AMOS 1-9 THE PROPHECIES OF JOEL AND AMOS2013 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Amos 1-9 The Prophecies Of Joel And Amos

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2013.

And the rest of us, we're going to be looking at the books of Joel and Amos this evening as we look at the chapters that we read this week going through the Bible in three years. We're currently working our way through the Minor Prophets. Just a couple weeks left of the Old Testament and then we'll be hitting in

Heading into the New Testament, which I know for many it's going to be a breath of fresh air. It's like, whew, you know, made it through the Old Testament and then we'll hit Matthew. And once we get past the genealogy, then it'll be like, oh, this is awesome, you know. And so we're looking forward to that. But there's still some great things that God has in store for us in the Minor Prophets. We looked at Hosea last week. We'll look at Joel and Amos this week.

And then as we read going on in the chapters this week, we'll be looking at Obadiah, Jonah, and Micah. So still some great things in store and encourage you to continue and be persistent and diligent in reading through the Bible in three years with us.

But we're starting tonight in the book of Joel. Now, Joel ministered, it's estimated, from about 835 to 796 BC. Somewhere in that time frame is when he was delivering the prophecies that we'll be looking at here in chapters 1, 2, and 3. He was prophesying primarily to the nation of Judah.

Remember that the nation of Israel at one time was united under Saul and David and Solomon. But then it was split in two. And so you had the northern kingdom, Israel. And then the southern kingdom was called Judah. And so Joel will be prophesying mainly to the southern kingdom. Now when we get into Amos, he'll be looking primarily at Israel, the northern kingdom. And so they're ministering to different nations.

regions according to where God has called them. And so the purpose of Joel was to call Judah to repent. They have been in rebellion against God and God is warning them of the judgment that is to come that they're already seeing the warning signs of and so it's an opportunity for them to repent.

He's also calling the faithful to believe the promises of God. There's still things that God has in store for them. And so he's delivering those promises of hope for those who are faithful to the Lord. Now if you want to get the context for the time in which Joel ministered, you can look at 2 Kings chapters 11 and 12. And it was during that time period that he was ministering.

Now, as Joel is bringing forth the prophecies that God gave to him, he was ministering during a time where there was a plague of locusts that had come upon the land and had really devastated the economy.

And so, like we've seen in the previous prophets, God often uses illustrations. Sometimes it's the prophet himself, or sometimes it's his family, or his children, or his marriage. You know, like Hosea was married to Gomer. Well, this time God's using this illustration

epidemic that they're facing currently this plague of locusts that has destroyed all of their crop and he's using that as an illustration of the day of the Lord to describe the judgment that is going to come upon the nation of Judah because of their rebellion against God and so he's using this current event as an illustration for them to call them to repentance and

Now when you look at the timeline, if you want to better look at the timeline, you can grab one of the pamphlets of the minor prophets on the back. But Joel is really the earliest of the minor prophets. And so he was ministering to the nation of Judah. They still had, you know, quite a bit of time, couple hundred years before the final destruction would come. But his ministry was important nonetheless, that God was sending him in early to give them an opportunity to turn around and repent and get right with

the Lord. And so that's who he's ministering to. That's his focus. Here's what it looks like on the map. Again, Israel was the northern kingdom after it was split in two. And then the southern kingdom took the name Judah. And that's where Joel was ministering to as he was delivering these words that we read in Joel chapters 1, 2, and 3. So we start now in Joel chapter 1, verse 4 is the key verse.

It says, what the chewing locust left, the swarming locust has eaten. What the swarming locust left, the crawling locust has eaten. And what the crawling locust left, the consuming locust has eaten. Here as we begin this book in verses 1 through 5, we see there's this devastation from the locusts. And what the chewing locusts left, the swarming locust has eaten and so on and so forth.

There is this great devastation of these swarms of locusts that came into the land. Now the locusts were kind of like grasshopper type creatures, but they eat a tremendous amount every day. And so if you have this, you know, millions of locusts come upon the land, upon the crops, and

In a couple of days, the whole land could be just completely wiped out of vegetation. And it would eat, you know, anything that was living, any kind of plant or fruit or vegetable, they would eat all of those. And so this is what has happened. This is what...

The people of Judah have seen, and you can imagine the devastation. You know, it's like waking up one morning and then realizing, you know, your job is gone. All your bank accounts are empty. You know, you have nothing left. That's kind of what had happened for the nation of Judah. And so God is using this crisis...

To call them to repentance. In verse 2 he says, He's calling them to pay attention. Think about what's happening, he says. Pay attention to what's going on around you.

He goes on in verse 3 to say, tell it to your children. Talk to them about it. Look, this is happening and it's like nothing that's ever happened before. This is a great devastation.

In verses 6 through 12, he says, a nation has come against my land. And so here you see the picture that is being painted. It's the crisis of the locusts, but God's using it to talk about a nation that is coming against Judah. And this nation is going to leave the nation of Judah desolate.

Just like the locusts left the nation desolate. The locusts left the nation desolate of vegetation. But the nation that comes against Judah as a result of God's judgment is going to leave the land desolate of people. There's not going to be anybody left.

After this nation comes upon them. And so the locusts here are a picture of this nation that is coming against them. So the nation that first comes against Judah is the nation of Assyria.

They come against and they conquer much territory in Judah, but they're unable to conquer Jerusalem. And then after Assyria comes Babylon. And so you can kind of see, you know, what the swarming locusts left, then the consuming locusts ate. So Assyria consumed and consumed, and there was only a tiny bit left. And then Babylon comes in and completely conquers Judah and takes the inhabitants away captive. And so we see this as a picture, God saying, this is an illustration of what is to come.

And so in verses 13 through 20, he says, gather the inhabitants and cry out to the Lord. So again, he's saying, look at this crisis. It's an illustration of there's actually more judgment to come. And so what you need to do right now is you need to cry out to the Lord. Gather together and cry out to God. He says in verse 13, gird yourselves and lament, you priests.

Wail you who minister before the altar. Come lie all night in sackcloth you who minister to my God. For the grain offering and the drink offering are withheld from the house of your God. He's calling the people to gather together and to cry out to God. He's calling the priests and those who minister to cry out to God as a result of their situation but even more for what is to come.

And then Joel models this in verse 19. He says, And so Joel is modeling it. He's crying out to God. But the real problem is that the people of Judah do not follow his example.

They are not calling out to God. They're not crying out to God. And if they do, it's in pretense. It's not with their whole hearts. Now, Joel is using this crisis to deliver this message. And it brings up an important thing. That, you know, there are bad things that happen in our lives. So this locust crisis came upon the nation...

And it was something that God was using to call them to repentance. But there's a mistake that we sometimes make as believers to think that every bad thing that happens to us is the result of, you know, some type of sin or some type of correction that God is trying to bring.

Sometimes we think that about ourselves, you know, and oh my goodness, you know, I'm going through this situation now. Well, what have I done, God? What are you doing to me? Or sometimes we think this about other people. Wow, look at what Hector is going through. You know, he must really be in sin for God to do that. You might remember I shared a while back when Pastor Cisco was about to have his surgery for the cancer in his kidney. You know, there was people who actually came to him and said, what kind of sin do you have in your life?

That God's given you cancer. And sometimes Christians think this way. And I always make sure to point out. Not every bad thing that happens is a result of sin. It's not always God's judgment. So sometimes God uses...

difficult situations, a crisis in our life, to call us to repentance. But not every crisis is a judgment of God. So how can you tell which is which? How can you tell in your life if a crisis or this bad thing is a judgment from God? Well, the first question you need to ask is, am I living in sin? Is there some sin in my life? Now usually,

Just if we're a little bit honest, we're kind of hesitant to ask this question and really consider this.

Not because we don't know about any sin in our life, but usually it's because we're hoping that God's not trying to deal with the sin that we do know about. Usually there is something that we know about and we're like, I don't want to ask if God's trying to deal with sin because I'm not ready to let go of that. There's this thing in my life, there's this issue, there's this thing in my life,

You know, we kind of are hesitant to cry out to the Lord because then it's like, well, maybe God will deal with something different. You know, maybe there's another sin that God could deal with. You know, it can't be that bitterness that I've been harboring because, you know, I've had that for a long time and this crisis is new. So, you know, don't speak to me about that, God. But maybe there's something else that you want to speak to me about. Listen, we need to repent of any sin that we know about. If there's sin in your life and you know about it,

You need to repent. And so when you're evaluating is this crisis from God or not. Listen. If you know about sin in your life. Then it's. You don't need to worry about trying to figure out if the crisis is from God. You have sin. And you know about it. And you need to repent. You need to turn from it. So whether or not it's from the Lord. This act of judgment. It's hard for us to say. Especially in other people's lives. But here's what we know. It's an opportunity to cry out to God.

And if there is sin, if there is issues that are out of line in your life, then it's a perfect time to get them right. Because as we saw here, so the locust was this great crisis, but God's saying, there's a bigger one to come. And so when we go through a crisis, when we go through those difficult things,

We need to make sure that we use it as an opportunity to get right with God and to clean up those things that he's speaking to us because it might just be a shadow of what is to come. There might be something much worse on the way if we continue in those things that we know are not of God. And so it's a great warning for us and a great opportunity for us to call out and cry out to God. Well now in Joel chapter 2 verse 13 is the key verse.

He says, This is a great verse because here we see God is bringing judgment, but always when he announces judgment, it's an opportunity to repent. Every time God announces there's judgment on the way,

It's an opportunity for us to change, to repent. And God is gracious and of great kindness. And the amazing thing about God is that He relents from doing harm. In verses 1 through 11, it tells us that the day of the Lord is great and terrible. He says, blow the trumpet in verse 1. Sound the alarm on my holy mountain. Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble.

For the day of the Lord is coming. It's a day of darkness. A day of gloominess.

Now this can be said, this phrase, the day of the Lord, can be used in a sense of any time of judgment that God brings, but it's also used more specifically of the tribulation and the final judgment that God will bring upon the earth. And so there's some, you know, dual fulfillment here where it's fulfilled in the judgment that he brings upon this nation, but also foreshadows the judgment that will come upon the world.

He says that the people great and strong will come against them. He says in verse 3, he describes, you know, there's the Garden of Eden before them and then behind them is the wilderness. That is, they come upon a land that's like the Garden of Eden and what they leave behind as they pass through is a barren, desolate wilderness. He's saying this nation is coming against us.

You, the people of Judah, and they're going to leave you absolutely desolate, no matter how glorious you are. In verses 12 through 17, he says, turn to me with all your heart. So again, this announcement of judgment is an opportunity to repent. He says, turn to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning. There in verse 12.

God is inviting his people to turn to him that he might respond. He says in verse 13, rend your heart and not your garments. Here's the issue with the nation of Judah. They were good at the outward display. So they would rip their garments, which was a sign of sorrow and great mourning. They would rip their garments, but their hearts were not touched. Their hearts were not changed.

And God says, look, you're not fooling me. You can do all the outward stuff and look really good, but I'm concerned about your heart. And so if you're going to turn to me, don't just do it in ceremony. Don't just do it, you know, in, you know, religion, but rend your heart, change your heart, have a broken heart for your sinfulness and your rebellion. And let me do a work within you.

He says, rend your heart and not your garments. I like what Warren Wiersbe has to say here. He says, never be afraid to come to the Lord in honesty and humility because he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness. We are to fear the Lord, but that is not to keep us from God. Never fear coming to God in brokenness and humility.

There's never a need to fear. Man, we get caught up in that, don't we? We're afraid, especially when we know. And sometimes, you know, people say things like, well, you don't know what I've done or you don't know where I've been. You don't know what's going on in my heart. Well, God knows. But you don't have to be afraid to come to Him with repentance. You don't have to be afraid to come to Him with honesty and humility. I like verse 14. He says, who knows if He will turn and relent? When you come to God...

He is so good at relenting from even those judgments that he has announced. It's not too late to turn around is the point. That's what he's calling Judah to. He's giving them the opportunity to repent in the same way that he gives that opportunity to us. Well, in verses 18 through 27, he says, I will restore the years that the swarming locust has eaten. God says, look, if you guys will repent, if you'll rend your heart and not just your garment, then I'm going to respond.

He's really kind of reiterating the promise of 2 Chronicles 7.14. You know, if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray, he says, I will save my people. I will save. I will restore. I will heal their land. In the same way, God's saying, if you do this, if you respond to the prophet Joel, then I'm going to do a work. I'm going to, in verse 19, he says, the Lord will answer and say to his people, behold, I will send you grain and new wine and oil.

And you will be satisfied by them. I will no longer make you a reproach among the nations. Right now they're hungry because the locusts ate all their food. And God says, if you repent, if you turn to me, I'm going to satisfy you with grain and wine. I'm going to provide for you and meet your needs. And he says in verse 25, I will restore the years the locusts has eaten. Think about this. This is absolutely amazing. This is the amazing grace of God.

The swarming locusts came. They devoured. Then the other locusts came and they devoured. And then more locusts came and they devoured. Why did this happen? God says, it's because you've been rebellious against me. Their rebellion against God brought upon this judgment of locusts. And so their food was devoured. And they deserved this judgment. They deserved what they were experiencing. They deserved actually much more. God was still holding back. They deserved it.

And yet, God says, if you turn to me now, I will restore what the locusts have devoured. The things that you lost because of your disobedience and rebellion, I will restore. You deserved that judgment. You deserved what has happened. But I'm so gracious. I'm not just going to bless you from here on out. But I'm going to take care and I'm going to restore those things that were lost.

Such a great, great example of God's grace. And listen, this is true in our lives as well. There's amazing things that God will do as we turn to Him, as we really change our hearts and not just the outside, that when we get right with Him, God is able to do incredible things. Even things that, well, we brought upon ourselves. He's able to restore the years that the locust has eaten.

Well then in verses 28 through 32 he says, I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh. Judah did not turn back to the Lord at the message of the prophet Joel.

They didn't get to really experience this grace. Yet it is still fulfilled spiritually for believers in Jesus. And we can see this in Acts chapter 2. Where Peter quotes this portion of the last part of Joel chapter 2. And says, this is what the Holy Spirit is doing. He's being poured out upon at the church at Pentecost. As the believers receive the Holy Spirit. He says, this is the fulfillment of that.

And so as believers, there's a spiritual fulfillment for us in this, that He restores, He renews, He does a great work. And a big part of that is us being filled with and baptized with the Holy Spirit. And so that's also an indication, though, that we're living in the last days.

The last days, you could think about this way, okay? So as you're going through the history of the people of God, you start, you know, with Adam and Eve, you know, you work your way up to Abraham and Moses and so on and so forth. Well, then we talked about in the book of Daniel, the 69 weeks, right? And in 445 BC, the command was given to rebuild Jerusalem. And so there was 69 sevens or 483 years of

Until the time in 32 AD where Jesus was crucified. Now it's been often told this way and I like the illustration that history was progressing forward as you would expect, you know, moving forward on the timeline. But at the coming of Christ and the crucifixion of Christ, the timeline took a right turn.

And so as the timeline took a turn, we entered into the church age. And so now history is continuing. The timeline is continuing this way. Eternity is right here. We're right on the brink of eternity, but we're parallel to it.

And at the rapture of the church, it will enter in then into the final days of this world. The seven years of tribulation, and then of course the millennium, and then the rest of eternity. And so the Holy Spirit was poured out in Acts chapter 2.

The last days, as Joel says in Joel chapter 2, we're right on the brink of eternity. We're heading along parallel in the church age, waiting for the rapture of the church where we will enter into eternity with Christ. But we're still in those last days. At any moment, God can fulfill the rest of his prophetic plan that he has for this world. And so, great exciting things for us to look up. Our redemption draws near.

Chapter 3 now, verse 7 is the key verse. I kind of got to pick up the pace. I get too caught up in these things. Verse 7, behold, I will raise them out of the place to which you have sold them and will return your retaliation upon your own head. In verses 1 through 8, he says, I will gather and judge all nations. He's going to gather the nations, he says in verse 2, to the valley of Jehoshaphat.

Now he's going to be dealing with the nations there for their treatment of the nation of Israel. He's explaining here in this portion, he's going to gather Israel back into the land and then he's going to deal with the nations for their treatment of his people.

Now the valley of Jehoshaphat is an interesting reference because there's different opinions about what exactly is being spoken of here. Because there's no place that specifically has that name. Many refer to the Kidron Valley and maybe that's the valley of Jehoshaphat where he had the great victory over the enemies of Judah. And that's a possibility. It's possible that this is referring to, remember in Matthew chapter 25, it's

When God is, or when Jesus, you know, is dividing the sheep and the goats, he's judging the nations at that time. And so that might be a reference to that judgment of Matthew chapter 25.

It also could be a reference to the Battle of Armageddon and really the Jezreel Valley, which is a little bit north of Israel, where Megiddo is and the Battle of Armageddon will take place. And so that's a possibility as well. It's hard to say for sure exactly which one is taking place. But as you go on in the rest of the chapter, it seems to be a reference to the Battle of Armageddon with some of the things really paralleling what we see in the book of Revelation.

So verses 9 through 17, he says, assemble in the valley of Jehoshaphat. And so he says in verse 9, proclaim this among the nations, prepare for war. Wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near, let them come up. He tells them in verse 10 to take your plowshares and beat them into swords. Now that sounds familiar, right? Well, the reverse happens in the millennium. We saw that in Isaiah. You know, they're going to take their swords and beat them into plowshares. But for this,

He says, get ready for war. And so take your plowshares, make them into weapons, and get ready to battle. He says in verses 11 and 12, all the nations are going to be gathered here. Now, in Revelation chapter 16, it tells us that with the sixth bowl of judgment, that the nations are gathered to Armageddon. So again, that's why it seems to be a parallel, although we can't be dogmatic about it, that this is probably a reference to Armageddon.

In verse 16, it tells us that the Lord will roar as this battle takes place. And again, in Revelation 16, 17, it says, And a loud voice came out of the temple of heaven from the throne, saying, It is done, as this battle unfolds. And so, again, probably a reference here to the battle of Armageddon.

Then in verses 18 through 21, he says, a fountain shall flow from the house of the Lord. We talked about this in Ezekiel. Remember that the temple is there set up and then there's this river that comes out from it. And the waters heal the dead sea and go forth from it. And so it's a reference then to the millennial kingdom and what God's going to be doing there. So again, Joel chapter 3, probably referring to the battle of Armageddon.

There's room for discussion. You can talk to Pastor Tom about it afterwards if you want. But then entering into the millennium, the new kingdom that will be established as Jesus rules and reigns and the river that will flow forth and bring healing and life to everything that it touches. And that is the book of Joel. So now we head into the book of Amos.

A little bit different context as we head into the book of Amos. It was written and his prophecy was around 762 BC, a little bit later than Joel. He prophesied to the northern kingdom, the nation of Israel. And so he was actually from Judah, but God sent him to Israel to bring this prophecy. He does also deal with some of the surrounding nations, but primarily he's speaking to Israel.

Now his message was that the Lord Almighty will come as a warrior to judge the nations and that God will preserve a repentant remnant. And so very similar message, but again to the nation of Israel instead of the nation of Judah. And if you want to look at the historical context, you could see 2 Kings chapter 14.

So on our timeline, we were just looking at Joel. We're fast forwarding a little bit to Amos who overlaps Hosea. And we studied Hosea last week. And so it's around that time frame ministering to the northern kingdom. Now notice Amos is here. He's kind of the last call. Well, him and Hosea are the last call of the northern kingdom to repentance before the final judgment comes with Assyria conquering them and leading the people away captive.

So on the map, here's what Amos looks like. He was from a place called Tekoa, which is about 10 miles south of Jerusalem. And God called him to minister to Israel. Specifically, we know he prophesied from a city called Bethel, which is one of the major idolatrous places of the nation of Israel. And so that's where he was ministering from. And that's where he delivered this message that we're about to get into.

So chapter 1 now, verse 3 is the key verse. It says,

So in verses 1 and 2, we're introduced to Amos. We learn that he was among the sheep breeders of Tekoa, which is the city that he was from. And so he's a shepherd there. And it happened during the days of Uzziah, king of Judah, and Jeroboam, the son of Joash, the king of Israel. And specifically says two years before the earthquake. We don't know exactly what date that is or exactly, but we estimate it's about 762 B.C.

So he's a shepherd. Now, this is really important, okay? I love this about the book of Amos and many other examples in the scriptures. God uses ordinary people. I mean, I know like from your perspective, you look up here and I just, I look amazing, right? But I'm just an ordinary person. I'm just a regular dude. I'm not really anything special, right?

God uses ordinary people. Now, he can use educated and trained people, but most often he uses just regular, plain, old people. And that's something important for us to know because I think a lot of times we kind of take ourselves out of the ministry that God would have us to do. Thinking like, well, that's for Pastor George to do. You know, he's

or he's called hospital visits, that's for him. Or, you know, flashlight fellowships, you know, reaching out, offering to pray for people. That's, you know, that's not me. I'm just an ordinary person. Yeah, exactly. That's the kind of people that God loves to use. Remember Paul said, you know, how many of you are wise? You know, look around. How many of you are scholars? No, God's chosen to use the base things, the foolish things of this world to confound the wise.

And so don't discount yourself from things that God may want to do. Because yeah, even if you're just a shepherd, in your own mind, it's a little calling, a little role, little responsibility. But God says, I can use you to transform a nation. Think about that. God could call you to the mission field.

God could use you to bring revival to the United States. God could use you to spark a revival that impacts the world. He uses ordinary people. If he chooses, he can do it. So be available to God and don't discount yourself because you think you're too ordinary. Well, then in verses 3 through 15, he says, I will not turn away the punishment of Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom, and Ammon.

