|
LESSON 1:
The event described in our Text did
not happen in a vacuum. Tension had been building for a while.
Amos was from the South, the land of
Judah. Tekoa, his home town was located just six miles south of
Bethlehem, therefore near Jerusalem as well.
But God called this southern boy to
go north and preach!
This did not please the religious
establishment of the northern kingdom, Israel. It's first King,
Jeroboam, had long ago established idolatrous centers of worship
throughout the land, defying the God of his fathers, the God of
Judah, the God of Amos in fact!
In other words, Israel had her own
religion and her own gods now. Jehovah would no longer be
sufficient!
Enter Amos!
He himself wrote, in the form of a
piercing question, these words: "Can two
walk together, except they be agreed?" Amos 3:3
Hardly!
There just was not room in Bethel, a
major center of false worship in Israel, for two Prophets!
Not two who so dramatically
disagreed!
Amaziah was a hired man of god, a
false god, a golden calf kind of god.
Amos knew the Lord God Almighty!
He had heard The Voice!
"The lion hath roared, who will not
fear? the Lord GOD hath spoken, who can but prophesy?"
And prophesy he did!
Thank God today for some BOLD
Preacher you know.
Hopefully, it will be your Pastor!
--- Dr. Mike Bagwell
LESSON 2:
The Prophet Amos was a dramatic
Preacher of the Word!
He opened his Ministry by delivering
some scorching sermons to a few of the surrounding nations,
surrounding Israel of course. See Amos chapters one and two.
He preached against Damascus,
capital of Syria. Judgment would come to them. Since Syria was
an avowed enemy of Israel, the Jews rejoiced at Amos' words!
Then Amos railed against the
Philistines, also enemies of Israel! No problem there! Let them
have it, Amos!
Then denunciations fell upon the
Phoenician nation.
Next, the wicked Edomites!
He did not forget the sins of the
Ammonites either!
Nor the Moabites!
These diatribes against all Israel's
enemies made Amos a famous and perhaps even popular Preacher!
Then, most boldly of all, he
attacked Judah for her iniquities! And since Israel, the
northern kingdom, at that time had animosity toward her little
sister Judah, the southern kingdom, such preaching was not only
accepted, but praised!
Then, it happened!
One day Amos walked into the city of
Bethel, a major commercial and religious center of Israel, and
started preaching against it!
That kind of preaching suddenly was
NOT welcomed!
It was all right for the Preacher to
name sins, sins of other nations! But how dare he preach
against Israel?
Here starts Amos:
"Thus saith the LORD; for three
transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away
the punishment thereof; because ...." Amos 2:6
And Amos did not stop for quite a
while!
Usually such preaching leads to
confrontation and opposition!
It did!
The High Priest at Bethel, really a
scoundrel hired by Jeroboam the idolatrous King, reacted to Amos
and decided to rebuke the Prophet of God, sending him back home
where he belonged!
But, and here it gets interesting,
Amos did not scare that easily!
He did not run!
He stood against the apostate priest
Amaziah and continue to proclaim God's Word, God's Message of
Judgment!
We are about to study that
head-to-head encounter!
Amos 7:10-17 tells it all!
So many preachers today have been
badgered and attacked and ridiculed that some have lost their
will to fight for what's right!
Many leave rather than "cause
trouble!"
Others fear gaining a reputation of
being "contentious!"
But, thank God, a few just stay put
and boldly, nearly stubbornly, keep on preaching what God has
given them!
To those men, those men of principle
who will not fear some domineering deacon or loose tongued woman
or two-faced hypocrite, I dedicate this Bible Study!
May your kind increase!
And to those of you who know a
Preacher like that, love him and admire him and encourage him
all you can!
He, and I did say he, is my hero!
--- Dr. Mike Bagwell
LESSON 3, VERSE 10:
They lied about him, grossly
misrepresenting the truth!
It was a political power play if one
ever existed!
One Preacher, a compromiser who
"sold" his unqualified talents to the highest bidder, hated
another Preacher, a real Prophet of God! That's Amaziah the
hireling versus Amos the Prophet!
Sooner or later every bold Preacher
is attacked, at least verbally.
Here's what was said about Amos:
"Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of
Israel, saying, Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of
the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his
words." Amos 7:10
The name Amaziah means "Jehovah is
mighty!" While there are at least four men in Scripture with the
name Amaziah, this one most certainly did not live a life
that glorified God!
Here's the kind of priests who
served in the kingdom of Israel at that time. Jeroboam the King,
Jeroboam I we now say, because Amos is preaching during the
reign of Jeroboam II. "Whereupon the king
took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto
them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy
gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
And he set the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan. And
he made an house of high places,
and made priests of the
lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi.
And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the
fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is
in Judah, and he offered upon the altar. So did he in Bethel,
sacrificing unto the calves that he had made: and he placed in
Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made."
1st Kings 12:28-32
"Bethel," the name of the city here,
means "House of God" too! But now it's a house to a heathen
deity, a false god, a golden calf!
The King's name, again "Jeroboam,"
arguably means "whose people increase!" Numerical prosperity ...
but spiritual famine and dearth!
The name "Amos" means "burden,"
symbolic of the work God called him to do. He was a hard
Preacher of the Word, the kind many professing Christians today
have never seen or heard!
The verb "conspired" is "qashar" and
literally means "to bind" or just "to tie" something or someone,
constricting his movements! You well might say that Amos'
preaching was "cramping" the lifestyles of the wicked people of
Israel! How would it be said today? "Limiting their freedom!"
Denying their rights ... the right to be wicked and idolatrous!
"This Preacher is intolerant," the papers would have said! Amos
was such a powerful and effective Preacher that this verb is a
"perfect" in Hebrew, depicting "completed" action!
Truth be told, Amos only wanted to
see Israel repent and return to God, thereby insuring future and
lasting blessings for the Nation! He was a real patriot, being
falsely accused as a traitor! But that's what the devil does,
slanderously accuse God's people!
The verb "bear," in Hebrew "kul,"
means "to contain." Think of it! One Man of God, so powerful
that his Sermons upset a whole Nation! Talk about conviction!
Talk about conveying the Message!
A real clash is occurring!
Evil versus good!
Compromise versus conviction!
Our verse again:
"Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to
Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos hath conspired against
thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able
to bear all his words."
See what's happening?
When you can't handle the Word of
God the Preacher delivers, just talk about him ... behind his
back!
Lie a little bit too!
Amos had NOT "conspired" against the
King, certainly not in the traditional sense of the word!
Amos had only tried to help the King
live more godly, exposing the sins of the Nation!
