Cause and Effect

Amos 3:1-8 Cause and Effect

Admonition 1 Hear this word that the LORD has spoken against you,

Audience

Collective people, 1 O people of Israel, against the whole family- this encompasses all the Israelites those in Judah and Israel.

Chosen People 2 "You only have I known of all the families of the earth

Converted People 2 I brought up out of the land of Egypt

Announcement 2 therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.

Analogies

Partnership 3 "Do two walk together, unless they have agreed to meet?

We must desire to walk with God. We must affirm our agreement with God and we must do all to purge ourselves of anything that prevents us from continuing to walk with God. Spurgeon We walk in agreement with him when his people are our people, when his passion is our passion, when his pursuit is our pursuit and when his principles are our practice. When we are in disagreement with Him and his word we cannot and will not walk together. Where there is not friendship there can be no fellowship Henry. Friendship with God cannot exist, where there is no conformity to his image, no love for his revealed will, and no desire to be conformed to it. Where there is no love for his holiness; and no desire to move in sweet accord with him. There is, like Israel, an aversion to his holy ways, they would rather flee from him, like Cain, than walk habitually in his presence (Simeon)

Practical Events (Cause and Effect) 4 Does a lion roar in the forest, when he has no prey? Does a young lion cry out from his den, if he has taken nothing? 5 Does a bird fall in a snare on the earth, when there is no trap for it? Does a snare spring up from the ground, when it has taken nothing? 6 Is a trumpet blown in a city, and the people are not afraid? Amos had delivered this message from God to all the children of Israel. Then, anticipating an objection, he proceeds to obviate it He supposes an objector to say, ‘Your alarm is groundless: for it never can be, that God should so act towards those whom he has chosen for his peculiar people.’ To this he replies, ‘There is good reason for you to be alarmed: for I appeal to you, Can there be any real friendship between persons, if in their general views and habits there be no agreement? You may call yourselves the Lord’s people, if you will; but, “if you walk contrary to him, he will walk contrary to you Lev 26:23-14:” There is abundant reason for you to fear and tremble. You well know, “that if a lion roar, or a young lion cry,” there is a reason for it. If “a bird fall in a snare, or a snare be taken up by the owner,” it is not without a reason: and “if the trumpet be blown in the city to sound an alarm,” there is a reason for it. So then is there reason for you to fear and tremble: for God, who reveals his secrets to his prophets, has revealed to me his determination to punish you: and, as sure as effects, whether amongst the rational or irrational

creation, result from causes, and may be traced to them; so surely shall your punishment follow from the indignation which you have excited in the bosom of your God: (Simeon)

Providence 6 Does disaster come to a city, unless the LORD has done it?

Nothing, therefore, happens unless the Omnipotent wills it to happen: He either permits it to happen, or He brings it about Himself. Augustine The Providence of God is the continuing actions of God by which he preserves in existence the creation which he has brought into being, and guides it to his intended purposes for it. (Erickson) The decrees of God relate to all future things without exception: whatever is done in time, was foreordained before time began. God’s purpose was concerned with everything, whether great or small, whether good or evil, although with reference to the latter we must be careful to state that while God is the Orderer and Controller of sin, He is not the Author of it in the same way that He is the Author of good. Sin could not proceed from a holy God by positive and direct creation, but only by decretive permission and negative action. God’s decree extends to all creatures and all events. (AW Pink The Attributes of God)

The Biblical doctrine does not teach that events in creation are determined by chance (or randomness), nor are they determined by impersonal fate (or determinism), but by God, who is the personal yet infinitely powerful Creator and Lord. God’s providence is: God is continually involved with all created things in such a way that he (1) keeps them existing and maintaining the properties with which he created them; (2) cooperates with created things in every action, directing their distinctive properties to cause them to act as they do; and (3) directs them to fulfill his purposes. Concurrence (Eph 1:11, Ps 148:8, Job 37:6-13, Matt 10:29, Prov 16:33, Job 12L23, Dan 4:34-35, Prov 21:20, Prov 20:24, Prov 16:9) is God cooperating with created things in every action, directing their distinctive properties to cause them to act as they do. God’s providential work of concurrence extends to all aspects of our lives. Our words, our steps, our movements, our hearts, and our abilities are all from the Lord. God causes all things that happen, but that he does so in such a way that he somehow upholds our ability to make willing, responsible choices choices that have real and eternal results and for which we are held accountable. “What is the relationship between God and evil in the world?” God does, indeed, cause evil events to come about and evil deeds to be done. But we must remember that in all these passages it is very clear that Scripture nowhere shows God as directly doing anything evil but rather as bringing about evil deeds through the willing actions of moral creatures Scripture never blames God for evil or shows God as taking pleasure in evil and Scripture never excuses human beings for the wrong they do. We must never come to the point where we think that we are not responsible for the evil that we do, or that God takes pleasure in evil or is to be blamed for it. Examples of Concurrence: Joseph Gen 37- 50:20 His brothers chose to act in an eveil manner, good allowed it for their good and his glory. Pharoah Ex 4-21, 8:15 Rom 9:17. Divine and human agents can cause the same event, when Pharaoh hardens his own heart that is not inconsistent with saying that God is causing Pharaoh to do this and thereby God is hardening the heart of Pharaoh. When God brings evil on human beings, whether to discipline his children, or to lead unbelievers to repentance, or to bring a judgment of condemnation and destruction upon hardened sinners, none of us can charge God with doing wrong. Ultimately all will work in God’s good purposes to bring glory to him and good to his people. Yet we must realize that in punishing evil in those who are not redeemed (such as Pharaoh, the Canaanites, and the Babylonians), God is also glorified through the demonstration of his justice, holiness, and power (Ex. 9:16; Rom. 9:14–24). Jonah1:14, 2:3 The sailors freely acted to throw Jonah overboard, but God is attributive as having done it. Acts 2:23, 4:27 Jewish leaders were not forced by God to act against their wills; rather, God brought about his plan through their willing choices for which they were nevertheless responsible. (Grudem)

