Christ in Amos, The God of Angel Armies

Oh, how I love the book of Amos.  First of all, I can relate to Amos.  He was not born into a family of priests or prophets, but when God spoke to him, he listened and obeyed.  Some scholars call him an itinerant worker, not one with a life-long profession, but one who worked wherever he could find work – herding sheep, trimming trees, or gathering figs.  As I wrote in the preface to my book, I Choose Joy:

“Still, I am not a writer.  Still, I don’t know where to begin.  But Noah was not a ship-builder.  Moses was not a leader of men.  David was not a prince.  Mary was only a child.  None of them knew where to begin, but they trusted God to work in and through them.  So that is where I am today…”

Amos did not make excuses for his lack of training.  He was not afraid that no one would listen to him, but he was willing to be obedient to God in a time when others were not, so God used him in mighty ways.  He was even included in the genealogy of Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:10)!  
 

Amos preached the message of God to both Israel (the northern kingdom) and to Judah (the southern kingdom), but he also spoke to the surrounding nations of Syria, Philistia, Phoenicia, Edom, Ammon, and Moab.  God’s message to all these peoples was one of judgment.  As He addressed each nation in the first two chapters of Amos, He used the phrase, “Because of three great sins, no four…I’m not putting up with her (them, in the case of Judah and Israel) any longer.”  These first two chapters are God’s indictment against the nations.  He assures them that He is not blind to their ways and that He will not tolerate their sin any longer.  He reminds Judah and Israel that it was He who brought them out of slavery in Egypt and blessed them with protection from their enemies, with prosperity, and with wisdom.  But He says He is fed up with their disobedience and will punish them in order to bring them back to Himself.

“In contrast, I was always on your side. I destroyed the Amorites who confronted you, Amorites with the stature of great cedars, tough as thick oaks. I destroyed them from the top branches down. I destroyed them from the roots up. And yes, I’m the One who delivered you from Egypt, led you safely through the wilderness for forty years and then handed you the country of the Amorites like a piece of cake on a platter. I raised up some of your young men to be prophets, set aside your best youth for training in holiness. Isn’t this so, Israel?” God’s Decree. But you made the youth-in-training break training, and you told the young prophets, ‘Don’t prophesy!’ You’re too much for me. I’m hard-pressed—to the breaking point. I’m like a wagon piled high and overloaded, creaking and groaning.” (Amos 2:9-13)

Was God being unreasonable?  Of course not!  He loved His people, but He knew that the only way to save them from themselves was to punish their disobedience. 

“Out of all the families on earth, I picked you. Therefore, because of your special calling, I’m holding you responsible for all your sins.” (Amos 3:2)

And God gave them plenty of warning. 

“The fact is, God, the Master, does nothing without first telling his prophets the whole story.” (Amos 3:7)

Even though God said He was going to judge the nations, including His own people, He promised that there would be a remnant left to carry on the covenant He made with Abraham.

God’s Message:  “In the same way that a shepherd trying to save a lamb from a lion manages to recover just a pair of legs or the scrap of an ear, so will little be saved of the Israelites who live in Samaria—a couple of old chairs at most, the broken leg of a table.” (Amos 3:12)

And then He reminds His people, once again, of all the wonderful things He had done for them, but most of all, He reminds them of Who He Is – The Creator, God of Angel Armies!

“All this I have done to you, Israel, and this is why I have done it. Time’s up, O Israel! Prepare to meet your God!” Look who’s here: Mountain-Shaper! Wind-Maker! He laid out the whole plot before Adam. He brings everything out of nothing, like dawn out of darkness. He strides across the alpine ridges. His name is God, God-of-the-Angel-Armies. (Amos 4:12-13)

God said He was sifting His people, just like a baker sifts flour.  All the sin would be sifted out, leaving only righteousness.  The sinful ones who thought they were safe, those who would not listen to God’s indictments and repent, would be destroyed.

“I’m still giving the orders around here. I’m throwing Israel into a sieve among all the nations and shaking them good, shaking out all the sin, all the sinners. No real grain will be lost, but all the sinners will be sifted out and thrown away, the people who say, ‘Nothing bad will ever happen in our lifetime. It won’t even come close.’” (Amos 9:9-10)

But God did not leave the righteous without hope.  He assured them that the remnant He promised would one day see His Kingdom.  This is a promise to the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as well as those of us who have been adopted into His family through the redemption of Jesus Christ.  One day soon, I believe, Jesus Christ will come again in victory over sin and death and all the world’s powers.  He will set up His Kingdom where He will rule and reign in peace and righteousness forevermore.