Then look at the exaggerated report.
"The land can't handle all this!" It's upsetting! Disturbing the
peace!
Yet golden calves can still be
worshipped in city after city! Low down Preachers can still so
called "minister" with the King's approval! Moral depravity can
rule under the guise of freedom to privacy or some other excuse
for ungodliness! And real Preachers can be condemned for telling
the Truth!
Trouble is coming!
It always does when the people are
corrupt and the Man of God is unbending, determined to preach
the whole counsel of God!
Come back tomorrow!
Let's see what happens next!
Here's a hint:
"What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who
can be against us?" Romans 8:31
Amen!
--- Dr. Mike Bagwell
LESSON 4, VERSE 11:
Words can be twisted.
Especially the words of a Prophet!
Sometimes this can be done
mistakenly.
At other times purposely and
maliciously!
An apostate Priest in the Book of
Amos, Amaziah by name, deliberately "wrested" the words of Amos
the Prophet, misleading the King of Israel for selfish reasons!
Here's the verse:
"For thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall die
by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of
their own land." Amos 7:11
The implication here is that Amos
desires to harm the King! And that the Prophet of God is not
patriotic!
Nothing could be further from the
truth!
Amos loved the Nation of Israel.
He had given up his own homeland,
Judah, accepted the Call of God to move north, and faithfully
preached God's Message of Judgment ... all to spare the King and
the Land from sure judgment!
Talk about misread motives!
If lying is an "intention to
deceive," this is a classic case!
Yes, Amos preached words similar to
these!
But NOT to harm the King, rather to
help bring him to repentance, getting right with Almighty God
and sparing the whole Nation!
The verb "saith" is "amar" in
Hebrew. Framed as a "perfect," it means that the preaching was
already complete when the report was given to the King. This
must have been one powerful sermon! It upset both the religious
and political community at once!
Amos was such a Preacher too, the
Hand of God being upon him!
While I can find no specific place
where Amos said that Jeroboam would die by the sword, I can find
these words: "And the high places of Isaac
shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid
waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the
sword." With just a little "doctoring," today called
"spin" in places, one could make those words into a threat I
guess.
Amaziah certainly did!
The verb "led away captive" is "galah"
in Hebrew and strangely means "to uncover, to reveal, to
remove." Likely this is a reference to the ancient practice of
stripping one's captives naked before forcing them to march long
distances to a foreign land. This is where sin leads!
Listen today, be careful what you
say about a Man of God!
A real Man of God.
Gossip and slander are always wrong,
and apparently when directed at sacred targets ... doubly so!
Amaziah will pay dearly for his
vicious words!
By the way, best I can tell Jeroboam
did NOT die by the sword, another proof Amos did not preach
those precise words. But his Nation did face God's Judgment,
just as Amos said! "And Jeroboam slept
with his fathers, even with the kings of Israel; and
Zachariah his son reigned in his stead." 2nd Kings 14:29
According to Deuteronomy 18:22 the
words of a real Prophet of God will always come to pass, being
fulfilled exactly as prophesied.
Amos was a real Prophet too!
If you're going to quote the Man of
God, get it right! Both the words he said and the spirit, the
intent, with which he said them!
Yes, twisting words can even be
deadly!
Simon Peter tells us about some who
"wrested" Paul's words. "As also in all
his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are
some things hard to be understood,
which they that are
unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other
scriptures, unto their own destruction." 2nd Peter
3:16
To their own destruction!
Warning delivered!
--- Dr. Mike Bagwell
By the way, Amaziah's real motive in
attacking Amos might have been quite selfish! If Amos had become
the predominant Prophet in Israel, bringing about real Revival
... Amaziah and his religious machine at Bethel would have
necessarily been dismantled! Yes, this Priest well may have been
envious or jealous of the real Man of God! For example, Mark
15:10 tells us that Pilate knew WHY the chief priests had
attacked Jesus, having Him arrested. "For
he knew that the chief priests had delivered Him
for envy."
Jesus was becoming more popular than even the priests! They
could not lose their power base! So ... they lost their souls
instead!
LESSON 5, VERSE 12:
Have you ever been invited to leave
some place?
To get out of town?
Last week I preached in an area
where we once lived, many miles away, and passed a certain
house. My mind raced back through the years to a Saturday
afternoon. I, along with a younger preacher, had gone visiting,
just inviting people to Church. At this particular home the
folks were sitting on the front porch. I gave them the
invitation, shared a Gospel tract, and kindly asked if they knew
Jesus as their Saviour. The man began to respond, just as
graciously as I had asked too, when the woman interjected: "You
have made your point! You have left your literature. Now, go!
Get off our property! We do not want to hear any more!"
I now wish I had stood at the end of
her driveway and shaken the dust off my feet!
To this day I believe that woman
will remember her very words ... through all eternity no doubt!
And if she is still lost, that memory will be occurring in an
eternal Hell!
I was certainly invited to leave!
And at a certain Church, only the
second place I ever pastored, I distinctly remember a deacon
asking me to leave! I had preached a series of sermons on the
Second Coming of Christ, including the Rapture of the Church.
These doctrines had upset the Board apparently! His very words,
"I'd like to ask our Pastor to resign."
Well, yet today, I still believe
Jesus saves, no matter how some woman on a front porch acts.
And I still believe in the literal
premillennial Rapture of the Church, no matter what some
backslidden deacon says.
I know the feeling of being asked to
leave somewhere!
So did Amos, Amos the Prophet.
"Also Amaziah
said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of
Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there." Amos
7:12
Amaziah was the "hired" priest in
town! A crowd-pleasing "do-not-upset-anyone" preacher! So
politically correct that he would have even made today's
liberals proud!
The verb "said," in Hebrew "amar,"
is written in such a way to indicate that this conversation may
have occurred more than once too! The action of the verb is
incomplete. It appears that Amos had no "exit strategy!"
He had gone to Israel to preach, and
preach he did! God's "Call" could not be ignored or disobeyed!
The name Amos, if you remember,
means "burden." Any Man of God who consistently preaches the
Truth, the whole realm of Scripture, will encounter opposition,
will have burdens to bear!
The noun "seer" is just another name
for a Prophet who "sees" into the mind and heart of God ... and
consequently into the future as well. "Chozen" in Hebrew means
"to gaze upon" something, "to contemplate" it. Once in the King
James Text, "to agree" with it also. See Isaiah 28:15.
The verb "go" translates "yalak,"
meaning "to depart, to move, to walk away" from a place. It, not
surprisingly, is an imperative here! Amos is being commanded to
leave town! By the high priest of wicked King Jeroboam (II) no
less!
