The Book of Amos

(A MESSAGE FOR US TO LEARN FROM)

There is nothing new under the sun, what has been will be again. Ecclesiastes 1:9.

Background:

Amos’s theme is one of national accountability for national sins towards God and so his message is without doubt for every nation on the earth today.

He speaks first of all about God’s judgment on the surrounding nations before speaking of judgment towards Israel. We can also see an end times picture in the last chapter and so this book contains both soteriological (salvation events) and eschatological (end time events) within its pages. The Book of Amos then is being played out in our very times, its message is to warn us that we might learn from the past. (Romans 15:4 and 1 Corinthians 10:11). God’s judgment is upon us! The future is neither bright nor is there optimism, most people are unsure about their tomorrows. We are as a nation morally, physically, financially and above all spiritually bankrupt.  

 

Amos prophesises for the Lord during a period of national optimism in Israel. Business is booming and their boundaries are bulging with trade with other countries. This then is a past and present picture seen in so many countries within the West. It is the Lord God Almighty who prospers individuals and nations but God has been put to one side, even ignored and forgotten. No longer do the nations revere Him far less fear in these days of the falling away from the faith. (see Psalm 33:12; Isaiah 45:22-23 and  Philippians 2:10-11)

 

Israel for the better part had forgotten her God –

“You only have I known of all the families of the earth.

Therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.” Amos 3:2. 

 

Physically and morally from reading the nine chapters of Amos we can see that below the surface of this prospering society things weren’t right. Greed and injustice were festering in high places and the people were following what their leaders were giving as an example of corruption and complacency before the Holy One of Israel.

 

Spiritually, hypocritical religious motives and motions had replaced true worship before God. Again this is what we can see within this Laodecian Church age where an emerging Church is propagating a social Gospel that thinks this will change people and effect society. We have forgotten that salvation belongs to God and no man cometh unless the Father draws. Our times are in His hands regarding repentance and revival. Faith is not of ourselves it is a gift from God in His grace and mercy towards us. Ephesians 2:8-10 and Romans 5:1-2.

 

Financially, little needs to be said about the judgment from the hand of God that Israel saw in the past and that this once great country has also experienced in the last several years.

The national debt we have will probably never be able to be re-paid, we are living on borrowed time. The Spiritual Debt and the Monetary Debt we have goes hand in hand within the Judgment of the Lord from on high. In the days ahead much will befall us from the Lord of Heaven who created the Earth and his plan and purposes are right on course.

 

Amos the Prophet:

His name means ‘burden’ or ‘burden-bearer’ and so this is a very apt meaning with regard to his ministry from the Lord towards his fellow Israelites. He like all the prophets is a type of the Messiah and Amos is mentioned within the lineage of our Lord Jesus (Luke 3:25). Amos was a co-worker and a contemporary of Hosea and Jonah during the reigns of King Uzziah and Jeroboam (Amos 1:1; 7:10-12, 14). Hosea continued to minister after Amos.

It may well be that both Isaiah and Micah heard Amos preach while they were young men.

Amos was a herdsman of Tekoa and a gatherer of sycamore fruit (Amos 1:1 and 7:14b).

 

What should be noted once again towards all those who have a pride of learning and of the flesh in ministry is that Amos never attended any religious school of learning nor was he of the school of the prophets! (Amos 7:14a). Further to this Amos as a chosen vessel had no academic qualifications or training for the mission that God had called him to. His call and anointing was from on high and in obedience he spoke with boldness, courage and an oratory skill that few have ever matched. He was a man of purity, holy fire and obedience towards his God and ours and may we all be found to be of the same character and conduct before all others, saved and unsaved.

 

The Message:

 

Amos gives 5 calls of repentance from his Lord and ours before the final warning –

“Prepare to meet your God, O Israel. Amos 4:12.

 

This then is a message for us all to learn from as the title of this article states. There is a judgment of the righteous and the unrighteous to come, one leads to eternal life and the other to eternal banishment from the presence of God. Grace despisers will be rejected from His presence, peace, provision and prosperity for all eternity.

 

1. Correction refused – lack of bread – “Yet you have not returned to Me. Says the Lord.” Amos 4:6.

2. Correction refused – lack of rain – “Yet you have not returned to Me.” Says the Lord. Amos 4:7-8.

3. Correction refused – reversal of prosperity – “Yet you have not returned to Me.” Says the Lord.  Amos 4:9.

4. Correction refused – plague brought down – “Yet you have not returned to Me.” Says the Lord.  Amos 4:10.

5. Correction refused – plucked from death – “Yet you have not returned to Me.” Says the Lord.  Amos 4:11.

 

Through all these warnings Israel would not return and so she was ultimately scattered amongst the nations until the time of the end when the Lord will do business with her again.

This then is the message we are to learn from. Will the peoples, tongues, tribes and nations

of this world listen or must it be ‘what has been be again!’ Ignoring God’s correction brings His corrective judgment!

Back To List