"Searching the Scriptures and Seeking the Lost"
How Did We Get Here?
A Study of Amos
by Wayne Jones
Imagine if you can a man sitting down for dinner with his family when he hears a piercing scream. He looks out the window to see homes on fire, children being slaughtered, husbands being separated from their wives. He steps outside to see the attacking army mercilessly tear down the places of “worship.” Some have fled to the tops of mountains and the depths of valleys, but the soldiers hunt them down and drag them off into the distance in chains. Some how me makes it to the next morning. He is covered in soot, dirt and tears as he sits on the heap of debris that just hours ago was his house. His wife is no where to be found and his only child lay crushed beneath the rubble.
Suddenly he remembers stories about a man who lived when he was just a boy who came to his home from somewhere down south. This man preached about visions. One of his visions was about swarms of locusts eating away at the crops. Another vision was about a devistating fire that was to sweep through the land. Another was about a wall being measured with a plumbline. Another vision was about a basket of summer fruit that was ripe for devouring. Another vision was about the a sanctuary that lay desolate and ruined. He thinks to himself, “What was that man’s name?”
As he reflects to the past, there are certain phrases that had been handed down about the man’s message that now seemed eerie and frightening. “I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; I will bring sackcloth on every waist, and baldness on every head; I will make it like mourning for an only son, and its end like a bitter day.” And, “Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the face of the earth.” And, “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.” Also, “He who flees from them shall not get away, and he who escapes from them shall not be delivered.” Finally, “Therefore thus will I do to you, O Israel; because I will do this to you, Prepare to meet your God, O Israel!”
What was his name? He was a sheep raiser and a gatherer of sycamore fruit. And who could forget that he was from Judah – the southern tribes (the despised enemy of Israel). Many stories were told about his boldness: “A lion has roared! Who will not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken! Who can but prophesy?” And suddenly he remembers – Amos was his name!!! Then, as the he sees soldiers approaching to take the “survivors” captive, he asked aloud – “How did we get here?”
Dear friends, if you can image that scenario in your mind, you can see the backdrop for the studying the book of Amos. How did Israel go from being the chosen, protected people of God to seeing their cities trampled over and their leaders being killed? It is this writer’s conviction that Amos wrote to answer these questions. There are many explicit issues that Amos uses to explain Israel’s downfall. In this explanation, Amos urges, begs and pleads with his nation to turn back to God and repent that their spiritual lives might be saved.
An Excess of Pleasure, Ease and Comfort!
Certain events of the past (namely Assyria’s defeat of Syria and Israel having gained back some of the land that had once been taken from them) had allowed Jeroboam II to expand the borders of Israel. In so doing, he established very lucrative and productive trade agreements with Israel’s neighbors. While the ten tribes which composed the Northern Kingdom were getting richer and prospering, not everyone in that kingdom was profiting. It appears as if the rich were getting richer and the poor were getting poorer. As a result, many were guilty of oppressing the poor and crushing the needy (Amos 4:1). According to the afore mentioned verse, not only were the men of this nation greedy, but the women had also begun to seek money, wealth and possessions over what was fair, just and honest. Justice had become a farce. Legal judgements were being rendered based on financial prosperity rather and guilty or innocence: “For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: afflicting the just and taking bribes; diverting the poor from justice at the gate” (Amos 5:12).
Their pursuit of money and material goods was successful to say the least. Amos recorded that some to whom he was writing had both summer house and winter houses. Friends, that being financially well off! This boost to the economy and the swelling of their pocket books had led to their being “at ease in Zion” (6:1) while stretching out on their “beds of ivory” (6:4).
Sadly, those to whom Amos wrote had given their souls in exchange for the things of this world. As forerunners to the worldly motivation of Demas, the Jews of Amos’s day, in loving the world, had forsaken God. No verses in the entire book better describe the depths of their moral depravity than Amos 2:7-8. There Amos boldly penned these words:
"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. They lie down by every altar on clothes taken in pledge, And drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their god."
How deep in sin does a nation have to be before a father and son will go in to the same prostitute (probably connected to idolatrous worship)? How distorted do a man priorities have to be before he will borrow a man clothes and purposely not return them when the cold night sets in (see Exodus 22:26-27)? Is it too far when you force an innocent man to pay fine and then use his payment to get drunk in worship to an idol god? Truly, God was ready to send them away and purge out their iniquities, because they had become to devoted to pleasure and comfort!
