The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my mind and heart in Amos 3:7,
"Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets."
The Lord is a communicator. Peter tells us, "Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit." 2 Peter 1:20-21. Here in Amos he says he tells the people through his prophets what he is going to do. Certainly there are a number of folks who are not going to want to hear what the Lord has to say. The people of Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom, Ammon, Moab, Judah and Israel (the northern kingdom) are going to hear a message of judgment from the Lord.
The Lord declares the judgment he is going to send on these peoples for their sins. Even his chosen people will be punished. He says, "You only have I chosen of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your sins." Amos 3:2.
I am reminded the Lord has spoken to his prophets of another, later time of judgment. In Revelation 20:11-15, the apostle John tells us, " Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire."
As the folks in Amos' day, this is a message the world today does not want to hear. Today we hear we are to be tolerant of all faiths/beliefs/religions. We are told to be accepting and inclusive and ignore what Jesus Christ had to say, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6.
We are told we need to embrace the differences in lifestyles of others, accepting homosexuality as a legitimate activity although the Lord says, "Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable." Leviticus 18:22. And, "Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders..." 1 Corinthians 6:9.
We are told we need to respect the rights of women to take the lives of their unborn babies, when the Scriptures clearly teach us the unborn are individuals possessing intellect, emotion and spiritual gifts as John the Baptist demonstrated when he first came into contact with Jesus Christ, both still unborn in their mothers wombs: "When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: 'Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy." Luke 1:41-44.
As in Amos' day, the nations of the world exist in animosity toward the things of God. And, just as in Amos' day, the Lord has spoken of his judgment to come for the sins of the world - sins just as grievous as in the days of God's judgments in the Old Testament.
Today I thank him he has made it possible for us to escape his judgment by embracing his Son, Jesus Christ in faith! Where we clearly deserve his punishment, he has laid it on his Son in our stead out of an unfathomable love, mercy and kindness toward us all.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment