Amos 1:2

Book of Amos, chapter 1, the first two verses. Our focus this evening is on verse 2. The words of Amos, who was among the herdsmen, or the herdmen of Tocowa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah, and in the days of Jerobalm, the son of Joach, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake. And he said, the Lord were roar from Zion and utter his voice from Jerusalem and the habitations of the shepherd shall mourn and the top of Carmel shall wither. May God bless to us the reading of His Sacred and Holy Word this evening. When I was younger when we went down to the Pittsburgh Zoo, They didn’t have the large open areas where the lions were out in the field, so to speak. They were in cages. They were in smaller cages. You could be within a few feet of them. And if you were ever there and they roared, you could stand a chill up and down your spine. They were quite vocal sometimes near the feeding time, and they could get quite loud. Now, I would hate to have to run into one of those lions out in the wild where there were no bars between me and them, because I wouldn’t last long. I’d have me for an appetizer before they went on to something bigger. It’s interesting that the portrait of God that Amos presents to us as he opens to this book, is of God as a lion. We read, he roars. He will roar from Zion. And if you look at chapter 3 in verse 8, we read, the lion hath roared, it’s speaking of God. So this is exactly what he is thinking about. Now, the purpose of this war seems to be to frighten those whom are soon going to become his prey. In this chapter and in the part of the next chapter, we see eight nations that are targeted here. Damascus, chapter 1, verse 3, that would be the capital Syria. Gaza, one of the major cities of the Philistines in 1-6. Tyrus in 1-9, Venetia, is the country there. Edom in 11, the Edomites, Ammon in 113, the Ammonites, Moab in 2.1, the Moab in 2.1, the Moabites. And then there’s Judah in 2.4, and finally Israel in 2.6. Why is the Lord portrayed as a savage beast? Can there be any connection here between such a ferocious animal and the Lord our God? Can God be like that? Certainly it points forward to the eminent suffering, destruction, and death of these nations. Can such be the acts of God? Is it not interesting in the Book of Rev. that Christ is called the lion of the tribe of Judah indicating to us that even our Lord Jesus Christ is portrayed in this manner. If he’s not the one who’s spoken of here in their text, he is at least spoken of in the New Testament in that fashion. Now, these questions are important. Amos here is a prophet. A man with a word. word from God. And he says, by inspiration, that God is like a lion. And if the God in whose name Amos speaks is not the God you worship, then something’s wrong. If that’s the case, we can ignore this book and it’s irrelevant for us today. God must have undergone some radical change in the meantime. between the Old and New Testaments, if that’s the case. And so we could just say, well, let’s just dismiss this book. Don’t worry. Study it about studying it because it doesn’t relate to us. I remind you the words of Malachi, where God says, I am the Lord, I change not. So your conception of God must match the description of God as he is revealed to you here in the book of Amos. Jesus Christ acts like a lion as well as a lamb, even the New Testament indicates to us that God acts as a lion. And you read the book of Revelation, you’ll see him lion-like, and it’s pouring out of judgments. So this leads us to the question, who is the God of the Bible? Well, the first things he tells us here is he is he is the Lord. We read here that the Lord, L-O-R-D-Captitalized, will roar. The book opens in a normal manner for a lot of your prophetic books. It gives us some type of historical introduction, background information, stuff like that. It tells us who the man is. But the first word that Amos wishes you to hear is the word Lord. Jehovah. Jehovah God is roaring. So your attention is focused on the one who’s sending the message. He’s the Lord of Heaven and Earth. Only when you recognize it is God who is speaking through Amos here, are you given the information about what he’s going to say and what he’s going to do, I should say, against these nations. First, who he is, and then what he’s going to do. Now, the name is. by which God reveals himself here, expresses the faithfulness and the holiness of God. Jehovah seems to be first mentioned in the book of Exodus chapter 3. If you want to turn there with me, the book of Exodus chapter 3, the book of Exodus chapter 3 and verses 1 to 8. Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God even to whorup. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush, and he looked, and behold the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. Moses said, I will. now turn aside and see this great sight why the bush is not burnt. And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to sea, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush and said, Moses, Moses, and he said, here am I. And he said, draw not nigh hither, put off thy shoes from off thy feet for the place where thou standest as holy ground. Moreover, he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face where he was afraid to look upon God. And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people, which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the end of the earth. Egyptians, and to bring them up out of the land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey, onto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amirites, and the parasites, and the Heavites, and the Jephytes, and the Jevisites. So Moses, as he approaches this bush out of curiosity of seeing it burn and not consumed, hears the voice of the Lord God speaking to him, is the first thing he tells him in verse 5. He talks about His holiness. This is holy ground. You’re coming into my presence. This is a holy place. I am a God of holiness. It’s emphasized. And then you’ll notice that God’s covenant faithfulness is mentioned with regard to the Abrahamic covenant covenant, that he would deliver his people, that he would be able to, that he would, is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and he’s going to remember what he told Abraham, how that after so many years, in this case, 430 years, he would come and deliver the Israelites from a bondage in Egypt and give them the land of the Canaanites, and they would conquer the land. So here are the two things that stand out about Jehovah, as he has spoken of in this text. One, he’s a holy God. He’s a God of holiness. And secondly, he is a God who is a covenant-keeping God. There is mercy. There is forgiveness for those who truly seek Him. And so when we come to this book of Amos and we read about Jehovah, we should think about it in terms of the holiness and the faithfulness and the faithfulness of God. In chapter 5 of Amos and verse 4, God says, for thus saith the Lord, Jehovah here, unto the house of Israel, seek ye me, and ye shall live. There’s the God of mercy. He’s going to be a God of judgment because of His holiness, but he shows them an opportunity for mercy. Seek him. He saves sinners on the basis of his covenant. of grace. And there is always mercy and forgiveness with the Lord God. Now this is the very same God that you and I worship. These two features certainly stand out with regard to our God. He’s absolutely pure and holy being, completely faithful to all the promises that he has made. And salvation is only possible because he is, enters into a covenant with men through our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the head of the covenant. He is the Lord. He’s Jehovah. The second thing we see that he is sovereign. He roars. The lion roars, as we read in chapter 3 in verse 8. Here’s what it says. The lion hath roared who will not fear. The Lord God has spoken who can but prophes up. The lion is the king of the beast. He is the one who is looked upon as the supreme beast, so to speak. Now, Jehovah is the sovereign ruler over all the kings of the earth. He roars by right. He is the creator of the world. He is the one who has brought every human being into existence. He is the king over all. all the earth. And when he roars, the people of the earth should tremble. And he’s poised to act. He’s the sovereign king. Who can oppose him? Who can question him? Who can restrain his hand when he’s about to act? All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing before God. And he doeth according to his will, not only in the army of heaven, but also among all the inhabitants of the earth, Daniel 435, tells us, this is the God of the Bible. He’s not a wimpy, weak deity. He has the character of a lion. He’s a majestic king. I’m afraid in many in our day would limit our God to a squeaking mouse, rather than a roaring lion. Their God is very small. He’s powerless to do his will. How dare we limit God by talking about man’s rights? How dare we put men’s will above the sovereign God as if God could be checkmated by man and his plans thwarted? I like what the scriptures tell us in Psalm 50, verse 20. thou thoughtest that I was all together such a one as thyself. Man sometimes looks at God and thinks he’s just like man. That there’s no difference. That God forgets. That God doesn’t have all power and so forth. You thought I was like that, but that’s not how I am and you will find differently, is what we see. In Scripture. God is the sovereign potter. Men are molded, shaped, formed by the pleasure of God for his own wise ends to accomplish whatever purpose he has for them. Is this the God you worship? Is your God a lion or is he a mouse? Is he a sovereign king or is he a weak deity? He is sovereign. He’s a lion. The third thing we see here is he is a God who demands atonement. You’ll notice the words Jerusalem and Zion are mentioned in this verse. Mount Zion, the city of Jerusalem, on the Mount Zion area. Scripture tells us that God’s law goes forth from the place where he said he would dwell and where his people are told to worship. And thus we read in Isaiah chapter 2 and verse 3, for out of Zion shall go forth the law, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. This was the place where sacrifice for sin was made. The place that God had chosen for the erection of his brazen altar. Scriptures declare that without