Amos 5

Reasons for Judgment ~ part 2

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Intro

√ Reasons for judgment ~ part 2

In chapters 3-6 God outlines the reasons for which He is bringing judgment upon Israel.

Ap. Important!

These chapters are important because they remind us that God is not capricious!

That is, He is not like the multitude of false gods and goddess created by the imaginations of man who are always looking for some excuse to send a lightning bolt your way.

The true God loves people and is slow to anger, long-suffering, kind, compassionate.

He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked and in fact gives people lots of warnings and time to change their behavior before He brings judgment.

So, as we look at these next chapters you’ll discover that Israel had given God plenty of reasons to judge them!

Lamentation (vs. 1-3)

Amos 5:1 Hear this word which I take up against you, a lamentation, O house of Israel:

Amos 5:2 The virgin of Israel has fallen;

She will rise no more.

She lies forsaken on her land;

There is no one to raise her up.

Amos 5:3 For thus says the Lord GOD:

“The city that goes out by a thousand

Shall have a hundred left,

And that which goes out by a hundred

Shall have ten left to the house of Israel.”

√ Lamentation

You might recall from our study of Ezekiel that God often gave His prophets lamentations, funeral songs…

…for a nation that was still alive as a sign of their certain judgment!

Such is the case here as Amos is directed by God to give a lamentation for Israel.

Note vs. 1…

“Hear this word which I take up against you, a lamentation, O house of Israel”

Though Israel was in the midst of her greatest prosperity under the rule of Jeroboam II…

…God’s judgment was so sure that Amos weeps over her as if that judgment had already fallen.

√ Self deception

Amos’ message would have sounded irrational to the people of Israel because they saw themselves as living in the fullness of their youthful strength and beauty, like that of a virgin…

“The virgin of Israel…” ~ vs. 2

They couldn’t imagine how they would experience the destruction that Amos spoke of because…

They had a strong military

They were at peace with their neighbors

Their only real enemies were too weak or too distracted with other battles to be of any threat to the nation.

So, they rejected Amos’ message because they were self-deceived interpreting their prosperity and power as a sign of God’s favor!

But, they had forgotten that God does not overlook sin and that while He is patient He will bring judgment on those nations and individuals who refuse to repent!

Such was Israel’s future as Amos describes it.

A time when the nation shall fall and the number of dead will be so great that they will not be buried.

A time when only a small remnant (10%) shall return from the battle to be taken captive.

No wonder God calls Amos to bring a lament, it will be a time of great devastation and weeping.

Ap. Pray for the USA

We’re not unlike ancient Israel.

Prosperous, powerful, proud.

Yet like Israel of old we have as a nation largely turned our backs on God.

Invitation (vs. 4-15)

Amos 5:4 For thus says the LORD to the house of Israel:

“Seek Me and live;

Amos 5:5 But do not seek Bethel,

Nor enter Gilgal,

Nor pass over to Beersheba;

For Gilgal shall surely go into captivity,

And Bethel shall come to nothing.

Amos 5:6 Seek the LORD and live,

Lest He break out like fire in the house of Joseph,

And devour it,

With no one to quench it in Bethel—

Amos 5:7 You who turn justice to wormwood,

And lay righteousness to rest in the earth!”

Amos 5:8 He made the Pleiades and Orion;

He turns the shadow of death into morning

And makes the day dark as night;

He calls for the waters of the sea

And pours them out on the face of the earth;

The LORD is His name.

Amos 5:9 He rains ruin upon the strong,

So that fury comes upon the fortress.

Amos 5:10 They hate the one who rebukes in the gate,

And they abhor the one who speaks uprightly.

Amos 5:11 Therefore, because you tread down the poor

And take grain taxes from him,

Though you have built houses of hewn stone,

Yet you shall not dwell in them;

You have planted pleasant vineyards,

But you shall not drink wine from them.

Amos 5:12 For I know your manifold transgressions

And your mighty sins:

Afflicting the just and taking bribes;

Diverting the poor from justice at the gate.

Amos 5:13 Therefore the prudent keep silent at that time,

For it is an evil time.

Amos 5:14 Seek good and not evil,

That you may live;

So the LORD God of hosts will be with you,

As you have spoken.

Amos 5:15 Hate evil, love good;

Establish justice in the gate.

It may be that the LORD God of hosts

Will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.

√ Invitation

The judgment upon the nation of Israel was certain and irrevocable…

…yet, because God is gracious and merciful He extends an invitation to individuals to escape death and preserve their lives!

“For thus says the LORD to the house of Israel:

“Seek Me and live” ~ vs. 4

But, if they were to accept His invitation then they would need to come to Him and not to their false gods…

Amos 5:5 But do not seek Bethel,

Nor enter Gilgal,

Nor pass over to Beersheba;

For Gilgal shall surely go into captivity,

And Bethel shall come to nothing.

