Verse of the Day: V15 “And the LORD took me as I followed the flock, and the LORD said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel.”
1. The Punishment (V1-6)
V1 “Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me; and, behold, he formed grasshoppers in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and, lo, it was the latter growth after the king’s mowings.”
The Almighty God through Amos warned the people of Israel to repent of their sins otherwise He would send the grasshoppers to eat their harvest and fire to burn their land.
V4 “Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me: and, behold, the Lord GOD called to contend by fire, and it devoured the great deep, and did eat up a part.”
2. The Plumbline (V7-9)
V8 “And the LORD said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A plumbline. Then said the Lord, Behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of my people Israel: I will not again pass by them any more:”
The Lord told Amos that He had set a plumbline to measure the uprightness of the people of Israel, just like the plumbline is to measure whether the wall is exactly upright. God’s verdict from the plumbline was that the people of Israel were found guilty of their sins.
V9 “And the high places of Isaac shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.”
3. The Prophesy (V10-17)
V10 “Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words.”
Amaziah, the Priest, had lied and wrongly accused Amos of conspiring against King Jeroboam. At the same time the people of Israel were also wearied and tired of Amos’ prophesy of God’s Word telling them to repent of their sins. Amaziah ordered Amos to leave Israel and to stop prophesying God’s Word. However Amos refused and told Amaziah that he was faithfully following God just like he was faithfully following the flock until God called him to prophesy His Word. Eventually the Almighty God fulfilled His Word when He sent the mighty Babylonians to attack and destroy the people of Israel.
V15 “And the LORD took me as I followed the flock, and the LORD said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel.”
Prayer of the Day:
Dearest God, please help me to faithfully follow You as You are my LORD.
Posted by: Pastor Davy Sim AT 10:13 am
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Verse of the Day: V1 “Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, which are named chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came!”
1. Mountain Of Samaria (V1-2)
V1 “Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, which are named chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came!”
God through Prophet Amos pronounced woe or trouble upon the people of Israel who chose to be at ease in Zion and trust in the mountain of Samaria than the true and living God. The people of Israel chose to trust in the mountain or city of Samaria, which was at that time the chief or leading city of the world, surpassing great cities like Calneh, Hamath and Gath. Samaria was indeed an excellent place of commerce and trade, music and the arts, and fun and pleasure. Hence, the people of Israel thought they could put all their trust in it, but little did they know that the Lord was about to judge and destroy it.
V2 “Pass ye unto Calneh, and see; and from thence go ye to Hamath the great: then go down to Gath of the Philistines: be they better than these kingdoms? or their border greater than your border?”
2. Mountain of Sins (V3-6)
V3 “Ye that put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near;”
God revealed the mountains of sins or the many sins of the people of Israel. They were indulging in excess of food and wine, and committing evil, violence and immorality.
V4 “That lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall;”
3. Mountain of Suffering (V7-14)
V7 “Therefore now shall they go captive with the first that go captive, and the banquet of them that stretched themselves shall be removed.”
God sent the mighty Babylonians, another chief and great nation of the world, to attack and defeat the mountain of Samaria, resulting in many deaths, and many taken as captives and prisoners of war. It was sad and tragic that the mountain of Samaria which was once the mountain the people of Israel trusted, became the mountain of sins and suffering. Indeed, let us trust in God and not the mountain of Samaria as only God alone is our trust.
V14 “But, behold, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel, saith the LORD the God of hosts; and they shall afflict you from the entering in of Hemath unto the river of the wilderness.”
Prayer of the Day:
Dearest God, please help me to trust in You, and You alone.
Posted by: Pastor Davy Sim AT 09:27 am
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Verse of the Day: V4 “For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live:”
1. Survive (V1-3)
V2 “The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; there is none to raise her up.”
Only a handful or ten of the thousands of people of the nation of Israel survived when God severely judged and punished them for their sins and wickedness. The nation of Israel was once a virgin separated for the glory of God, but subsequently she became a harlot as she strayed from the Lord, and worshipped their own handmade idols and gods.
V3 “For thus saith the Lord GOD; The city that went out by a thousand shall leave an hundred, and that which went forth by an hundred shall leave ten, to the house of Israel.”
2. Seek (V4-20)
V4 “For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live:”
The holy God through Prophet Amos warned the people of Israel that they must seek God, and seek to do good if they desired to live on this earth, and forever with God in heaven. However, the people of Israel failed to seek God and to seek good, instead they sought to do evil and committed many evil deeds, and worshipped many kinds of idols and gods.
V14 “Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken.”
3. Suffer (V21-27)
V22 “Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts.”
God rejected the burnt offerings, meat offerings as well as peace offerings of the people of Israel because outwardly they worshipped God, but inwardly their hearts were far away from Him. Subsequently, God allowed the Babylonians to attack and defeat them. The people of Israel suffered great losses as their cities were destroyed, their possessions were taken away from them, many of the people were killed, and the survivors were forced to be prisoners brought beyond Damascus to Babylon as slaves of the Babylonians.
V27 “Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the LORD, whose name is The God of hosts.”
Prayer of the Day:
Dearest God, please help me to seek You, seek good and do good.
Posted by: Pastor Davy Sim AT 10:03 am
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Verse of the Day: V12 “Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.”
1. Repent (V1-3)
V1 “Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, which oppress the poor, which crush the needy, which say to their masters, Bring, and let us drink.”
The holy God through Prophet Amos time and again warned the people of Israel, especially, the wealthy leaders, to repent of their sins of drinking, and oppressing and crushing the poor and the needy, otherwise God’s severe judgment shall be upon them.
V2 “The Lord GOD hath sworn by his holiness, that, lo, the days shall come upon you, that he will take you away with hooks, and your posterity with fishhooks.”
2. Return (V4-11)
V6 “And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.”
God shall judge and punish the people of Israel with great famine, such that they had no food, and hence, their teeth were cleaned, as they ate nothing. However, the people still continued to sin, and God subsequently sent the mighty Babylonians to attack and overthrew all their cities, and killed many of them, and forced the rest of them as prisoners of war in the land of Babylon, because they refused to repent and return to Him.
V11 “I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.”
3. Ready (V12-13)
V12 “Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.”
Are you ready or prepared to meet God? Is God truly your God, Lord and Saviour? One day, we shall all meet the LORD, the God of hosts, and either He shall say to us, “Come to me, and enter into the pearly gates of heaven, as you have fully trusted me”, or “Depart from me, and be cast into the fiery pits of hell, as you have never fully trusted me”.
V13 “For, lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, The LORD, The God of hosts, is his name.”
Prayer of the Day:
Dearest God, please help me to be prepared to meet You by fully trusting in You.
Posted by: Pastor Davy Sim AT 09:54 am
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