Prophecies against Israel: No Escape from God’s Judgment - Part 1 (5:18-27)

Introduction:

As we again this morning, open this Old Testament prophetic book of Amos, we remember last week in Amos 5:1-17, that though God is holy and just and must judge sin, he is also longsuffering and gracious, bringing judgment only when he must. We saw that Amos as he continued in his prophecies against Israel, raised a lament, or funeral song over Israel, and continued to give them one last call to repentance.

We will see this morning that as Amos continues with this fourth sermon on his prophesies against Israel, that no matter how often God calls them to repentance, they still continue to resist his pleading to the point that now there will be no escape from God’s judgment. All of their conniving, scheming plans to by-pass God’s judgment, seeking life and fulfillment from other sources will not work, for the end is near. Will look at this judgment in two messages, this morning, Part 1, is from Amos 5:18-27.

Text: Amos 5:18-27

Amos 5:18–27 ESV

18 Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! Why would you have the day of the Lord? It is darkness, and not light, 19 as if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him, or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall, and a serpent bit him. 20 Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light, and gloom with no brightness in it? 21 “I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. 22 Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. 23 Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. 24 But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. 25 “Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? 26 You shall take up Sikkuth your king, and Kiyyun your star-god—your images that you made for yourselves, 27 and I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the Lord, whose name is the God of hosts.

Main Idea: Although God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and plenteous in steadfast love, sinful people should not presume that He will not judge at His appointed time.

Background:

The phrase the Day of the Lord, is used 24 times in 22 verses in both the Old and New Testaments, two of them here in Amos 5. This important phrase has always referred to God’s judgment, however, Israel for some reason had a different idea. So let’s look at this phrase in the context of this morning’s passage.

I. Day of the Lord (5:18-20)

To Israel, they somehow had a…

A. Misunderstanding of the Day of the Lord (5:18)

(5:18) Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! Why would you have the day of the Lord? It is darkness, and not light,

you who desire the day of the Lord! - The Israelites believed that they were God’s favorites and that “the Day of the Lord” (the day when God judges His enemies and rewards His friends) would bring judgment and cursing upon the Gentiles and deliverance and blessing upon the Israelites, regardless of their spiritual or moral condition. This may have come from their understanding of Deut 32:35-37 (song of Moses, Deut 32:1-43).

Deuteronomy 32:35–37 ESV

35 Vengeance is mine, and recompense, for the time when their foot shall slip; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and their doom comes swiftly.’ 36 For the Lord will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants, when he sees that their power is gone and there is none remaining, bond or free. 37 Then he will say, ‘Where are their gods, the rock in which they took refuge,

Why would you have the day of the Lord? It is darkness, and not light, - However, it’s not what you think, the prophet is saying, in other words, are you really ready for the…

B. Proper Understanding of the Day of the Lord (5:19-20)

(5:19) as if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him, or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall, and a serpent bit him. (5:20) Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light, and gloom with no brightness in it?

Amos says to leave the present time of trouble and to enter “the Day of the Lord” would be like “escaping the frying pan to end up in the fire.” This is a paraphrase of Amos’ quaint illustration in verse 19.

Amos informs the Israelites that “the Day of the Lord” will be a day of judgment (“darkness”) upon all transgressors, regardless of their race or nationality. This is not the first time this phrase has been used, in fact, it is the theme of the prophet Joel, Joel 2:1-2

Joel 2:1–2 ESV

1 Blow a trumpet in Zion; sound an alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming; it is near, 2 a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains a great and powerful people; their like has never been before, nor will be again after them through the years of all generations.

So why would the Day of the Lord be so filled with judgment and wrath, is there something that causes his wrath to boil over more then anything else?

II. Despised False Worship (5:21-27)

A. Despised Offerings (5:21-22)

(5:21) “I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.

I hate, I despise. Two Hb. words here combine to express the attitude more forcefully than either could by itself. The result can be translated, “I reject with utter hatred.”

