PREACHING THROUGH AMOS
Copyright 1978
by Bob Marcaurelle
bmarcaurelle@chrter.net
Outline Studies in Amos – 1 Amos 1:1-2
AMOS - THE LION OF JUDAH
In the Eighth Century before Christ something new happened in the history of Biblical religion. When Amos marched north to Bethel in Israel, delivered his messages from God, and then wrote them down, he became the first of the writing prophets. Like a thunderstorm from heaven his main message to a decadent Old Testament church was that we prove our faith, not by our worship but by our works. We prove our love for God by the love we show our fellow man. The religion of Israel, he said, was worthless because it was heartless and cruel. Like our Lord (Jn. 2:12-17) Amos came to church with a whip in his hands. Like our Lord he was un-welcomed.
I. THE TIME (1:1)
Amos ministered when Uzziah was King in Judah (783-728?), and Jeroboam (786-746) was King in the northern kingdom of Israel (2 Kings 14; 2 Ch. 26). The phrase “two years before the earthquake” puts his appearance around 760 B.C.
II. THE TIMES
1. Of Peace from 805 to 740 B.C.
Assyria, Israel’s old enemy, had lost her strength and both Uzziah and Jeroboam II rebuilt much of the former glory of the land (2 Kings 14:25).
2. Of Prosperity (6:1-6).
Freedom of commerce built an ever increasing wealthy upper class. The people rested on beds of ivory, dined on fine wines and choice calves, and were enjoying a high standard of luxury. These good conditions were not so good for in such times people forget God and worship pleasure.
On the other extreme it was a time
3. Of Poverty.
Amos spoke often of the poor and needy (2:6). The calloused heart of the rich made it a time
4. Of Persecution. The rich sold the poor like cattle (2:6) and cheated them in court (5:12-13). This was the sin that angered Amos the most - the apathy (2:7; 6:6) and antagonism (4:1; 6:3) of the wealthy who called themselves the people of God. Though Amos doesn’t mention it much, this was a time
5. Of Moral Perversion.
There was illicit sex as a father and son went in to the same woman (2:7). There was the excessive use of alcohol (6:6). Israel needed to learn that a civilization built on dirt cannot stand. Worst of all it was a time
6. Of Religious Perversion.
These cruel, calloused people “were in church every Sunday.” The land “oozed” with religion. This is what infuriated Amos. It is always sickening to see injustice or immorality join hands with Christianity and make it appear they are friends. If sin is a welcome guest in your house, you will never be welcomed in God’s house in heaven (Rev. 22:14-15). These folk went to church but didn’t carry church with them back into the world. Finally, it was a time
7. Of Probation (9:1-4).
The end was coming for the Northern Kingdom and Amos knew it. The Judgment of God was about to fall and Amos preached it (7:8-9; 8:9-14; etc.) Forty years after he preached, in 722 B.C., the Assyrians under Sargon, marched on Israel and removed the Ten Tribes from the face of the earth. To this day they are “the ten lost tribes of Israel.” If we choose sin we choose judgment.
III. THE TRUTH (5:21)
The sorry plight of the church in Israel made God sick and he sent Amos to tell them that He “hated” (5:21) their worship services.
1. The Man.
Amos was a farmer (7:14) on the outskirts of Jerusalem. He watched the situation described above until his inmost soul exploded in righteous outrage against the church. Note: Sometimes a call from God is a burning passion that something must be done, and the strong conviction one can and should do something. He had all the earmarks of a prophet.
He was called (7:15). We are all witnesses for the Lord but only a few are called for the task of saying “thus says the Lord” as a prophet (Old Testament times), an apostle (New Testament times) and a pastor-teacher (our times). He was concerned. His holy anger grew out of his passion and compassion. Amos carried this fierce ruggedness into his ministry. He was consumed with anger.
Application: I am sure this was his worst fault, but the world stands in need of men of righteous indignation over the hurts of others. We need men like the one who said, “I weigh 170 pounds but when I’m mad, I weigh 200.” We cannot escape the sternness of this man. One preacher says he probably never told a joke in his life. Listen to what John Patterson says,
“Amos is the first prophet of doom to Israel and he seems to deliver his message without a quiver in his voice. Such a message will break the heart of Hosea and melt the tender Jeremiah. . . No sobs shake his rugged frame and no tears stain (his pages).”
2. The Message.
The main themes of Amos were these. First and foremost, religion divorced from life is worthless (7:16-17). Sunday worship does not absolve us from caring for and doing good for others the rest of the week. It should give us the desire and power to do so. Second, religion divorced from life brings the judgment of God.
Folk in the church think they are safe to sin because they are saved or “do a lot of good church work.” God will hold even these against us because knowing the truth and not doing it brings greater wrath at the Judgment (Mark 6:11)
Our condemnation will be greater because our involvement with the truth teaches us the right way (3:2; 9:1-4). Finally, religion divorced from life is not the way of all(9:11-15). Amos was not from this sorry mold. A remnant, he said, would be spared. A new day of hope and joy would come for a few. No matter how bad the church gets we don’t have to join in. No one else may learn the Bible but we can. No one may take the demands of the gospel seriously but we can.
Outline Studies in Amos Amos 1:2-2:3
THE NATIONS THAT FORGET GOD
We see religion primarily in terms of worship (rites and bells and robes and smells). Although this is important the Bible also sees it in terms of how we treat others. James says “pure religion” is to “visit orphans and widows in their affliction (1:27).” John says “if we love one another, God abides in us” (1 Jn. 4:12). We separate the sacred and the secular but to God the amount we pay our employees is just as “religious” an act as the amount we give in our Sunday offering.
Amos, in his first sermon (1:3-2:16), attacks Israel’s six pagan neighbors (1:3-2:3), Judah (2:4-6) and then Israel (2:6-16). The crime that runs through the whole is mistreatment of others. The pagans were outwardly cruel and the church folk were inwardly calloused, but the results were the same. People were used and abused. And God was going to pounce upon them like a lion (1:2) in judgment. Look first at. . .
I. A DISTURBING PREACHER OF JUDGMENT (1:2)
Most commentators believe that it was on some highly festive religious occasion that Amos came to the shrine of Bethel (7:13) and started preaching. The prophets, including Jesus, took advantage of these times and used them to drive their messages home.
Here we see the strategic place of the public pulpit in the plan of God. “Thus says the Lord” (1:3) became the prophetic watch cry in Israel. God sent men - Samuel, Elijah, Elisha and Amos and others to call His people back to the right path. It is the same today. The periods of revival in the Christian church have been periods of great preaching when the pulpit was central. Application: Out modern era hates authority and dogmatism and being “preached” at! Churches and pastors give in to the mood and few men give time and effort and energy to the preaching ministry (Acts 6). The church suffers when counseling, administration, social involvement or anything else takes priority over Biblical preaching in the pastor’s life.
