Published: August 4, 2024 | Speaker: Tim Freitag | Series: Amos - Daily Rising Early and Sending the Prophets - Part 13 | Scripture: Amos 5:8-27
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amen excuse me all right well we are still in Amos chapter 5 I uh I hope to move us forward from
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here this morning this uh planned to be our last our last uh session in Amos 5 as we discuss a couple more points here again I I
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struggle because I I keep finding more and more to to see and understand and to dig out of the prophet and um we don't have forever so uh I'm going to just
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touch on a couple of things we we obviously spoke last week about the shrines that he discusses here um not going to gilgal not seeking after the Lord in these places and the the sort of
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theological context that the people of Israel would have understood at that time the way they viewed themselves in relation to those and the way they used it as a an assurance or a self assurance
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of God's favor God's blessing with them because of the history associated with these things and we arrived at that place of of understanding I think uh what the prophet's communicating to them here
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which is you must seek the Lord where he is to be found in his own terms in the way that he has set out out now not the way that it was then and um so he he
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mentions these things we see then as we sort of follow on from there um in verse 7 and following he says Those Who turn Justice into wormwood and cast
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righteousness down to the Earth um he who made the plees and Orion and changes deep Darkness into morning who also darkens day into night and calls for the
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Waters of the sea and pours them out on the surface of the Earth Yahweh is his name it is he who flashes forth with destruction upon the strong so that destruction comes upon the Fortress um
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they hate him who reproves in the gate and they uphor him who speaks with Integrity therefore because you impose heavy rent on the poor and extract a tribute of grain from them though you
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have built houses of well H Stone yet you will not live in them you have planted Pleasant Vineyards yet you will not drink their wine for I know your transgressions are many and your sins are great you who distress the righteous
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and accept bribes and turn aside the poor in the gate therefore at such a Time the prudent person keeps silent for it is an evil
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um in verse well actually I skipped over verse six he says seek the Lord that you may live or he may break forth like a fire oh House of Joseph does anybody have anything besides Break Forth or break through in your copies of the scriptures there in in verse four of
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chapter 5 it's an interesting translation choice and I didn't see a lot of discussion on this because actually the word in the Hebrew is the same word that you will
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find for example when you see the spirit of the Lord descending upon the judges or the spirit of the Lord descending upon David or upon Saul and giving them inspiration it is literally that same phrasing there this that he says lest
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the Lord descend on you like a fire in that same sort of imagery that the spirit descends so I don't know quite why the translators of most copies have gone with break through um it's it's
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much more a sort of visitation than it is um the strictly violent phrase that they're using here I think certainly it's not a pleasant visitation but it is that idea of God um arriving in that way
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descending upon them um as we move forward though I'm going to read this we're going to there's a lot we could talk about there he's obviously discussing um the idea he's
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returning to some things that we saw in chapter 3 and chapter 4 as he discusses God as Creator he's reminding the people of course the nature of God who God is the god with whom you have to do The God
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Who opposes these things The God Who hates evil is the same God who has established creation and done these these things that are visible to you um so he comes down here I'm going to pick
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up in verse 14 we're going to have to focus our attention on the latter half of the the chapter this morning he says seek good and not evil that you may live and thus May Yahweh God of hosts be with
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you just as you have said hate evil love good and establish justice in the gate perhaps then Yahweh God of hosts may be gracious to the remnant of Joseph
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therefore thus says Yahweh God of hosts the Lord there is waiting in all wailing in all the plazas and in all the streets they say alas alas they also call to the
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farmers to mourning and the professional mourners to their Lamentations and in all The Vineyards there is Wailing because I will pass through the midst of you says Yahweh
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um I wasn't really intending to pause here for very long until it's stuck out to me as you as you look here um he's using a very particular name of the Lord one after the other after the other he
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says it three times in short succession Yahweh God of hosts and in one case Yahweh God of hosts the Lord and I sort of stopped here and said well what's
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what's going on why is he using this name of God because I think all of us would Ascent to the idea that the name by by which a prophet calls God is significant if he's calling God a
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particular name or using a particular epithet of God it means something it has some significance to it I was uh a little bit perturbed perhaps um of the
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commentators that I had to hand that I was referring to from Kyle and dich on down through Calvin um across the board almost all of them either made no
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acknowledgement of this or had a sort of one- sentence explanation of well he's making this statement more solemn by calling him God of hosts uh that was it
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why does the prophet say it three times in a row Yahweh God of hosts what is he what is he communicating to the people the most detailed explanation one of the commentators had the the decency to say
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um does it not seem like someone trying to make a point without saying it in so many words he's reminding them Yahweh God of hosts um some of your translations may say Yahweh God of
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what is he doing here what is what is Amos in his message trying to communicate to the people as he says therefore Yahweh God of hosts I think it's this he is communicating to them well
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let's back up slightly we talked when we talked about the shrines one of the things that they adhered to in the shrines um was the idea that the the shrines meant well God is with you
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because the um Pagan King had said that to Abraham and then later we have an affirmation to Jacob God is with you in all that you do well we have this Shrine God is with us what does it mean when
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God is with a people when God dwells with a people it is peace if God is with them they must be at peace with God God does not dwell with those with whom he is at enmity so
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to dwell with them to have God with you must mean that God is at peace with you but he's reminding them here as he says God at the the head of his army May that
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God be with you as you've said he's reminding them over and over again of the king God Yahweh himself standing at the head of the Heavenly Host his army
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standing there he's reminding them not just who God is as a solemn uh way to buffer or or build up um you know make his his statement more forceful he's
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reminding them as he's just reminded them of God as Creator he's reminding them now as God captain of the Heavenly Host it reminds me of of uh uh Joshua's encounter right with the captain of the
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host of the Lord in which he says are you for us or for our enemies and what does the captain of the lord of the host say no but take off your sandals for the
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ground on which you dwell is Holy to dwell with God is to be holy what is the other things that that Amos is bringing out here with them in this exact statement that he's saying hate evil
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love good and establish justice perhaps then go Yahweh God of hosts may be merciful to the remnant of Jacob he's saying You must be holy in order to
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dwell with the lord of the hosts with the captain of that Army he will not dwell with you if you love evil and you hate good you must be in this way
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additionally I as I was sort of flailing around here trying to figure out why nobody was dealing with this none of the commentators had anything to say about the fact that he's bringing out God of hosts I was going through the references
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and I discovered actually what I think cracked it open for me in
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James James of course Very Hebrew writer of the New Testament
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book in James chapter 5 he has a very Amos themed message for the people come now you rich weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you your riches have rotted and your
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garments have become motheaten your gold and your silver have rusted their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire it is in the last days that you have stored up
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your treasure behold the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields which has been withheld from you cries out against you and the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the
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Lord of hosts your copies may say lord sabath it's the same word from the Hebrew they're making a decision there with what they've done in the Greek it's the same in the Hebrew word uh new King
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James or King James often translates that as Sabo it is the same word captain of of armies or Lord of hosts it is that that he is referring to it would be the same in the septu
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agent The Cry of those the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of hosts you have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of want and pleasure you have
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fattened your hearts in a day of Slaughter you have condemned and put to death the righteous man he does not resist you therefore be patient Brethren until the coming of the Lord the farmer
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waits for the precious produce of the soil being patient about it until it gets early and late rains you too be patient strengthen your hearts for the coming of the Lord is
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near I think this is what James has is giving us the New Testament comment or reflection of what Amos is bringing against the people to whom he's speaking
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right here you have done evil you have crushed the laborer you have annihilated these people you have perverted righteousness you have done all of these things the Lord of hosts has heard and
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is coming because what's the next section that we see after this 18 and this is where I want to C Camp this morning alas you who are longing for the day of the Lord for what purpose will
