Woe unto you that desire the day of Jehovah! To what end is the day of Jehovah for you? It shall be darkness and not light
Israel had learned from the prophets that the day of the Lord would settle accounts with their enemies. So they said out loud that they wanted it to come. Amos answers that boast with a woe. The day they are asking for is darkness.
They wanted that day because of who they assumed they were, not because their lives had changed.
Some of them boldly wanted the promised "day of the Lord," the day when He will show Himself. It grew out of their false boast that they are the covenant people. The earlier prophets had told them that this day would rid them of their enemies. Then Israel would be redeemed and blessed in full, and the nations would see the Lord's glory. That was their false hope, while they went on living in sin. But Amos the herdsman pronounced a woe on them for wanting that day. What good will that day be to the nation that will not repent?
Being God's chosen nation did not put them beyond judgment. It brought them nearer to it.
God's covenant people of old tended to treat themselves as exceptions. Nothing in Scripture gave them any ground, or even any excuse, for that delusion. The more privileged people are, if they are unfaithful, the more guilty they are. "You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities." The gospel brings in grace, and deliverance through faith. But the moral principles of God's government never change.
The prophet is warning people whose religion had nothing behind it.
They were superstitious and, as usual in such a case, distrustful of God. They talked religion, but there was no substance, no reality, in them. So the prophet can only warn them what that day must be to people like that. That day puts an end to every fond illusion, and allows no light-heartedness. That day will not go easy on sin, or on dishonour done to the Lord. That day may well call for sackcloth and ashes, for repentance and humbling of heart.
The attitude Amos rebuked did not die with ancient Israel.
This is presumptuous sin: not believing the gospel, yet daring the day of the Lord like this. It is not so uncommon. We often meet it in Christendom. Have you not heard men say, while the present confusion goes on and they help it along, "It is true that the state of Christendom is awful. But there is one comfort: the Lord is soon coming to put it all right"? Is that not desiring the day of the Lord in much the same way as is condemned here?
The opposite error is to think judgment away altogether.
Some still hold that the bright age to come will arrive through the gradual spread of the gospel. We cannot help feeling that its main attraction is this: those who hold it can push judgment largely, if not entirely, out of their minds. Removing the idea of judgment from people's minds was the work of false prophets in Old Testament times.
Commentators differ here. Kelly says a believer may long for that day, if the longing reaches the conscience.
The day of the Lord can be something we desire, if our souls are clear as far as our conscience knows... If we walk in obedience and holiness, we should certainly desire it... One reason the Spirit sets Christ's return before us is to lead us to clear ourselves of everything that does not fit His will. As the apostle John says, "Everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself as He is pure." It is not just that the Lord will purify when He comes. He will; but this will be in the way of judgment.
Gaebelein points the believer past that day to a Person.
How different it is with the true believer. He desires, not the day of the Lord, but the coming of Him who has promised His own, "I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also."
The verse denies brightness to that day. It does not deny it to this one.
No brightness! The day of the gospel is all brightness and light. Thank God we are in the day of the gospel; thank God we are here now, while bright light and heavenly glory are streaming upon us... It is all brightness, gladness and peace when you are brought to know the heavenly Saviour. This is the day of grace. But the day of the Lord will be an awful day for the ungodly.
- Boast — Israel wanted that day because they thought the covenant made them exceptions, while they went on living in sin.
- Backfire — privilege raises responsibility, so the very thing they leaned on made them more guilty.
- Blindness — that day exposes religious talk with nothing behind it, and goes easy on nothing.
- Echo — the same presumption speaks today: help make the mess, then wait for the Lord to fix it.
- Brightness — this is the day of grace and light; that day has none, so let hope purify you now.
as if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.
Amos speaks to people who longed for the day of the Lord. They expected it to settle accounts with their enemies. His answer is a picture of a man running for his life, and finding nowhere to run.
The people said out loud that they longed for the Lord's day. One writer calls that boast presumption. He hears the same tone in people today who say God will soon put things right, while they add to the mess. He also marks off when longing for that day is right.
This is indeed presumptuous sin — not to believe the gospel, but to brave the day of the Lord like this. It is not so uncommon. We may often meet with it in Christendom. Have you not heard men say, while they help the present confusion along, "It is true that the state of Christendom is awful. But there is one comfort: the Lord is soon coming to put it all right." Is that not desiring the day of Jehovah in almost the way this passage condemns? If there were real separation from what His word condemns, and devotion to what He tells us to do, it would be another matter. The day of Jehovah can be desired, if our souls are free as far as our conscience knows.
Lion, bear and serpent are not one danger but three, and each escape only sets up the next. One writer retells it as a country scene, and names the false boast that lay behind their hope.
Some of them brazenly desired the announced "day of the Lord"... It originated in their false boast that they were the covenant people... Then follows a parable such as a man close to nature, as Amos was, would make. He describes a man who flees from a lion and fortunately escapes; but then he meets a bear, and he escapes him too. Exhausted, he reaches his house, and like one about to faint he leans his hand on the wall; a small serpent out of the crack bites him, and he perishes miserably. So would the day of the Lord overtake them.
The man survives both beasts and dies at home, touching nothing more dangerous than his own wall. One writer puts the same logic in terms of weapons.
Seeking to flee from the weapon of iron, he is pierced by the more deadly arrow. With unerring precision the shaft pierces the vital parts of the terrified man, and there is no escape.
