Is there a day you eagerly await? Conversely, is there a day you wish would never come? There is a day we cannot escape, and that day is ‘God's appointed time’.
Verse 2 says, “Behold, the day is coming.” Here, ‘Behold’ is a declaration of what will surely happen, and “the day is coming” means God's time has arrived.
Today's passage is a prophecy of judgment against Ammon, but it is also God's word to us about ‘that day’. Let us examine together what kind of day God's day is, and what kind of day we should be waiting for.
First, that day is the day the Lord takes possession.
The Ammonites, descendants of Lot, were kinsmen of Israel by blood, yet throughout history they constantly opposed Israel. After the tribe of Gad east of the Jordan was taken captive by Assyria, the Ammonites occupied that land. God describes this as “Malcam has taken possession of Gad.”
Malcam, also called Molech, signifies that it was not Ammon but their god who occupied the land. This reveals their invasion was not merely a political issue but the consequence of idolatry.
The most brutal aspect of this worship was human sacrifice, where children were thrown into the fire and made to pass through it. Our senior pastor said that Molok worship is precisely when parents, driven by their own desires and vicarious gratification, push their children into the fiery pit of worldly success, blind to the burning of the child's soul, relationship, and faith.
Therefore, we must bury and share the greed hidden deep within us within the community, bringing it out into the open. Only then does sin lose its power.
The Hebrew word for ‘occupy’ carries the meaning of ‘inherit.’ This passage denounces the state where idols, not God, act as masters over the inheritance God gave. Thus, judgment comes upon Ammon, who seemed eternal, on that day.
In verse 2, it says, “We will reclaim the one who was occupied,” meaning that the day of judgment for Ammon becomes the day of salvation for Israel.
The land defiled and trampled by the Ammonite idol, after enduring all its time of suffering and shame, becomes the land where Jesus reigns and rules.
Second, that day is the day their prideful reliance crumbles.
Rabbah, meaning ‘the great one, the mighty city,’ corresponds to modern Amman, Jordan's capital. Rabbah was a natural fortress at the Yabboq River's Salyu, where water flowed freely and the valley never dried up. The land of Gilead, occupied by the Ammonites from the tribe of Gad, was a land of gold. They accumulated wealth from plundered lands, growing proud and boastful.
Yet God rebukes their arrogance, asking, “Why do you trust in wealth?” They mistake the environment and conditions God provided for their own ability.
In verse 3, it says that on the day of judgment, Ammon will weep bitterly, cry out, and mourn. Here, ‘cry out’ signifies a scream and a plea for help. It shows that the cries of the children, once drowned out by drumbeats during the worship of Malcam, will now burst forth from their own mouths. Yet God uses this cry not merely as an expression of pain, but as a tool to lead them to repentance. When the pride we relied on crumbles, God opens the path to repentance in its place.
Third, that day is a day of mercy.
God desires all to turn and be saved—both the disobedient people of Israel and the Ammonites, whom He must use as instruments to bring about their repentance.
Though the Ammonites deserved judgment, God declares at the end of His word, “But afterward I will restore the fortunes of the Ammonites.”
God calls Ammon the ‘rebellious daughter.’ 'Rebellious' and ‘return’ share the same root word, embodying God's will to turn back those who have turned their backs on Him. Thus, calling Ammon the ‘rebellious daughter’ is an expression of God's hidden love, His earnest longing for their return.
Our lives are exactly the same. We are all, in truth, lives that deserve no defense even if we perish, yet God still calls us His children. His love and mercy toward us are fulfilled through Jesus Christ. Jesus Himself came to this earth, seeking out lives that deserve no defense even if they perish, and brings them back. God promises to come and meet us personally so we can return. I never called Him Father, yet God first called me His child and brought me back.
Let me share a story about my daughter, who is in her second year of high school. I received a call from her school about an incident where she overdosed on antidepressants. In a state of shock, I rushed to the school. I was told she couldn't leave the school for a while, so I tried to talk to her.
She said she didn't even know why she had done it. For the first time, instead of scolding her, I found myself looking at her pain.
Through this incident, I repented of my own selfishness—holding onto my daughter by worldly standards, not as God's possession—and began interpreting her situation through the lens of Scripture.
Through treatment and family devotions, she came to understand her own anxiety and fixation on friends, and Jesus came into her heart.
Since then, she has shared her testimony in the youth community and is now growing into a child who listens to hurting friends and saves lives. All this change is not our strength, but the grace the Lord Himself accomplished through the prayers of the community and the small group.
“That day will come” does not end as a declaration of destruction. It is God's day when the Lord takes possession, brings down pride, and ultimately leads us back in mercy. We cannot do this by our own strength. I pray in the Lord's name that you may be saints who enjoy the grace of that day when the Lord comes to us.
