Amos 3:1-8 (September 16, 2001)

Introduction

Amos was a farmer/herdsman from the town of Tekoa around ten miles south of Jerusalem. He was apparently a rather wealthy sheep breeder and an owner of fig orchards in the lowlands around the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea. But he was called of God to leave his home and go to the northern kingdom of Israel to proclaim God’s judgment. It was an unlikely message, one that no doubt sounded like the wildest fanaticism to the hearers. Because Israel looked like anything but a nation under judgment.

The year was around 760 B.C., king Jeroboam II was on the throne of the northern kingdom, and Israel was riding high economically, enjoying lively trade and prosperous commerce. This wealth produced an upper class of very rich merchants, traders, and businessmen, who lived in opulence, with elaborate homes, sumptuously furnished. Amos described them as those "Who lie on beds of ivory, Stretch out on your couches, Eat lambs from the flock And calves from the midst of the stall; 5 Who sing idly to the sound of stringed instruments, And invent for yourselves musical instruments like David; 6 Who drink wine from bowls, And anoint yourselves with the best ointments," (Amos 6:4-6). Israel had seldom seen a time of greater prosperity and apparent security.

But Amos comes and proclaims that things are not like they appear. Israel, in all its wealth and luxury had grievously rebelled against the Lord and now the Lord was proclaiming through His prophet Amos that destruction was coming if they didn’t repent.

I. The Sins of Israel:

A. They had despised the blessings of God

1. He had entered into covenant with them (3:2 "You only have I known of all the families of the earth"). They were His people the recipients of His lovingkindness.

2. He had given them great victories over their enemies (2:9 "Yet it was I who destroyed the Amorite before them, Whose height was like the height of the cedars, And he was as strong as the oaks; Yet I destroyed his fruit above And his roots beneath. 10 Also it was I who brought you up from the land of Egypt, And led you forty years through the wilderness, To possess the land of the Amorite.")

3. He had raised up prophets to proclaim His Word to the people so that they might know His will (2:11 "I raised up some of your sons as prophets, And some of your young men as Nazirites. Is it not so, O you children of Israel?" Says the Lord.")

B. They had rebelled against God. They had rebelled against the Lord in the face of their great privileges and mercies. They were His special people, they had entered into covenant with Him. And, by entering into covenant they had pledged themselves to be His people, doing His will, worshiping Him, declaring His praises to the nations — this made their rebellion all the worse (3:2 "You only have I known of all the families of the earth; Therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.").

1. They had become like all the idolatrous nations around them. In the first two chapters Amos declares God’s judgment on the nations around Israel: Damascus (1:3); Gaza (1:6); Tyre (1:9); Edom (1:11); Ammon (1:13); Moab (2:1); and then upon Judah (2:4) and finally, most shockingly, upon Israel as well (2:6). Shocking because the people had come to think that so long as they prospered materially, God was pleased with them. But the reality was quite different and God raises up Amos to declare the truth to His people — they are on the verge of total destruction.

2. They no longer acknowledged Jehovah as the true and only God. They had become tolerant of other gods, the gods of the nations. They continued to worship, but they no longer viewed it as essential to worship the true God exclusively or in the way He had commanded. It was sufficient to worship the god of your choice in the manner you saw fit. All expressions of faith were equal. No one god could claim supremacy over the others— they were all different paths to the same destination anyway. For this reason, God hated their worship (5:21-23 "I hate, I despise your feast days, And I do not savor your sacred assemblies. 22 Though you offer Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them, Nor will I regard your fattened peace offerings. 23 Take away from Me the noise of your songs, For I will not hear the melody of your stringed instruments.")

They are like the generation that perished in the Wilderness (5:25-27 "Did you offer Me sacrifices and offerings In the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?). They have embraced pagan gods (5:26-27 "You also carried Sikkuth your king And Chiun, your idols, The star of your gods, Which you made for yourselves. 27 Therefore I will send you into captivity beyond Damascus," Says the Lord, whose name is the God of hosts."). They are going to be taken "beyond Damascus" i.e. Babylon. If you refuse to acknowledge the true God, you will suffer under the tyranny of false gods. "If you are too timid to acknowledge me, then prepare to live under the dominion of those who do not acknowledged Me at all."

3. They had forsaken righteousness. What is interesting is that their theological tolerance did not make them a more compassionate or just society— indeed, they had become exactly the opposite.

— They despised the poor (2:6 "Thus says the Lord: "For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment, Because they sell the righteous for silver, And the poor for a pair of sandals.").

— They had undermined justice (5:10-12 "They hate the one who rebukes in the gate, And they abhor the one who speaks uprightly. 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. 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.")

— They had engaged in dishonesty and fraud (Amos 8:4-6 "Hear this, you who swallow up the needy, And make the poor of the land fail, 5 Saying: "When will the New Moon be past, That we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, That we may trade wheat? Making the ephah small and the shekel large, Falsifying the scales by deceit, 6 That we may buy the poor for silver, And the needy for a pair of sandals—Even sell the bad wheat?")