And so he's listing these different nations surrounding Israel and dealing with some of their sins. And so he says, for three things, you know, I'm not going to turn away for four. It's a poetic way to express the abundance, the excess of their sinfulness and rebellion against God. And

And so here's what it looks like on the map. So he prophesies against Tyre, which is fulfilled later on. Alexander the Great conquers in 332 B.C. He prophesies against Damascus, which is the capital of Syria, which was also conquered by Alexander the Great in 323. He prophesies against Ammon, conquered in 582 by Babylon.

the Philistines who were conquered by Egypt and Babylon and eventually disappeared from history altogether. And then he also talks about and prophesies against Edom who disappeared from history after 70 AD after the death of Herod. And so he was the last of the Edomites and they are no longer a people. And so he prophesies against these different nations and the point is all of these have come to pass exactly the way that God has said.

Now in chapter 2 verse 6 it says,

So he continues on the same method in verses 1 through 8, saying, I will not turn away the punishment of Moab, Judah, and Israel. And so these announcements of judgments upon these nations. And from here on out, he's going to be focusing on Israel specifically. In verses 9 through 12, he says, I destroyed the Amorites before them.

He's pronouncing this judgment. He's saying, declaring their sinfulness. And he's saying, but I brought you here. And I gave you victory. And I blessed you. And I spoke to you. And you've turned around and rebelled against me. And you've caused people who are dedicated to me. And people who took the Nazarite vow. People who wanted to serve me. You've caused them to stumble. Their rebellion against God has grown greatly.

And so this is why God is bringing this ultimate judgment with Assyria in just a little bit. In verses 13 through 16, God says, I am weighed down by you. He says in verse 13, behold, I'm weighed down by you as a cart full of sheaves is weighed down. God says, I'm weighed down because of your sinfulness, because of your rebellion.

We see this all throughout the prophets. God is very patient with his people. He allows time that people might have opportunity to repent. And he carries the weight of their rebellion for a while. But there comes a point where he will not put up with it any longer. There comes a point where the weight is too great. And he has reached this point with the nation of Israel. And so he says, I'm bringing this judgment upon you.

The result will be, he says in verse 16, the most courageous men of might shall flee naked in that day, says the Lord. So it doesn't matter how strong you are. It doesn't matter how fast you are. It doesn't matter what you got, what resources you have. The most courageous will flee naked as a result of the judgment of God. The point is there is no escaping the judgment of God.

No matter how strong you are or rich you are or fast you are, you and I, we can't outrun God. We cannot get away from Him. We cannot violate the law of you reap what you sow. There's nothing that we can do. It doesn't matter how much we have in the bank account. It doesn't matter what we do. The ultimate answer is to be right with God and to walk with God. And that is what is necessary.

Well, the beginning part of this chapter, he was prophesying against these three nations. Israel, and so that was conquered by Assyria in 722, and this prophecy was fulfilled. Then Judah was conquered in 586 by Babylon, and that prophecy was fulfilled. And then Moab, I don't have, we don't have the exact date of that, but also conquered by Babylon a little bit after the nation of Judah. Now,

Now he lists some of the things which Israel was involved with there in verses 1 through 8. They were selling the righteous and the poor. They were perverting the way of the humble. They were involved in sexual immorality and they were involved in idolatry. They were worshiping false gods. And so these are some of the things that God says, I am bringing this judgment upon you as a result of your sinfulness and rebellion against me. And all of these things have been fulfilled.

Chapter 3 now, verse 2 is the key verse. He says, you only have I known of all the families of the earth, therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities. He says in verses 1 through 8, the Lord has spoken against you, O Israel. And he's spoken against Israel specifically because in verse 2 he says, I've known you especially among all the peoples, there's been no one else that I've called to be my people.

Starting with Abraham. Remember he called Abraham and his descendants. He promised them blessings. He promised that they would be his people. He says I haven't done this to any other people but I've done this to you and you've turned against me. Therefore he says I will punish you. Illustrating another principle of God. To whom much is given much is required. Now these were God's people and

They turned against him. And so he's holding them accountable to that. Because well they had a special privilege. As we read these things. We need to understand. Much more is required of us. Because we have even much more. Than Israel had. In that we have the fulfillment of the Messiah. Jesus Christ has come. We have the gospel message. We have the truth. The full revelation in the Old and New Testament. We have the scriptures in our laps.

In our hands. On our devices. We have such access to the word of God. We have access to the very presence of God. As Hebrews chapter 10 tells us. We have such great privilege in Jesus Christ. And so we need to take heed. We need to pay attention. Even the author of Hebrews says look. Hey they violated the covenant that was brought by angels. And it was judgment for them. How much worse is it for us who have Jesus the Savior. We need to pay attention.

You know, sometimes people bring up, well, what about that guy in Africa who never heard the gospel? A lot of people are concerned for that guy. Listen, he'll be accountable for what God has revealed to him. And God's able to reveal to him. So we don't have to worry so much about him. The bigger concern is you. Because you have been given much. And so where are you at with God?

Verses 9 through 15, he says, an adversary shall be all around the land. And so he says, look, I gave you guys special privilege. I called you to be my people. You've turned away. And so now the adversary is coming and you will be devoured on all sides. Now here's the thing. At this time, Israel looked good. Israel was stronger than the nation of Judah, richer than Judah. They were much more powerful. So it seemed like Judah should fall before Israel.

But it didn't matter how much resources they had or how much strength they had because they had turned against God and God is bringing this destruction upon them. He says in verse 10, for they do not know to do right. They don't know to do right. As we saw from the prophet Hosea last week, they'd rejected the knowledge of God. They've rejected. You know, my people perish for lack of knowledge, he says, because they've rejected the knowledge of God. And so they don't know to do right.

