One Hour. One Book: Amos

I want to remind you that as we come to the Book of Olmos you are dealing with a man whose name means burden I want you to remember that almost is a partner along with others he is speaking along the same time of jeroboam the second which is 790 to 750 s BC and you will remember that the prophets that are part of the divided Kingdom period and I'm talking about writing prophets not speaking prophets they're speaking prophets like Elijah and Elijah and Nathan the seer Adu the seer there are many of them but the writing prophets will include Obadiah who's writing to a dome Joel we looked at a little earlier Amos appears to come along about this time Jonah we looked at this prophet as well and then the triad of Isaiah Micah and Hosea that are all teaming up at about the same time remember there are seven seven I'm good enough there are seven there remember that there are seven prophets for that divided Kingdom period followed by the three prophets that are in Judah alone which are have a cook Zephaniah and now Homer Nahum so I want to I want to just quickly look at in the next few minutes a little bit of the prophecy of almost now it is written in three boxes or three sections the first one is in one one two two sixteen or chapters one and two the second one is in chapters three to six and then of course seven to nine and what I'm doing with these are breaking them down between the types of prophecies that they are the first two chapters include eight indictments and those indictments will largely be two kingdoms around Israel zeroing in on Israel this is what it is it'll begin with Damascus and then move around to Gaza it'll move around to tyre it'll move around to the it'll move around to Amman and Marv and then eventually to Judah and end up zeroing in on Israel it's actually done this way my map isn't exactly to scale but you get the idea of it what he's doing is a post-world War two term zeroing in because of the Japanese zeroes that used to aim at our ships in the Pacific what he's doing is he's closing in on the bull's eye but he's aiming at Judah and Israel and primarily at Israel so this is a divided Kingdom period between 928 722 there is in Israel in the north there is a Judah in the south it's after Solomon but before the fall of the Northern Kingdom to the Assyrians all right the judgments are largely going to be indictments about you can see we get to number six of the eight without getting to Jews so six of the eight indictments that are found in chapters 1 and 2 are not about the Jewish people but about people that affect the people of God and you don't get to the Jewish people until you get to number seven which is Judah and number eight which is Israel so if you take a look at the book you'll find that these this zeroing in is all about bringing you down to understanding the national shame that is here's the world around us and what we were to be to them but instead of us being to them they have now made us like them in other words we've been pressed into the mold of the world and because we have we now will bear a shame and that shame will be carried out to all people the next section that we're gonna look at has three Oracle's and the Oracles are irregular visions or pronouncements you need to see that in the beginning box there are eight indictments and the people of God were pressed into the mold the world rather than affecting the world in the second box there are three specific ocular warnings one of them is that Israel is going to be chastised the first one the second one is that that they've ignored my warnings and the third one is a lamentation with two great woes and you're gonna see this picked up later on in Revelation the sound of these woe woe to the these are specific sermons that have been pasted together in the center of the book that are to tell you about three let's say three sermons instead of three Oracle's and you'll get the same idea then at the end and seven through nine we're gonna see five and those five visions include a vision where he sees in seven one two three a series of locusts and followed by another one seven four - I think it's four to six yes seven four to six which is a vision of fire a third vision comes up but not until there's a bit of an interlude there's a bit of an interlude from 7/10 to 17 so I'm gonna set that aside 7/10 to 17 and we're gonna box that off that's gonna be an interlude and by the time you get to 780 I'm sorry it's 8 1 it's not 7 18 there is no 7 18 by the time you get to 8 1 2 I think it's 14 if I'm not mistake 1 to 14 you'll see a summer fruit right now is just blah blah blah but it's gonna make sense as we weave the thing together first you need to get a embracing of what it is he's doing and then you can sort of weave it together into its spiritual outline chapter 9 will be a picture of the Lord before the altar there's a third one which is plumb line and that is seven seven through nine and then you have the insert so one two three four five different visions that he's gonna have what I'd like to do is stop for a second I want you to have those in the beginning of your notes but then I want to walk through this book quickly and see if we can pick up really what is he trying to do I'm going to take a special light brush to some part of the narrative because I don't think it's actually going to help us a great deal to spend a lot of time discussing what God is going to do the they are dust they're gone okay and with Obadiah you've got a pretty good stomping of the so what I'm going to do is just kind of walk through it with you and starting off in the very first verse you have the superscription of it that these are the words of one whose name is burden almost who was among the sheepherders of Toccoa Toccoa is near Bethlehem it's south east of Bethlehem and for those of you who travel with me you will be able to see Toccoa we can point it out from the top of the Herodian it is a modern city today that is under construction right next to the ancient place of Toccoa and we have in addition to that it says he was among the sheep herders from Tekoa which he envisioned envisioned envisions concerning Israel in the days of Isaiah the king of Judah and Jeroboam son of joash king of Israel two years before the earthquake there's a lot of ideas about when that could be