"Also Amaziah
said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of
Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there." Amos
7:12
The verb "flee thee away" is "barach,"
obviously "run away, hurry away, hasten away" or the like.
Another imperative is being used here too.
Go back to Judah!
Amos lived in the southern kingdom
Judah, in the town of Tekoa, six miles from Bethlehem and twelve
miles from Jerusalem.
Go back to the city from which you
came!
Preach there!
This verb, "naba," has a great
history! It means "to prophesy" but carries this nuance: "to
fall under the influence" of another spirit! The Holy Spirit of
course in Amos' case. Amos preached "in the power of the Spirit"
and even Amaziah knew it! Surely apostate preachers,
compromisers, preachers-for-sale like this political priest long
for such experiences!
Men of God, never take for granted
the Touch of God on your life! Never underestimate the precious
anointing of the Holy Spirit Himself!
John the Apostle, when exiled on the
little island of Patmos, years after the event, remembered being
"in the Spirit" on the Lord's Day!
Such is unforgettable!
Amaziah does not, indeed can not,
deny that Amos knows how to prophesy! That he is a real Prophet!
Just do so somewhere else!
Notice the brief reference to bread
too!
The northern folks did not even want
to extend hospitality to Amos!
Don't even eat here!
Get away from us!
We don't even want your food money,
your business!
Take bread in Judah!
How ironic!
True to fact, soon Israel was
destitute of bread anyway!
No bread for the Man of God ... then
no bread for anyone!
Not just a famine for grain, wheat
and barley and such, occurred either! But lack of another kind
of Bread too! "Behold, the days come,
saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a
famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the
words of the LORD: and they shall wander from sea to sea, and
from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to
seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it."
So thundered Amos in 8:11-12. They can't even find the Bread of
Life then!
Before refusing to be kind and
hospitable to a real Man of God, better read Matthew 10:42.
"And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones
a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple,
verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward."
Or maybe even better the previous verse:
"He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall
receive a prophet's reward; and he that receiveth a righteous
man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous
man's reward."
Amos was not received, but rejected!
He next got no water, much less
bread!
We preachers today usually preach
... then give an invitation. Back in Amos' day they preached ...
then received an invitation! Here an invitation to leave town
immediately!
Here is God's charge against Israel,
just before she was reduced to slavery and taken into captivity.
"But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words,
and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose
against his people, till there was no remedy." 2nd
Chronicles 36:16
Hatred for true Men of God ... a
harbinger of coming judgment!
Lord, help us.
--- Dr. Mike Bagwell
LESSON 6, VERSE 13:
"This is OUR Church!"
"We're going to run it like we see
fit!"
Have you ever heard words like
these?
Probably not, not that boldly stated
anyway.
But multitudes feel that way, deep
within their hearts I mean!
In the Old Testament Book of Judges
a man named Micah owned his own "house of gods!" He also hired a
priest, a personalized one! See Judges 17:5 and its context.
Of course such actions there, in
Judges, are almost expected. For that's specifically where we
are told: "In those days there was
no king in Israel, but every man did that which was
right in his own eyes." Judges 17:6 and 21:25
The very idea, "owning" a Church,
all by one's self!
Or employing a Preacher, one who
will declare only the official political line of the day!
Yet that's exactly what was
happening during the reign of King Jeroboam II, occurring in the
city of Bethel, a major seat of idolatry in Israel.
The King's Priest, Amaziah by name,
has attacked Amos!
He wants that little southerner, a
Jew, to leave town and quit preaching!
Here is the hypocrite speaking to
the Man of God. "But prophesy not again
any more at Bethel: for it is the king's chapel, and it is the
king's court." Amos 7:13
The noun "chapel," in Hebrew "miqdash,"
means a sacred place. A sanctuary or tabernacle, one dedicated
to worship!
"Court" or "baiyth" means "house."
The implication is that Amos could
only preach certain favorable things, especially while in
Bethel!
Thank God, Amos was NOT for sale!
But, sure as the world, places exist
today, Churches, where certain sins are "unmentionable!"
Stay away from Texts that condemn
divorce at that Church!
Don't mention homosexuality over
yonder either!
Avoid Bible Version discussions at
First Church too!
Why?
Because the man in charge, or now
more often than ever, the woman in charge, is guilty of such
things!
Such twisted reasoning did not move
Amos one inch!
His "fear of God" was so great that
it dwarfed any "fear of man" that might be suggested to his mind
or heart!
"Water off a duck's back!"
"In one ear and out the other!"
"Wasted words!"
Amos, thankfully, remained unshaken
... and unconvinced!
Amos was a Prophet, a real Prophet,
called of God to preach the unadulterated Scripture of Truth! He
would not, could not, compromise!
If your Pastor, regardless of
current local church politics, names sin and exposes iniquity
... no matter who is guilty, praise the Lord!
Such Preachers and preaching are
become more and more unusual, by the months it seems!
News flash!
No man owns the Church of God!
No human has a right to control the
Preacher!
In fact the Preacher is to
faithfully ... "feed the church of God,
which He hath purchased with His Own Blood." Acts 20:28
Jesus is The Head of the Church!
After all, He bought it!
--- Dr. Mike Bagwell
LESSON 7, VERSE 14:
Amos might have felt somewhat
inferior.
After all, he was not a trained
Prophet.
Nor did he associate with the King
or other members of royalty.
And he undoubtedly dressed on a more
common level.
Furthermore his standard of living
was quite poor when compared to the priests of Bethel.
But, if Amos felt unqualified, he
need not have!
He was a true Man of God, not a
hired hand for an unbelieving King!
Listen to Amos speak.
This is his response upon being
invited to leave town!
"Then answered
Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither
was I a prophet's son; but I was an herdman, and a
gatherer of sycomore fruit." Amos 7:14
When Amos says that he is not a
prophet, he means not in the professional sense! He's not a
people-pleaser! He's not a politically correct preacher! He's
not the politician type!
By claiming not to be a "prophet's
son," Amos might be throwing a little ridicule at Amaziah!
Amaziah was a priest, perhaps even the High Priest of Israel.
But Amaziah was illegitimate! He was not qualified to be a
Priest at all! He's not even a Levite! His priesthood was not
passed from father to son, but from moderate compromiser to
extreme compromiser!
You might wonder how we know this
about the poor quality of the priests in Jeroboam's day.
