May 16, 2001

"Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto
his servants the prophets. The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the
Lord God hath spoken, who can but prophesy? Amos 3:7-8

Amos is saying that God will not move in judgment until He gives His
message to the prophets. He will let them know what He intends to do.
The prophets were giving God's message to Israel.
The problem in our day is not that people do not have a Word from God;
the problem is that they will not hear that Word from God! I feel that
the Bible is more up to date than tomorrow mornings newspaper. After
all, tomorrow morning's paper will be out of date by noon when the
afternoon edition comes off the press. But the Word of God will be just
as good the next day and on to the end of time.
It has always been God's method to reveal information to those who are
His own concerning future judgment. You will recall that during Noah's
day, God told him of a coming flood judgment and gave Noah 120 years to
warn his generation. But the world did not heed his message. Also,
remember that God let Abraham know ahead of time regarding the
destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. It is a good thing He did that,
because if He had not, it would have given Abraham a wrong viewpoint of
the almighty God. It has always been God's method to reveal such things
to His own. When He was here in the flesh, He told His disciples,
"Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what
his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I
have heard of my Father I have made known to you" (John 15:15). There
are many examples of this throughout the Bible. He gave a forewarning to
Joseph in Egypt of the seven years of famine that were to come upon the
earth. Also, Elijah was forewarned of the drought that would come upon
Israel. He walked into the courts of Ahab and Jezebel to announce to
them that they were in for a drought ~ ". . . As the LORD God of Israel
liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these
years, but according to my word" (1Kings 17:1). Then he walked out of
the court and dropped out of sight for over three years. Since it is
God's method to warn of impending judgment, our Lord told His apostles,
when He was gathered with them on the Mount of Olives, that Jerusalem
would be destroyed ~ not one stone would be left upon another.
It is God's method always to give a warning of impending judgment, and
that is all that Amos is doing here although his contemporaries are very
critical of him. People just don't want to hear about judgment! They
would much rather hide their head in the sand like the proverbial
ostrich. Some people will not even go to the doctor's because they do
not want to know that something is wrong with them. The human family
does not want to hear the bad news of judgment which is coming. For
every effect there is a cause, and God sends judgment only upon sinning
people.
God also makes it clear that the prophet is obligated to give His
message ~ regardless of what it is. In fact, he ought to be in fear if
he fails to relay God's message to the people. I feel sorry for the
liberal who is refusing to declare God's message. He ought to be in
fear. "The lion hath roared, who will not fear?" God has spoken! Now
let's speak what God has to say! Let's get off this social gossip!
God Bless you as you share "Good News" today and all days.

<J><E><S><U><S>< <S><A><V><E><S><