WHEN there is spiritual decline people become blind to what is true spirituality, and that which is honouring to God. Structures of the church seem fine, and the church is active in all sorts of acceptable and good ways. The worship of the church continues with uninterrupted regularity, and all seems fine. But this can all be delusion. This is the case with Israel in the time of Amos and his prophecy, and in the verses before us we hear God speaking through Amos against this darkness and deadness within the church.

GOD SPEAKS.

The first thing we need to notice and take to heart is the fact that, although it is Amos who speaks and writes, it is God who is the author of the message. God speaks to Amos and tells him the message he is to speak. Amos is not the one who exposes the spiritual darkness in Israel, it is God.

We need to notice the way God reveals himself and so speaks. In the first place he reveals himself as the Lord. By this God is telling Israel that he is their king and ruler. He is their Lord whom they are committed to obey, and whom they say they obey. God wants Israel to know that the words Amos speaks comes from the one who has been their ruler and guide; their God who has been there for them from Abraham onwards, and the one whom they say they are honouring and serving. God reveals himself as the one to whom Israel owes allegiance, and the one who has blest them, and the one to whom they owed all their prosperity.

Earlier we saw in the history of the northern kingdom, that God had given Jereboam II the power and ability to gain back all the land Israel had lost due to God's judgement in the past. It is this God, to whom Israel owed all things, who was speaking to them through Amos.

Then God reveals himself as the Lord God Almighty. Here God is making known to Israel that he is the all powerful one, who can most surely carry out all his threatenings, just as he was able to pour out all his blessings. As Israel owed all their prosperity to the Lord God Almighty, they needed to be assured that they could not withstand God's power in threatenings and judgements.

In this way Amos was given assurance to be faithful in the proclamation of destruction, and the Israelites were being told that they ignored the word of Amos at their peril.

THE CONDITIONS BEING DESCRIBED.

When the ten tribes of Israel separated from Judah, they were cut off from the temple in Jerusalem, and from the place where God had ordained that worship given to him should be expressed. In the light of this, Israel had built their own place of worship at Bethel, and it was in this place, against the direct command of God, that Israel gave worship to God, and brought their sacrifices.

Not only did Israel sin by setting up a place for the worship of God which God had not sanctioned, but also the worship expressed their had become formal, and though outwardly seemingly correct according to the law, there was no real spiritual heart in Israel's worship. With this Israel's worship had become corrupted by the influence of heathen religion. Having, as they supposed, fulfilled all that God required of them in worship, Israel had given themselves up to all the worldly pleasures that they wished for. They thought that having fulfilled the apparent letter of the law, God was pleased with them, and they were deserving of God's favour, and that they could expect God to bless them in their lives.

This worldly way of life is expressed in verse 15 where we are told that the rich and powerful not only had one house to live in but two. One which was cool for life in the summer, and one that was warm for keeping out the cold in winter. We are also told that the houses were lavish in their furnishing and finish. They were adorned with ivory.

So the rulers and the rich were living for themselves in confidence that they had done all that was necessary to gain God's favour, and so they could live in luxury. In this confidence they had no care for the poor or for justice, and more importantly they took God for granted, and at heart had no time for God.

THE MESSAGE OF GOD.

The message God gave Amos to proclaim showed what God thought of this attitude and way of life in Israel. God revealed that he was against such worldly and sinful lives. God showed he despised their worship and their sacrifices. So God told Israel through his prophet that he was going to judge these worldly and godless people.

As far as the rich way of life which Israel was living, God through Amos told Israel that he would take away and destroy all their riches. This is expressed in verse 13 as demolishing their mansions, and tearing down their houses, and destroying the luxuries they enjoyed.

THE REALITY OF JUDGEMENT.

Let us take to heart the reality of God's judgement. It is easy to dismiss the threatenings of judgement in the Old Testament, and say that the Israelites and their prophets were ignorant of the true revelation of God, which we enjoy in the New Testament. But this will not do. Verse 13 is given to assure Israel and us that this is God speaking, and he does judge sin and evil, and that unless there is true repentance, God's judgement will be executed. This is so necessary today when the preaching of a universal love of God, which is able in love to ignore sin, and forgive, is the staple diet of teaching and preaching in the majority of churches. This is darkness of a high order. God is holy, and he can't abide evil, and sin and sinners cannot stand in his presence. Scripture, both Old and New, says clearly that the soul that sins will die. The love of God is a love so deep and so strong, that God suffered the justice and punishment against sin which his holiness demands, by executing his justice upon his sinless only begotten Son, and making him responsible for our sin, so that he can be just and at the same time justify the ungodly. This is the love of God that he gave his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

APPLICATION.

We must not run away with the idea that this message of Amos was only for his day, and was spoken only to Israel. It certainly was spoken to Israel, but it has eternal significance, and speaks God's mind in every age of the church. God spoke to Israel, the church of the time. He speaks through Amos to the church today and every day.

We may see many things in the description of Israel given in these verses which are not applicable to the church today. The church and its members don't usually live in luxury, nor do church members have two houses, and so on. But having said this, in the west most, if not all, church members enjoy much of the comforts of life, and it is true to say that the work of God is hindered because church members are unwilling to give up all the luxuries they enjoy in order to give, so that the work of the church may go forward, and so the disadvantaged and poor in the world can be given a better standard of living. We complain of a poverty that is not truly real. We may be poor according to the standards of our society, but many of us could live comfortably on much less than we spend, and do enjoy luxuries that are not necessary in themselves. We need to take this to heart and be honest before the Lord.

There is a much more serious application of the message of Amos here to the church as it is today, at least in the UK. We have massive church organization which is well ordered and well conducted; but can we say we are not guilty of the complaint of God against the worship given by Israel at their shrine at Bethel. Like Israel we carry out all the outward expression of worship which the church has always done, but can we say that the inner worship is truly of God. Is the confidence of the church in their worship a confidence which is true and comes from God.

This is a delicate area to tread. But it calls us to ask questions about what belief is being expressed by the worship which is being made. Is our understanding and expressing of the Holy Communion true to the word of God, or is it expressing something which at the core is offensive to God? If the expression and understanding of Holy Communion is an act of mediation before God, whereby the one officiating is in some way a priest mediating on behalf of the worshippers, and by the celebrating of the Eucharist is gaining God's favour on behalf of the people, then it is blaspheme which is saying that Christ's intercession and priestly work in heaven needs augmenting by human priests here on earth. If this is so then we are calling down God to tear down our altars and judge what is dishonouring to Christ. Then what of the preaching and teaching of the church. If Christ is not central to the preaching, and his cross held up as the only means of favour with God, and faith in Christ as Saviour and sin-bearer is not being proclaimed, then again God's love in Christ is being despised. Preaching universal love from God will not do. God's love and forgiveness is only known through Christ and his atonement. If Christ is not preached, then, is not the church provoking the Lord to judge?