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the day of the Lord be to you it will be darkness and not light as when a man flees from a lion and a bear meets him and he goes home leans his hand against the wall and a snake bites him
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now it may feel a little obscure when you read it that way but the picture is this you're out for a nice walk in the country you've gone on your daily constitutional it's a lovely day suddenly there's a lion in front of you
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you manage by your great efforts with the energy that you have left to get away from the Lion you turn the corner and there's a bear fortunately you're only a block from your house you sprint there you finally make it you get to
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your own door you close the door and there's a snake on the back of it who bites you in the face that's the idea you cannot Escape what is coming to you it does not matter your efforts your abilities it will find you where you
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live and bite you that's the picture there it's sort of Darkly comical in a similar way to the way that he says press you down earlier on almost has that sort of cartoon feel of being
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pressed down you can almost hear Looney Tunes running noise when he gets to this section as you sort of scramble away from the creatures that are pursuing you but that's the idea that he's getting at here is you cannot get away from what will
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happen to you on the day of the Lord so just as James says to them the Cry of those that you have crushed has reached the ears of the Lord of hosts behold the day of the Lord is coming Amos says yes
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the day of the Lord is coming and what good will that day be to you so this is where I want to stop and and consider for a moment this
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course in Hebrew it's just two words Yom Yahweh the day of the Lord
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if you um if you will cast your mind over our preceding discussions you will remember of course where Amos falls in the uh lineage of the prophets he's
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reasonably early as far as most people can tell probably the first writing Prophet although there's some um something to be said of the fact that Jonah may have proceeded
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possibly it's fascinating again I try not to bore you too much with the the ins and outs of the theological back room discussions of these things but um there's not a lot of dissension
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of dissension or uh disagreement of where Amos sits in the timeline as far as I can read most most people Ascent to the idea that he is early very early possibly the first
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in the line and yet there's a number of commentators when discussing the concept of the day of the Lord say ah well when we get to Amos Amos is taking this idea of the day of the Lord and he's changing
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what other prophets were doing with it Amos is the first one in the line so some of them are very confused on their timeline there or simply reading them the books of the Bible as they come in order and suggesting this what's Curious
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here and and a few people are willing to point this point this out it's a little bit like baptism as in when you get to the New Testament baptism is just sort of there um you
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don't really get a discussion of baptism in the in the uh Chronicles for example or even in the prophets or even in the wisdom literature so much you you have
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maybe some things that refer but very very very few and then you sort of get to the New Testament and people are being baptized and baptizing and And discussing who should be baptizing and who should be baptized and you kind of
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go wait what where did this come from and frankly the same thing is actually happening here in the prophets which is Amos sort of picks it up here and says yeah you're all are looking forward to the day of the Lord and you can almost
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see the audience going yeah yeah we're looking forward to the day what is that where did that day come from what what day what day what and Amos picks it up here in the
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context effectively unless somebody wants to disagree with me he picks it up as though everybody knows what he's talking about this is a day known to these people this is a a concept an
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event that was in their minds in their context this is not something he's invented here he's pulling on something that was in their awareness um It's
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Curious in that regard so yeah goe could he simply be picking up on what was where seems convinced that that God
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will stand on the earth at the last day so it's possible one of the issues that you run into again not to be too boring with how this is discussed there's the
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question of what are we allowed to call the day of the Lord in scripture when you're tracing these things and you're looking for the day of the Lord as you look around is it only this if you have those two words together now we've got the day
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of the Lord however there's a bunch of other things that have uh parts of this where they're sort of associated with each other or you have words that don't even really say the day of the Lord but
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they seem to be describing the concept that we seem to have in mind so there's a lot of discussion about what counts and what isn't the day of the Lord and I'm not going to go through all of the details of that with you because we would end up with about 150 references
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that are probably referring to the day of the Lord all of that to say it's a major Motif to your point I think he's picking up on a concept that Israel had very
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similar to what job says that at some point the Lord will stand upon the Earth
