Amos 4:12 Therefore thus will I do to you, O Israel: and because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel. I. TO WHOM MAY THIS COMMAND BE CONSIDERED AS ADDRESSED? All who have made no preparation for meeting God. 1. Those who have designedly crowded the whole subject from their minds. 2. Those who have deferred the subject with an intention to prepare at a future time. They have some sense of the importance and necessity of making preparation. 3. Those who spend their time in preparing for other things, so as to crowd this subject out, though without any specific or settled intention to do so. 4. Those who have given some slight attention to the subject, but have settled down on that which will, in fact, constitute no preparation when they come to appear before God. They are relying on some delusive views and hopes, some erroneous doctrine or opinions; some vague, unsettled, and unsubstantial feelings. These classes embrace a large portion of the human family. II. WHY SHOULD PREPARATION BE MADE TO MEET GOD? 1. Because it is to be our first interview with Him face to face. 2. Because we shall meet Him in very solemn circumstances. 3. Because we go there on a very solemn errand. 4. Because God has solemnly commanded such preparation. 5. Because when we are brought before Him, it will be too late to do what is necessary to be done. III. WHAT IS NECESSARY TO BE DONE IN ORDER TO BE PREPARED TO MEET GOD? Mere bravery or courage is not a preparation to meet God. Not more is he prepared to meet God who bids defiance to death. Nor is studied insensibility in death the proper preparation. 1. It is necessary to be reconciled to God. No one is prepared to meet Him to whom He is a stranger or a foe. 2. To be born again; to be renewed by the Holy Ghost. 3. There must be true repentance for sin, and true faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The sum of what I say is this, — To be prepared to meet God, we must comply exactly with what He requires. We must meet His terms. No one need ever to have made any mistake on this point. IV. WHEN WE SHOULD PREPARE TO MEET GOD. We must attend to it to-day; we must defer it no longer. The Bible requires it to be done at once; it demands that everything else should give way for it; that this day may end your probation; and that there is slender probability of preparation being made on a dying bed. ( A. Barnes, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel. |
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