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About Jesus Steve Sweetman Chapter 3 Previous Section - chapters 1 and 2 Witnesses
Summoned Against Israel
(ch. 3:1 - 15) Once
again this chapter is directed towards the northern kingdom of In
verse 2 we note that God chose one family, that is Abraham's family out
of all the families of the earth. One
thing to note here is the word "family".
In the first few chapters of Amos we've seen the word
"nations". Here we
see family or families. When
God originally chose Abraham, he was just a family, as was much of those
on earth at the time. Family
is the foundation of society. First
came Adam and Eve who gave birth to the first family.
From family, larger extended families emerged that grew into
tribal communities. From
these tribes we see the emergence of city states and then larger
nations, ending in empires such as the Babylonian Empire. You
might wonder why God even decided to choose one family out of many in
the first place. Well, by
the time in history when God made this choice, humanity had fallen away
from God's ways so much, even after the flood in Noah's day, that God
wanted a family who would represent His ways to the rest of the world.
Abraham and his descendents were meant to be a living example, a
kingdom of priests, that would represent God to the nations of the
world. They never really
fulfilled their responsibility, but they will when Jesus returns to
earth in the thousand year rule of Christ. Also
concerning family, we should note that God moves from speaking about
nations to family, and in this chapter especially the men of the family.
In the next chapter God
turns his attention to the women of these families.
When it comes to the health of a nation, if that nation has sick
families, the nation will be sick sense the nation is built on sick
families. In today's western
world, we have sick families resulting in sick nations.
Those
people who promote the gay movement today tell us that children raised
in a gay family aren't harmed in any way.
Obviously I disagree with that.
The point is that many people have not grown up in a traditional
father and mother family so they don't know what family is really like.
I don't see how they can comment, or, make such a statement when
they themselves are so far removed from family.
Many of these people have no experience with the traditional
family so how can they say children raised in a so-called gay family
aren't harmed. Verse
2 also says, "therefore I will punish you for all your sins".
Since God chose Israel
to be special, and sense they had a special calling from God, they'd get
severe punishment for not obeying their God and their calling.
The simple fact is that the more understanding and access to
Godly knowledge one has, the more accountable he is, and the greater
judgment will come if this knowledge is ignored.
Verse
3 says, "do two walk together unless they agree to do so"?
We often here this verse used in the context of human contracts
or agreements, but in this context, it is used in relation to I've
always said that if we as Christians live within the boundaries that God
has set forth for us, He will walk with us.
He will look after us. But,
if we step outside of the boundaries He has set for us, He is not
obligated to look after us. This
was the case with Israel, and it is the case with many Christians and the church today. From
verse 3 to verse 6 God asks other questions of The
answer to this question is a clear "yes".
So, according to Amos 3:6, disaster that comes to a city is, or
at least often is, due to God's judgment.
I think that is interesting in light of the more frequent
disasters we see coming on the earth today in 2011.
When a storm or an earthquake or tornado hits a city, there is
sufficient evidence to at least conclude that the disaster was a form of
God's judgment. This is
something that we have a hard time accepting these days but I do believe
there is Biblical truth to this. Many
Christians today don't understand how they should view the Old Testament
in light of being New Testament Christians.
This shows up clearly when they pick and choose what laws in the
Law of Moses they wish to obey, tithing being one of the most important
laws church leaders want their people to obey, which might well be self
serving. Another way this
lack of understanding shows up is the neglect of seeing that God still
judges nations today. Many
Christians think that because we live in the age of grace, God overlooks
national sins. I see no
Scripture to support this thinking.
You
cannot leave or comment on verse 6
without commenting on verse 7. Verse
7 must be commented on when speaking about God bringing disaster to a
city. God says in verse 7
that He does nothing except He warns people ahead of time through His
prophets. Therefore, if a
disaster comes to a city, God warns the people through prophets before
it happens. If there is no
warning, you can assume the disaster was not caused by the Lord.
That being said, one might say there was no warning when in fact
there might have been. He
might just have not heard, or didn't want to hear the warning. It's
my thinking that at this present moment, here in 2011, that there is
sufficient prophetic warning concerning the days ahead.
So, when the disaster comes, one cannot say he was not warned.
I believe the ministry of the prophet is alive and well today. Billy
Graham would not call himself a prophet, and personally I don't think he
was. That being said, he
warned Verse
8 says, "the lion has roared, who will not hear".
This analogy is simple. The
Bible often speaks of God roaring like a lion when He is about to
demonstrate His wrath. This
verse simply states that God has already roared.
The next thing He will do is bring judgment to Israel. Once the lion roars, once
God roars, the prophets have no other choice than to warn the people
that disaster is on its way unless repentance is found very quickly. I
think the lion is beginning to roar today. At
this point I'd like to point out that there is a distinct difference
between God judging a nation and God judging individuals.
Humanity's sin was judged when Jesus died on the cross.
Jesus was judged and condemned and punished on our behalf.
Jesus did not die for nations, but for people.
Therefore nations are still judged.
Christians living in these nations will suffer along with the
rest of the nations when God judges that nation, as did It
appears to me that the mentioning of In
verse 10 the Lord says, "they", meaning Israel, "do not know how to do right".
Even though Verse
10 also speaks of the plundering and looting mentality of Israel. Again, they are an unjust nation. Because
of Verse
12 may be hard to figure out at first but if you read it slowly you will
see the meaning. God speaks
of a lion attacking a sheep and the shepherd tries to save the sheep
from the lion but can't. He
only rescues part of the sheep. This
speaks of what the Bible calls the "remnant of Notice
in verse 13 the phrase "house of Jacob".
I remind you that this is in reference to all of Israel, not just the northern or southern kingdom. In
verse 14 the first thing we see God destroy in Israel
are the religious things concerning their pagan worship. This is what
would have bothered the Lord the most.
The second thing God will destroy is the winter homes, the summer
homes, and the mansions. These
homes represent the financial prosperity of Israel. At this time in history, they had become very materialistic and
wealthy. Their wealth has
been a snare to them, drawing them away from their God, so that which
represents their wealth will be destroyed in judgment.
I suggest the western world today thinks seriously about this.
Our material wealth has taken us away from the God we once
served. Wealth itself has
become our God. We
will be judged for this, and we are probably right now in the beginning
stages of God's judgment.
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