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the I don't know yeah that's a good question um it's not the same word that's used there in Genesis because the word used there in Genesis is actually void um this is more the idea of I'm
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vo in which verse are you looking at oh oh uh so in Genesis 1 it's it's literally formless and void is the Hebrew words would be more accurately formless and void this is not formless
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this is the idea of there was light and it is now darkened we have we have stripped the light that's what Amos is describing and it's it's a different word literally it's Darkness if you go
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back a or forward in Genesis where it says God separated the lightness and the dark it's the dark that's the word here that section of of Genesis is formless and void you had your hand
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up well I think person I think ab's on to something because Jeremiah will use the to to speak of yahweh's judgment on
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Israel and the Nations but I think Al that you're pointing out that Amos is early yeah I think the meaning of of
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what he's writing has to be found in even J is probably later right in terms of it written
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form and you know it might be even the prophecy of bam concerning the star that would arise yeah from Israel the concept
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genis 3:15 16 the seed of woman the concept that there would be a Day of Day of Reckoning is in the song of Moses for
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example I think you have to find the meaning the meaning the background from The Works of Moses not from the other prophets right no I
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appreciate that um because that's that's correct um and so to his point if you look I'm not going to remember the reference off hand right now but he does say it's the only other place that you find those words put to well it's at the
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Valley of the dry bones isn't it I think what du vaboh no that's eel I think Jeremiah is it Jeremiah okay one of the other prophets uses the term formless
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and void the toou vaboh he he uses the exact same construction that's in Genesis there to describe destruction caused by God literally he's rendered it formless and void because of how
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terrible the Judgment was so yes you're correct that we we do want to look backwards before we look forwards um one of the one of the
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commentators on this actually said regarding the day of the Lord he says to to raise the Spectre of the day of the Lord is to anticipate an actual theophany in all its concrete
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incisiveness meaning God standing upon the Earth and all that that entails both for good and for bad and that's one of the things that Amos is
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bringing out for us here but we're looking back to some of the things that were anticipated because it is in the mind of his hearers that there would be a day in which God comes and stands upon
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the Earth what we're talking about here and Chuck has brought this out in some of his studies I think very helpfully um we sometimes think about eschatology as uh a new testament uh 20th or 21st
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century concept the end of the ages the the the eschatology is a very Christian thing well the Jews had an eschatology they had a view of what the end would
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mean you can see this frankly you can still see it in in the responses of the disciples to Jesus well is now when you'll set up your kingdom and raise
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your sword over the Romans and sit here and be a king and Rule and and abolish all of this evil and justice will prevail like that's what's in their minds is that God will come physically
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with a sword conquer these kingdoms and sit on a throne in Jerusalem ruling over the Earth the Earth and they have an idea a concept that has
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built up for them so one of the frankly misguided theories of the day of the Lord was that there was some kind of Harvest Festival in which the day the Lord on this day the Lord would be
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enthroned as king of the Harvest in the celebrations no it's eschatology they're thinking about the end of the ages when God comes and stands upon the Earth and
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so it is that idea of a of a sort of very direct Al and and even physical intervention of God that God himself will be there again to tie it back I
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think this is why Amos is using that refrain God of hosts or God of armies he's reminding them when he comes he's coming at the head of his army he's not
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coming here strictly to be uh you know it's almost the reversal of the idea of him entering on the donkey in that peaceful and Peaceable way Amos is is
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pointing to the coming of the Lord with sword in hand at the head of his army and so there's a lot of discussion as we move forward and and I want to try to move us forward a little bit because I I
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don't want to have to do lots and lots of weeks on this despite the fact that it's a a major idea in the concept of Israel and and comes up a lot in the prophets and I do want to
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look at a few of the references here as we move forward slow you down yeah sorry I'm I'm going really fast go ahead can I slow you down yeah please does anyone inter 19 is of almost two
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stat I'm looking at this English my translation man the lion and a bear meets it's like one statement or he goes
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home and he leans against the wall it's not like they're together it's uh it's quite unfortunate in the English the word in the Hebrew is is just straight up and it's not an or um so to the extent
