Seek the Lord and Live
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Introduction
Introduction
Funerals are not a fun time, no one enjoys attending funerals - especially perhaps - the one for whom the funeral is for. It is a time of mourning and pain and deep felt grief. In the pain and grief however of a funeral there is an openness to hear about things usually we dont like to speak of. Death, preparing for it and preparing for what comes next. We are also open to evaluate our living and make adjustments as we consider where we are heading.
This third message from Amos is a sort of funeral message. Imagine having your funeral message preached to you - while you are still alive though. This message from Amos would have been accompanied by the Funeral March - dun dun dun dundadun dundadun - I am pretty sure it is Chopin. It is a funeral message declaring the death of the nation but calling for individuals to repent and live. Almighty God is judging the nation for its legal injustice and religious hypocrisy but is also offering life to individuals who would repent and seek Him. This message from Amos comes by way of pushing to get the words out while choking back the tears that are lamenting over the pronounced judgment - oh that some would listen today - oh that someone today would listen and hear and turn to seek the Lord and live.
4 For whatever was written in the past was written for our instruction, so that we may have hope through endurance and through the encouragement from the Scriptures.
1 Listen to this message that I am singing for you, a lament, house of Israel: 2 She has fallen; Virgin Israel will never rise again. She lies abandoned on her land with no one to raise her up. 3 For the Lord God says: The city that marches out a thousand strong will have only a hundred left, and the one that marches out a hundred strong will have only ten left in the house of Israel.
4 For the Lord says to the house of Israel: Seek me and live! 5 Do not seek Bethel or go to Gilgal or journey to Beer-sheba, for Gilgal will certainly go into exile, and Bethel will come to nothing. 6 Seek the Lord and live, or he will spread like fire throughout the house of Joseph; it will consume everything with no one at Bethel to extinguish it.
7 Those who turn justice into wormwood also throw righteousness to the ground. 8 The one who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns darkness into dawn and darkens day into night, who summons the water of the sea and pours it out over the surface of the earth— the Lord is his name. 9 He brings destruction on the strong, and it falls on the fortress.
10 They hate the one who convicts the guilty at the city gate, and they despise the one who speaks with integrity. 11 Therefore, because you trample on the poor and exact a grain tax from him, you will never live in the houses of cut stone you have built; you will never drink the wine from the lush vineyards you have planted.
12 For I know your crimes are many and your sins innumerable. They oppress the righteous, take a bribe, and deprive the poor of justice at the city gates. 13 Therefore, those who have insight will keep silent at such a time, for the days are evil. 14 Pursue good and not evil so that you may live, and the Lord, the God of Armies, will be with you as you have claimed.
15 Hate evil and love good; establish justice at the city gate. Perhaps the Lord, the God of Armies, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph. 16 Therefore the Lord, the God of Armies, the Lord, says: There will be wailing in all the public squares; they will cry out in anguish in all the streets. The farmer will be called on to mourn, and professional mourners to wail.
17 There will be wailing in all the vineyards, for I will pass among you. The Lord has spoken. 18 Woe to you who long for the day of the Lord! What will the day of the Lord be for you? It will be darkness and not light. 19 It will be like a man who flees from a lion only to have a bear confront him. He goes home and rests his hand against the wall only to have a snake bite him.
20 Won’t the day of the Lord be darkness rather than light, even gloom without any brightness in it? 21 I hate, I despise, your feasts! I can’t stand the stench of your solemn assemblies. 22 Even if you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; I will have no regard for your fellowship offerings of fattened cattle.
23 Take away from me the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. 24 But let justice flow like water, and righteousness, like an unfailing stream. 25 “House of Israel, was it sacrifices and grain offerings that you presented to me during the forty years in the wilderness?
26 But you have taken up Sakkuth your king and Kaiwan your star god, images you have made for yourselves. 27 So I will send you into exile beyond Damascus.” The Lord, the God of Armies, is his name. He has spoken.
The Song of Death
The Song of Death
1 Listen to this message that I am singing for you, a lament, house of Israel: 2 She has fallen; Virgin Israel will never rise again. She lies abandoned on her land with no one to raise her up. 3 For the Lord God says: The city that marches out a thousand strong will have only a hundred left, and the one that marches out a hundred strong will have only ten left in the house of Israel.
Amos again begins with a call to listen to the message he is bringing. The difference this time is that he is singing this message that they desperately need to hear. The song he is singing is sung as a lament, a dirge a funeral song. A song of lament is a song of mourning composed or performed as a memorial to a dead person. Amos is singing this song for Israel as a nation.
At this time and setting if you remember Israel is doing quite well, no signs of sickness or defeat. She is prosperous and enjoying the height of her life. For Amos to be lamenting over Israel is definitely a jarring thing to behold for those whose attention he had managed to capture. To be a listener in this crowd is to be one who is listening to your own obituary being read and thinking - wait I am not dead.
I can understand perfectly how the report of my illness got about, I have even heard on good authority that I was dead. James Ross Clemens, a cousin of mine, was seriously ill two or three weeks ago in London, but is well now. The report of my illness grew out of his illness. The report of my death was an exaggeration. — Mark Twain in a letter written to the New York Journal
Surely this was quite the exaggeration
Amos spoke with absolute accuracy - Israel’s funeral was coming, they were judged and the nation destined to die. She has fallen (suffered defeat, failure or ruin). Virgin Israel will never rise again. The pain of this judgment is akin to a Virgin woman dying without having bore any children. It was a particularly tragic death and one that spoke of judgment. Israel thought they were young and full of life, but she is about to be cut-off before her time.
There is glory for the nations that rise up to stop a coming threat - dying in a glorious battle. Israel however would die in her own land abandoned with no one to raise her up. Deserted by God Himself as a judged kingdom.
For the Lord God has spoken that they would suffer innumerable loss for He would not deliver the nation any longer. It is believed an army can stand to lose up to 50% of its force and still fight and survive. A 90% loss is a nation’s death sentence. Amos is lamenting that Israel will cease to exist.
God’s promises are irrevocable and eternal, but they are also conditional upon the obedience of those who receive them.
The Call to Live
The Call to Live
4 For the Lord says to the house of Israel: Seek me and live! 5 Do not seek Bethel or go to Gilgal or journey to Beer-sheba, for Gilgal will certainly go into exile, and Bethel will come to nothing. 6 Seek the Lord and live, or he will spread like fire throughout the house of Joseph; it will consume everything with no one at Bethel to extinguish it.
The dirge song was a attention capturing device to hopefully open up and reveal the severity of the situation and the established reality of it as well. The nation of Israel has been judged and will be no more. Once again we see the mercy of the Lord. For the Lord says to the house of Israel “Seek me and live!” A gracious invitation, amidst the national judgment, for individual Jews to repent and return to God.
The Lord God says they can live and have life if they would seek Him. In order to seek one must earnestly try to encounter the presence of God. To Seek God is an active choice of the will and involves the sweat of effort.
9 “As for you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father, and serve him wholeheartedly and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands the intention of every thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you abandon him, he will reject you forever.
2 So he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Asa and all Judah and Benjamin, hear me. The Lord is with you when you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you abandon him, he will abandon you.
Do not seek Bethel or go to Gilgal or journey to Beer-sheba - do not seek to go to those places for the Lord is not there and the Lord is not in them. Gilgal will certainly go into exile, and this had a sense of irony as Gilgal was the place where Israel received the promised land and now would be the place gone into exile. Bethel now becomes Beth-Aven the house of God is now the house of nothing - empty and without existence.