II. A DEVASTATING PROPHECY OF JUDGMENT (1:2)
In a brief summary of his entire book (1:2), Amos begins with a devastating prophecy of judgment. He mentions
1. The Destroyer
It is the Lord God of Israel (Yahweh) who is like a lion, who roars as He leaps upon his prey. The idea is, He is already moving toward you for the kill. The rumble of thunder is already being heard. Judgment comes from Zion, the holy place in Jerusalem where the Temple stands, not from the paganized shrine of Bethel and Gilgal. We may create new gods or even distort the God of our fathers until He is presented as false as the heathen gods. But we must eventually deal with the God of the Bible. Our idols may excuse our sin, but not God. He is not mocked (Gal. 6:7). Finally he mentions
2. The Devastation.
The Carmel Range in Northwest Israel was known for its beauty and fertility (Isa. 35:2; Song of Sol. 7:6). In a drought it would be the last region touched. Amos says, “When God gets through and even Carmel is withered up, the whole land will then be bathed in tears, from the lowest pastures to the highest mountains.” This came to pass forty years later, in 722, when the Assyrians wiped the ten northern tribes off the face of the land forever. Assyria was now building her military might, and in all this, Amos saw the hand of God raised to devastate Israel. Application:
Is such a fierce picture of God true to the Bible? Can the loving heavenly Father of the New Testament be the roaring lion of Amos? Yes! God’s wrath must always be expected when God’s love is rejected. Jesus Christ, God in human form, is the Lamb, the meek and gentle and loving Savior who died to save us from the wrath to come (Rom. 5:9). But the Bible pictures those who reject Him and says they will cry out to the rocks and mountains at His coming, “Fall on us and hide us. . .from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of their wrath has come and who can stand before it” (Rev. 6:16-17). In Amos’ prediction of God’s judgment upon the pagans (1:3; 1:6; etc.) and upon his own people (2:4; 2:6) we must never forget
4. The Delay
The phrase used for each of the eight nations “for three transgressions of _____ and for four, I will not turn away punishment” is a figure of speech (most commentators). It means something like “for sins on top of sins” or “for more than enough sins.” The idea is that God, in His patience and mercy, had delayed judgment. He forever hoped for repentance. When sinfulness is filled to the brim and God’s acts of love and offers of forgiveness are rejected, then and only then, does He move out in judgment.
III. A DETAILED PROGRAM OF JUDGMENT (1:3-2:3)
Amos moves from the general to the specific. His hard introduction did not get him thrown out of church because he applied it first, not to his Israelite hearers, but to six of their despised enemy nations around them (1:3-2:3) and even to his own countrymen in Judah (2:4-5). That kept him out of trouble because church people love it when we preach to somebody else; when we lash out at absentee sinners. It is when we “quit preaching and go to meddling” that preachers get in trouble.
As Amos sets each of the six pagan nations before the bar of God and pronounces sentence we can see that he is deliberately using
1. A pattern.
There is a literary pattern. He introduces each with the formula “for three transgressions and for four” (e.g. for sin on top of sin). Then he lists one of their more horrible crimes. After that, using the metaphor of fire, he promises and pictures the judgment of God that came upon their land.
There is also a geographical pattern. He covers every direction, Damascus (NE); Gasa (SW); Tyre (NW); Edom (SE). He thus stresses the universality of God’s judgment. No nation will escape. These six represent the whole. No person will escape. We must “all” stand before the judgment bar (2 Cor. 5:10) where God will render to every man according to his works (Rom. 2:6). We cannot hide in a crowd, be it the human race or a congregation. Each one of us has our day in court coming when we will stand before God.
2. A Presupposition.
The God of creation, who has endowed mankind with a conscience and written his requirements (laws) deep in their heart of hearts (Rom. 2:14-16), holds them accountable. They will not be judged as strictly as those of us who live in the light of revelation but they will be judged.
Our missionary mandate is to preach the gospel to every nation (Matt. 28:18-20), telling them of the Jesus who came, not to condemn but to save the world (Jn. 3:17). Men and women, in pagan surroundings, such as the ghettos here in “Christian” American may blame the social conditions. But God blames them for their crimes as well. Not every one in the ghetto kills for dope money. And when one person does, he will answer to God for it. Looking at the six nations as a whole let us note the
3. Particular Sins.
One charge, the apex of their crimes, was made against each nation. Damascus (representing the whole of Syria) in unbelievable cruelty dragged slabs studded with iron spikes over Israelite prisoners of war (3B) (most commentators).
Gaza (representing Philistia) carried a whole nation captive as they trafficked in slavery (6B), with Edom as the middleman (Garland). Tyre did the same but Amos added that in so doing they “did not remember the covenant of brotherhood” (9B). This probably meant they broke an agreement (maybe the one in I Kings 5:2 ff) in which they had promised not to sell slaves from a nation.
Turning to Edom, the hated descendants of Esau (Gen. 25 ff; Numbers 20, etc.), Amos exposed their fierce hatred as they hunted down their brothers, stifling natural affection, casting off all pity with an anger that never died (11B).
Ammon (an old enemy of Israel - Judges 11:12), to enlarge its territory, committed atrocities of war such as ripping open women with child in the tribes of Gilead (13B). Life meant nothing to the land hungry Ammonites. Finally Moab (another old enemy - Jud. 3; 1 Sam. 14:47 ff) was charged with burning to lime the bones of the King of Edom. To destroy some King’s spirit (as some believed the destruction of the body would do) or simply to show contempt, they desecrated a grave.
4. Punishment
. Using in each case the familiar figure of fire, God promised each nation a coming retribution. The defense gates (Bar) of Damascus will be broken and the people enjoying life in the beautiful Valley of Aven (1:4-5)..
Similar military figures are used for the next five nations. It was probably the Assyrians who conquered Gaza, Tyre and Edom, and the Babylonians who conquered Ammon and Moab. But regardless of the weapon, God moved against the inhumane cruelty of these greedy, warlike people. And that same God is alive today. We look out at man’s inhumanity to man.
We see child abuse in America. We see torture in Central America. We see chemical warfare by the Russians. We see rape and murder and exploitation on every hand. And we wonder, “Is there a God? Does He care? Why doesn’t He do something?”
In His providence God has seen fit to allow us our freedom even if we use it to enslave and mutilate our brothers. But the day of reckoning is coming. God is not finished with the Hitlers and Stalins. And He is not finished with the John Does like you and me who make gains at the expense of others or who hurt people with our fists or our words. In all of this we see an amazingly simple but successful
5. Psychological Advantage
--being gained. These were six of Israel’s worst enemies! As Amos drew them out one by one and promised the rod of God upon them, he must have received nods of approval and hearty “Amens!” from his Israelite congregation. But Amos was weaving a web with each point, a web he would use to trap Israel. Their condemnation of others would be God’s condemnation of them. They were not as cruel perhaps but the results were the same. Because of their greed and apathy, people were sold into slavery for debts they could not pay (2:6) and countless other hurts were inflicted (3:10, etc.). Let us close by considering
6. The Point For You and Me.
The one sin that runs through all six nations, through Judah, through Israel and through us today is the sin of self pleasing (Motyer). To please ourselves we sell others, we hurt others, we betray others and we forget others.
