God's Ultimate Judgment
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...