment. This sentence may be taken — 1. In the general proposition of it, as it stands by itself. (1) (2) 2. In its particular scope, as directed more especially to the persons above mentioned, who desired this day of the Lord. It carries a threefold force or emphasis with it. An emphasis of information; an emphasis of conviction to those who were obstinate; and an emphasis of astonishment to those which were desperate, which knew it, but laid aside the thoughts and considerations of it, and would put it to the venture. (T. Horton, D. D.) Homiletic Magazine. t: — To the overthrow of the ten tribes for their idolatry Amos refers in the text. He asserts the absolute certainty of that overthrow except on their national repentance.I. THE HARDENED IMPIETY OF UNGODLY MEN. Numbers of these impenitent and blaspheming Jews openly defied the judgment of the Almighty, mocked at the messages and warnings of God's Word, and, as though to show their utter contempt of the prophet and the prophecy, expressed their desire to "see the day " — to brave the worst — as though convinced that, in spite of warnings, the judgment announced would never take place, or if it did, it would not be nearly so formidable as was described. It is not safe to despise death, as some affect to do, nor that God whose minister death is, since the dread realities of the unseen world will far surpass our utmost apprehension. The Arabians have a saying that there are three things not to be trifled with. It is not good to jest of God, of death, or of the devil. Not of God, for God neither can nor will be mocked. Not of death, for death mocks the pride of all men, one time or other. Nor even of the devil, for the devil puts an eternal sarcasm on those who are too familiar with him. II. THE CAUSES OF THIS HARDENED IMPIETY. 1. It proceeds from infidel presumption. Infidelity is often more of the heart than of the head. A man never set about proving Christianity untrue, hut he wished it first. 2. Sometimes from a one-sided view of God's character. At one time they argue that God is merciful, and therefore they trust to escape. At other times they think that others having escaped is an encouragement to them, and that threatenings long delayed may never be fulfilled. They presume upon security because sentence against an evil work is not speedily executed. The silence of providence emboldens them. 3. From their practical immoralities. These darken the understanding, and sear the conscience, and blind the mind to its own guilt and deformity. III. THE THREATENED JUDGMENTS TO WHICH THEY STAND EXPOSED. 1. The certainty of the punishment. "The lion out of the forest; the bear from the wood; and the serpent by the sides of the house" appear. These Jewish hypocrites defied the threatened judgment, but they could not escape it. 2. The slight and casual agency by which it was brought about. Amos paints to the life. To this day this is no uncommon circumstance. The naturalist in Jamaica tells us that the most common reptile of the serpent tribe in the East and West Indies, is the small black snake, which may often be seen hanging half out of the loose walls, so much used as fences, and thus lying motionless for its prey. Now apply these images to God's judgments on the ancient Jews. Their own writers interpret this almost literally of the captivities they should suffer from the Chaldeans, the Persians, and the Grecian armies. Their words are, " Fleeing from the face of Nebuchadnezzar, the Lion, you will be met by Ahasuerus the Persian, and encounter the Persecution instigated by Haman; or (the Empire of the Chaldeans being destroyed), next the Medes and Persians shall arise, compared by Daniel himself to 'the Bear,' as their symbol. But When, at the command of Cyrus and Darius, your captivity is ended, and ye return to Jerusalem, and lean your weary hands upon its ruined wails in hope of peace and safety, then shall come Alexander the Great, the head of the Grecian Empire, — or Antiochus Epiphanes, the Great Persecutor, who shall bite like a serpent. Yet not without, as in Babylon or Susa, but within, in the very borders of the Holy Land itself. By all which it appears," say they, "that the day you anticipate is a day not of joy but of sorrow, not of light but of darkness." 3. Guard against all approaches to this sin. Things do not suddenly come to the worst between man and God. Again, let the young beware of abusing the Divine forbearance to embolden them in sin. But though you escape the lion and the bear, you may, in an unexpected moment, be stung by the serpent to the heart, in the chinks and crevices of the wall. 4. Learn the value and preciousness of that Gospel which reveals a method of escape from greater evils than those which threatened ancient Israel. 5. Beware of neglecting the grace of the dispensation under which you live. 6. Implore especially the grace of the Holy Spirit to renew and restore your nature. To have a proud heart under humbling dispensations, and a hard heart under softening ones is awful. (Homiletic Magazine.) 1. From these words we gather at once this great, fact, that there is a day of the Lord coming — a day of judgment and righteous retribution. It is that day in which He will judge the world in righteousness by Jesus Christ. It will be a day of fearful discovery; of universal assembly; of awful decision. 2. The only ground of hope on which we Can look for salvation in that day. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. There is a subordinate condition of acquittal and salvation in the day of judgment. The future destiny of each individual will have an exact reference to the tenor of his present conduct. 3. There are many who form vain hopes of salvation at the coming of our Lord. There are some who appear to have no fear or hope on the subject. There are others who have strong expectations, while they have no warrant from Scripture for their hope. Some trust to what they call the goodness and benevolence of God. Some are self-righteous. Some make a high profession of faith in His name, while they have in works denied Him. Theirs is the hope of the hypocrite that shall perish. (Anon.) People Amos, JosephPlaces Beersheba, Bethel, Damascus, Gilgal, GomorrahTopics Alas, Dark, Darkness, Desire, Desiring, Ho, Longing, Purpose, Sorrow, Wherefore, WoeOutline 1. A lamentation for Israel.4. An exhortation to repentance. 21. God rejects their hypocritical service. Dictionary of Bible Themes Amos 5:18-20 4812 darkness, God's judgment Library April 15 MorningTheir Redeemer is strong.--JER. 50:34. I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins.--I have laid help upon one that is mighty.--The Lord. . . thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty one of Jacob.--Mighty to save.--Able to keep you from falling.--Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.--He is able . . . to save them … Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path The Sins of Society Evidences Internal and Experimental. Whether, by Penance, Man is Restored to his Former Dignity? The Kingdom of Judah. The Greater Prophets. Whether the Old Law Should have Been Given to the Jews Alone? Degrees of Sin The Books of the Old Testament as a Whole. 1 the Province of Particular Introduction is to Consider the Books of the Bible Separately... Ripe for Gathering The Arguments Usually Alleged in Support of Free Will Refuted. Journey to Jerusalem. Ten Lepers. Concerning the Kingdom. The Prophecy of Obadiah. The Lord Coming to his Temple Scriptures Showing the Sin and Danger of Joining with Wicked and Ungodly Men. An Exhortation to Love God Being Made Archbishop of Armagh, He Suffers Many Troubles. Peace Being Made, from Being Archbishop of Armagh He Becomes Bishop of Down. Links Amos 5:18 NIVAmos 5:18 NLT Amos 5:18 ESV Amos 5:18 NASB Amos 5:18 KJV Amos 5:18 Bible Apps Amos 5:18 Parallel Amos 5:18 Biblia Paralela Amos 5:18 Chinese Bible Amos 5:18 French Bible Amos 5:18 German Bible Amos 5:18 Commentaries Bible Hub |
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