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Does God care about this world at all? Sometimes we look at the world, and it feels like God is completely silent and unconcerned. For the prophet Amos, the world looked very different. For Amos, God was speaking. He was concerned about the world and His words were like the roaring of a lion. As Rabbi Abraham Heschel put it, “Most of us who care for the world bewail God’s dreadful silence, while Amos appears smitten by God’s mighty voice” (The Prophets, 35).
At first sight, we might think that God’s concern for the world will comfort us, but this might not be the case. We assume God is on our side, but God is on His own side. He is the Lord. He is the commander. He is the lion. When the Lord comes, He will challenge us in our complacency. What have we made of ourselves? What have we done with what God has given us? Meeting God might not be so easy or comforting as we think. That’s the power of the vision of Amos, and it’s one that we want to explore in this sermon. Here, I want you to see some important points about the context of the book and then a summary of the content of the book. After that, there are important considerations we should take from the book. So, the context, content, and considerations.
Context
To appreciate this prophecy, we need to understand three things about the context.
The first thing is to understand that the people of Israel were divided into two nations. Remember that God had raised up David to reign over His people and that under his son, Solomon, the united nation had done amazing things. However, when King Rehoboam son of Solomon succeeded to the throne, 10 of the tribes revolted. They formed the northern kingdom which was called “Israel” with its capitol in Samaria. The tribes of Judah and Benjamin remained loyal to the house of David. This is the southern kingdom, and it is called “Judah” with its capitol in Jerusalem. This is crucial background information for much of the work of the prophets.
The second thing to understand is that Amos was from the southern kingdom of Judah, but he preached a severe message to the northern kingdom of Israel. So, why would Amos go to those who would regard him as a foreigner and give a message they would almost certainly not like? Answer: God told him to. In chapter 7, we read, “Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent a message to Jeroboam king of Israel: ‘Amos is raising a conspiracy against you in the very heart of Israel. The land cannot bear all his words'” (7:10). We then read, “Then Amaziah said to Amos, ‘Get out, you seer! Go back to the land of Judah. Earn your bread there and do your prophesying there'” (7:12). Here is what Amos replied, “I was neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees. But the Lord took me from tending the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel’” (Amos 7:14–15). Amos had a message from the Lord, and he could not hold it in. As he said, “The lion has roared—who will not fear? The Sovereign Lord has spoken—who can but prophesy?” (Amos 3:8). He would do this in spite of the challenge of being from a different kingdom.
The third thing to understand is that the people of the northern kingdom, “Israel,” were very prosperous at this time. Most people would have looked at Israel at this time and said, “Things are going well.” Here’s how Amos described it, “You lie on beds adorned with ivory and lounge on your couches. You dine on choice lambs and fattened calves. You strum away on your harps like David and improvise on musical instruments” (Amos 6:4–5). As you read Amos’ prophecy, you will see that this outward prosperity is a big part of his message.
Content
So, what message did Amos have for these people? It was all going to come to an end and soon. Amos said, “The Lord roars from Zion and thunders from Jerusalem” (Amos 1:2). The Lord roars, and He describes the judgment on the nations. He repeated the the refrain, “for three sins of Damascus and for four, I will not relent” (1:3). This is the sort of sermon that they might have liked to hear. God is going to judge the nations. He is going to take care of all our enemies, they might have thought. Then, Amos turned to Judah. “For three sins of Judah, even for four, I will not relent” (Amos 2:6). Now, this might be getting a little too close for comfort. Finally, he came to Israel, “For three sins of Israel, even for four, I will not relent” (2:6). And these sins and God’s response provide the content of the book of Amos.
And what are the sins of Israel? They might have been prosperous, but they had used their own prosperity only for themselves with total disregard for the poor. “They sell the innocent for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals. They trample on the heads of the poor as on the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed. Father and son use the same girl and so profane my holy name. They lie down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge. In the house of their god they drink wine taken as fines” (Amos 2:7–9). This is the judgment that Amos pronounced throughout the book. “Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy and say to your husbands, ‘Bring us some drinks!'” (Amos 4:1). They built their prosperity at the expense of the poor, “You levy a straw tax on the poor and impose a tax on their grain. Therefore, though you have built stone mansions, you will not live in them; though you have planted lush vineyards, you will not drink their wine” (Amos 5:11).
In the midst of this oppression, though, we may be surprised to find that they were very religious. They had splendid religious feasts. They supported religious activity, but God was not interested in that outward show.
I hate, I despise your religious festivals;
your assemblies are a stench to me.
Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them.
Though you bring choice fellowship offerings,
I will have no regard for them.
Away with the noise of your songs!
I will not listen to the music of your harps.
But let justice roll on like a river,
righteousness like a never-failing stream!
What God was interested in was righteousness, love of God and love of neighbor, not great music, expensive pageantry, or impressive offerings. Justice was His concern. This is a hard word, but it is also good news. As Rabbi Heschel put it, “There is a living God who cares. Justice is more than an idea or a norm. Justice is a divine concern” (emphasis his, The Prophets, 38). In fact, He was so interested in justice that He would not fail to deal with injustice in His own time.
Amos had a clear vision of what the lion coming to judge the world would look like. He saw the Lord coming in power and might and described it several places:
He who made the Pleiades and Orion,
who turns midnight into dawn
and darkens day into night,
who calls for the waters of the sea
and pours them out over the face of the land—
the Lord is his name.
With a blinding flash he destroys the stronghold
and brings the fortified city to ruin (Amos 5:8–9).
