365 Reflections

Amos ends with a picture of great judgment followed by a picture of incredible grace and restoration. Once again, the prophetic ministry is rehearsed wherein God punished strongly but restores most graciously.  Amos 9:1 (ESV) I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and he said: “Strike the capitals until the thresholds shake, and shatter them on the heads of all the people; and those who are left of them I will kill with the sword; not one of them shall flee away; not one of them shall escape. The Lord standing beside the altar is a striking image. Amos has already decried the empty religious practices of the nation.  Amos 5:21–22 (ESV) “I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. 22 Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them... They might have assumed the Lord was there to bless them for their empty rituals. He was not. He was there in judgment. When God shows up, it's not always a happy ev...

What do you think is the worst form of judgment from God? Boils and pains on your body? The loss of your financial stability? Perhaps social isolation and the loss of friends? How about the death of a loved one? When you think of those things, I'm sure one of them strikes you as the worst form of punishment God can offer. Amos 8 teaches us something different. Amos 8 unpacks that God's judgment is climactically experienced in His silence.  Before we proceed, we must examine the spiritual state of Israel at the time of this writing.  Amos 8:1–3 (ESV) This is what the Lord GOD showed me: behold, a basket of summer fruit. 2 And he said, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the LORD said to me, “The end has come upon my people Israel; I will never again pass by them. 3 The songs of the temple shall become wailings in that day,” declares the Lord GOD. “So many dead bodies!” “They are thrown everywhere!” “Silence!” So far in Amos, the prophet has e...

Often times, when we think about the prophets of the Old Testament, we perceive them as a sort of grumpy, dour, negative doom and gloom sort of individual. But have you ever thought where the nation, and even the world, would be if it were not for a prophet willing to tell us the truth?  Amos 7 introduces us to the response of the prophet as God declared His intentions to judge faithless Israel. He is first presented with the image of a locust plague devouring the nation. The prophet, who we may mistake as an angry doom-sayer, intercedes on behalf of the people.  Amos 7:2–3 (ESV) When they had finished eating the grass of the land, I said, “O Lord God, please forgive! How can Jacob stand? He is so small!” 3 The Lord relented concerning this: “It shall not be,” said the Lord. Another prophesy of doom comes to the prophet from the Lord. This time fire swept across the land and devoured it. Once again, the prophet intercedes.  Amos 7:4–6 (ESV) This is what the Lord God show...

Again and again the prophets warn that ease and comfort are sometimes the most notable signs of approaching doom. is that where America is? In Amos 6, the prophet chides the noble leaders of Israel, who assume their luxury and notability are signs no distress is coming.  Amos 6:1 (ESV) “Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, and to those who feel secure on the mountain of Samaria, the notable men of the first of the nations, to whom the house of Israel comes! The judgment first comes for the rich in Amos. Usually in antiquity, the rich avoid the hostilities of takeovers and wars because they have the means by which to escape. God here makes certain that it shall not be the case for His people. The rich will not avoid disaster through their abundance.  Amos 6:7 (ESV) Therefore they shall now be the first of those who go into exile, and the revelry of those who stretch themselves out shall pass away.” God asks them to consider the nations already toppled by the hand of the Lord....

Delayed post. I’m in Greece with a group of people from my church. Today we travel from Athens to Corinth. We will be taking in the sights of Pauls travels around the Mediterranean for the next few days. I will post as possible, but that’s where I’m at. As I think about it, I’m traveling the world of the New Testament while writing about Amos the prophet who lived in the sliver of land in the Old Testament. God’s vision for the people of Israel, fulfilled in Christ and carried forward by Paul was bigger than anyone in Amos’ day even dreamed.  Amos 5:18-20 (ESV) Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! Why would you have the day of the Lord? It is darkness, and not light, 19 as if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him, or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall, and a serpent bit him. 20 Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light, and gloom with no brightness in it?  The people of Israel longed for the day of the Lord. But they were unaware that...

We continue to see that the prophet Amos was not some hillbilly country bumpkin but a skilled orator, writer, and convicting prophet sent from God. Never judge a book by its cover. In Amos 5, the prophet writes a lamentation over Israel, which would be an ancient funeral dirge.  Amos 5:1–2 (ESV) Hear this word that I take up over you in lamentation, O house of Israel: 2 “Fallen, no more to rise, is the virgin Israel; forsaken on her land, with none to raise her up.” The prophet is predicting the end of Israel. And in the next verse, he sheds more light on the trouble to come.  Amos 5:3 (ESV) For thus says the Lord GOD: “The city that went out a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went out a hundred shall have ten left to the house of Israel.” Now these words were fulfilled later, but at the time of their statement, they must have sounded like nonsense. Even one chapter earlie,r we heard about the "cows of Bashan" who lived in luxury and the "vibrant"...

