Amos 8:1-9:4 The Holy God speaks

Amos 8:1-9:4 (click the link to read the passage)

My daughter speaks: I will not do this. But her words have no power. Dad speaks, and my word has power. My will be done. I have authority. I am the Dad.

Here we see words of authority, terrifying words. 3 I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!. The LORD there is YHWH “I am who I am”. He is the God who is there. He is the God who has spoken. He is the one who spoke the Universe into existence: there was nothing, then he spoke, and there was…everything!

And today he speaks to us, through his word to Israel. Speaks words of power, words of warning, words of forgiveness, words of judgement. It would be foolish to ignore his words.

And his words raise some important questions.

Who will be judged? (Wicked people)

Those whose actions and life reveal that they reject God in their heart. So familiar, we’ve heard this again and again. 4 Listen to this, you who rob the poor and trample down the needy! 5 You can’t wait for the Sabbath day to be over and the religious festivals to end so you can get back to cheating the helpless. You measure out grain with dishonest measures and cheat the buyer with dishonest scales. 6 And you mix the grain you sell with chaff swept from the floor. Then you enslave poor people for one piece of silver or a pair of sandals. 7 Now the Lord has sworn this oath by his own name, the Pride of Israel: “I will never forget the wicked things you have done!

Where is their heart? Their passion is in their business, instead of the Lord. In money, accumulating wealth, getting enough to protect the family, maintain our lifestyle - however we seek to define it.
Anywhere but the Lord!
Interestingly, the history books tell although there were religious festivals in the surrounding countries, only Israel was commanded to obey the Sabbath law and stop all work once a week. This restriction on trade caused friction and probably contributed to corrupt business practices as a way of “making up” the losses. Oh how that rings true. How often we justify something underhanded because we deserve it. I’ll leave this off the tax form because I’m owed it. I’ll lie about this because they cheated me out of that. How easy that sort of reasoning flows from my own heart.

How easy it is for we who are in business, or a trade, or working in local government to take the easy path. Dishonest measures – like increasing a quote because it’s a government contract or it’s for insurance. Or low-balling – coming with a quote lower than the actual price and then coming up with loads of extras and “this was not in the contract”. Or putting clauses in contracts that unfairly favour you at the expense of the other party. Or making the bid process for government contracts secrets and then accepting gifts from the various companies involved. And so on and on and on. You don’t have to be in the business world for very long to discover that v5 could describe us very well. Yes, even here in Norway. Our Christian heritage is being eroded, eaten away, by the secular ideals. Like Israel, we replace the true God at the centre of our life with something else at our peril. Israel replaced God with a small God, a tame God, a God they could control, a God they could pay lip service to on a Sunday and then ignore for the rest of the week while they went about the REAL business of life: making money.

“You fools!” Amos would say to us! The real business of life IS glorifying God. He is the be all and end all for all eternity. In the blink of an eye we will be old and frail, at the end of our life, facing the huge black mouth of eternity. Where will you spend it? Because if you despise God and his Word now, you will find God and his Word is absent, withheld from you, just like Israel: a famine in the land for the words of God.

Maybe business, making money, isn’t your thing. Maybe it’s power, influence, recognition? Serving the community so that everyone can see you and praise you? Or maybe it’s leisure – you live for the weekend, for the evenings. You want church to be over so you can get back to that computer game or that movie or that sport or hiking up the mountain, or chopping logs whatever it is. Or perhaps it’s your children, your family, your husband – that’s what gives you your identity, your purpose, rather than Christ. Or maybe even it’s the church. You love the church, but not Jesus, the head of the church. Be warned!

Anything that takes your passion instead of the Lord Jesus reveals a serious danger to your eternal soul. What does your passion reveal about your relationship to the Sovereign Lord?

Being on the wrong side of God is serious!

