Amos 1 & 2 24 August 1996
2 Kings 13:23, 14:23-29
In the book of Amos, we read a prophecy directed toward an evil king, Jeroboam II, who ruled over a wicked kingdom.
God gave that wicked king long life & success, & great victories in battle, as we read in 2 Kings. He delivered Israel from the oppression of the surrounding nations - OHP
Here we have the opposite question to the question of Job.
Why does God do good to wicked people, & use wicked people for good purposes?
We could also ask, when we hear of great wickedness taking place in our own day, "Why does God allow wicked people to continue to be wicked?
Why doesn't He destroy the wicked immediately? or Why did He allow wickedness to begin, & not destroy Satan the moment He rebelled?"
First we must consider the teaching of the scripture we read.
Amos was a shepherd from the southern kingdom of Judah.
He was sent to the northern kingdom of Israel to prophesy.
His book is probably the earliest of the written prophecies.
Jonah was earlier - he is quoted in this book (2 Kings), but the book of Jonah is more history than prophecy.
The ministry of the great prophets Elijah & Elisha is recorded in the Books of Kings.
God had blessed Israel through Elisha's ministry which had ended a few years before.
The verse I read from 2 Kings 13:23 is God underlining Elisha's ministry.
The warnings of Amos show that God's long-suffering is coming to an end.
Amos brings the message from Zion - (Jerusalem) & he condemns the surrounding gentile nations one by one - OHP ...
You can imagine his hearers giving their approval as Amos declares God's judgement against Aram; the Philistines; Tyre; Edom; Ammon; Moab; their old enemies are listed for judgement.
God has judgement reserved for the wicked nations, for their sins against each other.
You can imagine their surprise when Judah is also listed for judgement, for rejecting the Law of the Lord.
Finally Amos speaks of God's judgement against his hearers, Israel.
God has kept His covenant promises in delivering them out of Egypt, leading them safely through the desert & bringing them to the promised land (the land of the Amorites.)
They have rejected the laws of God, justice, true worship AND the prophets God has sent to them. (Particularly E & E.)
The surrounding nations are judged for their sins against man & each other.
Judah & Israel are judged for their sins against God.
We live in days when "multiculturalism" is the "Key word."
We are taught almost that "culture" is sacred.
All nations, races, religions etc have their contribution to make to society. That a baby from a black family would be psychologically damaged by being adopted by a white family.
That it would be outrageous for a baby from a Moslem or Sikh family to be brought up as a Christian.
We are taught that the laws by which other races live are valid, & must be respected.
I have heard it said that the 10 commandments are only for Jews.
Other religions have their own rules.
They say that Christians are not under the Law but under grace & as long as they believe in Jesus they simply have to live good lives by their own standards. By that definition, anyone can be a Christian.
They even say that because no-one can keep the Law, no-one is obliged to keep it.
After all, Jesus died for all, so that all are forgiven.
That is a very foolish rejection of God's wise teaching.
Such teaching is straight from Hell, & leads straight to Hell.
Paul declares that "All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, & all who sin under the law will be judged by the law." (Romans 2:12)
God makes it quite clear that "the same law applies to the native born & the alien." (Ex. 12:49, Lev. 24:22, Num. 15:29-30). When you read the 10 commandments, the alien is included specifically in the Sabbath Day command.
Joshua was in no doubt that "all the words of the Law - the blessings & the curses" applied to the "whole assembly of Israel, including women, children & aliens." (read Josh. 8:34-35.)
The laws (& the blessings & the curses) which apply to the Israelites - the covenant people of God - also apply to foreigners living in the land.
There is not the slightest suggestion in scripture that there is any salvation outside the covenant.
Read Ephesians 2 for the state of the gentiles apart from Christ: "separate; excluded; without hope; without God; far away ..."
The laws which we must obey in order to live before God are hopelessly broken.
All mankind is condemned, for all have sinned.
God commands all men, everywhere to repent.
Back to Amos.
It was no use the surrounding nations saying, "God is God of the Jews. He can't judge us. We've got our own gods."
