THE BEST OF TIMES, THE WORST OF TIMES
Twelve Voices #4, The Book of Amos
Pastor Dennis Clanton
Woodland Church
Wednesday, February 5, 2025
Amos will make us face some hard truths in life.
(Amos 1:1-2) “This message was given to Amos, a shepherd from the town of Tekoa in Judah. He received this message in visions two years before the earthquake, when Uzziah was king of Judah and Jeroboam II, the son of Jehoash, was king of Israel. This is what he saw and heard: ‘The LORD’s voice will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem! The lush pastures of the shepherds will dry up; the grass on Mount Carmel will wither and die.’”
(2 Kings 14:23-29) “Jeroboam II, the son of Jehoash, began to rule over Israel in the fifteenth year of King Amaziah’s reign in Judah. He reigned in Samaria forty-one years. He did what was evil in the LORD’s sight. He refused to turn from the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had led Israel to commit. Jeroboam II recovered the territories of Israel between Lebo-hamath and the Dead Sea, just as the LORD, the God of Israel, had promised through Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet from Gath-hepher. For the LORD saw the bitter suffering of everyone in Israel, and that there was no one in Israel, slave or free, to help them. And because the LORD had not said he would blot out the name of Israel completely, he used Jeroboam II, the son of Jehoash, to save them. The rest of the events in the reign of Jeroboam II and everything he did-including the extent of his power, his wars, and how he recovered for Israel both Damascus and Hamath, which had belonged to Judah-are recorded in The Book of the History of the Kings of Israel. When Jeroboam II died, he was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel. Then his son Zechariah became the next king.”
The blessings for which the rich were thanking God had come at the expense of the poor
Their religion of Israel was politicized and blasphemous
(James 1:27) “Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.”
Brace yourself, the Lion of Judah has declared judgment is coming
(Amos 1:2) “The LORD’s voice will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem! The lush pastures of the shepherds will dry up; the grass on Mount Carmel will wither and die.”
(Amos 1:3, 13 Message) “Because of the three great sins of Damascus —make that four—I’m not putting up with her any longer. She pounded Gilead to a pulp, pounded her senseless with iron hammers and mauls.” … “Because of the three great sins of Ammon —make that four—I’m not putting up with her any longer. She ripped open pregnant women in Gilead to get more land for herself.”
(Amos 2:6-7) “This is what the LORD says: “The people of Israel have sinned again and again, and I will not let them go unpunished! They sell honorable people for silver and poor people for a pair of sandals. They trample helpless people in the dust and shove the oppressed out of the way. Both father and son sleep with the same woman, corrupting my holy name.”
Amos’ Character
(Amos 7:14-15) “Amos replied, “I’m not a professional prophet, and I was never trained to be one. I’m just a shepherd, and I take care of sycamore-fig trees. But the LORD called me away from my flock and told me, ‘Go and prophesy to my people in Israel.’”
“The beauty and fluidity of Amos’ language is captivating. This alone caused Augustine to point out that Amos, … a rustic shepherd without any formal training, could have expressed himself with sophisticated human language only under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.” – Ancient Christian Commentary, Old Testament XIV, p 83
1. He possessed a deep moral consciousness
2. He was perceptive
3. He was courageous
“We have too many men of science, too few men of God. We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount. … Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war than we know about peace, more about killing than we know about living.” – General Omar N. Bradley, 1948 Armstice Day address
Growthwork
God can use me.
(1 Corinthians 1:26-29) “Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God.
Here’s Hope for Us to Bring Great Glory to God!
1. Abraham, was a pagan God called.
2. Moses, was a slave God called to lead the Exodus and give the Law.
3. David, was the eighth son of Jessie, God called to become Israel’s great king.
Speaking Truth to Power
(1 Kings 12:26–27) “Jeroboam thought to himself, “Unless I am careful, the kingdom will return to the dynasty of David. When these people go to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices at the Temple of the Lord, they will again give their allegiance to King Rehoboam of Judah. They will kill me and make him their king instead.”
Jeroboam’s religion propped up the state and became a tool of repression
Amaziah, is the state priest
(Amos 7:10–11) “Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent a message to Jeroboam, king of Israel: “Amos is hatching a plot against you right here on your very doorstep! What he is saying is intolerable. He is saying, ‘Jeroboam will soon be killed, and the people of Israel will be sent away into exile.’”
Amos’ three temptations:
1. Misrepresentation.
2. Self-interest.
(Amos 7:12) “Then Amaziah sent orders to Amos: “Get out of here, you prophet! Go on back to the land of Judah, and earn your living by prophesying there!”
(Matthew 4:9) “I will give it all to you,” he said, “if you will kneel down and worship me.”
3. Confronting powerful evil.
(Amos 7:13, 16–17) “Don’t bother us with your prophecies here in Bethel. This is the king’s sanctuary and the national place of worship!” … Amos replied, … “Now then, listen to this message from the Lord: “You say, ‘Don’t prophesy against Israel. Stop preaching against my people.’ But this is what the Lord says: …”
Judgment comes.
(Amos 7:17) “But this is what the LORD says: ‘Your wife will become a prostitute in this city, and your sons and daughters will be killed. Your land will be divided up, and you yourself will die in a foreign land. And the people of Israel will certainly become captives in exile, far from their homeland.'”
LIFE APPLICATION
1. Do I live as God wants me to live privately and publicly?
(1 Peter 4:17) “For the time has come for judgment, and it must begin with God’s household.”
2. Genuine faith begins with repentance for sin and matures into a transformed life by grace through faith.
(Romans 12:1–2) “So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”
3. Do good! Resist the temptation to be silent in the face of evil.
(Amos 5:14-15) “Do what is good and run from evil so that you may live! Then the LORD God of Heaven’s Armies will be your helper, just as you have claimed. Hate evil and love what is good; turn your courts into true halls of justice. Perhaps even yet the LORD God of Heaven’s Armies will have mercy on the remnant of his people.”