Bible Studies
Israel Yesterday / Our World & Twenty-first Century Church Today!
It is necessary to point out just in case the heading confuse the reader, this article is not about the doctrine of replacement theology circulating today, the hypothesis ¡¥the church has replaced Israel;¡¦ but it is to give a brief overview of the book of Amos and its strong message delivered to Israel, by the prophet; and the outcome of their responses. It will also investigate Israel¡¦s sins of apostasy, disobedience and rebellion, as an evaluation with our world, and the church today. All three, - Israel, our world, and the church, have their individual function on God¡¦s agenda. The article will point our prior to the points to be investigated, an outline concerning Israel, our world and the church in the twenty-first church: Firstly, taken from Romans 11 a sketch of God¡¦s perfect blueprint for Israel¡¦s salvation; showing due to their disobedience and rebellion (only a remant was found faithful to God, therefore, in order to provoke them to jealousy) they were broken off from the natural olive tree (God, their source)and this allowed the Gentiles, the wild olive branch to be grafted in Romans 11:19. Therefore their fall made the way for the Gentiles and provides riches for the world. Secondly, God set in motion His redemptive plan for our world and gave our Lord, Jesus Christ, as their Messiah and Saviour; - John 3:16 says ¡¥God so loved the world that He gave His Son;¡¦ and thirdly, the church was purchased with the blood of Christ to be prepared for her Bridegroom and the Bridegroom, (Jesus) will return for His bride, the Church, spotless and shining, to live with Him in the New Jerusalem; see Ephesians 3:10; 5:25, 27, 29; Colossians 1:24 & Revelation 21:2, 9, (The Scripture text are taken from New King James).
The question is could it be possible to compare the sins of apostasy, rebellion and greed in the book of Amos, are these sins found our world and Christendom today? Are we following the same path of Israel, and gone so far away from God; that our conscience is seared, and we are unable to accept the truth of God¡¦s Word? Our world has rejected the biblical account in Genesis and it embraces evolution instead, also it is now acceptable in some section of the Christian church to reject Yahweh, the God of the Old Testament (OT); so there is no respect for God or the things of God, and as the Bible says ¡¥every man does what is right in his own eyes.¡¦
A Christian telephoned, a popular Christian TV station, ¡¥World in Focus,¡¦ questioning how he could convince some of his friends, who are believers, to read and accept the Old Testament. He said, they were unable to relate to the God of the OT Scriptures ¡V because it has portrayed to them that God is cruel and instigated lots of wars and killings of innocent people and children. The caller said he did everything to explain to them that the God of the OT is revealed in Jesus. However, they would not relent but firmly held their views.
Contrary to some people¡¦s difficulty to reconcile the Old Testament with the God of mercy and grace, in the New Testament, because they had failed to see God who is longsuffering and full of mercy and compassion. This merciful God cared enough for His people, that He kept sending prophets to warn them of their sins before any pending judgment; and the same God of the OT¡¦s dealings with humankind is unchanging, even for us in the twenty-first century. God has documented His record for all to see if we care to look, ¡V Jesus said ¡§Search the Scriptures---¡¨¡V and He was talking about the OT then.
In Hosea, Isaiah and other contemporaries of Amos, brought messages to Israel, to show the God of mercy, who patiently deals with His people, and warns them about their sins. Because He is a righteous God and He does not tolerate sin, but Israel ignored His warnings and they continued living their ungodly lives. God gave Israel adequate time to repent because He loved them passionately, and He had chosen them as His first-born and as the apple of His eyes. His desire for them always, was to restore them into His loving arms, but instead they went further away from Him.
We know that our world rejects God; but has the Chruch fallen into the same category today, and is ignoring God¡¦s warning as Israel did? Israel¡¦s continual disobedience had the just punishment they deserve from a Holy God, as well as, however, the mercy and restoration from a benevolent God, which they did not deserve.
An overview of the book of Amos
Amos was a Southerner from Judah, he was not a prophet nor was his father, in fact he did not come from the family of prophets, chapter 7:14-15th , and also chapter 1:1 states he breeds sheep in Tekoa, that area was a barren and deserted place, not much of vegetation on a hilly terrain; there he was, alone with sheep (like his predecessor King David), this condition was not a place to be brimming over with contentment. But Amos¡¦ heart was in the right place, willing to be used by God. He was sensitive to His will and got himself ready as a messenger to the northern tribes of Judah.
On arrival he saw Israel¡¦s perversion and ungodly worshipping of pagan gods in Bethel; this righteous messenger of God was shocked. Consequently it gave him courage to deliver the ruthless message without fear.
God will use anyone who is available and is willing to cooprate with Him even against merciless opposition. Our God who sees every heart would bypass any professional in favour of the one, who possess obedience humility and a heart that is open to Him.There could have been prophets in the south of Judah but He took Amos; an obscure man minding sheep and gathering fruit from sycamore trees. And God equipped him to do His will and delivered the harsh message to Israel, and their surrounding neighbours. Let us see why Israel¡¦s fall away from their God as an example.
How could this happen?
