Imagine, if you will, a person standing in the middle of the street where you live who professes to be God's spokesperson - a prophet from God. You'd probably be a little skeptical and even perhaps thinking they might be experiencing a mental episode. But what if that person pointed to every house on your street, named their names, and began to spill the beans on every secret thing he knew about them, wouldn't that kind of freak you out a little bit. How about if they then proceeded to speak of an impending doom each of your neighbors were going to face...and it was all terrible? Then, after pointing out their faults, he then points his finger towards your house and begins describing your secret sins? What would you do?
Well, that's kind of what happens here in the first few chapters of Amos. Amos is one of God's prophets from a small village not far from Jerusalem called Tekoa. Amos received a vision from the Lord about the horrible, impending doom God is about to send to those nations surrounding Jerusalem - kind of like neighbors on the same block.
In each of his prophecies concerning Jerusalem's neighbors, Amos proclaims God's word with the same beginning phrase - "The people of (name the city) have sinned again and again and I will not forget it. I will not let them go unpunished any longer." And says to each one of these cities, "I will send down fire."
God gives each of them at least one thing that has infuriated Him so much that He would punish them. And here they are:
1) Damascus - "They beat down my people."
2) Gaza - "They sent my people into exile"
3) Tyre - "They broke their treaty of brotherhood with Israel."
4) Edom - "They chased down their relatives, the Israelites, with swords."
5) Ammon - "They...committed cruel crimes, ripping open pregnant women with their sword."
6) Moab - "The desecrated the tomb of Edom's king and burned his bones to ashes."
7) Judah - "They have rejected the laws of the Lord, refusing to obey him."
8) Israel - "They perverted justice...trampled helpless people...and deny justice to the oppressed."
But it gets worse! As we read the end of chapter 2 we see how disgusted God really is. He says, "It was I who rescued you from Egypt and led you through the desert for forty years, so you could possess the land of the Amorites. I chose some of your sons to be prophets and others to be Nazirites. Can you deny this, my people of Israel?” asks the Lord. “But you caused the Nazirites to sin by making them drink wine, and you commanded the prophets, ‘Shut up!’"
God is livid. He delivered them from Egypt. He performed mighty miracles the world heard about. He led them into the Promised Land of Canaan and fought for them. He gave them the richest, most fertile soil in the region. Yet, in spite of all God did for His people, they are ungrateful.
Imagine buying a couple of bags of groceries for a poor, needy family who tells you to "Leave the groceries at the door and get lost!" How would that make you feel? Now take that feeling up a thousand notches!
As we end with chapter 3, God tells the nations that it ought to be obvious that they repent before all these horrible things begin to happen. It's not too late to seek forgiveness. They have a lot to lose if they do nothing, but everything to gain if they just simply seek God and turn to Him!
What about you? Have you turned away from God? Are you feeling guilty over your sins, or are you doing just fine the way you are? If you're fine, then get ready for a heavy load to fall. God is far more interested in getting your attention to return to Him than to let you just struggle down the path of spiritual resistance. Make a decision today to turn your heart towards God! All these historical accounts are sufficient evidence of what we all must do.
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