Here is another example:
“Therefore this is what I will do to you, Israel,
and because I will do this to you, Israel,
prepare to meet your God.”He who forms the mountains,
who creates the wind,
and who reveals his thoughts to mankind,
who turns dawn to darkness,
and treads on the heights of the earth—
the Lord God Almighty is his name (Amos 4:12–13).
This is a vision of God as the almighty God who is not to be trifled with. God is coming like a lion. The day of the Lord is going to be a day of reckoning, and on one is exempt. We all need to prepare to meet our God!
This does not mean that there is no hope. Amos’ prophecy is dominated by warnings, but he holds out hope for mercy. He remembers that God is merciful and gracious and compassionate.
Seek good, not evil,
that you may live.
Then the Lord God Almighty will be with you,
just as you say he is.
Hate evil, love good;
maintain justice in the courts.
Perhaps the Lord God Almighty will have mercy
on the remnant of Joseph (Amos 5:14–15).
God is merciful and gracious and compassionate, but we cannot ignore our own evil acts either. We cannot just ignore our bad treatment of people and come before God and repent. We have to repent of our sins toward God and man! God is concerned about justice, and we cannot return to Him and be unconcerned about how we treat people. At the same time, Amos had a sense that eventually there will be a restoration. He closed his book with this promise, “‘I will restore David’s fallen shelter—I will repair its broken walls and restore its ruins—and will rebuild it as it used to be, so that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations that bear my name,’ declares the Lord, who will do these things” (Amos 9:11–12). Amos contemplated a world in which not only Israel would be restored but also the nations, the same ones upon whom he had declared judgment. They would bear the name of the Lord just like Israel. The nations would return to the Lord God. It is a very brief statement of hope in the midst of a lot of talk about judgment, but it is encouraging.
Considerations
What considerations should we take from this book? We need this vision of God. If we are really to know the God of the Bible, we need to see Him as the lion as well as the lamb. God is the almighty, glorious, and awesome God. He is the God who confronts evil and does justice in the earth. No one can escape from His hand. And this is the God we truly need and want. We want a God who is concerned about justice. This is the God of the cross. The God who who gives a substitute to experience the wrath of God over injustice in our place, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us back to God (see 1 Peter 3:18). I suggest that if we have trouble with Amos, we will probably have trouble with the cross. We need this vision of God.
Now, I want to apply the content of Amos to challenge us in three different ways. First, prosperity is a flimsy foundation for encouragement about the future. We are prosperous in this land beyond our ancestors’ wildest dreams. Prosperity is not only more intensive but also more extensive. More people enjoy more than ever before. It’s easy to think, though, that because we enjoy prosperity right now that it will go on forever. “All the sinners among my people will die by the sword, all those who say, ‘Disaster will not overtake or meet us’” (Amos 9:10). It is a strange assumption of human beings that because things are going well that they will always go well. We can also make the reverse assumption when things are going badly: because it is a rough time, nothing will ever go right. That’s not right either. The point here is that prosperity is a flimsy foundation for assurance. What we enjoy today can be lost tomorrow. Not one of us can be certain we will live out this day, let alone forty years in prosperity! We must not let prosperity blind us to the realities of life and death, God and righteousness, purpose and meaning.
Second, we must guard against seeking to placate God with religious ceremonies or outward acts. There is no substitute for true faith, hope, and love in the worship of God. Our hearts so easily fix themselves on external things that we can easily make our religion all about that. We can do this with religious ceremonies, knowledge of the Bible, theology, intense worship experiences, politics, forms of worship, forms of church government, religious acts. We can have all those things and still lack true faith and love. Without those virtues, knowledge and ceremonies are worthless. We must ever guard against all substitutes for a heart of love for God.
Third, we cannot divide our relationship with God from our relationships with people. What Amos says is exactly in line with what Jesus says, “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” We cannot have a religion of the love of God while ignoring the love of man. Over and over again, Christians have forgotten this lesson and have let religious zeal blind them to genuine care and compassion for human beings. I have seen many people who want to share the Gospel and yet treat it as a sort of mechanical activity as if God does not care how impatient or angry we are with people in sharing the Gospel. I have been among them at times! God generally does not bless that. We cannot treat people with contempt and at the same time reverence God. We must cultivate the virtues of faith, hope, and love and the virtues of compassion, open-heartedness, and love, if we are going to have the religion that God desires. So, how do you view the people around you? Do you look at them as if they are are strangers? Or, do you see yourself as part of them? Do you take an interest in people? Cultivating a genuine sense of community is crucial to living in relationship with God. That is one the most important things we should take from the prophecy of Amos.
So, Amos challenges us in our assumptions about prosperity, in our reliance on outward religion, and in our treatment of people.
Let me bring out one more consideration from this book. That consideration comes from the book of Acts. One exciting thing about the book of Amos is that we have in a way seen the wrath of God come down, and we are now living in the days where the house of David that was fallen down is now being restored as Amos prophesied. Jesus is now reigning and the nations are being gathered in. When the council at Jerusalem considered whether or not the Gentiles who were coming to God should be circumcised, James said, listen, what we are witnessing right now is what Amos talked about. James said that Amos had prophesied about the day when the house of David would be restored, and the nations would be part of His kingdom. That day is now! He argued. So, James said, “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God” (Acts 15:19).
What that means is that we are now living in the days of restoration as prophesied by the prophet Amos. We are not waiting for a future time when the house of David will be restored and the nations will be called by His name. That time is now through the reign of Jesus from heaven at the right hand of God. The nations are being gathered in. That’s exciting news, and God wants us to be a part of it! That should encourage us to tell people about Jesus and His kingdom. So, in light of the cross, the resurrection, and ascension of Christ, we may look at Amos from a different perspective. But let’s never forget. He’s still the lion.