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that it was commented on all the comments were these should not have been separated I don't know why they do that in English it's it's literally the same when he fle a lion and the bear meets him that or in your English is the same
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word it's like they were trying to make a parallelism out of it it's right it's not a parallelism it's a it's a it's a linear you're going from one Calamity to the next Calamity to the one that finally gets you um it's the idea that
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no matter what actually it's not even no matter what it's literally everything was peaceful and then everything is terrible you have gone from your nice
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walk in the country you meet a lion you meet a bear you get bit by a snake like it went from what you thought was peace again please think about this in the whole context of Amos what has he been
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saying to them from the very beginning when the lion roars out of Zion you all think you're here at peace in the pasture and everything's great it's not great the lion is coming the bear will
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meet you the snake will bite you you and he's coming back to this refrain here as he's building on it through the message as it as it stands and and I hesitate to
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use the word evolves but he's constructing it in more complexity as he moves forward we've come back to this idea of you think everything's at peace Calamity is here AB first and then
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Jenny sorry finish your thought I was dwelling on this somewh because I was thinking well one I can't outrun a line and I probably can't out a bear I think the line's faster than the bear and the
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snake they're fast but they're generally slow but you get basically you get to the place where you think they safy yeah there is that's that's the idea is you
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think you've arrived safely at home you you think you got away and it's still f it literally comes home to roost and and catches you AE you had your I guess
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oury jewi oury jewi is basically saying when the Lord comes happiness will be here everything will beine because Justice will be here
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right is that the day of the Lord when comes back I
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understand so the reason I I draw a distinction you're not wrong and one of the questions that we should answer as we go forward is is the day of the Lord the second coming of Jesus Christ that's a question um to be
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answered the reason I make a distinguish between the the Jewish eschatology and our eschatology our eschatology is at least as far as I can tell with what I've read up until this point now
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not universally but the majority of the Jews and again I think you see it even with the disciples they had a thought that the coming of the Lord means Vindication for National
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Israel so we the nation the 12 tribes will finally be Vindicated against our enemies our enemies and God will rule over us the chosen people and everything
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will be great and what Amos is trying to point out to them that I think is a thing that we now hold better although perhaps not as well as we should in our eschatology to say when he comes he
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comes with respect to sin evil and unrighteousness those are God's enemies if you are in the camp of evil unrighteousness the perversion of
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Justice you are facing off against the Lord of Lord of hosts he's not on your side you are for his enemies think that's what's happening
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here with Amos and I think again hopefully we can trace it a little bit I think you're going to see that in the the disciples again not that the disciples were were trying to pervert jus Justice or were evil men but they
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still had this idea of like well National Israel the The Throne of David needs its day needs its restoration and I think you can come all the way back here and frankly earlier but Amos here
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in particular is saying it's not about National Israel you are still sitting here as a self-satisfied people saying we have bethl we have gilgal God is with
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us and he's saying may that be true but the god of hosts is coming with respect to evil with respect to perversion with respect to
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respect to unrighteousness that's the day of the Lord and to you unrighteous people that's not a bright sunshiny day that's a terrible day that's a great and
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terrible day of the Lord there's multiple hands up
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but it was yeah I hesitate to say yes because in some ways it was it's it's sort of the I mean we're going to go there and we're hopefully we'll get there I'm probably being too ambitious trying to do all this in one Sunday
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um think about what we've just read and heard preached what happened on the day that the Lord was crucified the the moon turned to blood the day was dark like it was
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terrible because it was it was a terrible event but necessary and glorious on the back side of that so it's it's sort of the same
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like it's a mixed emotion in the sense that it will ultimately be good for the the chosen people of God because evil will be crushed and righteousness will prevail but it's still a horrible thing to endure and move through it's it's
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facing the wrath of God even if you are are are redeemed emed and protected you're still witnessing the wrath of God poured out I think Jenny had her hand up a while back then I've got Abigail and
