Amos chapter 3

 

Memory verse: Amos 3:3

 

The book of Amos has a similar pattern to other books of prophecy near the end of the Old Testament. It starts with warnings of coming judgment on the nations (Syria, the Philistines, Tyre, Edom, Ammon, Moab, Judah, and Israel). Then there is a call to Israel to repent. Amos intercedes for Israel. God makes a promise to restore. Amos was not in the upper crust of society. He was a rancher and a farmer (Amos 1:1, Amos 7:14). God called him to deliver His word. Our background does not matter to God. Our response to His calling does.

 

Day 1 – Can two walk together, except they be agreed?

Verses 1-3

God brought Israel out of Egypt, and brought them into a covenant with Him (Deuteronomy 4:20-46). This gave them special privileges, but also special responsibility. We cannot walk with God unless we do it according to His word. He will never operate outside His word. We cannot expect God to agree with us if we do not agree with Him first. Unity with our fellow man sometimes requires relegating our personal concerns for the greater purpose. Unity with God always requires this. If God is not first, He is not our God. Unity is a powerful force, but it only works in God when we are united in His purpose (John 17).

 

Day 2 – shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?

Verses 4-6

Although we quote Amos 3:3 about unity as we should, it is actually the first in a series of 9 questions from verse 3 to verse 8. They are all rhetorical questions. However the prophet asks, “shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?” This should be obvious, but in our politically correct society it is not. When a preacher even hints that something bad could be a judgment of God, he is railed on for insensitivity relentlessly until he apologizes. God does not apologize. He is the righteous Judge. Sin is still sin to God. His word is the expression of His nature which does not change, and is not subject to “culture”. Culture in this sense is nothing more than the world, which is the enemy of God:

   1. Matthew 16:26 – what profit to gain world (culture – same greek word) and lose

       soul?

   2. John 14:17 – world cannot receive Spirit of truth

   3. John 7:7, John 8:23, John 15:18-19, John 17:14 & 16 – world hated Jesus, hates disciples

   4. John 17:9 – I pray not for the world – not only means not at this time, also means

       our goal is not to change the culture of the world, it is to bring people into the

       culture of the church

   5. John 17:25 – the world hath not known thee – John 1:10, 1Corinthians 1:21, 1Corinthians

       2:8,

       1John 3:1 & 13, 1John 4:4, Revelation 12:9

   6.  Romans 12:2 – be not conformed but transformed

   7. 1Corinthians 1:20-21, 1Corinthians  2:6, 1Corinthians 3:18-19 – wisdom of this world

        foolish

   8. 1Corinthians 4:9 & 13 – apostles spectacle and filth to world

   9. John 3:19, 1Corinthians 11:32, Hebrews 11:7 – world condemned

   10. Galatians 1:4 – deliver us from evil world

   11. Galatians 4:3, Colossians 2:8 & 20 – elements (foundational principles), rudiments same

         word

   12. Ephesians 2:12 – without God in the world

   13. Colossians 2:8 – rudiments of world not after Christ

   14. 2Timothy 4:10 – Demas forsook, having loved world

   15. Hebrews 11:38 – world not worthy of saints

   16. James 4:4 – adulterers, friendship of world enmity w. God

   17. 2Peter 1:4 – corruption in world

   18. 2Peter 2:20 – pollution of world

   19. 2Peter 2:5, 2Peter 3:6 - flood on world

   20. 1John2:15-16 – love not the world, not of the Father, passeth away

   21. 1John 4:1 & 5 – false prophets in world

   22. 1John 4:3 – spirit of antichrist in world

   23. 1John 5:19 – whole world in wickedness

   24. 2John 7 – deceivers in world

   25. Revelation 16:14 – whole world gathered against Christ

   26. Satan is the prince of this world – John 14:30, 2Corinthians 4:4, Ephesians 2:2, Ephesians

         6:12

The culture of the church is superior to the culture of the world:

   1. John 12:25 – love life in this world & lose it, lose life in this world & keep it

       unto life eternal

   2. John 14:27 – I give you peace, not as the world giveth

   3. Christ and church have overcome (get victory over) world – John 16:33, 1John 5:4-5,

       Revelation17:14

   4. John 17:21 & 23 – that the world may believe and know

   5. John 18:36 – my kingdom is not of this world

   6. Acts 17:6 – they turned the world upside down

   7. 1Corinthians 1:27-28 – God chose foolish, weak, base things to confound the world

   8. 1Corinthians 2:12 – not spirit of world, but of God

   9. 2Corinthians 7:10 – godly sorrow works salvation, sorrow of world death

   10. 1Timothy 6:7 & 17 – worldly riches v. God

It is not the responsibility of the church to be “relevant to the culture”. It is the church’s job to be relevant to God, which automatically makes it relevant to those who are seeking God. To those who are not, the church is already irrelevant anyway. When the church becomes too much like the world, it loses its relevance. The church is not to be defined by the world, but by God. We do not use culture to interpret the Word of God. We use the Word of God to define culture. God is the decider, definer, and determiner of right and wrong, not man. The church gets its identity from God, not man.

