Amos 4:6-13

The book of Amos, chapter 4 verses 6 through 13. And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and one of bread in all your places. Yet have you not returned unto me, Seth, the Lord. And also I have withholding the rain from you when there were yet three months to the harvest, and I caused it to rain upon one city and caused it not to rain upon another. One peace was reigned upon, and the peace whereupon it rained not withered. So two or three cities wandered unto one city to drink water, but they were not satisfied. Yet have you not returned unto me, saith, the Lord. I have smitten you with blasting and mildew when your gardens and your vineyards and your young fig trees and your olive trees, excuse me, your fig trees and your olive trees increased. The palmer worm devired them, yet have you not returned unto me, said the Lord. I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt. Your young men have I slain with the sword and have taken away your horses. I have made the stink of your horse. your camps to come up under your nostrils, yet have you not returned under me, said the Lord. I have overthrown some of you as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning, yet have you not returned under me, Seth the Lord. Therefore, thus will I do unto thee, O Israel, and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel. For lo, he hath formed the mountains and created the wind, declares unto man what is his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, the Lord, the God of host, is his name. May God bless to us His sacred and holy word. evening. Sherlock Holmes, the famous fictional detective, was noted for his amazing deductions. He made a science out of it. In the hound of the Basker bills, he was drawing several interesting discoveries from a walking stick that had been left behind in his waiting room. And from small clues on the stick, he deduced that the owner was a doctor previously employed at Charing Cross Hospital because there was CCH on the stick that he was young he could do without the stick he left it behind absent-mindedly he owned a cocker spaniel from the teeth marks on the stick I guess the dog had a habit of carrying the stick he could figure out something about the jawline spread and guessed that it was a cocker spaniel. And he had recently moved the country from the city because the walking stick was a retirement gift from the hospital to him. Dr. Watson, his companion, was amazed at all these startling conclusions that Sherlock Holmes came up with. But Holmes told Watson that he, too, would be able to make the same deductions if he would just merely pay attention to small details. He says, you know my methods, Watson, just to plot. them. In our text, we find Israel, like Dr. Watson, being scolded for not paying attention to details, not seeing what they should know from what’s happening by God’s providence in their life. God had sent one affliction after another upon the nation, but the people had not made the proper deduction. from them. So Israel here explains the meaning behind all these events which have happened to the nation. God was angry with Israel’s failure to heed the various strokes of his rods. It didn’t matter how many different rods he used. They didn’t seem to pay any attention. It did not change their way. And so God says is going to be a showdown for prepare to meet thy God. Not going to be a pleasant experience for them. And indeed they’re going to go off into captivity. Let me begin tonight by speaking of the telltale signs of a severe coming judgment by God here in verses 6 or 11. We see God’s sovereign providence work here. The first thing is that God had sent a famine. Verse 6 talks about the fact that I have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities and one of bread in all your places. Yet have you not returned unto me, said the Lord. Now this expression, cleanness of teeth will make more sense to you if you realize that no food gets collected between your teeth. No flossing is necessary because you don’t have anything to eat. That’s the point. It’s immediately explained in the next phrase here. Want of bread. In this case, clean teeth has nothing to do then with dental hygiene, but it is a sign of famine. A curse. One of the curses of God’s law. when they do not obey the Lord’s law in Deuteronomy, this is one of the curses that would be pronounced against them. The famine was so complete that there would be times when no one got a bite to eat. Nothing to make any debris to collect on the teeth. Now this is a fearful plunge from the recent prosperity that they had been enjoying under Jerobo and the second. But from time to time, the indication is here that Israel had these setbacks, and people became hungry, suffered the pain of empty stomachs. Nor was this crisis limited to just a few segments of the nation in all your cities, in all your cities, in all your stomachs. places, maybe your small villages, all of them. While the whole gamut of society would be suffering here, from the slaves to the workers, the farmers, the shepherds, the elite upper class businessmen, the king, the political leaders, the priest, the religious leaders, put them all in the same category, they’re all going to feel the pinch, the pain. There were a few bad years mixed in with some of the prosperity that Israel was enjoying. The present, perhaps things were rosy. However, as Amos indicates here, there were times when there was famine as well. God had sent famine. God had sent drought. We see that in verses 7 and 8. And also, I have withhold withholding the rain from you when there were yet three months to the harvest, and I have caused it to rain upon one city and caused it not the rain upon another city. One piece was rained upon, and the peace were upon it rained not withered. So two or three cities wandered under one city to drink water, but they were not satisfied. Yet have you not returned unto me, said the Lord. Here we find that, as always in Scripture, rain