A few years ago, I sat on the steps of the Cathedral du St Pierre in Geneva--the church where John Calvin preached 450 years ago. I couldn't help but wonder what he would say about the Geneva of today.

The taverns and nightclubs that lie beneath the shadow of the church also had their counterparts in his day yet through his preaching and influence, most closed their doors and the others were strictly regulated. But today they reign supreme, and the church attracts more tourists than worshippers.

Sitting on those steps I could hear a clear voice ringing down through the centuries calling a city--no, calling a continent--to repent. The town council had requested Calvin to come and reform their worship and theology, but the Genevan reformer was not content until every knee bowed at the name of Jesus Christ, and every tongue confessed that he is Lord to the glory of God the Father. His call to the city of Geneva was a call to repent of their sins, to believe in Jesus Christ as he is offered in the gospel, and to obey the commandments of our Lord. He warned of the consequences of disobedience. because disobedience brings forth the wrath of God.

For over one hundred years Geneva heeded the preaching of Calvin and his successors, so that John Knox called it "the most perfect school of Christ" since the time of the apostles," but their righteousness faded and today Geneva wallows in her sin. They have rejected the word of the Lord, and have been handed over to the consequences of rebellion. Sin has so hardened their hearts that they do not wince at blatant perversion, neither do they feel shame at their debauchery.

In that, they are just like America--meaning and purpose are often found in sex, drugs, and the pursuit of entertainment and material prosperity. To such a people the preaching of the Word of God is an absurd occupation. Yet that very preaching has converted cities before--may it happen in our day as well!

The prophet Amos spoke to such a people, and it was not a mild or flimsy message that the shepherd of Tekoa proclaimed to Israel. But in his day the people did not repent.

Amos prophesied during the reign of Uzziah, king of Judah, and of Jeroboam II, king of Israel. This was the first part of the 8th century, B.C., a time of great prosperity in Israel. 150 years before, Israel and Judah had separated into two different nations. Sometimes they formed military alliances against common enemies, but at the time of Amos both had become prosperous, and they were not on friendly terms. In fact, forty years before, Judah had challenged Israel in battle, but Israel was victorious and even plundered the temple in Jerusalem. Amos was from Judah, but he came to Israel to prophesy--which would not make him very popular! In fact we read in chapter 7:12 that Amaziah, the priest at Bethel, warned Amos against prophesying in Israel, and told him, "Flee to the land of Judah...prophesy there!" Bethel was the location of one of the main altars of Israel's worship. Jeroboam I had established Dan and Bethel as the two centers of worship, contrary to God's command to worship only in Jerusalem. And so Amos's message starts with that reminder: "The Lord roars from Zion and utters his voice from Jerusalem."

The Lord ROARS. Children, what roars? How about a lion? God is like a lion who roars before destroying his prey.

But at first Amos preached a rather pleasant message: the enemies of Israel are going to get it from God. The phrase "for three transgressions and for four I will not turn away its punishment" provides a literary structure for the passage. Notice how the pattern flows: "Thus says the LORD: For three transgressions of (the nation) and for four I will not turn away its punishment, because (he describes their sin). But I will send fire upon (the chief city or family), and it will consume her citadels (often the major city)." Then come the punishment of the people and any other judgment which God declares.

Now Amos has not simply picked these nations at random--there is a certain order to them. He starts with the major powers to the north and west, and then moves to the east to where the other descendants of Abraham dwelt. I've given you a map with the pattern of God's judgment.

1. Damascus was the chief city of Syria which was a powerful menace to the northeast. Jabesh Gilead was a city in Israel near the border with Syria, and the Syrians had brutally destroyed the city, mangling the bodies of their captives under heavy iron sledges with sharp teeth. So when Amos says that God is going to send fire upon the house of Hazael, their king, and send the people of Syria into exile, Amos' hearers would have said: "hey, this prophet's not so bad--we like this sort of stuff!"
2. Then he turns to Gaza, the capital of the Philistines, and declares that they will be judged "because they carried into exile a whole people" and says that he will destroy them completely.
3. Then he moves back north to Tyre, and declares that the Phoenician capital will be consumed by fire, because they too "delivered up a whole people to Edom, and did not remember the covenant of brotherhood." Hiram, King of Tyre, had entered a covenant with David, but now Tyre has forgotten their covenant, and has violated their treaty with Israel.

