Amos 16: The Final Vision

Bill Connors

Amos: Prophet of Judgment & Justice • Sermon • Submitted 4 years ago

Amos 9:1–6

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B: Amos 9:1-6, Isaiah 59

N: None

Opening

Good morning, and welcome to all of you who are in the building and to all of you who are on the internet. Everyone looks really well rested from that extra hour of sleep that the end of daylight savings time brings… sorry to those of you who live in Arizona, since you didn’t get the extra hour. Thank you for gathering together to worship the Lord today

Thanks for Family Fall Flix night. We had a great time having a drive-in setup and watching the Charlie Brown classics, “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!” and “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.” Thanks to all who put in the work to make that happen.

Throughout this series through the book of Amos, we have been using the phrase, “The Sovereign Lord roars,” as our thesis or theme statement for the message we find here. We have heard the message of God against the injustices of the people around Israel, and then the message of God against the injustices within His own people. With chapter 9, the final chapter of this message, we find the Lord’s roar coming to a crescendo as He wraps up His message with a final vision, a final verdict, and the declaration of a future victory. This week, we will consider the final vision that the Lord gave to Amos as He finished His roaring against His people Israel.

Those of you who are able, could you please stand in honor of the Word of the Lord, as we read our focal passage today, Amos 9:1-6:

Amos 9:1–6 CSB

1 I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and he said: Strike the capitals of the pillars so that the thresholds shake; knock them down on the heads of all the people. Then I will kill the rest of them with the sword. None of those who flee will get away; none of the fugitives will escape. 2 If they dig down to Sheol, from there my hand will take them; if they climb up to heaven, from there I will bring them down. 3 If they hide on the top of Carmel, from there I will track them down and seize them; if they conceal themselves from my sight on the sea floor, from there I will command the sea serpent to bite them. 4 And if they are driven by their enemies into captivity, from there I will command the sword to kill them. I will keep my eye on them for harm and not for good. 5 The Lord, the God of Armies— he touches the earth; it melts, and all who dwell in it mourn; all of it rises like the Nile and subsides like the Nile of Egypt. 6 He builds his upper chambers in the heavens and lays the foundation of his vault on the earth. He summons the water of the sea and pours it out over the surface of the earth. The Lord is his name.

PRAY

The previous two chapters of Amos contained a total of four visions that the Lord gave to Amos. Those visions paired together fairly well:

The first two visions, the locusts and the fire, were both visions where the Lord allowed Amos to intercede on behalf of the people, and the Lord “relented” from sending those particular punishments.

The next two visions, the plumb line and the basket of summer fruit, were both visions in which the Lord took a common item, showed it to Amos, and then used the item as a sign for His people and their impending evaluation, judgment, and punishment.

This last vision, the vision of the altar, stands alone. There is no interaction by Amos. There is no question from the Lord. There is no explanation requested or given.

Ultimately, what really sets this vision apart from the other four is that this last vision isn’t about the Israelites. In the first two visions, the focus was on the destruction of Israel’s prosperity. In the second two, it was on their immorality and injustice, making them ripe for the judgment of God. No, this vision isn’t about the Israelites. It’s about God Himself. Since we’ve been camping out on this message of judgment and justice for so many weeks, it’s easy to miss that. While this part of this message does certainly connect with the WHY, the HOW, and the OBJECT of God’s judgment, the focus of these six verses is the SUBJECT...WHO is bringing the judgment.

So this morning, I want us to keep one main point in mind, that we see bookended at the beginning and end of the section of the hymn in verses 5 and 6: “The Lord, the GOD of Armies…the LORD is His name.” As a backdrop for this message, I’d like to refer us to Isaiah 46:9-10:

Isaiah 46:9–10 CSB

9 Remember what happened long ago, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and no one is like me. 10 I declare the end from the beginning, and from long ago what is not yet done, saying: my plan will take place, and I will do all my will.

The Lord is God, and there is no other. The Lord is God, and no one is like Him. In our passage in Amos this morning, we see (at least) three of the Lord’s traits put on display as He gives this vision, traits that make the Lord completely different from the false worship that Israel was participating in, completely different from the injustice that the people were perpetrating on their fellow countrymen, completely different from what they thought He was like.