does not come. randomly, it doesn’t come haphazardly, but God sends it. I withheld rain from you. Remember in Elijah’s day, God withheld it for three and a half years. He can make the richest soil a dust bowl in no time at all by just withholding the rain. God stopped the rain three months. before Israel’s harvest time. Now think about this. You can imagine the crops are in the field. There are flourishing. People are thinking, boy, we’re going to have a great harvest this year, and all of a sudden there’s no more rain for three months. And what happens? Everything withers. Everything dies. That may be the reason for the famine. There was crop failure, basically, because God withheld the rain. drought affected different areas at different times. It would rain upon one city, it says, here, and God would withhold it from other cities. In one section of the country, things would be rather normal, and yet in other areas, disaster would be staring them in the face. People would go in search of water. But even when they could find water, there was never enough. So the two or three cities went to the ones. city that did get rain and tried to obtain water, but no one could ever be satisfied with the water. They didn’t have enough water. So from time to time, God would send this devastating warning to the nation. Now, evidently, at the present time, they enjoyed rain because we read about the wine that they were drinking in verse one. And the name is 6.6 talks about drinking bowls of wine, so there must have been plenty at the present time. But this is one of the one. of the rods that God had used against them. God sent drought. God sent blight and the locusts plague. Look at verse 9 with me. I have smitten you with blasting and mildew when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increase the palmer worm devired them. Yet have you not returned unto me, said the Lord. Plant disease, the blight. And the mildew struck Israel’s crops. Thousands of acres were ruined. The blast. It’s mentioned here I’ve smit you with blasting. The blast here is probably the poisonous east wind that came out of Africa. A very hot, dry air that would just with wither the crops and so forth. And even in those years, when it seemed like they were going to go to have a good harvest, the palmer worm here at an early stage of the locusts, would eat up their crops. Thus, their greatly anticipated abundance would just melt away before their eyes and disappear. All would be ruined. God would not allow their labor to prosper because of their sinfulness. Their best farming techniques were stifled so that they labored in vain. So God sent the blight and the locusts plate. God had sent disease, the first part of verse 10. I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt. Some type of disease, some types of pestilence was in epidemic proportions and struck people. dead, terrible diseases, devastated cities and towns. It was like the death angel passing through, striking down all these people. Just as God had done in the days of Egypt, when he struck all the firstborn, so that not one house was spared of somebody, someone was dying in each of the houses in Egypt. Nobody escaped unscathed. So now Israel feels the same type of blow from the hand of God. By referring to Egypt, it’s again a reminder that it’s God that it’s God that’s sending this plague. Just as he sent the death angel, he’s sending this plague upon them. disease which no physician could cure struck them down. In eliminated large chunks of the population over the years, God had sent disease. God had sent war. The second part of verse 10, your young men have I slain with the sword and have taken away your horses, and I have made the stink of your horses. camps to come up under your nostrils. The sword of the Lord had slain their young men through the means of war. Young men are the strength of the present generation, the seed for the next, if you would, and they dwindled through battle-washs so that the population of the land of the land. land declined. When people or nations are in continuous war, their young men are depleted. Wars can bleed a nation of its young men. In Israel’s horses, which are usually the backbone of military strength, they’re also depleted and greatly reduced. The dead carcasses of the slain by the sword were not insignificant. because it seems like in their camps were they perhaps they had been slaughtered. There was a stench that went up. They couldn’t bury the dead fast enough. So many had been put to death. So their nostrils turned away in disgust here. So whether in victory or defeat, the manpower, the horse supply of the nation was greatly reduced by military losses. God had sent war. God had sent extraordinary judgments. Verse 11, I have overthrown some of you as God overthrew Sodom Gimorrah. And you were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning yet, have you not returned unto me, said the Lord. Now, you recall that Sodom and Gimorra were destroyed by God sending fire and brimstone out of heaven. This was an extraordinary judgment. God. God, in some sense, must have sent an unusual or extraordinary judgment upon the nation and judged them. Maybe several other cities over the years were judged in this way. We don’t know. There was a big earthquake that’s mentioned in chapter 1 and verse 1. We don’t know that perhaps there was large hailstones or powerful electric storms or tornadoes. We don’t know. exactly what God sent. They may not have been nationwide judgments. Maybe they were selected judgments, but the few people who escape these awesome displays of God’s wrath like Lot were like brands plucked from the fire. They just escaped and that was it. So God’s sovereign providence is at work. Look at all the things that God used. All the rods. He used different rods. They didn’t learn from one. rod, so he used another. He used all these rods and dealt with the nation. Now the sad thing is that Israel is not getting the message from these judgments. Over and over again, we