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Hearing and Believing • Amos 8-9 • February 28, 2020

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Hearing and Believing • Amos 8-9 • February 28, 2020 Union Avenue Bap-st Church THE BOOK OF AMOS • HEARING AND BELIEVING • AMOS 8-9 • FEBRUARY 28, 2020 Trust in God comes by hearing and beLieving His Word. He asked me, “What do you see, Amos?” I replied, “A basket of summer fruit.” The Lord said to me, “The end has come for My people Israel; I will no longer spare them. Amos 8:3 What emo-ons do you feel when you think about the future? What are some of the specific things that you fear and/or look forward to? Even when the future seems uncertain, how do you know you can trust God with your future? What certain-es do you cling to in those uncertain -mes? We alL have to deal with Life’s uncertainSes. When unexpected events threaten our pLans or cast dark cLouds over our hope for the future, we may wonder where to turn for heLp. In Amos 8–9, which we wiLL discuss this week and next, the prophet Amos toLd the peopLe of his day where they couLd find true hope —the same pLace we can find it today. READ AMOS 8:1-3. All of the vision in Amos 7 are related to God’s pending judgment against the na-on of Israel. What do you make of the vision that begins chapter 8 (vv. 1-3)? How is this vision related to what we read last week? The opening verses of Amos 8 describe the fourth of five visions the prophet received from the Lord. The divinely cra]ed image was of a basket fiLLed with summer fruit. OrdinariLy, such an image might have been interpreted as a bLessed sign of abundant harvest. But in fact, it was not a sign of bLessing, but of judgment. As summer fruit signaled the end of the harvest season, so in Amos’ vision the summer fruit signified that “the end has come for My peopLe IsraeL” (8:2). The IsraeLites were about to experience Page 1 of 8 the bider fruit of their conSnual wickedness and spiritual rebeLLion against the Lord. Judgment was no Longer a mader of “if,” but “when.” AMOS 8:4-14. Verses 4-14 make up Amos’ speech to the na-on in which he warned of God’s coming judgment and pointed out their sins. What par-cular sin of the na-on did Amos point out (vv. 4-6)? Why was that such an offense to God? FoLLowing the vision of summer fruit, Amos deLivered a propheSc speech in which he specified a key piece of evidence concerning the IsraeLites’ sinfuL condiSon: wealthy IsraeLite merchants were ruthLessLy cheaSng and oppressing the poor with dishonest prices and disregard for God’s Law, especialLy regarding the Sabbath (see 8:4-6). Consequently, the Lord wouLd bring severe judgments against those in IsraeL who commided such wicked deeds (8:7-14). To people who were annoyed with the prophet’s message of God’s coming judgment, a famine of hearing the words of the Lord may have sounded like a blessing. How would it actually be a hardship to be cut off from His words? The famine envisioned in these verses wouLd consist not onLy of the absence of the Lord’s reveLaSon through his prophets, but of the Lord himseLf, whose presence and care brought about the propheSc word. To receive no word from God in response to cries for heLp meant that God had hidden His face from them and had abandoned them to their enemies When have you felt a drought of God’s Word and work in your life? How did you respond to that spiritual famine? Do you think this is the same or different from the discontent we experience when we pray but do not sense the Lord’s answer? Explain. God is more than the Creator and Sustainer of the universe; He also is the Author of wisdom and the Light of the worLd. Apart from Him and His truth, peopLe walk in spiritual darkness and are doomed to a Life of recurring disappointments and frustraSons in their search for fuLfiLLment. Without God’s presence and guidance, peopLe search in vain for the fuLL Life. We who have unLimited access to God’s inspired Word have a precious treasure, the value of which cannot be measured in material terms. How would your life be different if suddenly you no longer had access to the Scriptures? How can we show that we don’t take for granted the blessing of having God’s Word freely available today? Page 2 of 8 The majority of peopLe in today’s materialisSc society wouLd shrug off the idea of a famine of God’s words as Long as they had pLenty to eat and drink. That may have been the response