Transcript

Executive Producer

John

Podcast Introduction

Today is prophesy Friday,. We’ll read Amos 5-9. I’ll have a brief introduction before reading each chapter, and after the reading I’ll have some comments. And of course I’ll have an “On This Date In Church History” segment for you, too. I’m calling today’s episode  “God Is Not Hiding.”

Comments on Amos

Thoughts on Amos 5

In chapter five, verse four, God tells Israel, “Seek me so you can live!” When we sincerely pursue a relationship with God, we will find Him and have eternal life. In the book of Jeremiah, God said, “If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.” Jesus said, “Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened for you.” 

God is not hiding. He wants us to know Him, to trust Him, to love Him.

But we must seek him wholeheartedly as He said in Jeremiah. If we hold on to our old ways, He is not pleased. Further on in chapter five, He chastises the Israelites for their phony attempts to serve him while they remain in their sin. In verse 21 He tells them, “I absolutely despise your festivals! I get no pleasure from your religious assemblies!” And dropping down to verse 27 He says, “…I will drive you into exile beyond Damascus.”

Church attendance doesn’t fool God. We can fool those around us. We might even fool ourselves. But if we try to hold on to anything that is not pleasing to Him, He sees through the charade. We should continually take a spiritual inventory. We should ask Him to show us if there is anything in our life that is more important to us than He is, and help us to eliminate whatever it is. He wants to shower blessings on us, but we must be willing to have Him be on the throne in our lives. Him and only Him. 

Thoughts on Amos 9

7“Are you not as the sons of Ethiopia to Me,

O sons of Israel?” declares the Lord.

“Have I not brought up Israel from the land of Egypt,

And the Philistines from Caphtor and the Arameans from Kir?

Amos 9:7 NASB

People of Ethiopia were thought by Israel to be distant and unimportant. In verse 7 God is saying, “Yes, I brought you out of Egypt, but I also brought he Philistines from Caphtor and the Arameans from Kir. Don’t be proud just because you are Jews.”

In verse 9, a shift begins to take place in the narrative:

9“For behold, I am commanding,

And I will shake the house of Israel among all nations

As grain is shaken in a sieve,

But not a kernel will fall to the ground.

Amos 9:9 NASB

Listen to Charles Spurgeon: “I think I see 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.” 

This shaking in a sieve is a purification process. God is separating the wheat from the chaff. He is purifying His people.

11“In that day I will raise up the fallen booth of David,

And wall up its breaches;

I will also raise up its ruins

And rebuild it as in the days of old;

12That they may possess the remnant of Edom

And all the nations who are called by My name,”

Declares the Lord who does this.

Amos 9:11-12

Beginning in verse 11, the message is that God will restore the royal line of David. G. Campbell Morgan wrote: “It is now declared that the reason of the divine judgment is not revenge, but the only way in which it is possible to usher in the restored order on which the heart of God is set.”

Has the royal line of David been restored? Yes! Jesus the Messiah is from that line, and He will forever be on the throne!

The gist of these two verses is that God will restore David’s line (which He did in Jesus), and build a new Kingdom which will include not just the Jew, but all who declare the name of the Lord. 

Beloved, God is even now doing a great work, and we look ahead to that day when the troubles here pass away and the Lord brings the new Heaven and the new Earth.

Today’s Bible Translation

Bible translation used in today’s episode: Ch. 5-7 NET; Ch. 8-9 NASB

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STEVE WEBB – 0:00
Seek me so you can live.

INTRO S12E261 – 0:09
This is the Lifespring Family Audio Bible coming to you from Riverside, California. Podcasting since 2004, I’m your OG Godcaster, Steve Webb. Welcome. How are you today? This is the daily show where we’re reading through the entire Bible in a year and today is PROPHECY Friday, so we’ll read Amos 5 through 9. After the reading, I’ll have some comments for you. And we’ve got an On This Date in Church History segment as well. I’m calling today’s episode, “God Is Not Hiding”. The show notes page for today is lifespringmedia.com/s12e261. My email address is st***@*************ia.com. Now let’s get started.

AMOS 5 (NET) – 0:50
Amos, chapter 5.

