Today we begin a brand new series called Roar of Justice, and we will take three weeks to dive into the book of Amos. Coming off of the book of Galatians, where we talked about how we are redeemed by faith and not works, you see that same imagery here. God isn’t interested in Israel’s “Obedience.” Instead, he is interested in Justice and Righteousness.
And who defines Justice and Righteousness? God does! This collection of writings from Amos is directed at the nations and Israel and Israel’s leaders. To set up the context of this book, I want to once again use a video from the Bible Project. Take a moment to watch this video before continuing on in this post…
Alright, in this post we are putting our focus on chapters 1 and 2 of Amos. You can read those chapters here…
When these words were spoken by the Prophet Amos to the people of Israel 2700 years ago, it was a time of peace and prosperity for the Israelites. But as it often happens when things are going well, God’s people were taking God’s blessings for granted.
God chose Amos to go to the kings and religious leaders and give them a simple but specific warning – either repent of their sins and return to God or suffer the consequences.
God gave Amos a burden for his people in his day. He saw their activity as blatant disrespect for God and, in many cases, outright blasphemy, and he knew God would not tolerate their rebellion forever!
SPOILER ALERT
About 200 years after Amos gave his warning, King Nebuchadnezzar’s army destroyed Jerusalem. Ask yourself this question… Do you have such a burden for your people today?
The people of the world think they are living in the most liberated time in human history when, in fact, they are in bondage to the power of evil. The people in the church think they are living in the most spiritually dynamic times in human history when, in fact, the church is largely biblically ignorant, arrogant, spiritually blind, and self-centered, unaware of the needs of others.
The Israelites in Amos’ time needed these external countries to come against them to expose their sins and reinvigorate their need for God. Just as God was raising an ungodly nation to come against Israel to judge them for their sins, God is raising an ungodly people from within America to show us how far we have drifted from His Word. What does this ungodly nation look like in Biblical times? Take a quick read of Romans 1:18-28
So let's take a moment and look at the message that Amos gives from God in these two chapters…
Amos used a four-point outline:
He spoke from the LordHe listed the specific sin
He outlined the specific punishment
He reaffirmed His source as being from God
Each of the eight examples began with this phrase: “For three transgressions and for four!” “Three” in Hebrew means “complete.” “Four,” in this case, meant “overflowed.” God’s people had overflowed God’s legal limit of sin
Amos began his message by pointing out the sins of the pagan nations around Israel and how God would punish them. He then focused on Judah, his people, and Israel and Jerusalem!
Damascus – they treated their prisoners of war harshly.
Gaza and Tyre – they kidnapped people and sold them into slavery.
Edom – they “chased” their brother with the sword.
Ammon – they executed pregnant women and killed their babies.
Moab – they removed the bones of a King from his grave, burned them to ashes, and then used them to whitewash a building.
Judah – they despised the Law of God and His commandments.
The pagan nations had to answer for their inhumanity to man, for they had violated the natural conscience of man. But the people of God would answer for disobeying God’s Law, for they had violated the blood covenant with God.
Israel – they sold the poor into slavery to pay debts they did not owe, blasphemed God's name, and profaned the temple of God with their sexual immorality.
When Amos preached, some were moved to turn toward God, and some were moved to turn upon Amos!
In Amos 7:14, Amos writes that the mark of a true messenger of God: It was not their pedigree, not their ability but their obedience!
When God begins to judge a nation, He does not start with the corrupt government, businesses, or organizations that profit from sin; He starts with the institution that represents Him. In Amos’ day, it was the Temple, but in our day, it is the Church. In 1 Peter 4:17, the Apostle said: “The time has come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?”
While God’s wrath awaits those, who have rejected Him and His plan for their salvation, God’s primary concern is for those who call themselves by His name! It doesn’t matter if our government removes God’s name from our coins or our courthouse, for that is not where God established His name to be exalted!
But the Scriptures are clear before the Lord releases His wrath upon the sons of disobedience, He will first reveal His wrath to the Church, and as we see what is happening in and through the church in America today. God is using the daily deterioration of our way of life to warn us of what is to come unless His people repent and return to Him.
America has regressed from being a Christian nation to a post-Christian nation and now moving towards an anti-Christian nation.
“For three transgressions of America,
and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,
We need to live a life as individuals and as a church that, combined, will begin moving America back towards God so that we don’t experience America hitting that fourth sin.
Want to study this topic further? Watch the full sermon here on YouTube!