Introduction
Amos prophesied to the people of Israel about eight nations
and their sins. His statements to Israel did not cause them to see
themselves, their sin, and their rebellion against God. Because the northern
kingdom had an unbroken chain of evil, idol-worshipping kings they did not know
who Yehovah is and had no recognition of what He had done in the lives of their
ancestors. They no longer knew, ‘yada,
the LORD and did not recognize the need to obey the laws by which the southern
kingdom’s people lived and worshiped their God.
Amos told the Israelites of the northern kingdom who lived
in times of great wealth and prosperity how they lived and treated the poor was
iniquity and sin. They oppressed the poor, took their small amounts of food as
tribute, and had them jailed for owing as little as the cost of a pair of
wood-bark sandals. The rich Israelites paid bribes to have judges rule in their
favor, suppressed the righteous, and obstructed the possibility of righteous judgment
and living in the land.
In Amos’ second sermon to the Israelites, found in chapter
four, he called for Egypt and Philistia to see, witness, and testify to
Israel’s sinful deeds and God’s righteous judgment upon them. He called them to
sit like a tribunal council on the hills surrounding Samaria. In this chapter
Amos reminded the Israelites of their sins of oppressing the poor, worshiping
false gods, and living in hypocrisy. He reminded them of the LORD’s punishment
of them in earlier years. Amos taught the Israelites the times of drought which
brought famine came from Yehovah. He revealed to them the times one city had
rain and the other did not showed God’s great power to release water wherever
He wanted. This caused the people to travel seeking water. Amos reminded them
of the sirocco winds, mildew, locusts, and mold that affected their plants,
food crops, and animals came from the LORD. He told the Israelites these things
came from Yehovah as punishment for their sins. The LORD sent a plague like
what He sent on Egypt so that men and horses died and a stench rose from their
midst. Finally, Amos reminded the Israelites GOD was the One who overthrew
Sodom and Gomorrah, the great devastation in the south, and He did and would do
it to them while keeping a remnant of the people from this conflagration.
If the people of Israel did not understand the LORD’s might and
greatness based on their history of His power, then Amos reminded them of who
God was from the creation of the world. The LORD forms the mountains, creates
the wind, declares His thoughts to humanity, turns night to day and day to
night, brings darkness, gloom, and despair, and brings reprieve and relief. GOD
is so great He tramples on manmade idols of the land and their temples. This
LORD Amos spoke of and for is greater than anything they could imagine. He
caused the destructions that came on them and their ancestors.
In this week’s Bible study text, Amos 5:1-17, Amos
proclaimed his next sermon to the Israelites. This sermon is a lament for the
people of the northern kingdom. It begins by speaking as if God’s judgment already
occurred then leads into Amos’ exhortation to seek the LORD. Next Amos reminded
the Israelites again of Who God is and of their sin, a striking contrast. Near
the end of this sermon, he returned to admonishing the Israelites to seek the
LORD. Amos followed his admonition by reiterating it to emphasize its
importance. Finally, God through Amos recalls vividly for the Israelites the
effect of His judgment upon them.
A Lament
With verses one through three, Amos wrote a lament for the
future subjugated nation of Israel. Amos said in verses one through three,
1
“Hear this word which I take
up for you as a dirge, O house of Israel. 2She has fallen; she will
not rise again-the virgin Israel. She lies neglected on her land; there is none
to raise her up. 3For thus says the LORD God, ‘The city which goes
forth a thousand strong will have a hundred left, and the one which goes forth
a hundred strong will have ten left to the house of Israel.’” [NASB]
In verse one, Amos called for Israel to “hear this word.”
Once again, he used a word from the history of the Israelites. “Hear” comes from
the Hebrew word shama’ and means to hear,
listen to, and obey. Amos told them to attend to this dirge; listen carefully. He
said this lament came because of the sins of Israel. Jeremiah and Ezekiel also
wrote a lament for Israel in Jeremiah 7:29 and 9:10 & 17, and Ezekiel 19:1.
Amos called the people about whom this lament spoke “the
virgin Israel.” What does this mean? Amos likened Israel to a virgin because no
nation had ever conquered her. The LORD God had always defended and protected
her. With God’s judgment of Israel, He removed His protection from Israel and
allowed their enemies to overtake them. Amos added to this image of a fallen
virgin by saying she fell and no one helped her. No one would be there to defend
her or help her rise again. Israel the virgin “was forsaken”. Not enough people
remained within Israel’s borders to bring her back to her glory. Of the
thousands who marched in battle or defended her fortresses, only ten percent
returned. There remained no one to build and reestablish Israel to her glory
and wealth. The virgin nation, the people who were not a nation before God made
them into one, who had no gods before Him, but turned to manmade gods, now had
no protector. God removed His protection. Their false gods had no power to
protect them. Israel was like a virgin left among evil men. She had no defense.
With her fall, no one remained to lift her up, Amos said. Jeremiah 14:17 spoke
of Israel as the virgin daughter of My (GOD’s) people. He said their enemy
crushed her with a mighty blow. Isaiah 51:18 reiterated Amos’ thought. He said
there was no one to guide Israel or take her by the hand among all the sons of
the nation. The image blazed across the minds of the hearers; a woman lay
abused and neglected, forsaken by her people, and unable to get up on her own
anymore. Her life changed forever.
·
Have you ever experienced a time when it seemed
you had no one to call upon to help you stand up on your own feet after a
calamity?
·
How did that feel then? Did you flounder about trying
to figure out how to go about life from that point?
·
Did you have faith in God to help you?
·
Women and children who experience abuse often feel
this way. They wonder, “Now what; is there no God who will defend me?”
·
If we are in any situation where we are down like
the “virgin Israel”, we can look to God, get right with Him, and seek Him as
our rescuer.
The Invitation to Life
Through Amos, God reminded the Israelites how to have full
life, not just the wealthy life they had, but complete life by allowing Yahweh
to be their One God. He made this last point by directing them to remember what
their manmade gods allowed to happen because they were not gods. They had no
power.
Amos said in Amos 5:4-7,
4 “For thus says the LORD to the house of
Israel, ‘Seek me that you may live. 5But do not resort to Bethel,
and do not come to Gilgal, nor cross over to Beersheba; for Gilgal will certainly
go into captivity, and Bethel will come to trouble. 6Seek the LORD that
you may live, lest He break forth like a fire, O house of Joseph, and it consume
with none to quench it for Bethel, 7for those who turn justice into
wormwood and cast righteousness down to the earth.’” [NASB]
With verses four and six, Amos told the Israelites how to
get through God’s judgment and perhaps avoid a harsh judgment for their sins
against Him and other people. He proclaimed, “Seek the LORD that you may live.”
This exhortation was a reminder of what God told the Israelites through Moses
as they exited Egypt headed for the Promised Land as the chosen people of Yahweh.
In Deuteronomy 4:29, Moses told the Israelites, “Seek the LORD your God and you
will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and soul.” [NASB]
Jeremiah 29:13 repeats this same sentiment. Jeremiah said, “And you will seek
Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.” Notice these
statements are conditional statements. If the Israelites sought the LORD with all
their heart and soul, God said they would find Him. They were to seek Him with
a right heart, not just to gain something out of the relationship. God called
the Israelites to seek Him and promised life. For the Israelites, “life” meant
escape from God’s judgement or a reduction in its severity. This means if the
Israelites died or became captives, it was their own fault. They did not seek
God. God said if they repented and returned to a right relationship with Him,
He would forgive them. With this in mind, Amos taught on this idea further in
verse five.
After Amos told the Israelites God said they would live if
they sought Him with their heart and soul, he reminded them of their
ineffectual manmade gods, their idols. The word “resort” in verse five comes
from the same Hebrew words as “seek” in verse four. That Hebrew word is darash. Darash means to seek with care in prayer and worship, enquire of, require,
and consult. Amos told the Israelites
not to resort to or seek (enquire of, worship, pray to, and consult) their gods
in Bethel. Remember, Bethel was the main temple site where King Jeroboam I set
up a golden calf to be their god and established worship practices and feasts
for this manmade god. Besides telling
the Israelites not to go to Bethel, he said not to go to Gilgal either. Gilgal
was the town where the prophets of the northern kingdom lived. It was about
four miles from Bethel. Amos told the Israelites not to enquire of their gods
through the prophets of those gods. In case they had the idea to go to Beersheba
on the southern border of Judah, Amos told them even going there would not save
them from God’s judgment. The Israelites could not run away from the LORD. Recall
Beersheba had a long history of God’s presence. It was at this site Abraham and
Abimelech made a treaty. In very early times, according to Genesis 21:33,
26:23-24, 32-33, & 46:1, Beersheba had a sanctuary to the LORD God. God meant by mentioning these three cities-Bethel,
Gilgal, and Beersheba-the people of the northern kingdom could not run away
from Him and His judgment on them. Their gods had no power to stop God’s judgment.
Besides not being able to stop God’s judgment on them, Amos
said Bethel would come to trouble. “Trouble” comes from the Hebrew word ‘aven and means sorrow, naught,
iniquity, and trouble. Bethel would come to sorrow. Gilgal would “certainly go
into captivity,” Amos said. The priests and prophets of Gilgal were not immune to God’s judgment.
They, too, would go into captivity. That makes sense since they led the people
of Israel to worship false gods. Neither their false gods, priests, leaders,
nor running from the LORD would keep His judgment from falling on the Israelites.
God would find the Israelites wherever they were. Bethel’s name would change to
Beth-aven, from "house of God" to "house of vanities". Hosea said this of the
northern kingdom of Israel in Hosea 4:15, 5:8, and 10:5. Their vanity to
worship manmade things would bring their downfall.
Only by seeking the
LORD could they live. Amos reiterated that point in verse six. Whereas in verse four the proclamation was in
first person, in verse six the exhortation to seek the LORD is in third person.
Amos used the same Hebrew word darash to
exhort the Israelites to seek the LORD so they may live. The word “live” comes
from the Hebrew word chayah and means
to have life, remain alive, live forever, be restored to live, and be preserved.
Amos loved his brethren of the northern kingdom. He did not want to see them
harmed, dispersed, or permanently destroyed. Amos’ heart ached for them and he
cried out to them to seek the LORD so they would live.
Amos said if they did not return to the LORD, His wrath would
break out as a fire. He, for the first time, said God’s flames of wrath would
consume Israel. Amos had said it in the prophecies about the other nations, but
had now said it for the first time regarding Israel. We know, too, this
prophecy is to the northern kingdom because he said, “O house of Joseph.” At
that time, the two tribes from Joseph’s line, Ephraim and Manasseh, were the
biggest tribes of the northern kingdom. By stating God’s judgment would fall on
Joseph’s house, we understand Amos meant this judgment was for the northern
kingdom. Notice the extent of the damage God’s fire would do to Israel. It would
consume them and none would quench it for Bethel. Remember, the Hebrew word for
“consume” meant to devour, burn up, and destroy. It would mean total
destruction of the northern kingdom. The gods of the people whose main temple
site was Bethel were powerless against the LORD. God’s fire would not spare
their government, temple, home, or palace. As Amos said earlier, only a tenth
of the people would remain and those would not be the rich, the leaders, or the
priests. With verse six. Amos reiterated verse four for emphasis. He emphatically
beseeched them to return to the LORD with their whole heart and soul.
Amos made sure the most egregious sinners, the ones who held
power and propagated oppression and corruption, knew they were not exempt from
God’s judgment. He explained who these people were with visual images. Amos
said these people turned justice into wormwood. Wormwood was a small shrub of
the area with bitter tasting leaves when brewed for medicine or alcoholic flavoring
(vermouth). This contrasted with the sweet flavor of justice. The unrighteous
turned the sweet flavor of justice to bitterness in the mouths of those who sought
justice. They snatched justice from their grasps by the corruption. Amos spoke
of this earlier in Amos 2:3 and will speak of it again in Amos 5:12 and 6:12.
He further stated these people cast down righteousness. They trampled it into
the earth with neglect and contempt. These corrupt and oppressive rich, rulers,
judges, and priests considered rightness and fairness worth nothing compared to
getting their hearts’ desires. Though rightness comes from God’s righteousness,
they considered it only as dust and rubbish and cast it down to be trampled
underfoot. God’s righteousness was nothing more to them than the dirt under
their feet. It had no worth to them.
Who were
these people who were so conceited to think they could take the law into their
own hands and decide for themselves what is right and what is wrong? Who are
they now? Often we mirror them. Consider these scenarios-
·
A dark-skinned man walking quickly by wearing a
beanie is automatically looked upon as a possible thief when a smash and grab occurs
nearby.
·
A poor mother is considered inept and unfit when
she has dirty children and poor language skills.
·
A teenager with low-slung pants and chunky
necklaces is considered a possible attacker because of His dress and
mannerisms.
·
A blonde-haired girl who hangs out with jocks
and attends an expensive private school is considered lazy and an airhead.
Each of these is a misconception and prejudice taught to us
by people in our culture. We need to look beyond the culture to how God sees
people. We are all created in His image and are all equal. No person should deem
another person lower than him or herself because of the other person’s
lifestyle, school, clothes, home, language, or anything else. Let the love of
God and His justice rule our lives and thoughts.
Who is the LORD?
After crying out his lament over Israel, beseeching them to
seek the LORD, Amos taught and/or reminded the Israelites who the LORD is in
verses eight and nine. In Amos 4:13, he explained the LORD is the One who forms
the mountains and creates the winds. Yehovah is the One who declares His
thoughts to man. He makes day into night, night into day, gloom into joy, and
joy into gloom. The LORD is the One who tramples down the high places of the
false gods. He is Adonay Yehovah ‘Elohiym
of hosts.
In Amos
5:8-9, Amos said,
8 “He who made the Pleiades and Orion and
changes deep darkness into morning, Who also darkens day into night, Who calls
for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the surface of the earth, the
LORD is His name. 9It is He who flashes forth with destruction upon
the strong so that destruction comes upon the fortress.” [NASB]
He reminded the Israelites the God who proclaimed His judgment
and would make it happen is the One who made the constellation with seven of
the biggest stars-Pleiades. The LORD is the One who made the small stars of
Orion, too. He changes deep darkness into morning. This deep darkness can be
literal night turning to day as in Amos 4 or can be metaphorical turning dark
and heavy times into days of joy and rejoicing. Yehovah can do the reverse,
too. Just because He brings good things does not mean He will not allow bad
things to happen. The people of Israel are not untouchable. God will remove His
hand of protection from them as His judgment on them.
This powerful God forms mountains, stars, winds, darkness
and light, and calls the waters of the earth to pour out on the land. He is so
great He can cause the waters to move in unnatural and supernatural ways. He
commands the waters of the sea as justice to pour out on the face of the earth like
He did during Noah’s time because the people of the earth were evil.
The people of the earth would be witnesses to God’s
punishment of Israel. They would be witnesses, just as God called the Egyptians
and Philistines in Amos 3 to behold the might, power, and righteousness of the
LORD God. Israel left Yehovah behind and considered their own desires most
important. By this and other things, they lost reverence for the One who made
these things and pronounced judgment on them.
No one of Israel would be immune to God’s judgment and the
destruction that came with it. Amos said the LORD would flash forth. God’s judgment
would happen, would be unexpected, and would be sudden. No one would escape it.
Isaiah 29:5 said it would come in an instant.
God’s judgment would come like a thief in the night. It would be strong
and overthrow the strong-people and manmade defenses (fortresses, palaces, and
city walls). With this idea of warfare we can see how God intended His judgment
to come against Israel. More than anything, God wanted His people, the
Israelites, to remember He is mightier than man and manmade things. Neither
strong nor weak would escape God’s judgment. It would happen like the sudden
sirocco winds and locusts. Amos repeated what he said in Amos 2:14 with these
two verses, eight and nine. God’s judgment would catch everyone. Not one Israelite
would escape. Amos’ imploring of the Israelites returns to our minds with this
renewed understanding of who GOD is and His might.
Sins and God’s Judgment
After lamenting Israel’s demise, reminding of God and His
power, and recalling God’s covenantal promise to the Israelites from
Deuteronomy, Amos returned to Israel’s reality that brought this sermon to
them. In Amos 5:10-13, he said,
10 “They hate him who reproves in the gate,
and they abhor him who speaks with integrity. 11Therefore because
you impose heavy rent on the poor and exact a tribute of grain from them,
though you have built houses of well-hewn stone, yet you will not live in them.
You have planted pleasant vineyards, yet you will not drink their wine. 12For
I know your transgressions are many and your sins are great, you who distress
the righteous and accept bribes and turn aside the poor in the gate. 13Therefore
at such a time the prudent person keeps silent, for it is an evil time.” [NASB]
In verses ten and eleven, Amos recalled for the Israelites
why God charged and judged them. He said the people of the northern kingdom
hated the righteous judge in the gate. Remember, small cases of dispute came
before the elders of a village or city at the city’s gates. Amos emphasized and
vividly spelled out this hatred by adding they abhorred the one who spoke with
integrity. The Israelites were no better than the Moabites who hated Edom in
Amos 2. Their hatred expressed itself by burning the king’s bones. The
Israelites hated for to people to reprove them. “Reprove” comes from the Hebrew
word yakach and means to judge, correct,
and chasten. Since the Israelites were sinners, the person who judged and
reproved them was righteous. The Israelites hated the righteous person and
hated correction. It made them feel guilty and low.
Amos said the Israelites abhorred the person who spoke with integrity.
“Abhor” is a stronger word than “hate.” It speaks of more than feeling hatred.
Abhor means to avoid or turn aside, to reject the person one hates. The
Israelites could not bear the sight of the person who chastised them. Even
Jesus said, “No prophet is welcome in his hometown.” The Israelites would not
see or listen to a person among them who was pure and righteous. It made them remember
their sins. Sin and guilt is much easier to hide from when you avoid daily reminders
of it. If the reminder was only mental and not physical, people develop good
ways to “stuff” the sin memory back in their memory so it does not bother them.