it's a little bit difficult for us to understand the historical situation of it in completion all we know is that at some time during the eighth century BC and that this significant earthquake was something that everyone knew about at that time but not necessarily something that we can date accurately today one of the problems with the the Middle East is that the way they tell time is often done in a in a relative chronology so it's the third year of king of Hasso heirs which only helps you if you know when King asks where's was King this is two years after the earthquake are two years before the earthquake which only helps you if you happen to know when the earthquake was so when we begin let's take a look at what he says he starts off with a very simple vision and the vision is a judgment on nations that begins in verse 3 but notice verse 2 sets up the sense or the tenor of the whole argument he says the Lord roars from Zion and from Jerusalem he utters his voice and the Shepherd's pasture ground morn and the summit of Carmel dries up stop look what he says he says from out of the city of the great temple of God God is speaking and he utters his voice and two things happen one of them is in the South and one of them is in the north the south and east were the Shepherds pasture their grounds mourn that is there seems to be two years before the earthquake a lessening of even the necessary rains for the wilderness to produce enough for the sheep to graze upon so he says it appears as though there's a drought in the land that's causing a famine and the Shepherd's are groaning because their sheep don't have enough to eat that's in the southeast that's gonna be down here that's gonna be Judah but then he says the summit of Carmel which will be up there in Israel and he says the summit of Carmel dries up you remember from studying the land that there are two rules of rainfall north and west is wet south and east is dry that means that the further north you get color it more green on your map the further south you get color it more brown the further toward the Mediterranean Sea in the West color it more green the further to the south and east color it more brown and remember the second rule of rainfall is high in elevation is wet low in elevation is dry so the north and west is wet but it's also the highest point along the northwest coast which is where Mount Carmel sticks out it gets the most natural rainfall conversely south and east is dry and the Dead Sea is the lowest point it's both south and east and low and that means color it completely brown less than seven inches of rainfall so your about four and a half inches of rainfall and as a result it's gonna be like dry like Arizona desert so expect that in this small 50 miles across here you're gonna go from green rain to brown dry all in one small compass now what's important is he mentions a place in verse two that is south and east Judah next to Shepherds I would put Judah and summit of Mount Carmel I would put Israel because that's what he's doing he's zeroing in and he's going to tell you where I end will be about the Jewish people and about what God's effect is on the Jewish people roaring from Zion you guys have gotten me upset so don't lose that verse two sets up the narrative to tell you that what all Moses burden is is ultimately not about how bad ungodly people are in the nations but how bad it's been for the for the people of God to emulate them to be pressed into the mold of the world that's gonna be his angle now very quickly he's gonna pick up first a judgment against Damascus and Haram so I want you to circle in verse three Damascus three transgressions of Damascus and four four I will not revoke punishment this is a poetic way of saying I want to tell you some things and he repeats it but he adds or ups the ante on the number to let you know how strongly he feels I will I will not revoke its punishment because they thrashed Gilead with implements of sharp iron they went through and harmed the Israelites that lived on the east side of the Jordan in Bashan and Gilead and specific in gilja so from over here they came and attacked those who were the the tribes of the east and they used some kind of metal implements then it says so I will send fire upon the house of hacia and I will consume the Citadel's of been added I will also break the gate bar of Damascus cut off the inhabitant from the valley of oven and and him who holds the scepter of beta den so the people of Iram will be exiled to kir he says I going to have them taken over they're going to be overthrown and walked out of where they are all we know about Kier is that it's a southern Babylonian exile point he says Damascus is going to end up in exile I don't want to spend a long time on Damascus but can I point out to you that verses 6 through 8 belong specifically to Gaza and I know that because you can circle the word Gaza in verse 6 and it says that again three transgressions of Gaza for four I will not revoke as punishment because they deported an entire population to deliver it to a dome here's what I want you to see it looks like I would put next to verse 6 see Obadiah and that seems to be the same time period a little bit later and he says God says I'm gonna I'm gonna move against you I will send fire upon the wall of Gaza I will consumer citadels I will cut off the inhabitants of Ashdod you see Ashkelon you see a Crone these are all part of the Philistine pentathlon you remember their 5 cities of the Philistines Gaza göth Ekron Ashdod Ashkelon those 5 cities are Philistine pentathlon and so he's going to turn against the people of the Philistines now in verses 9 and 10 he switches gears now he's gone from Damascus to Gaza his third group in verse verse 9 and 10 will be to the kingdom of tyre can you see in verse 9 circle the word tyre and again the same formula for three things they done for for I won't revoke judgment because they delivered an entire population to a dolmen did not remember the Covenant of brotherhood so I will send fire upon the wall of tyre I will consumer Citadel's and we could talk about the judgment that actually happened to tyre it was a profound judgment so that when tyre was destroyed it was almost unrecognizable for hundreds of years until it was archaeologically excavated it's an interesting City because it thought itself to be impregnable and it was actually brought low and destroyed but again I don't want to spend a long time on the on the other guys I want to get to us so let's drop down and say in verses 11 and 12 let's circle in verse 11 a dome and you are already familiar with the judgments against a dome just put next to it see Obadiah because that's exactly what God is going to do and he mentions in in verse verses 11 and 12 a dome and Edomite places like Timman and Basra these are places in the Edomite red mountains now drop down to verse 13 to 13 to 15 and he talks about what kingdom you see it in verse 13 circle a moun the ammonite kingdom this is the area around where the Jordanian King today has his capital and this is the ammonite kingdom and the ammonite kingdom north east of the Dead Sea roughly remember we have a hard time with the boundaries because it's where the people move back and forth and it depends upon where they're encamped and who flexes what as to what their kingdom edges are but it says that in verse 13 the three transgressions of an among and for four I will not revoke its punishment look what they did they ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead in order to enlarge their borders in other words they so came against the people that they actually harmed not just warriors but they actually went into villages and harmed people and then it says I will Kindle a wall the wall of raba this would be the capital city of a moun today the Amman Jordan is in the roughly the same area as this and it will consume their Citadel's amid war cries in the day of battle and a storm in the day of The Tempest their King will go into exile he and his princes together says the Lord so you get a sense that you get all the way to the end of chapter one and then he's going to switch gears now into another indictment this is the indictment against who according to verse 1 of chapter 2 moab so circle moab and again you have the same for three transgressions for four I will not revoke punishment he burned the bones of the king of a dome to lime what you see is God saying look the way you nations have behaved one against the other have been incredibly destructive incredibly offensive and your warfare against one another has not been ignored by God and so he says I will send fire on Moab I will consume the Citadel's of carry-out and Moab will die amid tumult and war cries in the sound of a trumpet I will cut off the judge from her midst and slay all her Prince's I'm gonna take away everything that is rational about her society and break that society down and I'm going to take it away and then you get to verse 4 and chapter 2 verses 4 & 5 now you get to Jews and finally you get to Judah and in the 7th of the 8 indictments in verses 4 & 5 of chapter 2 it says I will it says three transgressions of Judah for four I will not revoke its punishment because they rejected the law of the Lord because they have not kept his statutes because their lies have led them astray look at those three things they rejected God's law Jerusalem the voice of God the temple says you don't follow my word second you don't keep my and the word statutes of course is that word from Hoch it's from were whole game it's the word for engravings you have not only turned away from the specifics of my law you've turned away from the principles they're founded on the unchanging truths that are ever true about me you've walked away from those and then he says your lies have led you astray that is you have written a different way of explaining life and now followed that but here's what he's saying he's saying when you decide as a country that you're gonna write a narrative that's not my word and replace my word with a narrative then here's what you're going to do your lies will lead you astray when you create they there is no creator we came from Random Stardust in an explosion out of nothing then you will create a morality formed on that lie and that will lead you astray in your policy and so ultimately what Judah had done was taken the brain trust repository of God's revelation turn it off and when you turn it off in the absence of truth lies fill the vacuum so I will send fire upon Judah consume the Citadel's of jerusalem for three transgressions of israel go to verse six and when you get down to verses 6 to 16 we now focus in the judgment of Israel for three transgressions of Israel and for four I will not revoke its punishment look at that first one what did they do because you sell the righteous for money and the needy for a pair of sandals in other words you take people that aren't doing wrong and you turn them into paupers and clean them out you steal from those who you can steal from you take advantage in injustice from those who can't fight back then he says these who pant after the very dust of the earth on the head of the helpless these are the people who have absolutely nothing and you take what they do to do have you break them break them break them and take and take and take a good picture of this would be the rounding up of slaves in Africa to drag them across the ocean the little bit that they had was taken and ripped from them and you made them into slaves it's that same idea now it's interesting as verse 7 goes on it says also you turn aside the way of the humble that is the word humble enough is the word for a meek person you put people into the defensive position that aren't doing anything wrong one of the things that happens when a nation turns its back on God is it makes people who walk with God suddenly become defensive they don't want to be defensive they want to be peaceable the wisdom from above is at first peaceable James says but the problem is when you're getting punched all the time you raise your hands or you're just gonna get your nose broke so he says you're you're turning aside the meek people you're making them fight back and it says and a man and his father resort to the same girl in order to profane my holy name what you're doing is changing the basic pattern of morality so that morality as it regards relationships is being cancelled these are God's people they're not to be doing this on garments taken as pledges they stretch out beside their altar and in there they're a house of their God they drink the wine of those who have been fined here's what he says do you understand verse 8 they take as pledges they stretch out beside every altar he's talking about the fertility shrines he's talking about the practices the immoral practices that they have now made and codified into religious truths when you can take something that God says as a pourraient to him and turn it into a religious practice that's supposed to make God happy you have gone full circle and then he says verse 9 yet it was I who destroyed the amorite before them though his height was like the height of the cedars and he was as strong as the Oaks I even destroyed his fruit above and his his root below I took out the entire tree of the amorite for doing the very things you're doing we have to remember that when people claim to rewrite morality in the name of Jesus Christ and become just like the world they will walk around in the name of love and say yes but God called us a lot but what they're doing in the same sins that caused the destruction of the societies before them it was I who brought you up from the land of Egypt I led you into the wilderness 40 years that you might take possession of the land II am right I raised up some to be sons of prophets and to be the young man to be Nazarites is this not so o sons of Israel declares the Lord but you made the Nazarites drink wine what's he talking about remember number six and the Heol benediction to the following the Nazarite vow and he says what's the big point of the Nazarite Val you can't touch grapes you can't touch vines you don't eat great believes you don't touch anything that has to do with the grape and you're making them drink wine that is you're taking the holy things that I have made and perverting them and you commanded the prophets saying you shall not prophesy one of the things that happens in a kingdom that turns its back on God's word is they will pervert God's Word they will push God's people to be in the mould of the world or they will tell them to shut up you're gonna live and see this you're gonna walk through a time when the nation is gonna turn to you and say either shut up or get on board with the morality that we said and put Bible verses after it and make it your church's stand that's what they do look at the phrase in verse 13 I behold I am weighted down beneath you as a waggon this is an important thing because this is the word for I'm tottering I'm I'm weebles wobble okay I'm wobbling back and forth under the weight of what you are putting on me I am weighted down I'm tottering because a wagon like a wagon that is overfilled with sheaves flight will perish from the Swift and the stalwart will not strengthen his power nor the mighty man save his life he who gasps a he who grasps the bow will not stand his ground the Swift of foot will not escape nor will he who rides the horse save his life even the bravest among the Warriors will flee naked in that day declares the Lord let's put a word next to that judgment I'm gonna judge and I'm going to judge my people and I'm going to judge them because of the things that they have done because in the in the southern kingdom they have allowed even the righteous to be led into captivity and they've set aside the morality of the word and in the Northern Kingdom they have forced people into a just prostitution of truth in such a way that I'm gonna I'm gonna take even your strongest people and knock them down alright let's step back and look at this box this box is I have dealt with the fact that the nations around you are evil I have dealt with them largely in how they deal with one another I need you to focus on something for a minute jesus said when the Son of man comes he'll separate the sheep from the goats and the standard of judgment will be on the nation's as to how they treated his people what's interesting is when God holds nations that are not his people responsible he largely holds them responsible in the judgment of works based on their moral and equitable relationship with the other nations around them in other words what God sees is how does this nation behave against this other nation have you decided to walk rightly toward your neighbors God gives lighter punishments to nations that are pagan but don't harm anybody I'm thinking of Switzerland you know they you know we don't fight that's so God has lesser judgment on nations that won't engage in harming others now if in fact Switzerland does economic harm through a series of moves than he would judge that but when it comes to his people his people are not judged just how they behave with other nations in fact when you look in Chapter two his turning against his own people were about how they related to him not so much how they related to the world he said you've acquiesced to the world and therefore don't relate to me and my word properly let me say it this way cut all the way through the first box God has one standard of judgment for the lost person he has a standard obviously there's two judgments for every individual judgment of sin and a judgment of works judgment of sin for me was done at the cross and I will stand before the Bema seat of Christ for a judgment of works for the unbeliever judgment of sin he will stand before and he will have to pay for his own sin because he chose not the gospel but his judgment of works will largely be in how he related to other people that is not the standard of judgment for the Bema seat of Christ nor is it the standard of judgment for the believer the believers standard of judgment is how did I relate primarily to God and His Word so that I if I have a love for God if I have a hunger for God if I desire his word and want to live it out let me say it as clearly as I can in Scripture a person who wants to walk with God isn't loyal and faithful to their spouse just for their spouse they're loyal and faithful to their spouse because of their Lord that's why it's an interior thing not just an exterior thing that's why it goes all the way to how I think not just what I touch you understand so God's standard for the believer is higher or lower higher much higher and it has to do with their interactions with him all right let me very quickly move to the center section and let's deal with the Oracle's Oracle number one is in the beginning of chapter three you're going to notice something about chapter three and that is that the Oracles themselves