Jesus said to them:
‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’
(Matthew 7:23)
And so now we begin our journey into the Prophet Amos, and immediately we see a theme. The people, all the people are wicked. And God explains his judgments.
The punishment of fire for Damascus, because they threshed Gilead with iron sledges. The same for Gaza and the Philistines, because the exiled the community of Israeli peoples. And likewise fire for Tyre for mistreating the exiled. And again fire for Edom because they warred with the exiled people putting them to the sword. God commands fire upon the Ammonites for ripping open the pregnant women, and for Moab for burning the king of Edom. And God says, "I will not relent from punishing Judah...because they have rejected the instruction of the Lord
and have not kept his statutes...I will not relent from punishing Israel"
Israel comes under judgment because they enslave and mistreat the poor, abusing their status among the needy. They are involved in every kind of sexual immorality. And they adorned the altars of the temples with the false idols of the neighboring nations.
No one is clean in this. Everyone is wicked and all the people do evil in the sight of God. Social and spiritual corruption rules the hearts of many. And so God punished them with famine, drought, devouring locusts, plagues, and war. And still they fail to repent.
And God says to them, "...prepare to meet your God!" (Amos 4:12)
"Seek me and live!" (Amos 5:4)
"For I know your crimes are many
and your sins innumerable." (Amos 5:12)
"Pursue good and not evil
so that you may live,
and the Lord, the God of Angel Armies,
will be with you
as you have claimed." (Amos 5:14)
But they didn't...they were at ease in their idolatry and wickedness. They loved their own ways and their religion was nothing more than a pretense. And so they were weighed, measured, and found wanting. Likewise this is how it will be when Christ returns. Many will meet this God...
Jesus said to them:
‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’
(Matthew 7:23)