The picture also fits ordinary life. One writer applies it to a family who left home in a famine and settled abroad, and then to believers who move away from trouble instead of facing it.
The family of Elimelech found a hundred times more trouble in Moab than they would have found in Bethlehem in Judah, even with its bitter hunger. It is as the prophet says: "as if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him" (Amos 5:19). I know of some people who moved to a distant city when things got low and trouble came into the assembly. They thought they would spare themselves the struggle and conflict. But there they only found worse troubles, and were glad to get back and face the difficulties.
Another writer widens it from moving house to conflict of every kind.
The more we scheme to escape fighting on the outside, the more likely we are to fall victim to conflict within. Uneasy doubts and fears produce it.
The day in view has no light in it. One writer sets today against it, in the opposite terms.
No brightness! The day of the gospel is all brightness and light. Thank God we are in the day of the gospel... There is no gloominess now. It is all brightness, gladness and peace when you are brought to know the heavenly Saviour. This is the day of grace. But the day of the Lord will be an awful day for the ungodly.
So the day is no cure to wait for. One writer tells us where to seek cleansing instead.
It is not merely that the Lord will purify when He comes. He will; but this will be in the way of judgment. Let no one venture to wait for that process of purification. What we have to do is to seek it from God by His word and Spirit now.
- The boast — they longed for the day of the Lord, sure of their place as God's covenant people. That confidence was presumption.
- The lion — he escapes the first danger, and the escape proves nothing. It only moves him on to the next.
- The house — the place he trusts is where he dies. The serpent in the wall shows that no hiding place holds on that day.
- The flight — moving away from trouble breeds worse trouble. The conflict dodged outside comes back inside as fear.
- The brightness — today is all light and grace. Seek the cleansing now, from God's word and Spirit. Do not wait for a day that cleanses by judgment.
Shall not the day of Jehovah be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?
Amos speaks to people who were longing for the day of the LORD. They expected it to prove them right. So he asks a second time what that day will really be. If it brings no light at all, what will it bring to people who welcome it while living in sin?
Darkness here is not about weather. One commentator reads it as the end of every comfortable idea these people held about themselves.
"Is not the day of the LORD darkness, and not light, and gloom with no brightness in it?" That day ends every comfortable illusion. It leaves no room for a light heart. It will not deal gently with sin, or with dishonour done to the Lord. That day may well call for mourning, for repentance and a humbled heart.
Their confidence rested on who they were, not on how they lived. They were God's covenant people, so they assumed His day would be good news for them.
Some of them boldly wanted the announced "day of the Lord," the coming day when He will be revealed. It grew out of their false boast that they are the covenant people... That was their false hope while they went on living in sin. But Amos, the herdsman, pronounced a woe on them for wanting that day. What good will that day do a nation that will not repent? It is a day of darkness and not light.
The warning sits inside a call to repent. The same people who wanted God's day were bringing Him offerings and feasts He refused.
Still, the Spirit calls them to repentance... Yet there were people living in the middle of all this evil who claimed to want the day of the LORD. The prophet tells them it will be a day of terror and judgment, of darkness and not of light. They will fall out of one disaster into another. The LORD took no pleasure in their offerings and sacrifices. He could not put up with their solemn feasts. He wanted justice and righteousness.
Another writer sets two days side by side. Against the light we live in now, "no brightness in it" lands hard.
"Is not the day of the LORD darkness, and not light, and gloom with no brightness in it?" No brightness! The day of the gospel is all brightness and light. Thank God we are in the day of the gospel. Thank God we are here now, with bright light and heavenly glory streaming on us. There is no gloom now... But the day of the Lord will be a dreadful day for the ungodly, and these Scriptures must convince any serious person of it.
The same attitude turns up long after Amos. One commentator hears it in people who long for the Lord to fix a mess they are helping to make.
Have you not heard people say, while everything around them is in confusion and they are adding to it, "It is true that the state of the Christian world is awful. But there is one comfort: the Lord is coming soon to put it all right." Is that not wanting the day of the LORD in much the same way that is condemned here? "To what end is it for you?"... The day of the LORD can be something we long for, if our souls are clear as far as our conscience knows... If we walk in obedience and holiness, we should certainly want it.
One writer points to Paul, who uses the same pair of words — light and darkness — to show who that day falls on.
The words "they" and "you" make it even clearer that the day of the Lord is for the world. Paul does not say, "When you shall say, Peace and safety," but when "they shall say." He shuts the believer right out of that day of sudden destruction. He writes, "You are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief." And why not? "For you are all children of light, children of the day."
That leaves believers waiting for something else.
How different it is with the true believer. He desires, not the day of the Lord, but the coming of the One who promised His own, "I will come again and will take you to Myself, that where I am you may be also."
- Darkness. The day they asked for is gloom with no brightness at all. It ends every comfortable illusion and deals gently with no sin.
- Boast. They wanted that day because they were God's covenant people. Amos answers that living in sin turns the day against them.
- Worship. God could not bear their offerings and feasts. He wanted justice and righteousness instead.
- Contrast. We live now in the day of the gospel, all brightness and light. That day will be dreadful for the ungodly, but it does not overtake the children of the day.
- Test. You can long for that day when your conscience is clear and your walk is obedient. Otherwise the woe of Amos still lands on you.