the, the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins. God, being a holy God, demands satisfaction for the breaking of his law. Atonement must be made. He’s not a God who overlooks evil. His fiery holiness demands that propitiation, a turning away of his romewere, wrath is necessary. Zion or Jerusalem was the place of wrath. For there in the temple, death was the price that was paid. We see the daily sacrifices, the blood being shed, the blood being poured out at the base of the altar, at special times taken in to the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement, for example, in the holy place. It was there that the sinner found the way of God’s forgiveness and mercy. And all of that, of course, as we’ve talked about many times, symbolizes the work of Christ, our Savior. Now, the northern kingdom of Israel, kingdom of Israel, may have its temples. It may have its shrines. We know that they have the golden calves set up at Bethel and Gilgau, but no atonement could be found through that worship. It was false worship. Amos’ northern audience here, and the northern kingdom of Israel would find probably these words repulsive. The word Zion and Jerusalem pointed out the true place of worship. And it’s in a southern kingdom. It’s not in the northern kingdom. God is not to be found at Bethel or Gilgau. It’s a mockery what takes place there. Jerusalem. is his dwelling place. Those substitutes will be accepted. Now, in a sense, God proclaims the very same message to us today in New Testament terms. Blood atonement is necessary for the forgiveness of sins. God’s Jerusalem today, where the atonement is made is Mount Calvary, where Christ has laid down his life for his sheep and sacrificed himself to make satisfaction for God. No longer are bulls and goats necessary, but the precious blood of Christ has opened a new and living way for us. But the Lord hasn’t changed. He still demands blood atonement. No alternative ways of finding forgiveness are possible. This is God’s way. And all the religious inventions of worship and all the things that man has added with regard to worship will not take away from the fact that he demands blood atonement. We’d like to do away with that today in many places. The God of the Bible demands it. And thus Christ must be sent. Thus Christ must act as the sacrifice unto the Lord. Christ’s work on the cross is absolutely necessary. Everything else is a mere Bethel and Gilgall. And it will not do in the eyes of God. He is a God who demands atonement. He is a God of patience. You notice it says here that the lion will roar. He will roar. Amos has revealed the character of his God and yet he saw that the lion’s roar of condemnation and judgment comes only after many years of patience. God waited for a time, a long time in some cases. Time was given for repentance and amendment of life, the calling of the elect, the ripening of the reprobate. This is the significance of that phrase. For three transgressions and for four. It wasn’t the first and second transgression that immediately brought the judgment of God. When it came to the third and the fourth, God is about ready to act. You read through this chapter. How many times? For three transgressions and four, do you read this over and over again? And even in the chapter two, the same thing. Israel. has been sinning. Israel has been keeping a complete count of their transgressions. He’s counting them up. One, two, three, four. And it’s the same with all the other nations as well. On man’s part, the cup of sinfulness is getting filled to the brim. On God’s part, there has been no hasty action but patience awaiting the best time to act. The first transgression certainly deserve divine wrath. But by the third or fourth transgression, who can doubt that when God does judge man was worthy of it? People often mistake God’s patience for forgetfulness. Oh, God has forgotten. He God has not remembered. God won’t bring to mind what has happened those years ago. They would be wrong. I remind you that in Noah’s day, God waited 120 years before he sent the flood. Noah was a preacher of righteousness for a period of time while the ark was being prepared, but the flood still came. When we read about the wicked society, in the land of Palestine there, the Canaanites. God waited hundreds of years before he sent the Israelites in to destroy them and the scripture says so that they could fill up their cup in the book of Genesis. God’s wrath was being built up against them is why they powed up their sins. And then it was time they were ripe for judgment and God sent the Israelites in to slaughter them. Romans 2. 5 says, Wickedness is heaped up for the day of God’s wrath. Now, friends, God is not different today. His patience holds back his wrath for a time, but eventually it falls because nothing changes with our God. God is merely waiting for his elect to be brought to salvation as 2. 