The Day of the Lord: Amos 5:18-20
Before God can bring us into glory, God needs to take care of our heart. This is why we talk about repentance. God wants relationship with us. He wants to dwell with us forever. Yet we sin, preventing us from attaining that reality. God needs to take care of our heart before we can truly be one with Him.
Amos’ worldview never comes across more clearly in this entire work than here. His worldview is in direct contradiction to the worldview that most people – even most Christians – have. When Amos looks to the Day of the Lord, Amos sees darkness instead of light. Amos sees guilt, not glory.
It is important to understand what Amos means when he uses the expression The Day of the Lord. Amos is not talking about the end of the world. To be fair, he is not talking only about the end of the world. The Day of the Lord is any day the Lord breaks into life and sets things right. The day of the Lord is any day He allows you to reap the consequences of your actions.
The Hebrew people saw themselves as God’s chosen ones. They believed the Lord would set them as rulers over the world. In Amos’ day, their prosperity and military might convinced them the Day of the Lord was close. They believed they prospered because God was establishing His Kingdom to elevate His people into places of rule. Why else would God make them elite in their wealth and might?
Amos has a simple problem, however. Amos knows the Day of the Lord is not a universal blessing upon anyone with Abraham’s genetic code within. The day of the Lord is the day we get what we deserve. It doesn’t depend on genetics; it depends on the heart. For those living in love, generosity, and kindness, the Day of the Lord returns love, generosity, and kindness. For those living righteously under oppression, the Day of the Lord brings freedom. For those pursuing the desires of their heart, the Day of the Lord brings judgment.
It is something we cannot escape. Imagine seeing a lion, but just when you think about escaping it you run into a bear. When you manage to get away from the bear because you find shelter, there is a snake in the shelter to take you out. You thought you were running to safety, but you were being guided into judgment. The lion and the bear were there solely to deliver you to the snake.
Amos knows God is ultimately going to do something great, but to get to something great the Hebrew people will go into exile. The Day of the Lord always leads to something incredible, but it takes us through the Valley of the Shadow of Death on our way to the incredible thing. Before God can bring us into glory, God needs to take care of our heart.
