Living In Agreement With God

 Amos 3:1-15 

1 Hear this word that the LORD has spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying:

2 "You only have I known of all the families of the earth;
Therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities."

3 Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?

4 Will a lion roar in the forest, when he has no prey?
Will a young lion cry out of his den, if he has caught nothing?
5 Will a bird fall into a snare on the earth, where there is no trap for it?
Will a snare spring up from the earth, if it has caught nothing at all?

6 If a trumpet is blown in a city, will not the people be afraid?
If there is calamity in a city, will not the LORD have done it?
7 Surely the Lord GOD does nothing,
Unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.

8 A lion has roared!
Who will not fear?
The Lord GOD has spoken!
Who can but prophesy?

9 "Proclaim in the palaces at Ashdod,
And in the palaces in the land of Egypt, and say:
'Assemble on the mountains of Samaria;
See great tumults in her midst,
And the oppressed within her.

10 For they do not know to do right,'
Says the LORD,
'Who store up violence and robbery in their palaces.'"

11 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD:
"An adversary shall be all around the land;
He shall sap your strength from you,
And your palaces shall be plundered."

12 Thus says the LORD:
"As a shepherd takes from the mouth of a lion
Two legs or a piece of an ear,
So shall the children of Israel be taken out
Who dwell in Samaria—
In the corner of a bed and on the edge of a couch!

13 Hear and testify against the house of Jacob,"
Says the Lord GOD, the God of hosts,

14 "That in the day I punish Israel for their transgressions,
I will also visit destruction on the altars of Bethel;
And the horns of the altar shall be cut off
And fall to the ground.

15 I will destroy the winter house along with the summer house;
The houses of ivory shall perish,
And the great houses shall have an end,"
Says the LORD.

Amos spoke God’s words against His chosen nation which He had delivered from the bondage of Egypt’s idolatry but did not turn from it after inheriting the promised land of milk and honey’s plenty.  Only Israel was known by the LORD as His own and therefore their sin had to be punished to discipline and correct them towards repentance.  He told them plainly that the two can only live in agreement to walk together.  If Israel could not live as God in righteousness and holiness through repentance and obedience from their hearts, then they would not be on His side and not pleasing to Him in the covenant made with them.  Sin had tarnished the image of God in mankind since the Fall in Eden’s Garden and still played out in them.  Faith and repentance were key to turning from sin back to following Him, but they kept choosing the ways of the ungodly instead of the called and chosen.  Of course we now know more fully and can see clearly that the plan for God to provide the covering for sin (Genesis 3:21) was not complete in animal sacrifices, but in God’s own work (Genesis 3:15) to offer Himself as an eternal sacrifice in the person of Jesus the Christ to permanently cover our sin with grace to forgive and place us in His righteousness to be acceptable to Him again.  Yes, as it is written here, “the Lord GOD does nothing unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.”  He sent messengers like Amos to speak these things of the past, present, and future of His work to accomplish all these things in the Messiah (Luke 24:44-45, 46-47), but their eyes and ears needed to be opened to truly comprehend what the prophets had been telling them.  Therefore they continued to rebel against Him until that time was fulfilled (Galatians 4:4-5) to be reconciled by grace and not impossible works of the Law to earn deliverance from the wages earned as consequences of their sin (Romans 6:23, Galatians 2:16).  When God spoke, the prophets spoke that word faithfully (Jeremiah 23:28-29) to their fellow chosen citizens of the kingdom to come, of which all are who are called as the sheep of the great Shepherd (Hebrews 13:20).  Punishment for unrepentant sin was declared to Israel then as a warning to all, for He will decimate our idols and lead the remnant that He calls out of that judgment, cutting off the horns of the altar of shrines to false gods at the root of Israel’s sins (1 Kings 12:26–33).  These horns of the altar which were the last refuge for a condemned individual (1 Kings 1:50–53) were cut off to render those ungodly altars useless.  God promised to cut those off who continued in idolatry by taking away the stumbling blocks for those called out from His nation as His true people of the heavenly kingdom.  This is what He continues to do now with all who are His own as John 10:3-4 tells us plainly.  Are we then living in agreement with God in Christ?  Are we standing firmly on the Rock foundation of this kingdom of God?  These are the lessons and questions we need to consider to make our calling and election certain (2 Peter 1:10-11) and knowing that to live as we are called, not in immortality or idolatry (2 Timothy 2:19, Colossians 3:5-7).  Let us therefore live in agreement with God in Christ by the enabling of His Spirit according to His word.