The way of Christ is to serve God by serving others. It is to sacrifice ourselves instead of sacrificing others on the altar of our desires, which we always call “needs.” Adopting a simpler life-style a carpenter works two days a week supporting his family and the other three helping folks who can’t pay him.
A rancher sold his ranch and used the interest to go to the mission field at his own expense for a few years. (See Richard Foster, The Freedom of Simplicity, Ch. 8). We call such people fools, but I think Jesus, looking at our “Me First” generation, says, “Of such is the Kingdom of God.”
Outline Studies in Amos Amos 2:4-16
WHEN GOD’S PEOPLE FORGET GOD
Sin is so easy to spot in others and so hard to spot in ourselves. When Amos completed the circle and exposed the sins of his own countrymen, Judah, to the South (2:4-5), he probably met with a chorus of “Amens!” from his Israelite congregation, but little did they know the judgments they made on others would be the judgments God would make upon them (Matt. 7:1-2), the circle was a noose about to tighten around their own necks (2:6-16). When God’s people forget God they get the same punishment as the pagans who forget Him. In fact, they get more, for God expects more.
In 3:1 Amos includes both Judah and Israel under the title “Israel.” He calls Israel the “whole family I brought up out of Egypt.” Thus here we take Israel and Judah together (2:4-16) for they were both the people of God who forgot their God.
I. THE INIQUITY OF GOD’S PEOPLE (2:4-8)
Using the courtroom analogy (Kelly) Amos hauls Judah and Israel before the bar of God and spells out their iniquity.
1).They Had Rejected the Word of God (2:4; 8; 12).
They rejected God’s “law” (2:4) or all His teachings whether written or preached. They did not keep His “decrees,” those iron clad rules written on tables of stone (Ex. 19) and in their heart of hearts (Rom. 2:15). Israelites, who took men’s outer garments for collateral were required by God’s law (Ex. 21:7-9) to give it back at night so they would not freeze
. No only did they not give it back, but they used it to make a bed for themselves with prostitutes (2:8). When God’s preacher cried out against such things they told him to shut up (2:12). When Rod raised up pure young men like the Nazirites who abstained from such, they brought them down and taught them to drink (2:12).
The same issue of God’s word faces us today! Will God’s Word be our standard? Before men turn away from God’s way on the outside, they turn away from God’s Word on the inside. The question is - what is our authority? Is it what the church says? The shrine at Bethel condoned prostitution in the name of the Lord (2:7-8; 4:4). Is it what we think or feel?
If so, we will see a time of corruption and confusion like that of the Judges when “every man did what was right in his own eyes” (Jud. 21:25). Or is it what God says in His word? If we turn from the doctrines of the Word we will soon turn from the duties of the Word. And we will be as pagan as any heathen nation around us. Having turned from the Word to their own views and that of their corrupted church
2. They Rejected the Way of God (2:6-8; 12).
Several kinds of sins emerged.
There was inequity and inequality (2:6, 7).
The selling of the righteous for silver and a pair of shoes (2:6) could refer to court bribes where the rich bought verdicts (2:7) or to the sale of slaves. Trampling the head of the poor (v. 7) could mean they walk over them to get their land. Though the specifics are unclear the root sin is “the survival of the slick.” Money meant more than people. The top of the social and financial ladder had to be climbed no matter what it cost others.
The second sin was immorality (2:7).
A father and son go into the same temple prostitute. The words “father and son” could be a metaphor of the universality of this sin, meaning, all men, young and old alike, are womanizers (Motyer). More likely it points to the degeneracy of morals to the point where father and son practice immorality together.
The third sin was intemperance (v. 8).
In their orgies they drank wine taken as fines. The dominant idea again is their enjoyment of that which was taken from another (inequity) but the idea of intemperance is there. The amazing thing is that in the history of civilization these three sins will spell death to any culture. Greed, immorality and drunkenness will rotten the heart of any civilization and send it toppling to destruction.
It is the way God has created this world order. The oppressed poor will revolt and rip out a nation’s strength. The immorality will destroy the home, the building block of society. Drunkenness will lead men to levels lower than the animals and will lull them to sleep while the enemy approaches. This frightens me because these sins are America’s sins. We are on a suicidal course and unless God intervenes are probably headed for destruction.
II. THE INGRATITUDE OF GOD’S PEOPLE (2:9-11)
Amos turns from their iniquity to their ingratitude (9-11). They had sinned against a God who loved them and blessed them in many ways.
God had met their physical needs (9-10). Going back to their most hallowed experience, the Exodus, Amos reminds them that God had delivered them from Egypt, had defeated the giant Amorite warrior who stood in their way, had provided for their needs in the desert years and had given them the land of the Amorites.
Besides all this, God had also met their spiritual needs (11).
He raised up prophets to declare His will and ways. He raised up people like the Nazirites “Consecrated Ones” who, in drinking no wine and touching no unclean thing, symbolized the separated life preached by the prophets and demanded by the Lord.
One of the great mysteries of life is that the more people are blessed by God, the more they take Him for granted and turn their backs upon Him. God gives us health and we use it in recreation rather than worship on Sunday. God gives us wealth and we raise our standard of living but not our gifts to Him and others. God gives us families and we make them our god by putting them first. God sent His Son to die in our place and most of us could care less.
III. THE INVASION OF GOD’S PEOPLE (2:5, 13-16)
Just as the fire of military invasion was promised to the pagans, so was it promised to the people of God. God would send fire upon Judah, and destroy the very citadels of the holy city, Jerusalem (2:5). In 587 B.C. the Babylonians, under Nebuchadnezzar, destroyed Jerusalem and carried the Judeans off in exile (2 K. 25:1-10). To know the awful devastation one has only to read Jeremiah’s “Lamentations.”
Israel’s conquest, coming much sooner, in 722 B.C., is not pictured as fire, but in graphic accounts of her total inability to resist (2:14-16). The fastest will not be fast enough to escape, not even on horseback. The strongest will not be strong enough to win. The archer will run from the battle, the “bravest warriors will flee naked on that day” (2:16).
Verse 13 is very hard to translate. It could refer to Israel’s punishment. God says, “I will crush you as a cart crushes when loaded with grain” (NIV). Israel will be crushed with God’s judgments until she sinks (M.H.). But it can also refer to God’s pain. God says, “I am weighted down beneath you like a wagon is weighted down when filled with sheaves (NASV). (See this idea in Is. 43:24; Mal. 2:17.)
In this we see two things. We see the limits of God.
Our sins weary God and there comes a time when He has had enough. It was so at the time of the flood (Gen. 6). It was so in Israel. And it can be so in your life and mine. There is a point of no return where judgment becomes inevitable. As the old hymn put it there is “a hidden boundary between God’s patience and His wrath.” The message is plain. Turn around TODAY before it is too late.