The Israelites avoided and prohibited righteous judges from
speaking, but they could not avoid God and His judgment. In verse eleven, God reminded
them through Amos’ sermon they were corrupt and oppressive. The Israelites
imposed heavy rents on the poor and exacted a grain tribute from them even
though they themselves were wealthy-lived in big houses and had vineyards. We
can never get away from God’s conviction of our sin. He will bring it back to
our minds until we repent with or without using punishment. Just as Amos said
in chapters two through four, the wealthy Israelites oppressed the poor. Amos
mentioned two ways they did that in verse eleven. They made the poor pay high
rents though they could not afford it and be able to have food for the family.
To top it off, the rich required a tribute from the poor, basically an offering
for being allowed to live there. The offering they required was part of the bit
of food the poor family gleaned from the local fields. The rich took part of
the little food the poor had because they were rich and had power. They did not
need it for themselves. The rich did not take it because the poor did not pay
their rent. They did it to oppress the poor. The poor feared if they did not
let the landlord have the grain he would kick them out of the small place they
rented.
With this bold, blatant pronouncement of the undeniable sins
of the rich, God’s judgment fell upon them. Because they stole food from the
poor and exacted too much as rent for their lodgings, the wealthy would not
live in the houses they paid a professional builder to make with hewn stones
instead of mud and rock. Though the rich had summer and winter houses, the
enemy would smash them to pieces (Amos 6:11). God would not allow the rich to
live in their houses made by oppressing the poor and depriving them of their
God-given rights. He also would not allow them to drink and enjoy the wine from
their vineyards. The Israelites would not live in luxury and drink their wine
that came from oppressing the poor and thwarting righteous judgments by the men
of God. This judgment reminds of God’s promises of blessings and curses in
Deuteronomy 28 for the Israelites if they choose to obey or disobey Him. In
Deuteronomy 28: 1, Moses stated the LORD’s words, “Now it shall be if you will diligently
obey the LORD you God being careful to do all His commandments which I command
you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the
earth.” (NASB) God would protect the Israelites and their enemies would not touch
them if they remained faithful to their covenant with God. The flip-side to
this promise of blessing is Deuteronomy 28:20 when Moses spoke for the LORD and
said, “The LORD will send upon you curses, confusion, and rebuke in all you undertake
to do until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly on account of the
evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken Me.” [NASB] By stating this judgment
against Israel, Amos said the LORD invoked His covenantal promise of curses
against Israel because of their disobedience to His laws.
The reminder of the Deuteronomic covenant also reminded the
Israelites that God sees and knows everything they do. They could not get away
from Him. In verse twelve, Amos said God knew of the peoples’
transgressions-their rebellion against Him and His laws. He knew their sins and
guilt. The Israelites had missed the mark-sinned. They were unfaithful to their
covenant with God. God realized the Israelites harassed and showed hostility to
the righteous, accepted bribes to defeat justice, and subverted equality for
the poor by refusing to listen to their cases or deciding in favor of the
person who paid the highest bribe. Amos recorded examples of this-put poor in jail
for the price of sandals, exacted tributes of grain, and required unreasonably high
rents for dilapidated places to live. God knew of their transgressions and
sins.
With verse thirteen, Amos recognized the insightfulness of “prudent”
(spiritually wise) people to keep silent during that evil time. The Israelites would
have thrown to the ground and trampled on what the prudent said, too, as they
might have done their lives. The spiritually wise people would know to make the
most of their time because the days were evil (Ephesians 5:16). But yet, still some
wise men spoke up for the poor in the gate, as verse ten notes. With verse
thirteen, Amos may have alluded to the time of their captivity when it would be
too late to speak up for the poor and oppressed because they would no longer have
any courts in which to speak up for justice. Though the spiritually wise and
righteous man spoke up for righteousness and for the rights of the poor, the
rich discarded his words like they did God’s laws. A time would come when there
would be no courts for the poor or the once rich people. There would also be a
time when they would seek words from God and would not find them because His judgment
had come upon them.
We should
consider our lives and times now-
·
Do you know of a person or people whom the
courts treated unjustly?
·
Do you know of a person who corrupts the law and
gets what he desires even though laws oppose it?
·
Is there someone you know in your community,
city, or village who needs a righteous person to stand up for equality and
justice for them?
·
Will you stand up for righteousness and justice
for the poor and outcast?
