Deceived

Amos 9 Deceived Believers

This vision has two parts, one negative (vv. 1–10) and the other positive (vv. 11–15). Everything religious that the Israelites had done in an attempt to manipulate God on their behalf brought reproach to his name with their sinful lives (1 Kings 12:26-33). Their unwillingness to confess and forsake their sin brings God’s judgement (Prov 28:13, 1 John 1:8-10, Ps 32:1-7, Gal 6:7-8). But God’s ultimate purpose in judgment is never destruction (v. 8); it is always restoration (v. 14)..

When it comes to our sinful behavior several things are true:

We can’t flee from His Presence (Job 34:21-22; Ps. 139:7-12; Jer. 16:16-17, Rom 8:37-39) 2 "If they dig into Sheol, from there shall my hand take them; if they climb up to heaven, from there I will bring them down. 3 If they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, from there I will search them out and take them; and if they hide from my sight at the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them. 4 And if they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it shall kill them; From the highest to the lowest, the darkest to the brightest, to the farthest no one can escape God’s presence. What effectual care is taken that none shall escape the execution of his sentence. This is enlarged upon here, and is intended for warning to all that provoke the Lord to jealousy. Let sinners read it, and tremble; as there is no fighting it out with God, so there is no fleeing from him. His judgments will overpower the strongest that think to outface them, so they will overtake the swiftest that think to out-run them, They shall find their plague and death where they hope to find shelter and protection; diving will stand them in no more stead than climbing. Wherever sinners flee for shelter from God’s justice, it will overtake them, and the shelter will prove but a refuge of lies His eyes are in every place, are upon all men and upon all the ways of men, upon some for good, to show himself strong on their behalf, but upon others for evil, to take notice of their sins (Job. 13:27 ) and take all opportunities of punishing them for their sins (Henry). Though you climb to heaves, the Lord can draw you down; though you descend to the abyss, God’s hand will there draw you forth; if you seek a hiding-place in the lowest depths, he will there also bring you forth to the light; and if you hide yourself in the deep sea, he will there find you out; in a word, wherever you try to hide, you cannot withdraw yourself from the presence and from the hand of God.”(Calvin). Diving would avail no more than climbing. Height and depth, light and darkness are alike open to the Omnipresent God. Men would gladly hide themselves from God's presence, but they cannot. Sinners would gladly dig into hell or climb up to heaven to escape from God's presence; but God is everywhere (Henry) The imagery emphasized that no place on earth was beyond the control and concern of God (Yates).

We can’t falter in His Purpose- Our lives are not aimless or pointless. 1 I saw the Lord standing beside the 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. v. 4 I will fix my eyes upon them for evil and not for good. He stands upon the altar, to show that the ground of his controversy with this people was their profanation of his holy things; When God judges he will overcome (Henry). The Lord had promised to be a guardian to his people Ps 121:4, The altar was to be place of sacrifice, but the scene is not of God receiving a sacrifice from the people, but his coming down to strike his people for their sinful disobedience (Boice). As God had until now watched over the safety of this people, whom he had chosen for himself, so He will hereafter watch, that He may omit no kind of punishment, until they be utterly destroyed.” (Henry)

And this sentence deserves to be specially noticed; for we are reminded, that though the Lord doesn’t indeed spare unbelievers, he yet more closely observes us, and that he will punish us more severely, if he sees us to be obstinate and incurable to the last. Why so? Because we have come nearer to him, and he looks on us as his family, placed under his eyes; not that anything is hid or concealed from him, but the Scripture speaks after the manner of men. While God then favors his people with a gracious look, he yet cannot endure hypocrites; for he minutely observes their vices that he may the more severely punish them Heb 12:3-13 (Barnes). This is exactly opposite to the covenant promises! This same metaphor and terminology occur several times in Jeremiah (cf. 21:10; 39:16; 44:11,27). It reflects the cursing and blessing sections of Lev 26, Deut. 28:64–68, Deut. 30:1–10 (Henry). .

We can’t fight against his Power -5 The Lord GOD of hosts, he who touches the earth and it melts, and all who dwell in it mourn, and all of it rises like the Nile, and sinks again, like the Nile of Egypt; 6 who builds his upper chambers in the heavens and founds his vault upon the earth; who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out upon the surface of the earth-- the LORD is his name. What a great and mighty God he is that passes this sentence upon them, and will take the executing of it into his own hands. Threatenings are more or less formidable according to the power of him that threatens. We laugh at impotent wrath; but the wrath of God is not so; it is omnipotent wrath. But is he able to make his words good? Yes, certainly he is; he does but touch the land and it melts, touch the mountains and they smoke; he can do it with the greatest ease, for, (1.) He is the Lord God of hosts, 3:13; 4:13; 5:14,16,27; 6:8,14.who undertakes to do it, the God who has all the power in his hand, and all creatures at his beck and call, who having made them all, and given them their several capacities, makes what use he pleases of them and all their powers 2) He is the Creator and governor of the upper world: It is he that builds his stories in the heavens, the celestial orbs, or spheres, one over another, as so many stories in a high and stately palace. He built them and he builds them still, is continually building them, not that they need repair, but by his providence he still upholds them; his power is the pillars of heaven, by which it is borne up. Now he that has the command of those stories is certainly to be feared, for thence, as from a castle, he can fire upon his enemies, or cast upon them great hailstones, (3.) He has the management and command of this lower world too, in which we dwell, the terrestrial globe, both earth and sea (Henry).

