Be Concerned - Amos - From Singing to Silence

There is a vast difference between practicing religion and walking with the Lord. In fact, when you read history, you discover that many people who truly walked with the Lord were rejected by those who were religious. Certainly this was true of the prophets. Isaiah, Jeremiah were persecuted by their own people.

Amos here is persecuted by the priest who states that he is the servant of God after all. He had a priestly function to perform and he was a man who was highly esteemed. When you read church history, you find that John Wesley was not allowed to preach in the very church that his father had pastored. Wesley was turned away from churches where he should have been allowed to preach the word of God.

This was true of Whitfield and of D. L. Moody. People laughed at Moody. And yet God used these people. God used him in a mighty way. And today we need more people like Amos. Amos didn't have the training and the background of Amaziah, but Amos was a man of God. And God used him to declare the word of God.

Verses 10 and 11, the priest's message to the king. Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam King of Israel saying, Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear all his words. For thus Amos has said, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive from their own land.

Now, this priest did not feel an obligation to turn to God. He should have turned to God after he heard the word that Amos preached. I don't doubt that Amos had gone right up to the chapel there in Bethel, and he'd stood up in the service and said, thus the Lord God showed me.

He talked about the locust, and he talked about the fire, and he talked about the vision he had of God and the plum line. And at that point Amaziah the priest couldn't take it. And so he sent a message to the king. And he should have sent a message to the Lord.

He should have fallen on his face before God and said, oh God, I'm a sinful man. I have been leading these people astray. I have been using religion just as a means to make money. I've been catering to the king. I have been a part of a civil religion that is beautiful on the outside but ugly on the inside. I have done nothing about stopping the sin that is going on in my nation. Oh God, forgive me.

But that is not the message that Amaziah sent to God. Instead, he sent a message to the king. He would much rather be on good terms with the politicians than with God. By the way, in this day when it is so easy to go to church, let's be very careful, let's be very, very careful that we don't do it just to receive approval. Amaziah the priest was a popular man. He was a popular religious leader.

Beware when a religious leader gets popular. Our Lord said, beware when all men speak well of you. The Lord Jesus and the apostles were persecuted. The apostles were thrown out of the synagogue. Jesus left the temple. And here's Amaziah the priest compromising. He depended on his political power. He wasn't depending on God and he lied.

He lied about Amos. Amos did not say that Jeroboam would die by the sword. If you look at verse 9, it says, I will rise with the sword against the house of Jeroboam. Actually Jeroboam died a natural death. His son was killed. He's talking here about the dynasty of Jeroboam being wiped out.

It's interesting how people can twist your words. Well, this is what he said, but he didn't say that. They did that with the Lord Jesus at his trial. They tried to twist some of the words they had heard Jesus speak. And Amos had never said that.

Amos 4:3, Amos 5:5, Amos 5:27. Amos 6:7, he talks about captivity. And surely this happened. The Assyrians swooped down upon Israel in 722. And many were taken captive and the nation was just quietly eradicated. He lied. Amaziah lied about Amos. He tried to get the king to fight against the preacher.

Now, the priest gave a message to the prophet in verses 12 and 13. Amaziah by now was sure that he had all the king's horses and all the king's men behind him. The name Amaziah means the Lord is strong. Amaziah certainly did not live up to his name because he was not depending on the strength of the Lord. He was depending upon political power. He was depending upon the reputation and the authority of the king. Bethel means the house of God. It was not the house of God. It was anything but the house of God.

Verse 12. Then Amaziah said to Amos, go you seer, flee to the land of Judah. There eat bread and there prophesy, but never again prophesy at Bethel. For it is the king's sanctuary and it is the royal residence. My, what a statement. And I'm sure Amaziah said this publicly. He was probably trying to frighten Amos away. Now he scorns Amos. He speaks in derision against the servant of God.

Amaziah said all that you're preaching doesn't apply to me. Don't start preaching that sort of thing here in Bethel. He calls him a seer, which means a visionary. Go you visionary, you've been telling us about the visions you have seen. We aren't interested in your visions because you are just a visionary. More than that, why don't you flee away. After all, you're in danger here at Bethel. In other words, he was suggesting that Amos was a coward.

It reminds us of Nehemiah, doesn't it? You remember when Nehemiah was threatened, he said, should such a man as I flee? He's not going to run away and hide. He has the power of God behind him. He says, stay out, get out of here. You're just a commoner. You're not a special person. This is the king's sanctuary. This is the royal residence.

Who are you an ordinary farmer? You take care of flocks, you take care of sycamore trees. You don't belong in a lovely chapel, a wonderful sanctuary such as this. He says, why don't you go down to Judah, that's where you came from. Do your preaching there and there eat your bread. He's suggesting the only reason you preach is to make money. You're a hireling. And so he disdains and scorns Amos and his message.

By the way, throughout the word of God, you find a conflict between prophet and priest. Now it shouldn't be that way. The prophet shows up when the people are turning away from God. And if the people are turning away from God, it's because the priests were not doing their job.

The priest was not only to minister at the altar and in the tabernacle or the temple. The priest was also supposed to teach the word of God to the people. He was to make sure that the people were instructing the new generation in the things of the Lord. And too often they were not.

You see, the prophet wants us to prepare for the future. The priest too often wants us to preserve the past. There are many ministries that are not ministries at all, they are museums. All they are doing is monitoring conformity. They're going into the future unprepared. Don't even know what's going on.

There are many ministries that are very priestly in the sense that they're trying to preserve the past, the tradition, the routine. And along comes the prophet who says, thus says the Lord, here's what's going on. Let's get with it.

There's nothing wrong with tradition, just beware of traditionalism. There's nothing wrong with a priestly ministry. We need those at the altar, those who intercede, all of us as God's children are priests before God. Tradition is fine, traditionalism is very dangerous. Tradition is important because we must have handed down to us the teachings from the past, but beware when that becomes routine.

The priest had to do with the externals of religion. The priest had a guide book. He knew what day he should do this, what day was a fast day, what day was a feast day. He knew how to cut up the sacrifices. He knew how to burn them, how to present them. Everything he had to do was written in a book.

The prophet didn't have that kind of a ministry. He wasn't dealing with externals. He was dealing with internals. He was dealing with the heart. He was applying the word of God to the situation now. He wasn't just trying to maintain some tradition. It's no wonder the priest and the prophet often got into conflict.

The priest is just trying to preserve the past and the prophet says, yes, let's use the past to prepare for the future. The priest is protecting tradition. The prophet is preaching truth. And here's the priest answering to the king. The prophet was answering to God.

Here's the priest who wants to maintain the status quo. Don't shake things up. Don't make any changes in this church. Oh my, it's been this way for 50 years. We're not going to make any changes. And here comes the prophet saying, judgment is coming. You'd better make some changes. Well, the word of God makes it clear that we have to listen to what God has to say. Because without the teaching of the word of God, we are in trouble.

Hosea 4:4, "Now let no man contend or reprove another. For your people are like those who contend with the priest. Therefore you shall stumble in that day. The prophet also shall stumble with you in the night. And I will destroy your mother. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." That's Hosea 4:6, "Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for me. Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children."

Jeremiah 7:1-11. He cried out in the temple. He went and stood in the gate of the Lord's house and told them, turn away from your sin. You're trusting in lying words. You're saying the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these. Well, one of these days that whole thing is going to come down and it did.

Then Amos answered and said to Amaziah, he didn't run away. He didn't bow down and scrape. He simply said, I was no prophet. That means I had not been trained that way. Nor was I a son of a prophet. The sons of the prophets were trained in the prophetic schools. Elijah and Elisha, you will recall, had the schools for the training of the prophets. He did not flee away.

"Should such a man as I flee," said Nehemiah, in Nehemiah 6:11. They came one day to the Lord Jesus, Luke 13, and said, Herod's going to kill you. And Jesus said, go tell that fox that it's impossible for a prophet to perish outside Jerusalem. I'm on a time schedule, I'm not worried about it. Don't be afraid, don't run away.

Amos did not run away. He told the priest who he was. I was a herdsman, a tender of sycamore fruit. Then he told what happened, what God did. Then the Lord took me as I followed the flock, and the Lord said to me, go prophesy to my people Israel. So, here's my commission, I got it from God. What did Amos do? Now therefore, hear the word of the Lord.

You say, do not prophesy against Israel, and do not spout against the house of Isaac. That word spout means a flowing of words, or the dropping of the rain. Amaziah is suggesting, look, this is just a torrent of words, it's just a lot of water. Don't pay any attention to it.

Well, says Amos, I'm doing what God has called me to do. Now we have the Lord's message to the priest. We've seen the priest's message to the king in verses 10 and 11, and the priest's message to the prophet in 12 and 13. Now we have the prophet's message to the priest in 14 through 16, and it concludes with the Lord's message to the priest through Amos the prophet.

Therefore, thus says the Lord. You know, the preacher who can say that does not have to be afraid. Thus says the Lord. Not your idea of what the Lord said, not something you invented, but thus says the Lord. And here he tells Amaziah the personal judgment that's coming, and then the national judgment that's coming. The personal judgment that's coming. He's saying, Amaziah, you're a husband, you have a wife. Your wife shall be a harlot in the city.