How God governs all events in the universe without sinning, and without removing responsibility from man, and with compassionate outcomes is mysterious indeed! But that is what the Bible teaches. God "works all things after the counsel of his will" (Eph 1:11). This "all things" includes the fall of sparrows (Matt 10:29), the rolling of dice (Prov 16:33), the slaughter of his people (Ps 44:11), the decisions of kings (Prov 21:1), the failing of sight (Ex 4:11), the sickness of children (2 Sam 12:15), the loss and gain of money (1 Saml 2:7), the suffering of saints (1 Pet 4:19), the completion of travel plans (James 4:15), the persecution of Christians (Hebr 12:4-7), the repentance of souls (2 Tim 2:25), the gift of faith (Phil 1:29), the pursuit of holiness (Phil 3:12-13), the growth of believers (Hebrews 6:3), the giving of life and the taking in death (1 Samuel 2:6), and the crucifixion of his Son (Acts 4:27-28). From the smallest thing to the greatest thing, good and evil, happy and sad, pagan and Christian, pain and pleasure - God governs them all for his wise and just and good purposes (Isaiah 46:10). Lest we miss the point, the Bible speaks most clearly to this in the most painful situations. Amos asks, in time of disaster, "If a calamity occurs in a city has not the LORD done it?" (Amos 3:6). After losing all ten of his children in the collapse of his son's house, Job says, "The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD" (Job 1:21). After being covered with boils he says, "Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?" (Job 2:10). Piper

"The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD" (Pro. 16:33).

"God's works of providence are his most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures, and all their actions" (Westminster Shorter Catechism Q.11). If Creation was a unique exercise of divine energy causing the world to be, providence is a continued exercise of that same energy whereby the Creator, according to his own will, (a) keeps all creatures in being, (b) involves himself in all events, and (c) directs all things to their appointed end. The model is of purposive personal management with total "hands-on" control: God is completely in charge of his world. His hand may be hidden, but his rule is absolute. Some have restricted God's providence to foreknowledge without control (Freewill Theism), or upholding without intervention (Deism), or general oversight without concern for details (fate), but the testimony to providence as formulated above is overwhelming. (Paker)

The Bible clearly teaches God's providential control (1) over the universe at large, Ps. 103:19; Dan. 4:35; Eph. 1:11; (2) over the physical world, Job 37; Pss. 104:14; 135:6; Matt. 5:45; (3) over the brute creation, Ps. 104:21, 28; Matt. 6:26; 10:29; (4) over the affairs of nations, Job 12:23; Pss. 22:28; 66:7; Acts 17:26; (5) over man's birth and lot in life, 1 Sam. 16:1; Ps. 139:16; Isa. 45:5; Gal. 1:15-16; (6) over the outward successes and failures of men's lives, Ps. 75:6, 7; Luke 1:52; (7) over things seemingly accidental or insignificant, Prov. 16:33; Matt. 10:30; (8) in the protection of the righteous, Pss. 4:8; 5:12; 63:8; 121:3; Rom. 8:28; (9) in supplying the wants of God's people, Gen. 22:8, 14; Deut. 8:3; Phil. 4:19; (10) in giving answers to prayer, 1 Sam. 1:19; Isa. 20:5, 6; 2 Chron. 33:13; Ps. 65:2; Matt. 7:7; Luke 18:7, 8; and (11) in the exposure and punishment of the wicked, Pss. 7:12-13; 11:6. (L. Berkhof, Systematic Theology)

Clear thinking about God's involvement in the world-process and in the acts of rational creatures requires complementary sets of statements, thus: a person takes action, or an event is triggered by natural causes, or Satan shows his hand - yet God overrules. Things that are done which violate God's will of command - yet they fulfill his will of events (Eph. 1:11). Humans mean what they do for evil - yet God who overrules uses their actions for good (Gen. 50:20; Acts 2:23). Humans, under God's overruling, sin - yet God is not the author of sin (James 1:13-17); rather, he is its judge. The nature of God's "concurrent" or "confluent" involvement in all that occurs in his world, as - without violating the nature of things, the ongoing causal processes, or human free agency - he makes his will of events come to pass, is mystery to us, but it is the consistent biblical teaching about God's involvement. Of the evils that infect God's world (moral and spiritual perversity , waste of good, and the physical disorders and disruptions of a spoiled cosmos), it can summarily be said: God permits evil (Acts 14:16); he punishes evil with evil (Ps. 81:11-12; Rom. 1:26-32); he brings good out of evil (Gen. 50:20; Acts 2:23; 4:27-28; 13:27; 1 Cor. 2:7-8); he uses evil to test and discipline those he loves (Matt. 4:1-11; Heb. 12:4-14); and one day he will redeem his people from the power and presence of evil altogether (Rev. 21:27; 22:14-15).

The doctrine of providence teaches Christians that they are never in the grip of blind forces (fortune, chance, luck, fate); all that happens to them is divinely planned, and each event comes as a new summons to trust, obey, and rejoice, knowing that all is for one's spiritual and eternal good (Rom. 8:28).

Action 7 "For the Lord GOD does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets. 8 The lion has roared; who will not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken; who can but prophesy?"