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against yeah andness the fire the that that's an excellent point because again you can back up just a little bit to when we spent some time talking about the imagery that Amos paints at the end of is it at the end of three
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sorry it's actually at the end of chapter 2 right before three as he describes the imagery of the army stuck in place being WellMed over by that wave of judgment that comes across them there's not even a military described
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it's he's describing the opposing military just Swept Away destroyed by this moving Force so it is that idea of of the same thing that I did to Egypt I
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can do to you just as easily abigil you had your hand up
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sound the day of the Lord really has already begun with Jesus's first coming so know the day of the Lord is not just second com
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second com yeah yes I would to to shorthand it and answer the question I think frankly the day of the Lord is both the day of the Lord is frankly a lot of things the day of Lord was a
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number of judgments that happened to Israel it's also though anticipating the first and second comings of Jesus Christ
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right so what we're talking about is the theological thing and you've heard us say it a number of times in different classes the the now and the not yet right it is an immediate or there was a phrase somebody used the sort of uh pen
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penultimate the the sort of intermediate days in which God does these things and has a judgment on Israel has relation to this as we move forward through couple
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of the references I'd like to get to before we're out of time this morning you will see some of these things Amos here is hitting them hard with a punishment Motif this is hard some of
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the prophets will actually touch on some of the joys and glories that come out of the day of the Lord so it's not only punishment but it is anticipating the
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reality of again I use the phrase the Spectre of of the theophonic well that's anticipating the actual
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incarnation of Christ I'm going to complicate things sure I don't think they're related at all okay I do not think the day of the Lord and the second
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coming of Christ are biblically related I know I teach the now and not yet I think it's absolutely biblical but I think to apply any of the day of the
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Lord to the second coming is to diminish the work of the first Fair writer of Hebrews tells us that he is coming but without respect to I
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appreciate that that was rolling around in my head the enti victory Of God over sin death and the devil happened at go and nature responded the spirit
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responded again dispensationalist ISM has taken from the Old Testament and foed it off into the future don't think Peter saw it that way or John James
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John James Paul so I think if we the day of the Lord in esy of the
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Jews I do not think we're looking at the what we what we see at that point is the consumation of the ages the new Heaven and the new Earth right Yahweh I think was I appreciate that and and frankly
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I'd be happy to amend my previous statement because that phrase has been rolling around in my head for several weeks has I've been working on this with the he's coming again without respect to sin is at odds I think with what we're
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talking about here because the day of Yahweh is with respect to sin the second coming of Christ is that taking up of the mantle and establishing it is the
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the consummation the outworking of what happened in the first coming at golgatha the the triumph over sin and the grave happened then and it is the anticipation
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of these things I think I think you can also see it in Hebrews what is it 4 where he says there is a Sabbath rest yet to yet to come that's about the the second it's
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not about the first because the first is not the Sabbath rest it inaugurates those things it begins those things but we are anticipating that greater Sabbath to come dad you had your hand up some of
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the commentators refer to realized esy at the resurrection right at the resurrection okay and
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future eschatology of what Jesus refers to coming in clouds of
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Glory yeah so I will say this is a complicated phrase It's a complicated phrase so the reason why we're drawing a distinction here and I apologize for confusing everyone because I'm I'm retracting part
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of what I said the day of Yahweh the day of the Lord yam Yahweh is used throughout the prophets and we'll touch on a couple of the
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references this morning hopefully in the last 10 minutes or so that we have to anticipate that complex work of God in which both his people his true
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people are people are blessed and all those who are cherishing loving unrighteousness
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and hating good are punished they are rebuked and reproved by the Lord in that moment it is ultimately in reference to
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the sacrifice of Christ on the cross which dealt with sin which dealt with death which dealt with the outworking of those things that we see corrupting
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God's creation it does also have intermediate relationship to the carrying off of the northern tribes and their dispersement it has refer ref to
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the second uh what we call the Exile in which the rest of the people are exiled it has reference to other moments because again we're talking about a
