Amos announces that the Lord's judgment on Israel (the
northern kingdom) is final. She will be
fallen to rise no more and so she did fall and rise no more. These are the tribes of Israel referred to as
the lost tribes because when this kingdom fell the Jews from those tribes went
into the diaspora and lost their identity in a way that the Jewish people of
the southern kingdom, primarily Judah and Benjamin, did not. The judgment is the opposite of decimation,
only ten percent will remain in any form at all and there is only one way to
escape this judgment, to seek the Lord.
They are told not to seek places, Bethel and Gilgal, the primary worship
centers of the northern kingdom, they will be gone. Seek the Lord personally that He might be
gracious and merciful to you. Life is
found only in Him, not in places or creation, seek the Lord and live says
Amos. He recounts their sins, they
reject the truth the leaders in the gates of the city speak and prefer evil,
not doing justice, perverting justice.
Finally, they are told to seek good and not evil that you may live. Is this different from seeking the Lord? He alone is good so to seek good is to seek
God. In the end, judgment will
come. The Lord knows they will not seek
Him. They will not choose life.
The parable of the wedding feast is Jesus proclaiming
judgment on God's people. He is giving
them a chance at grace. They are invited
to the wedding feast of the son of the king and they seem to accept his
invitation but in the end, when the time comes, they decline to attend. (This
parable is quite similar to the parable of the man asking his two sons to go
and work, one says yes but does not go and the other says no but repents and
goes.) The insult is great, they have
more important things to do than attend the king's banquet. The king then tells his servants to compel
others to come and they respond to this gracious invitation. This is symbolic of the Gentiles coming to
the covenant community of the Son. There
is, however, a twist. One comes and does
not put on the wedding garment provided by the host. This is the height of arrogance, he comes on
his own terms, not the king's terms, and is thrown out in judgment as he has no
defense to make. We must come on His
terms, putting on the garment provided, Jesus, as the entry into the feast.
The letter to Jude is a warning against false teachers and
those who have infiltrated the church with their lies. The warning includes the history of God's
activity in judgment. Some who were
saved from Egypt were later destroyed because of lack of faith. Even angels are subject to judgment if they
attempt to usurp God's authority.
Judgment on these is no less than the judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah, it
is all the same in the end. These who
have come into the church no longer have fear of the Lord, they have come to
the belief that they are co-equal with Him and have lost the sense of reverence
and awe and perspective they should have for Him. I see this today in the whole idea of name it
and claim it or in the Word-Faith or Word of Faith movement that teaches when
we speak things we bind God with our words to do as we have proclaimed. This is the same thing of which Jude writes
here. In our preaching of God's mercy
and grace we must never lose sight of the fear of judgment and God's surpassing
holiness.
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