Amos didn't mince words with self-centered people. He called out the women in the higher end of society who specialized in wine drinking and exploitation of the poor with some of the most shocking words in the book.  Amos 4:1 (ESV) “Hear this word, you cows of Bashan , who are on the mountain of Samaria , who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to your husbands, ‘Bring, that we may drink!’ Notice these "society" women are referred to as cows, grazing and eating to their hearts' content, along with drinking excessively and ordering their husbands around. A sign of judgment upon a land is when women dominate men.  Amos is calling out the state of the nation. They lived in luxury while exploiting the needy to suit their own desires. Luxury can be just as dangerous as poverty. For it deadens the senses of the heart away from the Lord and makes people expendable. Those who use people for their own overindulgence will have to give account to the Father who sent ...

What does it take to be a prophet? Amos is a case study as he declares God's word to the slumbering nation of Israel .  A prophet must be willing to hold people to account for the terms they have broken with the Lord.  Amos 3:1–2 ( ESV ) Hear this word that the LORD has spoken against you, O people of Israel, against the whole family that I brought up out of the land of Egypt : 2 “You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities. Amos calls out Israel's failure as God's chosen. They had an exclusive relationship with the Lord. And their relationship and knowledge of the Lord required extraordinary faithfulness and loyalty. They were to live according to the New Testament principle , to whom much is given, much is required . Many talk of the privileges that are ours in the Lord, but what about the responsibilities? The Lord asks: Amos 3:3 (ESV) “Do two walk together, unless they have agreed to meet? Israel was i...

Amos continues a series of judgments on the nations around Israel . From Ammon at the end of chapter 1 he moves on to Moab in the beginning of chapter 2.  Amos 2:1–3 (ESV) Thus says the LORD: “For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because he burned to lime the bones of the king of Edom . 2 So I will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the strongholds of Kerioth , and Moab shall die amid uproar, amid shouting and the sound of the trumpet; 3 I will cut off the ruler from its midst, and will kill all its princes with him,” says the LORD. We should note that the Lord condemned the actions of Edom, who mercilessly treated his enemies; now Edom is the victim of Moab's merciless treatment. The image of "burning" bones of the king expresses a deep hostility within the nation.  It is an oft-forgotten reality that those who are hurt also hurt others. No one stands innocent in the righteousness. We are all cursed with the inward ...

The Lord will softly speak. And the Lord will shout when necessary. In Amos, the prophet opens up with the latter.  Amos 1:1–2 (ESV) The words of Amos, who was among the shepherds of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake. 2 And he said: “ The LORD roars from Zion and utters his voice from Jerusalem; the pastures of the shepherds mourn, and the top of Carmel withers.” Amos is a southern kingdom prophet who lived during the reign of a righteous and noble king builder, Uzziah, and then in the years of the naive yet Lord-honoring Jeroboam. It was a world of peace and advancement. The lack of war led to significant commercial endeavors. However, that peace and prosperity gave rise to a different side of societal sin that is often found in modern America—a system based on greed and indulgence.  Amos opens his book denouncing the 6 nations outside of Israe...

Joel 2 is a fascinating chapter. In the previous post, we explored how the three-legged experience of the Christian is unpacked: Repent, Believe, and Receive. But there are three more intriguing verses at the end of the chapter as well. Joel 2:30–32 (ESV) “And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. 32 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the LORD has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the LORD calls. On the heels of announcing what Peter described as fulfilled in Pentecost, there is another stage of God's working among men mentioned here that we have yet to experience. Joel declares an ultimate day of the Lord where the cosmic realities will quake, the moon will turn from white to b...

The world is dark, run by evil forces in the heavenly realms. We are born sinners, enslaved to the passions of our flesh along with everyone else. Paul makes that clear in Ephesians 2. Ephesians 2:1–3 (ESV) And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. The answer is simple: Repent - turn to God for mercy and grace. Joel calls on the nation of Israel to do just that as they watch the invading army decimate the Northern Kingdom.  Joel 2:15–17 (ESV) Blow the trumpet in Zion; consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly; 16 gather the people. Consecrate the congregation; assemble the elders; gather the children, even nursing infants. Let the bridegro...

The prophet Joel sets the record straight about the day of the Lord very clearly in chapter 2.  Joel 2:1–2 (ESV) Blow a trumpet in Zion; sound an alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming; it is near, 2 a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains a great and powerful people; their like has never been before, nor will be again after them through the years of all generations. Trumpets were blown to announce the outbreak of war. That is what the day of the Lord would bring. Only, instead of a locust plague, an army descends upon the nation. Joel 2:6–9 (ESV) Before them peoples are in anguish; all faces grow pale. 7 Like warriors they charge; like soldiers they scale the wall. They march each on his way; they do not swerve from their paths. 8 They do not jostle one another; each marches in his path; they burst through the weapons and are not halted. 9 ...

