#DailyDevotion Repent Today Before The Day Of Judgment Comes
Amos 8 9On that day,” says the Lord GOD, “I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight. 10I will turn your festivals into mourning and all your happy songs into funeral songs. I will put sackcloth on all waists and make every head bald and make it like the mourning for an only child, and the end of it will be a bitter day.
“On that day,” strikes an ominous tone. For what follows is certainly judgment. The LORD God will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in the middle of the day. This hearkens first, to the first day of creation where the earth was void, chaos ruled and there was no light. Then no doubt there was darkness over the earth when the LORD flooded it. The explicit judgment by the LORD upon the Egyptians as He plunged them into darkness. The reference here seems to be explicitly on Good Friday when the earth was plunged into darkness from noon to three as the Son of God was hung upon the cross. The sins of the world were placed upon Him. The Father declared Him guilty on our behalf and turned His face away from Jesus. The judgment is fulfilled as Jesus gives up in spirit unto death, the penalty for our sins. Yet, that darkness comes upon the earth again. It is described several times in the book of Revelation signaling the day of judgment upon the world because it rejected the Son of God, Jesus Christ.
Now darkness will also come upon the northern tribes of Israel for their sin of idolatry and the sins that followed after it. The darkness here will be caused by the trampling of the horses and chariots with the multitudes of Assyrians marching as the hand of the LORD to punish His people who rebelled against Him and chose to follow the ways of their hearts instead of the Word of God. Verse ten here describes how they will all look on that day, a great day of mourning for any that survive.
11The days will come,” says the Lord GOD, “when I will have a famine come into the country, not a hunger for food nor a thirst for water but of hearing the words of the LORD. 12And people will wander from sea to sea, from the north to the east, anxiously searching for the LORD’s Word but will not find it. 13On that day beautiful girls and young men will faint for thirst. 14Those who swear by the guilty thing of Samaria and say, ‘As your god lives, Dan,’ and, ‘As the way of Beersheba lives’ — they will fall never to get up again.”
The worst temporal punishment that can come upon a nation is a famine of the Word of God. That day had come upon the nation of Israel who persecuted and killed the prophets sent to her. The LORD is like, “You don’t want to hear my Word? Fine, I shall remove it from your midst.” Have we not seen this now in many places that used to be bustling with active churches and now they are museums. The people in these places are searching indeed, but not for the Word of the LORD. They want something like it. What they find will nevertheless still leave them spiritually hungry. So they are like the Israelites described here, who swear by the guilt of Samaria, idols at Dan and Bethel, who want a facsimile of Christianity but hate the substance thereof. The LORD is removing His Word from these places.
We therefore should live repentant lives, always clamoring for the Word of Christ. We must do what we can to keep it before the people so they may be saved before the LORD takes it away from them because of their rejection. We should heartily conform our lives to it so it is honored.
Heavenly Father, always keep Your Word before us so we do not fall into Your judgment and lose our faith for lack of it, and we may enter Your life. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.