Then Amos turned toward the southeast and declared God's coming wrath against Edom, Ammon and Moab.

4. Edom will be judged because he pursued his brother (Israel) with the sword. Edom was another name for Esau, and Israel is another name for Jacob. The Edomites have pursued Israel with the sword, therefore God will judge Teman and Bozrah-the leading cities of Edom.

The last two, Moab and Ammon, were descended from Lot, Abraham's nephew, Yet by the time of Amos these peoples had been bitter foes of Israel for generations beyond count.

5. The Ammonites will likewise be judged because they have "ripped open pregnant women in Gilead, that they might enlarge their border." So God will set fire to the wall of Rabbah, their capital, and send the king and princes of Ammon into exile.
6. Moab, as well, will be punished. Notice, though, that Moab's judgment has nothing to do with how they treated Israel. Until this point, you could try to argue that the reason for God's judgment was because the nations had mistreated the people of God. But the judgment against Moab makes it clear that this is not the ground of judgment. Moab's crime is that they "burned to lime the bones of the king of Edom." Yes, it is true that God will judge the nations because of how they treat his people. Jesus says this in Matthew 25, and the whole of Revelation confirms it. But that's not Amos's point. God will judge the nations because they have acted wickedly. They have violated the law of nature. They have ripped open pregnant women, they have treated prisoners of war with shame and cruelty, they have even desecrated the dead. We know from ancient Hittite treaties, that these sorts of activities were considered war crimes even by the pagan nations of the ancient world. And God declares that these pagan nations shall receive his judgment, because they knew that what they were doing was wrong, but they did it anyway.

Any nation that violates God's moral law, imprinted upon our consciences, may expect God's judgment. Saddam Hussein's cruel treatment of his own people--as well as his neighbors--brought down the hand of God against his government.

But the fact that America was the hand of God in this instance should not make us cocky. Remember that God has often used wicked and godless nations as the instruments of his wrath, only to turn and destroy them as well. And we cannot claim a great track record with respect to how we have treated our own people or our neighbors. 160 years ago we invaded Mexico without just cause, and sixty years ago we slaughtered hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians when we dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And between southern slavery in the early 19th century, and northern oppression of the working poor at the end of the 19th century, (not to mention the wholesale slaughter of unborn children in the 20th century--ripping open pregnant women in order to enlarge our convenience), we have not treated our own people well at all. Amos makes it clear that God's judgment is against nations that violate his law, revealed in nature and conscience.

Indeed, by the time Amos got to this point in his sermon, he probably had a cheering section, a fan club, and an invitation to prophesy at the king's court whenever Jeroboam II was feeling glum.

And to top it all off, he then denounces Judah--his own country--"because they have rejected the law of the LORD, and have not kept his statutes, but their lies have led them astray, those after which their fathers walked." Amos declares that the fortresses of Jerusalem will be consumed by fire.

A casual Israelite might have thought that this is one nifty prophet!

But the more observant listener would have started to get nervous when Judah's condemnation was pronounced because there is a subtle difference--not in the structure of the condemnation, but in the sin which is condemned. Notice that the sins of the first six nations are war crimes and atrocities which violate common morality--but Judah is condemned for rejecting the law of the Lord and following after lies.

The observant listener would recognize that Israel was guilty of the same thing! The lion has been stalking his prey. He has worked steadily around the perimeter of Israel, and now pounces on hapless Israel: "For three transgressions of Israel and for four, I will not revoke its punishment!"