2. Peter 3.9 indicates, and for the wicked to be ripened and to fill their cup to the him before he judges them. He is a God who is patient. Finally, he is a God who is coming in judgment. Because when the Lord roars, the shepherd shall mourn and the top of Carmel shall wither from the beautiful green meadows in the south, in the river valley, to the height of Mount Carmel in the north. All of it comes under the blight and the blow of judgment from God. From Amos’ own shepherd fields in the south to Montcarmo in the north, the lion roars. The metaphor, certainly, I think, speaks of the totality of the judgment of God against his people. And even the nations round about his people. As we shall see, they shall not escape either. the heat of God’s anger is going to be felt. The whole world is under divine observation and assessment. Can you feel the weight here of Amos’ belief in this one God overseeing all the earth and bringing judgment on all these nations and his own people in the south as well the north will be included? It doesn’t matter. that the Northern Kingdom have gods of their own, that they have the golden calves. It doesn’t matter that the other nations have their various deities that they claim to be worshipping. Such information is irrelevant. There’s only one God that man must deal with, and that is Jehovah God, as He is revealed to us in Scripture. He alone, their puny gods can never prevent the wrath of God. God from coming or save them in any measure. Now, nothing has been altered down through the centuries. Oh, there have been new gods that have come and gone. And certainly, we have old gods that continue to be worshipped like Buddha, Muhammad, and so forth. But regardless of who you recognize as a God or who you engage in worship regarding, you’re going to answer the one true God. You’re going to answer to Jehovah God. The whole world lies. under his wrath and one day his righteous indignation is truly going to be felt. For God is appointed a day in which he is to judge the world and righteousness by that man whom he has appointed, which is Jesus Christ, our Lord. This is the God of the Bible. He’s a holy and faithful God. He’s a sovereign God. He is the God. Who demands atonement for sins is a God who is a God who is coming in judgment, and Jehovah is his name. Let me close with just two thoughts here. Your message is to be like that of Amos. Like the prophet of Toccoa, we tell men and women the truth about themselves that they’re guilty of transgressions. and God is going to judge all sin. That’s a message. That’s part of the gospel message we must proclaim. That the wages of sin is death. He that sinneth shall surely die. You are to tell people about their sins and how they’ve ignored God’s commands. And the justified anger of a holy God against sin. And sometimes we have to explain the holiness of God, for they have no concept of God’s holiness. He will not even overlook one single sin. That God’s wrath is hanging over people like a sharpened sword that’s ready to fall. These are hard words for people to receive because most people look upon themselves as I’m a pretty good person. And maybe they’re offended by this. Maybe we’re going to be dismissed as a prophet of doom. Maybe we will be told, as Amos was, the land is not able to bear your words. Even when you speak about the way of salvation, it seems that people are still focused in on the fact that you told them that they’re sinners in the hands of an angry God. The world sometimes laughs and mocks at the Christian because they’d rather make a joke out of the message than to take it seriously and have to face the consequences of what it means to deal. with the true and living God. Your message is that God is angry with the wicked every day. And like Amos, the only hope we hold out for people is they must seek the Lord, they must repent of their sins, and then they can live. There’s mercy in that. So your message like that of Amos is one of coming judgment. The second thing I suggest to you is this. Temporal judgments. Our warning of the final one to come. You’ll notice that in verse one, we mentioned briefly about the great earthquake that happened here. And who was raining two years before it. When this earthquake occurred, it must have been a major catastrophe. He calls it the earthquake. A horrible event. You can imagine if you’ve ever seen major earthquakes. The houses are tumbled and grounds. swallow those people up and wrecks havoc everywhere and so forth. National disaster causes people to think more soberly about death and about facing God. Perhaps people were more interested in the vision and the words of Amos after the earthquake. It seems that God uses temporal judgments, whether they be floods or earthquakes or tornadoes to awaken people to the danger of what lies ahead. With this in mind, I suggest that when we speak to people, that we can use these very terrifying disasters that happen as a means to press people about their relationship with God that they need to be prepared, for they do not know what a day holds forth for them. Isn’t this what our Lord did with the Tower of Salome disaster? and Luke chapter 13. When the tower fell on these people and killed them, what did Jesus talk about? Except you repent. Eshoe all likewise perish. Don’t think that these people were sinners above you. You need to repent of yours unless the worst thing come upon you than a tower falling on you. Every disaster is a warning sign that God is angry with sin. And we should make it. make sure that people see this sign for what it is. Let us close tonight.