Amos says that he saw two visions of the judgment of Israel,
the first a plague of locusts and the second a devouring fire. Locusts were going to destroy the crops prior
to harvest and cause famine in the land and he prayed that the Lord would not
bring this judgment because Israel was so vulnerable, as nothing at all
compared to those who would truly devour her in this judgment. The second judgment, the fire, would consume
it all and again Amos pleads with the Lord to spare the nation and the Lord
relents. The final vision, of the plumb
line, tells Amos that the Lord's judgment is not arbitrary, there is a standard
against which the nation is measured and its failure to align itself properly
with the Word of God is the reason for His judgment and it is final with
respect to the northern kingdom and its land, He will never again pass by them. We know that indeed this part of the nation
has never been reconstituted and their failure is directly attributable to the
failure to align properly.
I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. What an amazing answer for Jesus to give
concerning the reality of the resurrection!
The present tense of the "to be" verb proves that as God is,
so are these men. It is not, I was the
God of these when they were alive, but I AM.
One thing to understand is the Jewish infatuation (in a good and proper
way) with the very words of the Bible.
Every word is meaningful and important.
The economy with which it is written tells them that every word is
fraught with meaning and purpose, they are as they are because God wanted them
that way to convey meaning, He knows His grammar, the language belongs to
Him. Jesus uses that to support His
answer and in so doing, for us raises the bar on how we should think about
every word of the text, handling it with ever greater care, paying attention to
all the details. We must take it as the
plumb line for beliefs, morals and ethics.
The purpose of the revelation given to John was to show the
servants of God what was to come. He doesn't want us to be unaware. Does that, however, mean He wants us to be
able to predict the future? Prophecy has
never been about being able to pin down details. Amos knew God was going to judge Israel and
more or less how, he just didn't know when.
There is a timing that belongs only to God, we are to live in faith
believing the word of God but also we are to live our lives according to His
Word one way or another. Too often the
church obsesses over the wrong things.
Jesus showed us the way to live, aware of the end but more concerned
with life.
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