“But also on that Judgment Day I will restore David’s house that has fallen to pieces. I’ll repair the holes in the roof, replace the broken windows, fix it up like new. David’s people will be strong again and seize what’s left of enemy Edom, plus everyone else under my sovereign judgment.” God’s Decree. He will do this. Yes indeed, it won’t be long now.” God’s Decree. Things are going to happen so fast your head will swim, one thing fast on the heels of the other. You won’t be able to keep up. Everything will be happening at once—and everywhere you look, blessings! Blessings like wine pouring off the mountains and hills. I’ll make everything right again for my people Israel:  They’ll rebuild their ruined cities. They’ll plant vineyards and drink good wine. They’ll work their gardens and eat fresh vegetables. And I’ll plant them, plant them on their own land. They’ll never again be uprooted from the land I’ve given them.” God, your God, says so. (Amos 9:11-15)

What does all this mean to us today?  This is another reason I love the book of Amos so much.  The people to whom Amos prophesied are not much different than us, so we need to hear what God was saying through Amos:

• The people were “at ease.”  They were self-reliant, not God reliant -- just like we are.  We trust in our money, our government, even our religion.  God is not impressed with that.  He wants us to trust only in Him, The God of Angel Armies:

“The city that marches out with a thousand will end up with a hundred. The city that marches out with a hundred will end up with ten. Oh, family of Israel!” (Amos 5:3)

• The people had a false sense of optimism.  They thought that the Day of Judgment would never come in their lifetimes.  So it is today.  No one wants to think that God might judge this world in our lifetime.

Woe to those who live only for today, indifferent to the fate of others! (Amos 6:4)

• They were absorbed with pleasure and personal beauty.

Woe to the playboys, the playgirls, who think life is a party held just for them! Woe to those addicted to feeling good—life without pain! Those obsessed with looking good—life without wrinkles! They could not care less about their country going to ruin. (Amos 6:5-6)

• They had a perverted sense of justice.

Woe to you who turn justice to vinegar and stomp righteousness into the mud. . . Justice is a lost cause. Evil is epidemic. Decent people throw up their hands. Protest and rebuke are useless, a waste of breath. (Amos 5:7, 13)

• Even their so-called worship had become ritualistic, dedicated to programs to make themselves feel good, and their music had become more like the music of the world than praise to God.

“I can’t stand your religious meetings. I’m fed up with your conferences and conventions. I want nothing to do with your religion projects, your pretentious slogans and goals. I’m sick of your fund-raising schemes, your public relations and image making. I’ve had all I can take of your noisy ego-music. When was the last time you sang to me? (Amos 5:21-22)

So what about you?  Are you living your life in obedience to The God of Angel Armies?  Even if you are “just a (fill in the blank)” – a sheep herder, a tree trimmer, a fig gatherer like Amos – are you allowing God to use you today?  Are you telling people about the soon coming Kingdom of God?

I hope that today you will call out to The God of Angel Armies, along with me, in this prayer for forgiveness, just as Amos did in chapter 7, verses 2 and 5:

God, My Master, please forgive me and my nation!  What is going to happen to us, since we are so small compared to you? 

All scripture from The Message

Christ in Joel, Our God Reigns!

The next book in the group we call “Minor Prophets” is Joel.  It is a short book, only three chapters long.  It is so rich in prophecy and in description of God’s nature.  I hope you will take a few minutes and read the entire book for yourself.  We don’t know a lot about Joel, the author of this book, except that his father was Pethuel.  He, unlike most of the other writers in the Old Testament, did not mention any kings who were ruling at the time of his writing.  But most authorities believe that he lived and prophesied in Judah during the rule of Joash, between 850 and 800 B.C.  That would make him a contemporary of Elisha.  His name means “Jehovah is God,” something God’s people had forgotten.  The book of Joel can be divided into three major themes:  A description of a plague which destroyed the land during the time in which Joel wrote; a vision of an invading army at some time in the future; and a future judgment of all nations when God will deliver His people and when Jesus will come to reign in His Millennial Kingdom.

