by Captain Michael Ramsay
2 Corinthians 13:5-7: “Examine yourselves to see whether you are living by faith. Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ is in you? – unless, indeed, you fail to meet the test. I hope that you will find that you will not fail.”
Reading this made me realize that we have not had a test in a while – so in the spirit of Disneyworld from where we have just returned I have a little riddle for you.
Show pictures of Captain Hook and other Pirates.
If you saw a ship like this with a crew of men with hooks for hands, pegs for legs, and patches over their eyes ....
What do you think would be on their flag?
Artificial legs, hands, and missing eyes…
Today I was specifically going to speak about the test we read about in 2 Corinthians but I thought that this related to an area that I have studied quite a bit over the years that might provide a good bit of background for us first with another test of sorts – or at least the results of one: Amos three verse two. I think we might find that it actually does relate to our test of 2 Corinthians, which we should get an opportunity to look at in a couple of weeks.
Amos 3:2 states that: You only have I known (chosen, NIV) of all the families of the earth, therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.
Amos was a prophet sometime around 750-760 BCE – Israel was spilt into 2 countries at this time: Israel and Judah [Uzziah was the King of Judah and Jereboam was the King of Israel.][1] After the death of Solomon, you will remember, Israel had a civil war and broke into North and South sort of like the American civil war with the Confederacy vs. the Union, or North and South Vietnam before they were unified under Ho Chi Min, or North and South Korea, China and Taiwan of today, or East and West Germany of the Cold War. Like the Germans, they really are one people, Israel and Judah, they are just politically divided right now[2] when Amos gives his message and he really does address them here as one people, a people chosen by God.[3]
That being said it is interesting because Israel is divided in the time of Amos like Germany was during the Cold War. Amos was from the South and he came with his message that God was going to punish the people but he told that message to the king of the North. That would be like someone from East Germany going to the West Germans to tell them that God was going to punish them – or like someone from New York bringing this message to Texas, or even someone from Quebec bringing that message to the prairies. It just wouldn’t be appreciated and it wasn’t.[4]
Nonetheless this message of Amos is for all of God’s people here (and I submit now, as well) and He says, “You only have I known (chosen, NIV) of all the families of the earth, therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.”
The word for known/chosen here is ‘yada’ and it refers to an intimate kind of relationship. It is like when elsewhere in the Old Testament people ‘know’ their wives or husbands. It is the same way God said that he knew/chose Jeremiah even before he was born. It refers to the very intimate purpose for which Israel was chosen that, as inheritors of Abraham’s promise (Gen 12:3), all the nations of the earth would be blessed through them. This was what they were elected for; this is what made them special, the fact that God knew them and that He specifically chose to bless the world through Abraham, Isaac and Israel - which He did. He fulfilled His promise for the world (John 3:16) to Abraham through Israel by Jesus Christ.
There was more than this too. God not only promised his people chosen for this object that all the nations of the earth would be blessed through them (Gen 12:3), which was completed as Jesus declared ‘it is finished’ on the cross (John 19:30) and later rose from the dead. This covenant purpose is fulfilled (cf. Matt 5:18) but that happens long after Amos and there was another part their election that Amos was looking at too. Israel held very tightly to the promise that they would possess their promised land (Gen 15; Exod 19:5).[5] They held so tightly to this that, it seems, that at times they forgot that the acquisition of their promised land was fulfilled already and, if anything, the retention of it was conditional (cf. Amos 3:15).[6]
It is like a parent promising her child dessert if she cleans her room. She only actually gets the dessert if the room is actually clean!
Like this, with Amos’ Israel, if they remain faithful they will reap the benefits of their covenant but if they don’t, precisely because “You only have I known (chosen, NIV) of all the families of the earth, therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.” Now remember that the word for ‘known’ is ‘yada’; this word also means ‘chosen’ and this special ‘yada’ relationship goes both ways. If Israel is faithful they receive the due rewards but if not – precisely because He ‘yada’ knows them in this way –God will punish Israel for failing to do what they are ‘yada’ chosen to do.
It is like a parent speaking to her child again…I have spent a lot of time with my children these past two weeks… the child who has friends over complains that she is the only one to ever get in trouble. She says everyone else was yelling – or using paints in their good clothes or hitting their sister or whatever –no one else helped clean her room so why is she the only one who doesn’t get dessert when her room isn’t clean …Because you are my child and the others aren’t and I asked you specifically to clean your room, that’s why. It is because our children are ‘yada’ known by us, their parents, and ‘yada’ chosen by us for obedience that they get in trouble for their iniquities.
It is the same with the Roughriders fans, they aren’t going to punish the BC Lions quarterback for a terrible pass because they haven’t ‘yada’ chosen or even cheered for him to make that pass but when the Roughriders make a serious mistake…it is a different story. The Calgary Flames too provide an example of this in that often boo their own team when they have a bad game in a way that they don’t boo visitors.
Likewise in the churches today: we know that going to church and doing the right things won’t save anyone from hell. It is being part of God’s family that saves us. It is who we know and what He did for us that gets us into heaven but once He has let us in, we should follow His house rules. If we refuse to follow our Heavenly Father than it is like we are rejecting Him and there are consequences for that: Amos 3:2: “You only have I known (chosen, NIV) of all the families of the earth, therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.”
It is the same with Israel in Amos’ time (cf. Lamentations 4:22; Ezekiel 34; Joel 2:18ff; Matt 25:31ff.). When they are chosen, when we are elected for a task there are certain house rules, certain responsibilities that come with it. Amos mentions in 2:6ff some of these responsibilities.[7]
6 This is what the LORD says:
"For three sins of Israel,
even for four, I will not turn back {my wrath}.
They sell the righteous for silver,
and the needy for a pair of sandals.
7 They trample on the heads of the poor
as upon the dust of the ground
and deny justice to the oppressed.
Father and son use the same girl
and so profane my holy name.
8 They lie down beside every altar
on garments taken in pledge.
In the house of their god
they drink wine taken as fines.
9 "I destroyed the Amorite before them,
though he was tall as the cedars
and strong as the oaks.
I destroyed his fruit above
and his roots below.
10 "I brought you up out of Egypt,
and I led you forty years in the desert
to give you the land of the Amorites.
11 I also raised up prophets from among your sons
and Nazirites from among your young men.
Is this not true, people of Israel?"
declares the LORD.
12 "But you made the Nazirites drink wine
and commanded the prophets not to prophesy.
What are the sins of God’s chosen people for which he will not turn back his wrath (Amos 2:6) for which He will punish them?
They value capital more than social; they value money and possessions more than people. The way the nation of Israel was set up at that time some could amass wealth (silver) well others were left to become poor (Amos 2:6) – maybe like some countries or churches in this day and age that claim or once claimed to be Christian. Israel’s (maybe not unlike some countries/churches of today) economic and political system had come to be in such a state that only the wealthy could afford justice (verse 7) and that rather than using the wealth that God has given them to help the poor they use it to indulge themselves (cf. Amos 4:3) and in the process profane the name of God.
It is interesting: 2:7, Amos speaks of father and son using the same girl and Verse 8 talks about them lying down beside the altar itself on clothes taken in pledge [and then it says that they also take what is offered to God in the way of a ‘fine wine’]. In Mosaic Law (Dt 24:12 ;Exod 22:25-27, 23:11),God makes it clear that He has a special affinity for the poor (cf. Exod 23:11; Prov 29:14; Isa 10:2, 11:4. 41:17; 58:7,…) who will always be with us (Matt 26:11, Mark 14:7); [it is probably to ensure that as his children we reflect His special love for them].
In Exodus 22:25-27 (cf. Dt 24:12), It states point-blank that one is not supposed to charge interest on loans to the poor and that if their coats are taken as collateral they must be returned by sundown.
Verses 7 and 8 of our text say: “…Father and son use the same girl and so profane my holy name. They lie down beside every altar on [these] garments taken in pledge.” Amos is accusing God’s chosen people here of defiling His temple and forsaking the poor: failing to love their neighbour, and failing to love God.[8]
Now because God ‘yada’ knows Israel and as a result of its unfaithfulness and this neglect for their poorer neighbour, the Israelites are removed from the land promised to them. They didn’t clean their room before dinner and so they did not get the dessert that was prepared for them. Their continued blessing in this way here is conditional: their being chosen in and of itself certainly does not save them from God’s wrath anymore than someone else’s not being chosen. God, after all, desires that not one should be lost.
