Too Late
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Introduction
Introduction
You have all the time in the world until the deadline. Deadlines are the hard stopping point. I grew up being a crastinator and into late teens and early twenties I became a PROcrastinator. The longer away the deadline the more I delayed working and moving towards accomplishing whatever was needed by the deadline.
Aesop tells the fable of the ant and the grasshopper. The grasshopper spends the summer time singing and lounging while the ant works hard to store up food for the winter. The grasshopper tries to get the ant to come and have fun - but the ant says he cant and must continue working. When the winter season approaches the grasshopper is no longer singing and lounging but is not cold and hungry and begging for food. The grasshopper begs food of the ant but the ant rebukes the grasshopper saying just sing and dance the winter away.
Winter was the deadline for the grasshopper and the ant. Like them both when the deadline arrives it is now too late to do anything else. Deadlines are set so that something doesnt go on forever. Proper planning requires deadlines be set - events and dates and what not. Order deadlines for shipping, etc. When the deadlines arrive that is it its now too late.
Amos chapter 8 is the fourth vision Amos is given and as we turn to it we see that the deadline for Israel’s repentance has passed and what that means, because we must understand that when God sets a time and that time arrives there is no going back it will be too late. The day of the Lord is coming it seems (or maybe seemed like we have or had all the time in the world but Israel thought the same thing until the time of the deadline arrived and passed and they found themselves too late.
1 The Lord God showed me this: a basket of summer fruit. 2 He asked me, “What do you see, Amos?” I replied, “A basket of summer fruit.” The Lord said to me, “The end has come for my people Israel; I will no longer spare them. 3 In that day the temple songs will become wailing”—this is the Lord God’s declaration. “Many dead bodies, thrown everywhere! Silence!”
4 Hear this, you who trample on the needy and do away with the poor of the land, 5 asking, “When will the New Moon be over so we may sell grain, and the Sabbath, so we may market wheat? We can reduce the measure while increasing the price and cheat with dishonest scales. 6 We can buy the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals and even sell the chaff!”
7 The Lord has sworn by the Pride of Jacob: I will never forget all their deeds. 8 Because of this, won’t the land quake and all who dwell in it mourn? All of it will rise like the Nile; it will surge and then subside like the Nile in Egypt. 9 And in that day— this is the declaration of the Lord God— I will make the sun go down at noon; I will darken the land in the daytime.
10 I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation; I will cause everyone to wear sackcloth and every head to be shaved. I will make that grief like mourning for an only son and its outcome like a bitter day.
11 Look, the days are coming— this is the declaration of the Lord God— when I will send a famine through the land: not a famine of bread or a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. 12 People will stagger from sea to sea and roam from north to east seeking the word of the Lord, but they will not find it.
13 In that day the beautiful young women, the young men also, will faint from thirst. 14 Those who swear by the guilt of Samaria and say, “As your god lives, Dan,” or, “As the way of Beer-sheba lives”— they will fall, never to rise again.
A Bowl of Ripe Fruit
A Bowl of Ripe Fruit
1 The Lord God showed me this: a basket of summer fruit. 2 He asked me, “What do you see, Amos?” I replied, “A basket of summer fruit.” The Lord said to me, “The end has come for my people Israel; I will no longer spare them. 3 In that day the temple songs will become wailing”—this is the Lord God’s declaration. “Many dead bodies, thrown everywhere! Silence!”
The Lord God has given Amos a fourth vision. He asks Amos what do you see, and Amos replies a basket of summer fruit. The Lord says the meaning the end has come for my people Israel. Now at first glance this made no sense to me but the correlation and meaning is found in the original Hebrew language.
Summer fruit - Qayis - kayetz
End - Qes - ketz
The word for end comes from the same root word in Hebrew as summer fruit. The summer fruit is ripe fruit or fruit from the end of the season or end of year. It is ripe and would not keep long. The time for summer fruit is short and so the time for Israel (very similar to an avocado). It was the end of harvest season for the farmers and the Lord is saying that the end has come or the time is ripe for My people Israel.
