Amos/Jonah
23 September 2023

Remember Judges? The crazy cycle?
God put up that and…
Israel wanting a king like the nations
Saul’s disaster 
David a good King but numbers the people and has an affair.
Solomon wisest man, ends up being influenced by his many wives into idolatry. 
The Kingdom divides with the North and South being guilty of Idolatry!  

The South fairs better but just barely!
God has been patient, warning them the whole time because:
Psalm 86:15 But You, O Lord, are a God full of compassion, and gracious, Longsuffering and abundant in mercy and truth. 
Psalm 86:5 For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, And abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You. 

Psalm 103:8 The LORD is merciful and gracious, Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy. 10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor punished us according to our iniquities. 
Psalm 145:8 The LORD is gracious and full of compassion, Slow to anger and great in mercy. 9 The LORD is good to all, And His tender mercies are over all His works.   
Jonah 4:2 So he prayed to the LORD, and said, “Ah, LORD, 

was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm. 
So let us not say that God is harsh and unfair, He gave Israel so much time and they would not listen.
Thus says the LORD: 
Amos 8:11 “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord GOD, 

“That I will send a famine on the land, Not a famine of bread, Nor a thirst for water, But of hearing the words of the LORD. 12 They shall wander from sea to sea, And from north to east; They shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the LORD, But shall not find it.
 13 “In that day the fair virgins And strong young men Shall faint from thirst. 14 Those who swear by the sin of Samaria, Who say, ‘As your god lives, O Dan!’ And, ‘As the way of Beersheba lives!’ They shall fall and never rise again.” 

The days are coming Says the Lord and cannot be averted! 
Amos 9:1 I saw the Lord standing by the altar, and He said: “Strike the doorposts, that the thresholds may shake, And break them on the heads of them all. I will slay the last of them with the sword. He who flees from them shall not get away, And he who escapes from them shall not be delivered. 
And for Israel, there will be NO escape or safe place! 

9:2 “Though they dig into hell, From there My hand shall take them; Though they climb up to heaven, From there I will bring them down; 
3 And though they hide themselves on top of Carmel, From there I will search and take them; Though they hide from My sight at the bottom of the sea, From there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them; 4 Though they go into captivity before their enemies, From there I will command the sword, 

And it shall slay them. I will set My eyes on them for harm and not for good.”
5 Futile hiding spots
Dig into Hell, God will find them.
Fly into space, God will find them.
Hide in the mountains, God will find them.
Dive into the Marianas Trench, God will find them. 
Go into Assyria captive thinking I’ll just live as a slave; NO, GOD WILL FIND THEM!

ob 34:22 There is no darkness nor shadow of death Where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves. 
Amos 9:10 All the sinners of My people shall die by the sword, Who say, ‘The calamity shall not overtake nor confront us.’ 
9:8 “Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are on the sinful kingdom, And I will destroy it from the face of the earth; Yet I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,” Says the LORD. 

Gen 6:7 So the LORD said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” 
God is in CONTROL OF EVERYTHING!
Amos 9:5 The Lord GOD of hosts, He who touches the earth and it melts, And all who dwell there mourn; All of it shall swell like the River, And subside like the River of Egypt. 

6 He who builds His layers in the sky, And has founded His strata in the earth; Who calls for the waters of the sea, And pours them out on the face of the earth– The LORD is His name. 
And because of this EVERY PROPHECY OF GOD WILL COME TO PASS!
9:10 All the sinners of My people shall die by the sword, Who say, ‘The calamity shall not overtake nor confront us.’ 

Having said all this, here is mercy for the future. 
Amos 9:11 “On that day I will raise up The tabernacle of David, which has fallen down, And repair its damages; I will raise up its ruins, And rebuild it as in the days of old; 
12 That they may possess the remnant of Edom, And all the Gentiles who are called by My name,” Says the LORD who does this thing. 

13 “Behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD, “When the plowman shall overtake the reaper, And the treader of grapes him who sows seed; The mountains shall drip with sweet wine, And all the hills shall flow with it. 
14 I will bring back the captives of My people Israel; They shall build the waste cities and inhabit them; They shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them; They shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them. 

15 I will plant them in their land, And no longer shall they be pulled up From the land I have given them,” Says the LORD your God.
That’s the future but for now Assyria is coming.
Next week: Why Jonah hated the Assyrians.