Category: Amos

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Amos

When there’s no turning back

Plumbline

I suppose the tough thing about going through these prophets is that for many of them, especially during this time in the books of Kings and Chronicles, they seem to be beating the same drum—namely that of judgment.

I sometimes wonder if I can say much more on the topic without people getting bored.

But just a few things here. There was a very interesting dialogue in chapter 7 between Amos and the Lord, very reminiscent of the dialogue between God and Abraham in Genesis 18.

In both cases, God is preparing to judge the people, and in each case, he shows a willingness to relent when someone intercedes.

But in both cases, there comes a point when God says, “No more. There is no turning back for these people anymore. Judgment must come.”

Twice Amos, through his intercession, causes the Lord to relent from his judgment on the people of Israel. But the third time, God said,

Look, I am setting a plumb line (a kind of tool used to make sure a wall was built straight, similar to a modern-day level) among my people Israel.

I will spare them no longer. (Amos 7:8)

In other words, God had measured this wall that was Israel, and found it so crooked that he had no choice but to tear it down.

He called them in chapter 8 a basket of ripe fruit—ripe, that is, for judgment. (Amos 8:1–2)

How did the people get so crooked?

We’ve talked about this before. They had stopped really listening to the Lord.

As long as the prophets God sent told them pleasant things, they were willing to listen. But as soon as the prophets warned about God’s judgment, the people told them to shut up.

You see this in the last part of chapter 7 where a “priest” from Israel accused Amos of treason for predicting King Jeroboam’s fall, and told him,

“Get out, you seer! Go back to the land of Judah. Earn your bread there and do your prophesying there.

Don’t prophesy anymore at Bethel, because this is the king’s sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom.” (Amos 7:12–13)

When we take away the “level” of God’s word in our lives, we can no longer tell what is crooked or not, what is evil or not.

We see that very clearly in the world today. People call what is crooked, straight; what is evil, good.

And when we willfully ignore the word of God, there comes a point where God will no longer speak. In chapter 8, he told the people,

“The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “when I will send a famine through the land—not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord.

Men will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the Lord, but they will not find it.” (Amos 8:11–12)

God, in fact, would be silent for 400 years between the time of Malachi until John the Baptist came.

Is it any wonder that the people flocked to hear John when he came?

But as was usually the case with the prophets, God finishes with some words of hope in chapter nine, once again illustrating his faithfulness.

He promised that though he would punish Israel, he would also restore it. That though it would lie in ruins, it would be rebuilt.

He would do so, not because of their righteousness, or anything that they did, but rather out of his mercy and love for them.

As Paul wrote,

He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. (Titus 3:5)

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Amos

Self-centeredness, pride, and complacency

Be a blessing

This passage reminds me of the parable that Jesus told in Luke 12:13–21.

In the story, a man had a rich crop, and he soon realized that there was no place for him to store all the food.

So what did he do? Did he reach out to the poor and needy in the area? Was he thankful for God’s blessings, and wondering how he could use those blessings to touch others’ lives?

No. Rather, all he could think of was himself. He said,

I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and goods.

And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”

But God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?”

This is how it will be with anyone who stores things up for himself, but is not rich toward God. (Luke 12:18–21)

Jesus could very well have been talking about the Israelites of Amos’ time.

The rich of the land were feeling complacent, secure in their wealth, and proud of all they had, not even considering the poor, nor the evil and corruption that was in the land.

And so God told them,

Therefore, you will be among the first to go into exile; your feasting and lounging will end. (Amos 6:7)

How about you? Are you proud of what you’ve accomplished? Of all that you have? Do you think to yourself, “I’ve got it made?”

Be careful that you don’t become like the rich man in Jesus’ story or the Israelites.

Don’t focus merely on yourself, but on God, and the people around you. God has blessed you for a reason. And it’s not simply to indulge yourself and your lusts.

He’s blessed you that you might be a blessing. And to make a difference.

Whether you’re rich or not, powerful or not, God hates self-centeredness, pride, and complacency.

He calls us to stop looking at ourselves and to look at the world around us, and to be God’s hands, feet, eyes, and mouth to them.

