Seek God and live
Text Amos 5 Time 06 02 22 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church
We've begun to look at the Book of Amos. Amos lived in the eighth century BC. He was from Tekoa in Judah but was sent to prophesy in the north, in Israel. So far we've looked at the first four chapters.
In Chapters 1 and 2 Amos prophesies to the various nations around about - Damascus, The Philistine cities, Tyre, etc but including Judah and then, in more detail, Israel itself.
We have looked at two of the three chapters, Chapters 3-5, which focus on Israel and her sins and the coming judgement. Chapter 3 begins with a series of questions for those who profess to be God's chosen people, urging them to see that things happen for a reason. Life is not random. So when God is at work, we ought to be awake to the fact. We should realise that he is active. God always announces his judgements to sinners through his prophets, as he does here through Amos. For the people of Israel at this time the threat was in the form of invasion by the Assyrians but we are all in danger of judgement if we go on in our sins, temporal judgements and eternal judgement. A good parent warns before punishing, Here are God's warnings of coming judgement.
Chapter 4 includes the famous statement Prepare to meet your God and so last week we considered how we do that, chiefly by repenting and putting faith in Christ. We need to see that religion will not save us and we must stop ignoring these many judgements that are happening all around us and return to the LORD.
Chapter 5 is similar to the previous two chapters but now Amos is singing a lament for Israel, so dismal is the future. We can divide into four parts and say these things.
1. Here judgement is again prophesied and we are called to seek God and live
1. Here judgement is again prophesied in terms of lament
Once again a court scene is in the background and Amos speaks in God's name. He says
Hear this word, Israel, this lament I take up concerning you:
"Fallen is Virgin Israel, never to rise again, deserted in her own land, with no one to lift her up."
He adds in verse 3 This is what the Sovereign LORD says to Israel: "Your city that marches out a thousand strong will have only a hundred left; your town that marches out a hundred strong will have only ten left."
So Amos looks forward firstly to a time when the Assyrians have done their worst and Israel, pictured as a young woman, has fallen never to rise again. She has been deserted in her own land, with no one to lift her up. He is singing a lament for the tragedy she has undergone.
In verse 3 a different picture is presented. This time we see militia from the towns and cities of Israel marching out to face their enemies. Here is an army of a thousand marching out of one place and a hundred marching from a smaller place. No doubt they march out confidently but the city that marches out a thousand strong will have only a hundred left and the town that marches out a hundred strong will have only ten left. They are going to be decimated at the hand of the Assyrians.
We can be quite confident at times but we need to wake up to our danger. God can bring judgement when he chooses.
2. And so we are called again to seek God and live
In verses 4-6 Amos makes clear what it is that Israel should do in the light of these coming judgements. It is what we ought to do also - seek God and live.
This is what the LORD says to Israel:
"Seek me and live;
do not seek Bethel, do not go to Gilgal, do not journey to Beersheba. These were the popular religious centres of the day. Bethel and Gilgal we have mentioned. Beersheba was way down south in Judah but it had become a centre for pagan worship. They were not to look at these places, however, For Gilgal will surely go into exile, and Bethel will be reduced to nothing. When the Assyrians invade. Rather and it is repeated
Seek the LORD and live,
or he will sweep through the tribes of Joseph an alternative name for Israel like a fire; it will devour them, and Bethel will have no one to quench it.
We might say today "Seek God and live; do not seek Rome or Canterbury, do not go to Geneva, do not journey to Tibet. For these places will not last. Seek the LORD and live, or he will sweep through you like a fire; it will devour you and no man made religion will quench it."
Before the great day of judgement or any temporal judgement God may send, we must seek God and find salvation in him, through the Lord Jesus Christ.
2. Consider the sins of Israel and your own sins and the fact they invite judgement
We then have another enumeration of Israel's sins. Three times Amos says There are those ... and then speaks of sins common in those days. Again they are chiefly to do with justice.
In verse 7 there is a general statement There are those who turn justice into bitterness and cast righteousness to the ground. They were not concerned about fairness and equity nor about living a righteous life in those days. It is often like that today in our society.
In verses 8 and 9 there is something about God himself, which we will come back to. In verse 10 and 11a other sins are spoken of. There are those who hate the one who upholds justice in court and detest the one who tells the truth. This is similar to verse 7 and again it is true of many in our own times. They hate justice. They hold honesty in contempt. Then comes a more specific charge - You levy a straw tax on the poor and impose a tax on their grain. Also in verse 12 Amos says There are those who oppress the innocent and take bribes and deprive the poor of justice in the courts. In verse 13 he observes how because of this the prudent keep quiet in such times, for the times are evil. One can argue whether these prudent people are prudent and godly or merely worldly wise. If they are godly and prudent then there is an argument for keeping our heads down in evil times and not making a big fuss. The danger is that we allow Christianity to be privatised and shut out from the public square. However, I think the times probably call for something of that nature.
