Overview
Amos: The Lord showed Amos that he was about to destroy the new crops with locust. Amos asked him to forgive and he didn’t send the locust. The Lord showed him fire that would destroy the land and Amos asked him to stop. The Lord agreed.
The Lord appeared to Amos holding a plumb line. He announced he would set a plumb line in Israel and would not allow the idolatry, but he would bring destruction to the house of Jeroboam.
Amaziah told Jeroboam that Amos was conspiring to kill Jeroboam because of the prophecy. He told Amos to escape to Judah and never again prophecy in Bethel. Amos answered that the Lord appointed him a prophet. Therefore, Amaziah’s wife would become a prostitute, daughters killed, the land would be divided, he would die in a foreign land, and Israel would go into exile.
The Lord showed Amos a basket of fruit and said the end will come with mourning and dead bodies everywhere. To those who oppress the needy and are eager for the Sabbath and festivals to end so they can continue to cheat people, the Lord says they will be punished. Everyone will mourn instead of celebrate. There will be famine. They won’t be able to find anyone to speak for the Lord. Those who swear by idols will die.
Amos saw the Lord standing by the altar. He announced that the shrine altar would be destroyed and the leaders killed. None would escape. It didn’t matter where they tired to hide even as low as the grave or as high as heaven, bottom of the sea or tops of mountains, they couldn’t hide from the Lord. When the Lord touches the earth, it melts. He has made it all, he draws water from the oceans and makes the rain, the Lord is his name.
Israel is the Lord’s just like other nations. He won’t spare them when they are sinful. However, he won’t completely destroy Jacob. The sinners will be destroyed and he will sift Israel saving some. He will restore David’s house and they will possess the nations belonging to God. He will restore the prosperity of Israel. The land will produce and they will rebuild the cities. They will never be uprooted again.
Psalm: We should not be proud and ambitions for things that are greater than what we should have. We shouldn’t be pushing to gain those things. Rather, we should have a calm and quiet soul like a weaned child with his mother. This is the hope that Israel should have.
Proverbs: A person’s pride will be his ruin, but a humble person will be honored.
Revelation: To the church in Philadelphia the words are from Jesus who is the holy and true One who has the key of David. What he opens no one can close and what he closes, no one can open. He knows their works. He has given then an open door. They have little power but have kept his word and not denied him. He will make those who belong to Satan, who call themselves Jew but are not, bow down before them. Because of their faithfulness, he will keep them from the short trial that will come on the whole earth to test unbelievers. Jesus is coming soon. They are to hold fast so that no one can take their crown. The conquerors will become pillars in God’s temple and he will write on them the names of Jesus, his new name, his God’s name, and the name of the city of God (New Jerusalem). The city of God will come down from God. Everyone should listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.
To the church in Laodicea the words are from Jesus who is the Amen, the faithful and true witness, and the source of creation. He knows their works and they are lukewarm and will spit them out. He would rather have them be hot or cold. They think they have everything they need but they are really poor wretches. They need to come to Jesus to buy real riches to cover their nakedness and to have salve for their eyes so they can see. Jesus reproves and disciplines those he loves so they better repent. He is standing at their door knocking and waiting to be invited in so he can have fellowship with them. The conquerors will sit on his throne with him just as he sits with the Father on his throne. Everyone should listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.
What Stood Out
Amos: “If they dig into Sheol, from there shall my hand take them; if they climb up to heaven, from there I will bring them down” (Amos 9:2).
Psalm: “I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me” (Ps 131:1).
Proverbs: “One's pride will bring him low, but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor” (Prov 29:23).
Revelation: “And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation’” (Rev 3:14).
Insight
Amos: We sometimes focus so much on what the Lord says he will do to Israel that we miss what the Lord says about himself. The Lord forgives and responds to our prayers (Amos 7:2-3). However, when sin is rampant, he must punish it. The justice of the Lord and his righteousness can be seen in the plumb line that he holds (Amos 7:7). When he punishes, it isn’t arbitrary. It is specific as he pronounces what will happen to Amaziah because of his attempt to stop Amos (Amos 7:17) and the leaders of Israel for leading the people away (Amos 8:2-3).
His omniscience is seen as he knows the motivation of people’s hearts. He knows that the people are only putting up with the appointed days when they are not supposed to work. Their real devotion is getting back to cheating people for a profit. I wonder how many of us go to church on Sunday and can’t wait until we can get home to watch the game, do yardwork, play with the kids, or any other things we think are more important than worshiping the Lord.
God’s omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence are seen when he describes the different places people would like to go to escape his judgment but can’t because he will find them (Amos 9:2-4). We can try to hide our sins from the Lord, but he will find them out. We can’t avoid our punishment when it is due. However, we can find our refuge in Jesus because he went down to the depths and has ascended back to heaven when he paid for our sins.
God is our Creator. He designed the universe in such a way that we could have life here on earth. He also put life here, it didn’t just happen. Early Greeks like Plato and Aristotle thought some unknown force made springs come up from beneath the mountains. They didn’t believe rain could account for the volume of water in rivers and streams. This belief persisted until 1674.[1]But God revealed the cycle of water from evaporation from the seas to clouds producing rain in the Bible (Amos 9:6) long before scientist understood it.
We need to remember that all Scripture is useful and written for our instruction. We just need to dig a little deeper to get a better appreciation for the Lord we worship.
Psalm: It’s one thing to work toward godly goals and it is another to ignore God and strive for goals that God opposes. David was promised much in his life but when he was told that building a temple for the Lord was not going to happen, he accepted that. Not only did he accept it, but he was amazed and overwhelmed by God’s blessings for the future. Let’s face it, not all of us are going to be president of the United States, a world-renowned Bible scholar, or Super Bowl winning quarterback. Most of us will never be the CEO of a fortune 500 company. God simply hasn’t called most of us to those things. When we set our hearts on things too grand for what God’s plan is, we will never have a calm soul. We can be calm and peaceful when we seek God’s kingdom and righteousness (Matt 6:33).
Proverbs: The Bible repeatedly warns us against pride. Pride was Satan’s downfall and it is at the heart of most sins. When we think too much of ourselves, we think we can do what we want or that we deserve more than others. This selfish pride leads us to put ourselves first and others at the bottom of the list. We don’t think of others and what we can do for them.
We need to follow what Jesus told the disciples who wanted to be the greatest. We need to be a servant to be great and the slave of other to be first. Even Jesus didn’t come to be served but gave his life for all of us (Mark 10:43-45).
Revelation: There are a couple of controversial verses written to the church of Laodicea. Taken or interpreted incorrectly, Revelation 3:14 might lead someone to believe that Jesus is a created being. The ending phrase, “the beginning of God's creation,” makes it look like Jesus was the first thing created. The Message Bible even paraphrases it “the First of God's creation.” The NIV says, “the ruler of God's creation.” The Greek word is archee.
1. beginning, origin
a. used absolutely, of the beginning of all things: John 1:1 f
b. in a relative sense, of the beginning of the thing spoken of: John 6:64
2. the person or thing that commences, the first person or thing in a series, the leader: Col 1:18
3. that by which anything begins to be, the origin, active cause Rev 3:14
4. the extremity of a thing: of the corners of a sail, Acts 10:11
5. the first place, principality, rule, magistracy Luke 12:11
(Thayer's Greek Lexicon)
As you can see, the word can be used in several ways. However, just as we have multiple definitions of English words, the same applies to Greek. Knowing what the rest of the Bible says about Jesus allows me to see that the most likely intended definition would be “beginning” in the sense of origin, not in the sense of the first created. It would not be the second definition as in the sense that Jesus was the first of a series. It would fit that Jesus is the active cause of creation. I don’t think that it would be fitting to call Jesus the corner or extremity of creation. Finally, we could see Jesus being the principality or ruler of creation. Knowing the options helps worship Jesus as the creator of all thing rather than what cults do, as they see him as a created being.
The other verse that offers controversy is Revelation 3:20. Some preachers have said that this verse is not appropriate to use to encourage a person to accept Christ. They say that these people are all Christians already because they are in a church and it is really asking Christians to have fellowship with Jesus, not inviting him in for salvation. Look at the description of these people in Laodicea. Being naked, wretches, and blind doesn’t sound like Christians to me. There are a lot of people in churches who are not Christians. They think they are OK but they aren’t. I believe it is one of the best verses in the Bible to invite a person to accept Jesus. It demonstrates that a person must respond to Jesus’ call on their lives. After they do, then they can have fellowship if they will repent as Jesus has called them to do in this passage. Revelation 3:20 is an appropriate verse for an unbeliever to surrender to Jesus.
Application
I want to make sure that I’m not like the Laodicean church. It is just too easy to think we’re doing well when we aren’t. Being lukewarm can apply to a Christian or it can apply to someone who doesn’t know him. It is a good warning for me.
[1]Ron Neller, "The water cycle," Creation Ministries International | creation.com, accessed December 12, 2017, https://creation.com/water-cycle.
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