Learn from Amos's visions and expect persecution
Text Amos 7 Time 20 02 22 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church
This week we come to a new section of Amos, Amos Chapter 7. We have had the prophecies against the nations in Chapters 1 and 2 and the prophecies more directly to the Israelites in Chapters 3-6. From Chapter 7 on we have a series of visions. In Chapter 7 there are three visions and then a historical section where we learn of some personal interaction between Amos and his persecutors. These latter verses give us some background information about Amos's story. The prophets sometimes speak of seeing visions rather than simply speaking messages from God. Amos's book begins, you may recall, (1:1) The words of Amos, one of the shepherds of Tekoa - the vision he saw concerning Israel two years before the earthquake, when Uzziah was king of Judah and Jeroboam son of Jehoash was king of Israel. Isaiah and Obadiah begin in a similar way. So two things this evening
1. Consider Amos's visions of locusts, fire and a plumb line and learn from them
The first two visions are similar in many ways but then there is a third vision different to the first two.
1. Consider Amos's first vision, that of swarms of locusts
In verses 1-3 we read This is what the Sovereign LORD showed me: He was preparing swarms of locusts after the king's share had been harvested and just as the late crops were coming up. When they had stripped the land clean, I cried out, "Sovereign LORD, forgive! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!" So the LORD relented. "This will not happen," the LORD said.
So either after or at the same time as Amos receives the prophecies recorded in the earlier part of the book, he also receives these visions. They are visions that the Sovereign LORD showed him. In the first one, God was preparing swarms of locusts. Amos says it was after the king's share had been harvested and just as the late crops were coming up. We have no other reference to this but it would seem the king's share of the crops would be harvested first and then the rest. There would also be a later crop. The locusts come then before the harvest is fully gathered in. You know how devastating such a swarm can be. Here they strip the land clean. When they had stripped the land clean, Amos cried out, "Sovereign LORD, forgive! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!" Amos recognised that God is sovereign and had the right to send locusts and that Israel deserved to be punished. Here he calls Israel, Jacob, a reminder of their weakness. How can they survive in the face of such an event? They are so small - in the sense that they are weak.
And then we read So the LORD relented. "This will not happen," the LORD said. We remember it is a vision and has not happened yet, and so God steps back and relents from doing such a thing.
The lesson is no doubt that God can and does send disaster when people sin against him but he is very gracious and can forgive and remove the judgement in response to repentance and prayer. No doubt it is an encouragement to the people to repent and to pray that the threat of disaster - locusts or whatever - may be removed. We too should pray in that way.
2. Consider Amos's second vision, that of fire
You then have a very similar structure in verses 4-6. This time, however, it is the threat of fire. This is what the Sovereign LORD showed me: The Sovereign LORD was calling for judgment by fire; it dried up the great deep and devoured the land. Then I cried out, "Sovereign LORD, I beg you, stop! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!" So the LORD relented. "This will not happen either," the Sovereign LORD said.
So again, it is a vision that the Sovereign LORD showed him. This time The Sovereign LORD was calling for judgment by fire; it dried up the great deep and devoured the land. You know how devastating fire can be. A few years ago the care home next door to the chapel burnt down and everybody had to get out even though it was in the middle of the night. It is gone now. Fire is what kept Adam and Eve from the Tree of Life after they fell. Fire is what destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Fire is what will destroy this world one day. Here the fire dries up the great deep and devours the land. Amos cried out, "Sovereign LORD, forgive! I beg you, stop! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!" Again Amos recognises that God is sovereign and has the right to send fire and that Israel deserves to be punished. Again he calls Israel, Jacob, a reminder of their weakness. How can they survive in the face of such an event? They are so small, so weak.
And then we read once again So the LORD relented. "This will not happen," the LORD said. Again we remember it is a vision and has not happened yet, and so God once more steps back and relents from doing such a thing.
The lesson is again that God can and does send disaster when people sin against him but he is very gracious and can forgive and remove the judgement in response to repentance and prayer. No doubt it is in two forms to stress the truth of this. It is an encouragement to the people to repent and to pray that the threat of disaster - fire or locusts or whatever - may be removed. We too should pray in that way.
3. Consider Amos's third vision, that of a plumbline
Then in verses 7-9 we have something a little different. The wording is a little different This is what he showed me: The Lord was standing by a wall that had been built true to plumb, with a plumb line in his hand. And the LORD asked me, "What do you see, Amos?" "A plumb line," I replied. Then the Lord said, "Look, I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel; I will spare them no longer. "The high places of Isaac will be destroyed and the sanctuaries of Israel will be ruined; with my sword I will rise against the house of Jeroboam."
You have seen, perhaps, a spirit level. It is a box containing liquid and arranged in such away that when you place it on a level flat surface the bubble in the liquid will be in the centre. A plumbline is a simple device that builders and others use to check if a wall is straight or, as is said, true to plumb. Plumb is an old word for lead and lead used to be used to make a plumb line, though any heavy metal will do. When you drop a plumbline it makes the string straight and so you can see if the wall you are checking is straight too. Now in Amos's vision, it is the Lord himself who is stood by the wall, checking if it is true to plumb. Amos is asked what he sees and he describes it accurately. The Lord then says "Look, I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel; I will spare them no longer. The high places of Isaac will be destroyed and the sanctuaries of Israel will be ruined; with my sword I will rise against the house of Jeroboam." Because the people are not upright, then there is going to be a judgement. they will be spared no longer. The high places of Isaac will be destroyed and the sanctuaries of Israel will be ruined; not by locusts or by fire but with my sword I will rise against the house of Jeroboam. As we know, this sword would be wielded by the Assyrians. When they came, they would destroy the corrupt worship of Israel in their various high places and sanctuaries and they would have a devastating impact on the king, King Jeroboam II and his dynasty.