Again the call to seek the Lord and live. Or He will become like fire - a picture of judgment. The judgment is certain for the nation but still each one has a choice of whether they will repent and seek God or double down and hold to their sinful choices. Once the judgment comes though there is no one to extinguish it - certainly not in the false worship at Bethel. Those who turn and seek the Lord are the spared remnant of mercy.
The Requirement of Righteousness
The Requirement of Righteousness
7 Those who turn justice into wormwood also throw righteousness to the ground. 8 The one who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns darkness into dawn and darkens day into night, who summons the water of the sea and pours it out over the surface of the earth— the Lord is his name. 9 He brings destruction on the strong, and it falls on the fortress.
10 They hate the one who convicts the guilty at the city gate, and they despise the one who speaks with integrity. 11 Therefore, because you trample on the poor and exact a grain tax from him, you will never live in the houses of cut stone you have built; you will never drink the wine from the lush vineyards you have planted.
13 Therefore, those who have insight will keep silent at such a time, for the days are evil. 14 Pursue good and not evil so that you may live, and the Lord, the God of Armies, will be with you as you have claimed. 15 Hate evil and love good; establish justice at the city gate. Perhaps the Lord, the God of Armies, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.
16 Therefore the Lord, the God of Armies, the Lord, says: There will be wailing in all the public squares; they will cry out in anguish in all the streets. The farmer will be called on to mourn, and professional mourners to wail. 17 There will be wailing in all the vineyards, for I will pass among you. The Lord has spoken.
Amos has quite clearly laid out their options. Death and destruction for them all along with the nation at the hand of the Lord. The only other option is life by way turning and seeking God. They have not been seeking God they havent sought to know God to experience God and havent sought to live for God.
Israel has turned justice into wormwood. Corruption permeates the courts and justice has become bitterly poisoned. To do what was right and just on behalf of all - especially the needy was a crowning gem distinguishing them as a people with special relationship with God.
7 For the vineyard of the Lord of Armies is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah, the plant he delighted in. He expected justice but saw injustice; he expected righteousness but heard cries of despair.
17 And I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the mason’s level.” Hail will sweep away the false refuge, and water will flood your hiding place.
Justice denotes a right and ordered society. It acknowledges the claim of all persons to full and equitable participation in society and especially the legal system. In God’s eyes Israel ceased to follow the order and ceased to be a just society.
God is bringing judgment because as a righteous and ordered God who sovereignly ordered the universe. Maker of the order of the stars creating the constellations Pleiadas and Orion, the one who turns darkness into dawn and darkens day into night, who brings water from the sea and causes it to pour out over the surfaces of the earth. The God of order is now bringing due justice and judgment upon a people who have been running contrary to His order. This God of order strong enough to bring judgment and strong enough to rescue through judgment. He is worthy to be sought to find life.
Israel hates the one who convicts the guilty bringing admonishment to them and they despise the one who speaks rightly - therefore for hating justice and righteousness they will not dwell in the houses they have built and will not drink of their vineyards of corruption.
Righteousness is the requirement for life — pursue good and not evil so that you may live. The Lord God of Armies will be with you. Hate evil and love good - establish justice. The Lord God of Armies may be gracious to the remnant of Joseph - one tribe indicating the small remnant.
Righteousness is the cure for the curse of judgment for unrighteousness. The only way to turn again to righteousness is to seek the Lord and turn to Him. Instead of Judge God will be Defender.
Since the nation is corrupted and unrighteous as a whole they are judged and will be taken into captivity. The land will be full of funerals because of the lack of righteous living. So devastating that there will be a shortage of professional mourners and farmers will be hired for mourning. Mourning and wailing will be heard in the vineyards - though a place of much joyous occasion now the vineyards will be remembered for their bitter wailing.
The promise of the Lord is that He would pass among them or He would pass through them in judgment.
One time when coming out of captivity the Lord passed OVER Israel and now on their way to captivity the Lord would pass THROUGH them.
12 “I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night and strike every firstborn male in the land of Egypt, both people and animals. I am the Lord; I will execute judgments against all the gods of Egypt.
