Today’s passage: Amos 9:1-15
Helpful thoughts:
- If verses 1-4 make someone ask the question, “How could he do this?”, verses 5-6 answer that question.
- Those who know God’s grace and desire to follow Christ delight in and rest in the omnipresence of God. Those who reject Him will only desire to escape it, and they will fail.
- The altar Amos sees the Lord standing by is in Bethel. Therefore, the Lord is calling on the structures of Israel’s false worship to be torn down.
- God has committed to saving a remnant from all Israel and they will one day live in victory and peace in the land God has given to them.
- This victory will include peoples from the nations. These final promises are not so much Israel conquering the nations through war, but the inclusion of the nations within the people of God. (Acts 15:12-19)
Questions to consider:
- Contrast verses 2-4 with Psalm 139:1-12. Why are these similar passages so different? What fundamental truths change the perspective and outcome?
- Some view the “God of the Old Testament” as being different than the “God of the New Testament.” How does today’s reading show that idea to be false? In what ways to we see judgment and grace on display? Does God change? (Psalm 33:11)
- Is the remnant of Israel any better or more righteous in their own power than those who have and will receive judgment? Why do we have reason for humility, gratitude, and loyalty as those who are benefactors of God’s grace?