The next sermon of our Amos sermon series brought us through Amos 4 to hear the consequences of God’s warnings to Israel; warnings that still challenge us today. Though God repeatedly warned His people to repent and turn to Him, Israel ignored every call and faced the fearsome judgement of the Lord. Amos delivered a second word against the wealthy women of Israel, who oppressed the poor, crushed the needy, and trampled on the lowly. At the heart of their oppression was their self-interest - their love of self and failure to love others. Putting His own holiness on the line, the Lord swore that Israel’s day of judgement was coming. Through His repeated warnings, God’s deliberate actions were meant to draw Israel back to Himself. The New Testament points us to Jesus as the better Israel who was perfectly obedient, humble, and sacrificial. Jesus was everything Israel, and we ourselves, could never be. In these warnings, we see both the patience and mercy of God. Let us not test the limits of His patience, but instead return to Him in repentance and turn away from sin.
