Taught 9/14/2008
Amos 6
More Reasons for Judgment ~ part 3
Pray
Intro
√ Reasons for judgment ~ part 2
In chapters 3-6 God outlines the reasons for which He is bringing judgment upon Israel.
Ap. Important!
Complacency (vs. 1-3)
Amos 6:1 Woe to you who are at ease in Zion,
And trust in Mount Samaria,
Notable persons in the chief nation,
To whom the house of Israel comes!
Amos 6:2 Go over to Calneh and see;
And from there go to Hamath the great;
Then go down to Gath of the Philistines.
Are you better than these kingdoms?
Or is their territory greater than your territory?
Amos 6:3 Woe to you who put far off the day of doom,
Who cause the seat of violence to come near;
√ Complacency
First of all note that God includes both the southern kingdom of Judah and the northern kingdom of Israel in this message of judgment!
“Woe to you who are at ease in Zion,
And trust in Mount Samaria” ~ vs. 1
Zion is another name for Jerusalem, the capital of Judah…
…while Samaria was the capital city of Israel.
The primary message of this chapter is directed to Israel, but God includes Zion here as a warning to Judah not to become complacent and think that He had not noticed their sin too!
The complacency in both kingdoms grew out of a false confidence in their own strength trusting in their military and fortified cities instead of God, thus He calls them in vs. 2 to…
“Go over to Calneh and see;
And from there go to Hamath the great;
Then go down to Gath of the Philistines.
Are you better than these kingdoms?
Or is their territory greater than your territory.”
That is, these nations were also once just as confident as Israel that they were safe from judgment…
…yet judgment came and their ruins are silent testimony that no nation can stand against God.
These once great and powerful cities were now nothing more than ruins!
God’s point to Israel and Judah is that their trust is misplaced because He can do to Jerusalem and Samaria what He did in these other cities!
√ Not in my lifetime
The other evidence of their complacency is that the people of both kingdoms disregarded the warnings of the prophets because they figured that judgment wouldn’t come in their life time…
“Woe to you who put far off the day of doom,
Who cause the seat of violence to come near.”
Vs. 3
God’s rebuke here is a reminder to them that His judgment can come at any time so they should use today to get right with Him!
Ap. Complacency in the Church
I can’t tell you how many Christians I know who wrongly think that we couldn’t possibly be living in the last generation!
They point to the Revelation and suggest that the Antichrist couldn’t rise to world dominance because the world is too divided.
Or they suggest that the Mark of the Beast couldn’t be implemented world-wide with our present technology.
What these dear brothers and sisters forget is that there are examples all through history where everything we thought was secure changed in a moment in time!
Ex. Night
The New York Times called this book…
“A slim volume of terrifying power”
It is Mr. Wiesel’s account of his experience as a teenager in the Nazi Death Camps.
Perhaps the most terrifying truth in Ellie Wiesel’s book on the Nazi holocaust is not just the evil that people are capable of…
…but the rapidity in which it came!
Thus the title of the book…
“Night”
…because all of the horror that he experienced began with a single night!
Ex. 9/11/01
One morning changed everything!
Our perception of our security
Our military campaigns in Afghanistan & Iraq
Our economy
Air travel
Further divided the people of the US
So, just as one night, or one morning can change everything we know…
…so too will the end come, thus Jesus said that the things in the Revelation will…
“shortly take place.”
Literally that means…
The Greek phrase "en tachei" = "with speed", or "quickly coming to pass", "suddenly coming to pass."
The idea is not that the event may occur soon (relative to John's receiving the vision), but that when it does come, it will come suddenly - quickly.
Don’t let complacency dull your heart to the Word of God and the prompting of His Spirit…
…listen and live!
Indulgence (vs. 4-7)
Amos 6:4 Who lie on beds of ivory,
Stretch out on your couches,
Eat lambs from the flock
And calves from the midst of the stall;
Amos 6:5 Who sing idly to the sound of stringed instruments,
And invent for yourselves musical instruments like David;
Amos 6:6 Who drink wine from bowls,
And anoint yourselves with the best ointments,
But are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.
Amos 6:7 Therefore they shall now go captive as the first of the captives,
And those who recline at banquets shall be removed.
√ Indulgence
These verses describe the mindless indulgence of the people as they partook of the pleasures of the world when they should have responded to Amos’ message by wearing sackcloth and crying out to the Lord for mercy!
Instead they were chilling out in palatial homes laying on comfortable beds listening to nice music…
…and stuffing themselves with the best food and drinking wine from bowls (instead of from cups).
They were lazy, overfed, and filled with too much wine.
Rather than thanking God for their prosperity and sharing their wealth with the poor…
…they turned a deaf ear to the words of Amos the prophet God and continued in the sinful indulgence.
So, God promised to take their wealth away and send them into captivity first.
Destruction (vs. 8-14)
Amos 6:8 The Lord GOD has sworn by Himself,
The LORD God of hosts says:
“I abhor the pride of Jacob,
And hate his palaces;
Therefore I will deliver up the city
And all that is in it.”
Amos 6:9 Then it shall come to pass, that if ten men remain in one house, they shall die.
Amos 6:10 And when a relative of the dead, with one who will burn the bodies, picks up the bodies to take them out of the house, he will say to one inside the house, “Are there any more with you?” Then someone will say, “None.” And he will say, “Hold your tongue! For we dare not mention the name of the LORD.”
Amos 6:11 For behold, the LORD gives a command:
He will break the great house into bits,
And the little house into pieces.
Amos 6:12 Do horses run on rocks?
Does one plow there with oxen?
Yet you have turned justice into gall,
And the fruit of righteousness into wormwood,
Amos 6:13 You who rejoice over Lo Debar,
Who say, “Have we not taken Karnaim for ourselves
By our own strength?”
Amos 6:14 “But, behold, I will raise up a nation against you,
O house of Israel,”
Says the LORD God of hosts;
“And they will afflict you from the entrance of Hamath
To the Valley of the Arabah.”
√ Destruction
In these closing verses God gives us one more reason that Israel will be judged, vs. 12…
“Do horses run on rocks?
Does one plow there with oxen?
Yet you have turned justice into gall,
And the fruit of righteousness into wormwood.”
These absurd illustrations demonstrate the depth of Israel’s sin.
That is, no one try and ride a horse across a field of boulders…
…nor would anyone try to plow through a chunk of rock because a wooden plow can’t break up rock.
Yet, the people of Israel demonstrated their perversity by twisting the Law of God to deny the oppressed their rights thereby making God’s law a poison instead of healing balm to the nation.
Ex. The Law offered protection to the poor
But the wealthy in Israel bribed the judges of the land so that the poor had no hope for fair treatment.
Ap. Reminds us that we have a social responsibility
The Church is the “hands and feet” of Jesus to our world. Often times the unbeliever needs to see the Gospel ministered before they’re ready to hear the Gospel.
Amos 7
The Coming Judgment
Intro
√ The coming judgment
With the close of chapter 6 God concludes His presentation of evidence against Israel.
The evidence in chapters 3-6 demonstrate convincingly that the nation was corrupt and had moved beyond repentance…
…therefore God would have to bring judgment upon them.
So, in the closing chapters God communicates through a series of visions what that judgment will be like.
Ap. Judgment is coming
God has revealed to us the coming judgment upon the whole world!
Judgment long overdue for a world that has abandoned God, worshipped themselves, and made commerce out of violating all of God’s moral Laws!
How should we respond to the knowledge that has been revealed to us?
Amos provides us an godly example!
Like Amos our hearts should be broken over the coming judgment and the death and destruction it will bring.
Like Amos we must intercede for our city, our nation and the people of the world.
Like Amos we must continue to speak the truth and warn people of the coming judgment.
So, as we study this section of the prophecy prayerfully ask the Lord how you might be like an Amos to our generation.
Defending his people (vs. 1-9)
√ Defending his people
In the first two visions of judgment we find that Amos intercedes for his people and that the Lord relented.
However, after the 3rd vision Amos does not intercede for the nation as he sees that the nation has been measured and found wanting.
Reminds us that we need to be Spirit-led in our prayers!
1) 1st vision ~ locusts
Amos 7:1 Thus the Lord GOD showed me: Behold, He formed locust swarms at the beginning of the late crop; indeed it was the late crop after the king’s mowings.
Amos 7:2 And so it was, when they had finished eating the grass of the land, that I said:
“O Lord GOD, forgive, I pray!