1) Our God is a God of action.

We have seen throughout this message in Amos that the rich and powerful in Israel had lived in ways that seemed to assume upon the grace of God. They participated in the things that they called worship but weren’t, they fattened themselves on other’s misfortune, they lived lives in a constant pursuit of wealth and opulence. They wrongly assumed that God was just passively letting them coast through life as long as they tipped their hats to Him every once in a while. But they would soon be reminded that the Lord is not passive, as some may believe Him to be.

Amos 9:1 CSB

Let’s evaluate this vision for just a moment. We aren’t certain where this altar is. It could be Jerusalem. It could be Bethel. It could be merely symbolic. I tend to think that it was at Bethel, but can’t prove it. Now, try to imagine that you are an Israelite, and you hear just the first part of this verse: That the Lord was standing beside the altar. The altar was supposed to have been a place of communion with God, the place where you could approach God with your sacrifice in faith, believing that you would be received, forgiven, and accepted. The altar was the place where you would go to find mercy.

So you hear that the Lord was standing by the altar in this vision following all of the condemnation and judgment that Amos has preached to this point, and for just a moment, you believe there is hope. Mercy. Forgiveness. But then the Lord speaks, and this vision of the altar is the place where judgment begins.

The capitals of pillars are the places at the top of the pillars that support the roof of the structure. The threshold is the place on the ground between the interior and exterior of a building. So the Lord commands someone (not sure who) to strike those capitals, the things that hold up the roof, so that the thresholds shake. Like when the mighty Samson pushed down the supporting pillars in the temple of the Philistines back in Judges 16, God is going to bring judgment from top to bottom, a collapse of their entire structure of worship at that time, and it will be no passive watching and waiting. It will be active, direct, and destructive.

It’s no surprise that they thought that God wasn’t going to act. They had long before decided that they didn’t want to worship God has He had instructed. They had called on the prophets to stop their prophesying. But mostly, they had started worshiping things that aren’t God, things that are gods in name alone. They had become pagans who worshiped false, hand-crafted gods, gods who literally could do nothing, and so they had forgotten that Yahweh, the God of their ancestors, the God of the Exodus, isn’t like those fake gods. He is a God who takes action. He is God, and there is no other. He is God, and no one is like Him.

Habakkuk would later reflect on the futility of worshiping false gods, in contrast to the living God:

Habakkuk 2:18–20 CSB

18 What use is a carved idol after its craftsman carves it? It is only a cast image, a teacher of lies. For the one who crafts its shape trusts in it and makes worthless idols that cannot speak. 19 Woe to him who says to wood: Wake up! or to mute stone: Come alive! Can it teach? Look! It may be plated with gold and silver, yet there is no breath in it at all. 20 But the Lord is in his holy temple; let the whole earth be silent in his presence.

Are there “gods” that we bow down to that are like these? Sure, we don’t carve, sculpt, mold, or cast little idols like they did. But do we worship things that aren’t gods at all, things that simply cannot do what God can do? Do we worship dead presidents on rectangular pieces of paper? Do we give ourselves to our teams, our schools, or to the latest trends? Do we bow down to the latest gadget, vehicle, phone, or product? Do we look for meaning and life in our social media accounts, our causes, or our candidates?

I’m not saying these things aren’t useful or that they aren’t important. Many of them are both. However, whenever we make anything ultimate that’s not ultimate, we worship an idol. And while there are many of these things that are able to act, none of them can act the way that God can, because none of them have that level of authority. We have to keep these things in their proper places (easier said that done, I know).

It’s fine to be passionate about these other things, because God made us to be passionate beings, just like He is. He loves us PASSIONATELY. But if our love for these other things, whether it’s the election or social media or phone or money, make it so that we can no longer love God and love others, in that order, then it’s a pretty good indication that something is off in our hearts, because this is the Greatest Commandment according to Mark 12. It’s an indicator that we might be worshiping something that isn’t ultimate. Something that cannot act the way God can. Someone who doesn’t have the authority that God has. When we worship something that isn’t ultimate, we ultimately worship the wrong god. The Lord is God, and there is no other. The Lord is God, and no one is like Him.

As Habakkuk said, “The Lord is in His holy temple. Let the whole earth be silent in His presence.” Which brings us to our next point:

2) Our God is a God of presence.

In this final vision, we see that those who face the judgment of God might long to escape that judgment. They might attempt to hide from God, or flee from Him. But the Lord makes it clear that there is nowhere that we can go that will take us beyond His reach:

Amos 9:2–4 CSB

2 If they dig down to Sheol, from there my hand will take them; if they climb up to heaven, from there I will bring them down. 3 If they hide on the top of Carmel, from there I will track them down and seize them; if they conceal themselves from my sight on the sea floor, from there I will command the sea serpent to bite them. 4 And if they are driven by their enemies into captivity, from there I will command the sword to kill them. I will keep my eye on them for harm and not for good.

These three verses give five different avenues that people might take to escape from the Lord. The first four are in a two sets of contrasts:

Sheol is the Hebrew concept of the grave, or the realm of the dead. Notice though that it says that they “dig down” to it. Contrasted to this is heaven. We still use these two pictures for heaven and hell: heaven is “up there”, and hell is “down there.” There was no hiding from God if one could go to the furthest reaches of our mind’s ability to conceive, because He created those places.

Then we have Carmel and the sea floor. Carmel was a hill in Israel that was a great place to hide. It was covered with a thick forest and has over 1,000 limestone caves. We still haven’t fully plumbed the depths of the sea in our age of technology. So there was no hiding from God in the most effective terrestrial places to conceal oneself, either, because He created those places.

Finally, even if they are taken captive and taken away to another land, God will still bring His day of judgment, because He is there as well. He created those places also.

For the Israelites, this probably very much reminded them of what had been said to them by Moses back in the second giving of the Law in Deuteronomy, chapter 30:

Deuteronomy 30:11–14 CSB

11 “This command that I give you today is certainly not too difficult or beyond your reach. 12 It is not in heaven so that you have to ask, ‘Who will go up to heaven, get it for us, and proclaim it to us so that we may follow it?’ 13 And it is not across the sea so that you have to ask, ‘Who will cross the sea, get it for us, and proclaim it to us so that we may follow it?’ 14 But the message is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, so that you may follow it.

You see, the message of the Lord is not far away. It is “very near”… it is in our “mouth” and in our “hearts.” This is because our God is a God of presence. When I reflected on this passage in Amos, I was immediately reminded of Psalm 139:

Psalm 139:7–12 CSB

7 Where can I go to escape your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? 8 If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. 9 If I live at the eastern horizon or settle at the western limits, 10 even there your hand will lead me; your right hand will hold on to me. 11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me, and the light around me will be night”— 12 even the darkness is not dark to you. The night shines like the day; darkness and light are alike to you.

This psalm is a wonderful recounting of the beauty of the presence of God in the life of the believer. In it, David goes on to say:

Psalm 139:17–18 CSB

17 God, how precious your thoughts are to me; how vast their sum is! 18 If I counted them, they would outnumber the grains of sand; when I wake up, I am still with you.

“I am still with you.” And then even:

Psalm 139:23–24 CSB

23 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns. 24 See if there is any offensive way in me; lead me in the everlasting way.

There is nowhere that we can go that God is not, nothing about us that we can conceal from Him, no one who knows us like He does. He is God, and there is no other. He is God, and no one is like Him.

And while we may look at this passage in Amos with some trepidation, when we reflect upon the promises and patience of the Lord, there is a message of hope for us. It’s that the arm of God’s presence is LONG, and it is as long in His love as it is in His wrath.

Paul wrote about this in Romans 8, again a passage filled with contrasts:

Romans 8:38–39 CSB

38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

If you are in Christ, then there is nowhere that God can’t reach with His love. If you are in Christ, then there is nothing that can tear you out of His hand. He is with you always. Doesn’t that just fill you with peace this morning? There is nowhere that His love can’t reach you, because His presence is with you by His Holy Spirit because of what Jesus has done. He is God, and there is no other. He is God, and no one is like Him.

But if you’re not in Christ, while God still loves you, He’s not going to force you to be in a relationship with Him. When I say, “in Christ,” that’s a term that the Bible uses for someone who has trusted Jesus, someone who belongs to Jesus by faith. Let me explain a little more:

God made you to be in a relationship with Him. But we choose to go our own way. And going our own way, a way that God doesn’t want us to go, is called sin. And our sin, our rebellion and disobedience to God, has broken the possibility of us ever fixing our relationship with God, no matter how good a person we might be, because the penalty for sin is death: separation from God forever. So God sent His Son, Jesus the Christ, to live a life without sin, so that He could take our place and pay the penalty for our sin by dying instead of us. Because of that, we can be forgiven. And because He defeated death by rising again, we can live forever with Him in that restored relationship with God. We have that relationship restored when we trust in what Jesus has done to save us, not in ourselves, not in our idols, not in anything else. We give up our rights to ourselves, we surrender to Him, and we follow Him as our Lord. And He’s calling each of us to that relationship this morning.

And it is this relationship that Paul was talking about when He said that nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Our God is a God of presence with His people. There is nowhere to escape from His wrath or from His love.

This is because of His infinite power, which is our final point this morning:

3) Our God is a God of power.

Our God is so powerful that He can do absolutely anything that He desires to do. He created everything by His powerful Word, and because He is also a God of presence, He has not created the universe and just left it to spin off on its own. No, we see in verses 5 and 6 that He has complete power and authority over the cosmos.

Amos 9:5–6 CSB

5 The Lord, the God of Armies— he touches the earth; it melts, and all who dwell in it mourn; all of it rises like the Nile and subsides like the Nile of Egypt. 6 He builds his upper chambers in the heavens and lays the foundation of his vault on the earth. He summons the water of the sea and pours it out over the surface of the earth. The Lord is his name.

He touches the earth, and it responds. He is completely in charge of everywhere you can imagine. His power is matchless. He is completely in charge today, and He will be completely in charge on Monday, on Tuesday, on Wednesday, and on every day that ends in “y.”

Now, I confess that I don’t fully understand all that that really means, because I have my own ideas about what God should do with His power. Does anyone else do that? But my perspective is so small, so limited, that I have no business telling God how He should do anything. My role is to trust and obey… for there’s no other way. He is God, and there is no other. He is God, and no one is like Him.

And there will come a day for everyone like the one He promised to Israel, where His full power over everything will be made clear when He pours out His wrath against the sinfulness of mankind. The book of Revelation gives us a window to look through that allows us to see some of how God will wrap up this world and our history. Throughout the book, we are allowed to read about John’s witnessing incredible, cosmic displays of God’s power. One passage that is particularly haunting is found following the opening of the 6th seal of the scroll, in which we read:

Revelation 6:15–17 CSB

15 Then the kings of the earth, the nobles, the generals, the rich, the powerful, and every slave and free person hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. 16 And they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, 17 because the great day of their wrath has come! And who is able to stand?”

The answer to their question is that no one will be able to stand in that great day of God’s wrath. Only those who belong to Jesus will escape the wrath of God against the sin of all mankind, the awesome display of His righteous power and might. Like the message to Israel in Amos, no one will escape His wrath when it is finally poured out on those who stand against Him. He is God, and there is no other. He is God, and no one is like Him.

As I was studying this week for this point, I read through Isaiah chapter 59, and I saw our culture reflected in what I read there, as well as the fact that the only hope that we have isn’t found in ourselves. it’s not found in any other person other than the Lord Jesus Christ. Only He is our hope.

I’d like to close this morning by reading most of Isaiah 59. Listen for our the reflection of our own culture, and for the hope that we have in the Lord.

Isaiah 59:1–16 CSB

1 Indeed, the Lord’s arm is not too weak to save, and his ear is not too deaf to hear. 2 But your iniquities are separating you from your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not listen. 3 For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers, with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, and your tongues mutter injustice. 4 No one makes claims justly; no one pleads honestly. They trust in empty and worthless words; they conceive trouble and give birth to iniquity. 5 They hatch viper’s eggs and weave spider’s webs. Whoever eats their eggs will die; crack one open, and a viper is hatched. 6 Their webs cannot become clothing, and they cannot cover themselves with their works. Their works are sinful works, and violent acts are in their hands. 7 Their feet run after evil, and they rush to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are sinful thoughts; ruin and wretchedness are in their paths. 8 They have not known the path of peace, and there is no justice in their ways. They have made their roads crooked; no one who walks on them will know peace. 9 Therefore justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us. We hope for light, but there is darkness; for brightness, but we live in the night. 10 We grope along a wall like the blind; we grope like those without eyes. We stumble at noon as though it were twilight; we are like the dead among those who are healthy. 11 We all growl like bears and moan like doves. We hope for justice, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far from us. 12 For our transgressions have multiplied before you, and our sins testify against us. For our transgressions are with us, and we know our iniquities: 13 transgression and deception against the Lord, turning away from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering lying words from the heart. 14 Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far off. For truth has stumbled in the public square, and honesty cannot enter. 15 Truth is missing, and whoever turns from evil is plundered. The Lord saw that there was no justice, and he was offended. 16 He saw that there was no man— he was amazed that there was no one interceding; so his own arm brought salvation, and his own righteousness supported him.

By His power, He will bring wrath. But also by His power, He offers salvation. Trust in the power of the Lord today.

Closing

The Lord is God, and there is no other. The Lord is God, and there is no one like Him. He is a God of action, a God of presence, and a God of power. Even though He loves us, He will not allow our sins to go on forever. He will act to bring correction or punishment where needed.

This morning, you have heard about the amazing power of God as brought out in this vision of judgment on His people, but you’ve also heard about His love for us, which He proved by sending His Son to die in our place for the penalty for our sins. This morning, I want to ask those of you who have never surrendered to Jesus, as I spoke about earlier, to consider the call of God to salvation. He will not force you to surrender, but He is calling you to quit going your own way, because your own way is a path to destruction. Trust in the work of Jesus for your salvation this morning, confessing your need for His forgiveness and mercy.

If this describes you this morning, or if you have questions about salvation, we would love the opportunity to talk with you further. When we dismiss, just remain in your seats, so we can come find you after everyone else leaves. If you’re online, please feel free to post to the comments online, or send me an email at bill@ehbc.org, so we can connect and we can pray for you, answer your questions, and celebrate this new journey of faith that you are starting.

Some of you might believe that God is leading you to join this church fellowship formally through membership. I’d like to ask you to stay in your seats as well when we dismiss this morning.

However, there is one couple who is joining our church family this morning. They are already in my personal family. My sister Jean Searcy and her husband, my brother-in-law Chris, are coming this morning, believing that God has led them to join with this church family in membership. We got together earlier this week and talked about any questions, and they are coming by statement of their faith in Christ from a nondenominational church in town.

You’ll have an opportunity to greet them in a COVID-safe manner after we dismiss.

If you need to come and pray during our time of reflection, you may do that at the steps, or right there in the pew. You can also use our reflection time to give your offering online if you’d like to worship in that way. If you want to give physically this morning, you can use the plates by the doors.

As Donna comes to play our reflection song, let’s pray.

PRAY

Closing Remarks

Proposed 2021 Budget is available in the foyer, pick one up today. We will discuss it as a church family next Sunday morning after service, and then have our regular bi-monthly business meeting on November 15 at 5:30 pm. Plan to be here for that.

Please make sure you exercise our God-given privilege of having a voice in our government by casting your vote on Tuesday if you haven’t already. Pray, asking the Lord for wisdom and guidance, and vote.

Sadly, no church-wide Thanksgiving meal this year, but we will have our focus on International Missions on November 22.

If you’re following along with our Bible reading plan, we will finish reading through Nehemiah this Thursday, and then we will go on to the Gospel of John. There is a printable calendar on the church website at the top of our “What’s Happening” page. ehbc.org.