The rest of the book of Amos is a stinging indictment of Israel and a vivid description of the wrath which God promised to pour out on his people. These three verses outline Israel's sin, on which the rest of the book will expand and elaborate. Whereas the nations each receive two or three verses, Israel gets seven chapters.

Notice how the map is constructed. It is the pattern of a lion stalking his prey, with a target right in the middle. The target of Amos' prophecy is Israel--although he says that Judah will also be judged--but it is within the context of showing Israel that Yahweh is the God of all nations, and that all sinful nations will be destroyed.

Let's quickly look at 9:7-8a. The Israelites put great stock in the Exodus. Since we are the chosen nation, God must be on our side, right? God responds by reminding them of the covenant he made with them--a covenant which included blessings if they obeyed, and curses if they rebelled. Yes, he says, I brought up Israel from the land of Egypt, but I also brought the Philistines from Caphtor and the Syrians from Kir. I am the one who establishes every nation--and I am the one who lays them low--"Behold the eyes of the Lord God are on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the face of the earth."

But wait! What about God's covenant? Will he utterly destroy his people? No, not completely. But he does say (9:10) "all the sinners of my people will die by the sword."

Amos proclaims the message that it is too late for Israel. Even in chapter five verses 4-15 where Amos calls Israel to repentance he does not say, "perhaps God will spare you" he says rather, "perhaps the Lord God of Hosts may be gracious to the remnant of Joseph." In many places the Old Testament speaks of a "remnant" of the faithful in the midst of the faithlessness of Israel, but here it becomes absolutely clear that not all who are of Israel are Israel.

Indeed the message of Amos is that time has run out, and it's too late for the nation as a whole to repent. God will restore his people, but not now. Indeed, within two generations, Israel would be laid waste.

The sin of Israel is summed up back in chapter 2:6-8. There are three major problems in Israel: First, (6-7) they are more concerned with material possessions than with people, and with that they oppressed the poor and perverted the humble. Slavery was not forbidden in Israel, but it was to be a household slavery, where slaves were as much a part of your family as your children. The idea of selling slaves for profit was a violation of the Mosaic law, which permitted slavery as a temporary measure for debtors to avoid starvation.

Second (7), they were turning to Baal worship--as is seen by the temple prostitution. Baal worshippers believed that their land would only become fertile if they reminded Baal to fertilize the land. The only way to do that was to have sex with Baal's priestesses.

And third (8), they seek their own advantage over the rights of others. It was written in the law that if a poor man gave his cloak as a pledge that it must be returned to him by nightfall because it was his only covering at night (Ex 22:26). Yet the Israelites despised the law and were ignoring their God. Yet at the same time they still tried to worship Yahweh. That is why God declares in chapter five, "I hate, I reject your festivals, Nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them... Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not even listen to the sound of your harps."

Israel had been given a privileged position before God, but that position was one of peril. God's presence is a very dangerous thing, because although it brings blessing to those who love and obey him, it will bring destruction and death to those who rebel against him and despise his law.

How should we view this as those who stand on this side of the cross? When we read the book of Amos, should we think of God's wrath as being promised to America or Geneva? More importantly, when we read the promise at the end of the book, who may claim that promise?

Let us look again at the first chapter of Amos. Israel is put on the same level as the nations in terms of judgment, but there is also a distinction. The nations are judged because they should have known better than to commit such atrocities; but Israel and Judah are judged because they had rejected God's law. We must remember that Israel's relationship to God is the same as the church's relationship with God. No country today can claim any special status as God's chosen people. Certainly God uses nations to accomplish his purposes, and he is truly the Sovereign Lord of all the earth, but that is precisely what Amos says about the nations in chapters one and nine, when he emphasizes the fact that all wicked nations will be judged by God.

But what if a nation decides to try to obey God's law? For instance, the city-state of Geneva determined in 1536 that she would seek to be obedient to God in all things, and for over a hundred years she did a pretty decent job of it. Could Geneva claim to be "God's chosen people" in any special sense?

