Sound Familiar?

During Amos’ day, Israel literally begged for judgment because of hypocrisy, greed, religious emptiness (much was done for show), and oppression of the poor. God expected Israelites to take care of other Israelites. Instead, some experienced a major lack of food and other necessities of life. Those who had ample were unwilling to share with those who did not. Rich Israelites lorded it over the poorer folks of Israel. In fact, the rich often ended up “buying” the poor through a form of enslavement simply so they could control them.

Sound familiar, like today? The rich get richer and the poor and middle class grow poorer. This is often done through indebtedness (or if that doesn’t work, “canceling” a person because of their political views, which often can mean getting the person fired from their job). However, this was not supposed to happen in Israel and it was called “usury,” which is charging high interest rates to those who were between a rock and a hard place and were forced to borrow money to live. There was to be no interest charged to fellow Israelites. But why lend if lending doesn’t make the lender any profit? Sound like today?

God’s impending judgment was, in a way, unique to the situation. God would send a large army against Israel and this was a normal part of how He judged Israel (or other nations), when they went astray. This coming army would cause absolute trembling among the Israelites because of the results of the invasion. God was also planning on sending severe darkness to engulf the land (Amos 8:9), and would turn Israel’s festivals and celebrations into funerals (mourning; v 10). Grief would become a daily part of what the people of Israel had to endure. The implication in these verses is that their grief would last a very long time. This “darkness” may well have been metaphorical or it could’ve been referring to a solar eclipse.

But aside from all of these things that God would send to Israel, He would do something more. Amos 8:11 tells us that God would withhold His Word from the people of Israel. In essence, He would stop talking to them. He would have nothing to say for quite some time. It would literally become a famine of words/truth from God because of the way they had shirked their true responsibilities and ignored God’s Word and His ways. Because they had ignored God, He would ignore them. He would no longer speak for a long while through any prophet. They would still have access to the Hebrew Scriptures, but they would find no spiritual refreshment from it.

The Israelites would become like blind people groping in the dark, hoping to find just a shred of God’s Word to cling to. Instead, they would be frustrated and confounded because they could not “hear” God say anything to them. All of this happened to Israel way back. Today, it is clear that though the Jewish people are back in their Land, they still operate under unbelief just as Ezekiel prophesied (Ezekiel 34-39). Their final day of reckoning is coming and will be the Day of Jacob’s Trouble (Jeremiah 30:7; Matthew 24:15–31; the Tribulation), where God will purge Israel, saving for Himself the final remnant that will go into and enjoy the Millennial Kingdom.

But let’s apply this to today’s world. What do we see? More and more churches and religious institutions have gone astray because the leaders of these institutions have gone astray. Instead of clinging to the absolute truth of God’s Word, regardless of fallout, increasingly Christendom’s leaders have embraced the world and encourage their followers to do the same. What has always been considered evil and wrong is today often either put up with or fully embraced. Too many Christians are shaking hands with the world, doing what they can to find common ground. This creates compromising Christians. The world never reaches up to the biblical standard. The Christian instead, always lowering to the world’s fallen culture; culture that opposes God at every turn. The more Christians embrace aspects of this world, the greater the fall from grace and truth.

Today, too many preachers present messages that actually oppose and deny God’s Word. Christians are told we need to “get along” with and embrace all people of the world, regardless of their ideological beliefs, even if those beliefs oppose God’s truth. When Christians do not bow the knee to this tyranny, those encouraging Christians to “blend” with the world then become full-blown haters, seeking to cancel anyone who does not comply.

Fewer and fewer study the entirety of God’s Word and are often not even familiar with many portions of it. In essence, God’s written Word has stopped speaking to people because they prefer the spectacular (dreams, visions, and words of knowledge from today’s “prophets” and “apostles”). Because of this, too many people are falling away and can no longer “hear” Him, but think they do, preferring to hobnob with preachers of spiritual pablum. It is causing a serious lack of spiritual discernment and creating spiritual voids in people.

Regarding Amos 8:11 (quoted at the beginning of this article), the late pastor and commentator Jay Vernon McGee stated the following in the 1970’s:

Actually, very little of the Word of God is getting out in this land today. There is a Gideon Bible in every room in every hotel and motel in this country. Nearly everyone owns a Bible. But who is studying it? Who is reading it? Who is believing it? I think we are beginning to see the famine of the Word of God in this country.

The ancient Israelites found no solace, no spiritual refreshment in His Word because of their abject refusal to live the life He wanted them to live, from the heart.

Not sure how God could judge the nations of the past, including Israel, and not judge the world today for its growing and callous rejection of God and His rule. This is happening throughout Christendom today. It’s been a long time coming, but we are seeing the terrible fruits of it. People languish while seeking refreshment, receiving none because they want to approach God on their terms, not on His.

Judgment is certainly coming to this world because God, in no way, will allow Himself to continue to be mocked by His Creation.