are arranged in a way that looks poetic because they are in fact poetry so it says here this word which the Lord has spoken against you this speech actually the word devar is here the speech with the Lord has spoken against you sons of Israel now underline sons of Israel because what he says is I am turning to the Northern Kingdom I am turning to the Jewish people in that Northern Kingdom and against the entire family which he brought up from the land of Egypt now who did he just include Judah the southern kingdom is in here so all of the Jewish people and he goes on and he asks them he opens up any and he offers them a very strict very tight very very forward statement of judgment very quickly look at it he says I chose you among the families of the earth verse to do two men walk together unless they have an appointment he says he says you know if you're gone in a different direction are you walking with me does a lion roar in the forest when he has no prey does a young lion growl from his den unless he has captured something what is it that you're growling about and speaking of when when you don't you don't have what you're proclaiming let me say this way you cannot give that which you do not possess you cannot be a testimony of a God you do not love does a bird fall into a trap on the ground when there's no bait in it how stupid would that bird have to be to drop right into the trap I mean it would be like why put bait on the hook just throw the hook out there let the fish bite the hook because the fish isn't that stupid if if a trumpet is blown in the city well not the people tremble if a calamity occurs in a city has not the Lord done it he's asking a series of questions that should all be affirmative when the trumpet blows people get excited a Wars coming a battles coming yes when calamity comes is it not the Lord what's the answer to the question yes of course surely the Lord does nothing unless he reveals his secret counsel to his servants the prophets a lord has wrought a lion has roared will will not those who fear the Lord God has spoken who can but prophesy he's not saying in verse 7 that God always communicates everything he's doing that's not what he's saying he's making a point he's trying to say I've got a word from God and you better pay attention to it proclaim on the citadel's and verse 9 in Ashdod and the citadel's in the land of Egypt and si assemble yourselves on the mountains of Samaria and see the great to mow tumult within her and the oppressions of her myths but they do not know how to do what is right declares the Lord those who hoard up violence and devastation in their Citadel's he says I want you to go out to the borders of the kingdom and I want you to tell them about what's that going to happen in the kingdom and I want you to tell them that what's going on in the kingdom isn't righteous therefore thus says the Lord an enemy even one surrounding the land will pull down your strength from you and your Citadel's will be looted looted so he goes on and says just as the shepherd snatches from the lion's mouth a couple of legs or the piece of an ear so will the sons of Israel dwelling in Scenario Samaria be snatched away what is that picture what is the picture you snatch away a few legs or the Peace of an ear out of a lion what what does that tell you it's a remnant but the animals dead you're only getting what's left over he said it's going to come I'm gonna judge you so completely that there'll only be little tiny pieces left and he goes on and he really he goes on go down to verse 15 he says I will smite the winter house together with the summer house the houses of ivory will also perish the great houses will come to an end he's saying I want a complete until I want you to hear me Israel is about to be ripped to shreds and I want the people around them to know that it's because inside of us we were already rotted that's the first of the Oracles and then he says now hear this word look at verse 4 of chapter 4 verse 1 this is a second Oracle here this word you cows of Bashan cows of Bashan in the upper area of the Golan Heights are the best fed cows in the country you fat cows you who are in the mountain of Sumeria who oppressed the poor crushed the needy who say to your husbands bring now that we may drink the Lord God has sworn by his holiness behold the days are coming when that when they will take you away with meat hooks and the last of you with fish hooks enter Beit el and transgress in Gilgal multiply transgression bring your sacrifices early morning your ties every three days he says bring it on all your false sacrifices bring on your false religion because it's going to come down on your head you love to do so so says the Lord but I gave you also cleanest of teeth in the cities and lack of bread in all your places cleanest of teeth is not that they got crest cleanest of teeth is that they had nothing to eat I brought you famine I brought you a lack of bread and yet you have not returned would you underline at the end of verse six the heart of the second Oracle which is I spoke you're not listening there are going to be people who are gonna stand at the time of judgment and accuse God of not being clear God how was I supposed to know you and God will easily be able to say well here are the following radio stations that carried the gospel your entire life that beamed right into your living room here were the number of churches surrounding you that you drove by on the way to work here were the three believers that spoke into your life and each time you said I don't care I'm busy in my life the Oracle is in the beginning that Israel was going to be judged but if the second Oracle is I need you to understand you've ignored every warning I've sent to you and because of that your warnings will run out now let's go to the last of the Oracle's well one of it one of the great great verses I can't skip this one go down to chapter 4 verse 12 therefore thus I will do to you O Israel because I will do this to you prepare to meet your God o Israel just underline that one that's that's a worthy statement get ready for God's coming because behold he who forms the mountains and creates the wind and declares to man what are his thoughts he who makes dawn into darkness and treads on the high places of the earth the Lord God of hosts is his name I