"Jeroboam returned not from his evil way,
but made again of the lowest of the people priests of the high
places: whosoever would, he consecrated him, and he became
one of the priests of the high places." And just how
important was that foolish decision? "And
this thing became sin unto the house of Jeroboam, even to cut
it off, and to destroy it from off the face of the
earth." 1st Kings 13:34
The noun "herdman" is spelled "boqer"
and is built upon the word "baqar," meaning "to plough!" Another
teacher adds that the word is often associated with cattle or
oxen. Amos is a country preacher! Best I can tell, this is the
only time "boqer" occurs in the Bible. "Herdmen," in the
plural, occurs in four other passages, but using a different
word altogether, "raah," meaning "to shepherd, to tend, to
graze, or even to rule." Amos shepherded his flock! He "pastored"
it literally! Then back in Amos 1:1 "herdmen" is used, but with
"noqed" being its Hebrew foundation. This means "sheep raiser,
sheep tender, sheep dealer," that kind of idea.
The noun "gatherer" is taken from a
verb that means "to pinch!" It seems that the sycamore fruit had
to be squeezed or pinched a certain way to facilitate its
ripening process!
"Sycamore fruit" translates "shaqam"
and means a fig-bearing tree that is Biblically known as the
sycamore. One thing we know about sycamore fruit, just by
studying its Bible appearances, is that it is susceptible to the
cold. It's can't stand bitterly low temperatures. For that
reason it did not thrive on the mountains, but in the lowly
valleys! Frost killed these trees! The Bible speaks of the
"the olive trees and the sycomore trees
that were in the low plains." Or it mentions
"the sycomore trees that are in the
vale for abundance." And Psalm 78:47 tells of God's
judgment: "He destroyed their vines with
hail, and their sycomore trees with frost." Also poor
people loved the sycamore fruit! And Amos loved those common
people! Even in Greek "sukon" means "fig" and "moron" can mean
"mulberry." The sycamore was a wide open tree with limbs
low to the ground, easily climbed you might remember! Jesus also
found fruit in a sycamore tree one day, Zacchaeus by name!
Amos the farmer raised fruit and
tended cattle ... until God called him to preach!
But, at least in my opinion, Amos
could preach circles around Amaziah and his whole crowd of
helpers!
Why?
Amos had the touch of God upon him.
In fact, the best training any
Preacher ever experiences comes from God the Holy Spirit!
That Anointing is irreplaceable!
Amos had it!
Amaziah could only wonder about it!
Find a Spirit-filled Man of God ...
and stay around him! Learn all you can! Your apprenticeship will
be well rewarded!
Speak Amos, preach!
We're listening!
God has trained you well!
--- Dr. Mike Bagwell
LESSON 8, VERSE 15:
"Called to preach," that expression,
once so meaningful, has largely fallen into disuse these days.
Once real Men of God often discussed this glorious "Call."
Now it is seldom mentioned.
Folks "enter" the Ministry these
days!
Some personality test, a "profile"
of sorts, pointed them in that direction!
Announcement: The Call to Preach is
not merely an aptitude or talent or human propensity! It is an
act of God whereby He reveals to some dear Christian man his
life work! A divine summons, a mandate to preach, the subject no
longer has much choice in the matter!
Such things are on my mind early
this Wednesday morning.
Likely so because of the verse we're
studying today. In Amos 7:15 the Prophet relates his call to
preach!
He's in a verbal battle, a real
confrontation, with a hired though unqualified high priest named
Amaziah. This Amaziah works for the apostate King Jeroboam,
actually Jeroboam II to be more precise.
In just a few short words, we get
Amos' testimony! "And the LORD took me as
I followed the flock, and the LORD said unto me, Go, prophesy
unto my people Israel." Amos 7:15
One verse earlier the Prophet told
us, "I was no prophet, neither
was I a prophet's son; but I was an herdman, and a
gatherer of sycomore fruit." Laboring on the farm,
working hard every day but Sabbath, Amos had no other plans!
Then it happened!
Again, Amos' own words:
"And the LORD took me as I followed the
flock, and the LORD said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people
Israel."
The verb is just precious!
The Lord "took" him!
"Laqach" does indeed mean "to take
or receive" in 808 of its 965 Bible appearances. But those other
157 uses are quite sufficient to give us an accurate view of the
other emphases "laqach" carries.
It is "fetch" 31 times in the King
James Text.
"Take away" it is translated 51 more
times!
"Carried away" on 5 more occasions
and even "married" 4 times!
It's a very strong verb!
God's call to preach in Amos' life
is here described as some sort of abduction! An arrest! The man
was apprehended! Drafted into service!
Paul put it this way,
"Necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is
unto me, if I preach not the gospel!" 1st Corinthians
9:16
Amos, much like Elisha in earlier
years, was apparently somewhere out on the farm, working hard,
when it happened!
A mantel fell on Elisha, from the
anointed hands of Elijah!
Amos was "snatched away" into the
Lord's Work!
Indeed, there is such an urgency
about the Call to preach!
I don't know how many older
preachers have advised, "If you can do anything other than
preach, go do it! Because if God has truly called you, you will
not be able to do anything but get a Bible and find a Text ...
and speak, 'Thus saith the Lord!'"
The noun "flock," in Hebrew "tzson,"
means a group of animals ranging from sheep to goats to small
cattle.
"Following" is "achar" means
something like "bringing up the rear." Eating the dust of a
bunch of animals, guarding them carefully every minute or
plowing behind them faithfully, all require character! Humility
and diligence and boldness immediately come to mind!
The verb "go," framed as an
imperative, commands Amos to "depart" his present circumstances,
"walking away" from the farm and life he loved so dearly.
It's as dramatic as Abraham's:
"Get thee out of thy country, and from thy
kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will
shew thee." Amos was to leave the south, Judah, and go
north into Samaria or Israel, backslidden as they were!
This is an invitation to hardship
and suffering and ridicule!
But, still, Amos,
"Go!"
The verb "prophesy" is spelled "naba"
and in this context literally means "to utter words under the
influence of the Divine Spirit of God!" It implies being
"possessed" by the Holy Spirit, under His very control! What
preaching is being described here!
My computer, its Bible program,
tells me that this verb is in a "niphal" pattern, passive in
voice!
The command is to "go."
Once that is obeyed, the
"prophesying" will occur!
God would "come upon" the man Amos,
using him as a mouthpiece, a vessel, a spokesman, a willing
servant!
Then, quickly, see the spirit of
love in God's call to Amos. The Preacher is to go, says Jehovah,
to "My people!"
Here the noun "am" means a collected
group of special folks! Kinsmen! Compatriots! Nearly "family"
you see! This is not the word for the hordes of Gentiles that
roam the world! It's a higher class term!
God loves Israel!
He even has named them after
Himself!