They were to face the well-deserved judgement of God, for God is judge of all the earth. (Gen. 18:25)
It was no use the people of Judah saying, "We have the temple & the Law, and the promises to David. God can only do us good."
They had in practice rejected God's law, & been led astray by false gods.
It was no use Jeroboam saying, "We are the covenant people. God can only do us good."
The history of the nation of Israel from the time of the judges was of the nation turning away from God, & being overrun by surrounding nations.
They would cry to God under oppression, & God would raise up a deliverer.
Like the author of Hebrews "I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Jephthah, David, Samuel & the prophets." (Heb. 11:32)
Jeroboam was used by God to deliver Israel from oppression, according to a prophecy of Jonah. Scripture records that God saved them by the hand of Jeroboam even though he did evil in the sight of the Lord.
I want to come back now to the questions I raised earlier.
1. Why does God do good to wicked people, & use wicked people for good purposes?
God's kindness to sinners is to lead them to repentance. (Romans 2)
In a community, even a wicked one like Sodom (or 1990s Britain) there are believers, & for their sake God cares for both bad & good people. "The Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian (Potiphar) because of Joseph." (Genesis 39:5)
In Romans 13, Paul explains that there is no authority but God, & the governing authorities are appointed by God. Evil rulers may act like Pharaoh, whose stubbornness brought about the deliverance of the Israelites, & the destruction of his own nation.
Pharaoh's action brought about the display of the power of God, & the proclamation of His Name in all the earth.
They may also act like the Emperors who established a society through which Paul could travel freely in his work of spreading the Gospel.
The most wicked act ever was the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Herod, Pilate, gentiles & Israelites conspired to do what God's power & will had decided beforehand should happen.
By that most wicked act by wicked men, God brought about the redemption of His people.
2. Why does God allow wicked people to continue to be wicked?
Why doesn't God destroy the wicked immediately?
Why did God allow wickedness to begin, & not destroy Satan the moment He rebelled?"
God has two great purposes.
The display of His glory, & the salvation of His elect people by His Son.
If God had acted to destroy Adam as soon as he sinned, there would have been none to save.
When we hear of great evil & suffering, we often ask or think, "Why doesn't God act to prevent evil."
We forget that all, including you & I, are evil. To prevent evil God would need to destroy the entire human race.
God sent His Son to die to save His people from their sin.
God's answer to evil is to change sinners to saints.
To give His people new hearts to love & serve Him.
To overcome evil with good.
At the time of the flood, God's purposes of salvation were seen in the deliverance of Noah's family in the ark.
God is preserving evil mankind for the purpose of saving His elect out of mankind.
For all his evil power of lying, temptation & slander, Satan is unable to hold on to God's elect even though we are born in Satan's domain, or to snatch back those God has saved.
God is glorified in His total victory over Satan, & his final judgement.
God does allow wickedness to continue, while He is calling out His elect.
Amos tells his hearers, & the surrounding nations of coming judgement, 2 years before the earthquake.
God has given clear warning of His intentions.
The nations, including our own, have time to repent & turn to God.
Scriptural history shows that evil men are blessed because of the believers among them.
Scriptural history also records that that time comes to an end, & then believers are caught up in the judgement of the wicked.
Daniel & his friends were taken as captives to Babylon when God commissioned Nebuchadnezzar to judge Jerusalem.
At the same time Jeremiah & Baruch remained with the oppressed people in Judah, & suffered with them as they continued in disobedience.
We may live in good times or bad. Our nation may be blessed for our sake, or we may suffer as our nation is judged for its rejection of God.
Whatever happens to us, we know that God's great purposes will be completely realised when the Lord Jesus Christ returns in glory.
"We are looking forward to a new heaven & a new earth, the home of righteousness." (2 Peter 3:13)
HTC:
183 The Lord is King
4 My Lord of light who made the worlds
328 Lord for the years
202 You are coming O my Saviour
==================
Last time we learned of Elihu's encouragement to the suffering Job.
To look to God & His eternal purposes, rather than to look at his own misery.
The problem of why good people suffer was answered supremely by the great truths that: