July 12: Amos 6-9

July 12, Amos 6-9

Amos 6 We left off yesterday with the warning from God that He want us to obey Him much more than he wants our sacrifice. Amos is now calling on the complacent Israelites - those who think they have nothing to worry about - and Amos reminds them that greater nations than theirs have fallen, and they are no better than them. Some Israelites wanted a plush lifestyle, with all the greatest things at their disposal. So, they will be the first to pass away and go into exile (which God will make happen). Because the Israelites have pursued pagan gods and not obeyed Him, he is to the point of hating Israel, especially their false gods, so the Israelites will be taken over. They have become self-reliant and the only thing they can count on is their coming destruction. 

Amos 7 God gives Amos some visions about the upcoming judgements, that Amos is to share with the Israelites (and you thought your job was hard…). Amos tells them (through vision) that there is no hope for them, even though Amos is pleading for mercy for Israel. God is bringing the judgements on them because they have failed to live like His chosen people, and repent like His chosen people. Even the priests are corrupt. One priests accuses Amos as conspiring against Israel and tells Amos to leave. Amos answered him, “I was no prophet, nor a prophet's son, but I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs.But the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ Now therefore hear the word of the Lord… Your wife shall be a prostitute in the city, and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword, and your land shall be divided up with a measuring line; you yourself shall die in an unclean land, and Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land.” Amos was chosen by God to be a prophet and this other prophet for being a fake will lose everything. Remember what I keep repeating - Obey God and be blessed by Him. Disobey God and you can lose everything, including your soul. 

Amos 8 Israel’s end will be bitter. They have oppressed the needy and the poor, worshipped false idols and then they did fake worship to God, and God is going to forget their good because their sin is so great. “And on that day,” declares the Lord God, “I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight.” Reminiscent of when Christ was crucified. Sometimes in the Bible Judgement is referred to in the analogy of even creation being out of order. God will be removing His Word from them, because they have rejected it so long. They have mixed in pagan idolatry and ideas into their worship of God and God is done with it. 

Amos 9 is a 2 part vision. The first part is very clear that they (we) cannot hide from Yahweh - no matter where we go, He is there. If you love Him and obey Him, that should be a comfort to you… God’s Sovereign power is over everything - we cannot run or hide or fool Him. Israel will be destroyed because of their sins. Sure, they are the chosen people with special blessings, but with that comes the responsibility to repent and seek only Him. 

Then we read that Israel will be restored. The end of Amos 9 is often referred to as Christology (is the field of study within Christian theology which is primarily concerned with the nature and person of Jesus as recorded in the canonical Gospels and the epistles of the New Testament). We learn in Acts 15 as James is addressing the assembly and he refers to these Scriptures, that these are warnings and says, “Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality…” We need to be the people that God has called us to be, nothing less, or we too should fear Judgement Day. 

God will restore Israel someday, that is His promise. We too should anticipate the restoration of God’s chosen people - that means that God is coming back! 

To sum it all up:

• God will take care of us, but we need to obey Him. Disobey God and you are in rough waters! That is not a threat - this is a reminder to us to be obedient to God in all He has called us to. Is there disobedience in your life? Get rid of it and pursue only God the Father. 
• Do we at times mix in pagan ideas into our worship of God? How about saying ‘good luck’? Maybe skip church to watch your favorite ball game? Love of money, even competing against each other in church with clothes and cars. Can we be christians and watch Harry Potter (we know God is against witchcraft)? Being sexually immoral? All of these are pagan and God is against them all. As Christians, we should have nothing to do with them and we are to die to our fleshful desires and live as Christ is calling us to. 
• God’s Judgement on Israel is not intended to be ‘cruel’ as some may think, but rather it is intended as a tool to bring them back so that blessing may ultimately come to them.