IN these verses God is declaring what he will do in response to the complacency of Israel, and in response to their refusal to listen to his words, and heed his commands. God is not pleading or instructing, but declaring action he is going to take. Here we have a serious change in God's action to Israel. Up to this point there has always been a warning, with and urging to Israel to repent and turn to the Lord, and so escape judgement and be saved. Here things seem to have changed. God simply declares that he is going to judge Israel, and the terrible nature of this calamity. As is always true in Scripture, the offer of forgiveness and salvation is always open when there is a return to the Lord in true repentance for any individual, but as far as the nation is concerned God is going to act in judgement.

UNDERSTANDING THE PROPHECY.

The prophecy commences with God speaking of himself as the Sovereign Lord. By this God declares his sovereignty over all his creation, and not least those he has graciously chosen out of the nations of the earth for special consideration and blessing. This speaks to us about truth concerning God which in our modern age we fail to consider or understand. It was Israel's folly and sin that they also failed to see God as sovereign over all in heaven and earth.

This truth teaches us that God rules over his creation. He is sovereign not just in name, but in reality. He is always ordering all things according to the counsel of his will. In time and history this may not be immediately evident, but in retrospect we can see that it is true. The world does not believe this concerning God or realise its implications, but it is true. We can see this in history. God prophesied through Daniel and others the downfall of empires, and that foretelling proved to be true in history. The Babylonian empire, the Persian empire, the Greek empire under Alexander the Great, and the Roman empire, all went down according to the word of God told in the Bible. History is littered with evidence that people have exalted themselves above God, and in the end they have been brought down, because God is sovereign and he rules according to his holiness and sovereign will. The further declaration in verse 8 that God is the Lord God Almighty, confirms this truth. God rules, and his power is without limit to do his will, and no power in earth or heaven can match or overcome God's omnipotence.

Then God says that he has sworn by himself. When an action is declared under oath, then the one who swears is seen to be deadly serious in what he says, and is determined to carry it out. Usually an oath is made in the name of someone greater, and that greater one is the surety that the oath will be carried out. In the case of God, there is no one greater, so God swears by himself. By this swearing by himself God is declaring the certainty that his declaration is both true, and sure, and will be performed. Swearing by his own name means that God is giving greater emphasis to his declaration, and it has the force of pressing home that God's word will be performed. God wants Israel here to perfectly understand that the time has come when only judgement is left, and God will judge them.

In the first place God expresses what his attitude is to Israel, named Jacob here. God abhors the pride of Jacob, and he detests their fortresses. God is telling Israel in the strongest terms that their arrogant pride in themselves – in their power, and wisdom, and glory – is something that God looks on with absolute disgust. He tells Israel he sees through this outward show of glory and power, and sees deep into the hearts of the leaders, and sees only self trust and self indulgence and self interest. He sees, no honouring of God, or love for God, but a total disregard of the ways and will of God. Though outwardly they may appear by their religious observances to be honouring God, this is has no reality in their hearts. Israel had forgotten that all their greatness had been granted by God, and the power they had came from God.

Then God expresses his hatred of the attitude of Israel to themselves and their human power. Israel trusted in themselves and not God. They had built fortresses for defence, and there was nothing wrong in this, but there was wrong which God detested, and this was the fact that Israel ceased to believe in God, and trusted in themselves, their humanly built fortresses, and felt no need for God. God detested what was behind the building of the fortresses, which was total proud trust in themselves to defend and overcome all enemies, totally forgetting that all their greatness had come from God and his power.

Then God expresses his declaration, firstly in a picture of what it will mean in Israel, and then in a statement of the destruction of his judgement on all who have power in Israel.

The picture is a little obscure, but nonetheless fearful. It is a picture of total annihilation. The ten men left in a house all will die. When a relative comes to dispose of the bodies, someone is hiding in the house, but is alone, but such is the fear created by the devastation of God's judgement that the one hiding in the house is told to be quiet for fear of God's judgement falling on them.

The statement of God's judgement and its awful completeness is in verse 11. God had given his command to the one who would execute judgement, and that judgement was smashing and annihilating all the people who claimed power in Israel, and the destruction of their possessions and all they trusted in.

This is an awful picture, but what does it teach and what do we need to learn from God's word here.

LESSONS.

1. In the first place we learn how seriously God views sin and all unrighteousness. God hates sin in all creation, but specially in those he has called to be his people, and blessed in a serious and remarkable way. This seriousness of sin in the eyes of God needs to be heeded by the whole world, but Amos was sent with his message to Israel, the church of his day. The message was particularly for the church then, and needs to be heeded seriously in the church today. What God takes seriously, the church must take seriously. The message of God was given here specially to the leaders and rulers in Israel, because they were the ones which were forming the attitudes and actions of the nation, and so the message here is specially to the leaders of the church today and all those who teach and form opinions in the church, for these are the ones which form the attitudes and actions within the church.

The church of the time of Amos had become formal. The worship was all outward without any true worship from the heart. The worship also had deviated from the pure faith given by God to Abraham, and had become infected with the religious worship from the heathen religions all around. This bred idolatry which is giving worship to deity which is not the one true God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. From this came the moral collapse in the life of Israel, with its emphasis on the comforts and pleasures of this life rather than living for the kingdom of God.

The seriousness of this departure from the pure religion given by the Lord, and its falling short of the holiness of living set forth by God, is that it brought forth the warning of judgement, and when Israel refused to heed God's warnings and disregarded the prophets message, it brought what we see here the declaration of judgement. The trouble today, as it was in the time of Amos, is that the church is quite satisfied with its life, feeling there is no error needing to be corrected, and that all that is needed is a tinkering with the procedures within the church to make the life of the church more attractive to modern life. The fact is that the practices of the church have departed from the truth of the Word of God, where practices are prevalent which dishonour Christ and exalt human action. The Bible says Christ is the only Saviour. The church today says Christ and the priesthood bring salvation. It is no wonder that there is a laxity in living which falls short of the holiness of God.

2. The other big lesson is the reality of God's judgement on the church when it departs from the truth given in the Bible, and refuses to heed all correction, and warnings that God is offended. In fact today the church denies the very idea of such judgement as is promised by God through Amos in the Scripture before us. Man's wisdom is placed above the word of God, and judgement is thus denied as being incompatible with the love of God, which concept of love is so broad and shallow that it embraces all whatever their belief or action in life.

Here God declares he will judge Israel, and that this judgement will be awful and devastating. God speaks of this judgement as impossible to avoid or escape from. God speaks of this judgement as complete. In fact history confirms that this declaration of judgement was carried out upon Israel. They were attacked and annihilated and carried off into captivity, and the nation of Israel was heard of no more. God did not fail in his purpose which continued in the kingdom of Judah, though Judah was judged but kept until the purpose of their selection was achieved in the coming of the Messiah, then their selection finished because they refused to receive their Messiah, or heed his message or receive his salvation, and the nation received terrible judgement in AD70. Judah remains as a nation today, but has ceased to have any special status before God.

APPLICATION.

In the first place the church today needs to take warning, and whatever is the general consensus of opinion within the church, the church needs to take note of the judgement already afflicted in the withdrawal of God's blessing upon the church, and the evident decline in influence and membership of the church in our Land (the UK). Then it needs to return to the word of God and evaluate all its beliefs and practices in the light of the word of God, acknowledge the failure and error in the church, and repent. If not the same fate will happen to the church which happened to Israel.