Audio Download

The Book of Amos – Chapter 4:1-13: Israel Has Not Returned to the Lord

Our Lord GOD will slay our sons, our children of spiritual lies before our eyes – Jer 29:21-23– Amo 3:7

[Aired December 7, 2024]

The entire twelve ‘Minor Prophets’ mostly sequentially frame our transition to becoming Christ’s Christs in pointing to other Biblical Books that go into greater detail of our transformation. Classically, they begin with Hosea and his harlot wife, Gomer, starkly representing us as a spiritual whore. Following is the Book of Joel informing us of locusts and all sorts of pestilence manifesting as doctrines of self-righteousness. Those dreadfully annoying ‘pricks in our flesh’ don’t inspire us to repent genuinely since their representations in Babylon are seen as a physical outward commentary on Old Israel. We deludedly imagine that they have no relevance to us since our Babylonian churches teach that we are saved from chastisement since Christ exchanged our accountability on the cross. All of Judah and Israel’s judgment and punishments, in deluded thankfulness, are seen as dead and buried in boring chronicles. How incredibly mistaken is that dismissal?! Rather, those with eyes to see and ears to hear rejoice in spiritually coming behind in Christ, fulfilling his very same sufferings mostly spiritually.

Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:
Col 1:25  Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God;
Col 1:26  Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
Col 1:27  To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
Col 1:28  Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:
Col 1:29  Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.

As seen in the previous study in this series in Amos, indeed, the Bible, we are espoused to our husband, Christ. Every fleshy, unconverted, and converted husband experiences his wife’s innate bias of withholding her body and mind and not giving her all alone to him. Be we male or female, we are she and every negatively representative female in scripture standing defiantly before our Husband, even walking away to pleasure ourselves whoreishly in other intrigues deemed more captivating than he can conspire. Old Judah and Israel, Oholah and Oholibah serve as a perfect reflection of our identity, as does King Zedekiah.

What can we learn from our indifference, similar to Gomer, Queen Vashti, Oholah, and Oholibah and other flighty female traits concentrated in the Zedekiah within?

Zedekiah represents us as Kings in our own right in Babylon, sitting on God’s throne, attempting to replace him as God. Consequently, the Lord uses our enemies to judge us in our appointed time.

The cup of spiritual fornication is in the hand of the harlot; however, we, as the Zedekiah-like harlot, are in God’s hand for His workmanship when, like Gomer, we are blatantly fornicating in plain sight among our Babylonian churches, and God forbid, with falsehoods among ourselves (1Co 5:1-13). Hence, the Lord says to Zedekiah,

Jer 29:21  Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, of Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and of Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, which prophesy a lie unto you in my name; Behold, I will deliver them [You and I spiritually] into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; and he shall slay them before your eyes;
Jer 29:22  And of them shall be taken up a curse by all the captivity of Judah [You and I] which are in Babylon, saying, The LORD make thee like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire; 
Jer 29:23  Because they have committed villany [Indolent ‘senselessness, folly, immorality disgrace’] in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbours’ wives, and have spoken lying words in my name, which I have not commanded them; even I know, and am a witness, saith the LORD.

Significations:

Amo 4:1  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. 

As with Old Israel, whenever life is full of riches, and we need nothing other than grander examples of the riches already possessed, our flesh unconsciously dismisses our need for God. As Solomon did not deny himself of any pleasure (Ecc 2:10), our constant upgrading to greater material wealth causes us to spiritually seek more beautiful women to satiate our sensualities, represented as fornicating self-righteousness, and we insidiously become God (2Th 2:4). Accordingly, Amos 4:1 presents us as cattle, even a ‘fruitful cow’ (‘Kine & Bashan’) oppressing ourselves, the ‘poor and needy’ within, drunk on our own righteousness. When we overflow with the peace riches endow, we imagine that we are like Job where people hail us with titles and effectively bow before us and seek our counsel because the outward appearance commands respect.

Job 29:7  When I went out to the gate through the city, when I prepared my seat in the street!
Job 29:8  The young men saw me, and hid themselves: and the aged arose, and stood up.
Job 29:9  The princes refrained talking, and laid their hand on their mouth.
Job 29:10  The nobles held their peace, and their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth.
Job 29:11  When the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me:
Job 29:12  Because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him.
Job 29:13  The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me: and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.
Job 29:14  I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment was as a robe and a diadem.
Job 29:15  I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame.
Job 29:16  I was a father to the poor: and the cause which I knew not I searched out.
Job 29:17  And I brake the jaws of the wicked, and plucked the spoil out of his teeth.
Job 29:18  Then I said, I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand.
Job 29:19  My root was spread out by the waters, and the dew lay all night upon my branch.
Job 29:20  My glory was fresh in me, and my bow was renewed in my hand.
Job 29:21  Unto me men gave ear, and waited, and kept silence at my counsel.
Job 29:22  After my words they spake not again; and my speech dropped upon them.
Job 29:23  And they waited for me as for the rain; and they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain.

