The Day of the LORD --- 2019/11/06

Rev. Joel Heckmann, pastor at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Okarche, OK, joins host Rev. Timothy Appel to study Amos 5:18-20. Amos was sent to Israel to preach during a time of military peace. The people expected that the day of the LORD would come as an increase of that peace, when the LORD would fight and win for them as He had in the days of the Exodus. Amos shocks them out of such illusions. Because of their idolatry and injustice, the day of the LORD was not a day that they ought to desire. The day of the LORD would not bring victory for them, but defeat. That day came for Israel in 722 BC with the Assyrian army and for Judah in 587 BC with the Babylonian army. Yet the day of the LORD for Amos and the other prophets was more than these historical events. The day of the LORD pointed further into history, when One would take the darkness and defeat of God in the place of sinners. The day of the LORD is Good Friday, when Jesus suffered and died on the cross. Only those who approach the day of the LORD in Him can rightly desire the day of the LORD as an anchor in this life. Apart from Christ, the day of the LORD is inescapable judgment and eternal darkness. Instead, God would have us be found in Christ through Baptism. There He brings the day of the LORD to us ahead of time as we are crucified, buried, and raised with Christ. In Christ, therefore, the day of the LORD on the Last Day, whenever He comes, will be the day of eternal life and light for those who trust in Him.