THE MEASURE OF JUDGMENT
When Time Runs Out on a Nation
Amos 8
This chapter begins with a Amos¡¦ fourth vision, a basket of summer fruit. The fruit was already harvested and no longer could ever have a chance to grow. The harvest was over and so was God¡¦s patience. Time had run out on Israel and judgment was inevitable. Now Amos can only describe what God says would take place when this impending judgment arrived. It is not a pretty picture at all. In fact, it is a very sad chapter in God¡¦s Word and in the history of the nation of Israel. Jeremiah will have some similar experiences when he prophesies to the Southern Kingdom of Judah some 150 years later. Listen to his statement in Jeremiah 8:20: ¡§the harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.¡¨ The vision of the basket of summer fruit was God¡¦s message to Amos that indeed the harvest was past, the summer was ended, and the nation of Israel would not be spared. Let¡¦s look at four things that happen when time runs out on the nation of Israel.
I. THE MUSIC STOPS (1-3) See Psalm 137 (the picture of unburied bodies everywhere)
A. It Is Replaced With Howling
B. It is Replaced With Silence
II. THE MERCHANDISING STOPS (4-9) (God¡¦s judgment overwhelms the land like a flood and darkness) Note: The Nile River overflowed its banks once a year with water as high as 25 feet above normal levels. There was also an eclipse of the sun in 763 B.C.)
A. The Source Of Their Revenue
1. Enslaving the poor
2. Ripping off the people
B. The Source Of Their Sin
1. More important than their religion
2. More important than their integrity
Note: See verse 7„³¡¨I will never forget any of their works.¡¨
III. THE MIRTH STOPS (10) (God¡¦s judgment creates a continual funeral-like atmosphere in the land)
A. Funeral Dirges Will Be Heard
B. Great Lamentation Will Be Heard
1. As if an only son died
2. A day of great bitterness
IV. THE MESSAGE STOPS (11-14) (a famine for the Word of the Lord)
A. The People Have No Direction. They just wander form sea to sea, north to east, running to and fro.
B. The People Have No Nourishment (spiritually). Even the youngest and strongest will faint. They will literally starve to death spiritually.
C. Therefore, The People Have No Hope. Their idolatry has done them no good in this day.