would put a box around verse 13 it's one of the great theological self disclosures of Scripture he says I just want you to know I am NOT at all shaken by your disobedience I happen to walk with bigger footprints than you can imagine what's interesting to me is when you get into to the last one of these look at the format of some was I want you to see that in 5:1 he calls this a dirge do you know what a dirge is key now it's the word for a lamentation or the song of those following the dead body as they go to the funeral so this is here this word which I take up to you as a dirge o house of Israel in other words I'm walking as a pallbearer and Israel is the corpse she has fallen she will not rise again the virgin Israel she lies neglected on her land there is none to raise her up now is he saying they're done and the Jews are done no he's saying that the Kingdom of Israel the Northern Kingdom as a kingdom is done and it will never again be replaced the Jews will come back and he will gather back those from both north and south and Jeremiah is clear in jeremiah 30:7 that he will do that but they will never again establish that Kingdom they called Israel in the Northern Kingdom that's gone it's gone forever thus says the Lord God the city which goes forth a thousand strong will have a hundred left and the one which goes forth a hundred strong will have ten left to the house of Israel my point is that when you go down to 518 you pick up some woes there are two woes in the passage one of them is 518 227 and the second one is 6 1 214 518 227 and 6 1 2 14 in 518 listen to this woe alas you who are longing for the day of the Lord for what purpose will the day of the Lord be to you it will be darkness and not light and when a man flees from a lion and a bear meets him where goes home leans on his hand against the law a snake bites him will not the day of the Lord be darkness instead of light even gloom with no brightness in it I hate I reject your festivals nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies even though you offer to me burnt offerings and grain offerings I will not accept them and I will not even look at your peace offerings of your fatlings take away from me the noise of your songs I will not listen to the sound of your harps let justice roll down like the waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream did you with sacrifices and grain offerings in the wilderness for 40 years old is rayul you also carried Saku to your king and kion your images the star of your gods which you made for yourselves therefore I will make you go into exile beyond Damascus that's the road that leads to Assyria says the Lord whose name who's name is the God of hosts by the way it says FAO is the word the God of hosts is the sometimes it's sabe oath in the hymnal Lord sabe oath his name savate is the god of armies here's what he says he says you guys think the day of the Lord is all going to be about blessing but you don't understand there's a part of the day of the Lord that is very much about judgment and light of the day of the Lord comes after the darkness that's the pattern here I want you to put next to verse 18 of chapter 5 right next to it vs. Thessalonians 4 12 through 18 and the day and night we're going to pick up the day and night of the day of the Lord later but remember to the Hebrew thinker the day begins in darkness but ends in light the darkness precedes it 1st Thessalonians 4 or 12 through 18 13 through 18 if you want okay all right now there's the second woe the first woe is you think that the day of the Lord is going to all be peachy keen it's not the day of the Lord is going to come and you're going to get stomped first in judgment now he doesn't say that's the whole day of the Lord but he does say that that's included one of the reasons this prophet after prophet kept talking about there the ending place being consolation and comfort and so people emphasized look is there anybody here who doesn't know people or selectively hearers people here the part that blesses them not the part that makes them responsible and so he says you've missed part of the story chapter 6 verses 1 to 14 he says let me give you a second woe woe to those who are at ease in Zion and to those who feel cure in the mountain of Samaria the distinguished men of the foremost of Nations to whom the house of Israel comes go over to Col nee and look and go over from there to Hama the great he's talking about places north of Damascus away from or heading toward Assyria and he says they go down to Gath of the Philistines are they better than these kingdoms where is your territory greater than yours I want you to drop down to one phrase that's going to capture this whole thing in verse eight the Lord God is sworn by himself the Lord God of hosts has declared here's the phrase I want you to underline I loathe the arrogance of Jacob I detest his Citadel's I loathe the arrogance of Jacob see the second woe is I think you guys are walking around and thinking that because of David mentioned up in verse five I think that because you sing the songs of David and because you have the worship of Solomon's Temple you're walking around strutting your stuff like I'm not going to end it I love your arrogance alright so what do we have we've got the indictments of the people around Israel then the indictments of the Jewish people specifically and the standard is different between the two then we have three Oracle's Israel is about to be chastised number one Israel has ignored my warnings number two number three lament a lamentation I want you to lament the reality whoa number one is you think that the judgment of God isn't coming and what's coming is comfort and consolation and I'm telling you the day of the Lord comes in darkness before it comes in light second woe I loathe your arrogance I don't want to hang out with you anymore the way you behave you think because you sing and dance songs that include my name and you stand there with your bic lighter and you're desperate for me that you you think I can't see your heart you're not desperate for me you're desperate for more money you're desperate for a better boyfriend you're desperate for a better car you're desperate for things that are about you not about me and I both your arrogance acting like you can put my name on your greed and then he