Israel had comfortably forgotten ‘the vengeance of the covenant,’ the jealousy of God at work within the confines of His chosen people to punish transgression, to discipline unto greater holiness and to purge out evil. The words ‘the vengeance of the covenant’ occurs in Leviticus 26:25 and the ‘whole picture’ is given in verses 14-45 of the same chapter, the broad truth being that God’s saving work, brining people into His covenant of grace is not intended to induce a spirit of moral complacency but or moral ambition after holiness … A ‘covenant theologian’ like Amos could never have been guilty of proclaiming the end of the covenant relation between the Lord and His people. Passages such as Leviticus 26:31-38; Deuteronomy 28:58-68; Amos 2:13-16 and others may appear to destroy the entire covenant relationship between the Lord and His people, but if they are held within their own contexts (Lev 26:14-45; Deut 28:1-30, [Amos 9:11-15], etc.) as well as within the context of the whole Bible teaching on the covenant, it becomes clear that these fearful destructions are to be counted among the covenant-keeping (not covenant-breaking) acts of God. They purge out pretended members and purify true members.
Having completed his diatribe of prophetic oracles against the neighboring nations, Amos’ final oracle comes to rest squarely upon his primary audience, the nation of Israel. Although horrible things had been done by the heathen nations, we find Israel more culpable because, having been given the law and having been the witness of much privilege, they should have known better. Hence more is said both in form and substance about Israel’s transgression as well as her punishment than of any of the nations, as atrocious as the outward sins of these nations were. In the giving of the Law to Israel, God was granting them divine favor and protection as an expression of love. This very law would become the means God would use to lead His chosen ones to Christ, so at the center of God’s covenant with the nation of Israel is His divine love leading the remnant within the nation to salvation.
Though the New Testament reveals that not all Israelites were circumcised of heart (Roman 9:6-8), nevertheless they experienced many of the human and temporal benefits of the covenant. So as God operated in history to save a remnant within Israel, the broader people of Israel also witnessed God’s acts of love and saving grace. In verses 9-11 of Amos chapter 2, God recounts His goodness toward His people. We find the same pattern in Deuteronomy 8:1-5, Psalm 78:17-33, and Hosea 11:1-11 – as examples where God recounts his goodness to Israel despite the terrible sin of their nation. Those Israelites who were outside of the covenant of grace have therefore become even more accountable for their sin, as they not only rejected law (Amos 2:4), but grace. The Lord has the absolute right to expect that His professing people be faithful to His name, and when they are not, He exercises His right in covenantal justice to judge His professing people in His holy wrath. Of course His wrath is never directed to the remnant chosen by grace within the broader nation; however in the act of judging the professing people, God purges His people from those who are mere professors, who claim to be part of the covenant of grace, but in fact are not.
Our text in Amos contains a reminder of God’s electing love, Israel’s sonship and God’s adoptive care for, and protection of, His people. The text invokes emotions of love as the truly born-again Christian realizes that he too has the privilege of unique covenantal intimacy – hearing of the demonstration of His love provokes our love (1 John 4:19). In light of this, this week make Psalm 105, 145 and 147 the subject or your reading, meditation and worship, as you do reflect on the specific goodness of our Lord to His chosen people. If you wish to fill your cup unto overflowing worship, consider the following Scriptures whereby the Lord reveals His specific love to you: Ex 19:3-6, Dt 7:6-8, 10:15, 26:18, 32:9-14, Jer 31:1-6, Rom 8:28-39, 11:5-7, Eph 1:3-12, 1 Pet 2:9-10 – ENJOY!!!
I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.
James Boice has written:
The vehemence with which Paul denounces those who teach another Gospel (literally he says, ‘Let them be damned’) has bothered some commentators as well as other readers of the letter. But this shows how little the Gospel of God’s grace is understood and appreciated and how little many Christians are concerned for the advance of Biblical Truth. The word translated “eternally condemned” (anathema) is related to the Hebrew word, herem and is used of that which is devoted to God, usually for destruction. In Spiritual terms it means damnation. We must not think however, in speaking in this way Paul is merely giving vent to an intemperate outburst or even merely to partially justified anger. For one thing, he is impartial in expressing his judgment. He has not named names. He has even included himself in the ban, should he do otherwise in his preaching than he has done thus far. Moreover he is universal in his judgment. His words include “anybody” who should so teach (vs. 9). How can it be otherwise? If the Gospel Paul preaches is true, then both the glory of Jesus Christ and the salvation of men are at stake. If men can be saved by works, Christ has died in vain (Gal 2:21); the cross is emptied of meaning. If men are taught a false Gospel, they are being led from the one thing that can save them and are being turned to destruction (cf. Matt 18:6).
This week identify any false teachers that you may be reading or listening to, repent and destroy the accursed thing!
The first six oracles of Amos are succinct indictments of the pagan nations that surround Israel. One by one, Amos systematically articulates the specific sin of each nation and the resulting judgment for their national sins. We can be sure that God has, does, and will judge nations for their dreadful offenses against mankind created in His image.
But then, without batting an eye, Amos turns his indictment quickly past Judah and right to the hub of his prophecy, the nation of Israel. It has been suggested by some that Amos was just using the preliminary oracles against the nations to catch his true audience off guard – to catch Israel cheering on the judgment of their enemies before revealing to them that the very same sins exist in their nation. In much the same way as the prophet Nathan did to David, Amos is exposing the sin of the nations so that he could turn the finger to Israel and say, “You are the man.”
If the Syrians, Philistines, Phoenicians, Edomites, Ammonites and Moabites were guilty of treating people like things to use and then dispose of, objects to treat with contempt unless they had some economic benefit, then that is also precisely what the wealthy Israelites were doing. Had the Ammonite commander been interviewed by a reporter concerning the brutality of his tactics, he would have said something like, “This is war. In war you hit the enemy with everything you’ve got and in as many ways as you can. War is brutal business.” But then that was the same kind of argument the Israelite merchants would have made concerning their treatment of the poor and unfortunate. “Its business; we’re not running a charity here. Our competitors aren’t going to increase their salaries and cut costs for the sake of the poor. And, by the way, what’s good for the Ford Chariot Company is good for Israel.” That is the way people think, but it is not the way God thinks!
While it is true that the sins of these nations were outward sins of a cruel nature, they nevertheless stem from inward sins that every man has committed. Like the nations, God sees our using of other people for gain, our broken promises, our long-term bitterness against family members. He sees our ambition, our lurking memories of hatred. He most often brings this sin to light in human relationships. So we should examine our own human relationships with husband, wife, father, mother, daughter or son – with friends, and co-workers, to find those similar sins which displease our Father.
Realize thought that the heart’s ability to deceive is legendary (Jer 17:9) – so much so that honestly assessing our motivations, emotions, and deeply held convictions can be difficult. We are unknowingly affected by influences of a godless culture. The very sins that Amos will expose in Israel we find in our own hearts and in the life of even faithful churches and Christians. They may not be the hardened sins of an unrepentant and faithless people, but they are the same sins nevertheless. The two most important things you can do are: 1) pursue by the grace of God a lifelong task of transforming your mind from conforming to secular culture on all matters, and 2) insulate yourself from the false security of the quasi-Christian subculture. The way to ensure that we do not come to take those sins which God hates lightly or to allow ourselves to indulge them is to hear, over and over again, what God thinks of those sins and what he does to those who commit them and do not repent and forsake them. The warning for our generation is clear: let no one think himself exempt from obedience and reverence to God.
