Amos 5:16-27
16 Therefore the LORD God of hosts, the Lord, says this:
"There shall be wailing in all streets,
And they shall say in all the highways,
'Alas! Alas!'
They shall call the farmer to mourning,
And skillful lamenters to wailing.
17 In all vineyards there shall be wailing,
For I will pass through you,"
Says the LORD.
18 Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD!
For what good is the day of the LORD to you?
It will be darkness, and not light.
19 It will be as though a man fled from a lion,
And a bear met him!
Or as though he went into the house,
Leaned his hand on the wall,
And a serpent bit him!
20 Is not the day of the LORD darkness, and not light?
Is it not very dark, with no brightness in it?
21 "I hate, I despise your feast days,
And I do not savor your sacred assemblies.
22 Though you offer Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings,
I will not accept them,
Nor will I regard your fattened peace offerings.
23 Take away from Me the noise of your songs,
For I will not hear the melody of your stringed instruments.
24 But let justice run down like water,
And righteousness like a mighty stream.
25 "Did you offer Me sacrifices and offerings
In the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?
26 You also carried Sikkuth your king
And Chiun, your idols,
The star of your gods,
Which you made for yourselves.
27 Therefore I will send you into captivity beyond Damascus,"
Says the LORD, whose name is the God of hosts.
The Day of the LORD was approaching for accountability of His people. The LORD God demanded Israel to put aside their manmade idols which they worshipped and replace those with righteousness and justice among themselves. Their religious offerings did not accomplish any atonement because they offered to lifeless stone and wood of their own imagined god instead of to the living and self-existing God. They were to mourn and wail in despair upon hearing that the LORD would no longer prosper them because they did not honor Him; He would instead pass through them as in Egypt on that night of dread for the firstborn (Exodus 12:12) as recompense for their unrepentant sin. Their desire to see the day of the LORD would not bring the reward they vainly imagined, but would give darkness instead of light to them for their hard and rebellious hearts. Do we ourselves dare to then continue in unrepentant sin and still expect blessings of great rewards (1 Corinthians 3:8, 13-14)? We are held accountable as well. Continued sin brings consequences (1 Corinthians 3:16-17) if it is not confessed and turned away from (1 John 1:7-9). The disregard of God’s glory and honor by Israel led them to believe that religious works would save them but God quickly put that lie to rest by declaring that He would not accept their ritual sacrifices without their hearts and feet being in it. If they did not serve in holiness and walk accordingly to regard Him as holy, their efforts would bring only disregard by God for their unholiness and not business as usual in their sacrificial offerings in the temple. He refused to hear their singing when there was no praise behind the words. Therefore God called them to turn from sin to Him and pursue righteousness and justice; justice for proving they loved their fellow man, and righteousness to demonstrate their honor to live as they were called in giving God glory according to His word. If they refused to repent, the reward was captivity to reconsider their manmade gods and look back to the only God in the heavens who made them that made other gods to replace Him and their accountability to Him. These things are given as an example to us as it is written in 1 Corinthians 10:6, 11 to warn us not to repeat the same mistakes and find ourselves bound by sin after being set free (Galatians 5:1). This is true and acceptable worship in justice and righteousness (1 Peter 2:5) to keep the two great commandments of Luke 10:27 in love for God and one another. Little children, worship in spirit and in truth (John 4:23-24) as you keep yourselves from all idols (1 John 5:18-19, 21)!
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