The first mention (out of 35 total) of the “day of the Lord” occurs in the Book of Amos which is the earliest of the Old Testament prophetic books.
Amos states that he was not a prophet by profession, but one of “the shepherds of Tekoa” (1:1) a “herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs.” (7:14)
Hence, many people refer to Amos as the “fig picker” but he was so much more than a lowly shepherd who were looked down upon by the ruling class and priests of that time.
Amos prophesied around 760 B.C., “two years before the earthquake.” (1:1)
Archaeologists have located the site of that earthquake, confirming the historicity of Amos’ account.
This was a time of prosperity and stability for both the northern kingdom (Israel) and the southern kingdom (Judah), who believed that they had been blessed by God. Amos was a resident of the northern kingdom.
Both Israel and Judah were well pleased with Amos’ initial pronouncements of judgment against all the nations surrounding the two kingdoms. (1:3-2:3)
But, to their great surprise and ultimate rejection, Amos spent the rest of his nine chapters expounding upon their sins and God’s judgment that would soon fall upon both Israel and Judah. (2:4 – 9:10)
God’s ‘soon’ is not our soon, because to the eternal Almighty, “one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” (2Peter 3:8)
Their sinfulness put them under the curses of Deuteronomy 28:15-68, which necessitated God’s judgments because He must fulfill His Word.
Holding His people to a higher standard (the ‘plumb line’ of 7:7-8), the Lord God’s primary accusation against Judah was that they had “rejected the law of the Lord, and have not kept his statutes, but their lies have led them astray.” (2:4)
The ‘lies’ refer to the worship of false gods led by ungodly priests. For this reason, God “hated” their feasts and solemn assemblies. (5:21)
The Lord’s further accusations against Israel were that they “sell their righteous for silver” (2:6) and “trample the head of the poor” (2:7) as well as profaning God’s holy name, making Nazirites drink wine and forbidding the prophets to prophesy. (2:12).
Since the prophets had been forbidden to prophesy, the Lord God raised up Amos out of the lowly ranks of shepherds and fig pickers, because God always warns us ahead of time of what’s to come through His prophets: “Surely the Lord God does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets. (3:7)
Their sins were then expounded upon through several of Amos’ visions (3:1 to 6:14), after which came the pronouncements of judgment. (7:1-9:10)
Among the judgments pronounced by God through Amos, was the more specific warning to Israel that “An adversary shall surround the land and bring down your defenses from you, and your strongholds shall be plundered.” (3:11)
The northern Kingdom of Israel was subsequently conquered by Assyria and taken into exile in 721 B.C., about 39 years after God warned Israel through Amos.
Amos pleaded with God to relent from these severe judgments (7:2) and God promised to do so if Israel and Judah repented – but they did not.
The Lord God also said several times through Amos that He would preserve a remnant (3:12, 9:8), most specifically defining a remnant as one-tenth: For thus says the Lord God: “The city that went out a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went out a hundred shall have ten left to the house of Israel.” (5:3)
We know now that the remnant was necessary to continue the Davidic line of God’s chosen people so that the final Son of David (Jesus) would eventually conquer the world and establish His millennial rule on earth. (Revelation 20:4)
Because of these prophetic pronouncements of judgment, Amos was accused of “conspiring” against Israel’s King Jeroboam by Amaziah the priest who tells Amos to “go, flee away” to Judah and “prophesy there.” (7:10-13)
But Amos refuses and the Lord pronounces judgment on Amaziah through Amos. (7:14-17)
When Amos refers to the “day of the Lord” it has both immediate and future meaning, as do many of the prophecies in the Old Testament:
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… Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light? Is it not very dark, with no brightness in it? (5:18, 20)
The near-term fulfillment is when Israel is conquered and enslaved by Assyria and then later, Judah by the Babylonians.
The long-term fulfillment is when God destroys the earth and eradicates sin completely: “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.” (1Peter 3:10)
Amos later refers to “that day” which is shorthand for the “day of the Lord.”
“On that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down, and repair its damages; I will raise up its ruins, and rebuild it as in the days of old… I will bring back the captives of My people Israel; They shall build the waste cities and inhabit them.” (9:11,14)
This “day” isn’t what we normally think of as a single 24-hour day, but rather a relatively short period of time (much as we say “back in the day” to refer to earlier times).
The short-term fulfillment of Amos’ prophecy is when the Jews from Judah (the southern kingdom) were first allowed back from exile in Babylon to rebuild the destroyed temple (as described in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah).
The long-term fulfillment was in 1948 when the nation of Israel was reinstated after World War II, with Jews from around the world returning to the ‘promised land.’
Although the nations of the world will once again try to annihilate Israel at the time of the end, God will prevent this from happening again. (Ezekiel 38-39, Revelation 16:16-21, 17:14; 19:19-20)
However, once again, only a remnant of Israel will be saved at the very end, because most of the Jews will fail to recognize Jesus as their Lord and Savior and will not be among the born-again believers taken up into heaven on Judgment Day.
There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? (John 3:1-10)
Most Jews, to this day, see the promises of the prophets being only about a glorious, restored Israel, with the Messiah coming for His first and only incarnation at that time, making Jerusalem His home and Jews His chosen people. That’s part of the reason why they rejected Jesus’ first coming and instead called for the Romans to crucify him, since He hadn’t fulfilled their expectations.
Amos says that they/we shouldn’t hope for the day that the Lord Jesus comes again because it is a day of darkness and terror for those who are not prepared (i.e. for those not born again and not living according to God’s commandments and will).
Born-again believers alive during the time of the end will ultimately be saved from the last stages of destruction and transported (raptured) onto the New Earth and New Jerusalem (which will be about 1,400 miles in length and width, according to Revelation 21:16):
Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also, there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.” (Revelation 21:1-3)
For those left behind, it is indeed a dark, terrible day, and many of these, sadly, will be our friends, relatives and neighbors, who will ultimately experience two “deaths” – first physical, then spiritual (their souls):
But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. (Revelation 21:8)
But Amos gives us a peek into the glorious future for those who accept Jesus and God’s free gift of eternal salvation:
“Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “When the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him who sows seed; The mountains shall drip with sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it… They shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them; they shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them. I will plant them in their land, And no longer shall they be pulled up from the land I have given them,” says the Lord your God. (9:13-14)
The plowman overtaking the reaper, and the treader overtaking the sower, implies very fast growth, which many scholars believe will only happen on the New Earth when Christ dwells among us:
And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever. (Revelation 22:1-5)
Gospel of Grace 