Lord, it’s so easy to just focus on myself. Forgive me.

Lord, what resources you’ve given me are really yours, not mine. Help me to remember that.

Help me to focus not on myself, but on you, and the people around me. Let me not live for myself, but for your kingdom. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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Amos

Are you ready?

Judgment and salvation

Sometimes people look at the evil around them—the crime, the violence, the natural disasters—and just wish that God would intervene already and set all things right.

But do they really understand what they’re asking for?

God told the people,

There will be wailing in the streets and cries of anguish in every public square.

The farmers will be summoned to weep and the mourners to wail. There will be wailing in all the vineyards. (Amos 5:16–17)

Why?

“For I will pass through your midst,” says the Lord. (Amos 5:17)

In other words, when God comes, things will be made right, but that doesn’t just mean all the things we think of as evil. It means everything.

All the sin in the hearts of people everywhere will be dealt with—including yours.

And so God said,

Woe to you who long for the day of the Lord! Why do you long for the day of the Lord? That day will be darkness, not light.

It will be as though a man fled from a lion only to meet a bear, as though he entered his house and rested his hand on the wall, only to have a snake bite him.

Will not the day of the Lord be darkness, not light—pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness? (Amos 5:18–20)

What is God saying?

People think that when God comes that will be the end of earthquakes, crime, violence, and every other evil that we see.

That’s true. But if there’s evil in your heart as well, then you will be judged too.

That’s what the people of Israel didn’t consider when they longed for the day of the Lord.

They thought they were right with God, but they were far from it.

They had their religious feasts, gave all kinds of sacrifices and offerings to God, and thought they were okay with God as a result.

But the rest of the time, they were living for themselves. And because of this, their feasts, sacrifices, and offerings meant nothing to God.

And so while they thought all the evil they suffered through would come to an end when God showed up, in reality, it would be worse for them.

One reason things were so bad was that God was trying to warn them to repent through all the evil they saw. But they didn’t.

And so when God showed up, they’d soon find that what they longed for would not be their salvation, but rather their time of reckoning and judgment.

As God said, they’d escape the lion (the struggles of this world) to face the bear (judgment for their own sins). In short, they were not ready to meet God when he came.

How about you? Are you ready to meet God?

It’s not enough to be religious. It’s not enough to go to church, give tithes, and do good things on Sunday.

Rather, your whole life must be given over to him—your whole heart, soul, and mind.

You need to stop trusting in yourself and your own works to save you, and to start trusting Jesus and his work on the cross.

For those who have done so, the day of the Lord will be a day of rejoicing.

For those who haven’t, it will be a day of reckoning and judgment.

Are you ready?

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Amos

With greater knowledge…

bible on path

Ignorance is bliss. So they say, anyway.

Actually, according to God, that’s not exactly true.

As we saw in chapters 1 and 2, judgment was coming to the nations around Israel.

What was the reason?

“They do not know how to do right,” declares the Lord. (Amos 3:10)

In other words, they didn’t know better.

But ignorance of God’s law was no excuse.

Why not?

Because deep in their hearts, they knew they were wrong.

As Romans puts it,

Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law (of God), do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts, now accusing, now even defending them. (Romans 2:14–15)

But while the nations around Israel had the excuse of ignorance, Israel and Judah had no excuse.

They were specifically chosen out from among the nations by God. God had revealed himself to them directly. And because of that, their responsibility was so much greater.

God said,

You only have I chosen of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your sins. (Amos 3:2)

In other words, God was saying, “You have no excuse for your actions. You know better.

“I gave you the law through Moses. And I’ve warned you time and again through the prophets. I haven’t made any secret of the fact that judgment is coming, and yet you continue to sin. (Amos 3:7–8)

“You show that you know the law by offering sacrifices, tithes, thank offerings, and freewill offerings. But you’ve ignored all the warnings that I’ve given, saying these things are not enough. (Amos 4:4–11)

“And so now judgment is coming. Prepare to meet your God. You will stand before me. You will give an account for all of your actions. (Amos 4:12)”

So what do we take from this?

