THE WORDS OF AMOS
THE WORDS OF AMOS
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2019, the Year of Our Lord
Pastor Carolyn Sissom
. Amos 5:24: Let justice run down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.
Amos 1:1The words of Amos, who was among the sheep breeders of Tekoa, which he saw…
Amos 7:10-16: Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear his words… (14) Amos answered Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet’s son, but I was a herdsman, and a gatherer of sycamore fruit. The LORD took me as I followed the flock, and the word said unto me, Go prophesy unto my people Israel. Hear the word of the LORD: You say, do not prophesy against Israel, and do not drop your word against the house of Isaac…
The words of Amos are the words of the LORD and the words the prophet saw by vision. John said he saw the voice that spoke to him.
Rev 1:12And I turned to see the voice that spoke with me.
Amos says the Words he saw spoke to Him: “And the word said unto me.”
Friday night I had a dream that Jesus was holding my hand and walking me through the words of Amos and Zechariah. As we walked through and around the words that were written, He was explaining the words to me. Only when I awoke, I don’t know what He told me.
Just as Amos was not welcome in “the king’s chapel” and the “king’s court” (Amos 7:13), Jesus Christ was not welcome among religious Pharisees and Sadducees.
Prophet Amos is a prophet of Justice. He took a machine gun approach to his work. Jesus like Amos was a gatherer of sycamore fruit in the person of Zacchaeus. God called Amos from a sycamore tree just as he called Zacchaeus from a sycamore tree.
Luke 19:4Zacchaeus ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Jesus for He was going to pass that way. when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house. So he made haste and came down, and received Him joyfully. But when they saw it, they all complained, saying, “He has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner. Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold
And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham;
Amos pleaded with the people to turn from their sin, restore justice, and to deal righteously with the poor.
It seems worthwhile to take note that God chooses men who are busy occupied with some kind of purposeful livelihood:
- Amos from the flock (&:14-15).
- Moses from the flock (Ex. 3)
- Gideon from threshing wheat (Judg. 6:11)
- David from the flock (1 Sam. 16)
- Elisha from plowing (1 Ki. 19:19)
- Nehemiah serving the king as a cupbearer (Neh. 1: 11-2:10)
- Daniel serving as a eunuch in the palaces of Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. 1:19)
- Peter and Andrew from fishing.
- John and James from fishing.
- Matthew from the tax office
Amos 1:2And he said:
“The LORD roars from Zion,
And utters His voice from Jerusalem;
The pastures of the shepherds mourn,
And the top of Carmel withers.”
When the Lord roars from Zion, judgment is imminent. The Sovereign Lord has spoken and Amos can do nothing else but prophesy. Zion is God’s dwelling place.
Joel 3:16 repeats the motto of Amos: "The Lord also will roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem," and adds the seismic theophany imagery "the heavens and the earth shall shake
Amos prophesies the Words to all the surrounding nations adjacent to Israel and pronounced judgment by fire on the nations, cities, and leaders. His pronouncement of judgment begins with For three transgressions and for four; I will not turn away its punishment. Their sins have risen to such a height; God will not turn away the punishment. Amos presents God as passionate concerning His justice. Justice is relational. It promotes good relationships between people and nations. Injustice breaks down good relationships and breeds anger, hostility and violence.
Amos 1:3 begins the oracles of pending judgment with Syria. The Lord spoke to me on Tuesday that the present shaking of nations has again begun with Syria. It seems to me since the Lord was walking with me through the words of Amos that this oracle is as relevant today to the nations of the world as it was when spoken by Amos.
In God is no variableness, neither shadow of turning (Jas. 1:17).
Heb. 13:8:Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
At Tuesday morning Bible Study, I broke down verse by verse each nation, their sin and their judgment. Today, I am going to list the reasons for judgment on nations, which I propose has not changed since the time Amos saw the words of God. I also propose these sins are piled high and we have come to a day of the Lord when He is once again roaring out of Zion bringing justice to the world.
Jesus Christ is the “good shepherd” who was made unto us righteousness. Jesus Christ, the righteous, is the divine measure, the criterion by which all men are judged.
I am persuaded that through this shaking of nations, there will come forth a great harvest of the earth, a glorious church of Jew and Gentile, an overcoming Church in great power.
Amos prophesied that each nation would be destroyed by a fire which the Lord Himself will send. This was fulfilled by the invasion of the Tiglath Pilesar of Assyria.
Please hear me that I am not prophesying that we have come to the day prophesied by Peter and Paul:
2Pe 3:7But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved (sealed) by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
2Pe 3:12looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?
2Th 1:7And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:
Luke 12:49I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled?