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prophet sent to a people at a time that meant something to them usually within their generation and we talked about Amos is is landing probably one
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generation before these people are carried off 40ish years approximately the message about the day of the Lord for them
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for them is in their own minds it should be about that because it's coming to them but God is never confining his Revelation his message through His
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prophets strictly to the immediate term if that makes sense he is almost always also anticipating the greater work that is to come and I know this is a
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confusing thing to say because one of the things things we have talked about I'm going to just cut that sentence off roll it up ball it up and start a different sentence
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instead when we think about reading the prophets and why do we read the prophets what does it do what do we get out of it because the Exile is not coming to
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us most nearly all of the things in entailed in the prophets were accomplished in Christ's first coming his Incarnation his sacrifice at the cross and his resurrection there are a handful that
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you can see that are probably references to that second coming when you know we will properly Worship in this mountain all of those things but nearly everything that we
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read as anticipatory Prophecy in the Old Testament prophets was accomplished by Jesus Christ Jesus Christ at that first coming Chuck you have your hand up one of the most important stat
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inures esy isus finished there's so much in that statement that has been
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overlooked there's so much in those words yeah the I think the entirety of the promise yeah there in that phrase yeah
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yeah that's an excellent point again to draw out what Chuck was mentioning earlier with what he's just said the promise obviously the promise given to to Eve that her seed would would crush
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the head of the serpent is what we call the what the pram the the anticipation Pro Proto Evangelion the anticip
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anticipation that's not right looking forward to Jesus's coming we go with that my tongue is all tangled up this morning I'm sorry looking forward to him
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fulfilling that crushing and and it it comes in comes in the moments the aftermath of sin entering the world it is at that moment that he promises them that Grace that
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that the seed of woman will crush the Serpent's head it traces all the way down and I think it traces straight through the day of the Lord um I'm going to shorten the references this morning
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but I want to read a couple of references in our last 5 minutes and send you away with these as you contemplate the day of the Lord I Hope though before I do that that this is helping in terms of again the bigger
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question of Amos is a an excellent book to study a book to read and to look at but for your own growth in how you read your Bible why do we read the prophets
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we read them to understand what God did but not just in the 8th Century or 9th century or 10th Century BC we anticipate them in the well I'm going
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the wrong way with my centuries in BC whoops um I should be counting down not up the things that he accomplished through Jesus Christ to better appreciate our
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Lord and what he did and the enormity of the things that he fulfilled the totality of what he did is is truly breathtaking so we anticipate those
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things but again what I would encourage you to do as you read there is something to be said for reading a lot of scripture and having a wide range of things that you know out
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of the word in your mind but I would encourage that frankly for most of you it's better to pick a book and slow down and dig deep there we have
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commentaries in the library here there's a ton of them available online spend some time just sitting and if if you see something again I was baffled it stuck
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out and poked me in the eye the Lord of hosts nobody talked about it I had to do a lot of research and digging and looking but it was very beneficial at least to me and hopefully to you to see
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Amos isn't just sort of throwing out the Lord of hosts because it was poetic it'll work it'll make this more solemn the Lord of hosts no it ties in with what he's saying read the context understand dwell with the message that's
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in the book and then as you carry on you will see I think As you move through the rest of scripture more and more and more connections it's so interwoven so in your own reading in your own uh
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use of the scriptures I would encourage you frankly I I've not interviewed you all about your habits but I think it's worth for the most part if you look at how fast your average sort of read
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through the bible program is sprinting you through you barely have time to see the words as they're going by you at least if you read as slowly as I do I would encourage you to be a slow reader
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slow down have a commentary or two nearby and dig into a particular book um but I'm going to bring out a couple of references as we go forward I'm going to skip Isaiah 2 sadly um Isaiah 2 is
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another um not nice uh use of the uh day of the Lord it hits rather hard but if you want to page page back just a couple of pages into Joel Joel has a couple of
