Amos 3:1 says, Hear this word that the LORD hath spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying,  This warning was not just for Israel, but for Judah as well.  They were all God's people, delivered together from Egypt and into the promised land.  This applies to God's people today as well.  We, as followers of Christ, are all equally God's people.  We may separate ourselves by earthly differences, but we are still united in Christ if we are truly following God's word.  What God says to His people applies to all His people.  Verse two says, You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.  This does not mean that God chose, or knew, the people of Israel only for their own benefit, but He chose them to spread His word to all the world.  Since God had revealed Himself to them in a personal way, they had more accountability for their sins.  When we enter into a relationship with Christ, it is not just for our deliverance from sin, but also for our service to God.  Salvation is not just a get out of jail free card, but it is an everlasting relationship with God to do His will.  Verse three asks, Can two walk together, except they be agreed?  If we go back to the garden of Eden, we find God walking with Adam and Eve before they allowed sin to rule them.  Where they had been agreed, now they attempted to hide.  We cannot walk with God if we allow sin back into our lives.  Verse four asks, Will a lion roar in the forest, when he hath no prey? will a young lion cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing?  God was roaring out His warning to His professed people.  They were to be destroyed like a lion destroys its prey, if they did not heed His warning.  When we sin, as followers of Christ, He will roar out His warning to us.  Though we will never lose our salvation if we have accepted Christ as Savior and Lord, if we allow sin back into our lives, we cannot walk freely with God.  Verse five asks, Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where no gin is for him? shall one take up a snare from the earth, and have taken nothing at all?  I believe that this is basically saying that like a bird caught in a snare, something has to tempt or entice us into sin.  If the snare hasn't caught anything, it will remain in place.  Sin is a snare that is always ready to entrap anyone who gets too close.  Verse six asks, Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?  The trumpet blowing was a warning of danger.  When the people heard it, they were to react.  The second part, that where there is evil in the city has God not caused it, I believe means that God has allowed it.  Matthew Henry seems to give God credit for the evil, but I do not believe that God is ever the source of evil.  Verse seven declares, Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.  This does not mean that God is not active in the world.  God always makes His will known.  God did this through the prophets then, and I believe that He does it in the life of each individual Christian through the Holy Spirit today.

Amos 2:13 says, Behold, I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves.  God through Amos was speaking to Israel, His chosen people, at this point.  Amos had listed some of their sins, against both other people and even God's prophets.  In this verse, God said that their sins pressed down on Him, as though He were under a cart full of sheaves.  We need to acknowledge that our sins, no matter how minor they may seem, are a burden to God, especially if they are committed by those who profess to be God's people.  God had sent the people of Israel prophets, with the Nazarites being singled out especially, and they had attempted to and often did corrupt them.  God has sent us the Nazarite, Jesus Christ, and though He cannot be corrupted, we as His followers often corrupt His teachings.  Verse fourteen says,  Therefore the flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not strengthen his force, neither shall the mighty deliver himself:  The people of Israel had forgotten that their strength came from God.  We, as the church and as individual Christians, can never afford to forget this.  Without God, they were weak and powerless, unable to deliver themselves.  Without God, and as followers of Christ that means relying on the Holy Spirit in all matters, we are weak and unable to deliver ourselves from the power of sin.  Even though through Christ we are forever saved, if we begin to rely on our own power to daily overcome sin, then we are in danger of giving in to that sin.  This would then indeed become an unnecessary burden to God.  Verse fifteen states, Neither shall he stand that handleth the bow; and he that is swift of foot shall not deliver himself: neither shall he that rideth the horse deliver himself.  Amos says that not only will their strength fail, but also the things they use to fight will fail also.  We may have come a long way from the bow and arrow and horses in battle, but all our weapons are just as useless in a battle against God.  Verse sixteen says,  And he that is courageous among the mighty shall flee away naked in that day, saith the LORD.  Even the courageous would flee from the battle with God.  Remember, these were supposedly God's people that Amos was speaking to, but they were His people in name only.  The only way that we can stand before God without fear is through faith in Christ as our Savior and Lord.  Without a personal relationship with Christ, we are still at war with God, if only by the fact of our unbelief.

