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A Vision of Fire
4The Lord showed me that he is going to send a ball of fire to burn up everything on earth, including the ocean. 5Then I said, “Won't you please stop? How can our weak nation survive?”
6Again the Lord felt sorry and answered, “I won't let it be destroyed.”
A Vision of
7The Lord showed me a vision of himself standing beside a wall and holding a string with a weight tied to the end of it. The string and weight had been used to measure the straightness of the wall. 8Then he asked, “Amos, what do you see?”
“A measuring line,” I answered.
The Lord said, “I'm using this measuring line to show that my people Israel don't measure up, and I won't forgive them any more. 9Their sacred places will be destroyed, and I will send war against the nation of King Jeroboam.”
Amos and Amaziah
10Amaziah the priest at Bethel sent this message to King Jeroboam of Israel, “Amos is plotting against you in the very heart of Israel. Our nation cannot put up with his message for very long. 11Here is what he is saying:
‘Jeroboam will be put to death,
and the people will be taken
to a foreign country.’ ”
12Then Amaziah told me, “Amos, take your visions and get out! Go back to Judah and earn your living there as a prophet. 13Don't do any more preaching at Bethel. The king worships here at our national temple.”
14I answered:
I'm not a prophet! And I wasn't trained to be a prophet. I am a shepherd, and I take care of fig trees. 15But the Lord told me to leave my herds and preach to the people of Israel. 16And here you are, telling me not to preach! 17Now, listen to what the Lord says about you:
Your wife will become
a prostitute in the city,
your sons and daughters
will be killed in war,
and your land will be divided
among others.
You will die in a country
of foreigners,
and the people of Israel
will be dragged
from their homeland.
A Basket of Fruit
1The Lord God showed me a basket of ripe fruit 2and asked, “Amos, what do you see?”
“A basket of ripe fruit,” I replied.
Then he said,
“This is the end
for my people Israel.
I won't forgive them again.
3Instead of singing
in the temple,
they will cry and weep.
Dead bodies will be everywhere.
So keep silent!
I, the Lord, have spoken!”
Israel Is Doomed
The Lord said:
4You people crush those in need
and wipe out the poor.
5You say to yourselves,
“How much longer before the end
of the New Moon Festival?
When will the Sabbath be over?
Our wheat is ready,
and we want to sell it now.
We can't wait to cheat
and charge high prices
for the grain we sell.
We will use dishonest scales
6and mix dust in the grain.
Those who are needy and poor
don't have any money.
We will make them our slaves
for the price
of a pair of sandals.”
7I, the Lord, won't forget
any of this,
though you take great pride
in your ancestor Jacob.
8Your country will tremble,
and you will mourn.
It will be like the Nile River
that rises and overflows,
then sinks back down.
9On that day, I, the Lord God,
will make the sun
go down at noon,
and I will turn daylight
into darkness.
10Your festivals and joyful singing
will turn into sorrow.
You will wear sackcloth
and shave your heads,
as you would at the death
of your only son.
It will be a horrible day.
11I, the Lord, also promise you
a terrible shortage,
but not of food and water.
You will hunger and thirst
to hear my message.
12You will search everywhere—
from north to south,
from east to west.
You will go all over the earth,
seeking a message
from me, the Lord.
But you won't find one.
13Your beautiful young women
and your young men
will faint from thirst.
14You made promises
to the goddess Ashimah
at Samaria;
you made vows to other gods
at the shrines
of Dan and Beersheba.
So now you will fall
and never get up.
Reflect
On what size screen would you see a vision from God? IMAX? Would it be in 3D? This one is not pre-recorded, but it’s not live either. Amos sees what hasn’t happened yet. He is not just in the seats, he is in the scene, he is part of the story. He speaks. The Director stops, “CUT.” Amos pleads: too much fire, too many locusts, too much blood. The Director orders: “Rewind. Edit.”
In the intermission, a priest says to Amos: “Be quiet. The land cannot bear all your words.” (NIV 7:10) “Take your visions and get out!” Amos didn’t reply: “I am The Prophet, I am on the red carpet with The Director, The Actor, The Author. Instead he says: “I am a herder of sheep and a fruit picker.” I am not a professor, a teacher, a preacher and certainly not a prophet. The Director spotted me and cast me. He showed me the rough cut. He asked me what I thought. I pleaded: “save the weak” the extras. He listened, and I saved many from the big finale. Since you are so strong it seems your part has been cut. Those who don’t listen, won’t have to hear. I will be quiet soon. There comes ‘a famine through the land – not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord’ (8:11 NIV). The script has been lost. The silence is deafening.
The projector restarts. Amos is in an orchard, fruit ripe for picking, basket full. But where is the star? The Actor’s agent called, He “will not pass by them anymore” (7:7 NIV). There is no one to save the day. Those who “swallowed up the needy” are drowned in darkness. Those who traded in deceit “fall and never rise” (8:14 NIV).
Respond
You are The Author of us. We go off book. We don’t learn our lines. We rewrite. You would listen, if we asked. We want to forget you are there, behind the camera, seeing it all. You want us to remember who we are. We are numerous as the stars, but keep vying for our own trailer.
Alexander Best
Alexander cultivated a network of Christian leaders, OneMission, to promote collaboration, including service to the 15,000 new students arriving at University of Toronto each fall, under the umbrella, ServeToronto. He helped foster the same at the PanAm Games in Toronto and is the former Canadian Director of the Lausanne Movement Canada. He publishes THisToronto, a social media platform promoting & connecting the activities of over 300 ministries and churches in the city."