Book of Amos 30: The Bible and RACISM

turn in your Bible to the Book of Amos chapter 9 and tonight we're gonna study the vision of the stricken doorpost so follow along with me as I read the first four verses then I saw a vision of the Lord standing beside the altar he said strike the tops of the temple column so that the foundation will shake bring down the roof on the heads of the people below I will kill with the sword those who survive no one will escape those are tough words coming from God even if they dig down to the place of the dead I will reach down and pull them up even if they climb up into the heavens I will bring them down even if they hide at the very top of Mount Carmel I will search them out and capture them even if they hide at the bottom of the ocean I will send the sea serpent after them to bite them even if their enemy's drive them into exile I will command the sword to kill them there I am determined to bring disaster upon them and not to help them now most scholars refer to this vision as I did when we began this they refer to this as the vision of the stricken doorpost and the reason they do is because of the way verse one is translated by the King James Version and the New King James Version in the King James Version verse one is translated I saw the Lord standing upon the altar and he said smite the lintel of the door that the post may shake in the New King James Version its translated as I saw the Lord standing by the altar and he said strike the doorpost that the thresholds may shake so you can see why most scholars refer to this vision as the vision as the vision of the stricken doorpost but the truth is that's not a good translation the reason I call it that is because almost every scholar refers to it as that and if I don't say it that way and you study someone else you're gonna come back you're gonna say well you know that pastor he referred to it as a division of the stricken doorpost and that's why I'm doing but that's really not a good translation either in the King James Version or the knee new King James Version and the reason I say that is because the NLT is a much more accurate translation and if you notice what it said there when we were reading it he said to strike the top in fact the NLT is a more accurate translation because the Lord said to strike the calf tore that's Hebrew for the top of the columns it's what we would call the Capitals here's a few pictures of a column with a capital on top look at this first one I can't remember how many of you remember when you were studying Greek architecture you know you had Doric you had ionic and Corinthian is that right such the three capitals styles but anyways I can't remember what this is if you had that maybe you can remember but if you take a look at that tears - column but the very top is called a capital and most of the time you had your beams that would rest right in the middle helped to disperse the way so what he was saying was hit the capitals here's another picture this is a little more fancy when you take a look at this I think this is Corinthian I'm not sure but anyways if you see you've got the column and then you have these really fancy tops up there that's called the capital but it's supported the roof all right so in this vision Amos saw God standing beside the altar at the temple not the Temple in Jerusalem but the temple in Bethel and in this vision God said strike the top of the column so that even the foundation shakes in other words strikes to call him so hard that the roof comes down on the heads of all the people now we're all familiar with the story of Samson in the book of Judges and how he was tricked by Delilah into revealing the secret to his supernatural strength and of course what was the secret to it do you remember it was his hair why was it his hair does anyone know it's because he was a Nazarite and Nazarites were not supposed to cut their hair so basically this is someone who was to be dedicated to Lord they were never to drink or eat anything that came from the vine but they were also not supposed to cut their hair so Samson had all of this long hair I don't know if he tied it up like women did when he wanted to go around but he had this long hair and that was the street this the secret to his strength now once Delilah discovered the secret to his strength she lulled the Simpson into sleep and she had a man come in and actually shave his head and when his hair had been cut off she called out to the Philistines and the Philistines came in they put him in change and they gouged out his eyes and then they took him as a captive and they kind of used him for sport this was to Britain they wanted to bring him out and show everyone how their gods had overcome the God of Israel now that brings us to the part of the story that I want to read so turn with me if you would to the book of Judges chapter 16 we're gonna read verses 23 through 30 this is the end of the story this is the point where he's been held in captivity he's chained up his eyes have been gouged out so he's blind but here's the interesting thing he's been long enough in captivity that his hair has started to grow back but more importantly he had he has had time to reflect on his actions and to repent so let's pick it up here this starts in verse 20 judges chapter 16 the Philistine rulers held a great festival offering sacrifices and praising their God Dagon they said our God has given us victory over our enemy Samson when the people saw him they praised their God saying our God has delivered our enemy to us the one who killed so many of us is now in our power half drunk by now but people demanded bring out Samson so he can amuse us so he was brought from the prison to amuse them and they had him stand between the pillars supporting the roof Samson said to the young servant who was leading him by the hand place my hands against the pillars that hold up the temple I want to rest against them now the temple was completely filled with people all the Philistine rulers were there and there were about 3,000 men and women on the roof who were watching as Samson amused them this is how large this temple is and hopefully if you ever get a chance to go over to Greece or someplace like that you get a chance to see some of the rooms you'll understand that they didn't just have these columns like we think of on the outside walls and it was kind of a clear space in there like we do our metal buildings they didn't do that in order to support the roof and these columns were made out of stone the the what do you call it the go side-by-side and anyways these posts that would come in they were made out of stone but what was interesting in order to be able to to actually build your roof you had to have these columns in the middle so you didn't just have columns on the outside of the building you also had columns on the inside of the building and people would just kind of be in and out of this and so they're watching all of this and there's about 3,000 now our sanctuary seats a thousand fifty-four people so it's about three times this large but it's even larger than this because they wouldn't be able to seat like we are because you'd have these columns that are there and they bring Samson and he's in the middle of this with all of these columns all right now these columns are what held up the roof of the temple and if they moved or even began to Teeter just a little bit the whole roof would come down right so he tells this little kid he says put up my hands on the two Center pillars that hold up the temple now notice what it says pushing against them with both hands he prayed let me die with the Philistines and the temple crashed down on the Philistine rulers and all the people so he killed more people when he died than he had during his entire lifetime Wow and you remember all the stories about Samson how in order to be able to marry he had to go get these many foreskins what all he had to do to be able to marry this woman so he was really a person who killed a lot of people but in his death he actually killed more people in his death than he did in his lifetime now the point that I want to make is this these columns are what held the roof up and if they moved or they even began to Teeter just a little bit the whole roof will come down killing everyone inside it even those who were kind of on the out skirts of it now what's interesting is that no one actually strikes the top of the columns God just says strike the columns in other words he just to speak and it happens and it did happen two years after Amos prophesied to northern Israel an earthquake occurred as we talked about last week bringing the roof of the temple in Bethel down on all of the people who were worshiping there at that time now the destruction of the temple was a divine sign that God disapproved of their man-made religious practices in fact Batsy immediately what they would have thought of once this earthquake happened in the temple fell and it killed all of these people that would have been assigned to you that God was disappointed that God disapproved that God was the one who brought this in fact if you remember when the Babylonians came in and they destroyed the temple Jeremiah wrote the book of lamentations and he had to tell the Jewish people that the mercies of the Lord are new every morning why did he have to tell them that because when they were marching away in the captivity and they looked up at the Temple Mount because it was built of course I'll Mount Zion you had Mount Scopus that was up there you had the Mount of Olives you have Mount Zion if you've been there and it's built upon this mountain and you could see it as they're walking away they're looking up on the mountaintop and they see that the the temple has been destroyed and what does that tell them if God destroyed the temple it's over for us God has turned his back on us because that's the house of God so what would have it was a divine sign so what does Jeremiah do he writes the book of limitations and he talks about how bad it is but he also writes in there that the mercies of the Lord are new every morning new every morning and they had to remember you know what God has done this but you still have to look to God because God is this way if he punishes you and you repent then he forgives and what does the Bible teach if God forgives he also forgets and so of course he restores them but anyways when the temple and Bethel was destroyed then this was a divine sign but people that was just the start in fact the earthquake led to the next divine judgment Israel which was the sport look back at verse number one then I saw a vision of the Lord standing beside the altar he said strike the tops of the temple column so that the foundation will shake bring down the roof on the heads of the people below I will kill with the sword those who survived no one will escape now the sword always referred to me to an army of the enemy if you're going to kill someone with the sword it means your army was going to do there's gonna be