Sermon Tone Analysis

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.

A Bowl of Ripe Fruit

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.

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.

Judgment is Just and Deserved

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Prescribed 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.

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.

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

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:

The judgment will extend to all and the restoration will extend to all who return as well.

Sending a Famine

The Lord declares that the days are coming where He will send a famine through the land.