Exposition of Amos 4-9, Part 2 · Section 18
VERSE 18.
Wo 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.
WE are now come to the third part of this Chapter, where the Prophet inveyes against two sorts of sinners. The first are mockers and deriders of the Prophets threatnings. The second are such as trusted in their Ceremonies and Sacrifices, Vers. 21, 22, 23.
In the precedent Verse the Prophet had told them that the Lord would pass thorow them in wrath, these impudent sinners in a taunting, sarcastical way ask the Prophet when this would be, q. d. You Prophets tell us of a dark and dismal day, a day of wrath and trouble which will come upon us, but we see nothing comes; if God be in earnest let him make speed and come when he will, we fear neither him nor thy threatnings; nor do we beleeve that ever such a day will come, or if it do come, yet it will not be such a dreadful day as you speak of; for God will not forsake his people which he hath spared so long from destruction.
Thus these desperate Atheists being wholly drowned in security, sensuality, and carnal delights, scoff at the Threatnings, and jest at Gods judgements, neither fearing the one, nor expecting the other, but esteeming the words of the Prophet as wind and his comminations as a vain mockery.
To these Flouters at the Threatnings and mockers at the Lords long-suffering, the Prophet answers, Wo to you that desire the day of the Lord, it will come too soon upon you without wishing for; did you but know the terror of it, you would never desire it. To what end is it for you thus to speak? Did you but know what kinde of day it is that is hasting on you, you would not so much desire it, you will think it comes too soon when it comes (the Devils thought so, Matth. 8.29.) when God comes he will come as an armed enemy against you to your utter destruction; so that you have great cause to fear, and by repentance to prevent, rather than to desire that day; yet these hypocrites either as conceited of their own innocency, and confiding in their priviledges, desired this day; or else in mockery and scorn, they cry, When will that day come, which Amos so much talks of, we would fain see it. So you shall (saith the Prophet) time enough to your sorrow; For it is a day of darkness, and not of light; and therefore woe be to you that thus scoffingly desire the day of the Lord, you will finde it no jesting matter when it comes, it will be a dark and dismal day to you, though now you make your selves merry with it.
By a day of darkness here is meant, the time in which God would destroy the Kingdome of Israel, according as the Prophets had fore-told. Allegorically and allusively this is true of the day of Judgement, it will be a day of darkness and terror to all wicked men; but literally this day of darkness and not of light, that is, this day of exceeding darkness (as the Hebrew Idiom imports) as we may see Amos 9.4. I will set mine eye upon them for evil, and not for good. The denial of the contrary hath a great emphasis in it, q. d. I will bring upon them all manner of evil, but no good. So here, It shall be a day of darkness, and not of light; that is, it shall be a very dark and dismal day in which they shall finde no light of comfort from the Lord, but wrath shall come upon them to the utmost. In that day the Lord will exert his power in executing his vengeance on the Kingdome of Israel for all their Idolatry, Apostacy, Security, Hypocrisie, &c. The various and inevitable calamities of this day, are elegantly set forth in the next verse, where the Prophet shews how the judgements of God should beset them round, so that if they escaped from one evil, yet another should apprehend them, and if they fled from a Lion, yet a Bear (which is more savage) should devour them.
It is usual in Scripture to call a day of Adversity, misery and distress, by the name of Darkness, as Iob 20.16. and 23.17. and 30.26. Isa. 5.30. and 21.12. Ioel 2.2. Zeph. 1.14. to 18. Hence the doleful condition of the damned is called utter darkness. As light signifies prosperity, joy and comfort, Hest. 8.16. Iob 18.6. and 38.15. Psal. 97.11. and 112.4. So darkness signifies calamity and sorrow, as I have shewed on Amos 8.9.
Quest. But why doth the Prophet denounce a Woe against those that desire the day of the Lord, when it is the earnest desire of the Saints in Scripture that the day of the Lord would come, and they dayly pray, Thy Kingdome come, and it is made a kinde of a Periphrasis of a beleever, that he is one that longs for the day of the Lord, 2 Tim. 48.
Answ. We must distinguish, 1 Of dayes; 2 Of persons. 1 There is a double day of Judgement; 1 There is a day of temporal judgement when the Lord ariseth to execute judgement upon the heads of incorrigible sinners, such as the old world, Sodom, Ierusalem; and these dayes have in them a glimpse and shadow of that great day of the Lord, and therefore they are called a day of blackness, and darkness, a great and terrible day which none can abide, when the earth shall tremble, and the Sun and Moon be dark, and the Stars withdraw their light, Ioel 2.2, 10, 11. All these hyperbolical termes set forth the dreadful desolation which should fall upon the wicked in this life. But this is not that day which the Saints desire.
The day which the godly so much desire and long for is, that great and general day of Judgement, that day of their full Redemption when they shall enjoy both in body and soul full communion with Christ their head.
2 We must distinguish of persons, some are beleevers and some are unbeleevers, and hypocrites; the Prophet speaks not here of beleevers, but of self-conceited-hypocrites, who being puft up with high conceits of their own innocency, & thoughts that God would acquit them, though the Prophets condemned them, they conceited that would God deal more gently with them, than those harsh, plain-dealing Prophets, and would not judge them so bad as they had reported them to be. But … alas to you that thus desire the day of the Lord! for if our day …e terrible, how terrible will the day of the Lord be? if you cannot bear our words, how will you endure his heavy hands? you think us Lions, and therefore you flye from our day, but the day of the Lord will be as a Bear, which will tear and torment you worse.