a military conflict there's gonna be a battle and that's what the sword refers to it's referring to an enemy army in other words God was going to use another nation's military to either kill or carry into captivity those who didn't die in the earthquake because it wasn't just those who were at the temple if you were inside the city when this great earthquake happened and they mentioned they were mentioning it even one hundred to two hundred years after it that's how big of an earthquake it was and so what's interesting about this is if you were in a city many were killed in that what he saying is it if you survived the earthquake well that's just a warning because God's bringing in this military and those of you who didn't die in the earthquake you're either gonna be killed you're gonna be carrying the captivity now I want you to notice the last part of verse one it says no one will escape you'll either die or you'll be carried into captivity now as I said the earthquake came about 40 years before the sword came which proves that God is long-suffering you see anyone and everyone who believed Amos prophecy they got out of Dodge just think about this if you were living back in the time of Amos and Amos came and he was prophesying all of this if you believed what Amos was prophesying would you continue to live in Samaria no where would you go you would move to southern Israel you would move to Judah you would go to the southern kingdom and the reason you would do that is because you believe what Amos is prophesying so they left and they moved to the southern kingdom and God gave them ample time to do that because God is a God compassion and mercy but if they didn't move to Judah every one of them either died or were carried into captivity in 722 BC look at verses 8 through 10 and you'll see what I'm talking about we're gonna kind of jump ahead we'll come back to in a minute but I just want you to see this it says either Sovereign Lord and watching this sinful nation of Israel I would destroy it from the face of the earth but I will never completely destroy the family of Israel says the Lord for I will give the command and I will shake Israel along with the other nations as grain is shaken in the sieve yet not one true kernel will be lost are you seeing kind of a pattern in the Old Testament that you see in the New Testament God won't lose anyone that's in his hand right you know if you grew up Baptist you are always taught once saved always saved no man can pluck them out of my hand and we talked about this well here he is in the Old Testament and here's what he says I will give the command and shake Israel along with the other nations as grain is shaken in the sieve yet not one true kernel will be lost if your true believer you're not gonna be lost but he says but all the sinners will die by the sword all those who say nothing bad will happen to us in other words there would be those that survived but they're the ones that believed what Amos had prophesied so they left Samaria and they moved to Judah but God gave them ample time to do that all of the others died in 722 BC or they were carried into captivity I mean it was a mass exile now verses 2 through 4 a part of the vision but they're added to emphasize the inability to escape the judgment of God what you have in these verses are a series of five conditional clauses these conditional clauses are meant to show that any attempt to escape God's judgment is futile now does everyone know what I mean by conditional sentences a conditional sentence or a clause is made up of two halves one half is a condition and it usually has the word if in it if you do this it's conditional if you don't do this then this will happen if you do this this will happen so you have this one half that says if you do this the other half of the sentence or the clause states what will happen if the condition is fulfilled if you do this then this will happen it's conditional so think of it like an if-then sentence if you do this then this will happen so now that you know what a conditional sentence is let's read verses 2 through 4 because this is part of the vision here's what it says even if they dig down to the place of the dead I will reach down and pull them up and I really don't like the NLT translation here because actually the place of the dead is translated from the Greek word shadow and that's what it's talking about even if they dig down to oh I will reach down and pull them up even if they climb up into the heavens I will bring them down even if they hide at the very top of Mount Carmel I will search them out and capture them even if they hide at the bottom of the ocean I will send the sea serpent after them to bite them even if their enemy's drive them into exile I will command the sword to kill them there I am determined to bring disaster upon them and not to help them now this personal pronoun I is God this is God speaking in the vision he's the one that says I am determined to bring disaster upon them and boy listen to this and not help them now as you can see some of these conditional clauses are hyperboles in other words exaggerations in order to make a point if I say I am so hungry I could eat a horse people I want you to understand something that's an exaggeration that's a hyperbole I'm exaggerating how hungry I am or actually I'm exaggerating what I can eat in order to make the point that I am so hungry well some of these conditional clauses are hyperboles they're exaggerations in order to make a point but it's pretty