MPC
14th July 2019.July 14 - Amos 6-8 - "Cloudy with a Change of Lions"
MPC
14th July 2019.
Phil Campbell
In 2005 Nicholas Cage starred in what was a quite depressing movie called The Weatherman. Which made the point that in spite of all the fun stuff of being a weather man like dressing up in animal suits for a live cross from the zoo , and in spite of the fact you've only gotta work about two hours a day - the down side is... that people blame you. For the weather. That they somehow think it's your fault. If the weather doesn't turn out just how they like it. Or you don't tell them in time. That they'll need their umbrella. Or there's going to be a flood.
I've got a quick clip from the preview to show you what I'm talking about. With a much younger Nicholas Cage.
Now of course, blaming the weatherman just doesn't make any sense at all. He's just the messenger. But we tend to do it all the time. If we don't like the news, we tend to blank the friend on Facebook. Or cross to the other side of the street.
Whether it's logical or not, we love to blame the weatherman when we don't like the forecast.
Which is exactly how it is with Amos the prophet as he forecasts what's coming for the corrupt ancient nation of Israel.
And the forecast is, as we saw last week in chapter 5 and 6. Stormy weather with a chance of lion attack. An Assyrian army that's going to take them into exile. Because they've ignored the God of justice and rejected his covenant.
It's there at the end of chapter 6. Verse 14.
For the Lord God almighty declares "I will stir up a nation against you, israel, that will oppress you all the way from Lebo Hamath to the valley of the Arabah."
Then the first half of chapter 7 Amos has had two terrifying visions. To back it up. It's not just lions.
It's like a swarm of locusts stripping the land just before harvest. Chapter 7 verses 1 and 2. Just like the plague on Egypt back in the Exodus. Except, see, now it's a plague on Israel.
But in his vision Amos calls out to God. And God relents.
Vision 2.
Verse 4, judgement by fire. So blindingly hot that it dries up the ocean and burns up even the dirt.
But again in his vision, Amos calls out to God and begs him to relent And he does.
But then a third vision.
God says, I'm going to measure them up. With a builders plumb line to see if they're straight.
Chapter 7 verse 8, "Look, I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel."
But here's the forecast. I will spare them no longer. Because they're crooked. No more relenting.
And so verse 9, the high places of Isaac will be destroyed and the sanctuaries of Israel will be destroyed. With my sword I will rise against the house of Jeroboam. Israel's King.
Now that's the forecast. How do you reckon it's going to go? Apart from anything else, you might remember from last week Amos has come up from Judah in the south, the other half of the divided kingdom. A little bit like he's from NSW. Giving judgement on Queensland on what's wrong with our State of Origin team.
And so in an all time classic case of blaming the weatherman, take a look at the words of Amaziah the priest of Bethel: because he's not happy.
Which again, is always the temptation, isn't it? When you're challenged. When you're called to repent. When you're brought face to face with the idea God might not be pleased with you.
You know how they say Generation Y, they're the kids who always got a trophy for everything. If you're a Gen Y, a Millennial, you're used to getting trophies for being best at just turning up.
And so you're just kind of used to only hearing positive things. Never negatives.
Now most of us, I reckon, are a bit Gen Y when it comes to God. We don't want to hear the slightest hint of a challenge. We don't want to think about the fact God might be displeased with our selfishness. Or our hypocrisy. We just want the trophy.
And any forecast other than fine weather and smooth sailing... it's not welcome.
Which is how it is with Amaziah the priest at the altar at Bethel... who goes straight to the king. Jeroboam. And he says Amos is speaking against you! He says, this is treason. Verse 10:
Amos is raising a conspiracy against you in the very heart of Israel. The land cannot bear all his words. For this is what Amos is saying: "Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will surely go into exile, away from their native land."
And Amaziah says to Amos himself, he says go home! Verse 12, get out you seer! Go back to the land of Judah where you belong. Earn your bread there. Do your prophesying there.
As if Amos is just a prophet for the paycheck. Just in it for the money.
"Don't prophesy any more at Bethel... " and these are telling words, "because this is the king's sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom."
Now see, there's the problem. This is our church. This is the king's altar. Whose is it meant to be?
It's no accident right from the start of chapter 7, there's been a subtle change of language. Because over and over again Amos is making the point it's the Sovereign Lord, it's the king of kings who giving the warning. This is what king YAHWEH told me. And Amos cries out to him Sovereign Lord, forgive. In Israel, it's God who rules.
Or meant to be.
It's his nation, it's his sanctuary, it's his altar. Nine times. Sovereign Lord.