No.

Geneva was no more God's people than Ninevah was when it repented after Jonah's preaching, because God has never made a covenant with Geneva, or with Ninevah, or with America. Rather, the promises of God are yes and amen in Jesus Christ, and can be applied only to the church.

Of course, as we see in the history of the early church, the Roman Empire survived as long as it did because of the presence of the Church. Yet at the same time, the presence and growth of the church was not able to prevent the fall of Rome. It is only as the church is faithful to Jesus Christ that a nation will be blessed, but the presence of a faithful church does not guarantee God's blessing on a nation.

But what of the Lord's response to Solomon in 2 Chronicles 7:14, "If my people who are called by my name humble themselves and pray, and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land"? Cannot we say that if America repents from her sin that God will heal this land? No, because this was a promise to the Old Testament church, given at the dedication of the temple, the holy place of worship. Rather we must speak these words to the church. If the church will repent and turn from her wicked ways, then God will forgive and heal her, and bring her to the true Holy Land--the New Creation. These words, just like Amos's, cannot be spoken to America, and indeed when we speak them to America we ignore their power.

When we speak them to America it is all to easy to forget that they are aimed at us.

You see, the greatest need in America is not for the nation to repent, but for the church to repent. As long as we continue to point the finger against the government, we are able to ignore the demands of God's law on our own lives. So rather than read Amos as a scathing denunciation of the State, let us read it as it is: a fiery sermon against the church, and perhaps we will see that we are as guilty as they were. The church is not immune from God's judgment. Recall Peter's words which we read earlier: "For it is time for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end for those who do not obey the gospel of God?"

God will judge his church--yes it will be worse for unbelievers, but do not be too quick to absolve yourself from sin. We must allow the Word of God to penetrate our hearts and convict us of our shortcomings.

Recall that the first sin Amos inveighs against was the sin of materialism. If they were guilty of it, how much more are we? We live in a consumer age where we are constantly pressured to focus our desires on material gain. The television bombards us with advertisements which tantalize our eyes with the pleasure and happiness which can be yours if only you buy.... And we have bought into it. We want the nicest houses, the highest standard of living, the best clothes, and the flashiest cars. When the next Disney movie comes out, all the kids in the nation will be racing to the stores to get the fancy new toys As we get older, we may laugh at their childish desire for the latest fad, but are we any different? We may get more practical, but our lives become so driven by the desire for comfort and convenience--not to mention the current fashion or style--that we slowly begin to ignore the fact that our first and foremost concern ought to be Christ. So we live as full-blown consumers, every bit as materialistic as our neighbors, never even wondering how this glorifies God and advances his kingdom. We don't seem to even realize that our materialism oppresses the righteous and the needy. Yet it does. I discovered in Europe that businesses and stores close around 6-7pm, are only open for a few hours on Saturday, and are closed all day Sunday. The only exceptions are a few cafes and restaurants. We, who are supposedly more Christian than they are, violate the Sabbath for the most trivial reason. They consider our system brutal, because workers are forced to work at night and on weekends. And yet American Christians proudly declare that our economic system is the best in the world. Our modern economy views individuals as production units, only considering how much productivity this person will bring--so they have no qualms about transferring people all over the country, regardless of what that does to their families. We in the church have bought into this model, to the point that if we have a better job offer in another part of the country, we will abandon our extended families and churches for a higher standard of living. This is "selling the righteous for money, and the needy for a pair of sandals." And to their shame, American Christians call this good!

So do not place your hope in an earthly kingdom--and do not fall into the trap of materialism and promoting your own self-advantage, but obey God instead, and pray that God would forgive his church for rejecting his law and caving in to a culture which cares more for money than for righteousness. Be thankful for this country, and pray that God will turn her around, but do not put your hope in America. Put your hope in the one who has established his church in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, and promises that those who trust in him will never be rooted out from the land he will give us when he comes again!

Copyright © 2003 Peter J. Wallace