of Amos’ hearers who were enjoying peace and pLenty. When peopLe feeL secure and saSsfied, they o]en are indifferent to God, His teachings, and His guidance. When they experience the distress and afflicSon of a catastrophe, however, they are more eager for a message from Him. We must be carefuL not to take for granted having God’s Word abundantly avaiLabLe to us in the BibLe. We shouLd make reading and hearing His Word a priority, receiving and obeying it with joy and seeking to share it with others. READ AMOS 9:1-10. The final chapter of Amos begins with another vision and message of God’s judgment. Amos’s fi]h vision portrayed the Lord standing beside an altar and ordering a massive outpouring of destrucSve judgment on IsraeL. God wouLd intenSonalLy bring harm because of the peopLe’s sins, and wouLd treat them as though they were just another naSon. What did God promise in these verses that He was about to do? What did He promise He would not do? Why would the Lord not totally destroy the house of Jacob? Would shaking Israel as one shakes a sieve be an act of jus-ce, mercy, or both? Explain. According to Amos, the eyes of the Lord were on the sinfuL kingdom of IsraeL. He was keeping track of the naSon’s sin and was poised to destroy it from the face of the earth as punishment. Yet in the next sentence, the Lord expressed a pLan to show divine mercy. He wouLd not totalLy destroy the house of Jacob. How are we to understand these two seemingLy opposed divine decLaraSons? The house of Jacob represented a subset of the sinfuL kingdom. The sinfuL kingdom—signified by the eLite, sinfuL, reLigious- poliScal structure—wouLd end. However, the Lord wouLd show mercy and spare a remnant of faithfuL IsraeLites—peopLe who were grieved by their naSon’s spiritual and poLiScal misdirecSon. They would Lose their naSonal idenSty, and many wouLd falL vicSm to the horrors of war or the distress of capSvity. Yet the Lord wouLd maintain His covenant reLaSonship with them (compare Rom. 11:22-24). Here, Amos hinted at the thread of hope that he addressed in 9:11-12. What assump-ons had the sinners made about their future? In what ways do people today have a similar false sense of security regarding God’s judgment? Among those singLed out for the judgment-sieve of God were IsraeLites who had become agnosSc in their convicSons about the Lord’s power, as weLL as those who had become openLy hosSLe to His roLe in Page 3 of 8 their Lives. The Lord wouLd deal firmLy with alL the apostate and defiant sinners in the Northern Kingdom who said, either out Loud or in their hearts, that disaster wouLd never overtake or confront them. READ AMOS 9:11-15. The final five verses in the Book of Amos bring the prophet’s preaching to a posiSve and hopefuL concLusion. In this secSon, Amos Looked beyond the coming days of judgment to a Sme of restoraSon. In 5:18-20, Amos had warned those who yearned for the “Day of the Lord” whiLe Living sinfuL, unrepentant Lives. That day for the unrepentant wouLd not be a day of hope, but one of horror and disaster. Amos now envisioned that chastened, repentant IsraeLites wouLd one day experience a different reality, a hope-filled Sme. What did the Lord say He would do to the land of Israel aZer His judgment was finished? What words or phrases describe the restora-on God was planning for His people? How did His plans extend beyond Israel to the other na-ons? The concept of the “Day of the Lord” was specificalLy addressed by ten OLd Testament prophets. They didn’t envision that the day was Limited to a 24-hour period of Sme. Rather, it was a coming era—a Sme when the Lord wouLd dramaScalLy intervene in human history and carry out His purposes in gLorious and unmistakabLe ways. Here Amos described that day as an awesome era —a Sme to be eagerLy awaited by every IsraeLite who Loved and served the Lord. How do the benefits described in verses 13-14 provide a striking contrast with the warnings of fire and famine earlier in Amos’s prophecy? How did the Lord describe the security His people would enjoy in this restored land? Great bLessings awaited IsraeL in God’s divine pLan, and the Lord wanted alL His peopLe to hear of them. FoLLowing terribLe Smes of judgment, the days were coming in which bounSfuL abundance wouLd sweep across the Land. The dreaded curse in the Law of starvaSon connected with disobedience to the Lord (see Lev.
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