Because they've rejected, they've refused to hear from God. And he describes the result, what it's going to be. It's going to be like, in verse 12 he says, like picking pieces of a lamb out of the lion's mouth. It's a nice, you know, pretty picture, right? You know, pulling out a hoof, pulling out an ear from the lion's mouth of the lamb that was devoured. That's what he's saying. This nation will come against you. There's just going to be pieces left, fragments here and there.

But the nation as a whole will be devoured. He says in verse 15, I will destroy the summer and the winter house. Again, they were wealthy. They had two homes. They had summer homes and winter homes. They had abundance. But God says, no. Even though you have great prosperity, it will all perish.

Chapter 4 now, verse 6 is the key verse. He says, In verses 1 through 5, he says, Now, he speaks specifically in verse 1 to the cows of Bashan.

The cows of Bashan, he's addressing the ladies of the land. And he's not complimenting them. He's referring to their luxury, their indulgence. Luxury by itself isn't wrong, but they got their luxuries by oppressing the poor. And so he says, I'm going to lead you out with fish hooks. When Assyria would conquer a nation, they would take the people of that nation and disperse them into different parts of the empire.

And the way that they did that is they would lead the people out. They would put a hook through their lip. And this wasn't, you know, a fashion statement. It wasn't body piercing. This hook would be attached to a line. And so everybody, it would be a long, you know, just picture a string of fish. There'd be a string of people all attached by their lip, by this hook. And they would lead them out. And that's what he's describing here, this process, which is Syria. Now, can you imagine walking a hundred miles attached to

To this line with a hook in your lip. It was a very painful and difficult thing. And he's saying okay you ladies. You're living it up now. But this is what's going to happen. As a result of your rebellion. In verses 6 through 11 he says. You have not returned to me.

Now, just like we saw in Joel, right? The locusts were like the warning. It was a crisis and it was called repentance because a greater judgment was coming. In the same way, God had sent warnings to the nation of Israel. He says, I sent you hunger. In verse 6, he talks about the cleanness of teeth. That's a reference to their hunger. Your teeth were clean because you had nothing to eat. But then he says, yet you've not returned to me. I sent you thirst. I sent you famine.

Yet you've not returned to me. I sent you mildew, but you've not returned to me. I've sent you locusts, but you've not returned to me. Now again, let me remind you, not every bad thing is a judgment from God, but sometimes it is. And so you better check your heart. He says, I sent a plague in verse 10, but you did not return. I sent the sword. Nations have attacked you, but you've not returned. I've sent you defeat in verse 11, yet you've not returned.

All of these were warning signs, he says. They were warnings, opportunities to repent, but you've not repented. David Guzik says, God starts his chastisement slow and increases it incrementally so that he can use the smallest amount of discipline necessary to turn our hearts back to him. Isn't that beautiful? So the slightest discomfort, if I will then turn and look to God and say, God, I need to get right with you. I need to get rid of this thing that I know about in my life.

then God only had to use a tiny bit of discipline. But then he'll increase it if I don't listen. And he'll increase it if I don't listen. He'll increase it if I don't listen. Finally bringing his ultimate discipline. But he desires to use the least amount of discipline possible. And that's where, man, it's so important for us to have hearts that desire. You know, we sing about having a passion for the Lord. It's so important for us.

You know, the Lord said, I think it was in one of the Psalms. I can't remember the exact chapter. But he says, don't be like the horse. Don't be like the mule. They have to put the bit in the mouth, you know, in order to turn them. No, hear my word and respond. Be sensitive. Be soft. Let God speak to you. Let God challenge you. Because there are things that he wants to correct us about. And so let...

Let God use the least amount of discipline. You know, that's why you get into the word. You're reading through the Bible in three years. You don't even have to experience some kind of judgment. Just be open and ask God to speak to you through his word. That's the easiest way. Respond and repent and change according to what God's word says. Or else he'll bring a little bit of judgment. And then he'll increase his chastisement until he gets our attention.

Well, finally in verses 12 through 13, he says, prepare to meet your God. They did not listen. They didn't listen. They didn't listen. They didn't listen. As God sends all these warnings and so now it's at the end. He says, alright, it's time for you to get ready to meet your maker because you've rebelled to that extent. He reminds them, you're not sinning against a man. You're sinning against the creator. The one who formed the mountains. Who knows everything. Who keeps the world turning.

You can't outrun him. It's impossible to escape from the judgment that he will bring. What he has declared will take place. So prepare to meet your God, he says to the nation of Israel. Chapter 5 now verse 4, the key verse. It says, for thus says the Lord to the house of Israel, seek me and live. Turn to me. Again, it's a call to repentance. He says in verses 1 through 3, the virgin of Israel has fallen and

It's a lamentation that we see here in verse 1. A funeral poem is really what he's talking about here. Where there's going to be a tenth that is left. A city that has a thousand will be reduced to a hundred. A city that has a hundred will be reduced to ten. Ten percent of the nation will be left. Ninety percent will be destroyed by the coming judgment. In verses 4 through 9, thus says the Lord, seek me and live.

When God pronounces judgment, it is always an invitation to repent. Sometimes we get caught up in the judgment. We think, man, the Old Testament is so harsh. You know, God is full of wrath and angry all the time. Well, first of all, we got to understand it's after, you know, hundreds of years of patience of calling them to repentance. But then also, even when he announces this judgment, it's an invitation. Turn, repent, get right.

And I will do a work. I will restore the years that the locusts have eaten. He says in verse 4, seek me and live. In verse 6, seek the Lord and live. Stop pursuing idolatry. Turn away from your sins. And turn to the Lord and you will have life. Verses 10 through 15, he says, seek good and not evil that you may live. And so again, repentance is not just an internal thing. But he's saying, you got to change your actions.

