Crossing the Line

Amos 6 to 9
There is a pervading sense of sadness and finality in todays stories.

A subtle indication that a line is crossed and there is no going back.

That fellowship is irreparably broken.

For so many generations God has sent His Word through various Messengers to the people.

Words of love and longing

Words of warning and waiting.

As in Amos’s words today.

Chapter 5 carried a message of lament and a call to repentance.

And the very real words that God would send Israel into exile beyond Damascus.  (Ch 5:27)

NIV Notes- This punishment is a final one – exile from the God-given land to remote foreign places. 

I don’t think Amaziah, the priest at Bethel, realized the actual weight of his words about Amos’s message.  Ch 7:10 “The land cannot bear all his words.”   Amaziah sent these words in a message to Jeroboam, king of Israel, saying that Amos was conspiring against him in the very heart of Israel.  Vs 10.  And then Amaziah said to Amos, “Go back to the land of Judah. Earn your bread there and do your prophesying there.  Don’t prophesy anymore at Bethel, because this is the king’s sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom. “

We are not really interested in your message of doom and gloom here.  

We’re busy with temple business here and maintaining the zen of the palace. 

As if Amos is a professional prophet. 

But he is a farmer.  

A not-for-self-profit message bringer from God.

Not bringing a popular message even!

Ch 8: 1 “This is what the Sovereign LORD showed to me: a basket of ripe fruit. 2 ‘What do you see, Amos?’ He asked. ‘A basket of ripe fruit, ‘I answered.  Then the LORD said to me, ‘The time is ripe for my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.’ 7 The LORD has sworn by the Pride of Jacob: ‘I will never forget anything they have done.’”

And that seems to be IT.  

God’s memory is long, and His wrath is great and full.

And then the most terrible thing of all.

Ch 8:11 “The days are coming,”

Declares the Sovereign LORD,

“When I will send a famine through the land-

Not a famine of food or a thirst for water,

But a famine of hearing the Words of the LORD.

12 Men will stagger from sea to sea

Ad wander from North to East

Searching for the Word of the LORD, \but they will not find it.”

The terrible, awful silence of God. 

Utter silence.

No words.

No manna for the journey.

Nothing.

There is a big change.

But God does not change.

Is there such a thing as too little too late?

Prophets and priests like Amaziah who did little more than placate kings and leaders but did not feed God’s people.  Who perpetuated the worship in the high places. Self serving.  Priests for profit? People starving for God’s Word.

And the second blow.

Ch 9:7 “‘Are not you Israelites the same to me as the Cushites?’ declares the LORD. ‘Did I not bring Israel up from Egypt, the Philistines from Caphtor and the Arameans from Kir?’”

These words from God’s mouth, that this chosen people is really not that special in the grand scheme of things.

NIV Notes. Israel could not rely on God’s past blessings as an assurance of His future benevolence.  Her stubborn rebelliousness robbed the exodus of all special meaning for her; her journey from Egypt is reduced to no more significance than the movements of other peoples. 

God does not change.

But it is as if a line was drawn

And Israel crossed it

And there was no going back

Only forward into the lonely silent darkness.

And to be told that you really aren’t that special after all.

God picked Israel to be His treasure

Out of all the people of the earth.

Israel took that for granted

Entitled

Assuming their status was irrevocable

And threw that away.

Ignoring the prophets who came and went.

Ignoring the warning words.

Holding onto opulent, indulgent idolatry with a death grip.

God, is a jealous God.

A consuming fire.  

But there is Hope.  

Hope with a capital H!

Ch 9:11 “In that day

I will restore

David’s fallen tent.

I will repair its broken places,

Restore its ruins,

And build it as it used to be.

So they may possess

The remnant of Edom (the enemy)

And all the nations that

Bear my name, “

Declares the LORD

Who will do these things.”

I will restore. 

That Word of Hope that runs through the whole Old Testament.

Through all of God’s Story. 

Ever since Genesis 3:15 ”And I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers; He will crush your head, and you will strike His heel.”

God’s Promise never changes.

His Salvation Plan.

NIV Notes. God will bring blessing after judgment and will not ultimately reject Israel.

Ch 9:14 “I will bring back my exiled people Israel;

they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them.

They will plant vineyards and drink their wine;

They will make gardens and eat their fruit. 

15 I will plant Israel in their own land,

never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them”,

says the LORD your God. “

Hope,

With a capital H!