13 The blood on the houses where you are staying will be a distinguishing mark for you; when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No plague will be among you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
The Lord will pass through Israel on a similar errand of death and judgment.
Corrupt Worship
Corrupt Worship
18 Woe to you who long for the day of the Lord! What will the day of the Lord be for you? It will be darkness and not light. 19 It will be like a man who flees from a lion only to have a bear confront him. He goes home and rests his hand against the wall only to have a snake bite him. 20 Won’t the day of the Lord be darkness rather than light, even gloom without any brightness in it?
21 I hate, I despise, your feasts! I can’t stand the stench of your solemn assemblies. 22 Even if you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; I will have no regard for your fellowship offerings of fattened cattle. 23 Take away from me the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.
24 But let justice flow like water, and righteousness, like an unfailing stream. 25 “House of Israel, was it sacrifices and grain offerings that you presented to me during the forty years in the wilderness?
26 But you have taken up Sakkuth your king and Kaiwan your star god, images you have made for yourselves. 27 So I will send you into exile beyond Damascus.” The Lord, the God of Armies, is his name. He has spoken.
Amos speaks a word of woe to Israel. A strong word of caution expressed to Israel as they long for the Day of the Lord looking for His deliverance on their behalf. The strong word of woe was a word of caution to the nation and a word of caution for all who would heed. Corrupt worship delivers a false hope. Corrupt worship convinces us that we are obedient and in relationship with God all the while deceiving us and we are worshipping ourselves and are no where near the Lord. Whats worse is we dont know and instead believe that He will deliver us and we wait and want His coming not knowing we stand in jdugment by the Lord for corrupt worship - this is where Israel was.
Israel was waiting for the Day of the Lord with great expectation thinking it would be the time of God’s culminating vengeance against her enemies. The Day securing her from danger and exalting her among the nations. Amos describes the day for them saying the day will not be what they expect - it wont be light but darkness. You think you will be saved because the Day of the Lord has come - escaping the wrath of the nations but yet finding yourself in the judgment of God yourselves.
There will be no haven from the judgment - like a man who escapes a lion only to be confronted by a bear and then still getting home but resting against the wall is bitten by a snake.
The day will be a snare to the nation for the Lord is angry with their corrupted worship. I hate, I despise your feasts, I cant stand the stench of your solemn assemblies. Unleavened Bread (Passover), Harvest, and Ingathering (Tabernacles). They continue to offer sacrifice and worship but God cannot stand them, does not accept them and has no regard for them.
Even their songs are a torment to His ears.
Worship is corrupted when not combined with just and righteous living - it is a nice outside without a changed inside. Much like whitewashed tombs and white-washed walls. God does not want ritual performance but rather relentless commitment to justice and righteousness. It is easy to think that our religious ceremony is separate from how we treat one another. The trap is thinking God should be happy because we give Him “His due” without regard of justice and righteousness towards others.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Like at a funeral - hear the funeral in process and evaluate your life - are we living pleasing to God? Are prepared to hear our obituary?
Are we like Israel? Have we neglected justice and righteousness? Has our material comfort been purchased at the expense of the ability of others to live above poverty? Do we help perpetuate a justice system that is more accessible to the wealthy? Do we place more emphasis on our worship than we do living lives filled with justices and righteousness?
If religion is more ritual than relational; then worship is corrupt.
23 But an hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth. Yes, the Father wants such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and in truth.”
Jesus said in John 17:3 “this is eternal life; that they may know You, the only true God and the one you have sent — Jesus Christ”
Eternal life in found in Christ Jesus whom was sent by God full of grace and truth
turn and seek God - and you will live - eternally and abundantly (full of life) for justice and righteousness - not the righteousness of ourselves - but in the righteousness of Jesus that He has given us. Judgment is coming but seek the Lord and you will live.
Communion
Communion
23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.