How will they be judged? (The Exodus reversed)

Remember the story of the Exodus – the great rescue of God’s people out of slavery in Egypt, lead by Moses. Well, now it seems that Israel now has become as bad as Egypt was then: oppressing people, slavery, cheating the poor and the needy and the weak and the foreigner. 2 the Lord said, “Like this fruit, Israel is ripe for punishment! I will not delay their punishment again. the underlying Hebrew phrase “The end has come upon my people Israel; I will never again pass by them.” At the Exodus, God passed his judgment by the Israelites – but no longer. The Israelites have become the Egyptians. Their land will heave up and sink again like the Nile (v8). Darkness will cover the land (v9) and they will mourn like they have lost a son (v9) – the final two great plagues (judgements) against Egypt. Oh Israel, how you have fallen!

Can you imagine the shock as realisation dawns on people? We have become Egypt! We are corrupt like our great enemy. It’s like Norway realising we are corrupt like Syria, or Afghanistan, or any other country we like to look down upon and feel superior to. But actually, are we so much better than them? With all our wealth and our power and our abundance of good gifts, what are we doing? Prosperity (wealth) can be a curse – instead of thanking God we thank ourselves – as Christian said two weeks ago, we act like we made the oil ourselves, rather than luckily finding it! We are ignoring God, seeking pleasure and wealth, uninvolved in the church, uninvolved in family, uninvolved in anything that doesn’t benefit me directly. We are consumers! Like big fat cows munching our way through people, through time, through money, serving our appetites. To serve, to lead your family, to set aside your own pleasure for the needs of others – that is gone. Commitment, loyalty to the Lord Jesus. Naah.

I feel that pull in my own heart. The easy way. The selfish way. We are made for greater things my friends, than being fat cows! We are made to glorify God! We are made to lead our families, to lead our churches, to plant churches throughout Notodden and beyond which proclaim the greatness of our God. We are to be honest businessmen, just judges, fair bureaucrats, hard workers. Our lives should proclaim “glory to God, glory to God, glory to God”. That’s what we were made for, that’s our purpose. And then one day the veil will be ripped aside, and we will see our Lord face to face, and the world will be made new, and all the glories of this world will be taken into the next, all the wonders of the world preserved for eternity, and we will spend our time working and shaping the world to the glory of God forever. That’s our destiny, if we are in Christ.

Why would we settle for a less than ordinary life? When we feel we are made for greatness. And we are. We are made for greatness. We are made to be the people of the living God, the Sons of the Almighty Father. Why would we choose anything less?

What happens to people who ignore God?

I think that verse 11 is the most terrifying verse in this book. The final judgement: God gives them what they want. The neglected word becomes the absent word. God withdraws his favour.

11 “The time is surely coming,” says the Sovereign Lord, “when I will send a famine on the land— not a famine of bread or water but of hearing the words of the Lord. 12 People will stagger from sea to sea and wander from border to border searching for the word of the Lord, but they will not find it. 13 Beautiful girls and strong young men will grow faint in that day, thirsting for the Lord’s word.

Do you remember back in school days the “silent treatment”? When you were cross with someone and pretend they didn’t exist. Oooh, it got so annoying. They were basically saying I wish you were dead.
My kids have tried that a few times with me – believe me it doesn’t last long! “Listen to me!”

It’s childish, but when people do it as adults it’s quite serious. “He’s dead to me”. Deep hurt, deep heartache, particularly in families. Many a convert to Christianity has been heartbroken as their family turns away from them and refuse to speak to them – or worse tries to kill them to restore their family honour! Many Jehovah’s Witnesses find themselves cut off when they embrace Christ and leave the Watchtower organisation. All their friends and family GONE. (By the way, that’s why it is essential that we recognise that WE now are family, and look after each other, particularly new Christians).

Can you imagine running up to your father with your arms outstretched saying “Dad I love you” and he looks through you as if you weren’t there, and then walks away without saying a word.

Well, that’s what we do to God. To God! This time it is the Father with the outstretched hand: “Come, come and experience the ocean of my love”. And we simply ignore him, don’t even acknowledge his presence. “I wish you were dead.”

So what happens when you continue to ignore God? The famine of His word – the day will come when you cannot find him, cannot know him. One day God will give you what you ask for: independence from Him. And that is terrifying, for He is the source of life. Without him, everything goes dark. It’s like the Earth trying to be independent of the Sun! Without the Sun, we die.

