Amos 8:1

Amos 8:1 says, Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me: and behold a basket of summer fruit.  God showed Amos another vision, this time a basket of summer fruit.   None of the things that God showed Amos were anything out of the ordinary, but God used them to reveal His message.   We may not need to look for extraordinary things today to find God's truth, but instead may simply need to look for His truth in the ordinary things of life as we live under the leadership of the Holy Spirit.  Verse two adds, And he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said the LORD unto me, The end is come upon my people of Israel; I will not again pass by them any more. Amos said God asked him what he saw, and he said a basket of summer fruit.  Amos did not see anything special about the basket of summer fruit, and Matthew Henry says we may not always immediately understand a vision that God may give to us.  The basket of summer fruit only gained significance when God revealed its meaning to Amos.   It signified that the time for the judgment of Israel was at hand.  We are told of many signs that will occur before the return of Christ, but we must interpret them with God's guidance to really understand how relevant they are to the second coming.  Verse three continues, And the songs of the temple shall be howlings in that day, saith the Lord GOD: there shall be many dead bodies in every place; they shall cast them forth with silence.  God told Amos that instead of being a place of safety that the temple would be a place of howling, and it would be full of dead bodies.  The people of Israel had perverted the temple of God, and the idols that they had filled it with could not protect them from the judgment of God and the death that was coming.  Church buildings, especially if they are filled with man made idols, cannot protect us from spiritual death, but only a real relationship with Jesus Christ can.  Verse four declares, Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail,  Once more, God called on those who mistreated the poor and needy to listen to Him.  God always has a concern for the poor and needy, and we need to ask what He thinks of our treatment of them today.  Verse five adds, Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit?  God said that the only concern of the people of Israel was making more money, even by dishonest means.  They did not see holy days as a time to rest and worship, but only as a time that they were impatient to have pass so they could get back to making money.  We need to ask how we view the sabbath, ot in our case the Lord’s day today.   Are our thoughts on God and worshipping Him, or are we still filled with thoughts and concerns about what we are going to do tomorrow?  Verse six continues, That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat?  God said that their thoughts were always centered on how to get the most of the things of this world at the expense of the poor and needy.  I believe that God expects us to have compassion on the poor and needy of the world today, and also to be honest in our dealings with everyone.  Gaining more material wealth should not be our primary focus in life, but obedience to God should be.  Verse seven states, The LORD hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works.  God swore by the excellency of Jacob, or by Jacob's relationship with Him, that He would not forget any of their deceitful works.  Unless we accept salvation through faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, God will hold us accountable for our sins when Jesus Christ returns in judgment.  All the false worship in the world will not save us,but we will be judged by that relationship alone.  Verse eight asks, Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein? and it shall rise up wholly as a flood; and it shall be cast out and drowned, as by the flood of Egypt.  God asked if the land of Israel would not tremble at this coming judgment.  God said that those who were called His people but who had turned away from Him would be cast out or the promised land.  Simply calling ourselves followers of Christ without a personal relationship with Him will cause us to be cast out of the promised land of Heaven when God's judgment comes.