Amos, a shepherd of Tekoa (1:1), was called to speak for God. [Is it] not even thus, O ye children of Israel? Abraham improved the well at Beersheba and settled there during the time he made a covenant with Abimelech, the Philistine king (Genesis 21:23-31). Israel’s worship was vain, because it was not from a pure heart (5:24). Their children, conceived in drunkenness and lewdness, set the stage for the rest of their lives, and we are able to trace the results of this sin down through the ages. The prophet Amos records a series of history lessons that will help us evade the pitfalls of the wrong perspective. And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites. Here is the real reason for this testimony to the church. There is no question that God loves His people, but God also loves the world. It may not come back upon you right away, but if you continue to persist in that sin, God will use that very sin to punish you, in an effort to encourage you to change your ways. Since he knew he had been called by God, Amos spoke boldly on God’s behalf. God Wants Obedience, Not Activity. As a result, she became an ancestor of the Lord Jesus Christ. Uzziah’s independent reign took place in 767-740 B.C., and the sole reign of Jeroboam II in about 782-753 B.C. At times he prophesied in the face of adversity. saith the Lord.” God is asking, “Is not this the way that I treated you? Sometimes it takes a long time for the cup to become full. Two possible reasons for this could have been that God could not have found a prophet in the Northern kingdom, or that the Bible principle that a prophet is not without honor except in his own country applied here. Edom was involved in the slave-trading process along with all the other nations that were mentioned. He uses his theme device—“for three transgressions and for four”—this is the judgment that is going to come. People today need to understand that both one’s heart and one’s action matters to God. His prophetic activity can best be dated about 760-753 BC. Amos said that Edom pursued with a sword. When people consider what is going on in the remnant church, there is a tendency to feel that God does not care or that He has abandoned His people. The simplicity, which had characterized the national life, was completely gone. They were entrusted with leadership as judges, yet they took bribes and perverted judgment (1 Samuel 8:1-3). God sees into the heart. Amos also teaches us that prayer is powerful. So the prophecies of Amos can easily be dual, foretelling not only God's judgment on the ancient house of Israel, but also His hand of discipline on the modern descendants today. And God replied, “It shall not be.”. An army did not need to be sent in; He needed only to open the gates and expose the city to the elements. (Revelation 3:17.) They gave birth to Ammon and to Moab. The Lord says there will be a repaying that will come to pass, and it will be kind for kind. The final warning from Amos concerns Beersheba, an extremely important part of Israel’s earliest history. He took a “submarine ride,” crash-landed on the shore, and still had to deliver the message! The place or the event substitutes for God. Historical places and events are lessons, not laws. Resolving to “right wrongs” can often create more wrong, just as determination to “get the bad guys” will cause some to stumble. The house of worship was at Jerusalem. What God saw there was of such an alarm that it called for Him to get Amos to go north and deliver a message. Both comprise His creation. It could be that the sin for which Gaza was guilty became the sin of the other cities at a later date, which is why they were included here. These are most likely the sins that have been passed on to us from our forefathers. We can be among the faithful. Bible... ICR Discovery Center for Science and Earth History. The flow of social life, on the surface, was going on just as it had for centuries. As Amos finishes showering the nations around Israel with woes and judgments, he turns to God’s people, and using the pattern that he had already established, he starts in on them. The gates would be opened, exposing them to the ravaging nations around them, and the horrendous acts that were committed against God’s people would be repaid by removing all the defenses and allowing the cruelty of their heathen neighbors to seek them out. God was telling them that they would be sorry they had not remained faithful. She allowed the Spirit of God to enter in and to work in her life. Our forefathers’ besetting sins are likely to be passed on to us. The Gibeonites came to Gilgal to make their treaty (Joshua 9:3-6) and to ask aid against the Amorites (Joshua 10:6). In Amos, we find some very clear instruction regarding these things and the events concerning our future involvement with people who are standing in the breach. In Job 41, God points Job’s attention to a terrifying animal called leviathan. This perhaps gives us a little insight as to where Amos found himself—a messenger with a weighty message. (See 1 Kings 11:1.) They were murderous in their pursuit and cast off all pity. When activity becomes the standard for holiness, the activity becomes necessary to preserve the ideal. You see what God had to deal with! We find, as we read the history of the Old Testament and the writings of the New Testament, that God was willing to do more than His children could even imagine. In 11 Kings 8:7–12, this event is also mentioned. It seemed that all was well on the outside, but man does not see as God sees. Amos also shows us that the worship of Israel had become vain (4:4). God becomes fixed to a place or an event. According to the Bible, many of the Ammonite women became members of King Solomon’s harem. By the time you read this, the Institute for Creation Research will have determined the starting date for construction of the ICR Discovery Center for Science and Earth History. This is why Amos’ message became so hard, so heavy, and so weighty. Amos, it tells us in verse one, was a sheepherder. But through it all, God said, “I want you to change.” He wanted them to see Him for who He really was. His will is going to be done in all areas. Edom received slaves and merchandised them as if they were animals, but they were blood rela-tives, and that is what made their actions even more grievous in God’s eyes. Successful negotiations are details, not doctrines. He was not a priest or Levite. Amos 1:1 says, “The words of Amos, who was among the herdmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.” Here is the introduction to the Book of Amos. It became a fulfillment of the old adage—and we use that same adage today—that says, “What goes around comes around.” God had a way of using that same adage in Old Testament times. Their spiritual ride had been like that of a roller coaster, which achieves great heights and then, all of a sudden, plunges down into its lowest depths. As exciting as the beginning of the new Discovery Center is, as important as it may become, no matter the role that it may play in the lives of many, we do not find God in a place but in a Person. The preserved carcass of a “prehistoric” cave bear has been discovered in melting permafrost on an Arctic Russian Island. So when they took Joseph and sold him into slavery, they knew it was a grievous wrong, not only against their brother, but also against God, and their action haunted them. The specific crime cited was the capture, enslavement, and sale of some of the people of Israel. Because the Israelites had rejected far greater spiritual light than had the nations around them, they were under far greater condemnation. If they had only been willing to see God for who He really was, a love relationship would have developed, and they would have changed. God’s presence on the earth will result in many benefits . God saw the sin and was displeased. In one translation of Amos 1:3, it says that this judgment came upon Damascus because they sawed, with iron saws, women with child. Amos 1:7 says, “I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, which shall devour the palaces thereof”—the places where luxury and sin abounded. While the love of God is in place, God provides protection, but when hatred fills the vacuum where love has been, there is no good that can come. (See John 4:44.) This is the way God is trying to say, “I want to save you for the kingdom.”, In Amos 1 and 2, six nations are mentioned, and God had tried to work with each of them at some point in time. The Israelites would make their way to places of worship on Sabbath; they would bring their tithes and their offerings. Pastor Mike Baugher is Associate Speaker for Steps to Life Ministry. It is unforgivable to use and abuse people for the profit of the mighty or the wealthy. Abraham camped near Bethel when he first entered the land of Canaan (Genesis 12:8), and he “called on the name of the LORD” at Bethel when he returned from Egypt (Genesis 13:3-4). You would think that this kind of crime would call for immediate retribution of some kind, but it took nearly 100 years for this crime to catch up with them. The Ark of the Covenant returned to Gilgal every day after encircling the city of Jericho during its siege (Joshua 6:11), and Gilgal served as headquarters for all the battles during the conquest. Lessons from Amos. It was not faithfully dealt with, so it was perpetuated. But do not seek Bethel, nor enter Gilgal, nor pass over to Beersheba; for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nothing.

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