But, praise God, we can also see here the love of God.
God bears our sins upon His heart because He cares. And in the person and passion of His Son, He “bore our sins in his own body upon the tree” (1 Pet. 2:24). The message again is plain. We can bear the full weight of our sins or we can place them for time and eternity upon Jesus. We can request and believe the seek to live for God and sing, “At the cross, at the cross where I first saw the light, and the burden of my heart rolled away.”
Studies in Amos – 4 Amos 3:1-15
THE PERILS OF PRIVILEGE
Having completed his circle and having called all the nations before the bar of God’s judgment (1:2-2:16), Amos now moves to an in-depth (Ch. 3-8) exposure of the depravity of both Judah and Israel (v. 1, the “whole family I brought up out of Egypt) that is the basis of God’s displeasure and His coming judgments. See first. .
.
I. THE FOUNDATION O PUNISHMENT (3:1-2)
Some people see salvation as the chance to sin without getting into trouble (Rom. 6:1-2). They presume upon their relationship to God. But Amos says this close relationship, far from giving us a licensee to sin, actually is the foundation of our punishment. The key verse is 3:2, “You only have I chosen (or known) of all the families of the earth; THEREFORE, I will punish you for all your sins.” This “knowledge” is more than intellectual awareness.
God “knows” all men. It is the knowledge of closeness and fellowship and covenant blessings. God picked Israel to be the ones to know Him so they could share the news with others. God has picked the church for that same position today. This is a blessed privilege but it is also a solemn responsibility.
People who reject God and His ways while living in a land of churches, or worse still, attending those churches, will justly be “beaten with more stripes than the heathen” (Lk. 12:47-48). They sin against light (Js. 4:17); love (2 Cor. 5:14); and favors (Ps. 103:2). When Jesus comes judgment will begin at the house of God (1 Pet. 4:17). There are degrees of punishment in hell and the very bottom will be those who lived in lands of gospel light and yet chose darkness.
II. THE VINDICATION OF PROPHETS (3:3-8)
Many in the Bethel Church who heard Amos’ prediction of punishment would laugh in his face. God’s people always see themselves as being in the right and others in the wrong. It is always our brand of Christianity that is right in our eyes.
To vindicate himself and to authenticate his words Amos shows how it is in keeping with the character of God to first reveal his plans to prophets (3:7) and then send them to warn the people. He uses object lessons from life that are obvious and compares them to his mission to show how obvious it is that he comes from God. Two men walking agree on some things (3).
A roaring lion means he has jumped on a victim (4). A vird in a trap means someone set a trap (5). A trumpet blast spells trouble (6). A preaching prophet means God has something to say (7-8). The stage is set - God is roaring!
The trap is set! The trumpet is about to blow! And here is God’s prophet with the word of warning. As God told Noah there would be a flood (Gen. 6); as He told Joseph there would be a famine (Gen. 41); as He told Elijah there would be a drought (1 K. 17); so, says Amos, God has told me you are going to be destroyed. As Moses warned Pharaoh (Ex. 7-15) and Jesus warned Jerusalem (Lk. 19:42-44) so did Amos warn them.
God in mercy warns us of the disasters we bring upon ourselves so that we might repent and escape. The drunkard who ruins his health and family does so with many warnings and appeals from the Lord. The same is true of the adulterer and the lovers of money and those who leave God out. Men go down to ruin in this life and in the next but they do it in the face of a loving God who sends preachers and mothers and friends and thoughts of conscience and His own dear Son to warn them.
III. THE INVITATION TO PAGANS (3:9-10)
Next Amos does a surprising thing. He calls upon the heathen nations (Assyria and Egypt) to assemble in Israel’s beautiful hill country and witness the confusion and the punishments that befall a nation so favored and yet so sinful.
1. The Shame (v. 9)..
of doing that which even the pagans acknowledge as wrong. How demoralizing when even the world can rebuke the church. There is
2. The Sin (v. 10a).
They “do not know how to do right.” Repeated sin sears the conscience (1 Tim. 4:2) and hardens the heart (Heb. 3:8) so that we lose the capacity to ever know right from wrong. A church orders its guards to “shoot to kill” thieves who break into its buildings. A man leaves his wife and children and bows in prayer with the woman he “loves” and asks God to bless their union. Slavers condone slavery as “mission work to the savages” in the name of Christ. The list is endless of the ways we are totally blind to what is right and wrong. Inevitably, there is
3. The Sequel (v. 10b). Such a nation or person literally “stores up” for himself the wrath of God (Rom. 2:15). We sin and forget it but God keeps a record (Rev. 20:12).
IV. THE ELABORATION OF PUNISHMENT (3:11-15)
Amos closes with a detailed elaboration of the punishment that is coming. The adversary (v. 11) (Assyria and then Babylon) will “pull down your strongholds” and “loot your citadels.” The aftermath (v. 12) will be awful. It will be like the few pieces of a lamb that are left when a lion is through or a piece of a bed or couch when a fire is through. That is all that will be left. Amos sees all this coming from their main adversary (v. 13), “the Lord God, the God of hosts.” This appropriate accumulation of Old Testament names for God stresses His mighty power.
The personal (Lord) God (Elohim) who is the God of “hosts” (heavenly and earthly armies) will completely devastate you. God’s appointed target (v. 14-15) is threefold. His own house or family “the house of Jacob” (v. 13). The house of worship at Bethel, the very center of their religion (v. 14). And finally, the houses of the rich (v. 15). In other words, every area of life - political, religious and social - will be swept away.
All the false gods we trust in will be swept away as we stand naked at the Judgment. Our false relationship to God that we claimed, if it did not deliver us from a sinful life, will not stand the test of Judgment Day (Matt. 7:21-23). Our false religion that did not help us be like Jews will not help us when we stand before Jesus to give an account (Rom. 2:5-6). Finally, our financial resources which we loved more than God will not be there to help us. All we take to the Judgment Day is our character.