"Israel," that ending syllable,
"El," is God's very Name! His Name of "Power" too! Almighty God!
Israel means "God prevails" say the
lexicons.
One old Preacher always taught that
it meant "ruled by God!"
Either way, the Jewish people had
drifted far from their proper course!
Living in open idolatrous sensual
iniquity, they needed a real Man of God to rebuke, reprove and
exhort, with all longsuffering and doctrine!
They got one!
Thank God for Amos!
Also ... thank God for the Preacher
today who warns and feeds and teaches you ... from the precious
Word of God!
--- Dr. Mike Bagwell
LESSON 9, VERSE 16:
It's just one of Amos' great
sermons!
It's short too, perhaps even
abbreviated, especially since the Book of Amos packs a whole
ministry into nine brief chapters!
Word for word, here it is, directed
against an apostate high priest named Amaziah:
"Now therefore hear thou the word of the
LORD: Thou sayest, Prophesy not against Israel, and drop not
thy word against the house of Isaac. Therefore thus saith
the LORD; Thy wife shall be an harlot in the city, and thy sons
and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be
divided by line; and thou shalt die in a polluted land: and
Israel shall surely go into captivity forth of his land."
Amos 7:16-17
Most church folks today would not
even call that a sermon ... at all!
It does not contain a single joke!
It gives people's names!
It's very negative!
Speculative, too, telling about
coming events!
And very judgmental!
It's a good thing Amos did not
attend seminary! He would have failed homiletics class for sure!
But, and get this carefully, it is a
GREAT Bible Sermon! God thought so! He included it in Scripture!
And in what should probably be
covered in a couple of lessons, one for each verse, we're going
to slow down be here a while!
Today we shall examine the first
clause, "Now therefore hear thou the word
of the LORD."
This sentence claims authority for
the message!
The verb "hear" is "shama" in Hebrew
and means "to listen" but more than that, "to perceive, to
understand, to comprehend!"
"Get this, Amaziah!"
"Shama" is an imperative here too.
Amos is not playing around with this priest! He is demanding his
ear!
No sweet "attention grabbers" at
all, not a one can be found! Amos must have missed psychology
class!
The noun "word" translates "dabar"
which means "a speech, a saying, or an utterance." However, this
particular nuance seems to belong to "dabar," it refers to the
exact words being used. The content of what
is said! Hebrew has another word to indicate the act of
speaking. "Dabar" basically is what is said! While "amar"
is how it is said!
Of course "Lord,"
when each letter is capitalized as in our Amos Text, indicates
the proper Name "Jehovah." He is the Great "I Am!" Eternally
Self Existent! I'm telling you the Hebrew verb "to be" is
embedded in the Hebrew "Jehovah," meaning "The God Who Is!"
The sermon Amos is about to preach
is not original with him! It is freshly received from God
Himself!
That gives a man authority!
That's how Paul could call himself
an Ambassador for Christ!
That's also how he could write:
"We pray you in Christ's
stead, be ye reconciled to God." 2nd Corinthians
5:20
Nor does Amos seem surprised to have
received this Sermon directly from Heaven! Apparently such
communication, God to Amos, was normal for this country farmer
now become Prophet.
It's really best for a Preacher not
to represent himself in the pulpit! Speak on behalf of
God Almighty! And if you have not heard anything from
Him, wait! Stay quiet!
The people want to know if there is
"any word from the Lord" when the preacher stands in the pulpit!
For example,
"Then Zedekiah the king sent, and took him (Jeremiah) out (of
the dungeon): and the king asked him secretly in his house, and
said, Is there any word
from the LORD? And Jeremiah said, There is: for, said He,
thou shalt be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon."
Jeremiah 37:17
Again, notice that this sermon does
not ask for Amaziah's attention, it demands it!
Commands it! No choice in the matter exists for this rebel
priest!
Amos knew how to preach to his
enemies too! The Priest here hates Amos and the Truth Amos
proclaims! But, no matter, like it or not, here comes the Sermon
... whether the Priest is ready or not!
In one sense, it's fearful to go to
Church and listen to God's Word being proclaimed! What
responsibility that evokes!
A Message from Heaven!
Sunday at Church, listen for God's
Voice!
You just might hear your Pastor
echo: "Now therefore hear thou the word of
the LORD."
Oh, there's a good bit more of this
Sermon coming from Amos' lips.
When we've analyzed it all, admiring
its beauty, we might think Amos wrote these words, not Paul!
"Preach the word; be instant in season,
out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering
and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure
sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to
themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn
away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto
fables." 2nd Timothy 2:1-4
Thank God for Preachers, using the
Bible definition of course! Real Preachers, men with backbone!
--- Dr. Mike Bagwell
Just one more thing! In starting
this Sermon with God as the Source, Amos has established
a "theo-centric" or "God-centered" approach to this counterfeit
priest. "Now therefore hear thou the word
of the LORD." But that Name LORD, as mentioned earlier,
is Jehovah. That's God's
saving Name! And theologically, the Jehovah of the Old
Testament is the Jesus of the New Testament!
Look what Amos has done! Opposing
and here maybe even ignoring all those "golden calves"
throughout Israel, Amos mentions the Saviour! It's as if he
said, "In the Name of Jesus" comes this sermon to you, O false
priest!
That's the one single Name the anti-christ
spirit of today cannot handle! Jesus! Dear
Jesus! Precious Jesus! Lord Jesus!
Prayers in Jesus' Name are vanishing across the so-called free
world! Too many Preachers are compromising on this issue as
well! If we let them steal Jesus from us ... what's left?
Jesus is Christianity!
Jesus is Salvation!
Jesus is eternal Life!
If you don't believe so, study again
our Lord's great "I AM" statements!
He is All!
Amos, had he been alive today,
surely would have said, "Now therefore
hear thou the word of the LORD JESUS." The meaning would
have been the same! Preach Jesus Christ and Him
crucified, buried, risen, ascended and coming again! Remember
Paul in 1st Corinthians 2:2. "For I
determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ,
and him crucified."
Amen!
LESSON 10, VERSE 16:
Sometimes it is necessary to quote
one's enemy!
Especially this is so when you're
going to refute his claims.
Amos the Prophet uses this tactic
against the so-called Priest of Bethel, an idolater under the
influence of wicked King Jeroboam II.
The man had threatened Amos! Trying
to run him out of town, Amaziah had lied, usurped authority, and
sought to induce terror.