It was after the death of King Solomon that the ten northern tribes declared their independence from the David¡¦s dynasty (930B.C.). Around the same period JeroboamI was king of Jerusalem; these ten northern tribes wanted total independence of the traditional religious worship in Jerusalem. In order to dissassociate themselves from Jerusalem (which was the place God had instituted for worship) they set up shrines in Bethel and Dan as their own places of worship. They turned so far away from God and favoured the practice of pagan worship, contraty to the first commandment (1Kings 12:28).
Their spiritual decline had a domino effect on the northern kingdom; their political and military lives became infectivness and the ten tribes almost became nonexistent. Then somehow the reign of JeroboamII during that period, brought in an economic boom: influx of prosperity and wealth, both in national success, and international prestige. Israel¡¦s successes exacerbate a cry for more wealth and luxury and they were overtaken by greed and self-indulgence.
Israel lost the fear of God and all sense of justice for their fellow men, still the boom continued and they equate their wealth and national success, to God¡¦s favour on them (being blessed and prosperous); they flatly rejected the prophet¡¦s message of doom and ignored his warning against their evil religion and oppressive attitude:
Ć they increased their wealth by manipulation and control of the poor,
Ć they had no regards for the rightheousness of God;
Ć human needs and dignity had no place in their judgment, in favour of pursuing wealth and pleasure.
Ć they were a corrupt nation; rotten underneath despite their outward show of religious practices, paganism and steep in idolatry became their norm.
Ć they had lost integrity and spurned the righteousness and justice of God.
The message of condemnation clearly defined the practice of the rich and powerful of Israel, who took from the poor to maintain their wealthy lifestyle. Does it sound like our world today?
This is the backdrop in which God sent His righteous servant Amos to deliver warnings of His pending judgment on Israel. Naturally, Amos was aggrieved when he saw the degenerate state of Israel, steeped in paganism and other practices which dishonoured God. He submitted the visions of destruction and reminded them of God¡¦s characteristics, shown through dreams, visions of past destructions, that other prophets had brought to them and some of these prophesies were already fulfilled.
Amos might have sounded harsh at times, but he also points out, that God cares passionately about human relation which is engrained throughout the Torah (that is Old Testament fulfilled in Jesus, in the New Testament). He showed that it was a biblical covenant of God¡¦s requirement of brotherhood, and it was God who instigates social justice God hates injustice just as much as He hates disobedience. Israel was so blinded by selfishness that their rejection of another prophet showed their diminish knowledge of God. They had a mindset that blocked out the voice of God, hearing, but not listening to what is being said, they were just relying only on past promises and blessings. Israel had understood the ¡§Day of the Lord¡¨ meant a visitation from Yahweh in the past, however, ¡§the Day of the Lord¡¨ Amos was speaking of, meant judgment and justice for their iniquity. God continues to get their attention by all means in order to turn them back to Him, but they could not receive it.
The record throughout the nine chapters in Amos is clearly signpost; so it is a good place to summarise the book. Amos reminded Israel (the northern tribes) in chapters one and two - to take a look at their history how God had dealt with the surrounding nations, and with their own sinful condition; in chapters three to six - he highlighted their present degenerate practices; and in chapters seven to nine ¡V there are a combination of visions which Amos saw about to happen to Israel in the furture, and also a rebuke from King Amaziah. In chapter nine was the final attempt to bring a nation back to her God, but because of their abundance in riches (one of their dominating sins), worship of mammon; they were not prepared to heed the voice of the prophet. Can we see these characteristics display in our world leaders, churches and indivisuals today?
The world is consumed by selfishness and greed; disrespect for God and false religious practices in almost every area of society. Yes! The world can be religious conveniently, in fact ¡¥We are very religious,¡¦ some of us make sure our religious duties are performed on Sundays, but the rest of the week we are no different from our worldly neighbours. Paul addressed the Areopagus when he saw evidences displaying their acts of worship, to a God of whom they had no knowledge; they even had an inscription on an alter ¡§TO THE UNKNOWN GOD!¡¨ Do we know the God we are claiming to worship? Are we pursuing to know Him better, are we listening to His voice? The world wants to practice their own religion, and create their gods in their own image, without restriction to live and do things their own way. So their consciences are seared: to live immoral lifestyes; have abortions; abuse children, divorce as many partners as they so desire. Many in the world are consumed by the lust of the eye, and the flesh, and the pride of life, which the Bible warns us about, and sad to say these lifestyles have spill out, over in Christendom today.
Reader, is this a warning to us as Amos warned Israel? God gives plenty of time because He loves us passionately. If we but turn to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness 1John1:9 (paraphrased). This is not an article of condemnation because we are all guilty in one way or another; the writer knows that if we say that we have no sin God¡¦s truth is not in us. From the same passage John also gave us a remedy that, if we walk in the light--- Jesus¡¦ blood cleanses us all sin.
The time is short, God¡¦s love continues to reach out to us, if He is using this article in anyway to speak to you, respond to the call (as it is a love call to repentance and restoration). Perhaps this is our last opportunity to listen and obey. Do we wonder why we continue to hear the same message over and over again, from obscure people and in diverse format? God has a way of pursuing us with the same task and continue to give us the same message consistently, pounding it in until we obey, but not until we carry out that particular command, we won¡¦t move on from there.
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