Heb 12:4  Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.
Heb 12:5  And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: 
Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 
Heb 12:7  If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 
Heb 12:8  But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
Heb 12:9  Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us [As seen with the entier Bible, and here, with the Minor Prophets], and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? 
Heb 12:10  For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. 
Heb 12:11  Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
Heb 12:12  Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;
Heb 12:13  And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.

Amo 4:2  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. 

Even today, in remote tribes, a small metal pin or smooth stick through the sensitive nose of a beast of burden linked to reins causes an instant directional response. Similarly, ancient conquering forces would literally pierce captive’s jaws behind their lower teeth and out through their mouth with metal hooks that would guarantee instant submission wherever they were led. If we are the Elect, that figuratively is a blessing our Lord bestows on us, assuring our part in the First Resurrection. When we have endured tribulations and life-changing chastisements, we will first rule with Christ, our brothers and sisters, in the One Thousand Year reign and then Gog and Magog in judgment in the Lake of Fire.

In the meantime, the Gentile Christian churches, as we once did, deludedly think that they have utter control over Satan in casting out demons. Similarly, Gog and Magog, the world, equally sit on God’s throne as masters of their destiny, presenting themselves as God unwittingly making a covenant with Satan.

Job 41:1  Canst thou draw out leviathan [Satan] with an hook? or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down?
Job 41:2  Canst thou put an hook into his nose? or bore his jaw through with a thorn?
Job 41:3  Will he make many supplications unto thee? will he speak soft words unto thee?
Job 41:4  Will he make a covenant with thee? wilt thou take him for a servant for ever?

We quickly learn to glorify our Lord for choosing us and dragging us out of Babylon with a hook in our noses to turn us back in the same manner we came into Babylon.

Joh 21:18  Truly, truly, I say to you, When you were young, you girded yourself and walked where you wished. But when you grow old, you shall stretch forth your hands and another shall gird you and carry you where you do not wish.
Joh 21:19  He spoke this signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, Follow Me.

Isa 37:29  Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult, is come up into mine ears, therefore will I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest. 
Isa 37:30  And this shall be a sign unto thee, Ye shall eat this year such as groweth of itself; and the second year that which springeth of the same: and in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof.
Isa 37:31  And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward:
Isa 37:32  For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant [The Elect of God], and they that escape out of mount Zion: the zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this.

Isa 41:15 Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff.

People are hills, mountains, nations, kings, kingdoms, etc, and God is bringing chastisement to the world’s nations depicted as Gog and Magog, and he will do it through his Elect, who are first to be spiritually threshed and beaten to a fine powder before they judge their kin in the Lake of Fire.

Isa 42:1 Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.

Amo 4:3  And ye shall go out at the breaches [a gap in a city’s wall], every cow at that which is before her; and ye shall cast them into the palace, saith the LORD. 

When cattle or sheep find a breach in a fence to better pasture, once one passes through, all the rest gallop en mass and, by volume, enlarge the gap like a breach in a dam wall. That pictorial indicates the eventual mighty flood of God’s word upon all men on the Eighth Day, the Lake of Fire. In the meantime, the Elect are nearing the consummation of their learning through transgressions with their husband, Christ’s progressive correction (number 3), in “Bethel” (H1008), meaning the house of God.

Amo 4:4  Come to Bethel, and transgress; at Gilgal multiply transgression; and bring your sacrifices every morning, and your tithes after three years: 

The doctrine of tithing from the Old Testament is not present in the teachings of Christ found in the New Testament. When I was in the Worldwide Chruch of God, we believed that we should tithe a first tithe of our increase of physical wealth to the church (we had to keep the A1 jet fuel up to the prestigious Gulfstream) and a second tithe to spend upon the Feast of Tabernacles or as the Old Testament calls it, the Feast of Booths representing our temporary bodies. Not only that, but every third year, we were hit with a third tithe to break the proverbial camel’s back fully.

Deu 14:22  Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed, that the field bringeth forth year by year.
Deu 14:23  And thou shalt eat before the LORD thy God, in the place which he shall choose to place his name there, the tithe of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the firstlings of thy herds and of thy flocks; that thou mayest learn to fear the LORD thy God always.
Deu 14:24  And if the way be too long for thee, so that thou art not able to carry it; or if the place be too far from thee, which the LORD thy God shall choose to set his name there, when the LORD thy God hath blessed thee:
Deu 14:25  Then shalt thou turn it into money, and bind up the money in thine hand, and shalt go unto the place which the LORD thy God shall choose:
Deu 14:26  And thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever thy soul desireth: and thou shalt eat there before the LORD thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou, and thine household,
Deu 14:27  And the Levite that is within thy gates; thou shalt not forsake him; for he hath no part nor inheritance with thee.
Deu 14:28  At the end of three years thou shalt bring forth all the tithe of thine increase the same year, and shalt lay it up within thy gates: 
Deu 14:29  And the Levite, (because he hath no part nor inheritance with thee,) and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which are within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand which thou doest.

Mat 23:23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

In Amos 4:4, the God-given transgressions he gives us through his servant, Satan, and their inevitable chastisements demonstrate our steady transition toward becoming Christ-like as the number 3, “after three years,” unveils the meaning and progression for the ‘time of reformation’.

Heb 9:10 Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation. 

Amo 4:5  And offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, and proclaim and publish the free offerings: for this liketh you, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord GOD. 

Therefore, our New Covenant ‘tithe’ symbolises a transformed heart in perfect unity with our husband’s heart, one that is not puffed up by the leaven of our impudent self-righteousness but highly aroused to keeping his commandments.

Rom 12:1  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 
Rom 12:2  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

And, of course, in classical hindsight of Israel’s passivity towards her Lord’s ardour, typified by us, wouldn’t you know it, they, like Gomer to Hosea, did not return the Lord. Accordingly, the following verses, picturing our rejection of his physical gifts now transformed into pestilence and tribulations, will continually prick our comfort more violently until we, with spiritual breath like the smell of apples, do enthusiastically respond to his ravishings.

Israel Has Not Returned to the Lord

Amo 4:6  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. 
Amo 4:7  And also I have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered. 

Our Lord is the Master Potter who creates each of us to his design; one for honourable use, and another for dishonourable use, but in our time and order, we experience both (Rom 9). We receive the bread and water of affliction from false teachings and wonder why we seem accursed and in prison while our Babylonian brothers and sisters glory in their physical riches. Of course, the violent imagery in all scripture is the Lord’s purpose to benefit his Elect for their spiritual understanding alarmingly for their expected end. Upon having the keys to understand every detail of his word, we tremble in immense gratitude in knowing the end of this saga in Amos of Israel not returning to the Lord.

Jer 29:10  For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.
Jer 29:11  For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. 
Jer 29:12  Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
Jer 29:13  And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

Amo 4:8  So two or three cities wandered unto one city, to drink water; but they were not satisfied: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. 

That verse typifies us, the unwitting remnant’s parched search for truth in Babylonian churches prior to coming to the heavenly Jerusalem of truth. Many are called, but few return unto Christ.

Isa 10:20  And it shall come to pass in that day [today since the cross], that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay upon him that smote them; but shall stay upon the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.
Isa 10:21  The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God.
Isa 10:22  For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return: the consumption [a complete destruction or our old ways] decreed shall overflow with righteousness. 
Isa 10:23  For the Lord GOD of hosts shall make a consumption, even determined, in the midst of all the land.

Amo 4:9  I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the palmerworm devoured them: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. 
Amo 4:10  I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, and have taken away your horses; and I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. 
Amo 4:11  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. 
Amo 4:12  Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel. 

Our understanding of the effects of palmerworms, locusts, cankerworms, mildew, drought, and famine was thoroughly explored in our Joel series. These elements illustrate the consequences of our disregard for the Lord’s blessings, immaturely stubbornly pouting at being treated in this way.

Act 2:16  But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;

Joe 1:18  How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.

However, the Lord of hosts has a grand plan to save all of mankind through his remnant Elect, his Bride, who is today becoming his Wife.

Amo 4:13  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. 

In Babylon, we saw those foreboding prophecies phenomenally cryptic, dismissed to be awarded vengefully to the many disgusting wretches who didn’t believe in our supposedly truthful version of Christ’s commands. We didn’t see that every man is chastised in his order for salvation until our earthquake awakened us that Christ chose his Elect first to be chastised, and now, to confused onlookers, we relish reproof since,

Act 2:17  And it shall come to pass in the last days [today, if you hear His voice], saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
Act 2:18  And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:
Act 2:19  And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:
Act 2:20  The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:
Act 2:21  And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Next week, Lord willing, he will arouse our spiritual minds, not masochistically, but joyfully see Israel’s continued tongue-lashing most positively as imperative for our path to life eternal.