Amos, now ready to preach, will
counter with this quote. "Thou sayest,
Prophesy not against Israel, and drop not thy word
against the house of Isaac." Amos 7:16
The verb "prophesy" is "naba" and
means "to speak under the influence of another spirit!" Here,
obviously, the Holy Spirit is in view. What true man of God,
which Amaziah certainly was not, would ever want to stop a holy
man from preaching? Yes, a godly man like Amos who had a "call"
from God! A Prophet of the finest quality!
The negative adverb "not" is just
"lo" in Hebrew and means "absolutely" prohibited! No room to
negotiate! And Amaziah apparently was the High Priest, though
illegitimately so! No where to appeal!
Then "against," spelled "al," means
"against, towards, on or concerning." Why, Amaziah did not want
some Preacher upsetting things in Israel. The economy was good.
The political scene was relatively peaceful. Wars were being
won. Even religious life, the beloved worship of Jeroboam's
golden calves, was quite popular!
"Amos, don't rock the boat!"
"Don't disturb the peace!"
"Be patriotic!"
"Shut your mouth!"
"Go back to Judah!"
"Quit this negative preaching!"
Remember, they did not mind Amos'
preaching against the sins of the other nations! It's just
Israel's shortcomings and rebellion that is disallowed!
"Prophesy not
against Israel, and drop not thy word against the house
of Isaac."
The next verb, "drop" is interesting
too. It supplies us with a Biblical but rare word picture of
preaching. "Nataph" means "to drip." Like honey oozing from a
rock above one's head, gently falling to the ground below! "To
drop" in that sense. When Amos preached, truth and conviction
and power just dripped all over the place! The Word of God
flowed outward, under the direction of the Holy Spirit Himself.
Read Deuteronomy 32:2 for a better example of this concept.
There God is speaking. "My doctrine shall
drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the
small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the
grass." Amazing!
The Hebrew word "torah," meaning the
"law," most often God's Law or God's Word, is derived from the
root verb "yarah," meaning "to flow as water!" Even "to rain!"
When the Pastor really preaches, it gets to raining doctrine and
glory and knowledge all around God's people! What a picture!
The "house of Isaac" is here used a
synonym for Israel. Apparently Amaziah is quoting part of one of
Amos' earlier sermons! Back in Amos 7:9 the Prophet promised God
would judge His stubborn people. "And the
high places of Isaac
shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries of
Israel shall be
laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with
the sword." See how "Isaac" and "Israel" are made to be
parallel.
Amos must have reckoned that if
Amaziah was going to quote him ... he in turn could rightly
quote Amaziah! Be careful with your words! Jesus here:
"But I say unto you, That every idle word
that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day
of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by
thy words thou shalt be condemned." Powerful! And Amaziah
is right now being condemned for his words!
I want everyone to get this fact.
Amaziah is going to die for his attempt to shut the mouth of
Amos! Better let God's real Preachers alone! Opposing them can
be costly!
Having quoted the enemy of God, Amos
is now ready to do what most Preachers today have forgotten.
Proclaim judgment and wrath, the wrath of Almighty God!
In these last days, in America
anyway, surely the godly pulpit will again turn to this kind of
prophetic preaching!
If not to convert sinners, their
hearts increasingly hardening by the day, at least to prepare
the saints for what's coming.
Christianity is about to enter and
endure its hardest times yet in much of the West, the so-called
"free" world. It's already suffering in many other parts of the
globe.
But I still believe that before the
Tribulation begins, before the anti-christ rules, before all the
world's religions unite, Jesus is coming again to rapture His
Church away from here!
Still, it might get rough in places
before He does so!
Yesterday we are told somewhere on
earth a saint of God was murdered for his or her faith! It will
happen again today as well! That's why Hebrews 13:3 teches us:
"Remember them that are in bonds, as bound
with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being
yourselves also in the body."
The days of martyrdom are not yet
over!
--- Dr. Mike Bagwell
LESSON 11, VERSE 17:
Amos was a Preacher!
He could powerfully offer the people
the marvelous Grace of God!
Or he could sharply cut them with
the frightening message of the coming Judgment of God!
Once, in a sermon to an adversary
named Amaziah, Amos pronounced: "Thy wife
shall be an harlot in the city, and thy sons and thy daughters
shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be divided by line."
Amos 7:17
This is no senseless tirade!
It contains not a bit of jealousy
either!
It's God's punishment for apostasy,
departing from the true God of Israel and worshipping the false
idols of the heathen!
But, look!
The punishment does not affect the
offender himself, Amaziah the wicked priest! At least not
directly!
And, not yet!
Departing from God can impact one's
dearest interests though!
Amaziah's wife!
Amaziah's children!
And Amaziah's property, his
possessions!
Scripture has clearly warned us that
our sins can impact our families, to the third and fourth
generations! In Exodus 20:5 we learn: "I
the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity
of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth
generation of them that hate me."
Literally the Text says thy "woman,"
but "ishshah" can often imply one's wife too! If a husband has a
"woman," it sure had better be his wife! The noun "harlot" is "zanah"
and means "one who commits fornication!" The word's "root" means
"highly fed!" Thus we get: filled to capacity, therefore
becoming loose and wanton and promiscuous!
Talk about irony, holy justice!
Amaziah had spent his adult life turning God's chosen people,
betrothed to Jehovah God, into spiritual prostitutes and false
lovers! They had left the mighty God and followed idols galore!
Spiritual adultery! And in a perfect "reaping what you've sown"
scenario, Amaziah's wife now does the same thing to him,
becoming unfaithful!
This political priest also has a
good-sized family it seems. Amaziah had sons and daughters, both
nouns being plural. At least four children, probably many more.
They would die a horrible death, being cut to pieces by the
sword of an enemy nation! Sons and daughters, "ben" and "bath"
in Hebrew, both come form a root verb that means "to build!" A
family is indeed "built" by children! But Amaziah's offspring
here are cut down, dying prematurely! Amaziah helped demolish
God's building, Israel! God therefore returned the deed in kind,
deconstructing Amaziah's building, his family!
The noun "chereb" is "sword" here.
Elsewhere in the King James Bible it's rendered as knife,
dagger, and mattocks." A deadly weapon, cruelly to be used
against these young people!
Remember the term "wages of sin?"
Next come Amaziah's possessions! His
property, land, would be cut into sections and either stolen,
confiscated, or overrun by the enemy! By the way, God's real
Priests were not allowed to own land! They would live off the
tithes and offerings of God's people! No need ... or time ... to
farm! But "disobey-on-everything" Amaziah wanted real estate! He
got it, but his acquisition did not meet God's approval!
Folks, occasionally we need to stop
and ponder the consequences of sin! In today's twisted world,
sin has no dangers! But God says otherwise!