Start doing good and stop doing evil. But the people, well we find in verse 10, they hate the one who rebukes. Can you relate? You like to be rebuked? Anybody who likes to be rebuked, come talk to me after the service. I'll be happy to rebuke you. We don't really like correction. They hated correction. But to hate correction is a terrible condition to be in. Listen, I need to be corrected regularly.

And I need to keep challenging and examining my heart to be open to receiving correction. That's where we need to be. Again, that God would use the least amount of discipline necessary to correct and to redirect us. But instead, he describes in verse 12, they're manifold transgressions. And God says, turn from that. Seek good and not evil things.

that you may live. He tells him in verse 15 to hate evil and to love what is good. That's what he's calling us to do, to hate evil and to love what is good. In verses 16 through 20, he says the day of the Lord is dark. And we talked about this. The day of the Lord, it's a reference to judgment. It could be any time of judgment or specifically the end times, a tribulation period that is yet to come.

And he says, look, this judgment is going to be dark. This is not a good thing. There's going to be wailing in the streets. He says in verse 18, woe to you who desire the day of the Lord because when he visits, it's going to be judgment and not blessing. He says it's going to be like running from a lion and running into a bear. Verse 19.

You're like, whew, I got away from the lion. And you're in the bear's den about to be devoured. You can't escape. You're not going to get away. It's going to be dark, not light, with no brightness in it. Well, then in verses 21 through 27, he says, I hate your feast days. I hate, he says, I despise your feast days. You're celebrating feasts. You're practicing religious things. And I hate it.

Can you imagine God telling you, I hate your church attendance. I hate it when you come to church. Can you imagine God saying that? But he could say that. If our lives, if our hearts are like the nation of Israel, the feast days, the holy days, their religious ceremonies, again, they were outward. Their hearts were far from God. They were pretending to know God, to walk with God. Remember, he's talking to the nation of Israel.

Israel was the northern kingdom. Jerusalem and the temple was in the southern kingdom. And so they weren't even worshipping in the right way that God had described. In going to the temple and worshipping God at the temple. They were worshipping all these idols. And so even their church services were idolatrous. Their hearts were completely turned away from him. And so he says in verse 23, "...take away from me the noise of your songs."

Sometimes we kind of reward ourselves or celebrate, you know, like, well, hey, I'm singing. I'm at church. But remember that God wants you to rend your heart and not your garment. That's what's important. He's calling us to repentance. And so he says, therefore, captivity is in store for you. Now, he reminds them in verse 8.

He says, He who made the Pleiades and Orion, he turns the shadow of death into morning and makes the day dark as night. He calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the face of the earth. The Lord is his name. He says, look, remember who you're dealing with here. It's similar to the call that God gave to Job in Job 38, 31. Now, there you see on the left, you have Orion with his belt in the middle.

The reference to that. And then on the right hand side you see that little cluster of stars. Those are the Pleiades. And so God says remember I'm the one who put those there. I hold those there. I'm the one who sets the boundaries for the ocean. I rise the sun in the morning and set it at night. I am the creator of the heavens and the earth. Remember who you're dealing with and act appropriately. Turn and repent as I call you to repentance.

Chapter 6 now, verse 3. He says, woe to you who put far off the day of doom, who caused the seat of violence to come near. He focuses on Judah here in verses 1 and 2. He says, woe to you who are at ease in Zion. So he's talking to Israel. And then he looks south. He says to Judah, all right, guys, you guys got to watch out too because you're following in their path. He tells them in verse 2, go to these different cities and see what's happened to them. Are you any better than these other nations around you?

They've fallen away. They've been destroyed. They've been judged. You will be judged as well if you continue in that path. Verses 3 through 7, he says, That's what we do, right? We say, ah, God's not going to judge us. You know, it's going to be a long time away. We have plenty of time to repent. He says, He says in verses 8 through 11,

There was this great pride. This great arrogance. In persisting and continuing on in their rebellion. And ignoring the warnings of God. And so he says in verses 12 through 14. I will raise up a nation against you. So again. The Assyrian Empire is coming on the scene. They are going to come against Judah and Zion. They are not going to fully conquer Jerusalem. But they are going to do great damage in the nation of Judah. And he says it is going to be trouble for them from Israel.

Hamath, which is up there north of Dan, and then all the way to the Arabia, which is the Arabian desert, all the way down to the south. And so they're going to cover this whole territory and come against you. Now then Babylon comes afterwards and brings the final judgment to the nation of Judah. Chapter 7 now, verse 12. Then Amaziah said to Amos, go you seer, flee to the land of Judah. There eat bread and there prophesy. In verses 1 through 6,

Amos says, oh Lord God, forgive, I pray. Here it's interesting. He gets some visions from the Lord. Some things that God is saying he's going to do. But then Amos prays and God relents. Remember in Ezekiel when God says, oh there would be someone there who would stand in the gap. He was looking for someone to do like Amos did and stand in the gap and pray.

for the nation that he might relent of the judgment. So he gives him a vision of locusts. He gives him a vision of fire. He prays. God relents. But then in verses 7 through 9, God says, I'm setting a plumb line. Now the plumb line is a string with a weight on the bottom. And it's a tool that people would use to make sure that a wall was straight or as they build it, that it, you know, it's a straight wall so that it will be established.

And God's saying with this plumb line, he's going to measure Israel by his standard and not theirs. They can't look around and say, well, look, everybody else's wall is crooked. Well, that doesn't matter. The standard is plumb line.