obvious which ones are exaggerations but the reason God is using hyperboles is because he's trying to drive home the point there's no place too hot notice the first one let's go through them the first one is in verse two if they dig down to the place of the dead in other words to show then I will reach down and pull them up notice the if then if they do this this is what God will do so if they try to hide in hell to escape God's judgment then God will reach down in hell and he'll pull them back up now obviously this is a hyperbole can any of you dig to hell how many remembers kids you're digging a hole and your parents came out and said well if you keep digging you're gonna dig all the way to China and you don't can I do that you know this is the hyperbole do you think you could dig deep enough to get to show no no and anyways it's a spiritual place so physically you couldn't be there anyway but he's exaggerating to make this book even if you go to show I'll reach down there and I'll pull you back up the second one is also in verse two if they climb up into the heavens then God will bring them down in other words if somehow it was even possible for them to actually climb up to heaven to escape God's judgment then God would grab a hold of them and he would pull them back down to the earth of course this is a hyperbole but he's trying to make a point here the third and fourth one there in verse three says even if they hide at the very top of Mount Carmel I will search them out and capture them even if they hide at the bottom of the ocean I will send the sea serpent after them to bite them now Mount Carmel is about 1,800 feet above sea level and it has hundreds of caves that's running through the mountain in fact over the thousands of years there have been many people who have hidden in the caves at Mount Carmel so it was really known as a place that if you wanted to hide you ran to Mount Carmel because if you knew where the where the caves were you could find these caves and they would run sometimes all through the mountain and so people would do that but God says if you try to hide on Mount Carmel I'll find you I'll spot you I'll show those Assyrians exactly where you are if you try to hide at the bottom of the ocean I'll do what I did with Jonah I'll send a sea serpent to get you except he's not just gonna come in and eat he's not just gonna swallow you and spit you back up he's just gonna bite you now what's the point what's he what's the point he's trying to make well the point is you can't hide from God and you can't escape the judgment that's coming now the last conditional clause is in verse 4 it says even if their enemies drive them into exile I will command the sword to kill them there in other words if they're lucky enough to survive the fighting and they're carried into captivity that doesn't mean they're gonna live a long good life no because God will command the sword to kill them there it's gonna be a horrible time now what's the point again that God's trying to make in verses 2 through 4 well look at the last part of verse 4 what's it in God's words I am determined to bring disaster upon them and not to help them God is determined to bring judgment upon them and they're not gonna get any help from him in fact God is going to go out of his way to bring judgment upon every one of them people that's the point that's the point now verses 5 & 6 is actually a hymn I find this strange and a little bit humorous you might not find a humorous how many of you were raised Baptist hey I was raised Baptist the Jews in the Old Testament loved hymns every bit as much as Baptists do today so when you're reading through the prophetic --ax you'll come to something here think what in the world is that nine times out of ten it's a hymn verses five and six is a hymn it's a song and it's going to describe the virtues of God now this particular hymn describes Yahweh as the ruler of heaven and the controller of the earth and the oceans it's tied to the vision in verses one through four because it affirms that no one can hide from God God sees everything and he has the ability to control everything so let's look at verses five and six and as we're reading it just follow along with me the Lord the Lord of heavens armies now this is good because he says the Lord but then he goes further the Lord of heavens armies now again that word Lord is in all caps what does that tell you tells you it's translated from the Hebrew word for Yahweh in English it's Jehovah it's the covenant keeping redeeming name of God Israel was supposed to have a covenant with God so this is the lord of heavens hosts in other words heavens armies so it's Yahweh it says this the Lord the lords of heavens armies touches the land and it melts and all its people mourn the ground rises like the Nile River at flood time and then it sinks again we've already seen this once right the Lord's home reaches up to the heavens while it's foundation is on the earth he draws up water from the oceans and He pours it down as rain on the land the Lord is his name so it starts off with the Lord Yahweh and it ends with Yahweh but as you can see verse 5 deals with God's judgment on the earth he touches the land and it mounts now the word melts is translated from the Hebrew word moog and it can mean to melt or it can mean to shake depending upon the context in this context it means to shake in fact that's why the last part of the sitting says the ground rises like the Nile River at flood time and then at 6 again people this is a reference to an earthquake so what this is saying is that God touches the earth and listen it shakes it moves up and down all God has to do is just barely touch it had a big earthquake it happens verse 6 tells us that God's throne extends from Earth to heaven in fact heaven and his is his throne and earth is his footstool and he's created heaven and earth to work in harmony with each other look at verse 6 again the Lord's home reaches up to the heavens that's his throne well it's foundation is on the earth that's his footstool he draws up water from the oceans and He pours it down as rain on the land the Lord is his name in other words the earth in heaven work in harmony together in the oceans you have condensation and so all of a sudden this water comes up condensing and you have clouds the wind blows the clouds over the land and then it falls down as rain and it waters the the earth God has everything working together and he's the one who created it to work that way so this is a him talking about God but the reason he inserts this him is because everyone who would sing it would know what it's talking about it's talking about God's in control of everything heaven is his throne earth is his footstool he created heaven and earth to work together he's the lord of heavens armies all he has to do is touch the earth and it shakes this is God now as I've said throughout this series Israel rejected Amos message but the reason they rejected it was because they were God's chosen people and in their mind God would never ever bring judgment upon his people now people I have emphasized this over and over again and the reason I have is because America thinks the same way we are America and we are in the very same position that Israel was at that time they had a dominant military they were more prosperous than any other nation there wasn't anyone that they could see that surrounded them or that was even close to them that was a threat they were the superpower at that time but not only that they were God's chosen people and in their mind God would never ever bring judgment upon his chosen people in fact God had delivered them out of Egypt and personally given them the promised land so why would God destroy them there's no way God would ever do that and you know we tend to do this in America god bless the people who came over to America you know we came for a better land because we were persecuted as Christians we came over here we set it up on Christian values and as a result of that America has always been black right and we think because of that God's never gonna do anything to us it's one of the reasons I chose the Book of Amos because it fits America but this was their mentality the reason they didn't think God would bring judgment upon them and the reason they thought it was impossible for him to do that it's because they were God's chosen people man look back he brought them out of Egypt and he delivered them into the Promised Land why would God turn around and judge them so in verses 7 through 10 Amos refuted that mentality and in doing so he compared what God had done for Israel to what God had done for other nations because he wanted them to see that what God had done for them he'd also done for others and most of us don't know that we've grown up in church all of her life sometimes we think that the only nation that God has ever helped was Israel people that's not true what God did for Israel he did for other nations also in fact delivering them from the bondage of Egypt and giving them the promised land was not what made Israel special what made Israel special was the revelation they received and I'm talking about the revelation of God's Word people that is what made Israel special God made a covenant with them and in this covenant he revealed what he expected them to do he gave them this revelation of his word but that's also why God held them to a higher standard they knew what God expected of them and yet they present persistent to do their own thing in their own way and for that God was bringing judgment upon them so look at verses 7 through 10 and follow along as I read this passage of Scripture because this is one of the most interesting passages of scripture in the entire Bible yeah verses 7 through 10 here's what it says are you Israelites more important to me now who's me God God is speaking remember are you Israelites more important me than the ethiopians ask the Lord I brought Israel out of Egypt it's true I did that for you but I also brought the Philistines from Crete and I also led the Arameans out of curve I had the sovereign Lord am watching this sinful nation of Israel I will destroy it from the face of the earth but I will never completely destroy the family of Israel says the Lord for I will give the command and we'll shake Israel along with the other nations as grain is shaking in a sieve I'm not gonna treat you any different I'm going to shake you just like I shake the other nations as grain is shaking in a sieve yet not one true kernel will be lost but all the sinners will die by the sword all those who say nothing bad will happen to us in verse 7 I could preach a sermon on that last verse let me just tell you all sinners will die all sinners will die and all those who say well I think I've led a good life I think I deserve to go to heaven that's another sermon that's not on this anyways in verse number seven I want you to notice that the Lord asked the Israelites a rhetorical question he asked are you Israelites more important to me