The plague of locusts is described by Joel in just one verse:

What the cutting locust left, the swarming locust has eaten.  What the swarming locust left, the hopping locust has eaten.  And what the hopping locust left, the devouring locust has eaten. (Joel 1:4)

A plague of that nature is not unheard of in that part of the world.  A similar plague occurred in 1915 and was described in an article in the magazine, National Geographic:

John D. Whiting wrote, "Thus Joel, writing some seven or eight hundred years B. C., begins his description of a locust plague.  We marvel how this ancient writer could have given so graphic and true a description of a devastation caused by locusts in so condensed form." (p. 511). In  1915 the first swarms of adult locusts appeared in March, coming from the northeast, going toward southwest in such "thick clouds as to obscure the sun for the time being" (p. 513). The females, about two and one-half to three inches long, at once began to lay their eggs, sinking a hole about four inches deep into the hard soil and depositing about 100 eggs.  "It is estimated by competent authorities that as many as 65,000 to 75,000 locust eggs are concentrated in a square meter of soil" (pp.  516, 521).

In 1915 the fully developed flying locusts appeared about June 10 and at once began to complete the destruction begun in the earlier stages. They attacked the olive trees, whose tough, bitter leaves had not been to the liking of the creepers. Food becoming scarcer, both creeping and flying locusts attacked the olive trees, and "between the two they stripped every leaf, berry, and even the tender bark. Likewise, every variety of tree was attacked. . . Of the cacti they ate away layer after layer over the whole surface, giving the leaves the effect of having been jack-planed."  (p. 542). The full-grown locusts had cleaned up every bit of vegetation. ¹

Joel tells us that the plague was so severe that no vegetation remained in the land.  The people were dying of starvation, and even the animals had nothing to eat:

Lament like a woman dressed in funeral clothing, one who has lost the husband of her youth. . .What a terrible day!  The day of the Lord is near; it comes like chaos from the Almighty.  Isn’t the food cut off right before our eyes? Aren’t joy and gladness also gone from our God’s house? The grain shrivels under the shovels; the barns are empty. The granaries are in ruin because the grain has dried up. How the animals groan! Herds of cattle are in distress because there is no pasture for them; even the flocks of sheep pant. (Joel 1:8,15-18)

Is it any wonder that the prophet used this plague to describe the invading armies that God told him would someday ravage the land of Israel?  The second chapter of Joel begins the description of what will happen just before Jesus comes to reign on earth, the battle of Armageddon.  Notice the first part of the first verse of chapter two:

Blow the horn in Zion; give a shout on my holy mountain! (Joel 2:1a)

In today’s world, we might see this as a “News Bulletin” scrolled at the bottom of our TV screens; or we might hear on our radios that shrill, annoying sound from the Emergency Broadcast System; or one of those emergency text messages we get on our cell phones; or “We interrupt our normal broadcast for an emergency message.”  When God had something important to tell the people of Judah and/or Israel in that day, the priest would blow the shofar, a trumpet made from a ram’s horn, to get the people’s attention.

The second part of that verse is what God wanted His people to hear and respond to:

Let all the people of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming. It is near— (Joel 2:1b)

Whenever we see the phrase, “The day of the Lord,” we know that God is talking about judgment.  In this case, the judgment is three-fold.  The most immediate judgment is of God’s people who had turned away from Him and who would be conquered by Assyria.  The second meaning refers to the coming of Christ, His atonement for our sin, and His sending the Holy Spirit to indwell every believer.  And the final meaning of this prophecy relates to the Great Tribulation, the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, and The Millennial Kingdom.  The first judgment took place in 732 B.C., but the final judgment is still to come.

Whenever God pronounces judgment on His people, He always tells us that He will spare those who turn to Him in repentance.  The judgments Joel describes are no different.  He tells His people that if they will truly repent, then He will forgive them and restore their land.  But He demands true, heart-felt repentance, not just an outward, hypocritical show that we put on for others to see:

Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your hearts, with fasting, with weeping, and with sorrow; tear your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the Lord your God, for he is merciful and compassionate, very patient, full of faithful love, and ready to forgive. (Joel 2:12-13)

The next promise that God gave through Joel was greater than any other promise ever given to man.  He promised that He would, one day, pour out His Holy Spirit on anyone who trusts in Him.  Until that day, the Holy Spirit only “came upon” a few individuals for only a specific purpose – men like Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, and the prophets.

