Amos 7

CHAPTER 7THEME: Visions of futureChapter 7 opens the third and last major division of the Book of Amos. These final three chapters contain visions of the future. Although this fellow Amos might be called a clodhopper and a country preacher, he could soar to the heights. Some of the visions the Lord gave to him are quite remarkable.

Amos 7:1

VISION OF GRASSHOPPERS"Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me; and, behold, he formed grasshoppers in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth." These are called grasshoppers in our translation, but they were, of course, locusts. “And, lo, it was the latter growth after the king’s mowings.” There were two crops that could be harvested from the land in that day, and the first crop went to the king as taxes. Actually, the people paid more than one-tenth as a tithe. It is estimated that they paid out about three-tenths of what they took from the land, and here we can see an example of that. However, this time, after the king had gotten his due, a plague of grasshoppers or locusts came in and took their share so that there was nothing left for the people who had really done the work. This was a judgment that should have shaken the people and should have awakened them.

Amos 7:2

Amos says to the Lord, “We have been cut down to size. This has so weakened us that we’ll not be able to stand.” He calls out to God to forgive and help them. And notice, the Lord is still patient with Israel

Amos 7:3

The Lord said, “I will not do itI will not weaken you in this way.” He got rid of the grasshoppers, and He gave them a good crop. You would think that because of His tender mercy the people would return to God, but they did not.

Amos 7:4

VISION OF FIREMany commentators believe the fire here was actually a drought. I am perfectly willing to say that a drought has to go along with the fire. When we have dry weather here in Southern California, we often have fires in the mountains. We have a great many fires here due, in my judgment, to the carelessness of the public. Many of them have been started by cigarettes. Nevertheless, the high fire danger is usually brought on by a drought. But the thing which did the destroying, I believe, was a literal fire, and I think Amos makes that very clear.

Amos 7:5

Apparently, God sent rain, and the fires were put out. Again, God heard them. When it says that God “repented,” it is because of the prayers of the people. God was tenderhearted and would not go through with it. The awful thing, my friend, in rejecting Christ and thus being lost eternally, is the fact that you have to do it against a God who is tenderhearted and who is gracious and loving. God loves you, and to sin against that love is an awful, dreadful, and terrible thing.

Amos 7:7

VISION OF PLUMBLINEWe find the plumbline used many places in the Word of God. In Jer_31:38-39 we read, “Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that the city shall be built to the LORD from the tower of Hananeel unto the gate of the corner. And the measuring line shall yet go forth over against it upon the hill Gareb, and shall compass about to Goath.” The “measuring line” is the plumbline, if you please. Every time that you have a vision of the plumbline in Scripture (see Isa_28:17; Zec_2:1-2), it means that God is getting ready to judge. In the Book of Daniel, the prophet of God said to King Belshazzar, “…Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting” (Dan_5:27). When God begins to measure either in length or in weight, you can be sure that the people have not measured up to God’s requirements, and judgment is the thing which He has in mind. Amos does not intercede for the people again, realizing that God’s judgment is just.

Amos 7:9

In other words, God says that Jeroboam will not have peace. God’s principle is, “There is no peace, saith the LORD, unto the wicked” (Isa_48:22). And Jeroboam will not have peace.

Amos 7:10

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE OF THE PROPHETWe have wedged in here, between these visions, a little historic interlude, a very personal experience of the prophet Amos. I have considered this section at length in the Introduction, and it also fits very well into the story here. If you go back and read verse Amo_7:9 carefully, you will find that Amaziah is lying here. This is one of the tragic things that goes on in the church today. When I teach I try to speak as simply and as plainly as I possibly can, and yet I discover that people will misquote me. They represent me as having said something that I have not said at all. Sometimes this is done through simply not understanding or failing to comprehend what was said; other times it is done deliberately. Amaziah was the priest of the golden calf, and you can imagine the type of individual he was. He was a hired preacherhe said what the king wanted him to say. And I suppose that he was very cultured and used very flowery language. I’m sure he was a good backslapper; he wasn’t a pulpit-pounder but a backslapper. And he could, of course, entertain. He had charisma, and he was very attractive in many ways. Amaziah went in and deliberately lied to the king about Amos. Amos had not said that Jeroboam would perish with the sword, and Jeroboam did not. Amos had said, “And I [God] will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword,” which meant that warfare would come, and it did come. Israel was finally taken into captivity to Assyria.

