The following commentary on Amos 5:18ff is from Thru The Bible by [[J. Vernon McGee]]: Well, if so, you're going to appreciate this travel warning from Dr. McGee. I recognize that this is a little bumpy ride that we're going over right now. That is, the highway is, Amos is not being easy on us at all. And he happens to be one of God's great prophets. And, as we've indicated before, it's been interesting that the liberal has been attracted to him, because he dealt with so many issues that were social problems in his day. But when he dealt with them, he said that if they didn't correct them, that there'd be judgment. Now, the liberal never tells that. And I believe that that type of philosophy pervades our entire contemporary culture today. That our expression is, take it easy. Our expression is, have a good day. Our expression today is, you should be happy as a Christian. #### Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord! to what end is it for you? the day of the Lord is darkness, and not light [Amos 5:18]. There are a number of commentators who feel that the people of Israel were becoming rather cynical and were ridiculing the Day of the Lord. I do not see that here at all; I do not see how that interpretation could possibly be true. Rather, I see that the people were becoming very pious. They were going through the Mosaic rituals, but they were also worshiping idols. It was just religion to them, just as churchgoing is to many people today. There is nothing vital, nothing real in going through a ritual. The reason many church services are so dead is that they are nothing more than ritual. It may be beautiful, it may appeal to your eyes and your ears, but does it change your life? Is it transforming? Is it something you can live by in the marketplace? There are many people today who are premillennial and pretribulational in their theology and who very piously say, “Oh, if only the Lord would come!” If you are one of them, let me ask you this: Do you really want Him to come? Or are you using the Rapture of the church as a sort of an escape mechanism to get you out of your troubles down here? In seminary a fellow student and I were studying Hebrew. After dinner in the evening, when we had a difficult Hebrew assignment to prepare for the next day, he would look up to the heavens and say, “Oh, if the Lord would only come tonight!” What was he after? He didn’t want to study Hebrew! But I never shall forget the night before graduation (he was to be married and go on his honeymoon the day after graduation) when he came out of the cafeteria, looked up to the sky, and said, “I sure hope the Lord doesn’t come now for several days!” My friend, many of us look forward to the Rapture, not because we love Christ’s appearing, but because we want to escape an unpleasant situation. Amos says to these people, “You pious folk are just going through the religious rituals, you don’t really know God—you are worshiping idols also! The Day of the Lord is not something which you are to desire. It is not light, but it is a day of darkness. You will first go through a great period of tribulation when the Day of the Lord comes. What you expect to do is to jump right into the Millennium, but that is not the way it is going to happen. Those of us who believe that the church will not go through the Tribulation should be aware that we will not escape all judgment. My friend, some of us may think we have gotten into the Tribulation after we get to heaven! Do you know why? Listen to what Paul has to say in 2 Corinthians 5:9–10: “Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.” The judgment seat of Christ is the bema; it is not the Great White Throne judgment at all. It is to the bema that all Christians come “that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.” Is this a judgment for salvation? No, Paul says, “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 3:11). There is no other foundation any man can lay, but you can build on that foundation. You can build with wood, hay, and stubble; or you can build with gold, silver, and precious stones. But every man’s work—not his salvation, not his person—will be tested by fire. If any man’s work survives the fire, he will receive a reward. But suppose his work does not survive the fire? Paul says, “He himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire” (see 1 Cor. 3:12–15). This is the reason I often make the statement that, although many people are saved, they are going to smell like they were bought at a fire sale when they get to heaven. Everything they did here on earth they did in the flesh, they did it for some earthly reason, for some present satisfaction. I want to be very frank with you: as I am now getting toward the sunset of life, I’m wondering how Vernon McGee is going to fare at the judgment seat of Christ. You may say that I will get a great reward because of my Bible-teaching ministry through the years. But you don’t know me like I know myself; if you did, you might not want to listen to me. But wait a minute, don’t put the book down, because if I knew you like you know yourself, I wouldn’t want to talk to you. My friend, the lives which we live down here are to be tested, and it is pious nonsense to pretend to be so interested in the coming of Christ when the truth is that some of us will get to heaven and think that we didn’t miss the Great Tribulation after all. Notice what Paul went on to say