Category: devotional

God Promises to Bring His People Home

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In Hosea, the northern kingdom is depicted by an adulteress. God uses ugly and emotional pictures to show Israel how terrible it is that they, as a nation, have ignored his commands and chased after false gods. But in this passage, God also promises that a day will come when the people of Israel will again return to him.

In chapter 1, Hosea was commanded to marry an unfaithful wife as a symbol of God and Israel and Israel’s unfaithfulness. In chapter 3, Hosea goes and redeems his wayward wife from slavery, lovingly rescuing her from the trouble she had gotten herself into. And God uses that picture to make a promise for the future.

Hosea 3:4-5 – 4 For the children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or household gods. 5 Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the Lord and to his goodness in the latter days.

God knew what he was doing with Israel. He knew that the northern kingdom would be taken captive. He knew that the southern kingdom would be overrun by the Babylonians. And God knew that a time would come when Israel would feel like they were fully separated from the promises of God.

In truth, the northern tribes were carried away from the land and have not returned. The southern tribes lost the temple, rebuilt the temple, and then lost it again. But the promise here, a promise for the latter days, is being fulfilled and will be fulfilled.

When the Father sent Jesus to bring about the New Covenant, he did something beautiful. Jesus came and completed the sacrificial system. Jesus now reigns, King of kings, a descendant of David, and the Son of God. And Jesus welcomes all who will come to him in faith. Thus, once Jesus came, all physical descendants of Israel, captives in foreign lands and returned exiles, are invited by God to find salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. The Jew and the gentile are welcomed into the family of God and to service under the throne of David, now the greater throne of Christ.

This prophecy is being fulfilled, as people all over the world from all nations are becoming part of the family of God in Jesus. And I suspect that it will be fulfilled in a greater way near to the time of the physical return of Christ. Paul gives us hints of God bringing ethnic Israelites into his family through Christ once the full number of the gentiles has come in (cf. Rom. 11:23-32).

When we see this promise in Hosea, we should see the kingdom of God in Christ promised and delivered. It should call us to rejoice in the grace of Christ. It should cause us to pray that God would spread the gospel over the globe to bring all his elect into his kingdom. We should long for Christ’s return. We should long to see those who have been blind to the gospel suddenly given sight by Christ. And we should marvel at the glorious plan and faithfulness of God.

Tempted by Less Than We Expect

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Hosea is one of those difficult books with a difficult image. It is not that the image is difficult to understand, but it is tough to look at. It is an ugly image, an emotionally disturbing image.

When God speaks to the people of Israel, he draws a parallel between the nation and an unfaithful wife. As the people forsake the Lord, God uses very strong language to describe their spiritual adultery.

What I notice as I read through this passage is what it was that Israel seemed to be drawn after. This is important, as it catches people still today.

Hosea 2:5

For their mother has played the whore;
she who conceived them has acted shamefully.
For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers,
who give me my bread and my water,
my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’

Without thinking too deeply about why God uses this image for Israel, notice what the six things are that draw Israel, as an adulterous wife, away from the Lord. They are seeking bread and water, wool and flax, oil and drink. These are simple items for living with perhaps a luxury thrown in. These are people who are forsaking God as they chase after basic, material wealth.

Interestingly for the Old Testament culture, God had promised his people all of those things in abundance if they would merely keep his law. But the people would not believe God enough to obey. They preferred to ignore the law of God and seek their material prosperity on their own.

But how might this apply to us today? Are we willing to turn from the Lord for material blessing? Be careful. If you answer this question from a position of security, consider how you would answer that question during a time of want and of persecution.

Friends, we need to understand that it is a common human temptation to turn away from the Lord in order to gain material security or safety. But those who love the Lord determine that we will be faithful to the Lord in times of plenty or want. Paul said that he had learned to be content in wealth or poverty. We must learn the same. We must not be willing to turn from the Lord for physical comforts. And we must not underestimate the temptation that this presents, as people have shown us in the past how easily they fail.

When we are not careful, when we are not faithful, we find ourselves tempted by small things. Bread and water, wool and flax, oil and drink, these should not be major temptations. But in hard times, we can find ourselves tempted by far less than we might think would tempt us at present. May we love our Lord so much that we are ready and faithful regardless of how hard times get.

Not That Complicated

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Sometimes we see in Scripture truth that is just not that complicated. The gospel is not complicated, though many times we seem to make it so. How God relates to us in his grace is not complicated, yet we often feel it is.

When King David was setting up the kingdom for Solomon, David said something to his son that is super straightforward. There was nothing complicated about what David said. And it is a clean picture of the gospel in a sense.

1 Chronicles 28:9 – “And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever.

David calls Solomon to be faithful to the Lord. At the end of the matter, David sets before Solomon two paths. Solomon may seek the Lord or forsake the Lord. Either has an eternal consequence.

That road with its fork is in front of all people today. Seek the Lord and live. Forsake the Lord and suffer his wrath. It is not complicated.

To forsake the Lord is easy. Just ignore him. Do not love God or his ways. Do not desire his grace. Do not desire him. Do not follow his path to salvation. And the Lord will give to you the judgment that you seek.

To seek the Lord is something also quite clear now that Jesus has come. Our Savior tells us that he is the way, the truth, and the life and that no one comes to the Father except through him (John 14:6). There is one way to seek God. The only way is to turn to Jesus for life. Do you want to live? Turn from sin. Turn from self. Run to Jesus. Believe. Ask Jesus for mercy because of his perfect life, sacrificial death, and glorious resurrection. Repent, believe, and be saved.

No, this is not complicated. But, in truth, it never has been. God tells you how to come to him. God tells you that there is one way to seek him, through Jesus. Seek the Lord in Christ and live. Forsake the gospel of Christ, and the judgment of God is promised to you.

Protection Resented and Praised

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Song of Solomon is one of those books either we simply ignore or we somehow over-interpret. If you go through a study of the book, which is rare, you will either find somebody making it totally symbolic or you will find someone making it nearly pornographic; or, just maybe, you will find a person who handles it simply, literally, and respectfully.

Since the book can be so difficult, we often miss some of the beauties that are there. And I do not want to miss them in my read through this text for this year. Here is an example of something that we will miss if we are not careful.

Song of Solomon 1:6

Do not gaze at me because I am dark,
because the sun has looked upon me.
My mother’s sons were angry with me;
they made me keeper of the vineyards,
but my own vineyard I have not kept!

In this account of a man and woman who marry, early on, the young woman is ashamed. Her skin is darker than was considered beautiful in her culture. Her brothers made her work outside instead of sitting under a shade all day. And this has cost her the complexion she wanted; she has a tan. The woman does not want her lover to think about her skin.

In this section, the man will not be put off by the woman’s dark complexion. She is lovely to him. And what’s more, she has character to match.

The woman had to work because her brothers made her work. She is worried about how her brothers have cost her. WE won’t see the woman’s brothers mentioned again until the end of the book. Between this scene in chapter 1 and the close of the book in chapter 8, the woman and the man appear to date, marry, grow in love, and work through conflict.

Then, in the end, the woman recalls her brothers.

In chapter 8 verse 9, the brothers are asked what to do with a young sister. They say something interesting.

Song of Solomon 8:9

If she is a wall,
we will build on her a battlement of silver,
but if she is a door,
we will enclose her with boards of cedar.

As strange as this poetry is, the issue here is one of character. A wall and a door are two types of behavior that could befit the brother’s young sister. A door here is dangerous behavior, open to far too much. If she acts like that, the brothers will work to protect her from her dangerous impulses.

A wall, on the other hand, is strong and steady. A sister who is a wall has solid character, clear standards. If she is firm of character, uncompromising in things that matter, the brothers will adorn her, decorating her with praise.

In verse 10, the woman declares that she was a wall. Her character was firm. She grew up, and she loved and married.

Then, at the end, the woman thinks back over her life. She thinks about her body which she called a vineyard in chapter 1. She thinks back to those mean brothers who made her work and did not let her just sit around and fixate on her physical appearance. She considers those brothers who watched to see that she be a woman of character, firm of purpose, a wall and not a door.

Song of Solomon 8:12

My vineyard, my very own, is before me;
you, O Solomon, may have the thousand,
and the keepers of the fruit two hundred.

The woman thinks of herself and carries the vineyard metaphor to its conclusion. Now that she is grown, her love is her own to give. Her husband, Solomon, receives the fruit of that vineyard. But, in a sweet moment, the woman acknowledges that her brothers deserve her thanks. Thousands go to Solomon, but a proper nod of appreciation goes to the brothers who watched out for their sister and helped her grow in character.

O, I know, all this might sound weird to you. But, Song of Solomon is three-thousand-year-old poetry. It will feel a little weird. We need to grasp that it is worth it to guard a young woman’s character and protect her virtue. Our world screams at every young woman that she should be a door, swinging open to all opportunities, all ideas, all lusts. And as we protect our daughters and our sisters from such thinking, it is not always welcome.

But, godly men, let us never stop doing all we can to protect and treasure the women around us. These ladies, our sisters in the Lord, are worth protecting. They are not worth any less than us. Nor are they worth more. WE are different. We have differing roles to play. We have differing strengths and weaknesses. As men who love the Lord, we must strive to use our strength to protect, to preserve, and to provide. We must be willing to risk disappointing women around us by not promoting worldly thinking just as they must sometimes risk disappointing us by calling us back to the way of the Lord.

And all believers can learn from this account. Early in her young life, the woman resented her brothers. I am sure this included their protection and the fact that they did not let her be lazy. All of us, men and women, need people to speak into our lives, to challenge us, to call to account, to press us toward growth, to change our thinking from worldly to godly. May we have friends and family who will invest in us. May we welcome all that points us to the word of God and Christlike character.

Remember the Lord Early in Life

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One mistake that people sometimes make is to assume that we have a good deal of time before we need to consider the things of God. After all, when we are young, are we not supposed to be thinking about other things? People assume that, once they are old and gray, they will be able to do the religious thing.

But the wisest man of the Old Testament gives us a significant warning not to wait. Solomon tells us to remember the Lord long before we expect our lives to take a turn toward the cemetery.

Ecclesiastes 12:1 – Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”;

For the first eleven chapters of Ecclesiastes, Solomon has shown us just how messed up life can be. Nasty people get rich and have all they want. Kind people suffer. Whether a person is good or bad, the grave awaits them both. And thus, if one estimates the value of morality from a naturalistic bent, all is vanity.

But here, Solomon is drawing to a conclusion. And one of his final pieces of counsel is that we should remember the Lord when we are young. Then, from verses 2-9, Solomon describes the hardships people face in aging. He suggests you be right with God before your vision and hearing go, before your legs get trembly, your teeth get weak, and your sexual desire wanes. Solomon is telling us to be right with our Creator before we die, and since we do not know when that will be, we should start young.

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 – 13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. 14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.

While we might think that life seems meaningless and unfair, God has assured us of this: he will bring all into judgment. There is no sin that will ever go unpunished. There is no wrong that will not be righted, no justice that will go unsettled.

How? God is just and holy. Jesus died as a substitute to suffer God’s wrath for all he will forgive and to transfer to the forgiven God’s righteousness. Thus, your sin will be punished. Either God will punish you for your sin, or he has punished Jesus for your sin. If he punishes you for your sin, his infinite wrath will be poured out on you. You cannot survive that. But Jesus, God in the flesh, could take our punishment, satisfy God’s justice, and rise from the grave.

Solomon tells us to get right with our Creator while we are young. Before you get old, before you lose pleasure in life, before your mind is cluttered, remember your God. He is a righteous judge who has offered you grace in Jesus. Rejoice in that gracious justice and surrender to Jesus before it is too late.

Paralysis by Analysis

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In Ecclesiastes 11, Solomon is speaking to his hearers, for a moment, about issues related to finances and working toward the future. He has good warnings and helpful counsel to offer. And in reading that counsel, I find myself focused on a single thought, one I often need to hear for more than financial health.

Ecclesiastes 11:4

He who observes the wind will not sow,
and he who regards the clouds will not reap.

In a mainly agricultural society, this little proverbial phrase is not difficult to understand. A man who is so focused on watching the sky and making sure that conditions are perfectly safe will neither plant nor harvest. If a person becomes so focused on all the circumstances that could go wrong, if a person becomes so afraid that they might fail, they will never move forward.

In my own life, I know that I can give myself too much to analyzing a potential course of action. Obviously, we do not want to act thoughtlessly or brashly. It is good to get a little data and study it to make sure you are making a generally wise decision. But once the collection of data and the analysis of a problem takes up too much of your time, you might be paralyzing yourself.

Solomon has pointed us to a simple wisdom. Do not give in to paralysis by analysis. Yes, look at the problem or project you face. Yes, do your diligence. But in the end, you will have to make a decision. Otherwise, you will simply never move. And there is no growth in wavering between one position and another.

There is also a significant sin that Solomon is helping us to avoid, though we do not see it spelled out in this verse. What is at the heart of over-analysis of a situation? Is it not that we want to so control our futures that we do not allow the possibility of failure? We are not God. We cannot control the future that much. God requires that we make wise decisions, but that we walk forward in faith. At the end of the day, we need to make the best decisions we can make, we need to be submitted to his word, and we need to trust that the Lord is the Lord over the details. Only God can guarantee an outcome, and he is not revealing to us his secret plans for the future. We need to be humble enough to realize we cannot see the future, we cannot predict the future, and we must trust God with the future.

Solomon Found Despair So We Don’t Have To

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One of the things that makes the book of Ecclesiastes so difficult for some to understand is the way that Solomon allows himself to think. Solomon was looking at life to see meaning and purpose. He wanted to be able to show what is right and wrong, good and evil, worthwhile and worthless.

What you might miss is that Solomon accomplishes his task in this book by, at points, examining life from a this-worldly point of view. He looks at life, all our pleasures and pains, and he thinks about what would matter if indeed there was no future for mankind after death. What Solomon concludes, what we see in his examples, is that without an afterlife, it is hard to see why anything in this life matters.

Here is a simple example of how this reasoning goes.

Ecclesiastes 9:1-6 – 1 But all this I laid to heart, examining it all, how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God. Whether it is love or hate, man does not know; both are before him. 2 It is the same for all, since the same event happens to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean, to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As the good one is, so is the sinner, and he who swears is as he who shuns an oath. 3 This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that the same event happens to all. Also, the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead. 4 But he who is joined with all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion. 5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. 6 Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished, and forever they have no more share in all that is done under the sun.

If you were to read this without context, without knowing what is happening in Ecclesiastes, you might think this to be unbiblical thinking. Solomon is not an atheist. Even in his greatest despair, he never would pretend like there is no God. Instead, what Solomon did here was to look at human circumstances with the assumption that this life is all there is. And this led him in place after place to declare that all we do is in vain, it is meaningless.

In verse 2, as an example, Solomon says that being good or being bad is irrelevant. After all, good people and bad people all die. Sometimes bad people live longer and happier lives. Sometimes good people live longer and happier lives. But either way, the same thing happens, all end up in the grave.

In verse 5, Solomon points out that, if this life is all there is, the only thing we know is that it is better to be alive than to be dead. After all, if this life is all there is, the dead know and think nothing. There is no justice. There is no reward for righteousness. There is no punishment for evil. Without a life to come, Solomon sees that the only good is to live; and even there, living is a vanity, because life leads to death.

Now, to stop us from really not liking this little book, let’s remember that Solomon will draw the perfect conclusion. Solomon, in chapter 12, will remind us that God does bring deeds into judgment. There is a life beyond this one. Solomon knows all this. He is just taking us through a teaching exercise that shows us how empty life is when one has no hope beyond their 80 years or so.

But we should be learning that there is a genuine emptiness to naturalistic worldviews. Solomon, even three millennia ago, understood that a person who views this life as all there is has no basis for either morality or hope. Even if we know our actions are evil, if we see this life as all there is, so what? Why would we care if we have been good or evil? Solomon shows that, in the end, all we do is live and die and return to dust. There is no hope and no meaning in such a worldview. And thus, such a worldview is unsatisfying and untenable. A this-life-only view offers no basis for morality, no reason for morality, no rational explanation for limiting aggression, no reason to value human beings over animals, no incentive for right behavior, and no deterrent for great evil.

Ecclesiastes is valuable for us because we need somebody to be honest with us about what happens when we see ourselves from a this-world-only view. Solomon was intellectually brighter than all his peers. He did the study. He showed us that naturalism leads to despair. But he did not lose his faith. In the end, he expresses confidence that God is, that God is good, and that God will judge. God will reward those under his favor. God will judge those who have opposed him and his ways. And we can be grateful that Solomon worked through this exercise and wrote it down for us under the inspiration of God. That should keep us from having to walk the same ugly path.

Hardships Are Calls

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What should we do when we face pain? There are lots of reasons, after all, that hardships may come into our lives. This is a hard and broken world. Sometimes we do things to mess up our own lives. Sometimes things happen to us that we did not contribute to at all. And often, these are hard things to interpret.

In Job’s experience, as an example, he faced major hardship, but he had done nothing wrong to deserve it. God had a particular plan to accomplish for his own glory, and Job was part of that. The blind man in John 9 was born blind in order that the glory of God might be revealed. Esther was pulled from obscurity into a throne room for, as she was told, “such a time as this.”

But what are we to do with hardships? Is there anything we should assume that God wants us to do with them? I think we may see something in Amos 4. The passage is a little scary. After all, God is talking to a very rebellious people. But there is still something for us there.

The people of Israel had refused to return to God. Through this chapter, God had told the people that he had sent several hardships their way. But in each of them, the nation refused to turn to him. And God has a response because of that refusal;

Amos 4:11-13

11 “I overthrew some of you,
as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,
and you were as a brand plucked out of the burning;
yet you did not return to me,”
declares the Lord.
12 “Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel;
because I will do this to you,
prepare to meet your God, O Israel!”
13 For behold, he who forms the mountains and creates the wind,
and declares to man what is his thought,
who makes the morning darkness,
and treads on the heights of the earth—
the Lord, the God of hosts, is his name!

Stop and see that ending. It is scary. God says that he sent them through some hard times. But they refused to let their pain cause them to return to the Lord. And then God said, because they would not repent and return, they were to prepare to meet their God. Judgment was coming.

Now, do not misunderstand me, I am not suggesting that all our hardships have the same causes or the same purposes. But I will say this, no matter what our hardships, each of them should call us to turn to the Lord. Whether our hardships are chastening for our sin or trials for our sanctification, they should still cause us to turn to the Lord. We can always repent a little more. We can always see our need for God a little more. We can always recognize that he is holy, and we need his grace a little more.

Are you facing pain? I’m sorry if you are. None of us like hardships. But can I call upon you to turn to the Lord? Whether you have been super-noble or quite dodgy, your hardship should remind you that you cannot stand on your own. You need God’s help. You need God’s mercy. You need to remember that this world in its fallen state is not your home. You need eyes on heaven, eyes on eternity, eyes on Jesus. Let a hardship, any hardship, be a reminder to return to the Lord.

Restoring the Fallen Booth of David

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It would be nice if we knew our bibles better. It would be nice if we knew the minor prophets better. God’s word is so good. God has said things to us that we need to see, things that seem unable to be fulfilled, things that only are fulfilled in Jesus.

Take the book of Amos as an example. This book promises some strong judgment from God on Israel, particularly the northern kingdom. Israel was in rebellion against God ever since their breaking away from Judah around 930 BC. They worshipped idols. They took up with foreign gods of other nations. And they participated in all sorts of evil practices. Israel was a nightmare where justice was concerned. The rich abused the poor and the weak. No judges would give the weak a fair hearing, they would only bow to the powerful. Immorality and injustice were rampant. And God let Israel know that he would be bringing justice to this nation soon.

Amos 5:2

“Fallen, no more to rise,
is the virgin Israel;
forsaken on her land,
with none to raise her up.”

Look at the strength and absolute nature of those words. Israel is falling, never to rise again. They have been so wicked that their power is broken. And, in truth, soon after the days of Amos, the northern kingdom went into exile under the Assyrian Empire, and they never rose to power again.

What then? Has God simply cut off that people? Is that the end of the story? If it were, it would have been just. But God has something bigger and more interesting in mind.

Amos ends with a tone of hope, a light at the end of the tunnel. But that light looks almost contrary to what he had said earlier. How could it happen?

Amos 9:11-15

11 “In that day I will raise up
the booth of David that is fallen
and repair its breaches,
and raise up its ruins
and rebuild it as in the days of old,
12 that they may possess the remnant of Edom
and all the nations who are called by my name,”
declares the Lord who does this.
13 “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord,
“when the plowman shall overtake the reaper
and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed;
the mountains shall drip sweet wine,
and all the hills shall flow with it.
14 I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel,
and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine,
and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit.
15 I will plant them on their land,
and they shall never again be uprooted
out of the land that I have given them,”
says the Lord your God.

Here is the promise, and it is magnificent. God says, just as things look hopeless for all Israel, that he will restore the fallen booth of David. He will restore the household, the kingship, the dynasty of David. How? How can God do that? How can God restore David’s dynasty while the northern kingdom is exiled and not rising to her former glory according to 5:2?

Readers for centuries would have wondered as well about when in the world this promise was to be fulfilled. After all, though the northern kingdom was exiled around 722 BC, the southern went into exile in Babylon, returned to the land, but never found herself out from under the thumb of some empire or another. The people of Judah were ruled by Babylon, Persia, and Greece. They were oppressed in the conflict between Egypt and Syria. And then, to make matters worse, the nation was clearly under the rule of the Roman Empire.

So, what about this restoration? How would it come? Verse 12 tells us that the restoration will include gentile nations. Verses 13-15 talk of a prosperity to come that will be supernatural. How?

New Testament readers who have paid attention to Amos know. The answer is Jesus. Jesus came, arriving in the line of David. Jesus is the Messiah, the promised king from God. Jesus is the one to establish the restoration of the fallen booth of David. But, as is so often the case, he does so in ways that others might have a hard time grasping.

Jesus came and established his kingdom in a way that none expected. He did not come to set up a physical throne or to overthrow the nasty Romans. Instead, Jesus established the kingdom of God based on promised eternal salvation. Jesus saves all who come to him by God’s grace through faith alone. Jesus welcomes Jews and gentiles into the family of god, into the true Israel of God, without distinction of ethnicity, class, background, or anything else.

Is that a proper interpretation of Amos? In Acts 15, we see that the church indeed saw it this way, and it was recorded for us under the inspiration of God.

Acts 15:13-20 – 13 After they finished speaking, James replied, “Brothers, listen to me. 14 Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name. 15 And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written,
16 “ ‘After this I will return,
and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen;
I will rebuild its ruins,
and I will restore it,
17 that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord,
and all the Gentiles who are called by my name,
says the Lord, who makes these things 18 known from of old.’
19 Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, 20 but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood.

Note that, at the Jerusalem counsel, when the question arose as to whether or not gentiles could be welcomed into the church without first submitting to Jewish ceremonial law, James cited Amos 9:11-ff. God used James to teach us that the restoring of the fallen house of David was done as Jesus, the Son of David, conquered death and built the kingdom of God by saving a people from every nation. Yes, the gentiles are part of this kingdom. IN fact, Paul later reminds us that in Christ, there is no longer Jew or Greek, there is only in Christ or not in Christ.

And once we see that Jesus is the fulfillment of what Amos said, all the rest falls into place. How is there no recovery for the sinful northern kingdom as we saw in 5:2? How will there, at the same time, be this restoration of a kingdom as promised in 9:11? How will we see those who are planting the next crop chasing those who are still harvesting the abundance from the last crop around the fields? How will we see the promised supernatural and physical blessing of God? It is all in Christ. Jesus builds God’s kingdom. Jesus saves Jews and gentiles. Jesus saves people descended even from the exiled northern kingdom, even if we do not know who they are. And Jesus will return. And Jesus will reign. And Jesus will undo the curse of sin over the earth. And when Jesus does this all, we will see all fulfilled.

Christians, there is great hope in the prophecy of Amos. We need to know it. We need to love it. We need to let it make us tell people about Jesus. And we need to find our hope in the present kingdom of Christ along with the promise of his coming.

Let Your Words Be Few

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Here is an interesting bit of counsel from Solomon on our attitude when we approach the Lord to worship.

Ecclesiastes 5:1-3 – 1 Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil. 2 Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few. 3 For a dream comes with much business, and a fool’s voice with many words.

Solomon cautions people to guard themselves as they approach the place of worship. He reminds them that God is in heaven, indicating that God is high and holy. In comparison, we are, well, not. And this distinction should cause us to be careful in what we say and what we do, especially as worship is involved.

Of course,

Solomon is writing here under an Old
Testament economy. Worship in this context has much to do with presenting right sacrifice before the Lord. And it would be utter folly for a sinful man to go to the temple and confidently assert what God must accept from him as an offering. There is no room for us to be brash in our dealings with God.

So, in a direct line of application, the king is warning people not to think they can tell God what must happen for God to accept them. This is still true today. There are many people who believe that they can determine exactly what God ought to do with them and their lives. They believe that they can sit in judgment over the ways of god. But man will never set the parameters by which God deals with him. This is God’s work and God’s alone. God has said that there is only one way to salvation, by his grace through faith in Christ alone. God has made it clear that trusting in Jesus in such a way that brings us to repentance is our only path to being accepted. We do not work to earn salvation, it is faith alone. But that faith is a life-changing faith.

I would suggest, however, that this also applies to worship in our modern context. We must first understand that, in Christ, we may approach God with freedom and confidence (Eph. 3:12). We must grasp that God grants to us the righteousness of Christ (2 Cor 5:21). And so we do not approach the Lord in worship fearing that we will not be welcomed. We have, after all, been given the right to be called children of god because of Jesus (John 1:12-13).

But I think this passage can remind us that, even in Christ, we ought to approach the worship of God with genuine reverence and humility. God is still God in heaven. He is still greater than us to an infinite degree. And we should be far quicker to listen to his word than we are to go into worship telling God what we will give him. We should follow
Scripture. We should, when it comes to new ideas, let our words be few. We should reverently and joyfully, with solemnity and with celebration, bring honor to the name of our God in the ways that God has clearly said honor him.

So, consider these thoughts when you next go to worship. Approach God in God’s way. Come to him first in faith and repentance, believing in Jesus and yielding your life to him. And come to him in humility with joy, knowing that God has shown us how he is to be worshipped. Come to sing, pray, and listen to the word. Come to participate in Lord’s Supper and take part in genuine, Christian fellowship. Come to honor God.