We ought not sin because it offends
the Glory of God! That's the best reason of all, reason to live
holy lives!
Also we ought not sin because it
hurts our loved ones! That's what this lesson is teaching, this
Text or Sermon from Amos the Prophet.
Finally, if the first two reasons
weaken in time, we still ought not sin because of what it will
do to us individually, personally! That aspect of divine
judgment will surface tomorrow, Lord willing! There's a price to
be paid.
I've not heard anyone today use the
word "unfair" yet, but it's a charge often levied against the
idea of an avenging God, a Judge Who does right.
Amaziah's poor wife!
And innocent children!
And treasured land!
But Genesis 18:25 best answers any
such charges. "Shall not the Judge of all
the earth do right?"
Fairness, you decide!
Righteousness, I'll speak to that
issue!
God has never made a mistake!
And He never will!
Worried now about your wife or
children or portfolio?
Then, simply stated, live right!
--- Dr. Mike Bagwell
LESSON 12, VERSE 17:
Amos indeed was a Preacher!
"And thou
shalt die in a polluted land." These are bold yet
powerful words coming from this true Prophet of God. Amos
delivered them to a false Priest of King Jeroboam, Amaziah by
name. See Amos 7:17
Already Amaziah had learned,
"thy wife shall be an harlot in the city,
and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy
land shall be divided by line."
I've been thinking about that
message of judgment this morning. "Thou
shalt die in a polluted land." Really it's bittersweet to
the recipient!
Here's what I mean.
"Thou shalt die" would have been
bad news! Life was good to Amaziah. He was on the King's staff,
his personal high priest! He lived in an affluent city, as
"modern" as any of that day. Money undoubtedly was never an
issue! Premature death would have horrified a man like Amaziah!
Much more than simply hearing of his wife's or children's
impending crises.
The death Amaziah faces is the
direct result of his sin. It also might have been a brutal
death. If at the hands of the Assyrian army, soon to attack and
ravage Israel, intense suffering, torture really, would have
been the norm. Often these maniacs would boil their captives
alive in vast pots of oil, then peel their semi-cooked skin from
their bodies! Ever heard of being "skinned alive?" This of
course was done as an act of terrorism, frightening nearby
cities.
This prophesied death might not have
occurred within just a few days or months either! There may have
been time, extended time, to dread the fulfillment of its
specifics!
But why a premature death?
Because of Amaziah's idolatry!
"The sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat,
who made Israel to sin ... to wit, the golden calves that
were in Bethel, and that were in Dan." 2nd
Kings 10:29
To bow before a golden calf instead
of Jehovah God is blasphemy!
Because of Amaziah's pride too!
"Bethel ... is the king's chapel,
and it is the king's court," bragged this priest.
Amos was invited to get out of that town, Bethel! Amaziah was
lord there! He owned that "chapel," meaning "holy place." In
Hebrew it's "miqdash." He, and he alone, controlled that
"court," using "bayith" or "house" as the noun here. The house
of his god was under his control! No room there for a rival
Prophet!
Because of Amaziah's hatred for an
anointed Man of God as well! Amos, go! You're not welcome here!
Go back to your home town! "O thou seer,
go, flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread,
and prophesy there." Prophesy not again any more at Bethel.
Prophesy not against Israel, and drop not thy word
against the house of Isaac." All these are words from
Amaziah's lips, vehemently directed toward Amos!
But again, Amaziah,
"Thou shalt die!" So countered Amos, mouthing the very
words of God to the apostate priest!
Now the other half of the prophecy,
"in a polluted land," would not have bothered Amaziah as much!
"And thou shalt die in a polluted land."
He did not care
if the land was polluted!
This adjective is spelled "tame" and
means "unclean, defiled, or infamous." Its verbal root indicates
something that is "foul" or "contaminated." Impure!
But why would that mater to Amaziah?
He had dedicated his life to
polluting the land!
He was a professional polluter!
Idolatry and its accompanying sins
defiled God's people more than anything! That's why it is the
first sin prohibited by Mosaic Law!
And Amaziah taught idolatry!
He lived it!
Every shekel his wife spent at the
market, every new garment his children wore, every plot of land
he bought, came as a result of promoting such hideous "sin"
among God's people!
While a "polluted land" was an
undesirable thing in God's eyes ... it was the very goal Amaziah
sought for Israel!
Look what's happened here!
Amaziah got what he wanted, exactly!
A land replete with golden calf worship! A polluted land!
But that goal led to his ...
death! Something he did not want at all!
Sometimes the things we want are
just not worth the price!
Psalm 106:15 tells us that even God
on occasion would grant Israel's stubborn requests ... then
punish them for their utter selfishness.
"And He gave them their request; but sent leanness into their
soul." That's just not an good exchange!
Be careful what you want!
Better yet, let's bring our "wants,"
our "desires," under the umbrella of God's approval!
Then, He can give us the desires of
our hearts! "Delight thyself also in the
LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart."
Psalm 37:4
Indeed, and in more ways than one,
"The wages of sin is death."
Live for Jesus!
--- Dr. Mike Bagwell
LESSON 13, VERSE 17:
Amos, being an Old Testament Prophet
of God, of course preached a message of judgment.
Not only judgment against
individuals, but families and institutions as well.
But today we must include in that
list judgment against Nations!
A particular Nation at that, at
least for our Text today.
Amos 7:17 illustrates such prophetic
preaching. Look for the individuals, the families and then the
whole country. "Therefore thus saith the
LORD; Thy wife shall be an harlot in the city, and thy sons and
thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be
divided by line; and thou shalt die in a polluted land:
and Israel shall surely
go into captivity forth of his land."
Israel!
Amos prophesied this about 787 BC.
It happened in 721 BC, just a few decades later!
Earlier, through Moses, God had
warned his people that if they sinned and sinned and sinned,
refusing to repent, "I will scatter you
among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your
land shall be desolate, and your cities waste." Leviticus
26:33
The name "Israel" or "Yisrael" in
Hebrew means "Prince with God!" The "el" part of that beautiful
name is God's Name "El" or "Elohiym," the God of all Power. The
"sra" root of the name is related to "sarah," meaning prince or
princess, spelled just like the name of Abraham's wife. "Sarah"
indeed means "princess!"
If God judged His most treasured
people, and He did, where do the rest of the Nations of earth
stand? Concerning Israel read: "The LORD
thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself,
above all people that are upon the face of the earth."
Deuteronomy 7:6
Could God then judge any sinful
Nation?
Even America, the United States?
And we are not taking "maybe" here!