The lesson this time is that God not only can send disaster when people sin against him but he does it when he chooses. It is again an encouragement to the people to repent and to pray that the threat of disaster - fire, locusts or sword - may be removed. However, it is clear that for most it is too late. The time for such repentance has passed. What a warning also for us.
God's judgement is coming; it is coming soon. We must repent.
2. Amaziah attacks Amos and Amos answers Amaziah; expect persecution
The third vision, the vision of the plumbline, is followed by the description in verses 10-17 of Amos and his interaction with Amaziah the priest of Bethel. The link here is probably the prophecy in verse 9 that God would with his sword ... rise against the house of Jeroboam. A man called Amaziah objects to this and claims that it represents a conspiracy against the king in the very heart of Israel. Amos answers Amaziah firmly and clearly. The passage reminds us to be ready to be attacked if we speak God's truth. The truth hurts sometimes. It gives us an example too of how to deal with such persecution. So two things
1. Consider this attack on Amos God's servant by the persecutor Amaziah
Firstly in verses 10 and 11 we read Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent a message to Jeroboam king of Israel: "Amos is raising a conspiracy against you in the very heart of Israel. The land cannot bear all his words. For this is what Amos is saying: "'Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will surely go into exile, away from their native land.'"
We know nothing else of Amaziah the priest of Bethel. We know only what is here. When Israel separated from Judah Jerobaom I, their king, set up calf idols for them in Dan and Bethel, as he was afraid that if they went to Jerusalem to worship, his kingdom would be finished. Amaziah was the leading priest at the shrine in Bethel. Having heard Amos prophesy and being close to the king, he sent him a letter suggesting Amos was raising a conspiracy against him in the very heart of Israel. In alarmist tones he suggested The land cannot bear all his words. For this is what Amos is saying: "'Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will surely go into exile, away from their native land.'" There was truth, of course, in what Amaziah said but Amos was not raising a conspiracy at all. He was not planning to lift one finger against Jeroboam. No, he was simply pointing out what was going to happen if Israel continued in his sins without repenting.
We also read in verses 12 and 13 Then Amaziah said to Amos, "Get out, you seer! (the old word for prophet) Go back to the land of Judah. Earn your bread there and do your prophesying there. (They like this sort of thing down there). Don't prophesy anymore at Bethel, because this is the king's sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom."
This is the sort of persecution God's servants can expect. Their words will be twisted and they will be accused of various things.
- We will be accused of wanting power, as is the implication here.
- We will be told to go away, as Amos was here. An implied threat is likely here and in many cases.
- It will be implied that we are in it for the money (hence Earn your bread there and do your prophesying there)
- We will be told not to speak in certain places, as Amos was here.
- We will be told that it is against the law or custom to speak in certain places, as here.
We simply have to expect this sort of thing. There will always be people ready to persecute and attack believers.
2. Consider this answer to his attacker Amaziah by Amos God's servant
Amos's answer is in the final verses of the chapter, verses 14-17.
Amos answered Amaziah, "I was neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees. But the LORD took me from tending the flock and said to me, 'Go, prophesy to my people Israel.' Now then, hear the word of the LORD. You say, "'Do not prophesy against Israel, and stop preaching against the descendants of Isaac.' "Therefore this is what the LORD says: "'Your wife will become a prostitute in the city, and your sons and daughters will fall by the sword. Your land will be measured and divided up, and you yourself will die in a pagan country. And Israel will surely go into exile, away from their native land.'"
Amos gives a little of his background here - how he did not come from a family of prophets, nor had he been to one of the prophetic schools that existed then. Rather, God himself had called him from tending the flock and said to him, 'Go, prophesy to my people Israel.' And so Amos was not about to give up prophesying just because Amaziah didn't like it or thought it was against the rules. He could not simply swan off to Judah at his own whim.
Further, and here Amos no doubt had a special prophetic insight, Amaziah needed to know not only that Israel would surely go into exile, away from their native land but he himself would witness his own wife becoming a prostitute in the city, no doubt in order to raise some cash when the city came under siege at the hands of the Assyrians, and his sons and daughters would fall by the sword wielded by the Assyrians. Further, he himself would experience his land, which may have been quite extensive, being measured and divided up by the Assyrians and he himself would die in a pagan country, a pagan country where he could hardly keep up his religion, which he so loved, any longer.
Now when we are confronted by persecutors we will not know what their future is exactly but we do know that if they continue to resist the Lord Jesus Christ then they will end up in hell. It is not always helpful to remind people of this but it is important that we stay true to the Word and faithful to the preaching of the gospel.
And so once again, here is a reminder of the judgement and the need to repent before it is too late. With it there is a reminder of how people will resist our message and try to malign us in order to undermine us. We must press on speaking God's message, nevertheless.