We begin a study in the book of Joel. Historians believe he prophesied during the reign of Joash in Judah. Joash was trained by the priest Jehoiada. A national disaster was striking Israel - locusts were eating away the produce of the land in several waves.  Joel 1:4 (ESV) What the cutting locust left, the swarming locust has eaten. What the swarming locust left, the hopping locust has eaten, and what the hopping locust left, the destroying locust has eaten. This tragedy, Joel proclaims, prefigured the Day of the Lord. Now, at that time in Israel, many believed the Day of the Lord would lead to Israel's rebound from her subjection to the nations. But Joel brings the bad news - it will be a day of judgment on the chosen nation.  In his first address to the nation, the Prophet Joel addressed four different groups.  First, he calls the elders of the nation to bear witness that what they experienced was something never before seen.  Joel 1:1–2 (ESV) The word of the LORD ...

Hosea 14:1–2 (ESV) Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity. 2 Take with you words and return to the LORD; say to him, “Take away all iniquity; accept what is good, and we will pay with bulls the vows of our lips. Hosea outlines the path back to God in the final chapter of this book. What is first on the list? Confession of sin. Notice the line, "take with you words and return". Words are imperative for the worshipper. Words are the expression of the heart. A heart that seeks God will speak of God. There is no such thing as a silent Christian.  Moreover, they are to verbally renounce their false hope.  Hosea 14:3 (ESV) Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride on horses; and we will say no more, ‘Our God,’ to the work of our hands. In you the orphan finds mercy.” They were to renounce their vain hope that Assyria would help them. Imagine this, Assyria was intent on destroying them, and the people were so blinded by their idolat...

Some have a serious problem with God's actions and judgment in the Old Testament. The reason is that they do not bother to read it closely enough. Consider what Hosea says about the Tribe of Ephraim (a synonym for the Northern Kingdom in many cases) at the peak of her idolatry and immoral behavior.  Hosea 13:1–2 (ESV) When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling; he was exalted in Israel, but he incurred guilt through Baal and died. 2 And now they sin more and more, and make for themselves metal images, idols skillfully made of their silver, all of them the work of craftsmen. It is said of them, “Those who offer human sacrifice kiss calves!” They were in the human-killing business. Should God let it continue? Should God not put a stop to it? Honest engagement with the Bible demands an understanding of the evil humans are capable of before we put God on trial for how He chooses to handle it.  Now look at verse one. For there we find the root of the evil.  Hosea 13:1 (ESV) he w...

In Hosea 12, the prophet walks us through the history of Jacob, from whom the 12 tribes of Israel descend. If you know the story, Jacob is not the most admirable man.  Hosea 12:3–6 (ESV) In the womb he took his brother by the heel, and in his manhood he strove with God. 4 He strove with the angel and prevailed; he wept and sought his favor. He met God at Bethel, and there God spoke with us— 5 the LORD, the God of hosts, the LORD is his memorial name: 6 “So you, by the help of your God, return, hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for your God.” I find hope in this verse despite the dire situation in which Israel found herself. For though they descended from a schemer, we must remember that Jacob schemed because it seemed as if the whole world was against him. Only his mother favored him. Everyone else sought to push him down (Isaac), steal from him (Laban), or kill him (Esau). But Jacob won in life because he wrestled with God and listened to His voice.  Now the...

How often do we forget what God has done for us? Think of this: what is the Bible but a collection of God's acts among His people from times past and a guarantee of God's acts on behalf of His people in times to come? Thus, Hosea outlines that Israel's forgetfulness led to their idolatry and shame.  Hosea 11:1–2 (ESV) When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. 2 The more they were called, the more they went away; they kept sacrificing to the Baals and burning offerings to idols. God called Israel out of Egypt. God made a way for them to respond by delivering them through His mighty power. The call and the deliverance work together. What a picture of salvation! Who enables the response to His call but the One who calls! How can anyone respond to the Lord's Word without the Lord making the way for them to do so? The problem with Israel is that the deliverance did not lead to lasting obedience. The more they called, the more they drifted, forg...

The 10th chapter of Hosea reveals the internal division within Israel's heart, as reflected in her actions. She was religious on the outside, presenting worshipful presentations, but it wasn't of God, and her heart was deceitful.  Hosea 10:1–2 (ESV) Israel is a luxuriant vine that yields its fruit. The more his fruit increased, the more altars he built; as his country improved, he improved his pillars. 2 Their heart is false; now they must bear their guilt. The LORD will break down their altars and destroy their pillars. Many prophets, such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Psalmists, referred to Israel as a vine, the planting of the Lord, abundantly provided for and prepared for bearing fruit. But Israel failed to produce anything other than sin. Here God stipulates the root of the problem: her "heart is false". They did not love the Lord, AND worse, they deceived themselves into believing they were fine.  God then calls them out regarding their commitment. Hose...