4. They had embraced immorality and ungodliness (2:7-8 "They pant after the dust of the earth which is on the head of the poor, And pervert the way of the humble. A man and his father go in to the same girl, To defile My holy name. 8 They lie down by every altar on clothes taken in pledge, And drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their god.")

5. They despised God’s Word. They hated the prophets (2:12 "But you gave the Nazirites wine to drink, And commanded the prophets saying, ‘Do not prophesy!’"). They hated those who pointed out their sins (5:10 "They hate the one who rebukes in the gate, And they abhor the one who speaks uprightly.")

Amos is even charged with sedition and conspiracy because he spoke the truth (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.")— He was not being patriotic. He was bringing disturbance and calling attention to sin when the people needed comforting. He was an enemy to the state.

6. They were filled with arrogance, pride, and false security (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!"). In their minds, they were clearly the greatest of all nations, surely nothing could ever happen to them. The "day of doom" might fall upon others but not Israel the seat of justice, freedom, financial prosperity, and democracy. They said, (9:10 "The calamity shall not overtake nor confront us.")

C. They had ignored God’s judgments. God had sent them preliminary judgments, but they refused to heed them. He had sent famine to them (4:6 "Also I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities. And lack of bread in all your places; Yet you have not returned to Me," Says the Lord.")

— He had sent drought (4:7-8).

— He had spoiled their crops (4:9)

— He had sent disease (4:10)

— He had sent disasters (4:11)

Yet they had refused to humble themselves and repent and return to Him. Each time they had become more proud and arrogant, more boastful and confident. They had committed many sins but it was this titanic pride that to God was the most hateful of all (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."). They had refused to acknowledge Him and thus, they days of grace had now run out (4:12 "Therefore thus will I do to you, O Israel; Because I will do this to you, Prepare to meet your God, O Israel!")

II. The Judgment of Israel: God is going to utterly destroy them. And He is going to use two instruments to bring this about:

A. God is going to send another nation against them (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."). God depicts this judgment with two visions to Amos: Locusts (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.") and fire (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.")

It is so terrible that Amos begs the Lord to relent (7:2 "O Lord God, forgive, I pray! Oh, that Jacob may stand, For he is small!"). Then, the Lord shows Amos the truth about Israel by measuring them with a plumb line (7:7-8) to reveal to Amos just how far from the standard of righteousness Israel was.

B. But there is an even worse judgment coming, God is going to remove the Word from the land (8:11-12 "Behold, the days are coming," says the Lord God, "That I will send a famine on the land, Not a famine of bread, Nor a thirst for water, But of hearing the words of the Lord. 12 They shall wander from sea to sea, And from north to east; They shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord, But shall not find it.")

C. The resulting judgment will be thorough: Those who trust in idols will never be able to stand (8:13-14 "In that day the fair virgins And strong young men Shall faint from thirst. 14 Those who swear by the sin of Samaria, Who say, ‘As your god lives, O Dan!’ And, ‘As the way of Beersheba lives!’ They shall fall and never rise again.")

No one from Israel will escape and the Lord uses some of the most terrifying language in all of the Scriptures in emphasize this. He will chase down all those who have despised Him (9:1-4 "I saw the Lord standing by the altar, and He said: "Strike the doorposts, that the thresholds may shake, And break them on the heads of them all. I will slay the last of them with the sword. He who flees from them shall not get away, And he who escapes from them shall not be delivered. 2 "Though they dig into hell, From there my hand shall take them; Though they climb up to heaven, From there I will bring them down; 3 And though they hide themselves on top of Carmel, From there I will search and take them; Though they hide from My sight at the bottom of the sea, From there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them; 4 Though they go into captivity before their enemies, From there I will command the sword, And it shall slay them. I will set My eyes on them for harm and not for good.")

D. Their only hope is in humbling themselves in repentance (5:4-6 "For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel: "Seek Me and live; 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. 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 5:14-15 "Seek good and not evil, That you may live; So the Lord God of hosts will be with you, As you have spoken. 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."

E. Without repentance, things will only get far worse (5:18-19 "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. 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!")

III. The Lessons for America

This book has a great many things to teach us and individuals and as a nation. I do not for a moment want to imply that America is God’s new Israel (this false idea is in fact one of our problems in this day)—we are not the "new Israel" of God, the Church holds that distinction. But God does rule in accordance with His covenant and His dealings with Israel are prophetic and typical of how He deals with those to whom He has bestowed His mercies. We have had a horrible judgment visited upon us this past week. It has stunned us all and filled us with grief. But in seeing how we have responded, at least officially (i.e. the response of our president and leaders) it is evident that we have not learned one of the chief lessons that God intends for us to learn by the calamities He sends.

