Dec 5, 2022
AMOS 1-2:
If
you are new to reading the Bible, I hope that you will remember the
events and expressions that Joel used. One or two ideas were
repeated by Jesus in the Gospels, and we will soon see how
important Joel’s predictions are in Revelation.
We turn now to Amos, whose name means ‘burden bearer’. Amos— like David and Gideon, started out as an ordinary guy going about his business as a shepherd and grower of sycamore figs. He was not a priest or a man with training as a prophet when God called him. Because of the mention of a great earthquake and king Uzziah, it is likely that Amos was working as a prophet around the year 760 BC. This makes him a contemporary of Jonah, Hosea, Isaiah, and Micah.
Although Amos’ home town of Tekoa is only 12 miles south of Jerusalem, Amos prophesied primarily about the Northern Kingdom of Israel. He was wise in his delivery. First he prophesied judgment for Israel’s enemies before lambasting Judah and Israel themselves. Although from a humble occupation, Amos was very gifted as a writer, using very graphic and unique figures of speech. Amos would have had a difficult ministry because he prophesied horrible events that would have been unimaginable for his comfortable and prosperous listeners. The fulfillments were 50 years away, so he was quite ‘ahead of his time’. Mears quotes someone else in saying, “Amos proclaimed a message so far ahead of his time that most of the human race— and a large part of all Christendom, have not yet caught up with it.”
ISAIAH
44:24-45:
Because the prophecy at the end of chapter 44
is so stunning as to mention Cyrus some 150 years before his birth,
skeptical scholars claim that this portion of Isaiah was not
written until after the events happened and by a different author.
But what then? If you say something like that, are you going to
claim that Isaiah 53 was written after Christ came and
died?
2TIMOTHY 4:
There are more than one wonderful 3:16 verses
in the Bible, and we read one of them in chapter 3
yesterday:
2Tim. 3:16 GNT All Scripture is inspired by God
and is useful for teaching the truth, rebuking error, correcting
faults, and giving instruction for right living,
17 so that the person who serves
God may be fully qualified and equipped to do every kind of good
deed.
GNT Translation
notes:
Amo.
1:1 [I am Amos, and I was a
shepherd//These are the words of Amos, a shepherd] from the town of
Tekoa. Two years before the earthquake, when Uzziah was king of
Judah and Jeroboam son of Jehoash was king of Israel, God revealed
to [me//Amos] all these things about Israel.
2 [I//Amos] said,
“The Lord roars from Mount Zion; his voice thunders from Jerusalem.
The pastures dry up, and the grass on Mount Carmel turns
brown.”
====
2Tim. 4:3 The time will come when people will
not listen to sound doctrine, but will follow their own desires and
will collect for themselves more and more teachers who will [just]
tell them what they are itching to hear.
8 [PET 8 So now the time has almost come for me
to receive the victory crown which has been prepared for me. That
crown will show that the just Judge, the Lord, acknowledges me as a
person who has lived rightly. I long for that day of victory when I
meet Him and receive that crown. And the crown of victory isn’t
prepared just for me but also for everyone who longs for the day of
His return.//GNT And now there is waiting for me the victory prize
of being [totally] put right with God, which the Lord, the
righteous Judge, will give me on that Day—and not only to me, but
to all those who wait with love for him to
appear.]
15 Be on your
guard against him yourself, because he [is//was] violently opposed
to our message. 21 Do your best to come before winter.
Eubulus, Pudens, Linus, and Claudia send their greetings, and so do
all the other [brothers and sisters in
Christ//Christians].