Amos 1:1; 9

Amos is a prophet who was a contemporary of Hosea. The two prophesied at the same time about Israel’s sin and need for repentance. In Amos’ final vision he tells the people of Israel that the Lord’s hand of judgment will come upon them. Their sin and idolatry has gone on long enough, and there is nowhere they can hide or escape from this. God is going to tear the kingdom away from them. But, it will not be total, final, or permanent. He will keep a remnant and will restore them, and do it in such a way that people from all nations will seek the Lord.

God set Israel apart to be different from the rest of the world. They were set apart to reflect God’s glory and presence here on the earth. Instead, they wanted to live just like the world, and their destruction and captivity was the end result. Just like all sin against God, a day of reckoning with discipline, consequences, and judgment is coming for all of us. But the beauty in this is God’s message of restoration, not just for Israel, but God’s restoration reaches out to all people. Even though Israel failed to bring the world to God, God himself did not fail.

Do you take sin and idolatry as seriously as God does? Or, have you constantly ignored his call to repent like Israel?