Outline Studies in Amos – 5 Amos 4:1-13
THE SIN OF SELFISH LUXURY
The Bible warns us that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil (1 Tim. 6:10). Israel’s sin was not in being wealthy. Abraham was wealthy, yet he was called the friend of God (James 2:13). David was wealthy, yet was called a “man after God’s own heart” (Acts 13:22). Their sin was in the manner in which they accumulated their wealth. They oppressed and crushed the poor (4:1). Their pleasure came at the cost of other people’s hurt. It was in the manner in which they adored their wealth. Living in unspeakable luxury they never thought of doing without diamonds so some people could have milk for starving children. This sorry state was brought about by four failures:
I. THE FAILURE OF WOMEN (4:1-3)
The first thing we see is the failure of Israel’s women. A nation will never rise any higher than the character of its women. The weaker sex, physically (1 Pet. 3:7), they are the stronger sex spiritually. For they wield far greater power over men than men wield over them. Like Abigail to David, they can lift a man to noble heights (1 Sam.25). Like Jezebel to Ahab, they can drag him to horrible depths (1 Kings 16-21). Women are the trend setters in society. They have ever been the final guardians of morals and religion. We have here
1. A Sarcastic Picture (4:1a).
Amos compared them to the fat, well-groomed cattle of the fertile land of Bashan (See Deut. 32:14). He did this because of their
2. Shameful Practice (4:1b).
They “oppress” the poor and “crush” the needy. Their sin was not in being affluent but in being totally apathetic to the suffering they helped impose upon others in their insatiable craving for luxury. They drove their husbands to do cruel things to feed their appetites. Added to their apathy was their alcoholism. In Israel, as in America, the idle upper class had an alcohol problem. What an indictment! Materialism cannot buy peace, contentment, self respect or a good night’s sleep. Selfish people need drugs to make their luxurious life bearable. The result was
3. A Solemn Promise (4:2a).
God didn’t just say He would punish them, He swore “by His holiness,” by His wholly otherness, by who and what He is, that He would do so. God vindicates His righteous character in that He refuses to let sins go unpunished. Amos is saying that God is bound “by His own moral character to act on behalf of the oppressed” (Kyle Yates). This would all come to pass in
4. A Savage Practice (4:2b-3).
Using horrible pictures of ancient warfare, Amos says an army will drag you from your houses with ropes and hooks like men drag cattle to slaughter. They will pull you through breaches in the walls like cattle walking through a hole in a fence. The word Harmon is uncertain but it could refer to a “dung hill” (Kelly). Like dead cows their carcasses would be thrown onto a garbage pile. The bottom line is this. In their luxury they had treated their fellow humans as little more than beasts of burden. In the end God would see to it they were treated the same. What we give, we get!
II. THE FAILURE OF WORSHIP (4:4-5)
The churches also had failed to raise the level of ethical living in Israel. The churches were filled but they were filled with empty people. Bethel, where Jacob saw God (Gen. 28:18), was the sanctuary of the king himself (7:13) and therefore prominent in the land. Gilgal was a famous and highly honored historical site. It was the place where Israel camped after crossing the Jordan. It was their base of operation from which they moved out to conquer the land. Thus it was probably a favorite worship center through the years (1 Sam. 10:8; Hos. 4:15).They
1. Practiced Their Religion.
With more sarcasm, he called them, like a priest, to come to church. His charge was that they didn’t come to worship, they came to sin (transgress) (v. 4). At special festivals they “sacrificed every morning” and brought tithes every three days.
2. They Proclaimed Their Religion.
The “leaven” in their meal offerings pointed to their affluence. They gave much and they did much and they loved to publish it (4:5b). If you wanted to know how good and religious they were, they would be glad to tell you. The real problem was …
3. They Perverted God’s Religion.
Is Amos condemning the external acts of religion? Is he calling for a “religionless Christianity”? Are we to be “good” and forget about church and tithing and singing hymns? No! The Bible commands us to go to church (Heb. 10:25), to tithe (Mal. 3) and to sing praises (Eph. 5:19) as much as it commands us to live holy lives out in the world (Eph. 5:1-2). What God wants is piety and practical holiness. He wants us to come to church; to get to know Him; and to take Him, in our character, back out into the world.
III. THE FAILURE OF WARNINGS (4:6-11)
To these people who presumed on God’s goodness and took His mercy as a sign of moral weakness, Amos reminded them of His severe warnings in the past. He sent calamities to call them to repent, but over and over He had to say, “. . .yet you did not return to me” (2:6, 7, 8, etc.). He mentions five kinds of disasters (famine, drought, crop failure, disease and death, and the overthrow of cities).
In all this he saw the hand of God. Was he right? Or was he, as a child of his time, trained to see God in everything. Is God the author of our disasters? The problem and origin of evil and suffering is too deep for man’s mind. Christ saw Satan as the author of disease (Luke 13:16). We cannot solve this riddle, but each person must interpret his disasters for himself. Do they come as a natural part of life? Do they come because we are sinful (1 Cor. 11:30)? Do they come because we are faithful (Job. 1)?
The truth is that sometimes God allows troubles to come our way, even from the hand of Satan, to warn us of our rebellion and to woo us back to the paths of righteousness. Pusey says, “It is a great gift of God that He should care for us so as to chasten us.”
IV. THE FAILURE OF WISHFUL THINKING (4:12-13)
There were many, perhaps, in Amos’ congregation who felt there was no way their proud, prosperous and powerful land could be reduced to such shame and suffering. To show the failure of such wishful thinking he issues a solemn call (12) and sings a sublime hymn (13). There is
1. The Summons (4:12). The solemn call is “prepare to meet thy God O Israel.” Whether in the here and how (the meaning here) or in the hereafter, we must all sit down to a banquet of consequences.
2. The Song (4:13).
In case they doubt His power to bring all this to pass, Amos proclaims His vast power in the first of three (5:8-9 and 9:5-6) nature hymns. God has the wisdom, power and resources to bring them to their knees because He is the God of creation. He “forms mountains and creates the wind.” He knows the inner thoughts of all men. He can send storms or clouds or an eclipse to hide the sun in the morning. He “treads on high places” as evidenced by the thunder and lightning. He is the head of the armies of heaven and of earth (Lord of Hosts). When He comes against you, you can no more stop Him than you can stop the wind or blot out the sun or silence a storm.
Outline Studies in Amos – 6 Amos 5:1-27
THE FUNERAL OF A DEAD RELIGION
In Chapter 5 we have the strange case of a funeral song (dirge or lamentation - v. 1) being sung before the subject was dead. Amos may have worn the dress of a mourner as he sang. At any rate it must have been quite a shock for these worshippers to listen to their own funeral song. Israel’s destruction was so certain that Amos grieved as though it had already taken place. This chapter tells us why. We see:
I. THE DEATH OF ISRAEL (5:1-3; 6; 8-9; 11; 16-17; 27)
1. The Picture of the Death.
Israel is like a virgin girl (5:2) ravaged by soldiers. She is like a city with 90 percent of her people dead (3). God will break out over her like wildfire (6). She built houses but will not live in them and planted vineyards but would not drink the wine (11). The sounds filling the land, from the vineyards to the public squares, will be weeping and wailing (16-17). Assyria would carry her away into exile (27).
2. The Person Behind the Death is God (5:8-9).
In the second nature hymn (See 4:13) the God of their destruction is pictured as the God of creation. He is the God who made the stars (8) - two constellations were mentioned, who separates day from night and who brings the rain water out of the seas. Once again he identifies God as their real enemy. In all this, don’t fail to see
3. The Pain Behind the Death.
Amos was singing a sad song not out of sarcasm but of sadness. No true prophet loves to preach on the judgments of God. Like Jesus he weeps over the destruction he predicts (Lk. 19:41). Some men preach hell like they enjoy it. They are not true prophets.
II. THE DEPRAVITY OF ISRAEL (5:7; 10-13)
Israel was dead in sins (Eph. 2:1) and Amos mentions both her flagrant sins and her false security.