After that I will pour out my spirit upon everyone; your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, and your young men will see visions. In those days, I will also pour out my spirit on the male and female slaves. (Joel 2:28-29)

What God was promising here was unheard of!  He said that His Holy Spirit would not be limited to the priests and religious leaders, but He would be available to all people, including young and old, men and women, rich and poor!  And Jesus Christ gave us the same promise before His crucifixion:

I will ask the Father, and he will send another Companion, who will be with you forever. This Companion is the Spirit of Truth, whom the world can’t receive because it neither sees him nor recognizes him. You know him, because he lives with you and will be with you. (John 14:16-17)

The promise of the Holy Spirit was fulfilled just 50 days after Christ was crucified, on the day called Pentecost.

When Pentecost Day arrived, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound from heaven like the howling of a fierce wind filled the entire house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be individual flames of fire alighting on each one of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them to speak. (Acts 2:1-4)

And Paul emphasized that God sees us all the same.  He does not discriminate on any basis – race or nationality, social status, or gender.  His Holy Spirit is given to anyone who trusts in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord:

There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither slave nor free; nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galations 3:28)

Throughout the Bible, God tells us that He will give us plenty of warning before the final battle, the Battle of Armageddon, occurs.  Joel gives us two of those warnings, but there are many more throughout the Bible.  If we are wise, we will heed His warnings, and we will look for the signs of His Second Coming.
 
1.  The regathering of Judah to Jerusalem.  This occurred when Israel was granted statehood in 1948:

Truly, in those days and in that time, I will bring back to Judah and Jerusalem those who were sent away. (Joel 3:1)

Instead, they will say, “As the Lord lives who brought up the Israelites from the land of the north and from all the lands where he has banished them.” I will bring them back to the land that I gave to their ancestors. (Jeremiah 16:15)

The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will bring back my people Israel and Judah from captivity, says the Lord. I will bring them home to the land that I gave to their ancestors, and they will possess it. (Jeremiah 30:3)

2.  Natural phenomena:

I will give signs in the heavens and on the earth—blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood before the great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. (Joel 2:30-31)
 
“Now immediately after the suffering of that time the sun will become dark, and the moon won’t give its light. The stars will fall from the sky and the planets and other heavenly bodies will be shaken.” (Matthew 24:29)

I looked on as he opened the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake. The sun became black as funeral clothing, and the entire moon turned red as blood. The stars of the sky fell to the earth as a fig tree drops its fruit when shaken by a strong wind. The sky disappeared like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved from its place. (Revelation 6:12-14)

Joel goes on to describe the great battle that will usher in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.  When Christ comes, He will come in victory and power.  He will rule His Kingdom, and all His enemies will be defeated.  The Millennial Kingdom will be a time when the Jewish people will recognize Jesus Christ as their Messiah, as will all the other nations of the world.  This will be a time of perfect law, perfect judgment, and perfect peace, because Jesus will rule:

The Lord roars from Zion, and utters his voice from Jerusalem; the heavens and the earth quake. But the Lord is a refuge for his people, a shelter for the people of Israel. So you will know that I am the Lord your God, settle down in Zion, my holy mountain. Jerusalem will be holy, and never again will strangers pass through it. (Joel 3:16-17)
 
In the days to come the mountain of the Lord’s house will be the highest of the mountains. It will be lifted above the hills; peoples will stream to it. Many nations will go and say, “Come, let’s go up to the Lord’s mountain, to the house of Jacob’s God so that he may teach us his ways and we may walk in God’s paths.” Instruction will come from Zion; the Lord’s word from Jerusalem. God will judge between the nations, and settle disputes of mighty nations. Then they will beat their swords into iron plows and their spears into pruning tools. Nation will not take up sword against nation; they will no longer learn how to make war. (Isaiah 2:2-4)

My prayer for you and for myself this week is very loosely based on Joel’s prayer in 1:19 and God’s direction in 2:12, 13:

To you, Lord, I cry, (for I know that I live in a wicked world.  I pray that I will listen for Your voice and seek your will for my life.  I want to serve you with all my heart, not just with vain, outward works,)  for (You are) merciful and compassionate, very patient, full of faithful love, and ready to forgive.