It really does not sound a million miles from our own times when there is a general disregard for the poor and the needy and vulnerable. Think of the position of the unborn child in our society, and increasingly the elderly and the sick. Think of the general disregard for the poor and the outsider.
Now in the midst of these condemnations Amos reminds us of just who God is. He is (8, 9) the one who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns midnight into dawn and darkens day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out over the face of the land - the LORD Yahweh, he uses God's own name. With a blinding flash he destroys the stronghold and brings the fortified city to ruin. He is the powerful and majestic God of creation and of providence. It is against this God that we sin when we are unjust or unrighteous or dishonest. It is his law that we break.
And so there is this warning tucked away in parts of verses 11 and 12 Therefore, though you have built stone mansions, you will not live in them; though you have planted lush vineyards, you will not drink their wine. For I know how many are your offences and how great your sins. As we have said, these were peaceful and affluent times - something that most of us can easily identify with.
Many of us too have lovely homes and many luxuries available to us. Now all that can be lost in a moment, if God so chooses. He can take it away in an instant. Even if we hold on to it in this life, there is a life to come where we will not have those earthly stays. Judgement is coming. We need to be ready.
3. A word of hope if there is repentance and a word of warning if there is not
Next in verses 14-20 we have a brief word of hope but then more warnings.
1. Hear this word of hope, if there is a change
Verses 14 and 15 Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the LORD God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is. Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts. Perhaps the LORD God Almighty will have mercy on the remnant of Joseph.
At this point, the judgement is not inevitable. There is hope for those who Seek good, not evil ... Hate evil, love good and maintain justice in the courts. Those who do that will live. They will know the LORD God Almighty ... with them in truth and then Perhaps the LORD God Almighty will have mercy on some.
Amos is speaking to the people of Israel, Joseph and the other tribes, in light of the Assyrian threat but the more general truth is that we can hope for mercy on the day of judgement if we will only Seek good, not evil ... Hate evil, love good and be eager for justice. We will only do this if we seek God and he transforms us so that we begin to live as we should. Let's seek to do good then through Jesus Christ.
2. Hear this warning of punishment on the day of the Lord
Verses 16-20 bring us back to the warnings of judgement so characteristic of Amos and the other prophets too.
16, 17 Therefore this is what the Lord, the LORD God Almighty, says: "There will be wailing in all the streets and cries of anguish in every public square. The farmers will be summoned to weep and the mourners to wail. There will be wailing in all the vineyards, for I will pass through your midst," says the LORD. Again the Assyrian invasion is in mind but wailing and cries of anguish and mourning is a typical response to all God's judgements. When God comes near, unrepentant sinners wail and grieve.
Then in verses 18-20 we read Woe to you who long for the day of the LORD! Why do you long for the day of the LORD? That day will be darkness, not light. It will be as though a man fled from a lion only to meet a bear, as though he entered his house and rested his hand on the wall only to have a snake bite him. Will not the day of the LORD be darkness, not light - pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness?
The people of Israel were accustomed to thinking of the Day of the LORD as a day of vindication, a day when it would become clear that they truly were the people of God but Amos warns them. It will not be like that. Rather, it will be a day of darkness for them - darkness, not light - pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness. In a powerful picture he describes it as being like when a man flees from a lion only to meet a bear coming the other way. It is as if seeking to escape lion and bear he goes into a house and rests his hand on the wall, relieved that he is safe at last. But at that very moment he is bitten by a snake. Again and again people think they will be safe from the judgement because they did something noble or good or they did something religious but they will find that none of it saves them and they will be judged. Be warned.
4. Remember that religion is not enough, righteousness is what is required
The final verses of the chapter repeat the truth that religion is not the answer but righteousness. The people of Israel thought their religion would save them but it was false religion and would do nothing to save them.
21-23 "I hate, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me." God says. "Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps."
It is put in Old Testament terms, of course, but we could easily update it.
"I hate, I despise your meetings; your services are a stench to me. Even though you bring loads of prayers and large offerings, I will not accept them. Though your ministers preach the most wonderful sermons, I will have no regard for them. Away with the noise of your hymns! I will not listen to your singing."
What dies God want then? Rather (24) let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream! That is the important thing. Religion is useless if it does not lead to a righteous life.
The chapter ends with these words (25-27) Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the wilderness, people of Israel? You have lifted up the shrine of your king, the pedestal of your idols, the star of your god - which you made for yourselves. Israel from the Exodus to the period just before the Assyrians invaded was marked by idolatry and wandering from the truth. Therefore, I will send you into exile beyond Damascus, says the LORD, whose name is God Almighty. They are going to go into exile. We can also expect judgement if we go the way the professing church of God has generally gone down the years - marked by corruption and confusion.