says in verses 7 and chapter seven through nine I want to give you five quick pictures I want you to circle in verse 1 of chapter 7 locust swarm then circle in verse fours for the word fire then circle in verse 7 plumb line then circle in verse chapter 8 verse 1 summer fruit and then go all the way to chapter 9 verse 1 and circle Lord standing beside the altar these are the pictures these five visions and his first vision is all about locusts the Lord God showed me behold he was forming a locust swarm when the spring crop began to sprout and behold the spring crop was after the Kings mowing and it came about when it was finished eating the vegetation of the land that I said Lord God please pardon how can Jacob stand for he is small the Lord changed his mind about this it shall not be said the Lord he said the Lord showed me that he was about to clean out all of our food supply and I begged him not to and then the Lord said ok long vision number 2 thus the Lord showed me verse 4 the Lord God was calling to contend with them by fire and consume the great heap and began to consume the farmland and I said Lord God please stop how can Jacob stand for he is small and the Lord God changed his mind about this this too shall not be said the Lord God now some of you are gonna go right there in the Bible study and people are gonna go I thought it says I am the Lord I changed not this is not what God is doing this is a vision of a picture it's a video that he's watching of something that's happening to explain a story he's not saying God was going to burn us up I prayed and God changed his mind he's saying God show may the power of a word from a believer concerning coming judgement that's the point of the story don't tell me prayer doesn't change God don't tell me prayer doesn't change outcomes here's what I know God told me to pray and there are places in scripture like Daniel where I can show you where where what happened was this I have come in response to your prayers that means heaven did something because Daniel prayed here's the bottom line the whole point of this first two visions is I just want you to know that a single believer standing in the face of a dark nation can cry out for that nation and save them from there there are the results of their own darkness that one righteous man and his prayers avail much one righteous woman can stand up in a dark family and God will turn back the judgment on its head because of that woman who stood up and said God please please we I can't I can't sit silent I must cry out to you because of what I see so there's a point to the story but the point of the story is not that God changes his mind the point of the story is that that you are to speak from a broken heart for the darkness of a situation knowing God does hear you what's interesting is you go all the way down to verses seven through nine and you see this third illustration thus the Lord showed me a vertical wall with a plumb line what's a plumb line it's basically a string with a weight at the bottom to see if the wall is straight up and down okay the Lord said to me what do you see how most I said a plumb line and the Lord said behold I am about to put a plumb line in the midst of the my people Israel and I will spare them no longer the high places of Isaac will be desolated the sanctuaries of Israel will be laid waste then I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam with with the sword he says finally the Lord said to me this isn't a straight wall and I can't let it stand I'm going to act against this crooked wall now I want to jump past 10 through 17 for because there's actually a little story of some priests that get into a scuffle and then get all the way down to summer fruit in chapter 8 because here's another one of his visions thus the Lord God showed me there was a basket of summer fruit and he said what do you see and I said a basket of summer fruit then the Lord said to me the end has come for my people Israel I will spare them no longer what he's looking at is a basket of fruits that are late in the season ripe fruits meaning it's been a long time since they harvested so he says the songs of the palace will turn to wailing in that day declares the Lord God many will be the corpses in every place they will cast them forth in silence hear this you who trampled the needy to do away with the humble in the land saying when the when will the new moon be over so that we may sell grain and the Sabbath so that we may open the wheat market he says I got some I got a beef with you you guys can't wait to get out of worship so you can go make more money so he says how to make the bushel smaller in the shekel bigger you you get the picture have you gone in and seen what's happened to packets of M&Ms they cut them down by three M&Ms at a time and they just keep raising the price and cutting it down by three more and three more and three more until you know seriously the other day I got on a flight and I'm flying to Ohio and they give me a bag of pretzels three pretzels it's hardly worth the plastic it's in there were three pretzels I mean at a certain point isn't it absurd to even bag them just throw a pretzel at me for crime just walk through the aisle from one bag going like this I mean the bag is this big there's three tiny little pretzels in it I mean I can't wait till they do the peanuts three peanuts one Dorito I mean come on this is people are just shrinking what they're selling but increasing the price you're familiar with this so as to buy the helpless for money and the needy for a pair of sandals they don't care who they have to hurt in order to get another pair of shoes that we may sell the refuse of the wheat what we do is we sell the seconds in the Bay products the Lord is sworn by the pride of Jacob indeed I will never forget any of their deeds because of this will the land not quake and everyone who dwells in it mourn indeed all of it will rise up like the Nile it will be tossed about and subside like the Nile of Egypt it will come about in that day declares the Lord that I will make the Sun go down at noon and make the earth dark in broad daylight you're gonna see this you saw it in Joel 2 and you're gonna see it again in Revelation and you know when 6 through 19 when you have a dark and light problem with each of the three sets of judgments he