Visions of Divine Retribution: The Lord By the Alter (9:1-10)

Introduction:

Last week we saw the fourth of the Visions of Divine Retribution given to Amos by God; that of Summer fruit from Amos 8, and how that vision made clear that the end is near for Israel. This morning, being the next to last sermon in Amos, we are presented with one more vision, a special vision set apart from the rest, in which we see The Lord By the Alter, and in this final vision of the Visions of Divine Retribution, we are presented not with objects of creation used to judge or measure the sins of Israel, but we are presented with the creator himself. We will see him in all his glorious attributes, but not for blessing but for terrible, divine judgment.

Text: Amos 9:1-10

Amos 9:1–10 ESV

1 I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and he said: “Strike the capitals until the thresholds shake, and shatter them on the heads of all the people; and those who are left of them I will kill with the sword; not one of them shall flee away; not one of them shall escape. 2 “If they dig into Sheol, from there shall my hand take them; if they climb up to heaven, from there I will bring them down. 3 If they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, from there I will search them out and take them; and if they hide from my sight at the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them. 4 And if they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it shall kill them; and I will fix my eyes upon them for evil and not for good.” 5 The Lord God of hosts, he who touches the earth and it melts, and all who dwell in it mourn, and all of it rises like the Nile, and sinks again, like the Nile of Egypt; 6 who builds his upper chambers in the heavens and founds his vault upon the earth; who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out upon the surface of the earth— the Lord is his name. 7 “Are you not like the Cushites to me, O people of Israel?” declares the Lord. “Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor and the Syrians from Kir? 8 Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the surface of the ground, except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,” declares the Lord. 9 “For behold, I will command, and shake the house of Israel among all the nations as one shakes with a sieve, but no pebble shall fall to the earth. 10 All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say, ‘Disaster shall not overtake or meet us.’

Main Idea: Because God is omnipresent, there is no escape from his watching eye and all-powerful hand for both blessing and judgment.

I. Awesome Presence of Divine Authority (1)

Of all the visions that Amos received, this one is certainly the most terrifying one.

(1) I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and he said: “Strike the capitals until the thresholds shake, and shatter them on the heads of all the people; and those who are left of them I will kill with the sword; not one of them shall flee away; not one of them shall escape.

A. Divine Presence in the Temple (1a)

(1a) I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and he said: “Strike the capitals until the thresholds shake, and shatter them on the heads of all the people; and those who are left of them I will kill with the sword;

I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, - this vision of Amos shows the Lord (adonay), the one and only ultimate master authority, the one that receives permission or guidance from no one, is standing in the very place in which sacrifices are made, outside of the veil, in fearsome display!

and he said: “Strike the capitals until the thresholds shake,

Capitals are the tops of the columns, and thresholds are the bases. The two together form a merism (a rhetorical term for a pair of contrasting words or phrases, such as near and far, body and soul, life and death, used to express totality or completeness) expressing the totality of the temple structure.

The vision pictures the idolatrous worship system of the Israelites crashing down upon the heads of the Israelite worshippers and destroying them. Both the worship system and the worshippers involved in this system will be destroyed.

B. Divine Presence Oversees Judgment (1b)

(1b) not one of them shall flee away; not one of them shall escape.

this lack of escape prefigures the universality of the last judgment in Revelation 20:11-15.

Instead of the temple being a place of refuge and safety, it becomes an instrument of God’s wrath.

II. Impossible to Escape Divine Judgment (2-4)

Two more merisms are seen here in order to depict how complete God’s judgment is.

A. No Escape Out of this World (2)

(2) “If they dig into Sheol, from there shall my hand take them; if they climb up to heaven, from there I will bring them down. - Sheol (the underworld) vs. heaven

We see this reality expressed again in the final judgment as given to us in Revelation 20…

Revelation 20:13 ESV

13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done.

B. No Escape in this World (3-4)

(3) If they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, from there I will search them out and take them; and if they hide from my sight at the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them. - Carmel (the mountaintop) vs. the bottom of the sea. In short, there is no place between these extremes to escape God. Sounds very much like Psalm 139:7-12, declaring the omnipresence of God…

Psalm 139:7–12 ESV

7 Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! 9 If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 10 even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. 11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” 12 even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.

In David’s eyes, the omnipresence of God was a great thing, knowing that God’s watchful eye was always upon him, but for Israel, this was a devastating reality of God’s fierce judgment from which there would be no escape.

(4) And if they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it shall kill them; and I will fix my eyes upon them for evil and not for good.”

And if they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it shall kill them; - there is no hiding even among Israel’s enemies.

I will fix my eyes upon them for evil and not for good -

This is a terrifying statement, showing that there is no escape anywhere in the entire creation from the eyes of the Lord

It was what God had promised long before (Deut. 28:64–68) if the people were unfaithful. And yet even there, God offers forgiveness and restoration to those who repent (Deut. 30:1–10). As Ps. 103:9 puts it, “nor will he keep his anger forever.” There is much in scripture about God’s all-seeing eyes…

Isaiah 40:21–23 ESV

21 Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? 22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in; 23 who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.

We see this also in 2 Chronicles, where King Asa decides to go to the King of Syria for help rather then to God…

2 Chronicles 16:9 ESV

9 For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him. You have done foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars.”

It’s as if Amos is overwhelmed by this vision, and in essence declares to Israel and to us that this is not just one of your bad days which will soon pass, or one of your/our powerless, lifeless, idols, but this is the absolute and ultimate sovereign one who he begins a…

III. Recount of Divine Sovereignty (5-10)

Amos begins this recount, by laying out the Divine Sovereignty…

A. Over Creation (5-6)

(5) The Lord God of hosts, he who touches the earth and it melts, and all who dwell in it mourn, and all of it rises like the Nile, and sinks again, like the Nile of Egypt;

The Lord God of hosts - we’ve seen this divine title many times in Amos, as a title of the one who brings judgment.

touches the earth and it melts, and all who dwell in it mourn - the earth responds to God’s presence.

rises like the Nile, and sinks again, like the Nile of Egypt - God controls the flooding of the Nile (see last week)

(6) who builds his upper chambers in the heavens and founds his vault upon the earth; who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out upon the surface of the earth— the Lord is his name.

builds his upper chambers in the heavens and founds his vault upon the earth - he is maker of heaven and earth

upper chambers in the heavens - used to ascend the temple area, symbolic of God’s throne room.

vault upon the earth - or foundation

who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out upon the surface of the earth - he controls the hydrologic cycle.

the Lord is his name - Yahweh is his name (reputation)

Amos next recounts God’s Divine Sovereignty…

B. Over Peoples (7-8)

(7) “Are you not like the Cushites to me, O people of Israel?” declares the Lord. “Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor and the Syrians from Kir?

like the Cushites. Lit. “like the sons of the Ethiopians,” the dark-skinned tribes south of Egypt (Gen. 10:6). Sinful Israel has rejected the covenant and is no more privileged than the Ethiopians, who are in a far land and do not reside where God has chosen to make His name dwell, namely, the Promised Land.

“Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor and the Syrians from Kir?. - By making Israel’s exodus from Egypt poetically parallel (and hence implicitly equal) to His dealings with other nations, God tells Israel that she has become no better than the pagans. Caphtor. Crete.

God shows favor to all nations and God judges all nations who abuse His favors. Israel’s election to special favor will not excuse her from punishment for her sins.

This verse, as does chapters one and two, clearly teaches the universality of God and the impartiality of God in administering judgment. No nation or people can claim exemption from God’s commands.

(8) Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the surface of the ground, except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,” declares the Lord.

Behold (hinneh - used 3x in chapter 9, vv. 8,9,13) - means to look see, or “look at me”, “give me your full attention”.

the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the surface of the ground - “look at me” God says, for my eyes sees all sin and all sin will be destroyed…except…

I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,” declares the Lord. - Here we have the first gleam of hope for the future. In chapter 5, the Israelites were given a hope of deliverance from judgment if they would repent. Now they are given a hope for the future even though they don’t repent and the judgment does fall. God will destroy “the sinful kingdom,” the Northern Kingdom, but in mercy, God will spare a remnant of its people and include them in the restored house of Jacob (all the twelve tribes).

As a result of this, Amos recounts God’s Divine Sovereignty…

C. Over the Remnant (9-10)

(The last sentence of verse 8 is explained in verses 9 and 10)

(9) “For behold, I will command, and shake the house of Israel among all the nations as one shakes with a sieve, but no pebble shall fall to the earth.

shake the house of Israel among all the nations, first by means of Assyria, which often resettles conquered peoples in different parts of its empire.

no pebble shall fall. Israel will stand out among the nations, but in the sense that none of the Israelites will be able to hide among the nations. Amos uses the sieve figure to say that none of the remnant will be lost among the nations. Isaiah also declares this:

Isaiah 27:12–13 ESV

12 In that day from the river Euphrates to the Brook of Egypt the Lord will thresh out the grain, and you will be gleaned one by one, O people of Israel. 13 And in that day a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were lost in the land of Assyria and those who were driven out to the land of Egypt will come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain at Jerusalem.

(10) All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say, ‘Disaster shall not overtake or meet us.’

Disaster shall not overtake. Denial of judgment, like denial of guilt, is characteristic of sin, and does not change the true reality of both.

In the final analysis, God’s Divine Sovereignty will disperse all the house of Israel (all the peoples of the twelve tribes) and will sift them (cause them to move to and fro) among the nations, destroying the sinners among the Israelites but preserving the righteous.

So What?

Do we understand that God, the ultimate authority, has the right to tell us what to do, and what not to do?

Do we live in the constant reality of God’s seeing eyes?

Do we understand, that because God is the Divine Sovereign over all things, he will bring his people, the true church, his remnant, home safely?