missio

Here’s a continuation of my blogging series on Amos. Here’s the a link to the previous posts for the book: Blogging Amos: Overview, Blogging Amos: Chapter One. Here’s chapter two:

• Chapter Two (starting in v4) begins with first an admission of the Judeans as evil as well, along with a dissection of the sins of Judah, Amos’ homeland. Their primary sin is that they have rejected the Law of the Lord, not keeping His statutes (Joshua 23:16). Instead, they lie to themselves, yet deceive no one but themselves (1 John 1:8).
• What does this mean, with regard to the previous accusations against Israel’s neighbors? That neglecting the Word of the Lord is just as evil (if not more) as rape, abortion, and selling people into slavery. This is powerful imagery that Christ uses to get across the severity of sin.
• It is also important to remember that for us as Christ-followers, we have to Words to obey and follow: the written and the living. We are to follow the written Word of the Lord (Scripture) by clinging to the living Word of the Lord (Christ). (Romans 3:20-31) Neglecting either is profaning the name of the Lord.
• Amos then turns his judgment from Judah and Israel’s neighbors to Israel itself, probably silencing their cheers in the process. Imagine it: he is preaching against their enemies and their brothers with whom they fought a major war, and all of a sudden, he turns towards them. Cheers to silence. How often does this happen to us?
• So what’s the big sin of the Israelites? Heh. Well, they ignore the needy, and drown in their sin of selling the great things for lesser things: they are disregarding humanity for human creation. This is a form of idolatry. But there is a greater sin here. Look at verses 9-11.
• In verses 9-11, Amos recounts the doings of God for the Israelites in generations past. But it is vastly important to remember why God did those things. He did those things not for Israel and their prosperity, but rather so that His own name would be made famous. We can see this by running the words of God to Joshua in Joshua 1 through the sieve of Psalm 23. God tells Joshua that He will lead Him to rest and prosperity. Psalm 23 tells us that He does this for His name’s sake. God brought them out of Egypt, defeated the Israelites, and gave them the Word so that His name would be famous among the nations. But because they have forgotten the Word and are submitting to idols, His name has been profaned. This is not good.
• God’s judgment is this: He will press them down. No amount of speed, smarts, or skill will be able to save them. A miracle alone would have to save anyone, and if they are saved, they would have nothing left but their life (v16). But the difference between this judgment and the previous judgments is this: there’s a chance. People may be saved. Indeed they are; a remnant is taken into Babylon, and later, Nehemiah and Ezra lead them to rebuild Jerusalem. Our world is no different. We should have been punished for sin: we live in a fallen world and are utterly fallen people. But God has lifted this burden off of the cart and onto Himself. He sacrificed Jesus for it. A miracle has indeed occurred, praise Christ!