“Woe to you who long for the day of the Lord! Why do you long for the day of the Lord? That day will be darkness, not light” (Amos 5:18).
THE DAY OF THE LORD
Amos came from the southern Kingdom of Judah but delivered his message of judgment and justice primarily to the northern Kingdom of Israel.
The ten tribes of the north were about to fall under the judgement of God: “Fallen is Virgin Israel, never to rise again, deserted in her own land, with no one to lift her up” (Amos 5:2).
There is mystery and much debate about what happened to the ten tribes of the northern kingdom, they are sometimes called the lost tribes. Although occasionally we hear that someone was from a particular tribe: Anna the prophetess was from the tribe of Asher. John the Baptist was from the tribe of Levi, but the Levites had no territory given them like the other tribes, So the tribe Levi, from which the priests came, is not on the same footing as the other tribes. Cohen is a very popular and common Jewish surname, considered the most common family name in modern Israel and widespread among both Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews. The name comes from the Hebrew word "kohen," meaning "priest," and indicates that the bearers are typically descendants of the priests who served in the ancient Temple in Jerusalem.
The southern kingdom of Judah, which included the tribes of Judah and Benjamin did return after their exile in Babylon. Jesus was, of course, from the tribe of Judah and the Apostle Paul was from Benjamin.
So these things are written for our instruction. We often hear people predicting the day of the Lord along with various scenarios of how it will happen. One thing is sure; we know that judgement will come and is already among us.
When people argue about the order of events leading up to the second coming it reveals that they have already lost the peace for which we are asked to keep among ourselves. “Actually, then, it is already a defeat for you, that you have lawsuits with one another” (1 Cor 6:7).
We come to the events leading up to the second coming, with humility and reverence for what God is going to do.
The book of Revelation and the other prophesies have been given us for a reason, we have been given a road map, so to speak, the Revelation of Jesus Christ. “See, I have told you ahead of time” (Matt 24:25).
We are not to be shaken when great events take place, we have been told beforehand. “When I saw the Lamb open the sixth seal, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black like sackcloth of goat hair, and the whole moon turned blood red, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth like unripe figs dropping from a tree shaken by a great wind. The sky receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved from its place” (Rev 6:12–14).
The people of Amos’s day were taken by surprise, the day of the Lord did not occur how they thought it would.
How will people fair in today’s world when the course of biblical events gets well under way? “Then the kings of the earth, the nobles, the commanders, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and free man hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. And they said to the mountains and the rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of the One seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of Their wrath has come, and who is able to withstand it?’” (Rev 6:15–17).
“When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near” (Luke 21:28).