Amos 4:12, “Prepare to meet thy God.” Quote to prove that men can and ought to make their peace with God, and so prepare themselves for death and Judgment.
Amos, however, is here reproving national Israel for their idolatry and their indifference to former warnings and punishments. In spite of what had already befallen them, they had not returned unto their God, who was about to visit them with sorer forms of evil for their crimes. “God is about to inflict the last and worst judgment on thee, the extinction of thy nationality. Consider, then, what preparation thou canst make for meeting Him as thy foe, (Jer. 46:14; Luke 14:31, 32); see what can be done towards mitigating the severity of the coming judgment by penitence.”—A.R. Faussett, A.M.
Our view of the above by no means precludes our preaching the way in which God the Spirit prepares God’s elect for death and heaven, and hailing with joy saved sinners as trophies of His grace and power. But the words afford no warrant for the believe that such preparation is a natural human duty.