(1) Listen to this funeral song I am ready to sing about you, family of Israel:
(2) “The virgin Israel has fallen down and will not get up again.
She is abandoned on her own land
with no one to help her get up.”
(3) The sovereign Lord says this:
“The city that marches out with a thousand soldiers will have only a hundred left;
the town that marches out with a hundred soldiers will have only ten left for the family of Israel.”
(4) The Lord says this to the family of Israel:
“Seek me so you can live!
(5) Do not seek Bethel!
Do not visit Gilgal!
Do not journey down to Beer Sheba!
For the people of Gilgal will certainly be carried into exile;
and Bethel will become a place where disaster abounds.”
(6) Seek the Lord so you can live!
Otherwise he will break out like fire against Joseph’s family;
the fire will consume
and no one will be able to quench it and save Bethel.
(7) The Israelites turn justice into bitterness;
they throw what is fair and right to the ground.
(8) (But there is one who made the constellations Pleiades and Orion;
he can turn the darkness into morning
and daylight into night.
He summons the water of the seas
and pours it out on the earth’s surface.
The Lord is his name!
(9) He flashes destruction down upon the strong
so that destruction overwhelms the fortified places.)
(10) The Israelites hate anyone who arbitrates at the city gate;
they despise anyone who speaks honestly.
(11) Therefore, because you make the poor pay taxes on their crops
and exact a grain tax from them,
you will not live in the houses you built with chiseled stone,
nor will you drink the wine from the fine vineyards you planted.
(12) Certainly I am aware of your many rebellious acts
and your numerous sins.
You torment the innocent, you take bribes,
and you deny justice to the needy at the city gate.
(13) For this reason whoever is smart keeps quiet in such a time,
for it is an evil time.
(14) Seek good and not evil so you can live!
Then the Lord, the God who commands armies, just might be with you,
as you claim he is.
(15) Hate what is wrong, love what is right!
Promote justice at the city gate!
Maybe the Lord, the God who commands armies, will have mercy on those who are left from Joseph.
(16) Because of Israel’s sins this is what the Lord, the God who commands armies, the sovereign One, says:
“In all the squares there will be wailing,
in all the streets they will mourn the dead.
They will tell the field workers to lament
and the professional mourners to wail.
(17) In all the vineyards there will be wailing,
for I will pass through your midst,” says the Lord.
(18) Woe to those who wish for the day of the Lord!
Why do you want the Lord’s day of judgment to come?
It will bring darkness, not light.
(19) Disaster will be inescapable,
as if a man ran from a lion only to meet a bear,
then escaped into a house,
leaned his hand against the wall,
and was bitten by a poisonous snake.
(20) Don’t you realize the Lord’s day of judgment will bring darkness, not light –
gloomy blackness, not bright light?
(21) “I absolutely despise your festivals!
I get no pleasure from your religious assemblies!
(22) Even if you offer me burnt and grain offerings, I will not be satisfied;
I will not look with favor on your peace offerings of fattened calves.
(23) Take away from me your noisy songs;
I don’t want to hear the music of your stringed instruments.
(24) Justice must flow like torrents of water,
righteous actions like a stream that never dries up.
(25) You did not bring me sacrifices and grain offerings during the forty years you spent in the wilderness, family of Israel.
(26) You will pick up your images of Sikkuth, your king,
and Kiyyun, your star god, which you made for yourselves,
(27) and I will drive you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the Lord.
He is called the God who commands armies!

AMOS 6 (NET) – 4:32
Amos, chapter 6.

(1) Woe to those who live in ease in Zion,
to those who feel secure on Mount Samaria.
They think of themselves as the elite class of the best nation.
The family of Israel looks to them for leadership.
(2) They say to the people:
“Journey over to Calneh and look at it!
Then go from there to Hamath-Rabbah!
Then go down to Gath of the Philistines!
Are they superior to our two kingdoms?
Is their territory larger than yours?”
(3) You refuse to believe a day of disaster will come,
but you establish a reign of violence.
(4) They lie around on beds decorated with ivory,
and sprawl out on their couches.
They eat lambs from the flock,
and calves from the middle of the pen.
(5) They sing to the tune of stringed instruments;
like David they invent musical instruments.
(6) They drink wine from sacrificial bowls,
and pour the very best oils on themselves.
Yet they are not concerned over the ruin of Joseph.
(7) Therefore they will now be the first to go into exile,
and the religious banquets where they sprawl on couches will end.
(8) The sovereign Lord confirms this oath by his very own life.
The Lord, the God who commands armies, is speaking:
“I despise Jacob’s arrogance;
I hate their fortresses.
I will hand over to their enemies the city of Samaria and everything in it.”
(9) If ten men are left in one house, they too will die. (10) When their close relatives, the ones who will burn the corpses, pick up their bodies to remove the bones from the house, they will say to anyone who is in the inner rooms of the house, “Is anyone else with you?” He will respond, “Be quiet! Don’t invoke the Lord’s name!”
(11) Indeed, look! The Lord is giving the command.
He will smash the large house to bits,
and the small house into little pieces.
(12) Can horses run on rocky cliffs?
Can one plow the sea with oxen?
Yet you have turned justice into a poisonous plant,
and the fruit of righteous actions into a bitter plant.
(13) You are happy because you conquered Lo-Debar.
You say, “Did we not conquer Karnaim by our own power?”
(14) “Look! I am about to bring a nation against you, family of Israel.”
The Lord, the God who commands armies, is speaking.
“They will oppress you all the way from Lebo-Hamath to the Stream of the Arabah.”