The summe of all is this, Wo to you incredulous and … sinners, that mock at the tydings of the dark and dis… day which is coming on you, scornfully asking when will it come? assure your selves it will come soon enough to your sorrow: you shall finde that it is not a day of mirth and pleasure, but of anguish and trouble, when you shall flye from … danger, … into another, as if one should flye from a Lion, and a Bear should … him.
OBSERVATIONS.
1 In all ages there have been some prophane mockers and deriders of Gods judgements.
Thus it was in the Prophets times, when they told the wicked of the burden of the Lord, that is of Gods wrath which should light upon them in some heavy judgements for their sins. Isa 13.1. and 22.2. they usually mocke them for their pains, saying, What is the burden of the Lord, and when will it come? you have often told us of it, but as we do not feel it, so we do not beleeve it, and therefore let it make … that we may … Prophet tells them of a night of misery that was coming on them, but those accursed Edomites tauntingly ask, Watchman, what of the night? Isa. 21.11, 12. q. d. You talk much of a night of horror and desolation, of war and confusion, but when will it come? Oh saith the Prophet, the morning comes, and also the night; you have had a morning of prosperity, assure your selves you shall also have a night of adversity, and therefore if you will enquire of the Lord by me his Watchman, do it seriously, and not sarcastically, return, and come to God with speed.
Thus some conceive that the Prophet recites the scoffes of prophane ones, when he sayes, Precept must be upon precept, and line upon line. Tsaf latsaph, Kaf lakaf, the very tone and sound of the words carrieth a jeer in them, Isa. 28.10. Peter and Iude both foretell us, what we have found too true in our own dayes, That in the last dayes there should be mockers, which should walk after their own ungodly lusts, 2 Pet. 3, 3.4. Jude 18. Of old they mocked at the particular dayes of judgement which the Prophets threatned them withall,Against mockers, see Mr. Ienkin on Iude 18. and Mr. Cawdry his Ser. on Prov. 29.8. preached before the House of Com. 1643. but in the last dayes they will mock at the general day of Judgement, saying, Where is the promise of his coming? since the Fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the world. Because judgement is not presently executed on the heads of wicked men, therefore they set their mouths against heaven, and blaspheme the most High.
2 Obs. God will not bear with scorners.
When sinners are come to that height of impudency and prophaneness, that they jeer at Judgements, and mock at Gods Messengers, then shall their bonds be made strong, and their sorrows multiplied, Isa. 28.14, 15, 16, 17.22. 2 Chron. 36.16. Prov. 3.3, 4. Ier. 23.33, 34. Ezek. 7.5, 6. and 12.22. to 28. The day of the Lord, especially that last day will be a dreadful, and a dismal day to fueh; they will not be able then to stand-in the Judgement, Psal. 1.5. and therefore the Apostle asks, Where shall the ungodly and sinner appear? 1 Pet. 4.18. the Apostles interrogation is not dubitative, but assertive, they shall appear no where with comfort, nor with confidence, especially in three dayes.
1 In a day of publick calamity, when Sword, Plague, Famine comes, then the hearts of the wicked shall fail, when they shall howl upon their beds for the loss of their creature-comforts, and shall have a trembling heart, failing eyes, and sorrow of minde, Deut. 28.65. As the righteous that prepare for troubles, shall rejoyce in the midst of them, Iob 5.22. Hab. 3.17. so the wicked shall be overwhelmed with amazement and horrour, and shall rage like wilde Bulls in a net, Isa. 51.20.
foreign. Aristot.2 The day of death is a dismal day to the wicked, even the King of Terrours, Job 18.14. the most terrible of all terribles said Aristotle when he came to dye. The thoughts of it will make a Belshazzars knees to knock one against another for fear.
3 But specially that great day of the Lord, when he shall come as a Thief in the night, suddenly, terribly, and unexpectedly upon the wicked of the world, 1 Thess. 5.2, 3. 2 Pet. 3.10. that will be a dark and terrible day to them, when even the Kings and Captains of the earth shall cry to hills and mountains to hide them, Rev. 6.16, 17.
Where then will those blasphemers of our time appear that scoff at Gods Threatnings, and desire their own damnation, which the Devils themselves dare not do, for they beleeve and tremble? Who are these that provoke the Lord to anger? are they stronger than he? who can abide his wrath, or the thunder of his power? Iob 26. ult. Shall the whelp challenge the Lion, the clay its Potter, or the creature its Creator? Let the potsherds strive with the potsherds of the earth, but wo to him that striveth with his Maker, Isa. 45.9. To such as these the day of the Lord will be darkness, Eant reprobi, & voluptatum suarum de…deria multa …ni…quitate consumant, atque eo temporalia stagella non sen…iant, quo aterna …o… supplieia expectent. Aug. in Psal. 93.20.and not light, i. e. ful of perplexity and misery, leaving them void of comfort or counsel.