The Lord declares the time of sparing and saving has passed. NO longer will I spare them - the deadline is over.
3 The end is now upon you; I will send my anger against you and judge you according to your ways. I will punish you for all your detestable practices. 4 I will not look on you with pity or spare you, but I will punish you for your ways and for your detestable practices within you. Then you will know that I am the Lord.”
6 An end has come; the end has come! It has awakened against you. Look, it is coming!
20 Harvest has passed, summer has ended, but we have not been saved.
In that day the temple songs will become wailing; hymns of joy will become howling lamentations and dirges. Disbelief at what the hand of God has done to them. The bodies everywhere from the siege and the slaughter there will not be enough places for burial. When the mourners cease mourning long enough to seek and ask why - they will be met with silence.
Pleadings and warnings were given with striking words seeking to awaken God’s people to their deplorable state and to the call of repentance while there is time. No avail - unrighteous and injustice remained they rejected the words and now as they are too late all they would find is silence. The time of repentance has passed the deadline was here and it was now too late.
Israel missed the deadline despite numerous warnings. Today there is a warning of the time coming when it will be too late. The opportunity of salvation is now.
2 For he says: At an acceptable time I listened to you, and in the day of salvation I helped you. See, now is the acceptable time; now is the day of salvation!
7 For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, the sheep under his care. Today, if you hear his voice:
7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: Today, if you hear his voice,
7 he again specifies a certain day—today. He specified this speaking through David after such a long time: Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.
Judgment is Just and Deserved
Judgment is Just and Deserved
4 Hear this, you who trample on the needy and do away with the poor of the land, 5 asking, “When will the New Moon be over so we may sell grain, and the Sabbath, so we may market wheat? We can reduce the measure while increasing the price and cheat with dishonest scales. 6 We can buy the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals and even sell the chaff!”
The people would find silence in their calamity but today God is making it known through Amos that this is because of their unrighteous self-seeking actions. The people of Israel were not concerned about pleasing their Lord, they were consumed with filling their pockets at the expense of the defenseless.
God says hear this you who trample the needy and do away with the poor of the land. Isaiah said woe to those who are like them.
1 Woe to those enacting crooked statutes and writing oppressive laws 2 to keep the poor from getting a fair trial and to deprive the needy among my people of justice, so that widows can be their spoil and they can plunder the fatherless.
3 What will you do on the day of punishment when devastation comes from far away? Who will you run to for help? Where will you leave your wealth? 4 There will be nothing to do except crouch among the prisoners or fall among the slain. In all this, his anger has not turned away, and his hand is still raised to strike.
All the while they were trampling the needy and doing away with the poor they were singlemindedly pursuing profit over the people. So preoccupied with making money, they begrudged the things of God and even setting aside to acknowledge and spend time with God. God was an interruption to their profit. Impatiently eager to be done with the monthly New Moon and the weekly Sabbath so they may sell and market. They kept the observances outwardly but inwardly they desired something else.
If the worship of God feels like an interruption to our life we aren’t living for God we are tolerating God. When we live for God our business dealing revolve around worshiping, honoring, and pleasing God. Inside is where Israel was rejecting God while they couldnt wait until the observances were over, and inside is where we must be cautious to not be rejecting God.
Their rejection of God and desire for money led them into sin. They reasoned and plotted among themselves and said we can reduce the measure and increase the price. I cannot prove it but I am certain that chip companies and snack companies have only this verse memorized. The spoke openly amongst themselves also about cheating with dishonest scales. Expressly forbidden to do this as part of the covenant of when they entered the land.
13 “Do not have differing weights in your bag, one heavy and one light. 14 Do not have differing dry measures in your house, a larger and a smaller. 15 You must have a full and honest weight, a full and honest dry measure, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
23 Differing weights are detestable to the Lord, and dishonest scales are unfair.
Cheating and dishonesty in business dealings is not a small sin, nor is it a sin excused of “necessity” or done away with by declaring that’s just how business is done. God sees it and takes account. There are plenty of examples of God honoring businesses (at least they began that way) that chose to honor the Lord first and have to the astonishment of the business world (not to Christians) have continued to be prosperous though the smart people said they would never last.