Of course, not everything that has been done is wrong — we surely ought to pray for God’s comfort to be given to those who have lost loved ones and friends in these terrible acts of murder. Certainly, we ought to pray that God would grant wisdom to our president and his counselors during this time. Without question we ought to pray for protections from our enemies as well as praying that those who planned and financed this horrible crime be brought to justice. But we cannot expect God to hear our prayers for these things if we refuse to humble ourselves under His mighty hand.

It was Israel’s folly that the more God chastened them with judgments, the more arrogant and prideful they became. They refused to acknowledge their sins and refused to acknowledge His hand of judgment. They continued to act as though He could never judge them. They boasted of their own history and greatness. They bragged over their past victories. They declared their own righteousness. They sang "God bless Israel" as if the mere repetition could make that a reality. But they refused to do the one thing that could bring His blessing and protection— they refused to repent.

In like manner, we have over the last few days seen a repetition of Israel’s folly. Not a single call to repentance has come from our leadership. Not a single caution that in our desire for justice, we must humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God. When these things have been suggested they have been received with scorn and outrage, just like Israel received Amos’ prophecy.

But these things must be said brothers, or we are insuring ourselves certain doom. And we must today call upon our President, our Congress, and all the others of our leaders to repent and humble themselves before the mighty hand of God. If calamity befalls a city, has not the Lord done it? Indeed He has and He has done it to remind us of our sins against Him. This is not the time for prideful chest-thumping or arrogant boasts or vengeful calls for retribution. It is not the time for protesting our goodness, innocence and righteousness. It is time to humble ourselves and confess our sins.

1. We must confess and repent of our law-breaking as a nation.

— The unwillingness to keep our marriage covenants, immorality, adultery, fornication. The condoning of, the encouragement of, and the protection of sodomy and perversion.

— The murder of the unborn in abortion (the numbers of which are now approaching 4,000 every day) and we do it in the name of compassion.

— The killing of innocent citizens in other countries during our own military actions. The truth is, as horrible as the loss of life is in these recent terrorist acts, the terrorists are far behind us in the taking of lives of innocent civilians that we have engaged in over the last century. They would have to plow into many, many more World Trade Centers to catch up with what we have done. We have sinned as a nation.

2. We must confess and repent of our idolatry.

— Our selfishness as a people. We have made personal peace and affluence our rule of life. Whatever promotes these are good and righteous and anything that threatens them is evil.

— We have loved things and been worshipers of mammon.

— We have trusted in the arm of the flesh to save, provide, and protect us: science, medicine, politics, money, military might. It was no accident that the terrorists chose to target the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Symbols of two of the great idols of our country: money and military power. We have sinned as a nation.

3. We must confess and repent of our apostasy. It has been so plain that we are ashamed to acknowledge the God of the Bible as the true God. We are called upon to pray to the god of our choice. Worship at any high place and under every green tree. One of our nation’s leaders even called upon us to pray to God or some other higher power for justice. What other higher power would that be? Zeus, Isis and Osiris, Apollo, Diana of the Ephesians? Our polytheism will guarantee our destruction. We must repent of our sin.

4. We must humble ourselves as the people of God. This is the most important response. God's people must fall down before Him (II Chron. 7:14). We have sinned. When you see the darkness of apostasy and ungodliness pervading the land, it is clear that we have not been shining the light of God’s glory. We have not honored the Lord, nor served Him. We have engaged in the same sins as those around us. We have not proclaimed the truth, boldly and uncompromisingly. We have been afraid to obey the Word and consequently have taught the world the terrible lie that the way of life is the way of compromise. We must repent of our sins.

God’s wrath is not turned aside by wicked and guilty men protesting their righteousness, greatness, and innocence. God’s wrath is removed by repentance. We must turn away from our idols and seek the Lord (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."). We must quit the worship of money and things, of fame and recognition, of lusts and self-gratification — and worship the Lord.

We must begin again to trust and obey. And then we can be assured of safety. Then the Lord will turn the hearts of our enemies (Proverbs 16:7 "When a man’s ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him."). Then He will protect us. But it He doesn’t protect us, the mightiest military is a vain hope (Psalm 127:1 "Unless the Lord guards the city, The watchman stays awake in vain.")

God's purposes will be brought to pass with or without America. He doesn't need us (as He reminded Israel in Amos 9:11ff). Israel thought this could not happen without them. God says, I will raise up faithful children of Abraham from the dust of death. He does not need any nation or people to carry out His purposes. He is the God who created all things nothing that He purposes will fail to come to pass.

We who are alive and remain must learn the lesson of this terrible tragedy in the same way that those who were living when the Tower in Siloam fell (Luke 13:4-5). We dare not boast, but humble ourselves in repentance. If we don't, we shall all likewise perish. If we truly desire God to bless America, we must learn this lesson.