1. Her Flagrant Sins.
The basic sin of Israelite society was injustice. In the courts that ruled over each city
1) They Cheated the Poor (7:10-13).
People who come to court for justice have a bitter experience as though they tasted wormwood (7). The right was trampled under foot (7) with unfair rent and taxation of the poor (11). The wealthy could purchase unfair verdicts with bribes (2). The poor man came to court (the gate - v. 10 and 12) and was turned away. He finds no justice because he cannot pay for it. Advocates of capital punishment in America, who use the Bible for support, should be aware of the gross injustices of our judicial system. The statistics show that very few wealthy people, with the money and power to make further judicial appeals, were executed. The poor, and especially the black, were executed by the thousands for lesser crimes, because they did not have the money for appeal.
2) Hated the Poor (10).
Many folk get caught up in sin but when a good man rebukes them like Abigail did David (1 Sam. 25) or sets them a good example, their conscience is stricken and they repent. Not so in Israel. Their sin was so ingrained that when someone spoke out on behalf of the oppressed poor they literally “despised” him. The strong Hebrew words pictures the utmost contempt. Whether prophet or judge or involved layman they hated those who spoke the truth because they hurt them in their pocketbooks. The sad result of this :
3) They Silenced the Wise (5:13).
Amos said, “Therefore, at such a time the prudent person keeps silent for it is an evil time.” Israel had been plagued and preached to in vain. Thus God would silence her saviors. Her victims would suffer in silence. Like the calm before the storm she would know an awful and unnatural calm before her doom. Rejecting the voice of God we can receive the silence of God (Gen. 6). John the Baptist preached in vain to Herod and when Jesus met him He had nothing to say to him (Lk. 23:6-12). Amos also pointed out Israel’s
2. False Security.
In their sins they trusted in several things to keep them safe, but Amos told them they were leaning on rotten churches that wouldn’t hold up when they met God in Judgment. They had false hopes in
1) The House of the Lord (5:21-24).
Adding the worship center in Beersheba, he reminded them that all their churchgoing and all their faithfulness in the externals of religion would do them no good. He rejected their solemn assemblies (21) and their sacrifices (22).
Their burnt offerings (Lev. 1) symbolized their complete dedication but they had not dedicated their way of life. Their meat offerings (Lev. 2) acknowledged God as the source of material blessings, but they turned right around and cheated the poor to get them. Their peace offerings (Lev. 3) symbolized their fellowship with God, yet they persisted in those things He hated,
He rejected their songs (23), like He does those today who sing “I surrender all!” and refuse to tithe or give up television on Sunday night during church. Amos (25-26) compared them to their fickle ancestors who in the wilderness offered sacrifices (Numbers 16:5-10; Deut. 32:17) but not to the real God (Pusey). They carried their gods with them (5:26) and though they used the Lord’s name in their services, in reality worshipped devils. So it is with everyone who worships his own private god, even though he calls him God or the Lord or even Jesus.
Their second false hope was in
2) The Day of the Lord (18-20).
This popular Old Testament phrase, used in the Bible here for the first time, meant the great day of battle when God would move out to save His people and destroy their enemies (Is. 2:12; Jer. 46:10; Ezek. 7:19; etc.). The New Testament uses it for the return of Jesus. Amos says they had it all wrong. When God came, He was coming like a bear or a snake, to get them. A lot of people who long for the second coming, yet divorce religion from morality and fair play, will be surprised when judgment begins at the house of God (1 Pet. 4:17) and Jesus says, “Depart from Me. I never knew you, you workers of iniquity” (Matt. 7:23).
III. THE DELIVERANCE OF ISRAEL (5:4-6; 14-15; 24)
The saddest thing about Israel’s fall and the fall of any man into God’s judgment is that it was unnecessary. All through this chapter there runs a thread of hope, a way of escape, a way of deliverance. God said, “Seek Me that you may live (4,6). . / .Seek good and not evil that you may live (14-15). / .Let justice and righteousness roll down (24).”
The people came to God on their own terms - “We want to worship you and believe in you and still keep our sins.” The only way to God, then and now, is through repentance, through being willing to seek goodness and justice and righteousness. Then and now, faith without works is dead (Js. 2:17), as dead as Israel’s worthless worship.
Outline Studies in Amos – 7 Amos 6:1-14
THE FALSE SECURITY OF LUXURY
If you throw a frog into boiling water he will jump out. But if you put him in cool water and turn the heat on slowly, he will go to sleep in the warm water and slowly die as the heat increases. Human beings can be lulled to sleep by material prosperity to the point they have it so good that they are blind to their danger. Luxury and false security go hand in hand.
It was so in Israel. It is so in America. Many experts say our affluence has blinded us to the threat of Communism. Though we secure and spend our money in ungodly ways we see our prosperity as a “sign” that God is with us. It is a “sin sickness” which has really placed God against us. This is the theme of chapter six. Look at. . .
I. THE FALSE SECURITY (6:1-3)
Times were so good for the wealthy in Israel that they could not believe the bad news of Amos. These people
1. Trusted in two false hopes (6:1).
They trusted 1) In Their Religion. They were “at ease in Zion” (6:19), the holy hill of God (Ps. 78:68-69; 132:13-18, etc.). Our Christian religion is designed to instill hope and assurance but this must be based upon true Christianity, not our human perversions. To trust in our own goodness (Eph. 2:8), our church (Lk. 3:7-9), or, as in the case of these people, our faith and religious activity without righteous character (James 2:14-25) is to lean upon a rotten crutch.
They also trusted 2) In Their Military Might. They “feel secure on the mountain of Samaria” (1A) and their notable political leaders are so wise that all Israel comes out to hear them (1B). Israel’s hope was always to be in God, not herself or her allies. But this did not mean she was not to have an army or refuse to defend herself. Those who tell America to lay down her arms and trust only in God are asking for a Communist takeover. God gives us all sense enough to defend ourselves, yet doing all we can we know He is our Defender.
2. These folk also Boasted (6:2).
Verse two seems to be a boast of Israel’s leadership quoted by Amos. Go to Calneh or Hamath (two influential cities), they say, and you will see they are not as great as we are. They saw prosperity as a sign of the favor of God, when in fact it was a product of their own wickedness. The modern charismatics imply the same error. If you are sick or poor or low man on the job then sin has blocked the flow of God’s blessing.
3. Thus these people Coasted (6:3)
in the belief that all would be well. They did not see the “evil day” and “violence” that inevitably comes when people forget God and forget each other. With indifference, injustice and immorality they were sowing the seeds for their nation’s downfall.
II. THE FABULOUS LUXURY (6:4-6)
The false security was due, in part, to their fabulous luxury. Taking us into a home Amos shows us people with their extravagant ivory furniture (4); sumptuous diet (4); happy songs (5); excessive drinking habits (6); and practice of anointing themselves with finest oils (6).