Oh, that Jacob may stand,
For he is small!”
Amos 7:3 So the LORD relented concerning this.
“It shall not be,” said the LORD.
√ Locusts
The first vision of judgment that God shows Amos involves the destruction of Israel’s crops by a locust plague at the most vulnerable time!
Right before the 2nd harvest while the 1st harvest was still stacked in the fields!
Ex. Harvest schedule
In Israel at that time there were two annual harvests, an early Spring harvest and a late Spring harvest.
The early harvest was collected from the people to support the king and the army ~ the “king’s mowing”.
The late harvest was kept by the people for food and seed for the next year’s plantings.
So, the absolute worst time for a locust invasion would be just before the 2nd harvest began because…
…the 1st harvest would be stacked up along the fields and in the barns waiting for collection while the 2nd crop would be in the field waiting to be harvested.
If locusts came at that time then all the crops for that year would be wiped out leaving nothing for food until the next harvest…
…6-8 months away!
Amos realized that a locust invasion like that would mean that everyone in Israel would starve to death, so he prayed…
“O Lord GOD, forgive, I pray!
Oh, that Jacob may stand,
For he is small!”
Isn’t that amazing! Though the people of Israel, from the peasant to the king, would not repent of their sin or seek the Lord’s forgiveness…
…Amos intercedes for the sinner and begs the Lord to forgive them!
Ap. May we have a heart like Amos
Too often Christians want a prophetic ministry like Elijah where they call fire from heaven to destroy the wicked.
But like James and John I think the Lord would rebuke us because…
“You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.” ~ Luke 9:55-56
We need a heart like Amos who better reflected the Lord’s desire than James and John.
2) 2nd vision ~ fire
Amos 7:4 Thus the Lord GOD showed me: Behold, the Lord GOD called for conflict by fire, and it consumed the great deep and devoured the territory.
Amos 7:5 Then I said:
“O Lord GOD, cease, I pray!
Oh, that Jacob may stand,
For he is small!”
Amos 7:6 So the LORD relented concerning this.
“This also shall not be,” said the Lord GOD.
√ Fire
In his 2nd vision Amos sees that the Lord has decreed the destruction of Israel by fire.
That is, God would dry up the land by withholding rain and drying up the fresh water supplies that come from the “great deep”, that is the subterranean water sources.
Once the land was bone dry the Lord would kindle a fire and drive it with wind until it consumed the land.
Again Amos intercedes for Israel and God hears his prayer and relents of judgment by fire.
3) 3rd vision ~ leveling
Amos 7:7 Thus He showed me: Behold, the Lord stood on a wall made with a plumb line, with a plumb line in His hand.
Amos 7:8 And the LORD said to me, “Amos, what do you see?”
And I said, “A plumb line.”
Then the Lord said:
“Behold, I am setting a plumb line
In the midst of My people Israel;
I will not pass by them anymore.
Amos 7:9 The high places of Isaac shall be desolate,
And the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste.
I will rise with the sword against the house of Jeroboam.”
√ Leveling
In this 3rd vision Amos sees the Lord testing Israel with a plumb line.
A plumb line was simply a cord with a lead weight at the end of the cord ~ what we would call a “level” today.
Builders used it to help them build walls that were straight, or square with the foundation.
But, plumb lines were also used to test existing walls to see if they had settled or tilted.
If a wall was found to have tilted it was a sign that the wall lacked structural integrity had would have to be torn down and rebuilt.
The application to Israel is clear…
God checked the nation with His plumb line to see if it was tilted and it was so far out of plumb that He would have to tear it down because it couldn’t be restored.
That is, God tested the nation and found that the nation was completely corrupt and out of tilt because they had abandoned the foundation of God’s Laws.
So, He had to bring judgment and tear the nation down before He could rebuilt it.
Ap. Don’t mess with the foundation!
God has given Mankind important absolute moral laws to ensure order and protection in human society.
Whenever a society abandons God’s moral laws the result is chaos!
That’s because when we leave it to people to choose by democratic vote or dictatorial edict what is right and wrong then…
…society will suffer because our moral compass is broken!
Ex. Nazism
Under the rule of the Nazi’s the German people decided that it was not immoral to systematically kill off 6.5 million human beings because they decided that these people weren’t fit to live.
They abandoned God’s foundation, which recognizes the sanctity of all human life.
That’s the problem! When people abandon God’s foundation then someone, or some group, steps up to replace God’s rules with their own foundation and rules of morality.
People always suffer as a result.
But it’s not limited to Nazism or ancient Israel! Our nation is killing off 1.5 million people every year through abortion and there are now professors at our finest universities who suggest that it is also not immoral to kill any unwanted child…
…unborn or born!
Ex. Dr. Michael Tooley
Michael Tooley, a philosophy professor at the University of Colorado has argued that…
“There should be some period of time, such as a week after birth, as the interval during which infanticide will be permitted.”
Dr. Peter Singer of Princeton promotes the idea that humans are no different than animals and advocates that…
“Parents should be able to kill their children up to 30 days after birth.”
Both men reject the idea of moral absolutes, and Dr. Tooley is a vocal atheist.
My point is that these men stand as examples of the depravity to which men will fall…
..even Americans, when we abandon the foundation that God has given us.
So, God tells Amos through this vision that He is going to level Israel because they had abandoned the foundation…
…we’re reminded that every nation is subject to the same judgment if they abandon God’s foundation.
Defending his ministry (vs. 10-17)
Amos 7:10 Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear all his words.
Amos 7:11 For thus Amos has said:
“Jeroboam shall die by the sword,
And Israel shall surely be led away captive
From their own land.’ ”
Amos 7:12 Then Amaziah said to Amos:
“Go, you seer!
Flee to the land of Judah.
There eat bread,
And there prophesy.
Amos 7:13 But never again prophesy at Bethel,
For it is the king’s sanctuary,
And it is the royal residence.”
Amos 7:14 Then Amos answered, and said to Amaziah:
“I was no prophet,
Nor was I a son of a prophet,
But I was a sheepbreeder
And a tender of sycamore fruit.
Amos 7:15 Then the LORD took me as I followed the flock,
And the LORD said to me,
“Go, prophesy to My people Israel.’
Amos 7:16 Now therefore, hear the word of the LORD:
You say, “Do not prophesy against Israel,
And do not spout against the house of Isaac.’
Amos 7:17 “Therefore thus says the LORD:
‘Your wife shall be a harlot in the city;
Your sons and daughters shall fall by the sword;
Your land shall be divided by survey line;
You shall die in a defiled land;
And Israel shall surely be led away captive
From his own land.’ ”
√ Defending his ministry
In this section we have the record of how the religious leadership in Israel responded to Amos’ message…
…they rejected it!
Specifically the “high” priest Amaziah misrepresents Amos’ words to king Jeroboam and then orders him to stop prophesying and to get out of the land!
It’s a conflict between two ministries, priest and prophet!
Normally the two ministries are supposed to work hand in hand with the king to minister to God’s people.
In a general sense the priest ministers by teaching the people what God requires as revealed in times past (i.e. The Law).
While the prophet brings present day application of God’s word to the people (i.e. The Prophets).
Here we find that the priests had failed in their duty because they encouraged the people in their sin rather than teach them the Laws of the Lord.
So, God raises us a prophet to call their attention to their sin.
Amos faithfully did as God commanded but Amaziah resisted his ministry and rejected his message.
Ap. Don’t resist the work of God’s Spirit
The sin of Azaziah has been repeated all through Church history.
The Church starts off pure and holy with a passion to do the will of God.
But, over time corrupt men who are more interested in personal power than serving God take the reigns of the Church and lead it into sin and religious tradition.
Then God raises up a prophet to call the Church back to the Lord and as he does conflict erupts between the priest who want to keep the status quo…
…and the prophet who wants to serve the Lord.
Ex. Martin Luther
The instruction I find here is that we need to be careful that we don’t turn a deaf ear to the prophet whom God may raise up in our generation!
Don’t assume a person is a heretic just because they’re different, or they share God’s truth in a different way, or that they aren’t “trained” ministers!
God used a sheep breeder to shake up ancient Israel and a bunch of fisherman to shake up the whole world.
God likes to use the unlikely to do His work because it brings Him glory!
So, Amos defends his ministry against the attacks of Amaziah and speaks a word against him that he and his family will suffer when God brings judgment on Israel.
Close
√ The coming judgment
Let’s follow Amos’ example and intercede for our city, nation and the world.