In the same way we can't look at other people around us and say, well, hey, they live it this way or they do that. God says, look, the word of God is the standard. This is the standard by which you will be judged. And so the judgment will not be by locusts or by fire because Amos prayed and God relented, but instead because they violated God's word and his standard, he says the judgment will be by the sword.

In verses 10 through 13, Amaziah, the priest there in Israel, tells Amos to go back to Judah. He says, get out of here. We don't want to hear the message. Remember, they hate correction. Now, Amos was there in Bethel. He's from Judah, but he's in Bethel delivering this message. And he's commanded to leave by Amaziah and Jeroboam the king.

And so he responds in verses 14 through 17, the Lord told me to prophesy. And again, we see the point. He says, look, I wasn't a prophet. I wasn't the son of a prophet. I didn't go to the school of the prophets. I was a sheep breeder. I was out there in the fields breeding sheep. I tended the sycamore fruit.

I was a farmer. I was a shepherd. And the Lord took me and said to me, go and prophesy to my people Israel. Again, the point is God uses ordinary people. He calls ordinary people like you and me to deliver his message and to be his representative. So here's what it looks like on the map. Remember they set up the idols of calves in Dan and Bethel. Bethel was the primary one. And so

Amos goes to Bethel. He's delivering this message. And now the priest at Bethel is trying to run him out. And he's saying, no, God called me to deliver this message. Chapter 8 now, verse 11. He says,

Verses 1 through 6, we see that the end has come upon my people Israel. He gives them a vision of summer fruit, a basket of ripe fruit. And just as that fruit is bad, or about to go bad, he says Israel is ripe for judgment. And so they're about to be destroyed. They are a basket full of rebellious people. They're religious on the outward, but inwardly they're rebellious and violently opposed to God.

They're thinking, when will this be over so that we can just go back to doing what we want to do? They were trying to do things on the outward, but they weren't changing the heart. In verses 7 through 10, God says, I will never forget any of their works. What about sins being cast from the east as far as the west? Forgiveness is a benefit of repentance. Forgotten sin, forgiven sin is the benefit of confession and repentance.

God remembers sin and he will deal with us according to our ways. That's his promise. But when we repent, then his promise is that he will cast our sins as far as the east is from the west. Verses 11 through 14, he says, I will send a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. Now he's declaring you've rejected, you've rejected, you've rejected. So I'm going to stop sending a

You're not going to hear the word of the Lord because you've been refusing. You've been calling on false gods. This is a problem not with God speaking, but with the people not listening. They were rejecting the words of God. And so God says, okay then, I'm going to stop speaking because you keep rejecting.

Finishing up now in chapter 9 verse 14 is the key verse. He says, I will bring back the captives of my people Israel. They shall build the waste cities and inhabit them. They shall also plant vineyards and drink wine from them. They shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them.

Verses 1 through 4, it says, He who flees shall not get away. So as God brings this judgment, there's no escaping it. He reminds them again, I'm the creator. I'm the one who created all things. Five times he says, although they will do this, yet from there, I'm going to bring judgment upon them. You can run this way, you can run that way, you can try all kinds of different things. But no matter where you go, no matter what you do, he says, you're not going to escape.

He sees everything. He knows everything. So the best course of action is to submit to God. Because you can't outsmart Him and you can't outrun Him. Verses 5 through 10, it's the eyes of the Lord are on the sinful kingdom. He's watching. He sees. He knows what's going on. And so He's calling them to repent. In verse 9, He says, "...yet not the smallest grain shall fall to the ground."

He's pointing out in this passage that God's judgment is precise. He's not like losing his temper and overdoing it, you know, just like on a rampage. His judgment is precise. It's measured. It's exact. It's exactly what is just and right and fair. He says in verse 10, all the sinners of my people shall die by the sword and the judgment will come upon the nation of Israel.

But then he leaves with a glimmer of hope in verses 11 through 15. He says, I will bring back the captives of my people. Remember, he said, you know, 10% are going to be left. And he says, I'm going to bring them back. Now, this speaks ultimately of the millennial kingdom when Jesus Christ will rule and reign. There's such glory and abundance here. In verse 13, he says, during that time, the plowman is going to overtake the reaper.

So, right, you plow the field, you plant it, it grows, and then you reap. You take the fruit of it. Well, he says, there's going to be such abundance, they're going to still be gathering fruit, and it's time to start planting again.

There's going to be such abundance. It's going to be the land flowing with milk and honey once again when he brings back the captives of his people and he plants them in their land. Again, this is a reference to the final reign of Christ upon the earth for 1,000 years. And so he leaves them with that promise. There's great blessings in store for those who walk with God. There's great judgment in store for those who rebel against God and ignore his warnings.

And for us today as we finish up, we get the opportunity, the blessing, the great privilege of choosing which one we want to be. The people who walk with God and experience great blessings or the people who disregard what God has to say and experience great judgments. Heavenly Father, as we consider these things of the prophets, Joel and Amos, I pray that you would continue to challenge our hearts.

To walk with you. And Lord we thank you. That you are such a loving and gracious and merciful God. That you desire to use the least amount of correction as possible. And so Lord I pray that you would help us. To be sensitive. To be obedient. Lord that we would not be stubborn. But as you speak to our hearts. Help us to respond immediately. Help us God. To be willing to change. To be willing to be challenged. To be willing to be corrected.

Lord, that we might experience the fullness of life that you've promised to us. I pray, Lord, that you would help us to draw near to you, to experience what it means to walk in your presence, in your will, to know you, the great privilege and honor we have by faith in Jesus Christ. Forgive us, Lord. Draw us near to you, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen.

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.