But in the eyes of Amaziah the priest of Israel... and here's the problem. It's not God's sanctuary at all. It's the King's. And no southern prophet is going to come in and mess with the temple of the kingdom and talk about God's judgment. Because that's treason.
Amos and his forecasts: are unwelcome.
And so Amos says to him in chapter 7 verse 14, don't blame me! I'm just the weatherman. I'm not even a professional prophet. He says,
I was neither a prophet nor a prophet's son but I was a shepherd and also took care of sycamore fig trees. But the Lord took me from tending the flock and said to me, "Go, prophesy to my people Israel." They're not Jeroboam's people. They're mine.
And so under orders from God, Amos has got no option but to warn them. So he says, now then, hear the word of the Lord... verse 16... you say "we only want the good news." You say "we only want you to say nice things. We only want fine weather forecasts." You say, "do not prophesy against Israel and stop preaching against the house of Isaac." Therefore, verse 17, this is what the Lord says...
And it isn't pretty. Starting with corrupt priest Amaziah. Terrible words in verse 17. His family. Reduced to ruin.
While he's dragged off to die in a pagan country. And the nation of Israel will certainly go into exile... away from their native land.
Because they're ripe like a basket of fruit. They're over ripe. Like the banana left over from last term in a schoolboy's backpack. Mums, check those backpacks before school goes back, especially if you've got a boy.
Pick up from the start of chapter 8.
This is what the Sovereign Lord showed me: a basket of ripe fruit 2 "What do you see, Amos?" he asked. "A basket of ripe fruit," I answered. Then the Lord said to me, "The time is ripe for my people Israel; I will spare them no longer." 3 "In that day," declares the Sovereign Lord, "the songs in the temple will turn to wailing. Many, many bodies-flung everywhere! Silence!"
And again, here's the reason. If you weren't here last week it might surprise you. Because the God of the universe, the God of Israel; he's actually interested. In justice.
Following right along in the next few verses. Same stuff we saw last week. While they're more interested in lounging on their ivory beds with bowls of wine.
Keep reading from verse 4 in chapter 8.
4:8 Hear this, you who trample the needy and do away with the poor of the land, 5 saying, "When will the New Moon be over that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath be ended that we may market wheat?"- skimping on the measure, boosting the price and cheating with dishonest scales, 6 buying the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, selling even the sweepings with the wheat. 7 The Lord has sworn by himself, the Pride of Jacob: "I will never forget anything they've done.
You're buying some grain. The guy measures out the grain. And you can tell his thumb is on the side of the scales. He's already pushed up the price when he saw you coming. And now he's fiddling the scales as well.
Worse than that. You get home and you open the bag. And the top half is full of floor sweepings. Carpet fluff; balls of cat hair. Dead insects.
You've been cheated out of everything you've got. who cares?
God does.
A friend of mine was saying on Facebook he brought back his hire car, and they've billed him for damage that was on the car when he took it. Made him pay hundreds of dollars. Which someone else said then said on Facebook, the agent just keeps. They never do the repair.
Who cares about that kind of stuff? See, the wonderful thing is, God does. Especially. When it's his people doing it.
As it is in Israel. Which is why they're in for such stormy weather.
Ripe. So it's going to be like Egypt. All over again.
Will not the whole land tremble for this, chapter 8 verse 8. And all who live in it mourn?
Egypt. Who God struck at the beginning of Israel's story.
Now the forecast is that Israel. Is going to get the same treatment.
Remember the story. The Passover. Exodus 8 to 10. Go back and read it sometime.
Where God sends all kinds of curses and plagues on Egypt. So they'll set the Israelites free?
Now. Israel. Becomes Egypt. It's Israel. Under judgement. It's Israel. The enemies of God.
Still in 8 verse 8. See the point? The whole land will rise like the Nile, it will be stirred up and sink like the river of Egypt.
And then exactly like Egypt. Exodus 10.
As God strikes the Egyptians with strange darkness. That spreads over the whole land.
Amos says in that day. The day God's going to bring judgement not on Egypt but on his own people. In that day, follow the words. Amos 8 verse 9. In that day, declares the Sovereign Lord, "I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight."
And the mourning. The wailing. Is going to be like the wailing in Egypt on that Passover night where God struck down their first-born sons.
Their heirs. The bearers of the family name.
But this is even worse. The end of the line.
This is like, verse 10, the mourning for an only son.
The ancient Greek versions of the Old Testament uses the word agapetos. beloved one. The one in which you'll pour everything out on. All your love.
Feel the weight of it.
"I will turn your religious festivals ... into mourning. And all your singing into weeping. I will make all of you wear sackcloth and shave your heads. I will make that time like mourning for an agapetos. An beloved only son... and the end of it like a bitter day.