Jesus said, “That servant who knows his master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what his master wants will be beaten with many blows.

But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows.

From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” (Luke 12:47–48)

Notice here that it doesn’t matter whether you are ignorant of God’s will or not. If you do things deserving punishment, punishment will come.

The only difference between the two is that the one who knows more will be punished more.

So ignorance is clearly not bliss.

We need to be seeking God’s will and asking what he wants of us.

But to know is not enough. We also need to obey and follow him.

How about you? Do you know what God’s word says?

If you don’t, then you need to find out.

God told the Israelites, and he tells us,

“Seek me and live; do not seek [false gods and false truth].” (Amos 5:4–5)

“Seek the Lord and live, or [judgment will come].” (Amos 5:6)

If you do know God’s word, then you need to take the next step and obey it. God said,

Seek good, not evil, that you may live.

Then the Lord God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is.

Hate evil; love good. (Amos 5:14–15)

As Jesus said,

He who has ears to hear, let him hear. (Luke 8:8)

And I would add, “Obey him.”

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Amos

A time for judgment

Amos

As seen in verse 1, Amos was a contemporary of Hosea and Jonah, as well as of Isaiah, and prophesied during the reigns of Uzziah in Judah and Jeroboam II in Israel.

Again, this was a time of material prosperity, but of spiritual poverty in both nations, especially in Israel. And so God called Amos, a shepherd of all people, to preach to both nations, but primarily Israel.

In the first two chapters of Amos, you see that Amos pulls no punches. We sometimes hear of fire-and-brimstone preachers, and that’s exactly how Amos started, saying,

The Lord roars from Zion and thunders from Jerusalem; the pastures of the shepherds dry up, and the top of Carmel withers. (Amos 1:2)

He then starts preaching God’s judgment first on Israel’s neighbors, and then on Judah and Israel themselves.

On Damascus, he preaches the destruction of Aram because of the wars they waged against Israel, promising that their king would be deposed and that the people would go into exile (fulfilled in 2 Kings 16:9).

Then he preached judgment against the Philistines for their slave trade. You can see some of this fulfilled in Uzziah’s battles against the Philistines in 2 Chronicles 26:6.

Next was Tyre, who broke their treaty with Israel and sold many Israelite captives as slaves to Edom.

Edom itself was then condemned by God.

The Edomites, of course, were related to the Jews, as their forefathers were Esau and Jacob respectively. And just as Esau had once pursued Jacob with unchecked anger in order to kill him, so Edom acted against Israel.

Next came the judgment against Ammon for the atrocities of war they committed in order to extend their borders.

Following that came the judgment against Moab for the evil they had committed against Edom’s king.

Then Amos condemns Judah for turning their backs on God and his law and following false gods.

It should be noted that this was during a time when Uzziah (or Azariah, as II Kings names him) was king and was following God. Unfortunately, his people didn’t follow his example (II Kings 15:4).

Then Amos turns his attention to Israel, his main audience. On top of their idolatry were all the social injustices they committed, trampling the poor and denying justice to the oppressed.

As if that wasn’t enough, they were also corrupting people who had committed themselves to God (the Nazirites) and tried to silence the prophets.

Because of all that, Amos warned them of God’s judgment to come.

What do we get from all this? Two things.

First, nothing is hidden from God. He sees everything that we do.

Second, there will be a day of reckoning for our sin.

God may seem not to notice, or not to care. But he does notice and he does care. That’s why he sends us warnings.

That was the whole purpose of Amos’ message. Not to tell them, “Ha ha! You’re going to die!” His purpose was that the people would hear the warnings and turn.

So the question we need to ask ourselves is, “What do we do with God’s warnings?”

As we saw in Jonah, when people repent, he will relent. But if we, like the Israelites, instead try to ignore the warnings or fight against them, judgment will come.

Don’t fool yourself into thinking that God is love and therefore will not hold us accountable for our sins. He is also a God of justice, and as such, he must punish sin.

So let us heed his warnings and turn from our sins, not only to avoid his judgments, but so that we might also find his blessings in our lives.