Untitled Sermon (109)
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Context is a lot. There are actually 5 visions in this section of Amos.
The 8 th Century bc was one of prosperity for Israel and Judah. The divided kingdom shared in economic strength and everything seemed secure. But something invisible, unseen was rotting them from with in. They were breaking the most basic moral code they had- the covenant with God.
I want you to imagine this: The covenant required love of God and love of others. It was very easy actually. But because of the idol worship of their pagan neighbors, they had introduced the mixing of not only religion but their gods. They intermingled worship of yahweh with Baal, allowed their commitment to Yahweh and His law become commitment to a strange god who reflected every pagan god.
The portion of the law concerning love of neighbor began to fail as the rich became richer and the poor became neglected. The law became words instead of a way to live.
It is in this setting that Amos took his mission of prophecy to the northern kingdom of Israel.
Amos addresses 5 visions. We have read the middle one. He had a vision of locusts jsut before this, and a vision of fire. We will read them momentarily.
The vision we have read is the vision of the plumb line.
1 This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, he was forming locusts when the latter growth was just beginning to sprout, and behold, it was the latter growth after the king’s mowings. 2 When they had finished eating the grass of the land, I said, “O Lord God, please forgive! How can Jacob stand? He is so small!” 3 The Lord relented concerning this: “It shall not be,” said the Lord.
It was harvest time. The kings’ take, the first take, had been taken. The second and better harvest was just sprouting when locusts arrive. in a matter of hours the entire crop would be destroyed and the people would starve.
Amos prays for the Lord to forgive Israel. He pleads that Israel is too small. He pleads, nad God ansers. “It shall not be.”
4 This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, the Lord God was calling for a judgment by fire, and it devoured the great deep and was eating up the land. 5 Then I said, “O Lord God, please cease! How can Jacob stand? He is so small!” 6 The Lord relented concerning this: “This also shall not be,” said the Lord God.
This second threat is fire. A fire that would consume not only the land, but the water. Again, Amos prays, God hears, and says, “This shall not be. “
Don’t miss the tenderness of Amos’ heart for the people.
It is important to note that God didn’t change his mind, He changed His course of action.
7 This is what he showed me: behold, the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand.
God is standing by the wall, the city wall. He is firmly planted his feet- the determination is in his posture, his earlier change of heart is not there.
He is holding a plumb line.
8 And the Lord said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said, “Behold, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel; I will never again pass by them;
This plumb line is a standard that is testing the trueness of the wall. God’s message is that He is not judging Israel without reason… there is a standard. He is not arbitrary in his judgments- if he carried out a threat, He would have reason to- the standard that the people knew in advance.
In the first 2 visions, no standard (plumbline ahd been given.). But now, God reminds them of the standard- their own holiness as His people and the just covenant which included the commitment to love others and love God. He was taking them all the way back to Exodus 19.6
6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”
/they were giving lip service to the covenant, but actually ignoring it in their treatment of others and their worship of other gods.
Note, God STILL calls Israel “my people”.... He had not abandoned them, but He was correcting them.
The plumb line revealed God’s justice- He was not acting arbitrarily.
9 the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste, and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.”
The coming judgment would fall on the pagan worship sanctuaries of Israel and on the dynasty of the king, Jeroboam.
The mention of “the high places of Isaac” seems to imply that they were building shrines in various places associated with their forefathers- and God is saying, I will not allow you to ride on the coat tails of your fathers. You need a faith for yourselves., not theirs.
In
The vision is momentarily interrupted so we learn a little about Amos:
10 Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear all his words.
Amaziah the priest at the sanctuary of bethel, accuses Amos of conspiracy against the king.
11 For thus Amos has said, “ ‘Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel must go into exile away from his land.’ ”
He recites the threat foudn in Amos’ vision.
12 And Amaziah said to Amos, “O seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah, and eat bread there, and prophesy there,
Amaziah is actually legitimizing Amos in calling him a “seer”, he is actually saying he is a real prophet.
13 but never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is a temple of the kingdom.”
Amos’ reply:
14 Then Amos answered and said to Amaziah, “I was no prophet, nor a prophet’s son, but I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs.
15 But the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’
16 Now therefore hear the word of the Lord. “You say, ‘Do not prophesy against Israel, and do not preach against the house of Isaac.’
Amos is responding with a picture of dire judgment.
17 Therefore thus says the Lord: “ ‘Your wife shall be a prostitute in the city, and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword, and your land shall be divided up with a measuring line; you yourself shall die in an unclean land, and Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land.’ ”
Now it gets personal....Amaziah’s wife would be violated, possibly by soldiers invading the land- He would see his children killed… and he would lose all he had and die in a pagan country. The priest, charged with maintaining the purity of the cult, would die in a gentile land.
Note, in 746 B.C., this prophecy is fulfilled in the assassinationof Jeroboam II’s son Zechariah.
The Life That You Live Reflects The Standard You Follow
The Life That You Live Reflects The Standard You Follow
God has a standard.
But you do too.
And the one you choose to build your life with will reflect in the results you get.
Israel has God’s standard. He had given it to them long before the 8 th century BC. They still built by their own standards.
And by using their own standard- they would recieve the results they had coming. Their wall was crooked, not true, unstraight.... and the result would reveal that.
So often when bad things happen, people want to blame God. But please notice something in this passage:
The first vision revealed famine. The second vision revealed fire that devastated. The third revealed exile into Babylon for centuries.
Amos’ prayer was correct- famine would destroy Israel. Fire would destroy Israel. But exile- exile kept Israel alive. the remnant.
And what you should see in this is not how evil or unjust God is- but rather just exactly how longsuffering and grace filled God is in His justice- in his standard.
The plumbline never revealed how unjust God is- it revealed who He is, and how far Israel had built their lives from who He is.
14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
The Life That You Live Reflects The Standard You Follow
The Life That You Live Reflects The Standard You Follow