Amos 7:12

Amaziah came to Amos, insulted him, and, in effect, called him an ignoramus. I’d like to know where the books are that Amaziah wrote. We have had one book preserved now for over twenty-five hundred years that was written by Amos but none that were written by Amaziah. Amaziah called Amos a country rube and insinuated that he was not fit to speak in the king’s chapel. He said, “We want soft words spoken here. We don’t want anyone to be offended.” “O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah.” In other words, “Get out of town and get lost. We don’t want you here anymore. You’ve been speaking in the king’s chapel and, after all, you are just not up to it. You’re not the caliber of preacher that should be in the pulpit there.” Now although Amos was a country man without seminary training, he was no slouch by any means. I hope we agree that he was thoroughly capable of filling the pulpit; in fact, he was a great preacher of God. The people knew when they listened to him that they were getting the Word of God. It is always a comfort to people to have a pastor who is giving the Word of Godthat is something very important in these days.

Amos 7:14

Amos answered in such a proper manner that it was evident that he was a moderate man. He wasn’t giving out the wild utterances of a prophecy monger. He was no fanatic at all. He said, “Why, I know I’m no prophet. I never claimed to be a prophet. I never went to your seminaries. I’m not even a prophet’s son. I was just a herdsman, a gatherer of sycamore fruits, and the Lord took me, and the Lord told me to prophesy. I’m here because the Lord put me here.” When a man has that kind of confidence, he’s really got confidence, my friend. A man should be very sure that he has a call from God if he is going to be in the ministry. If there is any doubt in his mind, he ought not to do it. Some say that if you can do anything else, then don’t go into the ministry. I don’t quite agree with that, because a great many of us could have done something else and might have preferred doing it, by the way. The important thing is: Did God call you? If God has called you, my friend, you ought not to let anything stand in the way. Now Amos has a personal prophecy for Amaziah, and this is strong medicine for him. Many folk say to me, “Dr. McGee, you are very harsh at times with certain groups or certain churches.” In answer to that, I can truly say that I carry no bias or hatred in my heart against any of those that I mention. What I am trying to do is to say what the Word of God says. The argument given to me is that, as a Christian, I ought to be sweet and nice and I ought not to speak harshly. Love is to be the theme today: Love, love, love! My friend, listen to Amos as he talks to “brother Amaziah”

Amos 7:16

“Therefore thus saith the LORD"Amos says that he has a word from God to this man Amaziah. This is a very disturbing prophesy, and it’s a very strong prophesy, but the thing is that it was a true prophesy. When Assyria came down, they did make the women harlots. The sons and daughters were destroyed, and those who were not destroyed were taken into captivity. And this old priest of the golden calf, Amaziah, was taken into Assyrian captivity. I am sure that Amaziah’s word on his deathbed would have been like that of old Cardinal Wolsey (whom I mentioned earlier) who wished that he had served his God as he had served his king. Cardinal Wolsey had tried to play politics with Henry VIII and did not really tell him what the Word of God had to say. If we as ministers fail to give out the Word of God, there is no reason for us to point our fingers at the politicians in Washington and accuse them of failing our country and jeopardizing our nation. My friend in the ministry, if you are not giving out the Word of God, there is no other traitor in this land today as guilty as you are. If you are called to be a minister, you are called to be a minister of the Word of God. If you are not giving that Word out, you are a traitor to the cause of Christ today. Those are strong words, I know, just as Amos’ words were strong.