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All right, my Bible in 365. Brothers and sisters, we are at the most amazing prophetic book of Amos. And I have to say this, he is regarded as one of the minor prophets, but there is nothing minor about his work. By the way, just so you know, when we use the term minor prophets, what we're actually talking about is we're talking about the length of their writings. It has nothing else to do with anything else. It doesn't mean it's a lesser of a prophecy, just simply means it's a smaller body of work. But oftentimes those are the ones that pack the greatest punches. Speaking of which, I'm only going to spend time focusing on one specific passage in the book of Amos, and that is chapter nine. But before I do, there are facts about this book that you need to know and facts about the prophet Amos that you need to know. And that actually starts with the fact that he was not a professional prophet. Amos specifically says that he was not a prophet by profession. That's a very important distinction for us to be able to make here. He wasn't trained in a prophetic school. He was actually a herdsman and a gatherer. Also referred to as a dresser of a sycamore, a sycamore fruit. So God took an ordinary working man and sent him with an absolutely extraordinary message. And that is critical that we understand that, because of how this applies to us with how God works. Look, Amos didn't choose prophecy as a profession. God interrupted his profession and literally made him a prophet. And that is remarkable. Now, the other thing we should know is that Amos came from Judah, but he was actually sent to Israel, meaning he came from the southern kingdom of Judah, but God sent him to speak to the northern kingdom of Israel. Now, he was from Tekoa, which is a small town south of Jerusalem in the southern kingdom of Judah. Yet God sent him north to confront the the very prosperous northern kingdom. It wasn't prosperous for long, but it was at the time that he went to go confront them. Now he was essentially a foreign preacher walking into the king's religious center and announcing that judgment was coming. That's a heavy place to be. And he had no natural constituency there. Like, that's kind of important to understand. He had no real political protection. There was no real influence with respect to the crowd around him. There was really no reason to expect that anyone would even welcome him. And what's interesting is when he did preach, it was during a time of tremendous prosperity. Why? Because we know he ministered during the reign of Jeroboam ii. And when Israel. During this time, this is when Israel was enjoying lots of military success. And I'm speaking about the Northern Kingdom here. And of course, there was a lot of territorial expansion that was happening. There was a lot of economic prosperity. And if you were to look at it from the outside, the nation looked very strong and secure. But underneath all that prosperity was a bunch of idolatry and sexual immorality and a whole lot of judicial corruption. And by the way, they were also, with all of that, exploiting the poor.
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That.
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That's what the Bible tells us. And God even refers to their practice of religion as being somewhat hollow. Israel interpreted prosperity as evidence that God had approved of them, when in reality, God did no such thing. And Amos declared that judgment was already approaching them. And that actually brings us to one of the book's greatest warnings. Okay? A nation can be economically prosperous. It can be militaristically powerful and spiritually condemned at the same time. And that scares me for the United States of America. But it's a powerful reminder that we get from the book of Amos. Now, here's the other fact that I want you to know. Amos opens by setting a very rhetorical trap. We should know this, okay? Chapters one and two, Amos will announce judgment against Israel's surrounding enemies. He talks about Damascus and he talks about Gaza and Tyre and Edom. He speaks about Ammon and Moab, and his Israelite audience would have enjoyed every word of what he was sharing. Yeah, our enemies are about to get judged. Then Amos moves closer and he starts to condemn the southern kingdom of Judah to the northern kingdom. Okay, so he's talking about the southern kingdom of Judah. Then he turns directly towards the northern kingdom of Israel and the people who had been cheering him on and. And really excited about him condemning everybody all of a sudden lose their minds when they become the primary defendants, for lack of a better term. And I actually think that the structure is really brilliant here because Amos allows Israel to agree with God's standard of judgment for one nation after the other after the other after the other, until the standard gets shown to them. And it forces them to have to understand and sort of experience this. And here's the thing that you need to know. Israel wasn't being repentive, okay? They were not going to repent from any of this. Now, I should also say this because this is really, really important here, okay? Amos reversed their understanding of the Day of the Lord. The Israelites, they had expected what everybody called the day of the Lord to mean God's judgment upon their enemies and Israel's vindication, which, by the way, is the general way to look at that. But in this particular context, that was not the case. Amos actually shocked them by declaring that it would be darkness for them and and no light. In other words, they wanted God to arrive because they assumed he was on their side. But Amos warned them that when he arrived, he would judge the northern kingdom's sin. And by the way, there are five major visions that Amos has that speaks to this very specific issue. There's the vision of the locust, the vision of the fire, the vision of the plumb line, the