Now the priest was supposed to have a wife who was pure. She was not to be in any way connected with immorality. This is true of everybody but it was especially true of the priest. You see, Amaziah would not be there to care for his wife. She would be hungry. She had to have some food. What would she do? Sell herself. Your sons and daughters shall fall by the sword. You are a father and your sons and daughters will die.

Your land shall be divided by survey line. He was apparently rather wealthy, he had some land. And Amos the prophet says you're going to lose all that. You shall die in a defiled land. He would be deported off to Assyria. He would have to eat Gentile food. He would have to live in Gentile territory. He would be under Gentile law.

As a husband, as a father, as a landowner and as a priest, Amaziah was going to taste the judgment of God. Personal judgment. It's interesting he thought he was so secure. He was a friend of the king, he had the backing of the king. He was the leading religious man in his community and in his country. He was ministering at the key assembly in his country.

And yet what was going to happen? His wife would become a prostitute. His sons and daughters would become corpses. His land would be taken by the Gentiles. He would be deported to a defiled Gentile land. And judgment would come to the whole nation because they had sinned against the Lord.

Now in Amos 8, God gives Amos the fourth vision. And this vision is the vision of the summer fruit. And in this vision, God makes three very powerful declarations. Verses 1, 2, and 3, he declares the end is come. Verses 4, 5, and 6, why the end is coming. And then verses 7 through 14, how the end is coming.

Amos knew how to preach, a very simple message. God said, Amos, tell them point one the end is come. Point two why the end is coming. And point three how the end is going to come.

Thus the Lord God showed me, behold a basket of summer fruit. And he said, Amos, what do you see? By the way, that's a good question for every preacher, every Sunday school teacher, every minister of music. What do you see? Is God showing you things? Has your ministry gotten routine and ritual and you just go through the same old motions? What do you see?

So I said a basket of summer fruit. Nothing very special about that, is there? Oh, but he learned a lesson from it. You know, our Lord could take common ordinary things and teach marvelous lessons, salt and light and sheep and coins and little children and games and vines. And Amos was the same way. He was a man of the field. You know, people who live close to the land understand that God speaks through stones and rivers and trees and flowers. And Amos said, I see a basket of summer fruit.

Then the Lord said to me, the end has come upon my people Israel. I will not pass by them anymore. And the songs of the temple shall be wailing in that day, says the Lord God. Many dead bodies everywhere. They shall throw them out in silence. The end is come.

Now the word summer fruit and the word end come from a similar Hebrew word that means to cut off. Simply stated, God is saying, Amos, just as this summer fruit is ripe, my people are ripe for judgment. I'm not going to pass by them anymore. That word pass by means to overlook their sin, to be patient with their sin.

Back at the Exodus, he passed over them, they were protected by the blood. But now they are guilty of sin and God said, I've been waiting patiently. I've been waiting for them to repent. I have sent them prophet after prophet, judgment after judgment. I've been waiting. I have been passing by, but now I'm not going to do that any longer. The end is coming, the end of God's patience.

You say, well, how can God lose his patience? God is long suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish. That's true. But listen to what Isaiah the prophet has to say. Isaiah 55:6, "Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near."

The suggestion is there may come a day when he will not be found. There may come an hour when he is not near. "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him. And to our God, for he will abundantly pardon."

The warning is there, seek the Lord while he may be found. This is the end. The nation is ripe for judgment. It's the end of God's patience. You know, sin grows when we don't root it out. The nation of Israel just went right on sinning and despising the word of the Lord. It'll be the end of their worship. And the songs of the temple shall be wailing in that day.

Amos has a great deal to say about music throughout this book. He talks about the songs down at the temple and the music of the people who are worshipping God. The tragedy is they had the song on their lips but not in their heart. They were worshipping the Lord in the ritual, the routine. It was the popular thing to do. Oh, let's go down where all the other people are. Let's enjoy the concert.

It didn't change their way of life. It didn't bring them to repentance. It didn't cause them to love the poor. It did not cause them to turn away from the wickedness that was destroying their nation. It's the end of God's patience. It's the end of your worship. It's the end of your joy. The songs of the temple will disappear and you're not going to be having the harvest song anymore.

In fact, it would be the end of the nation. Be the end of the life of many people. Many dead bodies everywhere, including the sons and daughters of Amaziah, the chaplain to the king. They shall throw them out in silence. They're going to fling them out and say, hush, don't even mourn. God has judged us. From singing to silence, from singing to wailing. The end is come.