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things that are again um moments of
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visitation like I said depending on how you want to interpret this there's anywhere from several dozen to about 150 references that could fit in with the idea of the day of the Lord and I think in part to revisit what we've just said
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it's because we're looking at the totality of what Jesus accomplishes in his sacrifice but here in Joel uh in sort of end of chapter 1 and beginning of of chapter
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2 um you could look at a lot of things but he picks up here in 15 or or so um he says alas for the day for the day of the Lord is near again Yom Yahweh and it
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will come as a destruction from the allmighty has not food been cut off before our eyes gladness and Joy from the house of our God the seeds shrivel under their clouds and the storehouses
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are desolate the barns are torn down for the grain is dried up how the beasts gran the herds of cattle wander aimlessly because there is no pasture for them even the flocks of sheep suffer
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to you oh Yahweh I cry for fire has devoured the pastures of the Wilderness and the flame has burned up all the trees of the field even the beasts of the field pant for you for the water
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book Brooks are dried up and the fire has devoured the pastures of the Wilderness blow a trumpet in Zion and sound an alarm in my Holy Mountain let all the inhabitants of the land tremble for the day of Yahweh is coming surely
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it is near a day of darkness and Gloom a day of clouds and thick Darkness as the dawn is spread over the mountains um we could go
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on again these things often are entangled but in the last couple of minutes I want to go I've done this badly and I probably shouldn't have tried to do them all in one we're going to go all the way into the New Testament
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though in 2 Thessalonians as be my closing reference this morning and I'd be happy to give you some references the day of the Lord if you want to do some reading on your
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own but we're going to move on
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Thessalonians he says here uh I'm going to pick up in
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so he says here um I'm going to start in in verse five I guess this is a plain indication of God's righteous judgment so that you will be considered worthy of the kingdom of God for indeed for which indeed you are suffering for after all
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it is only just for God to repay with Affliction those who afflict you and to give relief to those who are afflicted and to us as well when Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with his mighty
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angels in flaming fire dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus these will pay the penalty of Eternal destruction away from
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the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power when he comes to be glorified in his Saints on that day and to be marveled at among all who have believed for our testimony to you was
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believed to this end also we pray for you always that our God will count you worthy of your calling and fulfill every desire for goodness and for the work of Faith with power so that the name of our
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Lord Jesus will be glorified in you and you in him according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ again not to uh conflate or complicate things with
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the first and second coming but I think the The Motif that we see partially in Amos is there he is coming in a fire with his angels at his side to deal
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retribution on those who love evil and to vindicate those who love good and who have walked uprightly so the day of the Lord again is an incredibly complicated
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piece here and I I frankly don't feel like we've done it justice this morning but I would encourage you as you read through your scriptures to keep your eye out for the day of the Lord because you're going to see it in a lot of
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places I think um and as we continue in the the end of Mark and anticipate the things there um remember what you have already heard of the darkening that
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happened on the day of his sacrifice and the glory that came the blessings that come to his people realized in that Resurrection let's close in a word of prayer this
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morning Father we do thank you you for your word we thank you for your prophets who have anticipated the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ we thank you that we stand now in the light of his Revelation full and final that we see him though as
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in a mirror dimly in our our scriptures and in our Recollections of these things that we read and understand we ask that you would burnish that in our minds and our memories that we might see him clearer that we might understand him
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better that we might glorify him more truthfully by understanding him and seeking him and seeing him as he is revealed to us so we ask now as we go
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before you in this time of worship that it would be blessed in your sight that it would be of good to you in the way that we offer these things anointed by the power of the spirit within us but
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ultimately father that it would strengthen our faith that it would establish us firm in that call with which we have been called that at
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that last day we might be found faithful that we might be among those with whom Jesus has to do for good and not for ill we ask these
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things in Jesus name amen