Amos 2:6 says, Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes;  Amos now pronounces God's judgment on the remainder of His people, the nation of Israel.  They were not divided in to two nations, Judah and Israel, by any action of God, but by their own actions.  If we, as followers of Christ today become divided by anything it will not be because of any action of God.  God said that Israel was guilty of selling the righteous and the poor for material wealth.  Verse seven declares, That pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek: and a man and his father will go in unto the same maid, to profane my holy name:  They were guilty of ignoring or even mistreating the poor.  As followers of Christ, we have a responsibility to help those who are less fortunate than us and not to ignore or condemn them instead.  The people of Israel, God's chosen people, were also guilty of sexual sins.  I believe that we can see enough of that today to know that this has not changed.  Verse eight states, And they lay themselves down upon clothes laid to pledge by every altar, and they drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their god.  This simply says that they used the things pledged to God for their own benefit.  As followers of Christ, we pledge everything that we have to God, yet we often treat what we have materially as if it is ours to do with as we please.  I believe that God expects us to help the poor and oppressed and not look down on them.  Verse nine states, Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath.  God reminded the people of Israel that he was responsible for their success as a nation.  The Amorites had been a strong and successful nation in worldly terms, but God gave Israel the ability to defeat them.  Verse ten says, Also I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and led you forty years through the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite.  We need to remember that the nation of Israel spent forty years wandering in the wilderness because of their own lack of faith.  Had they had faith in the power of God when they first came to the promised land they would not have spent forty years in the wilderness.  Verse eleven states, And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites. Is it not even thus, O ye children of Israel? saith the LORD.  God reminded the people of Israel that He had sent prophets to them to help guide them, and then asked them if this were not so.  When God sends preachers and teachers to us today, it is to help us follow Christ more closely.  God has never and will never leave His people without an understanding of His will for their lives.  Verse twelve declares, But ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink; and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not.  God's chosen people, who were so in name only, corrupted the prophets and told them to quit prophesying.  There are those today who would like to stop God's word from going forth, but hopefully it is not those who profess themselves to be God's people who do this.

Amos 2:1 says, Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime:  Though basically moving on to the judgment of God's people, here is the judgment of Moab.  The people of Moab were not just cruel to God's people, but they were cruel to everyone they overpowered.  They went so far as to burn the bodies of the people they defeated, with the king of Edom being singled out for this act.  They had no respect for anyone other than themselves.  There are nations today that have no respect for others than themselves, whether the others are living or dead.  They would willingly abuse a corpse just to show their contempt.  Not all actions have to be against God's people to earn the wrath of God.  Some are simply inhumane actions against any person or group of people.  Verse two says, But I will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the palaces of Kerioth: and Moab shall die with tumult, with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet:  Moab was to be destroyed with tumult and shouting.  I believe this means that they would be helpless in the coming destruction.  We can be certain that when God sends His judgment that those who stand against Him will be helpless to stand against it.  Verse three states, And I will cut off the judge from the midst thereof, and will slay all the princes thereof with him, saith the LORD.  Those who were seen as the people in power, the judges and the princes, would be cut off.  Verse four states, Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have despised the law of the LORD, and have not kept his commandments, and their lies caused them to err, after the which their fathers have walked:  Amos now moves to the judgment of God's chosen people, starting with Judah.  Just because God chooses a person, or nation, does not always mean that they choose Him.  What we have to realize is that God calls all people to salvation and not just a certain nationality.  Judah was to represent God in the world, and they failed.  They did not keep God's commandments and allowed lies to cause them to err.  If we are to be God's people, we need to follow His leadership at all times.  If we don't always look to God for guidance, then we are in danger of allowing lies, or sin, to come into our lives again.  Verse five declares, But I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.  Those who are God's people in name only but do not have a personal relationship with Him can expect the same judgment as those who outright deny Him.  We cannot be a follower of Christ and ignore the word of God.

Amos 1:9 says, Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Tyrus, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they delivered up the whole captivity to Edom, and remembered not the brotherly covenant:  The people of Tyrus had sold God's people into captivity in Edom.  They were supposed to have a brotherly covenant with them according to this passage.  I believe that we can say that not everyone who claims to be a friend of God's people actually wants what is best for them.  Some so called friends would sell out Christians without any concern if it would profit them.  Verse ten states, But I will send a fire on the wall of Tyrus, which shall devour the palaces thereof.  As with all these cities, or nations, Amos states that God would send fire to destroy them.  As already stated, I believe that fire is used to symbolize total destruction.  Still, God does have it within His ability to reign down fire from heaven if He so chooses.  Verse eleven states, Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he did pursue his brother with the sword, and did cast off all pity, and his anger did tear perpetually, and he kept his wrath for ever:  The people of Edom were guilty of always pursuing God's people, their brothers or kinsmen by birth, and attempting to destroy them.  I believe that we can say those who refuse to accept Christ today, and thereby give up their birthright as a child of God, will never act in the best interest of Christians.  I believe that since Christ died for all people, that His salvation is a birthright that a person has to either accept or reject.  Salvation is an accomplished fact for all, but can only be claimed through faith in Christ.  Some people, or nations, even make it their purpose in life to kill Christians, and they may succeed for awhile, but God's judgment is coming.  Verse twelve declares, But I will send a fire upon Teman, which shall devour the palaces of Bozrah.  This is another pronouncement of the coming destruction of God.  The same fate awaits all who will not believe in God and those who harm His people.  Verse thirteen says, Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of the children of Ammon, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have ripped up the women with child of Gilead, that they might enlarge their border:  This is a particularly cruel action on the part of the people of Ammon.  They had either killed the pregnant women of Gilead, or they had killed their unborn children.  We can make all the claims that we want otherwise, but when there is an end to a pregnancy other than by birth, it is an unborn child that dies.  If Ammon was judged for this, so will others be.  Verse fourteen says, But I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it shall devour the palaces thereof, with shouting in the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind:  Once more, those who stood against God and attempted to destroy His people would themselves be destroyed.  Verse fifteen states, And their king shall go into captivity, he and his princes together, saith the LORD.  Not only would the king be taken into captivity, but so would all the princes, or future kings.  They had killed the children of Gilead to increase their borders, but when God sent His judgment, they lost it all.  So will any person or nation today who abuse God's people for their own benefit, if not in this world, then in the judgment to come.

Amos 1:1 says, The words of Amos, who was among the herdmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.  Amos was a herdman, or a country farmer according to Matthew Henry.  He prophesied before Isaiah.  He was just another simple man that God spoke to and worked through. The first chapter deals with prophecies about enemies of Israel.  Verse two states, And he said, The LORD will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither.  This is simply a statement of the power of God's word.  As I have stated several times before, we should never underestimate the power of God's word.  When God speaks to a person, that person is indeed foolish if they ignore God's word to them.  The most foolish act is to ignore God's call to salvation.  Verse three says, Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron:  Matthew Henry says that the three transgressions, which are mentioned in all the warnings, are general sins, with the fourth being the specific sin the country is charged with.  This is the first of several nations that are warned of God's coming judgment and the giving of the reason why.  God said that Damascus, or Syria, had thrashed Gilead with instruments of iron.  They had terribly mistreated God's people.  Verse four states, But I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, which shall devour the palaces of Benhadad.  God said He would destroy them with fire, or reduce them to nothing.  Verse five states, I will break also the bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitant from the plain of Aven, and him that holdeth the sceptre from the house of Eden: and the people of Syria shall go into captivity unto Kir, saith the LORD.  The people of Syria, instead of ruling, were going to be taken captive themselves.  Verse six says, Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they carried away captive the whole captivity, to deliver them up to Edom:  Gaza was a city of the Philistines.  They had been guilty of carrying God's people, either Israel or Judah, away as captives.  Verse seven states, But I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, which shall devour the palaces thereof:  We see God's judgment as being stated as destroying them with fire in these prophecies.  Though they may have been burned down, I believe that it is more a statement of total destruction.  We know that those who do not accept Christ as Savior are destined to end up in hell, a place of everlasting fire.  The really bad thing about this is that they will be forever separated from God.  Verse eight says, And I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod, and him that holdeth the sceptre from Ashkelon, and I will turn mine hand against Ekron: and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish, saith the Lord GOD.  God said His judgment was to be on all the Philistines. They had believed themselves more powerful than God, and they had succeeded for awhile, but God's judgment was coming.  People today may mock God, and even destroy His people, and see nothing bad happen, but God's judgment has already been pronounced on them.  If not before, then when Christ returns they will know the truth of God.

Obadiah Review

Since Obadiah is a short book, the summation will not take long.  First, we can say that those who claim to be God's people by right of birth, but do not put faith in Him, will ultimately be judged by God.  Prosperity in this world is not the equal to being blessed by God.  Many who claim to serve God, but only do so for material success, will one day be judged by God.  They may feel superior to God's people, as did Edom, but their feeling of superiority will end when Christ returns, if not before.  Next, we learn that relying on our relationship with other nations will never give us ultimate success against God.  We may feel that we are on top of the world, but if our success is built on anything other than our relationship with God, it will one day be destroyed.  That might not even happen in this lifetime, but it is a certainty.  Whether we want to believe it or not, the soul lives on, and there are only two places where the soul can live: with God or separated from Him.  Then, we have a strong warning against government leaders who abuse God's people.  This is especially true for those who claim to be His people.  We should never stand against those who are followers of Christ.  Even if they have fallen into sin, we must condemn the sin, but we must do so to restore the brother or sister in Christ.  We must never be like Edom, or the descendants of Esau, and sell our birthright as followers of Christ for anything in this world.  No matter how rich or powerful we may become, if we do not accept salvation through Christ, we have rejected our spiritual birthright.