Topic: A Looming Judgement [Wednesday May 31, 2017]
Text: Amos 5:16-27
Key Verse: “Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end is it for you? the day of the LORD is darkness, and not light” (Amos 5:18).
The judgment of God upon sinners is imminent. It is going to be a day of catastrophe and calamity, gloom and misery, desolation and astonishment and indeed, a day of a lamentation and confusion. It is a day that no sinner would wish to pass through. This day of outpouring of God’s fury, indignation and wrath upon the world is referred to as the day of the Lord in the Scripture.
The day of the Lord as depicted in the text will be the time when the Lord will make the day dark, dismal, and gloomy upon all impenitent sinners and backsliders. A sinner who escapes one calamity will be pursued and overtaken by another. The people of Israel copied the crimes and iniquities of their forefathers by going into idolatry. God frowns at hypocrisy as well as the pretence of piety. God could not be bribed with music or offerings. For the sin and impenitence of Israel, the nation will grieve. Weeping will be heard throughout the land.
Their situation will go from bad to worse. The day of the Lord will be for the nation, a day without a ray of hope. Their hypocritical offerings and melodious songs were rejected by God. For this reason, they would go into slavery in exile. Moreover, they would lose their pride and glory as they would go into captivity. To escape the fiery indignation of God on the judgment day, sinners need to repent of their evil ways, come to Christ through repentance, while backsliders should make their ways right with God. The Lord wants to see a river of righteous living flowing all over the land. Even so, He desires that His saints will “hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end”.
Thought for the day: Recipe for sin? Repentance!
Bible Reading in one Year: John 1-3
DCLM Daily Manna was written by Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi; is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church situated at KM 42 on the busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Nigeria.