after speaking of our judgment at the bema of Christ: “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men …” (2 Cor. 5:11). If you think that when you appear in His presence He is going to give you a nice little Sunday school medal because you didn’t miss Sunday school for fifteen years, I think you are wrong. I do not think that that is even going to be an issue. I think that the life you live in your home, your witness in your business and social life, your conduct with the opposite sex are the things which are going to come before the judgment seat of Christ—it will be the things that were done in the body down here. Do you want to go to heaven now? Do you have everything straightened out? Paul writes, “For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged” (1 Cor. 11:31). This is the reason I try to keep everything confessed to the Lord. I want to run short accounts with Him every day. If I don’t, He is going to straighten it out up there someday. You lost your temper and gave a poor witness today. Or you gossiped about another believer. Do you think that when you come into the presence of Christ He will pat you on the back and say what a nice little fellow you were? He is going to judge those things, my friend. Things must be made right in heaven, and that is the purpose of the judgment seat of Christ. Amos is really putting it on the line to these people. He says, “Cut out this nonsense that you desire the Day of the Lord. It is not a day of light but of darkness. There will be a Great Tribulation that you will go through.” If you are a believer and therefore do not go through that, there will still be the judgment seat of Christ for you. I do not think that it is going to be as pleasant as some folk think it is going to be. Amos is saying that we had better be very careful about the life we are living for God down here. As believers, our salvation is not in jeopardy—Christ has paid the penalty for our sins, but if our sins as believers are not dealt with and made right, He will make them right. My friend, He must do that—He is holy and righteous and just, and heaven is a place where things are right. Therefore, you and I will have to be right when we get there. This is something that a great many people do not realize today. I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. #### Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols [Amos 5:21–23]. Behind their going through the rituals were lives that were dishonest. God’s people need to recognize that their faith must be real. Faith is not fake or fable; it is reality. Faith must lay hold of a person. Believing is not deceiving. Many people say, “If you believe, it is because you are blind. You have a blind faith.” My friend, if it is a blind faith, forget it, because God does not accept that. Faith must have an effect upon the life; James says, “… faith without works is dead” (James 2:20). Paul said that we have been saved in order that we might produce good works. All of this is important. The people of Israel were living lives of sin. They were engaged in idolatry; yet they were going through all the Mosaic ritual. God says here, “I despise it. I have no use for it.” In some of our song services which we consider to be so enthusiastic, if the hearts of the people are not in it, if there is nothing but a big mouth in it, do you really think God accepts that? If He came to your church or my church, what do you think His viewpoint would be? #### But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream. Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves [Amos 5:24–26]. Apparently, the people of Israel offered sacrifices in the wilderness, but when they met a heathen people, they wanted to take on the worship of their gods also. The worship of Moloch was that in which small children were put into the arms of a red-hot idol and made human sacrifices. The screams of those children were terrible. God is saying to us, “You come to church on Sunday and go through the motions of worshiping Me, but during the week you worship Moloch, you worship the idol of covetousness as you go after the almighty dollar.” Cardinal Wolsey was banished from Hampton Court by Henry VIII who would also have had him executed if Wolsey had not died a natural death before the execution could take place. On his deathbed, the cardinal said, “If I had only served my God like I served my king!” Many a Christian will have to say on his deathbed, “I have served the god of Moloch down here; I have served the idol of covetousness. I’ve worshiped the things of the flesh and have not served my God.” My friend, it does not matter how sweet the music will be, nor what nice words the preacher will say at the funeral, you and I are going to stand at the judgment seat of Christ. I will be frank with you, that disturbs me somewhat. Therefore, I want to keep things straightened out with Him down here. #### Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the Lord, whose name is The God of hosts [Amos 5:27]. Israel is to be punished in the future. They will go into captivity “beyond Damascus” (that is, beyond Syria), and beyond Damascus was Nineveh. God is telling Israel that the Assyrian would take them into captivity. --- J. Vernon McGee, [Thru the Bible Commentary](https://ref.ly/res/LLS:29.1.22/2002-08-08T19:04:44Z/8938900?len=6471), electronic ed., vol. 3 (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1997), 707–709.