Read Amos 4
Questions from the Scripture text: What words introduce the new declaration of charges in Amos 4:1a (cf. Amos 3:1a)? What does the prophet call them? Where are they? What three behaviors are exhibits of their transgression (Amos 4:1b–d)? Who has sworn by what in Amos 4:2a? What days are coming (Amos 4:2-3c)? How does this part of the declaration of charges conclude (Amos 4:3d, cf. Amos 4:5e, Amos 4:6d, Amos 4:8d, Amos 4:9h, Amos 4:10f, Amos 4:11e)? What sort, and what amount, of religious activity were they doing (Amos 4:4-5)? Where (Amos 4:4a–b)? With what attitude (Amos 4:5c)? What had the Lord done for them (Amos 4:6a–b)? And what else (Amos 4:7-8b)? And what else (Amos 4:9a–f)? And what else (Amos 4:10a–d)? What effect did all of this fail to produce (Amos 4:6c, Amos 4:8c, Amos 4:9g, Amos 4:10e)? How does Amos 4:12a–b introduce the summons? What is the substance of the summons (verse 12c)? What are their Accuser’s/Prosecutor’s credentials and qualifications (Amos 4:13a–f)? What is His identity (verse 13g)?
How should we respond to difficult or shocking providence? Amos 4 looks forward to the first serial reading in morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these thirteen verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that God gives difficult and shocking providence as an opportunity for repentance.
Israel’s Sentence. The wealthy ladies from the fertile land of Bashan were accustomed to the rare air of the royal court at Samaria (Amos 4:1a), where they didn’t just oppress and crush the lowest classes (verse 1b–c), but even lorded it over the lords (more literal than NKJ’s “husbands”) of the land (verse 1d). How far they would fall, when the time of the exile came (Amos 4:2-3)! Chapter 4 is a hearing in which the Lord announces to them why. Amos 4:12 concludes the presentation of His case, saying “therefore thus will I do to you.”
Self-deceiving religion. Bethel (Amos 4:4a) was the place where the Lord had met Jacob in the vision of the ladder (cf. Genesis 28:19). Gilgal (Amos 4:4b) was the place where Israel had rededicated itself to the Lord after the wilderness period (cf. Joshua 5:9). The northern kingdom kept religious observances to the Lord surrounding some of His greatest redemptive revelations and acts up to that time. They didn’t just tithe on Sabbaths but twice as often (Amos 4:4d). They loved religion (Amos 4:5c). But their wickedness in the second table of the law (Amos 4:1) should have been a clue to the falsehood of their love for God in observing man-made religion (Amos 4:4-5). Here are two things that can give us massive spiritual cataracts to blind us to our need for repentance: worldly wealth/comfort/influence and spiritual/religious fervor. Israel had them in spades. They are not necessarily wicked to have, but if we have them, we should be watchful against how easily they can deceive us.
Providential calls to repentance. God’s Word should have been enough to call them to repentance. And may He grant unto us that His Word would be enough to do so for us. Certainly this is a good reason to worship Him genuinely from that Word, evening and morning every day, and all day long on the Lord’s Day. But when they needed to be urged to repent, God came in mercifully severe providence to grab their attention. Amos 4:6-11 list five categories/ways in which the Lord had done so, each one ending with “says YHWH.”
He had given famine (Amos 4:6). He had brought unusual/peculiar drought (Amos 4:7-8). He had prevented some crops from growing, and alternatively permitted locusts to wipe out bumper harvests (Amos 4:9). He had even come with the severity of deadly plagues, and invading/military devastation (Amos 4:10). And even near-total overthrow of one or another city or town (Amos 4:11). But in every case, we read the same sad result: “yet you have not turned to me.”
We must remember that all providence is personal. The God Who gave us the Bible is the same Who works all things according to the counsel of His will (cf. Ephesians 1:11). And He often brings shocking or difficult providence into our lives to grab our attention (cf. Luke 13:1–9).
If He has brought such providence into your life, don’t miss the opportunity for putting yourself under the lens of the Word and examining if there is sin where you thought that all was well. It may be that it is more for the purpose of growing your patience or sweetening Himself to you as the Gift that makes all else worth it. But, if He is providentially alerting you to some sin or folly, how sad it would be to have said of us, “yet you have not returned to Me.”
Who it is with Whom we must deal. “Prepare to meet your God, O Israel!” When their exile did come, they did not have an Assyrian problem but a YHWH problem. Why is He, alone: Prosecutor, Witness, Judge, and Executor? Because He is singularly qualified for all of these.
He forms mountains (Amos 4:13b); He has power.
He creates the spirit (Amos 4:13c); it is His right.
He declares to man what his thought is (Amos 4:13d); He is a more expert witness, pertaining to us, than we are, pertaining to ourselves.
Indeed, darkness and light are alike to Him because of the perfection of His knowledge and observation (Amos 4:13e, cf. Psalm 139:12).
There is nowhere that anything can be hidden from Him (Amos 4:13f, cf. Psalm 139:8). “There is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to Whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:13).
How marvelous, how glorious, that this One Who knows our sin perfectly is the One Who has borne its guilt for all for whom He died! And how dreadful for those who, rather than turning to Him in repentance and faith, pacify their consciences with intense or emotional spirituality, as if that can absolve them. God have mercy and keep you from doing so, dear reader.
To what extent are you comfortable in the things of this world or in your enjoyment of religious celebrations and exercises? If you have something of which you need to repent, how might earthly comforts or religious celebrations/exercises What shocking or unusual providence have you received from God? What place does self-examination have in your reading and praying? What other opportunity do you take for it?
Sample prayer: Lord, forgive us for how easily we mistake Your patience and kindness for approval of our ways and our worship. Grant that we would measure what we do by Your Word and not by our comfort with it. Forgive us for how slow and dull our consciences have been, when You have given us shocking providence to grab our attention. Cause us to remember that all things are naked and open to Your eyes, and that we must give account to You. Thank You that we may do so as those who have been atoned for by Christ. Forgive us for His sake, and receive us in Him, we ask in His Name, AMEN!
Suggested songs: ARP32AB “What Blessedness” or TPH467 “Cast Down, O God, the Idols”
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