Can anything save us?

Can other religions, worldviews, safety nets save you from the Lord’s anger? The answer is: No. 14 And those who swear by the shameful idols of Samaria— who take oaths in the name of the god of Dan and make vows in the name of the god of Beersheba— they will all fall down, never to rise again.” 9:1 Then I saw a vision of the Lord standing beside the altar. He said, “Strike the tops of the Temple columns, so that the foundation will shake. Bring down the roof on the heads of the people below. I will kill with the sword those who survive. No one will escape!

Samaria is the land of Israel, Dan and Beersheba its farthest points. The whole land is corrupt, worshipping other gods, idols, instead of the one true God. Worse, as we’ve seen, on the surface their religion seemed to be directed to God – it looked like they honoured God. The problem was that they ignored His word on how they should worship him, and made up their own ways – like setting up a golden calf in Dan and saying “this is your God”.

And not even Christian religion can save you, if it is just a ritual. Going to church will not save you. Only trusting in Christ and living with him as Lord and Master of ALL of life – only He can save you. Religion cannot save: One day the Lord will stand by your altar and command the pillars to fall down on your head.

Playing the silent treatment game with God is foolish. Ignoring his word, doing things our own way – it is dangerous. His patience will run out, and he will move in righteous judgement. We have been warned!

Is there any escape from God’s judgement?

No. 2 “Even if they dig down to the place of the dead, I will reach down and pull them up. Even if they climb up into the heavens, I will bring them down. 3 Even if they hide at the very top of Mount Carmel, I will search them out and capture them. Even if they hide at the bottom of the ocean, I will send the sea serpent after them to bite them. 4 Even if their enemies drive them into exile, I will command the sword to kill them there. I am determined to bring disaster upon them and not to help them.

So what do we do?

There is only one place left to run. And that is to God himself. Have you not heard the roar of the Lion? He roars to shine the light on our wickedness, to help us see our own corruption. We don’t believe it. We don’t believe we are sinners. And why not? Just watch the news! Bombers in Boston, bombers in Iran, Syria has killed 70,000 of its own citizens, murders, theft, rape, abortions, people cheating and selling horse meat as beef (dishonest scales!) – why do we still blame everything else except ourselves. Oh it’s society – society is made by people! Oh, it’s religion. Religion is made by people. No, there’s something wrong with people, with US.

Boom, boom, goes the deep truths of the Bible, again and again. We are sinners. We need to repent. We must understand that we are darkness matched against unspeakable light. The bright sun of God’s holiness burns fierce against us, and will destroy us.

Why so many chapters on sin? Why so much on wickedness? So that we can repent. So that we cry out to God!

We have seen throughout the book of Amos that God has been calling his people back to him again and again. He is lovingly warning them of the danger they are in. “Come back to me and LIVE” he says.

You see, the way for them to be saved is already prepared. Their sin is already paid for. Their judgement taken. And ours. King Jesus on the cross, his blood paying for our sins, for theirs. King Jesus on the cross, restoring Israel to their glory – if they would just accept. And some do: Israel will be shaken like grain, we read in chapter 9, but not one true kernel will be lost. And for Israel, also for us. King Jesus, offering forgiveness, offering pardon, offering restoration. Come and take your place in the Kingdom of God, brother. Come and take your place at the family feast as a son of God. That is our destiny. That is our calling.

Will you take it?

There are three responses to this passage.

One is to ignore it. And that is your choice. But you have been warned. Israel was given 50 years to repent. They did not take it. They were completely destroyed. Learn from their folly.

Two is to accept it. Accept with joy and gladness the forgiveness of God! Confess you sin before him, your need for him. Thank him for his goodness to you, and accept him as King over all of life.

Three is for those who have accepted him as King. Don’t grow weary of living for the King. Don’t grow weary of hearing his word. You belong to him. Don’t forget your identity. In everything you do remember that you are a beloved son of God. At work, beloved son of God. With your wife, beloved son of God. With your children, beloved son of God. Watching TV, surfing the Internet, beloved son of God.

The Holy God speaks. O Lord, in your mercy, help us to listen!