Amos

Amos was the prophet who prophesied before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah (Amos 1:1). We may say that he was the prophet of that event (Ch. 8:8; 9:5).
That earthquake is treated by Zechariah as typical, as a notice of the Lord's controversy with the world when again there will be earthquakes and pestilences, ministers of judgment and vessels of wrath (Zech. 14:5).
Accordingly, judgment is the great burden of Amos's prophecy, and it therefore served the purpose of Stephen in Acts 7, for that moment was also a crisis in the history of the Jews. Stephen there quotes Amos (see Acts 7:42, 43; Amos 5:25-27).
Amos treats the Gentiles as dealt with by God, as well as the Jews. He judges them all alike. He brought the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir, as He had brought Israel from Egypt. And in coming millennial days He will have all the Gentiles called by His name, as surely as He will build again the fallen tabernacle of David (Ch. 1, 2, 9:7-12).
In this character, the word by Amos directly answered for James in Acts 15 where the Apostle was insisting on the independence of Gentile saints, and that they must not be required to be circumcised and to adopt the custom of Israel. Amos intimates this, and James cites him to show that the Gentiles were to be adopted of God (or have His name called on by them acceptably) in a way quite independent of the Jews, or that the Lord knew them before Israel knew them.
Thus those two great occasions in the history of the Church in the New Testament, Stephen's words in Acts 7 and James's words in Acts 15, were served by the Spirit through Amos, who gives what may be regarded as somewhat a distant and unnoticed portion of the Word of God. It is beautiful to see that we are to live "by every word of God." We know not in what obscure corner of the volume, so to speak, that scripture may lie which is fitted and destined by the Holy Spirit to stand by the soul in the trying hour. Amos ministering to Stephen and James witnesses this.
I would add a verse or two from George Herbert, which this finding of the words of Amos in Acts 7, and again other words of his in Acts 15, may call to mind. They are in his little piece called "The Holy Scriptures.”
“Oh that I knew how all thy lights combine
And the configurations of their glory!
Seeing not only how each verse does shine,
But all the constellations of the story.
This verse marks that, and both do make a motion
Unto a third, which ten leaves off does lie: Then, as dispersed herbs do make a potion,
These three make up some Christian's destiny.”
J. G. Bellett
Editorial
Racial Pressures
Is racial enmity increasing? Are the Jews under attack in many lands? Is the religious right considered dangerous by those who do not believe in God?
Answers to such questions are almost daily manifest in current events. One recent headline read, "Destroying Jews' Sense of Security" Another one in big letters said, "BLACK and WHITE and Read All Over!" But the trouble is neither color nor religion, but sin and what comes out of the heart. Undeclared wars are in many places on this globe. Strife and sorrow abound, and the most powerful authorities fail in correcting these things. "Peace-keeping missions" do not keep peace; civil war, tribal conflicts, and local uprisings cause much misery and poverty.
Rabin says, "There is a continuation of the arms' race. Saudi Arabia and Syria and Israel add to their arsenals. It didn't start yesterday. It is a prolonged process that continues." All this goes on while peace is pushed and much is made of signing treaties.
The prophet Isaiah writes of the fortification of Jerusalem in chapter 29. Here Jerusalem is called Ariel, meaning lion of God. The time is the last days in which time Messiah comes and delivers His earthly people. In verse 7 it says, "And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all that fight against her and her munition [fortifications], and that distress her, shall be as a dream of a night vision.”
At this time Jerusalem will have been reduced to the last extremity by the seven years of the tribulation. But now Jehovah appears for her deliverance, and the multitude of her enemies disappear as a dream of the night.
The Jews will not be delivered by their fortifications. All of their arsenal will likely be expended during the wars of the seven years. But when they have been reduced and brought very low, the Lord comes and delivers them.
Meanwhile, the world is ill at ease, for many disturbing factors abound. Famine and disease afflict masses in many places at the same time that much of the world is comfortable and some are very wealthy.
The true Christian's peace in such a troubled world is in the upward look beyond strife, turmoil and selfishness. Our God whom we know as our Father is above all the unrest and strife. Events do not affect God's throne nor stop His hand. He is above all circumstances and He works all things according to the counsel of His own will.
The poetic language of Cowper expresses it well:
Blind unbelief is sure to err,
And scan His work in vain;
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain.
Can we not safely rest in His love and care? Circumstances cannot affect our peace if we rest in Him whom nothing can disturb. Ed.