I take no delight. The language refers to burnt offerings. In the Mosaic covenant, the Lord declares that if His people are disobedient and unrepentant, He will “not smell” the fragrance of their offerings (Lev. 26:31).

God hates and despises Israel’s religious feasts and solemn assemblies, their offerings (v. 22) and songs (v. 23) because of their persistent sinful conduct (see note on 3:15) and because of their perversion of worship at Bethel (cf. note on 4:4–5), as well as the absence of “justice” and “righteousness” in their conduct toward one another (5:24). Worshiping God in a way contrary to his Word and without moral integrity in one’s life is blatant hypocrisy (cf. Isa. 29:13; Matt. 15:8–9).

(5:22) Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them.

Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings - even if you do what I have given you to do with regard to offerings…

I will not accept them. God graciously extends his fellowship and forgiveness to those who will accept his covenant, as shown by their changed lives. He cannot be manipulated into doing such a thing by ritualism.

B. Despised Music (5:23-27)

(5:23) Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen.

Surely God would not let judgment fall upon a people who faithfully attended all the religious feasts, offered numerous burnt, meal, and peace offerings (the three voluntary offerings), and joined in all the songs of holy-day worship!

He Despised their worship (5:21–23) and would not smell their holy-day worship, He did not accept their holy-day offerings, and He did not hear their holy-day music and singing. He hated and despised their feast days, Isa. 1:10, 15, for two reasons:

(5:24) But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.- Because it was empty worship (worship unaccompanied by a just and righteous life) (5:24)—Unless worship is accompanied by a life of justice and righteousness, the worship is unacceptable, Isa. 1:10–17. Verse 5:24 is a key verse in the book of Amos.

justice roll down like waters - this is a cleansing agent, thus causing a change in the dirt and grim of the one cleansed.

righteousness like an ever-flowing stream - this is a continue washing that produces works, righteous deeds, that are characteristic with one who is cleansed.

(5:25) “Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? (5:26) You shall take up Sikkuth your king, and Kiyyun your star-god—your images that you made for yourselves, - Because it was adulterated worship (worship mixed with idolatry) (5:25, 26)—Just as the Israelites of the wilderness-wanderings’ period mingled idolatry with Jehovah-worship, even so did the Israelites of Amos’ day mix these two things.

take up Sikkuth … Kiyyun. Sikkuth (or Sakkuth) was an Assyrian deity associated with the planet Saturn. Kiyyun (or Kaiwan) was a Babylonian term for Saturn. Amos here refers to idols associated with astral deities that were carried in cultic processions. The Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) translated the Hebrew for “Sikkuth your king” as “tabernacle of Moloch” (the Hebrew letters are similar), a reading quoted by Stephen in Acts 7:43.

that you made for yourselves. Old Testament attacks against idolatry often focus on the merely man-made nature of the idols (Is. 44:9–20; Jer. 10:1–5; Mic. 5:13).

Thus the religiosity of the people of Israel in Amos’s day will not fool God!

(5:27) and I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the Lord, whose name is the God of hosts.

Exile beyond Damascus is just what happened (2 Kings 17:6). This is a startling and significant prediction, as Assyria was comparatively weak in Amos’s time.

the God of hosts - regardless of Assyria’s weakness, it is the God of hosts that will bring this about!

So What?

Do we understand that a day of judgment is coming. Are you ready?

The apostle Peter tells us the emphatically in his second epistle:

2 Peter 3:3–4 ESV

3 knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. 4 They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.”

2 Peter 3:8–10 ESV

8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

Do we understand how important it is to worship God exclusively in spirit and in truth?

Scripture reminds us over and over that God has no rivals and shares his glory with no one else. The first three of the ten commandments focuses on this:

Exodus 20:2–7 ESV

2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 3 “You shall have no other gods before me. 4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. 7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

Matthew 22:35–40 ESV

35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

John 4:23–24 ESV

23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”