says one of the things I'm going to do is I'm going to throw the day and night off and the light on and off I'm gonna turn your festivals in the morning your songs in a lamentation sackcloth on everybody baldness on every head I'm gonna make it like a time of mourning for an only Son and the end of it will be a bitter day behold the days are coming declares the Lord when I will send a famine in the land not a famine for bread or thirst for water but rather for the hearing of the words of the Lord God said listen you have pushed me to the point where I'm just gonna knock I'm just gonna take away from you my word I'm just gonna take away from you my prophets I'm gonna take away from you the scrolls people will stagger from sea to sea and from north to east they will go to to and fro to seek the word of the Lord but they will not find it in that day the beautiful virgins and the young men will faint from thirst as for those who swear by the guilt of Samaria who say oh as your God lives Oh Dan as the way of bear Sheva lives they will fall and they will not rise again so he opens up with the last of his five visions and this one is the Lord Himself and it says I saw the Lord standing beside the altar and he said smite the capital so that the thresholds will shake and break them on the heads of them all and then I will slay the rest with the sword they will not have a ref you a fugitive who will not escape a refugee who will escape though they dig into the grave into Sheol from their will my hand take them and though they ascend to heaven from there I will bring them down though they hide on the summit of Carmel where the most trees are it's the heaviest forests of the land I will search them out and take them from there though they conceal themselves from my sight on the floor of the sea there I will command a serpent and it will bite them there is no place you will hide what God does is he speaks in his powerful voice and he says I want you to know nothing nothing will conceal you there is nowhere you can hide when I bring judgment it will be total you will know it and there will be no relief from it but that's not the end of the book the end of the book is the epilogue and that's in verses 11 to 15 and the final part of the book is about consolation because the day of the Lord doesn't end in judgment it begins in judgment it begins in shame it says in that day I will raise up the fallen booth of David and the wall up its breaches and I will also raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old that they may possess the remnant of a dome and all the nations who are called by them my name declares the Lord who does this behold the days are coming declares the Lord when the ploughman will overtake the Reaper and the Treader of grapes who sews the seed when the mountains will drip sweet wine and the hills will be dissolved he says it's coming about when you're going to be turning around crops so fast you can barely plant them as fast as you can get them out of the field and they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them they will plant vineyards drink wine make gardens and eat their fruit I will also plant them on their land I want you to underline in verse 15 on their land and they will not again be uprooted from out of their land which I have given them says the Lord your God he says that at the end of the day of the Lord in the time of comfort after judgment Israel will end up in its land and will never be dispossessed of its land again it'll never be moved from there a time of judgment we'll be followed by a time of settlement which will be time followed by fruitfulness and security and endurance and so the book carries you from the indictments against the world I would use box number one as two judgments what's the standard of judgment for God to the unbeliever how he treats the other unbelieving nations what's the standard of God toward the believing nation how they treat God in his word then I would move to box number two and I would say there are articles and those articles include God has declared judgment on on Judah and the Jewish people they have not listened to what I've said and so I'm going to give them a series of woes that help them understand judgment is coming it cannot be avoided and you will pay a price you think in 101 that judgment is nothing more than happy times God's going to judge the earth and make us free but you've forgotten the darkness precedes light and I will bring judgment and it will be against you then you move to the five visions and the the locust vision and and the fire vision have in common one thing I saw God raised up in judgment he was going to do it today I cried out to him he did not do it today it's not a literal event it's a vision he said I want you to know that all that is required all that is required is righteous people to fall before God and avert judgment you want to put off the judgment of the country then get serious about sin and among the righteous fall before God and cry out the third one finally know that you can twist or forestall or withhold judgment forever sometime that leaning walls got to be knocked down to put a straight wall in its place and then after a little fight with some prophets I saw that the time was late the summer fruit was coming in I saw the Lord standing before the altar and I heard his voice and his mighty power saying rise up and judge them and then the final part the epilogue of 9 11 through 15 that simply says it doesn't end in our destruction it end in our restoration it ends in our consolation it ends in our comfort it ends in God giving us our land once and for all but this time the wall is straight this time the heart is right Jeremiah will go on and say you won't have to say to another teach me of God you will all know me every one of you you'll have a personal relationship with me and you'll have a personal security in your land that's Amos don't lose heart I'm coming back I went away to find the place Patel and I'm coming I'm coming soon so leave the light on if you're ready to

Channel: One Hour. One Book.

Views: 42,280

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Keywords: Book (School Mascot), GCBI, Dr. Randall D. Smith, Amos, Prophet, Bible

Id: r5e5eueK7PM

Length: 59min 17sec (3557 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 16 2014