Amos 8: Darkness to Dawn

​Key Verse
9 “And on that day,” declares the Lord God, “I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight.
 
Meditation
Cold and wet nights in the wilderness leave you longing for warmth and light, the dawn of a new day. Today’s reading is dark and cold, the announcement of a death sentence for Israel because they refused to return to the Lord (Amos 4). God’s verdict points to Jesus who bore the penalty we deserve, through death entering the cold dark grave. By His resurrection, Jesus’ victory over death is credited to all who believe so we can experience resurrected life in Jesus Christ. The light of a new day dawns through the finished work of Jesus. 
 
Amos’s words of dark judgment are penetrating, leaving the reader longing for light. The basket of summer fruit (1) symbolized Israel’s end. In Hebrew the words sound the same, “summer fruit” and “end.” Ripened fruit was harvested. The season was changing. The Day of Judgment was near. God’s verdict was clear.
 
The indictments against Israel were detailed (4-14): Trampling the needy, perverting holy days, oppressing the poor, pride, and greed.  Amos described the darkness of the coming judgement day, noonday turning to night and feasts turning to famine. The darkness of God’s judgement had been determined by their rebellion against God.
 
Light dawns through the warmth of God’s covenant love. God’s Day of Judgment against sin is satisfied through the work of Jesus. Jesus bore God’s wrath against sin, darkness consuming day at His death (Mark 15:33). All who trust Jesus for salvation experience the warmth of God’s covenant love, the dawn of a new day. Jesus alone transforms darkness to light!
 
Today’s Reading
This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, a basket of summer fruit. 2 And he said, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the Lord said to me,
“The end has come upon my people Israel;
    I will never again pass by them.
3 The songs of the temple shall become wailings[c] in that day,”
declares the Lord God.
“So many dead bodies!”
“They are thrown everywhere!”
“Silence!”
 
4 Hear this, you who trample on the needy
    and bring the poor of the land to an end,
5 saying, “When will the new moon be over,
    that we may sell grain?
And the Sabbath,
    that we may offer wheat for sale,
that we may make the ephah small and the shekel[d] great
    and deal deceitfully with false balances,
6 that we may buy the poor for silver
    and the needy for a pair of sandals
    and sell the chaff of the wheat?”
7 The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob:
“Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.
8 Shall not the land tremble on this account,
    and everyone mourn who dwells in it,
and all of it rise like the Nile,
    and be tossed about and sink again, like the Nile of Egypt?”
 
9 “And on that day,” declares the Lord God,
    “I will make the sun go down at noon
    and darken the earth in broad daylight.
10 I will turn your feasts into mourning
    and all your songs into lamentation;
I will bring sackcloth on every waist
    and baldness on every head;
I will make it like the mourning for an only son
    and the end of it like a bitter day.
11 “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord God,
    “when I will send a famine on the land--
not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water,
    but of hearing the words of the Lord.

12 They shall wander from sea to sea,
    and from north to east;
they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the Lord,
    but they shall not find it.
13 “In that day the lovely virgins and the young men
    shall faint for thirst.
14 Those who swear by the Guilt of Samaria,
    and say, ‘As your god lives, O Dan,’
and, ‘As the Way of Beersheba lives,’
    they shall fall, and never rise again.”
 
 
Richly Dwelling
-What stands out to you from today’s reading, especially the difficult to digest portions of God’s just judgement? 
 
-Where do you stand in life where you are eagerly awaiting dawn, longing to see the light of love and hope rise on the horizon?
 
-Jesus entered darkness to give us light! Jesus’ death forgives us of sin and His resurrection promises all darkness will one day end. How does God’s sovereign grace give you strength to stand in faith not only for forgiveness of sin but also for God to redeem what He has allowed?
 
Key Verse
9 “And on that day,” declares the Lord God, “I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight.