that deceived their ancestors.
So I will send down fire on Judah,
and all the fortresses . . . will be destroyed.”
This is what the LORD says:
“The people of Israel have sinned again and again,
and I will not let them go unpunished!
They sell honorable people for silver
and poor people for a pair of sandals.
They trample helpless people in the dust
and shove the oppressed out of the way.
Both father and son sleep with the same woman,
corrupting my holy name. . . .
“So I will make you groan
like a wagon loaded down with sheaves of grain.
Your fastest runners will not get away. . . .
The archers will not stand their ground. . . .
On that day the most courageous of your fighting men
will drop their weapons and run for their lives,”
says the LORD. . . .
“My people have forgotten how to do right,”
says the LORD. . . .
“Come back to the LORD and live!
Otherwise, he will roar through Israel like a fire,
devouring you completely. . . .
You twist justice, making it a bitter pill for the oppressed.
You treat the righteous like dirt. . . .
“How you hate honest judges!
How you despise people who tell the truth! . . .
“Do what is good and run from evil
so that you may live!
Then the LORD God of Heaven’s Armies will be your helper,
just as you have claimed.
Hate evil and love what is good;
turn your courts into true halls of justice.
Perhaps even yet the LORD God of Heaven’s Armies
will have mercy on the remnant of his people. . . .
“I hate all your show and pretense—
the hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies. . . .
“Away with your noisy hymns of praise! . . .
Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice,
an endless river of righteous living. . . .”
What sorrow awaits you who lounge in luxury . . .
and you who feel secure . . . !
You are famous and popular . . .
and people go to you for help. . . .
How terrible for you. . . .
The Sovereign LORD has sworn by his own name, and this is what he, the LORD God of Heaven’s Armies, says:
“I despise the arrogance of Israel,
and I hate their fortresses.
I will give this city
and everything in it to their enemies.”
AMOS 2:4-7, 13-16; 3:10; 5:6-7, 10, 14-15, 21, 23-24; 6:1, 4, 8
Why was God angry with Judah? with Israel?
How were the complaints against them similar to those against the surrounding people? How were they different?
What warnings were given? What judgments were promised?
What can we further learn about God from this passage?
What is implied about Amos? Explain.
Find God’s Way for You
What similarities do you see, if any, between the behavior listed in the following passage and what is going on in our nation? our churches? our homes?
Get rid of all evil behavior. Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech. Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation . . . now that you have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness.
1 PETER 2:1-3
What are we told to get rid of?
What are we told to do?
What do you need to get rid of?
Stop and Ponder
Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls. Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world.
1 PETER 2:11-12
A PROPHET’S PLEA
Seek God’s Word for Truth
Read the following passage:
The Sovereign LORD showed me a vision. I saw him preparing to send a vast swarm of locusts over the land. . . . In my vision the locusts ate every green plant in sight. Then I said, “O Sovereign LORD, please forgive us or we will not survive, for Israel is so small.”
So the LORD relented from this plan. “I will not do it,” he said.
Then the Sovereign LORD showed me another vision. I saw him preparing to punish his people with a great fire. The fire had burned up the depths of the sea and was devouring the entire land. Then I said, “O Sovereign LORD, please stop or we will not survive, for Israel is so small.”
Then the LORD relented from this plan, too. “I will not do that either,” said the Sovereign LORD.
Then he showed me another vision. I saw the Lord standing beside a wall that had been built using a plumb line. He was using a plumb line to see if it was still straight. And the LORD said to me, “Amos, what do you see?”
I answered, “A plumb line.”
And the Lord replied, “I will test my people with this plumb line. I will no longer ignore all their sins. The pagan shrines of your ancestors will be ruined, and the temples of Israel will be destroyed; I will bring the dynasty of King Jeroboam to a sudden end.”
AMOS 7:1-9
In what ways were the first two visions similar? How were they different?
How did Amos respond to what the Lord had planned in these two visions? What did he ask? What was God’s response?
How was the third vision different, and what was Amos’s response? What significance do you see, if any, to the third vision and this response?
What can we learn about God from these visions?
What is implied about Amos? Explain.
Find God’s Ways for You
Try to recall a time when you pleaded with God on behalf of someone else.
Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord. Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven. Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.
JAMES 5:14-16
What instructions are given in this passage? What conditions are specified?
What results are we to expect? Why?
Stop and Ponder
The Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.
ROMANS 8:26-27
MESSAGE OF RESTORATION
Seek God’s Word for Truth
Read the following passage:
“I, the Sovereign LORD,
am watching this sinful nation of Israel.
I will destroy it
from the face of the earth.
But I will never completely destroy the family of Israel,”
says the LORD.
“For I will give the command
and will shake Israel along with the other nations
as grain is shaken in a sieve,
yet not one true kernel will be lost. . . .
“In that day I will restore the fallen house of David.
I will repair its damaged walls.
From the ruins I will rebuild it
and restore its former glory.
And Israel will possess what is left of Edom
and all the nations I have c
alled to be mine.”
The LORD has spoken,
and he will do these things.
“The time will come,” says the LORD,
“when the grain and grapes will grow faster
than they can be harvested.
Then the terraced vineyards on the hills of Israel
will drip with sweet wine!
I will bring my exiled people of Israel
back from distant lands,
and they will rebuild their ruined cities
and live in them again.
They will plant vineyards and gardens;
they will eat their crops and drink their wine.
I will firmly plant them there
in their own land.
They will never again be uprooted
from the land I have given them,”
says the LORD your God.
AMOS 9:8-9, 11-15
Along with God’s judgment to uproot and sift Israel, what did God promise never to do?
Whose kingdom was to be restored? In what ways?
What further promise did God make to His exiled people?
What phrases are used that offered Israel hope?
What permanency did God promise Israel?
What can we learn about God from these promises?
Seek God’s Ways for You
Which of the promises of restoration listed in Amos 9 took place for Israel? Explain.
Humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor. . . . In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation.
1 PETER 5:6, 10
What has God promised those whom He has called? What is our part?
In what ways has God restored, supported, or strengthened you?
Stop and Ponder
Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways!
ROMANS 11:33
THE PROPHET’S PROMISE
Amos as Prophet
The LORD sent prophets to bring them back to him. The prophets warned them, but still the people would not listen.
2 CHRONICLES 24:19
According to this verse, why did God send prophets to his people?
Jesus told them, “A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own hometown and among his own family.”
MATTHEW 13:57
How were prophets generally treated?
Above all, you must realize that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophet’s own understanding, or from human initiative. No, those prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit, and they spoke from God.
2 PETER 1:20-21
Who is the source of true prophecy?
Amos as Shepherd
Amos was a shepherd by profession. Read what Jesus said about shepherds in the following passage:
The one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. . . . The sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. . . .
The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep. A hired hand will run when he sees a wolf coming. He will abandon the sheep because they don’t belong to him and he isn’t their shepherd. . . . I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me.
JOHN 10:2-3, 11-12, 14
How might Amos’s experience as a shepherd have prepared him to be one of God’s prophets? How would his shepherding knowledge have helped him respond to God’s call?
Amos as Gardener
In addition to his work as a shepherd, Amos also tended fig trees. Read what Jesus said about gardeners in the following passage:
[The gardener] cuts off every branch . . . that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. . . . A branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine.
JOHN 15:2, 4
How might caring for trees have helped Amos understand the need for God’s judgment?
How would it have prepared him to obey God regardless of what others thought?
Amos and Jesus
Amos was an obedient man. His shepherding prepared him to prod people in a caring way. His gardening skills allowed him to see that people, like plants, need to have the wild, unproductive growth removed in order to produce fruit. His obedience—along with his training—foreshadows another prophet, Jesus. Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd” (John 10:14) and “I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener” (John 15:1).
In Revelation we find Jesus’ prophetic warning and promise to the churches:
Look, I am coming soon! Blessed are those who obey the words of prophecy written in this book. . . . Look, I am coming soon, bringing my reward with me to repay all people according to their deeds. . . . I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this message for the churches. I am both the source of David and the heir to his throne. I am the bright morning star. . . . Yes, I am coming soon!
REVELATION 22:7, 12, 16, 20
May Jesus be heard in our world, our nation, our churches, our homes. May we each hear and heed His call before He comes!
BOOK FIVE
The Scribe
PROLOGUE
Silas walked to the house where Peter and his wife were hidden, aggrieved by the weight of the news he bore.
Tapping three times, lightly, he entered the room where they had often met with brothers and sisters in Christ or prayed long hours when alone. He found Peter and his wife in prayer now. Peter’s wife raised her head, and her smile vanished.
Silas helped her up. “We must go,” he said softly, and turned to assist Peter. “Paul has been captured. Soliders are searching the city for you. You must leave tonight.”
As they headed out, Silas explained further. “Apelles is with me. He will show you the way.”
“What about you?” Peter spoke with grave concern. “You must come with us, Silas. You’ve served as Paul’s secretary as well as mine. They will be looking for you too.”
“I’ll follow shortly. I was working on a scroll when Apelles brought me the news. I must return and make certain the ink is dry before I pack it with the others.”
Peter nodded gravely, and Silas ducked into the house where he had been staying. All the papyrus scrolls, except the one on which he had been working, were already rolled and stored carefully in leather cases. Silas had known the day would come when he would have to grab the pack and run. Lifting the weights that held open the newest scroll, he rolled the papyrus, and tucked it carefully into its case. As he slung the pack over his shoulder, he felt the full weight of responsibility to safeguard the letters.
As he stepped out into the street again, he saw Peter and his wife and Apelles waiting. Silas ran to them. “Why are you still here?”
Apelles looked frantic. “They wouldn’t go farther without you!”
Torn between gratitude for his friends’ loyalty and fear for their safety, Silas urged them on. “We must hurry!”
Apelles was clearly relieved to be moving again. He gave further instructions in an urgent whisper. “We have a carriage waiting outside the city gates. We thought it best to wait until nightfall, when the ban on wagons lifted. It will be easier to slip out now.”
Peter was well-known in Rome, and would be easily recognized. They would have a better chance of escape in the confusing influx of goods into the city and the cover of darkness beyond the walls.
Peter walked with difficulty, his arm protectively around his wife. “When did the guard come for Paul?”
“They took him to the dungeon this morning.” Apelles raised his hand as they came to the end of the street. He peered around the corner and then beckoned them on. The young man made an effort to appear calm, but Silas felt his fear. His own heart beat with foreboding. If captured, Peter would be imprisoned and execu
ted, most likely in some foul spectacle designed by Nero to entertain the Roman mob.
“Silas!” Peter’s wife whispered urgently.
Silas glanced back and saw Peter struggling for breath. He caught up to Apelles and grasped his shoulder. “More slowly, my friend, or we’ll lose the one we’re trying to save.”
Peter drew his wife closer and whispered something to her. She held tightly to him and wept into his shoulder. Peter smiled at Silas. “Right now would be a good time for God to give me wings like an eagle.”
Apelles led them more slowly through the dark alleys and narrow streets. Rats fed on refuse as they passed by. The sounds of wagon wheels grew louder. While the city slept, a tide of humanity poured through the gates, bringing with it goods for the insatiable Roman markets. Some drove overladen wagons; others pushed carts. Still others carried heavy packs on their bent backs.
So close to freedom, Silas thought, seeing the open gates just ahead. Could they get through without being recognized?
Apelles drew them close. “Wait here while I make certain it’s safe.” He disappeared among the wagons and carts.
Silas’s heart pounded harder. Sweat trickled down his back. Every minute they stood on the public street added to Peter’s danger. He spotted Apelles, his face pale and strained with fear as he struggled through the crowd.
The young man pointed. “That side. Go now! Quickly!”
Silas led the way. His heart lurched when one of the Roman guards turned and looked at him. A Christian brother. Thank God! The Roman nodded once and turned away.
“Now!” Silas made a path for Peter and his wife to pass through the flow. People bumped into them. Someone cursed. A wagon wheel almost crushed Silas’s foot.
Once outside the gates and away from the walls, he let Peter set the pace.
An hour down the road, two more friends ran to meet them. “We’ve been waiting for hours! We thought you’d been arrested!”
Silas took one of them aside. “Peter and his wife are exhausted. Have the coach meet us on the road.”
Sons of Encouragement Page 73
