AMOS CHAPTER 8

HEART ISSUES
It is shocking to me to think of God’s reasoning for destroying the Israelite people. The sins they committed are so commonplace in America that I do not know what causes Him to relent sometimes. The only thing I can think of is that He is patient and allowing for more people to come to know Him. I know that the wrath of God will not be pretty on the day that it is revealed to America. We have been the “Christian” nation that has prostituted Christ for His blessing. We run after what God gives and spend little time running after God. I want to continue to run after God himself and treat Him as the treasure, not the things that God does. I also am challenged again by the aspect of thinking that God sees everything, knows everything, and will not forget anything that I have done. My sin is such a huge pile before Him and I regret all the ones that continue to creep up in my life. I am so grateful for the blood of Jesus Christ when I stop to realize the amount of sin that has been covered by His blood. It causes me to strive for repentance and turn to my Holy and awesome Creator and personal intimate friend.

NOTES
-The summer fruit/ripe fruit was not fit for preserving. Other commentators that notate the fruit as being the last autumn harvest refer to this as Israel stocking up all their sins against themselves and there being no more fruit to gather. Winter is truly coming for the Lord will destroy Israel for their many sins.
-Joy turns to lamentation and finally to silence as wailing is even hard in the midst of such destruction.
-Isn’t it crazy what these people were destroyed for and how commonplace these things are for today. People longing to work on the Sabbath, exploiting the poor, and making dishonest money are a natural mark of our civilization and is even taught to our students in economics classes.
-God does not forget nor does He miss any of our sins. Verse 9 is a prophecy of the day of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. It is amazing how God implanted the coming of His son into the prophecies of destruction and death for the Israelite people. Amos probably did not even know the meaning of what he was saying at this time, but this was truly the Word of God coming forth from his mouth.
-The judgment was true against the Northern Kingdom of Israel as we do not know hardly anything about their continuance after this destruction. We know that none of these tribes went back to the land of Canaan and that we know very little if much at all about their further impact on history. Although, the tribes of Judah did remain, they later went through much judgment and wrath by the destruction of many Jews that we all know of.