But because, Amos 3:2, “You only have I known (chosen, NIV) of all the families of the earth, therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities,” it means that Israel’s and our election - because we are grafted into the promise (Romans 11) – our ‘election’ does not mean protection from God’s wrath if we continue to disobey Him and/or our election is truly conditional upon upholding our part of the agreement (James 2). Being the chosen people, or simply calling ourselves Christian, is really no protection from the wrath of God (cf. Romans 2).[9]
And even more that that: As you and I have been chosen for a relationship and a task, if we wilfully neglect that (Matt 25:31ff.), like the goats in the parable of the sheep and the goats, we will be cast away to where there is a weeping and a gnashing of teeth because ‘you only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.’
But too we remember that as we are His children, God doesn’t want to cast us away. He loves us and as it says in proverbs, “spare the rod and spoil the child” (cf. Prov. 22:15, 23:13, 29:15). His discipline in our lives is because He loves us and so that we will not neglect our neighbour, our God, and our own salvation. It is because He loves us, because He knows us of all the families on the earth that indeed He disciplines us.
We know that are saved because of what Jesus did for us on the cross; and we know that because He knows and loves us, if we sin, there are consequences because God is faithful (cf. Rom 3:3,4) and He doesn’t want us to be cast aside. He disciplines us when we do wrong, always giving us opportunity to repent, always hoping that we will return again to loving and serving Him.
The book of Amos itself even ends on a note of reconciliation. Israel was faithless but God is faithful and this is an important. Even though Israel sinned and forfeited their promised land, Amos does point to the hope of a future restoration[10] and that future restoration is in Christ. So as sure as when we are unfaithful we are deserving of punishment, as we return to God, and as we love our neighbour as ourselves, God is faithful and He will forgive us our sins and we will experience the full benefits of our covenant with God.
Even though Israel sinned and was removed from their promised land, even though humankind sinned and Jesus died for those sins.[11] Even though we are sometimes faithless and our works do not always reflect our status, God is faithful. He will never leave us nor forsake us. As long as we have a breath in our body we have to opportunity to return to God and be saved!
Let us pray.
---
[1] Karl Moller. “‘Hear This Word Against You’: a Fresh Look at the Arrangement and the Rhetorical Strategy of the Book of Amos,” Vetus Testamentum 50, no. 4 (2000):343
[2] And his prophecy, when he says ‘you only have I known among the nations’ – his message is meant for both Israel and Judah. It is addressed to greater Israel as it were.
[3] Douglas Stuart, Amos. (Word Biblical Commentary 31. Waco, Texas: Word Books, 1987), 321.
[4] cf. Donald E. Gowan, Amos. (NIB 7. Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press, 1996),340 and Roland Kenneth Harrison. Introduction to the Old Testament. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1977),884.
[5] Cf. Thomas E. McComiskey, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Amos/Introduction to Amos/Theological Values of Amos/The doctrine of election in Amos, Book Version: 4.0.2
[6] cf. Donald E. Gowan, Amos. (TNIB 7. Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press, 1996), 383, 347; Douglas Stuart. Amos. (WBC 31: Waco, Texas: Word Books, 1987), 333, 338, 368;
[7] This is important but not only for Israel but also for us as well because some of these things that Amos tells Israel that they are responsible for as the people chosen to fulfil God’s blessing to the world, Matthew tells us that we are responsible for too as inheritors of that great commission (cf. Matt 25:31ff; 28:16ff).
[8] And if we flip to the first paragraph of Chapter Four, it is stated explicitly why Israel is to be punished and what shall be its punishment. It is because even though God has offered them a special covenant, they oppress the poor, crush the needy, indulge themselves at the expense of the poor and as a result, it is written that “the Lord God has sworn by his holiness: The time is surely coming upon you, when they shall take you away with hooks, even the last of you with fishhooks.” Israel was chosen for a purpose and with that comes responsibility. We are chosen and with that comes a responsibility as well: because ‘you only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.’
[9] http://www.sheepspeak.com/OT_Michael_Ramsay.htm
[10]http://www.sheepspeak.com/OT_Michael_Ramsay.htm#therefore%20I%20will%20punish%20you
[11] Michael Ramsay. Covenant: When God is Bound...a look at Genesis 15:7-21. Journal of Aggressive Christianity, Issue 52, December 2007 – January 2008, pp 5-10. Available on-line at http://www.armybarmy.com/pdf/JAC_Issue_052.pdf
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