AMOS 7 (NET) – 6:48
Amos, chapter 7.

(1) The sovereign Lord showed me this: I saw him making locusts just as the crops planted late were beginning to sprout. (The crops planted late sprout after the royal harvest.) (2) When they had completely consumed the earth’s vegetation, I said,
“Sovereign Lord, forgive Israel!
How can Jacob survive?
He is too weak!”
(3) The Lord decided not to do this. “It will not happen,” the Lord said.
(4) The sovereign Lord showed me this: I saw the sovereign Lord summoning a shower of fire. It consumed the great deep and devoured the fields.
(5) I said, “Sovereign Lord, stop!
How can Jacob survive?
He is too weak!”
(6) The Lord decided not to do this. The sovereign Lord said, “This will not happen either.”
(7) He showed me this: I saw the sovereign One standing by a tin wall holding tin in his hand. (8) The Lord said to me, “What do you see, Amos?” I said, “Tin.” The sovereign One then said,
“Look, I am about to place tin among my people Israel.
I will no longer overlook their sin.
(9) Isaac’s centers of worship will become desolate;
Israel’s holy places will be in ruins.
I will attack Jeroboam’s dynasty with the sword.”
(10) Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent this message to King Jeroboam of Israel: “Amos is conspiring against you in the very heart of the kingdom of Israel! The land cannot endure all his prophecies. (11) As a matter of fact, Amos is saying this: ‘Jeroboam will die by the sword and Israel will certainly be carried into exile away from its land.’”
(12) Amaziah then said to Amos, “Leave, you visionary! Run away to the land of Judah! Earn your living and prophesy there! (13) Don’t prophesy at Bethel any longer, for a royal temple and palace are here!”
(14) Amos replied to Amaziah, “I was not a prophet by profession. No, I was a herdsman who also took care of sycamore fig trees. (15) Then the Lord took me from tending flocks and gave me this commission, ‘Go! Prophesy to my people Israel!’ (16) So now listen to the Lord’s message! You say, ‘Don’t prophesy against Israel! Don’t preach against the family of Isaac!’
(17) “Therefore this is what the Lord says:
‘Your wife will become like a prostitute in the streets
and your sons and daughters will die violently.
Your land will be given to others
and you will die in a foreign land.
Israel will certainly be carried into exile away from its land.’”

AMOS 8 (NASB) – 9:13
Amos, chapter 8.

(1) Thus the Lord God showed me, and behold, there was a basket of summer fruit. (2) He said, “What do you see, Amos?” And I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the Lord said to me, “The end has come for My people Israel. I will spare them no longer. (3) The songs of the palace will turn to wailing in that day,” declares the Lord God. “Many will be the corpses; in every place they will cast them forth in silence.”

(4) Hear this, you who trample the needy, to do away with the humble of the land, (5) saying,

“When will the new moon be over,
So that we may sell grain,
And the sabbath, that we may open the wheat market,
To make the bushel smaller and the shekel bigger,
And to cheat with dishonest scales,
(6) So as to buy the helpless for money
And the needy for a pair of sandals,
And that we may sell the refuse of the wheat?”
(7) The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob,
“Indeed, I will never forget any of their deeds.
(8) Because of this will not the land quake
And everyone who dwells in it mourn?
Indeed, all of it will rise up like the Nile,
And it will be tossed about
And subside like the Nile of Egypt.
(9) It will come about in that day,” declares the Lord God,
“That I will make the sun go down at noon
And make the earth dark in broad daylight.
(10) Then I will turn your festivals into mourning
And all your songs into lamentation;
And I will bring sackcloth on everyone’s loins
And baldness on every head.
And I will make it like a time of mourning for an only son,
And the end of it will be like a bitter day.
(11) “Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord God,
“When I will send a famine on the land,
Not a famine for bread or a thirst for water,
But rather for hearing the words of the Lord.
(12) People will stagger from sea to sea
And from the north even to the east;
They will go to and fro to seek the word of the Lord,
But they will not find it.
(13) In that day the beautiful virgins
And the young men will faint from thirst.
(14) As for those who swear by the guilt of Samaria,
Who say, ‘As your god lives, O Dan,’
And, ‘As the way of Beersheba lives,’
They will fall and not rise again.”

AMOS 9 (NASB) – 11:18
Amos, chapter 9.

(1) I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and He said,
“Smite the capitals so that the thresholds will shake,
And break them on the heads of them all!
Then I will slay the rest of them with the sword;
They will not have a fugitive who will flee,
Or a refugee who will escape.
(2) Though they dig into Sheol,
From there will My hand take them;
And though they ascend to heaven,
From there will I bring them down.
(3) Though they hide on the summit of Carmel,
I will search them out and take them from there;
And though they conceal themselves from My sight on the floor of the sea,
From there I will command the serpent and it will bite them.
(4) And though they go into captivity before their enemies,
From there I will command the sword that it slay them,
And I will set My eyes against them for evil and not for good.”
(5) The Lord God of hosts,
The One who touches the land so that it melts,
And all those who dwell in it mourn,
And all of it rises up like the Nile
And subsides like the Nile of Egypt;
(6) The One who builds His upper chambers in the heavens
And has founded His vaulted dome over the earth,
He who calls for the waters of the sea
And pours them out on the face of the earth,
The Lord is His name.
(7) “Are you not as the sons of Ethiopia to Me,
O sons of Israel?” declares the Lord.
“Have I not brought up Israel from the land of Egypt,
And the Philistines from Caphtor and the Arameans from Kir?
(8) Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are on the sinful kingdom,
And I will destroy it from the face of the earth;
Nevertheless, I will not totally destroy the house of Jacob,”
Declares the Lord.
(9) “For behold, I am commanding,
And I will shake the house of Israel among all nations
As grain is shaken in a sieve,
But not a kernel will fall to the ground.
(10) All the sinners of My people will die by the sword,
Those who say, ‘The calamity will not overtake or confront us.’
(11) “In that day I will raise up the fallen booth of David,
And wall up its breaches;
I will also 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, days are coming,” declares the Lord,
“When the plowman will overtake the reaper
And the treader of grapes him who sows seed;
When the mountains will drip sweet wine
And all the hills will be dissolved.
(14) Also I will restore the captivity of My people Israel,
And they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them;
They will also plant vineyards and drink their wine,
And make gardens and eat their fruit.
(15) I will also plant them on their land,
And they will not again be rooted out from their land
Which I have given them,”
Says the Lord your God.

COMMENTS – 14:01
Well, of course a lot happened in these chapters but I’m gonna focus on a few points. In chapter five, verse four, God tells Israel, “Seek me so you can live!” Beloved, when we sincerely pursue a relationship with God, we’ll find him and we’ll have eternal life. In the book of Jeremiah, God said, “If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.” Jesus said, “Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened for you.”

God isn’t hiding. He wants us to know Him, to trust him, to love Him.

But we have to seek Him wholeheartedly as he said in Jeremiah. If we hold on to our old ways, he’s not pleased. And further on in chapter five, he chastises the Israelites for their phony attempts to serve him while they remain in their sin. In verse 21, he tells them. “I absolutely despise your festivals! I get no pleasure from your religious assemblies!” And dropping down to verse 27, he says, “I will drive you into exile beyond Damascus.”

So you see, religious activity, church attendance, doesn’t fool God. We can fool those around us and we might even fool ourselves. But if we try to hold on to anything that is not pleasing to Him, He sees through that. We should continually take a spiritual inventory. We should ask Him to show us if there’s anything in our life that’s more important to us than He is, and help us to eliminate whatever that is. He wants to shower blessings on us, but we have to be willing to have Him be on the throne of our lives, Him and only Him.

In chapter nine, verse seven, we read,

(7) “Are you not as the sons of Ethiopia to Me,
O sons of Israel?” declares the Lord.
“Have I not brought up Israel from the land of Egypt,
And the Philistines from Caphtor and the Arameans from Kir?”

So what does that mean? “Are you not as the sons of Ethiopia to me?” What God was saying was, Just because you’re my chosen people, don’t think too highly of yourself. Yes, I brought you out of Egypt. But I also brought the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Arameans from Kir. Don’t be proud just because you’re Jews. You see, the Jews thought that the people of Ethiopia were distant and unimportant. You’re no more important to me than the Philistines or the Arameans.