than the Ethiopians and the obvious answer was no I mean this is a rhetorical question when you ask a rhetorical question you expect everyone to know the answer wife's when you ask your husband when you ask if if he asked if he could do something and it's kind of stupid when you say do you really want to do that the answer is no you don't want to do that can't you see that she's asking if you're stupid you might say well yeah and she says really see the answer is obvious when you ask a rhetorical question the answer is officer he says are you Israelites more important to me than the idiot if he opens and the obvious answer everyone knows is well no now it's interesting that God chose the Ethiopians to use in this rhetorical question because Ethiopians were black you see even in ancient times racism towards black was prevalent and let me prove it to you look at Jeremiah chapter 13 verse 23 Jeremiah is riding he's just asking a question because I've heard people make this comment that are pastors even scholars have made this comment and I'm thinking really can you not study this out you don't even have to have bachelor's degree to get this they say well you know Ethiopians they they weren't black good lord no notice what assess your my chapter 13 verse 23 can an Ethiopian change the color of his skin can a leopard take away a spots neither can you start doing good for you have always done evil in other words what this is saying is ethiop ins are black and they can't change that that's the color of their skin now when Moses married in Ethiopian Ethiopian Aaron and Miriam didn't like it look at numbers chapter 12 verse number 1 and Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom in marriage Fred married an Ethiopian woman they weren't upset when he'd gone in marriage support or were they know was she a Jew no she was a Midian Midianite why were they upset about this what they were upset about was the fact that she was black now the reason this is important is because the Israelites thought they were special to God in other words they thought they were superior yeah and throughout history blacks have always been looked down about looked down upon as being inferior and people that's wrong but throughout history it's been the prevalent view not just in the last two or three hundred years it goes back thousands of years to O Testament times all the way back before Moses so an Amos chapter nine verse seven God asked Israel are you Israelites who think you're superior to everyone else more important to me than the Ethiopians who everyone thinks are inferior and what's the answer you you answered it last time what's the answer no in God's eyes everyone is the same everyone regardless of skin color so no one is more important than anyone else in God's eyes I've got news for you we all go back to Adam and Eve and then everyone kind of got destroyed except for Noah's family so we can all trace our ancestry back to Noah if you believe the Bible and I believe the Bible so what he's saying here because the Jews thought of themselves as being superior they were God's chosen people I mean God chose them above everyone else they're superior are you do you think that you're more important to me than the Ethiopians and he specifically chose them because the color of their skin because he wanted them to know sin know everyone is the same to God in his eyes and what about the Exodus well God had done the same thing for other nations yeah God had delivered other nations and given him a homeland just like Israel look at the last part of verse seven you see what I'm talking about I brought Israel out of Egypt it's true I did that but I also do you see that but I also brought the Philistines from Crete and I led the Arameans out of curve do you see that what he done for Israel he done for other nations it's kind of interesting but when they went in the Promised Land it was the Canaanite it's who they drove out and the reason is because the sin of the Canaanites had finally become so full that the land was vomiting them out and because of their sin if you remember the reason that the Israelites were in captivity for over 400 years is because the sin of the amorite was not yet full at full and the word amirite referred to all of the Canaanites even it was a specific one it was kind of used as a slang term to refer to all that came out but the Philistines were never referred to as Canaanites did they have problems with the Israelites yes because they were always invading and doing so God's gonna wipe them out too but I want you to understand in the beginning God's the one it says that brought them out yeah he set them he brought them from Crete and he said I'm worried they were where they were at but what made Israel special was the revelation they received and I'm talking about again the revelation of God's Word that's what made his real special but it's also why God held them to a higher standard they knew what God expected of him yet they persisted to do what they knew was wrong now after God said Israel straight about who they were in his eyes and how special they were he then told them that he was going to destroy them not completely some would be saved but Israel as a nation would be destroyed now you now remember we're making a distinction between Israel and Judah this is after the the kingdom had separated so when I say Israel I'm not referring to Judah I'm referring to the northern tribes the ten northern tribes so what he's saying is Israel as a nation would be destroyed