We can buy the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals and even sell the chaff. They ripoff by selling worthless things - wheat mixed with the chaff - paying by weight (dishonest weights first of all, then by adding worthless to the weight on top of it. Finding ways to skimp so people get less than they paid for.
10 Are there still the treasures of wickedness and the accursed short measure in the house of the wicked? 11 Can I excuse wicked scales or bags of deceptive weights?
10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and by craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
Be careful how you view money for the love of money is a path of evil and leads to rejecting God and finding yourself too late.
24 “No one can serve two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
The Prescribed Judgment
The Prescribed Judgment
7 The Lord has sworn by the Pride of Jacob: I will never forget all their deeds. 8 Because of this, won’t the land quake and all who dwell in it mourn? All of it will rise like the Nile; it will surge and then subside like the Nile in Egypt.
The Certainty of Judgment
The Certainty of Judgment
The Lord has sworn by the Pride of Jacob and there are two thoughts by what that means - one is that this refers to the sin’s of Israel where the wicked are operating in unabashed pride. Others suggest that the Pride of Jacob is a title of God. This is the better interpretation. The Pride of Jacob was the One to whom Jacob - the nation’s forefather, looked for strength. 1 Samuel records a similar title.
29 And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor relent. For He is not a man, that He should relent.”
So to say that the Lord has sworn by the Pride of Jacob means that God has sworn by Himself - and in such an oath nothing is more sure and certain.
The next phrase that God speaks is that He will never forget all their deeds. The judgment is certain because God will not overlook, nor will He forget their deeds. Remember this is spoken after Israel has missed their opportunity for repentance. If you repent before it is too late God promises to remember your sins no more, but once its too late God here swears to never forget their sins.
This is a stark reminder that time is no eraser of sin. Sometimes we feel that if enough time passes that our sins no longer must be dealt with. That is not the case and God will deal with sin - either through the cross or at the judgment. Time cannot atone for sin only the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross atones for sin - before it is too late.
Amos 8:7 is very similar to Hebrews 6:10 “10 For God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you demonstrated for his name by serving the saints—and by continuing to serve them.” So does not forget the good works of His people (those who have been saved) and He likewise does not forget the evil works of those who rejected His salvation.
The question is then posed because of this wont - this is a cause and effect. Because God wont forget then necessarily the land will quake and all who dwell in it will mourn. Both WILL happen because it is certain. All of it WILL rise like the Nile it will surge and it WILL subside.
9 And in that day— this is the declaration of the Lord God— I will make the sun go down at noon; I will darken the land in the daytime. 10 I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation; I will cause everyone to wear sackcloth and every head to be shaved. I will make that grief like mourning for an only son and its outcome like a bitter day.
The Extent of Judgment
The Extent of Judgment
The Lord then talks about what He will do in that day - the day of judgment. I will make the sun go down at noon. I will darken the land in the daytime. I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation. I will cause everyone to wear sackcloth and every head shaved
18 They will put on sackcloth, and horror will overwhelm them. Shame will cover all their faces, and all their heads will be bald.
I will make the grief like the mourning for an only son. This makes a direct connection to Zechariah’s prophecy which points to Israel’s humble return to the Messiah in the last days:
10 “Then I will pour out a spirit of grace and prayer on the house of David and the residents of Jerusalem, and they will look at me whom they pierced. They will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child and weep bitterly for him as one weeps for a firstborn.
The judgment will extend to all and the restoration will extend to all who return as well.
11 Look, the days are coming— this is the declaration of the Lord God— when I will send a famine through the land: not a famine of bread or a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. 12 People will stagger from sea to sea and roam from north to east seeking the word of the Lord, but they will not find it.
13 In that day the beautiful young women, the young men also, will faint from thirst. 14 Those who swear by the guilt of Samaria and say, “As your god lives, Dan,” or, “As the way of Beer-sheba lives”— they will fall, never to rise again.
Sending a Famine
Sending a Famine
The Lord declares that the days are coming where He will send a famine through the land. This famine though it will go through the whole land will not be a normal famine affecting bread or creating a thirst for water.
6 Therefore, it will be night for you— without visions; it will grow dark for you— without divination. The sun will set on these prophets, and the daylight will turn black over them. 7 Then the seers will be ashamed and the diviners disappointed. They will all cover their mouths because there will be no answer from God.
Most people think the worst famine is a famine of bread but through Amos and the judgment pronounced we see that is not the worst. The most severe famine is that of not hearing the words of the Lord. The agony in life is most unbearable when coupled with God’s awful silence. Like Micah pronounced there will be no answer from God.
Notice carefully though the nature of this famine, it is not from a lack of God’s word, but rather a famine of hearing the words of the LORD. “The condition described is that of being deaf to the words of Jehovah, not able to hear them. It is not a case of God withholding His revelation, but of people being in such a state that they do not see it, do not hear the words.” G. Campbell Morgan.
There can be a famine of the word through unfaithfulness or neglect, but what Amos is bringing out is the problem is the hearer being unwilling to hear. Paul in 1 Thessalonians gives us the correct way to hear the word of God.
13 This is why we constantly thank God, because when you received the word of God that you heard from us, you welcomed it not as a human message, but as it truly is, the word of God, which also works effectively in you who believe.
It is true that man does not live by bread alone
4 He answered, “It is written: Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
The famine of hearing God’s word is truly the worst case famine.
People will stagger all over, in every direction seeking the word of the Lord but will not find. Men will stagger and young women faint from seeking a word, a word of hope, explanation, forgiveness. But they would not find it. It would be too late.
6 Seek the Lord while he may be found; call to him while he is near. 7 Let the wicked one abandon his way and the sinful one his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, so he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will freely forgive.
7 For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, the sheep under his care. Today, if you hear his voice:
To push God’s word away for enough time, we may find that one day we can not find it even if we wanted to. The ability to hear God’s word and benefit by it is truly the work and gift of God. Jesus touched this principle in the parable of the soils and the sower.
24 Then He said to them, “Take heed what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given. 25 For whoever has, to him more will be given; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.”
When we push God away it becomes more difficult to hear and receive His word.
9 There are no signs for us to see. There is no longer a prophet. And none of us knows how long this will last.
For Israel its too late - no word would come.
Conclusion
Conclusion
God cannot show mercy to those who reject his mercy. He cannot save those who will not be saved. He cannot withhold his judgment from those who repeatedly and defiantly call down that judgment upon themselves. As he himself famously says, “God cannot be mocked.” We have already read earlier in Amos of Yahweh’s repeated efforts to call Israel back to himself. He punished her again and again to bring her to her senses but all to no avail. And now the point of no return had been passed.
Do we hunger and thirst for God’s word?
What sort of thirst do you have for God’s word?
If it was illegal to read your bible over this last week from Monday to Saturday could you get charged?
When you go away on holidays do you read God’s word?
What costs would you be prepared to bear to own and read your own bible?
Perhaps you are wondering why you arent hearing the word of the Lord - perhaps you have turned to idols - literature, questionable entertainment, seeking money over everything
The cares of this world and deceitfulness of riches and lust for material things choke the word - like the parable of the soils and sower.
When you experience the famine hearing the word of the Lord its a signal something is amiss.
Many do starve when food is available. There is not a famine of the word of God in America - its on the radio, internet, youtube, facebook, books, TV, ministries, churches - etc. The difficulty is the willingness to hear.
We may fear what the Lord has to say
The Lord may call for greater commitment to living righteously for Him
Word of the Lord showing us what love demands that we do
Do not ignore the word of the Lord because you dont like it because one day it will be too late.
God is now speaking to his people again through Jesus
1 Long ago God spoke to our ancestors by the prophets at different times and in different ways. 2 In these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son. God has appointed him heir of all things and made the universe through him.
Jesus stands and declares
35 “I am the bread of life,” Jesus told them. “No one who comes to me will ever be hungry, and no one who believes in me will ever be thirsty again.