And then in verse nine, a shift begins to take place in the narrative. Up until this point, it’s all been judgment, judgment, judgment. Well listen to verse nine.

(9) “For behold, I am commanding,
And I will shake the house of Israel among all nations
As grain is shaken in a sieve,
But not a kernel will fall to the ground.”

Here’s what Charles Spurgeon said about that. “I think I see 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.”

You see, this shaking in a sieve is a purification process. God is separating the wheat from the chaff. He’s purifying his people.

So now let’s look at verses 11 and 12.

(11) “In that day I will raise up the fallen booth of David,
And wall up its breaches;
I will also 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.”

So beginning there in verse 11, the message is that God will restore the royal line of David. He mentioned here in the New American Standard, “the fallen booth of David”. In other translations, it’s “the fallen tabernacle of David”. It’s no longer a great house, it’s now just a booth. But God says in that day, I will raise up the fallen booth. G. Campbell Morgan wrote, “It is now declared that the reason of the divine judgment is not revenge, but the only way in which it is possible to usher in the restored order on which the heart of God is set.”

So has the royal line of David been restored? Yes, it has. Jesus the Messiah is from that line, and he will be forever on the throne. Remember when God made that promise to David?

So the gist of these two verses is that God will restore David’s line (which he did in Jesus), and build a new kingdom, which will include not just the Jew, but all who declare the name of the Lord, because it says there in verse 12, “That they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by my name.” He’s talking about the Gentiles there. He’s talking about the people who are not Jewish. He’s talking about all the nations which was a foreign concept to the Jews of the time.

And, beloved, God is even now doing a great work. It sort of feels like we are being tossed in a sieve, doesn’t it? But we look ahead to that day when the troubles here pass away, and the Lord brings the new heaven and the new earth. Won’t that be a wonderful time?

I’d love to hear your comments. Let me know what you’re thinking go to lifespringmedia.com/s12e261. Scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and let me know what you’re thinking.

Tomorrow is GOSPEL Saturday, we’ll finish the book of John by reading chapters 19 through 21. And then next Saturday, we’ll begin reading the last book in what we’re calling the gospel section of the Bible. We’ll begin reading the book of Acts.

Boost!

PRODUCER SHOUT OUT – 19:39
We have an executive producer for this episode, John came in with his monthly $50 donation. I thank you very much, John. God bless you. Thank you, my brother.

ON THIS DAY IN CHURCH HISTORY – 20:00
On this date in church history, May 20, 1690, John Eliot passed away. He was the English-born clergyman, congregational missionary to Colonial America, and apostle to the American Indians. He worked with a Pequod people in Massachusetts for 30 years. His Indian language catechism that was written in 1653 was the first book printed in English in America. And his translation of the Bible into Pequod was the first Bible published in America. That’s notable!

PRAISE REPORT – 20:39
I have a praise report. I got a text this morning from Lisa, my sister-in-law, the Lovely Lady LeeAnn’s youngest sister. And she said, “Just wanted to let you know that we have some great news concerning Mike. He saw the pulmonary doctor yesterday and he said it definitely was not cancer. And there’s nothing wrong with his lungs. He does want him to have a CT scan once a year just because of his history of smoking, which he has stopped doing. So praise the Lord for that, right.

PRAYER – 21:08
Let’s pray. Lord, we thank you for the promise, ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be open for you. Help us Lord to never stop asking, seeking and knocking. We can never have enough of You. And You are generous when we seek You. Jesus said, I came that they might have life and have it abundantly. Lord, we thank You for that. And may we always remember to be thankful. We thank You, Lord for the good report on Mike and we thank You for his clean bill-of-health. And Lord, I thank You today and I praise You for the Lifespring family and I ask that you supply their every need. I pray this in Jesus name. Amen.

If you have a praise report or a prayer request, please go to prayer.lifespringmedia.com

OUTRO S12E261 – 21:59
I’d love it if you’d share the show with somebody. Tell them why you listen and show them how to subscribe. Comment on the show at lifespringmedia.com/s12e261. Email me at st***@*************ia.com. Thanks to the team, Kirsty, Sean of San Pedro and Denise. Support the show with your time, talent or treasure at lifespringmedia.com/support. And thank you for sharing your time with me today.

Until tomorrow, may God bless you richly. My name is Steve Webb.

Bye.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Corrected by Denise