read the words five times in the verses that we have read tonight. Yet have you not returned unto me, Seth the Lord. I did this. You didn’t repent. You didn’t turn it. You didn’t turn to me. back from your sinful ways. I did that. You didn’t repent. You didn’t turn back from your sinful ways. So I did this also. You didn’t repent. You didn’t turn back from your sinful ways. So I tried this. It’s as if God said, okay, you don’t want to learn from this, I’ll send this, and I’ll send this, and I’ll send this. The famine and the drought and the blight and the locust plagues and the disease and the war and earthquakes had no effect on these hardened sinners. In God’s message to Israel was repent of your sins. Return to serving me, but they weren’t going to do it. And God says here, you’re not drawing the proper conclusion from what has taken place. I’ve given you clues, but you’re ignoring the clues. I’ve sent these judgments that you may be turned, in a sense. You should learn from them and turn from your sins. We’re busy making money, exploiting the poor, hoarding up the goods, giving free lane to their lust. But God hasn’t been idle in all this. Because I’ve been sending you messages, judgments. I’ve been busy too. How many warnings must I send you? I like how Isaiah puts it in Isaiah chapter 1. When God says the Israel there, he says, I have beaten you from the top of your head to the bottom of your feet, There are all these sores and bruises and so forth. How much more beating do you need before you learn something? In the similar situation here is, how much more do I have to send? Perhaps they didn’t even see God’s hand at work. As men today do not see that in God’s providence, his hand is at work, they just think, well, these things happen randomly. But we know from Scripture they never happen randomly. They happen because God sends them. And they’re too blind to see or discover the real cause of all this disaster that comes upon the nation. So these are to telltale signs of a severe coming judgment by God. If this isn’t going to work, God has an ultimate judgment that he’s going to send. That indeed will accomplish his purpose, which is captivity. Secondly, tonight, Israel must face the Lord God. verses 12 and 13 therefore because you’re not going to listen therefore thus will I do unto the O Israel and because I will do this unto thee to thee prepare to meet thy God O Israel for lo he that formeth the mountains and createth the wind and declares unto man what is his thought that maketh the morning darkness and treadeth upon the high places of the earth the Lord Lord of hosts is his name. God sends a challenge here to Israel. Israel has been ignoring, treating lightly, God’s judgments. The devastations came and went. Did not alter their rebellious nature. They refused to put it in to their perverted ways. So God says here, I’m coming to meet you. battle. It kind of reminds us of Goliath, you know, issuing his challenge, you know. Come out, face me. God here is issuing a challenge to the nation. Come out and fight. I’m ready to take you on. You want to do battle with me? You want to be stubborn? Well, then, I’m going to send a decisive blow upon you, the knockout blow, and you’re going to go into captivity. Let’s just see who’s stronger. Let’s see who’s prepared for this battle. So God challenges, it makes a challenge to Israel. Prepare to meet me. We could preach a whole sermon on prepare to meet by God. I mean, that’s an interesting concept. What I find fascinating here is God says, now, you realize who I am, don’t you? Verse 13, I am an awesome God. You want to come and face me? Gordon Ketty in his book, The Lord is his name, talks about saber rattling. He says this. There was a time when the Royal Navy only had to sail a ship near some potential trouble spot to nip the problem in the butt. As the Falklands War of 1982 showed, it takes more than one vessel on station to deter and defeat a potential aggressor. The gunboat up the river policy rested on the river policy rested on. the idea that a token of available forces would be sufficient to cow the natives and obviate any necessity to use that power. The great powers use saber-rattling to affect policy. The living God is doing something similar in Amos 413. Without giving an exhaustive account of his attributes and his power, he reveals himself in terms of representative characteristics. He, in a sense, rattles his savor. Would you meddle with me? Then consider who I am. I am the Lord God Almighty. Do you do not underestimate? Here’s the power of God. He forms the mountains. Now, man, by strenuous effort, may climb the mountains. But God is the one who created these huge monuments of his power. God creates the wind. Man may somehow rather predict the weather or take a good guess about it, that God is the one who sends the wind and controls its direction and controls its force. He declares what man is thinking. Who knows the inner thoughts of a man? And can make them know, but God. Your heart is an open book before the Lord. He mentions. makes the morning darkness. Now, man with candles, and now in our day with electricity, can light up the darkness, but only God can darken the morning sun so that it doesn’t shine. The Egyptians experienced great darkness. One of the plagues that God sent was this great darkness, and so it was dark all day. The sun didn’t come up for them. Nobody else can do that. God here walks on the high places of the earth, the mountaintop, if you would. God is so great that the mountains are just stepping stones for him. This is the picture, I think, that we have here. Is this the God of Israel you wish to face in battle? What do you hope to accomplish against me? So Israel must face the Lord God. Now let me draw a couple of practical thoughts from this text tonight. The first is this, you should realize, that the problems of the world in which you live are actually spiritual in nature. It is useful to note throughout this portion of scripture, God uses the phrase, I