The Invitation to Life-reprise
With verses fourteen and fifteen, Amos returned to the
invitation God offered in verses four and six. In verse four, the voice was
first person. God invited the Israelites to seek Him and receive life. In verse
six, the voice was third person, Amos invited the Israelites to seek the LORD
and receive life. Now with verse fourteen, Amos urged the Israelites to seek
good, not evil and receive life. Three times Amos implored the Israelites to seek
life. What exactly did Amos say in verses fourteen and fifteen? He said,
14 “Seek good and not evil, that you may live,
and thus may the LORD God of hosts be with you, just as you have said. 15Hate
evil, love good, and establish justice in the gate! Perhaps the LORD God of
hosts may be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.” [NASB]
As we notice in verses four, six, and fourteen, Amos emphasized
the two sides of faith in the LORD God. One is the vertical relationship with
God in worshiping and praying to Him. The other is the horizontal relationship
with other people in doing ethically good things according to God’s
righteousness and His laws. With verses fourteen and fifteen, Amos contrasted
evil and good for the Israelites so they understood well what God required of
His people. “Good” comes from the Hebrew word tobe and means agreeable and pleasant to the higher nature, ethical
and moral goodness that benefits other people and self. “Evil” comes from the
Hebrew word ra’ and means
disagreeable, malignant, unpleasant morally and ethically, hurtful, unkind,
causing misery, injury and distress. Obviously the Israelites’ oppression of
the poor and corruption of the judicial system falls into the “evil” category for
which Amos prophesied God charged and judged the Israelites. “Good” is those
things opposite of what they did. Notice in this verse, like in verses four and
six, the statement is conditional. If they seek good and not evil, they may
live. If they seek evil, they would not live. It would be their fault if God’s judgment
came upon them.
As a broad bold emphasis to verse fourteen, Amos told the
Israelites to “hate evil.” Just as they hated and abhorred the person who spoke
with integrity in verse ten, Amos told them they should mentally and physically
hate evil. The Israelites should turn away and avoid evil. David exhorted this
in Psalm 97:10. He said, “Hate evil, you who love the LORD.” A person cannot
say they love the LORD then do evil. Those two are mutually exclusive. Jesus
said in Matthew 7:16 that by a person’s fruit you will recognize a he or she is
a Christian. James said in James 2:18 he would show you his faith by his works.
What a person does shows his relationship with God. What you do in your
horizontal relationships to and for other people shows your vertical
relationship with God.
Besides hating evil, Amos told the Israelites in verse
fifteen to love good. “Love” comes from the Hebrew word ‘ahab and means to desire what God desires, love God and His laws.
Loving good means to desire what is ethically right according to God. He continued
in this verse, “Establish justice in the gate!” Desiring what God desires is
one thing; acting on it is another. We must put into action our love for good. We
can say something, but unless we act upon it, we are not much better than those
who do not love good and do not act on it. Abhorring and hating evil requires
physical actions so loving good as God does requires action. Jesus lived this kind
of life while He walked on the earth. He did not just tell his disciples to
feed the poor, give sight to the blind, heal the sick, and disciple all
nations. Jesus did it. He told them what you have seen me do, go and do it. Paul
said this same thing in Philippians 4:9. Love good and practice judgment. Make
sure it exists. Stand up for righteousness and goodness.
With the rest of verse fifteen, Amos said, “Perhaps the LORD
God of hosts may be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.” “Perhaps” is a word that implies a possibility.
Amos did not want the total destruction or captivity of the people of the
northern kingdom. He wanted God to save some of them, like the ten percent in
verse three. He had hope based on God’s words to him. Amos hoped God would
spare some of the Israelites. He pled with the Israelites to repent and return
to the LORD God. God said in verse six His fire would consume and destroy them.
Amos knew from the past, God is merciful. When Solomon finished building the
temple in Jerusalem, God told the people, “If my people who are called by My
name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked
ways, then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
(2 Chronicles 7:14 [NASB]) The Israelites of the northern kingdom were God’s
children through His promise to Abraham. He did not want to destroy them
utterly. Amos’ plea to them to seek God, do good, and hate evil came from understanding
God’s past love and mercy. He gave them hope a remnant of Israel would survive
the takeover by an enemy nation.
·
What evil do you do that God hates and abhors?
·
For what godly good that do you make a stand?
·
For what evil do you need to repent to God, seek
His forgiveness, and renew a relationship with Him?
A Lament - reprise
With verses sixteen and seventeen, Amos concluded this
sermon. Just as he began it with a personal dirge, a lamentation for Israel, he
ended it with God foretelling Israel’s lamenting their plight because of His judgment.
Amos said in Amos 5:16-17,
16 “Therefore, thus says the LORD God of
hosts, the Lord, ‘There is wailing in all the plazas and in all the streets
they say, ‘Alas! Alas!’ They also call the farmer to mourning and the
professional mourners to lamentation. 17 And in the vineyards there
is wailing, because I shall pass through the midst of you,’ says the LORD.” [NASB]
Understand Amos made sure the people of Israel knew who
spoke to them. He used the same four names for Him he used before-LORD Yehovah God ‘Elohiym of hosts, the Lord Adonay.
This God who spoke to the Israelites and foretold their judgment and their lament
is the “existing One,” the I AM, the ruler and judge, the Lord of hosts of
heaven and earth. He is the almighty only GOD. This GOD is the One who creates all
things, causes dark to change to light and light to gloom. He’s the One who
allows enemies to overthrow His people. This GOD is the One who rescued them
from Egypt, made them a nation, and called them His people. The One GOD.
This God of Amos, the Israelites, and their ancestors foretold
wailing in the plazas and the streets. In open places and closed people would
mourn. All people would mourn-farmers, farm workers, and professional mourners.
The people who wail from their own grief and those trained to write and cry out
poems of lament would wail. In city, farmland, and village wailing would occur.
Where songs of joy were sung in the vineyards and fields before, songs of
mourning would abound.
Why would there be national lamenting? God’s judgment would
affect every person in Israel. In verse seventeen, God said He would “pass
through” the midst of the Israelites. Instead of God passing over the Israelites
as He did in Egypt when He struck down all the first born in Egypt (Exodus 12),
He would “pass through” the land of the Israelites (Amos 7:8, Micah 7:18). Unlike
the last time, God’s judgment would fall on the Israelites. Israelites would
die. Others would go into captivity. The
enemy would destroy the land and crops. They would smash and crush the
buildings, cities, vineyards, city walls, fortresses, and houses until they
fell. God foresaw in these two verses the people would not obey; they would continue
to live unrighteously. He foresaw their lamenting and proclaimed it occurred
because they would not repent and return to Him.
·
Are there things God is telling you are sins,
but you continue to ignore Him?
·
Have you listened to God, felt His conviction, and
returned to Him, then fallen away again?
·
Did you hear God’s voice, repent of your sin, seek
the LORD, and learn to worship and follow Him, then note now you are more
blessed than earlier in your life?
·
We each fall into one of these three categories. Honestly
between you and God, in which of these do you fall?
Recap
Amos told Israel each of God’s prophecies against the seven
nations surrounding them. Next he told them of God’s charge and judgment
against their own nation. The LORD charged the Israelites with oppressing the
poor, corruption, and idol worship. With two sermons Amos explained the LORD would
allow an enemy nation to subdue them, kill some people, take some captive,
and leave a remnant in the land mixed with people from other nations. The
buildings and strongholds of the Israelites would fall. The enemy would loot
and trample their produce and vineyards. Nothing would remain as it was when
they worshiped their own gods and their own desires. With chapter five verses
one through seventeen, Amos wrote a lament for the people of Israel, his
brothers. He noted God’s sadness over the Israelites choosing evil over Him.
Amos left them with a hope that a remnant would remain if they repented and
sought the LORD with their heart and soul.
Conclusion and Relevance
God knew the
likelihood of Israel’s repentance. During their 200+ years as a nation, they
had nineteen kings and each of them was evil in the LORD’s sight. These kings
followed after the ways of Jeroboam I who instituted idol worship. With each
successive king the people of the northern kingdom became more lost, forgot who
GOD is, and what His laws were. They strayed from the LORD for so long they had
no moral compass, but sought only the desires of their hearts.
Are
you walking with the Lord today?
Have
you ever heard of Him?
Have
you heard about Him, but chose not to accept His mercy, love, forgiveness, and
eternal life?
Each of us experiences times in our lives when we a like the
Israelites. If you are a Christian, you have probably had seasons of being very
close to God, studied the Bible, spent time in prayer, and worshiped Him daily.
Most likely, you have also lived periods of your life when you did not seek
God’s will for something you wanted to have or do and did or bought it, anyway.
Maybe you continued to do things like that and finally realized you had left
God. That is when you were like the Israelites.
Possibly you knew about Jesus and thought, “That’s not for
me. I don’t need to lean on anything to make it in life.” Or you might have
said, “Nah, I have time to think about that later. I have to live my life now.”