Rejection Of Preaching
The book of Amos details the fact that God sent physical warnings into the land so that Israel would be motivated to turn from their sinful ways and turn back to God. Famine, plagues and disease had infested their cities, but they were not motivated to repent (Amos 4:6-11). Coupled with those physical warnings were verbal warnings through God’s inspired prophets. Amos was one of God’s mouthpieces who was sent to motivate the people to repent of their sins and to be restored to fellowship with their God. Sadly they rejected these warnings also: “They hate the one who rebukes in the gate, and they abhor the one who speaks uprightly” (Amos 5:8).
Chapter seven of Amos’s prophecy contains a vivid stand off between Amos and Amaziah. In speaking on behalf of many (in not most) in the 10 northern tribes, Amaziah said to Amos: “Go, you seer! Flee to the land of Judah. There eat bread, and there prophesy. But never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is the royal residence” (Amos 7:12-13). The statement, “there eat bread” indicates that Amos would receive no financial compensation for his efforts. Amaziah had been warped by the society of his day to think that money could influence a man of God to retreat! With Amos, such was not going to work. In fact, the response that Amos gave was forceful and fearless: “...Now therefore, hear the word of the Lord: You say, ‘Do not prophesy against Israel, and do not spout against the house of Isaac.’ 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.’” (Amos 7:16-17).
Still today there are some who reject the preaching of God’s word. Despite its need and truthfulness, some would rather that those who determine to preach the Word just go somewhere else. Paul told Timothy that the time would come that even those to whom he preached would not endure sound, Biblical preaching (2 Tim. 4:3). What was Timothy’s response to be? Simply, he was to faithfully “preach the Word” (2 Tim. 4:2).
Formalism In Worship
Satan realizes that he does not have to keep up from attending Bible classes and worship services. He realizes that all he has to do is take our spirit, emotion and heart out of it! Even Satan realizes that true worship consists of both spirit and truth (John 4:24). Over the years Satan has been successful in removing the joy and heart from worship, thus turning into nothing more than religious formalism. Isaiah, speaking for the Lord, wrote: “...these people draw near with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but have removed their hearts far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men (Isa. 29:13). Jesus used the same words to describe the heartless service of the Pharisees of His day (Matt. 15:7-9).
Not surprisingly, the people of Amos’s day were guilty of the same thing (Amos 4:4-5). God even told them that He despised their feast days and their offerings because they were not honest and heartfelt in their service (Amos 5:21-23). However, there is no more glaring example of this in the book of Amos that what is said of them in Amos 8: 4-5:
"Hear this, you who swallow up the needy, and make the poor of the land fail, 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, that we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals - Even sell the bad wheat?”
The above words are an all too familiar picture of the way many view their worship obligations today. How many who sit in church pews watch their watches in hopes that the service will soon be over so that they may go eat, watch football or work in the yard. With those mind sets in view, read again Amos 8:4-5 and see if there is not a direct parallel to our day and time. Frankly, we might all find that at times we fall into the trap set by Satan that results in formalistic worship.
Indifference
Indifference is one of the greatest battles faced in the church today. An excess of pleasure, a lack of firm, Biblical preaching and a formalistic attitude toward the work that God has given us to do will lead us to be indifferent toward Christianity.
Amos’s generation was like the lukewarm Laodiceans (Rev. 3:15-17). Ease and convince had led them simply to not care about the things that really mattered. Unless we are watchful and active, the same can and will happen to us today! These people heard the message and saw the warnings, but they just did not care!
A few weeks ago, we begin this study with a fictitious story of a man sitting on a pile of debris after the invasion of Assyria into Israel. I would ask that as this series of articles comes to a close that we would once again use our imaginations. This time, imagine a man sitting on top of the moral and spiritual debris that is our American society. Would he not ask himself the same question: how did we get here? How did America go from being a “God-fearing” country to a country whose political leaders would approve of baby killing and sodomy? How did the Lord’s church go from being the fastest growing religious body to one that is drastically shrinking in number? We suggest that the same answers found in the book of Amos and found in our society today. But, is there any hope? Yes!
“Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord “When the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him who sows seed; the mountains shall drip with sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it. I will plant them in their land, And no longer shall they be pulled up from the land I have given them,” says the Lord your God. (Amos 9:13-15)
By realizing our need for God and that His word is true, we will be motivated to repent. May we teach this message that our children will not have to continue to ask in despair: “How did we get here?”