 

Day 3 – he revealeth his secret unto his servants

Verses 7-9

The word supervisor does not literally mean the person in authority. It means the person with the broader and higher vision. We do not use this word to describe the leadership of the church, but its definition is applicable. God gives the pastor/leader a higher viewpoint to see the greater picture. God shows him things because of his calling and position that others may not be privy to. God shows him what He is doing, and what He is going to do, because it is his responsibility to lead the people where God wants to take them. Any Christian can operate in spiritual gifts (Mark 16:17-18, 1Corinthians 12), but there is a special place for those called to leadership. It is not about exercising lordship (Matthew 23:8, Mark 10:42-45, Acts 10:26, 2Corinthians 1:24, 1Peter 5:3). It is about equipping the greater responsibility of leadership and authority (Hebrews 13:7 & 17). When God speaks, it must be proclaimed (Psalm 68:11). The leader must first know what God is saying in order to proclaim it. That is a great responsibility, and it does not come automatically (Deuteronomy 13, Deuteronomy 18:18-22, Luke 12:48).

 

Day 4 – the shepherd taketh out of the mouth of the lion

Verses 10-12

The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep (John 10:11-13). A hireling (one just working for the money) does not care about the sheep. When the wolf comes, all he cares about is saving his own skin, and he flees. David was a good shepherd. When a bear and a lion came to take his sheep, he risked his own life to fight them off and kill them to protect his flock (1Samuel 17:34-36). That is what qualified him to kill Goliath. Saul was the tallest man in Israel (1Samuel 10:23), and he was the king. He should have been leading the people against the “wolf”. Instead he was leading them into fear. God saw the heart of a shepherd in David, and called him to replace Saul (1Samuel 16). Jesus is the good shepherd. Although the sheep have gone astray, He is seeking to find them and return them to the fold (Luke 15:4-7, John 10:1-18). Even if the sheep has been torn to pieces by a lion outside the fold, and there is nothing left but 2 legs or a piece of an ear, He will fight the lion and kill it to take what is left out of his mouth (Amos 3:12). God does not give up (Romans 11:29), even when it seems to man that all is lost.

 

Day 5 – the horns of the altar shall be cut off

Verses 13-15

The altars of Bethel were built by Jeroboam (1Kings 12:26-33). He was the first king of the northern kingdom of Israel after it split from the southern kingdom of Judah. The temple of God was in Jerusalem, which was in the southern kingdom. Although God had promised him the kingdom, he did not trust in God. He was afraid that because people would have to go to Jerusalem to worship, that they would turn against him. He made 2 golden calves, and put one way up north in Dan, and the other way south in Bethel. He led the people into idolatry. This became a snare that Israel never escaped from. Every generation afterward worshipped his idols, and this led to the destruction of the northern kingdom. His idols were called “the sins of Jeroboam”, and are mentioned 17 times. No one from the northern kingdom ever dealt with them. Finally Josiah came from the southern kingdom, fulfilled the prophecy about himself, and destroyed them (1Kings 13:2, 2Kings 23:6). Horns represent power in the Bible (Deuteronomy 33:17, Psalm 75:10, Daniel 7:7-8 & 20-24, Daniel 8:3-20, Amos 6:13, Habakkuk 3:4, Zechariah 1:18-21, Revelation 5:6, Revelation 12:3, Revelation 13:1 & 11, Revelation 17:3-16). The altar of sacrifice and the altar of incense both had horns on them (Exodus 27:2, Exodus 30:1-3). They tied the sacrifices to the altar by its horns (Psalm 118:27). Adonijah and Joab took hold of the horns of the altar in an attempt to save their lives (1Kings 1:50-51, 1Kings 2:28). The cutting off of the horns of Jeroboam’s altars means that God will cut off the idolatry. It also means God will cut off their own power. The winter house and the summer house were built for the king of Israel so he could take advantage of the most comfortable place to be depending on the season. They would be destroyed (2Kings 25:9). The houses of ivory were built by wicked, idolatrous king Ahab (1Kings 2:39). They would also come down. David told his son Solomon who built the temple, “Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it (Psalm 127:1).” Even the temple came down (2Kings 25:9), because God does not need a building (2Samuel 7:5-7, 1Kings 8:27, Acts 7:49). He desires our righteousness (1Kings 9:6-9, Jeremiah 22:5, Jeremiah 26:6). The temple was destroyed again in A.D 70 by the Romans after the Jews rejected Jesus (Matthew23:33-39, Matthew24:1-2, Matthew 27:51).