look at verse eight either Sovereign Lord I love that what do you mean my sovereign Lord he decides what's going to happen I'm watching this sinful nation of Israel shaking his head as he's watching them I would destroy it from the face of the earth Wow when you ever when you see the the phrase face of the earth you know what that means it means I'm gonna blitter ate you I'm gonna literally wipe you off the face of the earth yeah I will destroy from the face of the earth but I will never completely destroy the family of Israel says the Lord now in verses 9 and 10 God told them who would be saved look at verses 9 and 10 for I will give the command and we'll shake Israel along with the other nations when he was doing this he's going to shake these other nations and Israel right along with it as grain is shaking and deceive yet not one true kernel will be lost in other words not one true believer will be lost now that seems impossible remember this is God because if you were shaking this to deceive you want to get everything out just want to have that grain there you want to make sure that it's there you're you're shaking this you would invariably lose a grain or two that was just part of doing it but not the Lord let me just say this if you're a true believer you don't have to worry when you die God's never gonna make a mistake as you're descending into hell you don't have to say oh yeah I'm sorry I forgot you're saved come on up here that's not gonna do that then he goes further but all the sinners will die by the sword all those who say nothing bad will happen to us the sinners would be destroyed or carried into captivity but the retentive would be spared in other words they would hear Amos message and repent and they would heed his message and move to Judah now you think about this let's suppose that someone now today you're not gonna have a prophet do that New Testament prophecy is totally different than Old Testament prophecy if you've ever heard me teach them the difference between no Testament prophet New Testament prophet you know this if you've never heard me preach on the difference between the Old Testament New Testament prophet you need to go back and listen to that message because in the Old Testament the Holy Spirit would come upon a prophet he would go into an open-eyed vision and he would literally speak the words that got put in his mouth and he couldn't say anything except what God put in his mouth and the New Testament it's not that way and you've heard me teach on this and you understand why it's not that way so you have people you might prophesy today but they are not Old Testament prophets they might think they are and they think they're elijah elijah and they've got this mantle and they're acting all Old Testament D but it's not that way not today but let's just suppose the Old Testament prophet was the same as New Testament prophet and someone came to America and they started prophesying and you got realized man that's God and he started talking about what's gonna happen to America what would you do if you truly believed you get out of Dodge you moved wouldn't you would you be stupid enough to stay you know I've always wondered this when everything started going south for the Jews in Germany right before World War two and you started seeing all of this my first thought is for those who could get out why did you not get out and many of them did they saw the writing on the wall I mean you know where that phrase comes from they won't know where that phrase comes from that saying writing on the wall anyone now guessing the Book of Daniel remembering they're having the feast and the finger of God comes and writes on the wall yeah that's called the writing on the wall when you see the writing on the wall but anyways if you saw the writing on the wall I mean you get out I always wondered that about the Jews why didn't they do that but many of them who believed it but here's the reason the ones who didn't leave didn't leave it's because they really didn't think it would get to what it got to and you seen this is why God is saying the reason he gives 40 years after this earthquake comes if that happens somewhere around 763 to 765 but the the final thing didn't happen till 722 you look at they say 40 years why did God give 40 years the reason he gave 40 years is because God gave more than enough time for people to see the writing on the wall and to realize that what God had prophesied was true and if they believed it was true they got they went to Judah and guess what happened Assyria came in in 722 and everything that Amos prophesied came to pass that's why it's in the Bible today because after it came to pass the priests looked at and said boom there's only one thing in the Book of Amos that has yet to come to pass and it's what we're gonna look at next week which is the restoration the house of David

Channel: Cornerstone Fellowship

Views: 2,151

Rating: 4.7948718 out of 5

Keywords: bible and racism, racism in the bible, bible study book of amos, minor prophets, minor prophet amos, prophetical literature, Amos, eschatology, Old Testament, Bible Study, End Times, interracial, interracial marriage, interracial couple, bible prophecy, bible study, cultrual context of amos, purpose of book of amos, bible video, biblical law, discourse, laws in bible, slavery in bible, old testament laws, old testament, how to read the bible, read the bible

Id: epyEmxQ6XSA

Length: 42min 10sec (2530 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 10 2018