God has greater blessings in
store for you than you could ever give yourself.
God loves you more than you love
yourself.
Does that make you stop and think? God loves you more than
you love yourself. He knows what would be good and bad for you. God doesn’t
just give good things; He gives what is best for each person. More
importantly, God gave the best gift ever-salvation for your sins. You
and I need that more than anything.
If you have not heard about God’s great love for you or if
you have not taken the time to listen to and understand, let me explain it to
you. We each are fallible. We make
mistakes throughout our lives. We can’t help it because we are each sinful.
Paul said it this way in Romans 3:23. He said, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” God is
sin-free; He is holy. We are sinful.
He will not be in the presence of sin because He is holy. Because of our
sin, we are separated from God, forever. There was no hope for humankind.
But God had a
plan from the beginning of the world. What was His plan? He planned to save us, each of us, from our sin because He wants
to be with us, to have a relationship with us. He knew we would need a Savior
and planned it. In due time, in “the fullness of time” Galatians 4:4 says, God
sent His Son to be born into human form, to walk on earth and experience temptation
as we do, and to remain sin-free. This Son of God is named Jesus and, yes, He did not sin even though Satan
tempted Him. Because He was sin-free, He was a worthy substitute for us, to
take the penalty for our sins. You see, if we died with all our sin and we
couldn’t be in the presence of God while we are alive, when we die, we would
experience separation from God forever.
But God provided
the powerful sin-free substitute to take our sin penalty for us so we wouldn’t be
separated from God. Jesus willingly let the Jews persecute Him and the Romans
beat and crucify Him. He didn’t do it because He loves pain. He did it because He loves you and me! Jesus took your
place, he jumped in front of the rolling boulder so you wouldn’t die and experience
eternal separation from God. Remember, your sins separated you from God
forever. Jesus' death and resurrection
provided the gateway, the bridge, for you to cross the chasm between God and
humankind so you could be in the presence of God and have a relationship with
Him. His resurrection showed He has the power to defeat death. His
crucifixion took away the power of sin to separate you from God.
Ok, that seems easy enough to understand, right? “What’s the
catch?” you might think. There’s no
catch. God isn’t trying to trick you. He is trying to give you the best
thing. For now God wants to give you
salvation from your sins which brings you into relationship with Him. He also
gives you power to overcome the temptations you face daily so you will
not sin. Forever and eternally,
God
wants you to be in His presence, receive His forgiveness and love, and enjoy an
eternal relationship with Him.
You say, “Every other religion says I must do something to receive
a possibility to receive salvation and be in God’s presence. What do I have to
do to receive this gift from God?”
You don’t have to
“do” anything to be saved from your sins.
No true gift has stipulations attached to it. A gift is
free. Paul said that about the salvation God offers us through Jesus’ death
and resurrection. He said in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but
the free gift of God is eternal life
in Christ Jesus our Lord.” “Surely I must do something,” you say. Paul told us
in Romans 10:9-10 the only thing you have to do to receive God’s free gift. He
said,
“If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and
believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved;
for with the heart man believes resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth
he confesses, resulting in salvation.” [NASB]
When you confess with
your mouth Jesus is Lord, you are saying He is the Messiah, the promised
deliverer and Savior from God for our sins. You are saying Jesus is the promised
Son of God. He has the power to defeat death and His crucifixion paid the
penalty for your sins. You do nothing to
be saved. After you are saved the fruits of your words and actions show
your salvation to the world.
If you have never heard of God’s free gift given through His
Son and now want to become a follower of Jesus, confess your sins to God, repent
of them, and accept Jesus as your
Lord, the Messiah from God.
If you have heard of God’s free gift of salvation before but
put it off, don’t put it off any longer.
Just as the Israelites had no idea when God’s judgment would come, delayed, and
were surprised when His judgment came on them, you do not know when you will
die or when Jesus will return to earth. You do not want to be too late to
confess Jesus as your Lord and believe in Him for your salvation.
Have
no regrets; accept God’s free gift today.
If you are already a Christian, but realize you stopped following
Jesus a while back, now is the time to
return to a right relationship with Him. It’s not too late. Repent
of your sins to Him. Renew a right relationship with Him. He’s waiting
for you to return to Him.
The LORD is GOD of all people, all nations, and all tongues.
He created and loves each person. GOD allowed His Son, Jesus, to die a painful
death for all of us. Listen to Paul one more time.
“There
is no distinction between Jew and Greek,
for
the same Lord is Lord of all,
abounding
in riches for all who call upon Him;
for
whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans
10:12-13 [NASB])
