Amos 5:18-27. Today we continue reading the third message or sermon Amos gave to the Northern Kingdom. Be began reading this message yesterday and we learned that God wants us to be careful in how we honor him. The problem is if we are not careful we wind up worshipping and honoring something entirely different from God. Many of the Old Testament prophets condemned treating others badly, Jesus himself linked our love for God to our love for our neighbor, but we have to be careful not to see our good deeds as the end of the story. In the book of James, Jesus’ brother James tells us that if we do not do things that please God we can say all day long we believe in God but it isn’t necessary true or useful (James 2:26). Equally bad though is works without faith is sin (displeasing to God; Romans 14:23). So we need to be careful that when we are doing things that please or honor God we are doing it to please and honor God. And that means we need to do things God’s way.
In verses 16-17 yesterday we saw that the people were sad (actually remember this was a future prediction so they were going to be sad) because God was sending trouble into their lives to encourage them to change; to return to Him. If you have read “The Old Testament Connection” you know that God chose the Israelite family to teach the world that we have all wandered away from God and need to return. There is the idea of ultimate punishment for sin (disobedience and rebellion) but there is also the idea of an ultimate beautiful peaceful existence beside God. First comes the punishment or judgment then comes the kingdom of God (that’s the way it’s referred to in lots of parts of the Old Testament). Sometimes it’s called the kingdom of David because God promised David (the second king of the sraelite nation) that his throne would last forever. This does not mean that David would live forever as a king but that he would have descendants as king. Historically we know that the kingdom broke up after his son, Solomon was king. The Jewish people began to realize that the promise was for a future descendant of David to restore the kingdom, they called the person the Messiah, which basically means “chosen” or “picked”. One of their prophets, Daniel, actually gave a timetable for when the messiah would come and all four of the Gospels (the first four “books” of the New Testament) identify Jesus as the messiah (or “Christ” which is the Greek equivalent for “Messiah”). The Israelite people called the time when God would judge their enemies and restore the kingdom, “The Day of the LORD”. Mostly the people focused on the restoration of the kingdom to them and either ignored the judgment part or thought it only applied to their enemies.
In Amos 5:18-20 Amos corrects the misunderstanding by telling them that the “day of the LORD” will not be a good time for them. I’m thinking Amos was not a very popular guy with these people. In verses 21-23 we see God rejecting the offerings and songs that the Northern Israelites are offering to him. Verse 24 gives a hint as to why God is rejecting their offerings; they have not treated others fairly and they have not obeyed His rules (that is what righteousness is “right living”). In Exodus 20 we have the story of Moses giving God’s rules to the Israelite people for the first time. Although there are way more than 10 rules, ten very important ones are listed first, the Ten Commandments. The very first commandment is that the Israelites were to recognize only him, Yahweh, as God. The next two continue the idea when they are told not to try to make images or statues which represented Him, and they were told that they were not to honor or serve any other gods (so called gods). Back in Amos 5:25-26 Amos confronts them with worship which fails to follow God’s rules. They were making up offerings and gods and breaking even the clearest and most basic rules which Moses gave to them. Verses 27 gives us the result, they will be captured and sent away, far beyond their homeland.
These Israelites will not have to wait for the “Day of the LORD” and maybe that is a good thing. We see in the book of Revelation that eventually some from every tribe will be restored and take part in the forever kingdom of Jesus. The dispersion of the ten tribes will only be temporary. When the actual judgment of the “day of the LORD” comes not many people will turn to God (See Revelation 9:20-21; 16:9 where the part of the judgment part of the “day of the LORD” is described). We need to be careful that we do not make a god in an image that we want either. Many want God to be all loving but have no standards, no rules, and no consequences. But that is not the picture we get of God from the Bible; and prophecy and history back up the accuracy of what we are told in the Bible. Others want a god who will weigh all their good against their bad and if we have more good deeds will let us in to heaven. The problem is the Bible is very clear that God is pure or holy. NO matter how much “good stuff” we do, one “bad” thing will make us impure or unholy, that is enough to keep us out of heaven. Thankfully Jesus was completely pure, and because he is also God he is infinite. When Jeus died on the cross his death (separation fro God the father) made his infinite purity available for us. That is awesome. You can still try it your own way but you will fail and miss out on eternity with God; you will suffer the judgment in the “day of the LORD” instead. I think God’s way is much better and I hope you do to. Take the time to find out who God really is and really honor him with your life. God is very forgiving, Jesus will take care of the mistakes, but you should at least try to do it his way.
God thank you for showing me the way. Help me not try to come to you on my own terms. Let me honor you with my life because of your mercy and love. Thank you for taking all the blame for all my mistakes. Thank you for the promise of eternity with you.