Amos 5:6 Seek the LORD and live,

Lest He break out like fire in the house of Joseph,

And devour it,

With no one to quench it in Bethel—

Rather than worship God in Jerusalem as He had prescribed for His people…

…the people of Israel had set up shrines and altars to worship their false gods all over the land.

Two such places were Bethel (the “House of God” ~ so named by Jacob)…

…and the other was Gilgal (the place where Israel had crossed into the Promised Land under Joshua’s leadership.)

Neither of those places would save them because God wasn’t interested in their religious activity (burning incense and offering sacrifices)…

…he wanted true repentance demonstrated by a commitment to keep His commandments and to cease from oppressing the poor people in the land.

√ Interesting!

The Hebrew people, nay all the people of the Middle East, love the sublimity of poetry to deliver a powerful punch.

The more cleaver the message the greater the impact!

So, in vs. 5 God delivers a poetic punch!

Amos 5:5 But do not seek Bethel,

Nor enter Gilgal,

Nor pass over to Beersheba;

For Gilgal shall surely go into captivity,

And Bethel shall come to nothing.

Bethel means…

“House of God” ~ “Beth” = “house” ~ “El” = “God”

Nothing at the end of verse 5 is the Hebrew…

“Beth Aven”

Or literally by replacing “El” with “Aven” Amos wrote…

“House of nothing” ~ “Beth” = “house” ~ “Aven” = “Nothing”

God’s point, and the people of Israel got it, was that where once their forefather Jacob had met with God…

…they would find that He was no longer there for them!

Ap. The emptiness of religion

God wants a relationship with us!

Condemnation (vs. 16-27)

Amos 5:16 Therefore the LORD God of hosts, the Lord, says this:

“There shall be wailing in all streets,

And they shall say in all the highways,

‘Alas! Alas!’

They shall call the farmer to mourning,

And skillful lamenters to wailing.

Amos 5:17 In all vineyards there shall be wailing,

For I will pass through you,”

Says the LORD.

Amos 5:18 Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD!

For what good is the day of the LORD to you?

It will be darkness, and not light.

Amos 5:19 It will be as though a man fled from a lion,

And a bear met him!

Or as though he went into the house,

Leaned his hand on the wall,

And a serpent bit him!

Amos 5:20 Is not the day of the LORD darkness, and not light?

Is it not very dark, with no brightness in it?

Amos 5:21 “I hate, I despise your feast days,

And I do not savor your sacred assemblies.

Amos 5:22 Though you offer Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings,

I will not accept them,

Nor will I regard your fattened peace offerings.

Amos 5:23 Take away from Me the noise of your songs,

For I will not hear the melody of your stringed instruments.

Amos 5:24 But let justice run down like water,

And righteousness like a mighty stream.

Amos 5:25 “Did you offer Me sacrifices and offerings

In the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?

Amos 5:26 You also carried Sikkuth your king

And Chiun, your idols,

The star of your gods,

Which you made for yourselves.

Amos 5:27 Therefore I will send you into captivity beyond Damascus,”

Says the LORD, whose name is the God of hosts.

√ Condemnation

Amos condemned Israel to suffer judgment on the “Day of the Lord”, a day he described as one of darkness and distress.

But the people of Israel misinterpreted the “Day of the Lord” and looked forward to it as a day of deliverance!

Note vs. 18…

“Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD!

For what good is the day of the LORD to you?

It will be darkness, and not light.”

Their misunderstanding is that they were under the misguided impression that God’s prediction of future deliverance for Israel from all her oppressors guaranteed them safety from their enemies and God’s judgment!

Ex. Much like the Jews in Jesus’ day

When John baptized in the Jordan and the religious leaders came to check him out, but not to be baptized, he said…

Matt. 3:9 and do not think to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.

Matt. 3:10 And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

The point is that in both Amos’ day and John’s (and in our own day!) the Jewish people had mistakenly thought that their physical lineage to Abraham was a guarantee of God’s favor…

…even when they were in disobedience!

In both cases God called for judgment on those who rejected His word and resisted the work of His Spirit.

So, the people of Israel were doomed to destruction from which they would not be able to escape…

“It will be as though a man fled from a lion,

And a bear met him!

Or as though he went into the house,

Leaned his hand on the wall,

And a serpent bit him!” ~ vs. 19

That is, there would be no safe place for them!

Ap. The Day of the Lord

When we pray…

“Your Kingdom come”

…be sure that you mean it!

Do you really want Jesus to return today?

Or will His return for the Church upset your plans or find you unfaithful!

We should be excited about the Lord’s return, but our text reminds us that we need to be ready for His return!

Walking in obedience and not in willful sin.

Treating others with the same love that Jesus has shown us.

So that we will rejoice when we hear His voice rather than find ourselves ashamed at the Rapture of the Church, as John writes…

“And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.” ~ 1 John 2:28

So, when we say “Maranatha” let’s say it from a life of sincere love for the Lord as demonstrated by a faithful witness.

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