vision of the basket of what the Bible calls summer fruit, and then the final vision, which is the Lord standing beside the altar. Now, each of these visions become progressively more severe. And in the first two, Amos actually intercedes and judgment is withheld because of his heart for the people. It's kind of interesting how that works. But by the time the vision of the plum line comes, God announces that he's no longer going to give a pass to Israel, and the opportunity to avoid national judgment is just completely closing. In other words, if they're not going to repent, I'm judging them. And that's what God does. And so God sends an earthquake. By the way, it's interesting because the earthquake that gets sent is an actual historical reference point. Amos dates his ministry as occurring two years before the earthquake. And the earthquake was apparently so severe that centuries later, Zechariah still referred to people fleeing from it during Uzziah's reign. So this is how we're able to place all of this down. And Amos preached before the ground actually physically shook, but it was his message that warned that Israel's entire national structure was about to be shaken. So it was a prophecy about an earthquake that eventually did happen. And it was something that people referred to as the great earthquake. And it's even interesting to think about because there are biblical archaeological societies that have evidence of this earthquake. And it's actually noted quite well. And that brings us to chapter nine, because with all of the judgment that had been proclaimed not only upon Israel, but upon Judah, all of Israel. I love reading a portion of Amos chapter 9, because Amos chapter 9 speaks of something that has not yet happened, but is beginning to happen. And I absolutely love it. Let me read verse 13 to you. And if you say that God is done with Israel, you're just not reading the Bible, and you're certainly not reading biblical prophecy. I want everybody to understand that. Look what it says in Amos 9, 13. Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes, him that Seth seed. And the mountain shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall shall melt. By the way, it is interesting when it talks about the plowman overtaking the reaper and the treader of grapes, him that soweth seed. In other words, the idea here is that there's going to be so much abundance that they. They're going to be overlapping the time where you sow. The seed is going to overlap from the time that you're actually pulling out of the ground, meaning there's going to be tremendous abundance, agriculturally speaking, which, by the way, is something that we're beginning to see happening right now in Israel. They're the number one exporter of fruit in that region and. And actually becoming one of the number one exporters in the world, even with war and all the other things that are going on. Look what it says in verse 14. It says, and I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel. And I just got to tell you, it's hard not to get emotional when I read this verse. I remember reading it to the Consul General of Israel, who, when his station had just finished and he was getting ready to go work for the Foreign minister's office, I stood before him and I read this, and I cried like a baby because God is making it come to pass today. Let me read this again, verse 14. And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel. And they shall build the way cities and inhabit them, and they shall plant vineyards and drink the wine thereof, and they shall also make gardens and eat the fruit thereof. Where we're watching that happening right now. They've jumped into these waste cities. Look at the agricultural technology they have put into play. It's amazing what they have done. And here's my favorite, very, very favorite verse. And I will plant them upon their
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land,
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And they shall no more be pulled up out of their land, which
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I have given them, saith the Lord thy God.
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I mean, he's doing it. You can talk all the smack you want about Israel. You could say whatever you want. You could say God's done with them. You could. You could spew any kind of lie you want to spew, but God's word is God's word, and God's promise is real, and Israel will never be plucked out of their land ever again. That's the promise that God gives.
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And why am I emotional about this.
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Because if God can keep his promise to Israel, he can keep his promise
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to you and me.
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If God can say, israel, this is what I will do for you. And keep His Word.
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We can trust in the salvation that we have, salvation that almighty God has given us. Nothing is better than that, right?
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We can trust God.
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He's a God that keeps his words. He's not a liar.
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He tells the truth.
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And guys, I'm here to tell you, don't forget this line that as a child of God, for you, get ready. The best is yet to come. I love you.
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Keep reading the Word. Keep getting excited about what God has
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to offer, because his best is what
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he wants for you.
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I love you guys. Keep fighting the good fight and look to him always.