Again our Scripture for today, directly from the lips of Amos,
"And Israel shall surely go into captivity
forth of his land." Amos 7:17
"Surely" leaves no doubt about the
matter!
At times I hear Preachers say, "IF
God judges America!" Others chime "PERHAPS" God will call our
Nation into account!" But on the authority of God's Word, it's
not a matter of "if" or "perhaps" or "perchance" or
"supposedly," it is "SURELY!"
Psalm 9:17 positively says,
"The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the
nations that forget God."
Then comes the clause "go forth into
captivity" or in Hebrew "surely go forth into captivity." The
actual verb is "galah." This is surprising. It means "to
uncover, to remove, to reveal or to make naked!" Here's the
first time it's used in the Bible, Noah being the subject, sadly
so. "And he drank of the wine, and was
drunken; and he was
uncovered within his tent."
When a Nation was taken captive in
the days of Amos, their people were stripped naked and marched
many many miles to some foreign destination, then committed to
slavery for the rest of their lives! And the Assyrians, Israel's
main enemy at this time, were specially cruel in its treatment
of those it conquered! The Lord is using a brutal "whip" to
"spank" His wayward people!
Now America, the U.S. I mean
specifically, has not yet "gone into captivity," not literally
in a foreign land. But look! Foreign lands just may have invaded
us! We are told that more and more every day, distant nations
purchase our real estate and our dollars and other forms of
capital! Does anyone reading these lines have a foreign
neighbor? Or do business where an immigrant works?
Practically there may be little
difference between placing a people in a distant land ... or
placing that distant land within those people!
And for that "naked" part. America
has done that to themselves! Stripped! Except now that's
foolishly called "entertainment!" The courts, in an abdication
of logic and common sense, rule such to be "freedom of privacy!"
Going around naked! Once Jeremiah, when preaching against
certain sins, observes God lamenting, "and
My people love to have it so." Jeremiah 5:31
It's as if God has turned us over to
a spirit of judgment, and we're executing it upon ourselves!
Paul describes our culture perfectly when he preaches:
"Whose end is destruction, whose
God is their belly, and whose glory is in
their shame, who mind earthly things." What should be
shame, naked body parts, is now turned into glory and fame and
wealth by many a so-called beautiful woman! Actresses,
strippers, models, and sad to say, church members too!
But God does not call such women
beautiful! Such people lack discretion He says! And Proverbs
11:22 informs us: "As a jewel of gold in a
swine's snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion."
Next time you see a scantily clad
woman, or man for that matter, in your heard and mind hear some
"oink" sounds, like a pig or hog or sow! Even if she's pretty
according to the world's standards! Hogs live in slop and filth!
Yes, here again, America has judged
herself it seems!
And we stupidly call it pleasure!
Israel's land ... gone!
One last time,
"And Israel shall surely go into captivity forth of his land."
Amos 7:17
Interestingly, "land" here is not
the common word. That's "eretzs." Here "adamah" is used! RED
dirt, that kind of land! But not red clay here! This may well
be, by definition even, blood reddened dirt! Blood stained soil!
It happened literally in Israel!
I would be wrong not to say, "It
could happen in America too!"
There are multitudes alive today
around the world, maybe including some in your very neighborhood
right now, who would enjoy taking their knives, already
sharpened, or their bombs, already constructed, and spill
American blood at will! Even our Government admits this fact!
God judged Israel!
Will He not then do so to the
rebellious Nations still alive today?
Including the United States of
America.
There will be some folks so mad
today, after this Lesson, that they will ask to be taken off our
mailing list!
Guess what?
We don't have a mailing list!
You'll just have to quit coming to
this old-fashioned Bible preaching Website I guess!
But you had better remember the last
Text we studied! About a Nation God judged!
"And Israel shall
surely go into captivity forth of his land."
Lord, I've tried today to preach Thy
precious Word.
--- Dr. Mike Bagwell
LESSON 14, KEEP ON
PREACHING!
Amos did not quit!
Even after his great confrontation
with Amaziah, the hired high priest of wicked King Jeroboam!
Too many Preachers today get their
"feelings hurt" and decide to leave their field of service. Not
Amos!
Too many Preachers today are
frightened at the prospect of battle, too much tension. Not
Amos!
Too many Preachers today become
wearied in well doing. Not Amos!
Read what happened! Amos was rebuked
and threatened and humiliated!
"Then Amaziah the
priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos
hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel:
the land is not able to bear all his words. For thus Amos saith,
Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led
away captive out of their own land. Also Amaziah said unto Amos,
O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah, and
there eat bread, and prophesy there: but prophesy not again any
more at Bethel: for it is the king's chapel, and it is
the king's court."
But he did not roll over and play
dead! He fought back! In the Name of the Lord God Almighty!
"Then
answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet,
neither was I a prophet's son; but I was an
herdman, and a gatherer of sycomore fruit: and the LORD took me
as I followed the flock, and the LORD said unto me, Go, prophesy
unto my people Israel. Now therefore hear thou the word of the
LORD: Thou sayest, Prophesy not against Israel, and drop not
thy word against the house of Isaac. Therefore thus saith
the LORD; Thy wife shall be an harlot in the city, and thy sons
and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be
divided by line; and thou shalt die in a polluted land: and
Israel shall surely go into captivity forth of his land."
We admire you, Prophet of God!
Praise God for Amos! He would not run! He just "stood" for God!
Now watch this.
After such a nerve-wracking
experience most Preachers would have needed a day off, or a
week, some a month!
But not godly Amos!
The very next verse, he preached
again!
"Thus hath the
Lord GOD shewed unto me: and behold a basket of summer fruit.
And he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A basket of
summer fruit. Then said the LORD unto me, The end is come upon
my people of Israel; I will not again pass by them any more."
Amos 8:1-2
Another sermon!
Very ripe fruit!
By tomorrow it will be softening!
Not good for very long!
Soon brown spots will appear!
Its "shelf life" is about gone!
Another picture of Israel!
A holy metaphor!
Nation God loves, your days are
numbered unless you repent!
And so we leave Amos ... still
preaching God's Word!
What a lesson!
"I charge thee
therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall
judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;
Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove,
rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time
will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after
their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having
itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from
the truth, and shall be turned unto fables."
Amen!
--- Dr. Mike Bagwell
WE PRAY THIS
SERIES OF FOURTEEN LESSONS FROM THE LIFE OF AMOS, HIS
CONFRONTATION WITH A HIRED HIGH PRIEST, HAS BEEN BOTH HELPFUL
AND ENCOURAGING! KEEP STUDYING THE WORD!
|
