Friday, July 6

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Friday

“True Religion Restored”

If you’ve been reading this week’s posts on the book of Amos I wouldn’t blame you for thinking something along these lines, “Man all this stuff is just negative!” If you’ve thought that, you aren’t too far from the truth. Much of the book of Amos is a “negative” message of the judgment and wrath of God coming upon those who practice dead religion. However Amos is not a book without hope. Although Amos spends most of the book proclaiming God’s judgment on dead religion the book ends with a powerful message of the restoration of true religion. This restoration of true religion is marked by the restoration of relationship, justice, and blessing. Let’s take a quick look at all three. 

Restoration of Relationship:

Amos first speaks of the restoration of true religion through the language of relationship. In Amos 5:14 he gives the hope filled promise, 

Seek good, not evil,
    that you may live.
Then the Lord God Almighty will be with you,
    just as you say he is.

Here’s what’s significant about that promise. Did you catch the last line? Amos commands the Israelite’s to seek good not evil so that the Lord will be with you, “just as you say He is.” That last line terrifies me. It terrifies me because what it means is that there were a group of people who believed with all their hearts that the Lord was with them, when He wasn’t. It terrifies me because the Israelite’s weren’t pagans, they thought themselves to be God followers who would have absolutely affirmed that God was “with them,” but Amos makes it painfully clear throughout this book that God has never been with them. Here though Amos’ message is hope filled. He promises the Israelite’s that God can be with them if they’ll seek good, and not evil.

Restoration of Justice

With restoration of relationship comes restoration of justice. As the Israelite’s rediscover their relationship with YHWH they’ll have to walk away from the injustices of their lives. Amos beautifully calls them toward this restoration of justice in these famous verses from later in Amos 5. 

²³ Away with the noise of your songs!
    I will not listen to the music of your harps.
²⁴ But let justice roll on like a river,
    righteousness like a never-failing stream!

So the restoration of true religion and the triumph of God is marked by the restoration of relationship, and the restoration of justice. It’s simply impossible to be restored into relationship with God without having a lifestyle that matches up to that relationship. When we enter into a relationship with God our lives are necessarily changed as we grow in godliness and justice is the end result. 

Restoration of Blessing

Finally the restoration of true religion is marked by this, the restoration of blessing. As negative as the book of Amos is, it ends with a hopeful message of restoration for the people of Israel. Here, God’s grace is highlighted. Though the Israelite’s had turned away from Him completely, though they were an abomination to His glory and name, God doesn’t give up on them. They will be punished, but not destroyed. Amos ends his prophetic work with these hope drenched words in Amos 9:13-15, 

¹³ “The days are coming,” declares the Lord,

“when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman
    and the planter by the one treading grapes.
New wine will drip from the mountains
    and flow from all the hills.
¹⁴ I will bring back my exiled people Israel;
    they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them.
They will plant vineyards and drink their wine;
    they will make gardens and eat their fruit.
¹⁵ I will plant Israel in their own land,
    never again to be uprooted
    from the land I have given them,”

says the Lord your God.

God hates dead religion. He hates it enough that he destroyed it in Israel during through the Assyrian and Babylonian exiles. Though He hates it He is gracious enough to His people to continue in His Covenant with them, if only they’ll turn their backs on their sin and embrace Him. At the end of the book of Amos we see that true religion triumphs as dead religion dies. Mercy is promised to a broken people, and God is exalted. Check back in on Monday as we dive into the book of Obadiah together. 


Grant Diamond