Read Amos 7:1–9
Questions from the Scripture text: Who showed the prophet something in Amos 7:1? What did He show him? At what time? What id the locusts do (Amos 7:2a)? How did the prophet respond (verse 2b)? To Whom? For whom (verse 2c)? Why (verse 2d)? And how does YHWH respond to the prophet (Amos 7:3)? Now Who shows the prophet something (Amos 7:4)? What does He show him this time? How does the prophet respond (Amos 7:5)? For whom? Why? And how does YHWH respond to the prophet (Amos 7:6)? Whom does He show him in Amos 7:7? Where is the Lord? What is He doing? Whom does He ask what (Amos 7:8)? How does Amos answer? What does the Lord say that He is doing with the plumb line? In the midst of whom? And what will He not do anymore? What will be desolate (Amos 7:9)? What will be laid waste? Against whom will the Lord rise with what?
How should we respond to God’s not punishing us as we deserve? Amos 7:1–9 looks forward to the hearing of God’s Word, publicly read, in the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these nine verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that we should respond to God’s patient mercy by hating, all the more, to sin against this good God.
As we come into the final three chapters of the book, the message of Amos shifts to the visions that he receives from the Lord—these three (Amos 7:1-3, Amos 7:4-6, Amos 7:7-9), and then Amos 8:1–3 and Amos 9:1–4. These three visions go together. The first two are so severe that the prophet cries out for mercy: “O Lord YHWH, forgive, I pray! Oh that Jacob may stand, for he is small!” (Amos 7:2b–d); “O Lord YHWH, cease, I pray! Oh, that Jacob may sand, for he is small!” (Amos 7:5b–d). Praise be to the patient and compassionate Lord, He relents of both the locust devastation (Amos 7:3) and the devouring fire (Amos 7:6).
The third vision doesn’t begin immediately with penalty, but instead with evaluation. There seems to be not just repetition in the visions, but progression. The point of the plumb line (a weight, dropped by a string, to measure whether something was actually upright) is that God’s patience is not to be confused with moral flexibility. How many times the Lord had forgiven Israel! When one comes under conviction of what his sin deserves, but then the Lord spares, there is the danger of thinking that the Lord is not absolute in His moral standards and demands. The vision of the plumb line shows Amos that Israel has squandered its opportunities to be led to repentance by the goodness of God (cf. Romans 2:3–4). God will not pass by anymore (Amos 7:8). The day of their judgment has come, and the wrath they have stored up against themselves will be poured out (Amos 7:9, cf. Romans 2:5). Dear reader, do not squander God’s patience toward you! When consequence does not come for your unfaithfulness and sin, respond to that goodness not by being comfortable with the sin but by cutting it out!
What specific unfaithfulness/sin of yours has the Lord not punished? What have you done about that sin in response?
Sample prayer: Lord, forgive us, we pray, for like Jacob, we are small! We have done much to provoke Your wrath and to invite chastening. But You have been so patient with us, just as You were with Israel in Amos’s day. Grant that by Your Spirit, we would respond to this patience differently than Israel. Grant that Your goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering would lead us to repentance. Work in us such that, when Your plumbline is dropped, we will have been sanctified by the grace of Christ, through Whom we ask it, AMEN!
Suggested Songs: ARP32AB “What Blessedness” or TPH341 “Alas! and Did My Savior Bleed”
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