Verse 6B says, “. . .but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph.” Their real sin was not wealth but selfishness and sin. Wealthy people have a marvelous opportunity to share their goods with others and to be good examples of righteousness in the difficult context of wealth (Matt. 19:23-26).
Their sin was the misuse of wealth. God tells us we are:
1) To Earn Our Money Honestly (Prov. 20:10) and Fairly (Js. 5:1-5). They had done neither (Amos 5:11-12).
We are 2) To Share Our Money Generously (1 Tim. 6:17-19). They chose extravagance over charity. God tells us 3) To Subordinate Our Money Inwardly (Matt. 6:24).
Money is not to be our god. These people’s self pleasing and unconcern over the ruin of Joseph (a synonym for the church of God, M. Henry, see Ps. 130:1) show that material possessions were first with them. The old phrase “Money Talks!” is right. How you get it and what you do with it tells what kind of person you are, where your values lie, and ultimately where you will spend eternity (1 Jn. 3:17).
III. THE FATAL PENALTY (6:7-14)
1. Israel’s Suffering (7:10; 13).
He promises divine judgment in the form of captivity. Starting with these affluent leaders, he promises them that they will be the first to go (7). The God who hates the pride of their false security swears “by Himself” that judgment will come (8). The awful details (9) are given in the picture of a man after the siege burning bodies to prevent plague. The survivors, hiding in corners, are afraid to even mention the name of the Lord (10) because He is the source of their judgment. From one end of the country to the other (13) they would suffer. This judgment was the result of
2. Israel’s Stupidity (11-13). T
heir life-style was as absurd as running horses through rocks or plowing the ocean with oxen (12). Their rejoicing over some recent victory over the Syrians was foolish if seen as a sign of ultimate victory (13). In their stupidity they trusted in their own strength (13). Their own Bible warned them, “Pride goes before destruction.” In all this we see
3. Israel’s Suicide.
Here we see that Israel’s fall was as natural as it was supernatural. In God’s order of things a lazy, indulgent nation that forgets character, forgets God and forgets to care for its needy, rots from the inside and becomes easy prey for some aggressor.
Edward Gibbon listed these reasons among others for the fall of the Roman Empire. (1) Extravagant spending. (2) The mounting desire for pleasure. (3) The continual production of armaments. (4) The decay of religion into confusing, meaningless forms. God didn’t have to destroy Israel. They were destroying themselves. What about us?
Outline Studies in Amos – 8 Amos 7:1-17
THE VISIONS OF JUDGMENT
We come now to the second general section of Amos. The first six chapters are his messages (oracles) and the last three (Ch. 7-9) are his visions. We have no idea why they are divided this way. But this we know. Only the prophet Zechariah wrote of more visions. And these five visions are all remarkable reports of life changing encounters between Amos and God. Using simple, everyday events God showed Amos the terrible truth of what sin was going to do to his nation. Such a message was unwanted and unwelcomed.
I. THE VISIONS OF DESTRUCTION (7:1-6)
1. The Calamities That Pictured Judgment.
Locust (1-3) plagues were unbelievably destructive to the crops. If they came during the “latter growth” e.g. after the King had harvested his share, then the people would have no crops. Amos said in essence, this is a picture in agriculture of what God is going to do to you in history.
Doing similar damage was a wildfire burning out of control (4-6). The fire Amos saw burned all the way down to the subterranean waters the ancients believed flowed beneath the earth’s surface “the great deep.” Both calamities picture utter devastation and ruin. The worst part was their meaning. They meant that God had left Israel, that He had lifted the hand of protection they had known ever since Abraham had been called out of Ur (Gen. 12).
2. The Concern that Prayed Against Judgment (2, 5).
All of this broke Amos’ heart. The prophet who spoke to me for God was also a priest who spoke to God for men in the noble tradition of Moses (Ex. 32:30-34) and Samuel (1 Sam. 12:23). The true preacher must care. He must have a shepherd’s heart. He must not preach on hell joyfully and be glad people will “get what they deserve.” He must, in his tears and prayers, reflect the merciful heart of God who sends judgment only as a last resort and only after forgiveness has been rejected. The prayer was heard. We see
3. The Change That Postponed Judgment (3, 6).
Twice we read that God “repented” and said, “It shall not be.” How can God repent? The idea is found many times in scripture (Gen. 6:7; 1 Sam. 15:29, 35; Jonah 3:9; Joel 2:14). The basic idea is not repenting of sin for God has no sin. It is to change one’s mind (TEV) and relent (e.g. soften, be less severe) regarding punishment.
God never changes His basic character. He is holy and righteous. But, in keeping with His character, He can and does change His methods. He was showing here that if Israel would only repent and turn from her sins to Him He would stop the awful judgments. If we do nothing about sin a righteous God will let us go to hall. If we turn from sin and accept Christ that same righteous God will let us in heaven.
II. THE VISION OF INSPECTION (7:7-9)
1. The Plumb Line. God is the carpenter who is building His people Israel. To see if they are straight or right morally and ethically He has a line. He has a standard. It was expressed in succinct form in the Ten Commandments. It was expanded and expounded in His laws and duties. It reached its zenith in His own character. His word was, “You shall be holy for I am holy” (Lev. 11:44).
Israel failed the inspection. They missed the mark! They were anything but straight. They were crooked and perverse. The two areas singled out for punishment were politics and religion. The “high places” (e.g. of worship) and the “sanctuaries” will be “laid waste. . .made desolate.”
This was not a condemnation for worshipping in the wrong place or even for worshipping the wrong God, in the right place, in the wrong spirit. They had the wrong picture of God and His relation to sin. They thought He would condone it because they were “saved.” The “house” or dynasty of Jeroboam, who let his indulgence and selfishness and dishonesty go on, would also fall. In this vision there is
2. the punishment (8-9).
In words that are sad and severe God says, “I will never pass by them.” God had “passed over” her in the great judgment that fell on Egypt (Ex. 12:23). Now God was reversing all this. No longer would He pass by as her protector. He would allow the enemy in. No longer would he, when moving in judgment, pass over her. He would fall upon her. He was turning His people over to sin (Rom. 1:24) and Satan (1 Cor. 5:5).
III. THE VOICE OF OBJECTION (7:10-17)
When Amos said “Jeroboam,” he said the magic word. He opened up a ten gallon can of worms in the politics and religion of Israel. He had just predicted the downfall of a King and of a nation’s churches. This was a first in Israel. No prophet had ever dared say such words to a King and his priest.
Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, reported to the king (10-11). He charged Amos with conspiracy, misquoted him as saying that Jeroboam would die, and admitted, “The land is not able to bear all his words” (7:10). With the king’s authority he ordered Amos to go home and preach where the people would pay him (7:12). He wasn’t wanted or welcomed in the First Baptist Church of Bethel.
