And Jesus, the Just One. Amos Review
Amos Review (2)
Pray Psalm 52.1-4.
Why do you boast in evil, O mighty man?
The goodness of God endures continually.
Your tongue devises destruction,
Like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.
You love evil more than good,
Lying rather than speaking righteousness.
Selah
You love all devouring words,
You deceitful tongue.
Sing Psalm 52.1-4.
(Warrington: Give to Our God Immortal Praise)
Why do the mighty boast in sin? God’s love endures, it knows no end!
They with their tongues vain boasts repeat, and like a razor, work deceit.
Men more than good in evil delight, and lies prefer to what is right.
They utter words both harsh and strong with their devouring, deceitful tongue.
Read Amos 2.14-16; meditate on verses 4, 11, 12.
Preparation
1. Why was God preparing to judge His own people?
2. What had they chosen instead of the Law of God and His prophets?
Meditation
It is God’s practice to lead His people by promises. This became especially clear to the people of Israel when God called Abram out of his homeland to dwell in the land God would show Him. He promised to bless him, give him a great name, make him a blessing to all peoples, and to protect and preserve him. God did this to raise up a people who, like Abram (Abraham), would believe God, receive His Word, and follow in His ways as witnesses to all the earth of the goodness and greatness of the Lord.
God expanded on those promises with Moses, speaking in very specific terms about the daily blessings His people would know in the land of promise (Deut. 28.1-14). But they could realize those blessings only by holding fast to His Law and obeying all His Word. Should they fail to trust and obey Him, they would realize the catastrophic consequences of their disobedience in the just judgment of God against them (Deut. 28.15ff).
This is where Israel and Judah had arrived in the days when Amos prophesied. They had God’s Law and they despised it (v. 4). He sent them prophets and they ignored and silenced them (vv. 11, 12). They chose not to follow God’s Law but to make up their own minds about right and wrong (vv. 4, 6-8) ; and in so doing, they incurred the wrath of God, Who is just and Who keeps all His Word—the blessings and the curses.
As God saved Israel out of Egypt (v. 10), so He has saved us and called us to be saints—separated unto Him for holiness (cf. Rom. 1.5-17). We are to be holy as He is holy (Lev. 11.44; Matt. 5.48). God is just, but He is also the Justifier of those who trust Him and believe in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins (Rom. 3.26). God is just, and He is just as just today as He was in the days of Amos. Jesus, the Just (Righteous) One has borne the justice of God to pay for our sins. And now we who believe are justified (declared righteous) in Him. Let us prove our justified condition by walking in obedience to God’s Word.
Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
“…they have despised the law of the LORD, and have not kept His commandments. Their lies lead them astray…” (Amos 2.4)
“He who despises the word will be destroyed, but he who fears the commandment will be rewarded.”
“He who walks in his uprightness fears the LORD, but he who is perverse in his ways despises Him” (Prov. 13.13; 14.2).
“If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed” (1 Cor. 16.22).
“I raised up some of your sons as prophets, and some of your young men as Nazirites…” (Amos 2.11, 12) but you tainted, ruined, and destroyed your Nazirites with wine, and muzzled your prophets by telling them not to prophesy. What were you thinking?
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! See! Your house is left to you desolate…” (Matt. 23.37, 38).
God created and planned for beauty, and His people have sullied everything.
“How the gold has become dim! How changed the fine gold!
The stones of the sanctuary are scattered at the head of every street.
The precious sons of Zion, valuable as fine gold, how they are regarded as clay pots, the work of the hands of the potter!” (Lam. 4.1, 2).
But. Then He sent Jesus. And all things became new.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Cor. 5.17).
And He has given us work to do. Reconciling work.
“Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ,
and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is,
that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself,
not imputing their trespasses to them,
and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ,
as though God were pleading through us:
we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.
For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us,
that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5.18-21).
“Let us prove our justified condition by walking in obedience to God’s Word.”
Reflection
1. What does the “ministry of reconciliation” mean for you?
2. We are justified by grace through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. So, where do good works fit into this story?
3. God is just, and we rejoice in the justice He accomplished in Jesus Christ. Where does the justice of God fit in with the Gospel of the Kingdom?
When men reject God’s word, adding obstinacy to sin, and this becomes the general character of a people, they will be given up to misery, notwithstanding all their boasted power and resources. May we then humble ourselves before the Lord, for all our ingratitude and unfaithfulness. Matthew Henry (1662-1714), Commentary on Amos 2.9-16
Pray Psalm 52.5-9.
Ask the Lord to show you any way in which you have despised His Word or failed to obey it. Call on Him for mercy and forgiveness, and seek revival and renewal in your soul. Pray the same for your church and for the followers of Christ everywhere.
Sing Psalm 52.5-9.
(Warrington: Give to Our God Immortal Praise)
God will forever break them down, uproot, and cast them to the ground!
He from their safety tears them away, no more to know the light of day.
The righteous see and laugh and fear, and say, “Behold, what have we here?
Such are all who at God conspire, and wealth and evil ways desire.”
But as for me may I be seen in God an olive ever green!
Ever in God, most kind and just, shall I with joy and gladness trust!
Thanks evermore to our Savior be raised! His faithfulness be ever praised!
Here with Your people, loving God, I wait upon Your Name, so good!
T. M. and Susie Moore
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.