All scripture is from the Common English Bible
¹ Pounds, Wil, “The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit,” Abide In Christ, 2008. Web. August 6, 2014. http://www.abideinchrist.com/messages/joe2v28.html

Christ in Hosea, Our Redeemer

The book of Hosea is the first of the Old Testament books classified as “Minor Prophets.”  Hosea prophesied from 785 to 725 B.C., and the book was most likely written between 755 and 725 B.C.  Hosea’s prophecy was an indictment against the Jewish people of his day and against us today for turning to false gods and being self-reliant and proud.  Although God is longsuffering and His love for His people will never end, He is also intolerant of sin and rebellion.  He is a jealous God and will withhold His blessings and pour out judgment on His unrepentant people.

The life of Hosea and his relationship with his wife was a personification of the life of Christ in relation to His people.  Remember, God created marriage and the family when He gave Eve to Adam to be his wife.  His word is overflowing with warnings against and condemnation of sexual sin and marital infidelity.  That is because, when He established marriage, it was to be a picture for us of His relationship with His bride, The Church.  The very first thing God told Hosea was that he was to marry a prostitute because God’s people had left their First Love and had turned to many false gods:

When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to him, “Go, marry a prostitute and have children of prostitution, for the people of the land commit great prostitution by deserting the Lord.” (Hosea 1:2, Common English Bible)

The first part of the book of Hosea tells us about his wife, her adultery, and his faithfulness to her.  This is a picture of the unfaithfulness of Israel to God, their idolatry, and God’s anger toward them, His punishment of them, but His eventual restoration of them.  Intertwined into the story is the wonderful prophecy of God’s love to all the world, not just the Jewish people:

And I will sow her unto Me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to those who were not My people, ‘Thou art My people’; and they shall say, ‘Thou art my God.’” (Hosea 2:23, 21^st Century King James Version)

Once you weren’t a people, but now you are God’s people. Once you hadn’t received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (1 Peter 2:10, Common English Bible)

The third chapter of Hosea is a beautiful picture of our redemption.  Redemption means the act of buying something back.  I can remember, as a kid, saving trading stamps.  When we shopped at the grocery store, we received one stamp for every dollar we spent.  We would put those stamps in a book for safe keeping.  When we had saved enough stamps, we could “redeem” them for merchandise.  Hosea’s wife had been so degraded by prostitution, she had been sold into slavery.  Hosea found her in the slave market, and he redeemed her by paying the price of a slave.
 
So I bought Gomer back for 6 ounces of silver and 9 bushels of barley. Then I told her, “You must stay at home with me for many days. You will not be like a prostitute. You will not have sexual relations with another man. I will be your husband.” (Hosea 3:2-3, Easy-to-Read Version)

This was humiliating for Hosea.  No good Jewish man would be expected to reconcile with an unfaithful wife, but Hosea loved Gomer.  If that was true for Hosea, how much more love must Holy God have for us?  He redeemed us out of our sin by the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ!

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace (Ephesians 1:7, New King James Version)

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. (Titus 2:11-14, English Standard Version)

The very next two verses in Hosea are a promise that God will one day restore Israel.  This will not happen until Jesus returns to sit on the throne of David.  Remember as you read this that David had already been dead for almost 200 years, there was no king in Israel, and the temple had been destroyed.  The words “afterward” and “latter days” refer to the time when the children of Israel will recognize Jesus as Messiah and when He reigns as King.

For the children of Israel shall abide many days without king, and without prince, and without sacrifice, and without pillar, and without ephod or teraphim: afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek Jehovah their God, and David their king, and shall come with fear unto Jehovah and to his goodness in the latter days. (Hosea 3:4-5, American Standard Version)

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.” (Revelation 21:1-7, English Standard Version)

Be careful that you do not fall into the trap into which so much of the world has fallen.  Many people want to acknowledge only God’s love and longsuffering.  He is patient.  He is kind. And He loves us with a love that is beyond any love that we can imagine.  But He is also true, and just, and righteous.  He has promised that there will be a reckoning – a time when we will stand before Him, either in our own strength, relying on our good works, or in the saving blood of Jesus Christ, trusting His promise of redemption from all our sin.  How will you answer Almighty God when He asks, “Why should I let you into My heaven?”

My prayer for you and for me this week is based upon Hosea 14:9 (American Standard Version):

Heavenly Father,
(Help me to be) wise, that (I) may understand these things; prudent, that (I) may know them; for the ways of Jehovah are right, and the just shall walk in them; but transgressors shall fall therein.