Amos 5:18

"Woe unto you that desire the day of Jehovah! Wherefore would ye have the day of Jehovah! It is darkness and not light."

THE DAY OF THE LORD

This, and through Amos 5:20, presents a remarkable view of the Day of the Lord, that is, the Day of Judgment, first as it would be in the case of Israel when God judged and destroyed her for her sins, and secondly, as it will be at the end of time for the great majority of the rebellious race of mankind. This has been cited as the very earliest reference to the Judgment Day in scripture; but regardless of whether that is actually the case or not, the knowledge of it had existed for generations in Israel, as attested by the widespread, but untaught, desire for that day to come, mentioned in this very verse.

Some of the Bible critics are very sensitive about such a doctrine as "The Day of the Lord," going out of their way to deny that even Amos approved of any such doctrine. "Amos did not deny or refute the doctrine"[40] was the way Smith viewed it; but in the viewpoint here, it must be affirmed that Amos did far more than refrain from denying the popular theology regarding the judgment day. "Yes," these words mean, "there is to be a judgment day, but it will not be the type of judgment day you people are longing for, but a day of terror and destruction."

Regarding the source of the prevalent conviction regarding the judgment day, or "the day of the Lord," it came into being at least a very long, long way prior to the times of Israel. "This idea had a central place in the religious expectation of the people."[41]

The true origin of the theology of the day of the Lord must be looked for in the revelation of God Himself to his people; and our inability at the present time to pinpoint the time and place and name of the particular prophet who first revealed the mind of God with reference to it does not at all diminish the truth and authenticity of the doctrine itself. Amos was inspired of God, and his acknowledgment of the popular belief in the day of the Lord is proof enough of the validity of the doctrine. What Amos condemned in the words of these verses (Amos 5:18-20) was not the public confidence in the coming of the day of the Lord, but Israel's perversion of the doctrine, lowering the conception of it to that of a military victory for the Israelites. Israel's view of that day has been described thus:

"They looked for a new era in which the deity himself would be their special champion, miraculously intervening in history, subduing Israel's enemies permanently, ushering in an age of world dominion and grandeur for her people.[42] When the heathen should be judged, all the enemies of Israel defeated, and when Israel herself would be exalted to the highest pitch of prosperity and dominion, and without any regard to the moral condition."[43]

Regarding our own confidence in the doctrine of the Day of the Lord, or the Final Judgment of all men, it is anchored firmly in the teachings of the Son of God Himself who brought to mankind, through his own words, and those of his apostles, a very definite and extensive corpus of teaching related to this very thing, the words of the New Testament, therefore, providing an inexhaustible reservoir of truth regarding this fundamental doctrine of Christianity (Hebrews 6:2). All Old Testament references to the day of the Lord are illuminated by the New Testament.