Warning Visions
Notes
Transcript
Order of Service
Order of Service
Welcome
Welcome
Prayer
Prayer
Hymn -
Hymn -
Notices
Notices
Prayer Meeting - 7:30pm Wed
Friday 7pm - Online
Sunday Morning 11am & 6pm
Tithes & Offerings - £
Main Prayer
Main Prayer
Hymn -
Hymn -
Reading
Reading
This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, he was forming locusts when the latter growth was just beginning to sprout, and behold, it was the latter growth after the king’s mowings. When they had finished eating the grass of the land, I said, “O Lord God, please forgive! How can Jacob stand? He is so small!” The Lord relented concerning this: “It shall not be,” said the Lord. This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, the Lord God was calling for a judgment by fire, and it devoured the great deep and was eating up the land. Then I said, “O Lord God, please cease! How can Jacob stand? He is so small!” The Lord relented concerning this: “This also shall not be,” said the Lord God. This is what he showed me: behold, the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. And the Lord said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said, “Behold, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel; I will never again pass by them; the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste, and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.” Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear all his words. For thus Amos has said, “ ‘Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel must go into exile away from his land.’ ” And Amaziah said to Amos, “O seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah, and eat bread there, and prophesy there, but never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is a temple of the kingdom.” Then Amos answered and said to Amaziah, “I was no prophet, nor a prophet’s son, but I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs. But the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ Now therefore hear the word of the Lord. “You say, ‘Do not prophesy against Israel, and do not preach against the house of Isaac.’ Therefore thus says the Lord: “ ‘Your wife shall be a prostitute in the city, and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword, and your land shall be divided up with a measuring line; you yourself shall die in an unclean land, and Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land.’ ”
Sermon
Sermon
The Oracles of Amos have concluded
The Visions of Amos
5 visions
First 4 are event visions which start with “This is what the LORD God [Andona YHYH / Soverign LORD] showed me”
the last is a theophany
The first 2 end with “ I will spare them no longer”
Theme: “God in Sovereignty and with compassion, gives His word and is faithful to its content”
First Vision: The Locusts (v1-3)
First Vision: The Locusts (v1-3)
This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, he was forming locusts when the latter growth was just beginning to sprout, and behold, it was the latter growth after the king’s mowings. When they had finished eating the grass of the land, I said, “O Lord God, please forgive! How can Jacob stand? He is so small!” The Lord relented concerning this: “It shall not be,” said the Lord.
God was forming a plague of locusts to hit at the most cucial point following the rainy season and at the point the grass and crops would grow.
There would be no growth until the next rainy seasons
It would be devistating
The prophet’s intercession (v2)
Amos provides God with absolute exaltation
He pleads for God to withhold his wrath [forgive / Selah]
his basis is that Jacob is too “small” to withstand it
The LORD’s responce (v3)
The LORD relevented
“This will not happen”
Second Vision: The Fire (v4-6)
Second Vision: The Fire (v4-6)
This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, the Lord God was calling for a judgment by fire, and it devoured the great deep and was eating up the land. Then I said, “O Lord God, please cease! How can Jacob stand? He is so small!” The Lord relented concerning this: “This also shall not be,” said the Lord God.
God prepares a fire which will dry up the subterraneean waters that feed the springs and devour the land
The prophet’s intercession (v5)
Amos begs “please stop”
his basis is that Jacob is too “small” to withstand it
No one can doubt the solifarity of Amos with the people
The LORD’s responce (v6)
God relents
“This will not happen”
Third Vision: The Plumb Line (v7-9)
Third Vision: The Plumb Line (v7-9)
This is what he showed me: behold, the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. And the Lord said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said, “Behold, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel; I will never again pass by them; the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste, and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.”
God initiates and conlcudes the dialogue
Judgment of God is on its way both terrible and drastic
Not because God Wills it, though he does
But because the people deserve it and their persistently evil behaviour demands it
Plumb line provides a determination of what is straight and upright
Amos was to be the plumb line that God would set before His people
The Lord’s Question “WHat do you see?”
Amos replies “A Plumb Line”
The Lord’s Explanation
I will set it before my people
I will spare them no longer
Israel with be destroyed
Isaac represents the north, Jacob the south
The places of worship and idoletary will be destroyed
King Jeraboam will be destroyed by the Sword
The people will go into exile
The prophesy of Hosea had focused Israel’s corrupt worship
Amos’ focus is on the corrupt people
Amos also makes it clear that a corrupt lifestyle makes worship corrupt as well
Who is in Charge? (v10-17)
Who is in Charge? (v10-17)
Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear all his words. For thus Amos has said, “ ‘Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel must go into exile away from his land.’ ”
Two main reasons for Israel’s fall are:
Its government (King Jeroboam)
Its misguided religion (Priest Amaziah)
Who is in charge?
King Jeroboam
Priest Amaziah
The LORD God
Amaziah’s loyalty is to Jeraboam
Amos’ loyalty is to God
And Amaziah said to Amos, “O seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah, and eat bread there, and prophesy there, but never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is a temple of the kingdom.”
Amaziah undermines Amos calling him a seer instead of prophet
The aim was self-serving and political
“flee away to Judah and eat bread there”
The implication which was made is that Amos has been paid
Then Amos answered and said to Amaziah, “I was no prophet, nor a prophet’s son, but I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs. But the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’
Amos resplied that he may not have been assigned the role as Prophet through human process
He was a herdsman and dresser/scratcher of figs
The principal of a prophet is one God has called
Only those chosen and sent out by God have authority to speak God’s message.
God called Amos
Now therefore hear the word of the Lord. “You say, ‘Do not prophesy against Israel, and do not preach against the house of Isaac.’ Therefore thus says the Lord: “ ‘Your wife shall be a prostitute in the city, and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword, and your land shall be divided up with a measuring line; you yourself shall die in an unclean land, and Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land.’ ”
Amaziah faced judgement
His wife would become a prostitute
His sons and daughters will fall by the sword
His land will be divided up and taken from him
He will be exiled
The people whether from the Israel or Judah were answerable to God
Fourt Vision: A Basket of Summer Fruit (ch8 v1-3)
This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, a basket of summer fruit. And he said, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the Lord said to me, “The end has come upon my people Israel; I will never again pass by them. The songs of the temple shall become wailings in that day,” declares the Lord God. “So many dead bodies!” “They are thrown everywhere!” “Silence!”
he Lord’s Question “What do you see?”
Amos replies “A basket of summer fruit”
The Lord’s Explanation
“The end has come upon my people Israel”
I will spare them no longer
Songs shall turn to wailings
The day of the Lord will be judgment for God’s enemies and a blessing for His people/remnant
Hymn -
Hymn -
Q&A
Q&A
Hymn -
Hymn -
Closing Prayer
Closing Prayer
Doxology
Doxology