Amos’ response is “one of the great scenes of history” (G.A. Smith). The rugged preacher stood nose to nose against the institutional religion of his day and showed all that is best in experimental religion. He had
1. Capacity For the Work.
He was evidently equipped by God. His words were heavy (10). He could not be ignored or endured. Neither a church, a denomination, nor a seminary can make a preacher. He had
2. Audacity About the Work (14-15). He was not one of Amaziah’s professional preachers. He was no church’s hired hand, paid to say what they wanted to hear. He was a farmer who had been called to preach by God. He had the audacity to believe and to claim and to live by the conviction that he was personally called. He had a
3. Tenacity in the Work (16-17).
Like Nehemiah he would not run (Neh. 6:11). He just preached harder. He got specific and told Amaziah of his fate. His wife, in the aftermath of war, would sell her body as a harlot to survive. His children would die. His land would be sold. He would die in exile.
When this happened, whose fault was it? Was it God’s? No! He wanted to stop the fire, to stay the locusts! Was it Amos’? No! He prayed for all those like Amaziah to be saved and spared. The fault was with Amaziah. He had heard the message. He had been warned. What he did with it was up to him. The same is true with you and me.
Outline Studies in Amos – 9 Amos 8:1-9:15
WHEN THE END HAS COME
In his famous sermon “Payday Someday,” R.G. Lee tells of a wicked young woman named Tony Jo Henry. Her past caught up with her. She was tried, convicted and sentenced to die. She sat in her cell with head shaven and prison clothes on. A guard opened the door, stood in the doorway and said, “It’s time to go, Tony Jo!” That day will come for each of us. The death angel will come, point to the throne of God, call our name and say, “It’s time to go, _____!” Like that grizzled old guard and like the death angel, Amos was telling Israel her time was up, her end had come. He spoke first of. . .
I. THE FINALITY THAT CHARACTERIZED JUDGMENT
(8:1-3, 7-14; 9:1-10)
Amos’ third vision was that of a basket of summer fruit. This would symbolize the final harvest of the season. As symbolic of Israel it pointed to
1. The Finality of Her Doom.
God explained the vision to Amos, “The end has come upon my people Israel” (8:26). How sad for a nation or an individual when the cry to repent is heard no more, when the door to heaven is closed and hope is gone. Israel had passed the point of no return.he pictures
2. The Severity of Her Doom.
The happy songs of harvest time would turn to wailings (8:3). The land would shake with earthquakes (8:8), and as it did in 753 the sun would eclipse (8:9). Signs of grief, like wearing sackcloth and shaving the head would be seen everywhere (8:10). Worst of all there would be a famine of the Word of God (8:11-12). Those who despised God’s voice would hear it no more. Sometimes people go so far into sin that they lose the capacity to hear God’s words. Others lose the opportunity. When God breaks communication, hope is gone for our hope is in God. With a fourth vision, that of God beside the altar, Amos pictures
3. The Inevitability of Her Doom (9:1-10).
From the altar itself, God commands the shaking of the capitol cities (9:1). Escape will be impossible. From the bottom of Sheol to the highest heavens; from the top of Carmel to the bottom of the sea, God will find them (9:2-4). The all powerful God of creation (5-6), who is also the God who called them out of Egypt (7-8) will punish them (9-10). Like Israel, we all have an inescapable date with God (Rev. 20:11-15). We will meet Him face to face to give an account. We may hide behind the sounds of perpetual music on our tape players; or the maze of activities that fill our days; or even the religion that suits our fancy; but the Bible says, “Be sure, your sin will find you out” (Nu. 32:23).
II. THE FRUIT THAT PROMPTED JUDGMENT (8:4-6)
The causes of God’s severity were not hard to find. Amos listed three fruits of unrighteousness that brought judgment. All of them flowed from the sewer of greed, the inordinate lust for material gain. Sin number one was
1. The Oppression of the Poor and Needy (8:4, 6).
They “trampled” the poor. The word pictures a wild animal after its prey (KJV). Greedy for the helpless man’s money, they didn’t care how they hurt him. As an example of this trampling, verse 8 says they sold men into slavery because they couldn’t pay back the price of even a pair of shoes. This was the sin of cruelty.
2. Dishonesty in Business (8:5b).
Not content with honest, although cruel, business dealings, they resorted to dishonesty. They put false bottoms in their baskets (an ephah was an 8 gallon measure for grain). They added weight to the shekel so the buyer would put more silver on the scales. This was the sin of cheating.
3. Impatience With the Sabbath (8:5a).
They couldn’t wait for religious festivals (the new moon) and the Sabbath to end so they could get back to business as usual. Like many today, their bodies were in the church but their hearts were in the world. Sundays were boring but the excitement began Monday morning. To be religious is no indication that we love God. Each of us should search our souls and see where our real treasures are. What is first with us? Popularity, success, recreation, prestige? These are the prizes of the world! Or does our heart yearn for such things as communion with God, character and making a worthwhile contribution to our world.
III. THE FUTURE THAT FOLLOWED JUDGMENT
(9:8, 11-15)
1. The Promise of Hope (9:8). In the midst of his message of judgment God introduced a tiny ray of hope. He said, “I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob” (9:8). Following the promise we have
2. The Pictures of Hope (9:11-15). There would be unity. The great house of David (Israel’s greatest days) would be restored (11-12). There would be fertility. The man who plowed to sow the seed would run into the man still harvesting last year’s crop (13). The mountains will drip sweet wine (14). There would be harmony (14) as men rebuild cities and live together in love. And there would be stability (15). God would plant them and no one would uproot them.
The big question, of course, is when all this would take place. There are basically two views. One is that God will bless national Israel in an earthly millennial age (Rev. 20:1-10). God will, at the Second Coming of Christ, establish His kingdom on this earth and Jesus will rule from Jerusalem on David’s throne.
Others see these Old Testament Kingdom prophecies fulfilled spiritually in the Church, the new Israel of God, and more literally into the eternal age (Rev. 21-22). James, the brother of Jesus, does apply this very prophecy (Amos 9:10-11) to the preaching of the gospel to the Gentiles (Acts 15:16-18).
It is best not to argue the point. Good, Bible-believing men will differ over the nature of the Kingdom until Jesus comes. The all-important thing was that God did not completely destroy His people. He left a remnant in Babylon. They were delivered from captivity. From their descendants Jesus, the Messiah came. From Him came the church.
One day He will come again. We may differ over what He will do when He comes, but let us differ in love. Let us differ as brothers. Most of all let us make our salvation sure. Let us be sure that we are in the future kingdom. And let us, like Amos, do all in our power to help others get in too.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Garland, David, Amos - Study Guide, Zondervan / Honeycutt, Roy, Amos and His Message, Broadman
Kelly, Paige, Amos, Southern Baptist Convention Press /Motyer, J. A., The Day of the Lion, IVP
Patterson, John, The Goodly Fellowship of the Prophets, Scribners
Pusey, E. G., The Minor Prophets, Baker / Smith, Ralph, The Broadman Bible Commentary -
Amos, Broadman / Yates, Kyle, Studies in Amos, Southern Baptist
Convention Press