Amos declares that God is the God of all the earth, the one who is vitally concerned with all people and will judge sin wherever it is found. He is concerned with the relationships of all states and nations to one another. The laws of conduct are valid throughout the international realm. Yahweh is the God who will have justice and righteousness among all nations. His rule extends to all men, and in all circumstances, doing nothing with partiality.
JUDGMENT ON ALL NATIONS:
- Damascus: Because they have threshed Gilead with implements of iron. (Fighting against Israel and Christians).
- Gaza: Because they took captive the whole captivity. (slave trade)
- Tyre: Because they delivered up the whole captivity to Edom and did not remember the covenant of brotherhood. ((1) slave trade; (2) Broken treaties.
Exodus 21:16And he that steals a man, and sells him, or if he be
Found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death
4. Edom : Because he pursued his brother with a sword, cast off all pity, and kept
his anger and wrath perpetually. – The present wrath toward our President;
the present wrath between all the nations.
5. Ammon: Because they ripped up the women with child in Gilead, that they
might enlarge their territory. (abortion, kill full term babies).
6. Moab: Because they burned the bones of the king of Edom to lime.
(assassination, murder and destruction of God’s chosen leaders)
7. Judah: Because they have despised the law of the Lord and have not kept His commandments. (Gentiles and Jews who have despised the law of the Lord Jesus Christ and rejected Him and the walk of Holiness).
We have been declaring the prophecy given by Johnny Enlow on 4/22/19 which is in agreement with Amos’ prophecy 753 B.C:
“My Roar of Justice is now coming with its next wave. What was able to resist My last wave will not be able to resist this wave. I am coming in stronger, harder and higher---and it is going to be disruptive…I am coming in waves because what I am ultimately uprooting, if done all at once, would not just be disruptive but catastrophic. However, be assured that My waves of Justice will not stop until I have changed the direction of your nation and the direction of the world. This is now MY TIME and I will not be held back. I have predetermined that this is the time I go after nations with their appointed destinies. You will do so with Me. We are just beginning.” (Johnny Enlow)
The sealing of the destiny of nations has already been written in the Word of God. I believe the war presently initiated by Turkey against the Kurds is part of this destiny of nations coming into God’s plan.
Amos was given the blessing of see God standing upon the altar.
9:1-3: I saw the Lord standing upon the altar; and he said, Smite the lintel of the door, that the posts may shake and cut them in the head, all of them, and I will slay the last of them with the sword; he that flees of them shall not flee away, and he that escapes of them shall not be delivered. Though they dig into hell, there shall my hand take them; thought they climb up to heaven, there will I bring them down. Though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out from there; and though they re hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, there will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them.
God is everywhere and no man can escape His presence or power. His power extends to heaven and hell, the highest mountain and the deepest sea,
Amos 9:6He who builds His layers in the sky,
And has founded His strata in the earth;
Who calls for the waters of the sea,
And pours them out on the face of the earth—
The LORD is His name.
The Prophet’s message then and now is to show how God deals with sin, sending judgment upon all men who sin, whether Jews or Gentiles. He is careful to explain why judgment will come to each nation. He makes it clear to Israel as well as spiritual Israel (the Church) that even though we are chosen and blessed as God’s people, without the saving grace of the Blood of Jesus Christ, there are none righteous, no not one.
Believers, made the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Cor. 5:21), have been apprehended to come to the measure of His fullness (Phil. 3: 12-14; Eph. 4:13). God places a higher value on justice and righteousness than on temporal materialism, the things that money will buy---godliness with contentment is great gain.
Amos prophesied that God would restore His end-time Church, the tabernacle of David (Amos 9:11, Mt. 16:18, Acts 15: 15-17).
The spiritual tabernacle of David is the worship of Jesus Christ by both the Jew and Gentile as we gather unto Jesus in unity and love.
Acts 15: 15-17: And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written,
After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up:
That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, says the Lord, who does all these things.
Mat 16:18And I say also unto you, That you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
We may be watching as the world may soon hear God’s words and actions as He brings the nations of the world to their prophetic destiny as He revealed to His prophets long ago.
1Co 3:13Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
Lord Jesus show us how to open up the Words of this ancient prophecy for the 21st century.
There is nothing “minor” about the Prophet Amos. The weight God placed on this message is immeasurable. Amos had a relatively short word and preached it to a small audience. The combined voices of all today’s preachers and prophets lack the authority, the focus and the evidence of God’s power compared to the “minor” prophets. Amos is in the lineage of Jesus Christ through Joseph.
(See Bible Study Notes on Amos chapter 1. We will continue Amos chapter 2 on Tuesday.)
Carolyn Sissom, Pastor
Eastgate Ministries Church
Scripture from K.J.V. – I entered into the labors of F. F. Bruce Bible Commentary, J. Keir Howard and Dr. C. R. Oliver, Sealed Unto His Coming. Comments and conclusions are my own and not meant to reflect the views of those who I entered into their labors.