Amo 8:3 | KingComments | STEP | The feast they celebrate in their idol temple on the occasion of the harvest will turn to wailing with the coming of the end. But they do not think about this end. They do not think for a moment about the approaching judgment. And if they think about it, it will take their time. So they live happily on in the delusion of ‘after us the deluge’. We find the same evil thinking in Christianity, as it is represented in the parable of the good and evil slave ( ). There is no song with which the apostate people of God rock themselves to sleep like the song “my master is not coming for a long time” ( ). We can compare this with the attitude of the people that Amos describes and reproaches them because they “put off the day of calamity” ( ). But God often reminds Israel of the day of the end and Christians also need to be reminded again and again of the coming of the Lord. This end will come at a time when one is in a festive mood and every thought of judgment is banished, for “the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape” ( ). Numerous are those who will fall prey to this judgment ( ). The corpses will not be buried, they will not even be burned ( ), but cast forth. Death rules everywhere. The flabby rest and the life of pleasure have given way to a grievous agony of death. Silence fits this unusual event, for which man can only be awestruck. Any human speech would show total insensitivity to the terrible things that have happened. It does not fit to hear anything from man in these moments of the greatest seriousness of Divine intervention ( ; ). It is the frightening silence because of the judgments of God.

‏ Amos 8:3

Songs Will Turn to Wailing

The feast they celebrate in their idol temple on the occasion of the harvest will turn to wailing with the coming of the end. But they do not think about this end. They do not think for a moment about the approaching judgment. And if they think about it, it will take their time. So they live happily on in the delusion of ‘after us the deluge’.

We find the same evil thinking in Christianity, as it is represented in the parable of the good and evil slave (Mt 24:45-51). There is no song with which the apostate people of God rock themselves to sleep like the song “my master is not coming for a long time” (Mt 24:48).

We can compare this with the attitude of the people that Amos describes and reproaches them because they “put off the day of calamity” (Amos 6:3). But God often reminds Israel of the day of the end and Christians also need to be reminded again and again of the coming of the Lord. This end will come at a time when one is in a festive mood and every thought of judgment is banished, for “the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape” (1Thes 5:2b-3).

Numerous are those who will fall prey to this judgment (Psa 110:6). The corpses will not be buried, they will not even be burned (Amos 6:10), but cast forth. Death rules everywhere. The flabby rest and the life of pleasure have given way to a grievous agony of death.

Silence fits this unusual event, for which man can only be awestruck. Any human speech would show total insensitivity to the terrible things that have happened. It does not fit to hear anything from man in these moments of the greatest seriousness of Divine intervention (Zep 1:7; Hab 2:20). It is the frightening silence because of the judgments of God.