have. I have given you cleanness of teeth. I have withheld the rain from you. I have smitten you with mildew. I have smitten you with mildew. I have killed your young men with the sword. I have sent among you the pestilence. I have overthrown some of you as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. And it was the sinful ways of the nation that resulted in God’s constant strokes of judgment against them. And thus, the bottom line that we should see from this is there an obvious connection between catastrophe and sin. There’s a spiritual element that has to be taken into account when problems plague a nation. The past famines, when you look about Africa and India and Ethiopia and some other places, they were not just a coincidence. God gave them cleanness of teeth. want of bread. There was a divine purpose behind this. We think about the AIDS epidemic. It didn’t just happen. It wasn’t just somehow or other two or three strains of some type of disease got together and all of a sudden formed this terrible AIDS problem. AIDS is, in a sense, God’s death, angel would work. For those, those who dare to defy his law with regard to marriage relationships and sexual relationships. God says, if you don’t follow, the proper procedure, judgment comes out of this. There is disease that I send because of these things. Long-term wars, like we have experienced in Afghanistan, in Iraq, and now somewhat in Syria, have a spiritual connection. And we begin to bleed the the lifeblood of the nation when our young men are being slaughtered and killed. God’s hand is in this in some ways. The earthquakes, the floods, the natural disasters, all have a message from God. Now, I’m not saying that all of these judgments necessarily due to a particular sin, But it seems in Scripture we should pay attention to these things because it seems to me that God is saying there’s a reason behind these judgments. Now, some people regard this as, you know, the old-fashioned, you know, scare the people tactic, scare the natives. God wouldn’t do such a thing why he weeps when, you know, terrible things happen to nations and so forth. Others speak about, wow, there are human factors, earthly factors. economic conditions, international tensions, mistakes by government, bizarre weather, you know, global warming, whatever the case may be, causes all this stuff. God is warning the people of the world here, through these various judgments, it’s time to repent. Wake up. Turn from your sins. The question is, is the world getting the message. The question is the United States of Americans? getting the message. I’m afraid little attention is being paid to the warning signals that God sends. But there will be a day when you will have to meet God. And our nation will have to meet God because Christ is going to come in flaming fire and bring destruction upon those who oppose him, his gospel, and his kingdom. The second thing I would draw from this tonight is this. The providential circumstances of your life may contain a warning message from God. the lesson of this passage can also, I think, be drawn with regard to the individual as well as the nation. When you are straying spiritually, God often uses life circumstances to make you ponder where you stand in reference to him. you can see it pretty clearly in Jonah running away and then what happens, the storm comes up, be swallowed by the great fish and so forth. When you have economic problems and sickness and physical sufferings and dwelling resources, death in the family, even unusual hardships, we should ponder these kind of things carefully. Of course, not every encounter with these types of difficulties are necessarily a sign that God is judging us. No trial or trouble in and of itself has to be God’s rod of judgment. Jonah was an upright man who shrewd evil and so forth, and yet he had terrible things happen in his life, but it was for his spiritual development of the graces in his life. And so sometimes God sends these things for the purpose of developing and refaithing our spiritual graces, maybe teaching us patience, or testing our faith in some way. But when these problems are multiplied in your life, it is something we should consider. We should be asking why. When the accumulated strokes fall upon you, a careful examination of the reason behind it is important. In other words, this should be an occasion for introspection. Israel didn’t ponder the fact. that they had long ceased to walk in God’s path. It never hurts to reflect upon these dramatic events in your life and think about why would God bring this? When you ask why, he may just answer you because you’ve not returned to me. You’ve not repented. There may be sin that we have to remove from our life. There may be something that has to be addressed in our life. But if we feel it, to ask why, and if we don’t examine our life for sin, then we can’t prosper from that or benefit from it. That’s only going to lead to further judgments from God. God wants his children to be right with him and to do the right thing before him. If God’s warning signals are not heated, you may have to prepare to meet thy God. There is a sin under death for the Christian. We read in the book of 1 Corinthians chapter 11 and verse 30 that because of their handling of things in the church, especially their misuse of the Lord’s Supper, that many were weak and sickly among them, and some of them slept. Return to me, God says. Repent, make things where I choose the old pass of righteousness that you used to walk. Sometimes. it doesn’t take a Sherlock Holmes to draw the right conclusion from God’s frowning providence. It ought to be obvious if we’re paying attention. God says you should have, you know, you should have picked up from this and this and this and this and this and this and this and you didn’t. what more do I have to do to get your attention? May that not be the case with us that we be that blind and stubborn when it comes to God’s chasing hand upon us. Well, let us close with the word of prayer.