Amos 8:11, commentary and pictures

Amos 8:11 foretells a famine in the land that is not a lack of bread or water but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. It comes in the future day of final judgment, in the time of trouble after intercession has ended and mercy no longer invites. Those who long slighted salvation and despised mercy will then desperately wander from sea to sea and run to and fro seeking the word of the Lord and begging to learn the way of escape, but they will seek in vain because their cases are decided and eternally fixed. Because that time is fearful and awful, the word must be appreciated, studied, and dearly prized now while it can still be heard. The same famine exists wherever souls are starving for want of pure gospel truth and present truth, and it must be met urgently while mercy lingers by feeding them with Scripture teaching, personal ministry, and publications carrying present truth before destruction makes it forever too late.

Future Famine of Hearing

The coming famine in the land is not a lack of bread nor a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. It belongs to the future day of final judgments, to the time of trouble, after intercession has ended when priestly work is laid aside and atoning blood ceases and the plagues begin to fall as the Lord walks through the earth in judgment. It follows the close of the ministers' last work for a rebellious church and an ungodly people, when they have offered their last prayers, shed their last bitter tears, and given their last solemn warning.

Those overtaken by it are multitudes who long rejected and despised mercy, who did not prize the word as spoken by His servants but day after day slighted salvation, prized earthly pleasure and earthly riches and miserly hoarded gain higher than any heavenly treasure, rejected Jesus and despised His saints, including those who professed the truth without living it. They will then urgently and desperately seek the word and the shelter of mercy, hurrying to and fro and wandering from sea to sea and from the north even to the east, running to seek the word of the Lord and begging to be taught how to escape judgment.

They shall not find it, for the saints will have nothing for them and mercy's voice will invite no more. Though they would give anything, even houses and lands and dollars, for one word of approval or consolation, for the way of salvation to be explained, or for a hopeful word, prayer, or exhortation from ministers, they must hunger and thirst on in vain with thirst never quenched and no consolation. Their cases are decided and eternally fixed, and the filthy must remain filthy forever. Because that time is fearful and awful, the word is to be appreciated, studied, and dearly prized now, and hidden jewels brought in who will highly prize the truth as it falls from the lips of God's servants.

Feeding Present Spiritual Hunger

The same famine of hearing the Lord's word occurs when the gospel is forbidden to be preached, as when the evangelical princes at Spires were barred from having it preached in their homes, yet thirst for God's word led thousands to gather for worship despite the prohibition. That deprivation is spiritual, not a lack of food or water.

In Luther's day the flock of God was hungering and thirsting for the truth, and that hunger is met only by the Scriptures. Luther was called as a shepherd to feed the people with the word of God he loved by studying carefully and preaching faithfully. Feeding that hunger requires receiving no doctrines except those resting on the authority of Sacred Scripture rather than the sayings and doctrines of the popes, a Scripture-alone principle that strikes at the very foundation of papal supremacy and contains the vital principle of the Reformation.

A present spiritual famine is a lack of the pure gospel, wholesome gospel truth, present truth, and the bread of life, leaving people hungry, starved, and dying for want of spiritual food. That starving condition exists where scattered people have received no labor or teaching to feed them spiritually. It exists where attention to organized missionary work has crowded out the teaching that helps them become Christians and feeds the church spiritually. It exists where those who profess present truth cling to possessions and withhold the means needed to carry the message to the spiritually dormant, letting hungry sheep dying for want of saving present truth perish for lack of spiritual food.

The hunger is seen in souls hither and thither who would eagerly eat the truth. It is seen where the words God gives are heard with eagerness for every word. It is seen when people are eager for preaching and ask for meetings to continue another week, even in a wealthy district where there are fewer hindrances to the truth. It is met by bringing words of truth through teaching Bible truth, personal ministry, and living connection with God as the heavenly fountain from which the soul draws support. It is met in part by placing books containing present truth in homes and by widely circulating publications where a preacher cannot go, directing attention to events connected with the close of the world's history.

The verse makes feeding the starving urgent while mercy lingers. Messengers must be sent and helped before destruction comes like a mighty whirlwind and the overflowing scourge sweeps possessions away, when it will be forever too late to sacrifice earthly goods to lay up treasure in heaven. The youth are therefore called to fly swiftly to feed the hungry, laying aside idols such as tobacco, calling upon God, and cutting loose from everything hindering progress, because the Jubilee is coming and if they turn back after receiving knowledge of the truth there will be no more hope.