We can’t fall back on Privilege 7 "Are you not like the Cushites to me, O people of Israel?" declares the LORD. "Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor and the Syrians from Kir? (2 Ki. 16:9) 8 Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the surface of the ground. 10 All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say, 'Disaster shall not overtake or meet us.'

Verse 7 states very emphatically that Israel is not special, unique, or privileged, yet v. 8 shows God's special covenant care for her (Utley) Those that by birth and profession are children of Israel, if they degenerate, and become wicked and vile, are to God no more than children of the Ethiopians. Because of the favors he had conferred upon them; they thought he would not, he could not, cast them off, and put them upon a level with other nations, because he had done that for them which he had not done for other nations, whereby they thought he was bound to them, so as never to leave them (Henry). The nearer we are to God, the greater the provocations; the higher the privileges, the nearer to judgment (Dan 9:12; 1Pe 4:17) (Homiletical). The Israelites thought that they were safe through some peculiar privilege, and that they were to be exempt from all punishment God says he takes into account all the sins which are in the world, and no nations shall escape his hand, so how then can the Israelites escape? Other nations can plead some ignorance, because they have never been taught. They go astray in darkness. But shall Israel, to whom God has given light, and to whom he has daily exhorted to repent be unpunished? How could this be? The eyes of God are upon every sinful kingdom; He will destroy all the nations who have sinned from the face of the earth, though they have the pretense of ignorance for their sins; shall He not also destroy the house of Israel who was not ignorant? (Calvin). All self-secured sinners shall perish, but the righteous shall be delivered (Homiletical). The idea that Israel ought to receive special favor from God because they are uniquely chosen (9:10). In fact, says Amos, God had directed the movements of many peoples on the earth (v. 7), and if Israel has any special status, it is a special accountability (vv. 8–10) (ESV) The plea was that God would not cast off his people; for he delivered them from bondage and pledged himself to be their God. True, God chose them that they might love him, and so long as they kept his law he protected and saved them. Special favors do not exempt from Divine justice. They lay us under greater obligation to obey; for those who have much will be punished more severely for their sins, and from them much will be required (Homiletical).

We can’t fail regarding his Promises 8 except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob," declares the LORD. 9 "For behold, I will command, and shake the house of Israel among all the nations as one shakes with a sieve, but no pebble shall fall to the earth Deut 28 When those kingdoms that in name and profession were holy kingdoms, and kingdoms of priests, as Israel was, become sinful kingdoms, no other can be expected than that they should be cut off and abandoned. Let sinful kingdoms, and sinful families, and sinful persons too, see the eyes of the Lord upon them, observing all their wickedness, and reserving the notice of it for the day of reckoning and recompence. This being a sinful kingdom, see how light God makes of it, v. 7. “Look whence the Lord has brought you out; for you were as a dead carcass, and of no account: for the Egyptians treated your fathers as the vilest slaves: God brought you thence; then you have no nobility or excellency of your own, but the beginning of your dignity has proceeded from the gratuitous kindness of God. Yet ye think now that ye excel others, because ye have been redeemed: God has also redeemed the Philistines, when they were the servants of the Cappadocians; he redeemed the Syrians when they were servants to other nations.” (Calvin). God's eye is upon every one of his people, in their trials. Like a refiner of gold, he sits watching the process. Jewish history and Church history prove that this sifting results not in destruction, but purification. (Henry) Fiery trials make golden Christians; sanctified afflictions are spiritual promotion [Dyer]. Is 27:12–13 none of the remnant will be lost among the nations. A righteous remnant of the house of Jacob will be spared! The same process to one will be salvation, to another destruction. Like chaff, the wicked are worthless in their character and doom, blown away with the wind or burned in the fire. God spares the wicked for the sake of the godly now; but a separation will come. Each will go to the place for which he is fitted and destined. (Calvin).As long as the farmer’s corn is not clean, he will keep on sifting it. And as long as God’s Church is not pure, He will continue to purify it. Sifting is very far from being a pleasant experience for the wheat. The grain lies still and begins to make acquaintance with the chaff and the wheat around it. But lo, it is tossed aloft and all its associations broken! It mounts for awhile, but falls again to the bottom, not to rest, but to be continually tossed about. In the sieve the corn has no peace. the Lord does not intend to destroy you by these trials. He may bruise you, but not break you. He will chasten, but not destroy. He will bring you low, but He will yet appear for your deliverance and lift you up. If the Lord had meant to destroy you, He would have left you in your prosperity to run deeper into sin. He would have suffered you to become rotten with pride, or polluted with base passion to your destruction. No, it is because there is a need for it that He prunes the tree that He loves so well—purging it that it may bring forth more fruit—and that He may have the glory of it. You poor Believer, tossed about like that wheat, up and down, right and left, in the sieve, and in the air never resting. Perhaps it is suggested to you, “God is very angry with me.” No, the farmer is not angry with his wheat when he casts it up and down in the sieve—and neither is God angry with you! This you shall see, one day, when the light shall show that love ruled in all your griefs (Spurgeon).