Read Amos 8
Questions from the Scripture text: Who shows whom what (Amos 8:1)? What does He ask him (Amos 8:2)? What does Amos answer? Then Who says what to whom (cf. Amos 7:8)? What (Amos 8:3a) will be turned into what (verse 3b), says Whom (verse 3c)? What will come with that wailing (verse 3d), accompanied by what new sound (verse 3e)? What are those whom He now addresses doing to whom in Amos 8:4? What did they wish were over more quickly (Amos 8:5)? To do what? And even what (Amos 8:6)? Who has sworn to do (or not do) what (Amos 8:7)? What should the land do (Amos 8:8a)? And who else should do what (verse 8b)? What will happen to the land (verse 8c–e)? What will happen in that day (Amos 8:9)? What will He do to what (Amos 8:10a)? And what will He do to what else (verse 10b)? What will He bring upon them (verse 10c–d)? With what intensity (verse 10e–f)? What days are coming (Amos 8:11)? A famine of what? What will they do to seek it (Amos 8:12)? With what success? Who won’t withstand this (Amos 8:13)? What is behind all of their other sins (Amos 8:14)? And what will happen to them?
Why must we make use of the opportunity that we have to repent at the hearing of the Word? Amos 8 looks forward to the hearing of God’s Word, publicly read, in the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these fourteen verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that our opportunity to respond to the hearing of the Word is a limited time offer, and when it is withdrawn, there will be nothing but judgment.
Israel thought of the agricultural year as going from grape/olive harvest, through the sowing and harvesting of the fields, and then finally the collection of the summer fruit. The point of this vision is that all opportunity for repentance has elapsed (cf. Amos 7:8).
They practice, indeed barely tolerate, the religion that God has commanded: new moons (Amos 8:5b, cf. Numbers 28:11–15), Sabbaths (Amos 8:5d, cf. Numbers 28:9–10), feasts (Amos 8:10a), and songs (verse 10b). But what they really love is earthly wealth (Amos 8:5). Those who disregard God for their business and pleasure won’t scruple much about disregarding those who are made in His image (Amos 8:4, Amos 8:6). The more vulnerable the better!
And what they really trust in is their government (Samaria, their capital city) and the ways of worship they have invented (Jeroboam’s copy of the Bethel worship up in the far north of Dan, and apparently another form of false worship in the far south of Judah at Beersheba). Undoubtedly, they consider themselves orthodox observers, and even their additions as being made in honor of the Lord.
But what they have neglected, He will remove. The language of “your feasts” and “your songs” (Amos 8:10) implies that they are not keeping them as the Lord’s feasts or the Lord’s songs. But He is going to replace even the songs of the temple (Amos 8:3) first with the wailing of dying, and then the silence of being overwhelmed by death and bereavement. But there is a worse famine, and a worse silence, and a worse fainting… the famine and fainting of the hearing the words of YHWH preached (Amos 8:11).
This should alarm us. For, even at this advanced stage of spiritual decay, at least Israel are brought to seek earnestly (and unsuccessfully) for the word of YHWH (Amos 8:12). But we belong to an age more in line with 2 Timothy 4:3–4, where the less spiritual food, and the less nutritious it is, the better, in the minds of many.
Our opportunities for responding rightly to the hearing of the Word will not last forever. The season of ripe fruit comes. While the Lord gives you opportunity, use it! Delight in His appointed holy day. Trust only in His Word. Apply your regard to Him in a regard for the least of those created in His image. Take your life from Him, through hearing His Word, as much as He continues to give you opportunity.
How do you feel about the Lord’s Day? Its commanded worship? The hearing of the Word on it? What religious activities that aren’t from the Bible are you in danger of preferring? How has God been patient with you? How are you responding to that patience, while there is still time? What may you expect, if you do not take advantage of this time?
Sample prayer: Lord, forgive us, for we have trusted in ourselves, and in our plans and efforts. When our hearts resist Your holy day, we often fail to see the greatness of the evil in us. Our disregard for the weak and vulnerable exposes our lack of love for You, and for Your image in them. We have not made good use of the opportunities that we have had to hear Your Word. Forgive us, and help us, while there is still time. For we ask it through Christ, His righteousness, and His sacrifice, AMEN!
Suggested Songs: ARP51A “God, Be Merciful to Me” or TPH51C “God, Be Merciful to Me”
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