You think the Egyptians got a hard time. This is worse.
Amos says think of the most bitter day you can imagine.
And look, a few years later when the armies came from the north, I guess they figured that's about as bad as it gets.
The cloud of dust in the distance. Getting closer every day. Until the day they're around you. And the city falls. And you watch as your friends. And your neighbours. And your family. Is put to the sword. So many beloved sons to mourn.
And then the last few of you are dragged off to a foreign land. As slaves.
What they didn't know. Was there was an even darker day. Up ahead.
When I was a kid there used to be a guy on the radio; and my dad who was a farmer, used to make us all be quiet. So he could listen to Lennox Walker with his long range weather forecast.
Now his son Hayden is doing the same. You can go online and get his long range weather forecast for the next five years. Hayden Walker says he bases his predictions on past patterns. On the basis that what comes around goes around. Patterns repeat.
Which is exactly how it works with the unpopular forecast Amos is making for Israel. Because in the years that follow, the cycle goes round again. And the pattern's exactly the same.
And another prophet comes. Who's no more popular.
Not just a prophet. But a son.
Not just a son. But in the words of Mark's gospel, an agapetos. Only, beloved son.
As Jesus is baptised in the Jordan by John, there's a voice from heaven: Mark 1 verse 11.
1:11 "You are my Son, my beloved one; with you I am well pleased."
My son. My agapetos. God's beloved one. For sure. But not so popular as a messenger. With the people of Israel.
So Mark 12, Jesus tells a parable. All about blaming the weatherman. Shooting the messenger.
He says, there's a guy who plants a vineyard. And rents it to some tenants. At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect the rent. Pay their dues. A share of the crop.
And they seize him, says Jesus, and they beat him, and they send him away. It happens again. Then another. Who they kill. Jesus says, "He sent many others; some of them they beat. Others they killed."
He's talking about Israel. And the way they've constantly treated God's messengers. The prophets like Amos.
He says, the vineyard owner has one left to send. His son. Whom he loved. His beloved one. Same word again. The agapetos.
He sends him last of all, saying, surely, they'll respect my son. And the tenants say, this is the heir. Come - let's kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.
So they take him, says Jesus, they kill him, they throw him out of the vineyard. What's going to happen to them then?
Number 1. The Owner's going to come and wipe out those tenants. And hand the vineyard over to others. Who'll do better. All over. For the nation of Israel.
And number 2. He says the stone the builders rejected. Is going to become the cornerstone. Of something new.
Which is kind of hard to figure out, isn't it? I mean, how can that be? If he's dead? And yet. Watch what unfolds.
As in Mark's gospel, it's the Passover. Again; the reminder of God's judgement on Egypt. And a way to escape.
It looks like, as you read Mark's gospel, the parable is just playing out exactly as he said. The agapetos. The Beloved one of God. His message is ignored. And he's arrested. He's whipped. He's crucified. This is like never before; the great day of mourning for a beloved son.
More than that. Remember God's words in Amos 8 verse 9?
On that day I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight.
Watch what happens as beloved son jesus hangs dying on the cross. In Mark 15 verse 33. What's he doing there?
You can see the words on the screen.
At noon, the sixth hour, darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour, Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama Sabachthani" - which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me."
And the answer to that question is, and Jesus knows it full well; is that he's hanging and dying there under God's curse. As he carries on himself not just the judgement due to Israel. But due to all of us.
And that in exactly the way God's always doing things, what others intended for evil... God turns. And uses for good.
And so as the beloved son dies. He's the perfect Passover lamb who in his death; dies the death of others. As a simple exchange.
And so the day of God's ultimate punishment comes on him. Instead of us. The sun. Goes dark at noon. A bitter day. Like mourning for an only son. As Jesus becomes the Passover lamb. For you and me.
And for anyone who hides behind him in faith.
Which ultimately is now at the heart of our still unpopular forecast. It's a simple message. Hide behind Jesus. And you're safe from the storm. Be part of his kingdom. And find shelter. And a new heart. To live justly. And serve humbly.
Maybe you need to hear that message today. That the darkness of that future final judgement day has been lifted. No need to fear. That there's a way out of facing God on your own account.
If you listen to the words of warning from the weatherman. And get ready. And take refuge in Jesus.
Maybe the word you need to hear today is just a reminder that for all of us who have found that mercy, that it's tough isn't it? When you want to share it with anyone else. It's tough forecasting the weather, isn't it. You know, I don't need to tell you, it's tougher than ever to be a Christian at the office. At the hospital. At school. Ice cream cones in the side of the head like never before. Tough work. But the forecast is very clear. Storms to come. But a very safe harbour in Jesus.