Bible in a Year Series -
Day #193 - This post is
part
of a year-long series where we are reading chronologically through the
Bible.
Click here to learn more. You are most welcome to
join along at any time.
Today's
text from the ESV Study Bible: Amos 6-9.
Today's reading from the Prophet Amos was very sobering to read and consider.
Although this post is longer than normal, please take 15 minutes and digest what God desires that we know about him.
God is teaching us that he has a plumb line, and that plumb line will determine who are truly His.
"This is what he showed me: behold, the Lord was
standing beside a wall built with a
plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. 8 And the Lord
said to me, “Amos,
what do you see?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said,
“Behold, I am setting a
plumb line in the midst of my people Israel; I
will never again pass by them;" (Amos 7:7-8)
"This is what the Lord God
showed me: behold, a basket of summer fruit. 2 And he said, “Amos,
what do you see?” And I said, “A
basket of summer fruit.” Then the Lord
said to me, “The
end has come upon my people Israel; I will never again pass by them." (Amos 8:1-2)
"I saw the Lord standing
besidethe altar, and he said:
“Strike
the capitals until the
thresholds shake,
and
shatter them on the heads of all the people;
and those who are left of them I will kill with the sword;
not
one of them shall flee away;
not one of them shall escape." (Amos 9:1)
"All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword,
who say, ‘Disaster
shall not overtake or meet us.’" (Amos 9:10)
You've seen them. You know, the "crazy people" who hold up signs that say, "the end is near". Well that was Amos.
God was pleased to pluck him out of the field where he was tending his flock, and gave him a vision to share with Israel.
Although we have yet to actually come upon this foretold destruction of Israel, hearing the words of God's wrath stirs my soul to its roots.
From the very day of the Exodus, God made clear his desires to his chosen people Israel. God built this nation from the loins of Abraham, and a great many have done nothing but try His patience.
Well, we have now come to the end of the summer of God's patience for Israel.
God is going to destroy all Israel, but he is going to do it with discrimination. He has a plumb line that he will use to measure, and those who are truly his He will remember. Everyone else is doomed to certain destruction, and God will never pass by them again. That's it! Finished! Forever separated from God.
This is incomprehensible, and significantly difficult to read. I try, in my mind, to place myself in the crowd listening to these words.
I now know that I would stand the test of the plumb line, but the sheer horror is painful nonetheless.
We learn here, and all throughout the Bible, that there exists a church within a church. There are those who call themselves God's elect, and then there are those who truly are God's elect.
Many, in ancient Israel, thought themselves elect because they were descended from those who were in the Exodus. Likewise, many today think themselves elect because they said a magic prayer, or they have been good, or they go to church, or they "believe" in God.
Yet, here, and all throughout the Bible, we see God moving against those who stand at the gate calling out His name, yet He knows them not.
Jonathan Edwards wrote his famous Religious Affections (see my months long study on this book) precisely on this subject.
Although this is horrifying for even God's true elect to view, we all must first search our souls to make certain that we are His.
Once again, the InterVarsity Press New Bible Commentary brings some clarity:
"But who are these ‘pebbles’, destined for removal? Not just the sinners among my people but a particular class of sinner: those who are complacent in the face of divine judgment, those who are sinners and who assert that sin is a permitted way of life by discounting the reality of coming judgment. Overtake or meet, i.e. neither catch up with us out of the past nor face us in the future, as if they were saying, ‘There is nothing in our past to merit judgment, nor will there be in the future.’ This is not the voice of those (the people who pass the plumbline test in 7:7-9) who are building their lives on the level of grace with the straight edge of law, but of complacent, uncaring sinners in a world of make–believe. Neither for Amos nor for us is this a word intended to put our salvation at peril. But it reminds us that there is a double seal on the foundation of the LORD’s house: ‘the LORD knows those who are his’ (2 Tim. 2:19) (hence our security in the unchanging will of the God who chose and took us for himself), and ‘Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity’ (see 2 Pet. 1:5-11) (the moral determination which is evidence of elect status)."
I fear there exists a great many of these complacent ones who have never read the whole of God's counsel, and therefore their pride and ignorance puts them in great peril.
In spite of this certain impending horror about to befall Israel, look at the promise for God's true elect:
“In that day I
will raise up
the booth of David that is fallen
and repair its breaches,
and raise up its ruins
and rebuild it as in the days of old,
12 that
they may possess the remnant of Edom
and all
the nations who are called by my name,”
declares the Lord
who does this.
13 “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord,
“when
the plowman shall overtake the reaper
and the treader of grapes him who sows the
seed;
the
mountains shall drip sweet wine,
and all the hills shall flow with it.
14 I
will restore the fortunes of my people Israel,
and they
shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them;
they
shall plant vineyards and drink their wine,
and they shall make gardens and eat their
fruit.
15 I
will plant them on their land,
and
they shall never again be uprooted
out of the land that
I have given them,”
says the Lord your God."
(Amos 9:11-15)
Oh my friend. Oh my loved ones. Search your soul and make absolutely certain that your name is written in God's Book of Life.
For here we will see a certain final judgment come upon these particular Israelites, but Messiah has made it clear that there is also coming a certain final judgment for all.
The question is: will you be among the scoffers, or the saved ones?
A most sobering question indeed!
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