Scriptural Reference Amos 3:6<\/p>\n
By Stephen Green<\/p>\n
First Published in Christian Voice September 2011<\/p>\n
Amos 3:6 Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?<\/strong><\/p>\n Acres of newsprint, hours of speech and gigabytes of internet have been devoted to finding a cause for the riots inEnglandthat flared up at the end of August.<\/p>\n In natural terms, as David Cameron correctly observed, the lawlessness sprung from ‘a lack of responsibility, which comes from a lack of proper parenting, a lack of proper upbringing, a lack of proper ethics, a lack of proper morals.’<\/p>\n He was right, although it is a pity that he failed to acknowledge how the British Government itself has contributed to the very evils he identified.\u00a0 No-fault divorce-on-demand, introduced in theUKin the 1960’s, and amoral sex-education from the 1970’s are just two of a raft of measures made in hell which drove our nation into sin and sowed the social wind which would become a whirlwind in the future.<\/p>\n Liberal Elite Forced Evil Onto the Poor<\/strong><\/p>\n All the legal disorder of the sixties and seventies undermined the basic morality and the familial foundation of our society.\u00a0 To make it worse, not one of the laws of the permissive society was demanded by the people.\u00a0 Every single one was a creature of the political class, the civil servants, politicians and opinion-formers of the liberal elite.\u00a0 Naturally, all the immorality and its consequences bore and still bears most heavily not on the wealthy men who forced it all through, but on the poorer sections of our society.\u00a0<\/p>\n With an almost total absence of responsible men, let alone fathers, on many of our council estates, with children there knowing ‘their rights’ and the phone number of Social Services if any discipline if so much as mentioned, is it any wonder that those estates have been terrorised by gangs for years now, even before the riots and looting happened?<\/p>\n To be blunt, it would have been a miracle if the riots and looting had not happened, in natural terms.\u00a0 It was, to use the popular expression, ‘waiting to happen.’<\/p>\n Lest anyone think I am being too acerbic against our rulers (the political class, as I called them above) just look at what the Prophet Amos says about the wealthy women ofSamaria:<\/p>\n Amos 4:1\u00a0 Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan, that are <\/em>in the mountain of Samaria, which oppress the poor, which crush the needy, which say to their masters, Bring, and let us drink. 2\u00a0 The Lord GOD hath sworn by his holiness, that, lo, the days shall come upon you, that he will take you away with hooks, and your posterity with fishhooks. <\/strong><\/p>\n He calls them ‘cows’, which many might say is not too loving.\u00a0 Amos names these wealthy women as oppressors, and his heart is for the poor and needy upon whom the policies of their husbands were bearing heavily.<\/p>\n God Brings the Disaster<\/strong><\/p>\n However, Amos does not see things in the naturalistic way in which a majority even of Christians might see them.\u00a0 At the start of Chapter Three he asks a series of nine rhetorical questions.\u00a0 Each of them requires the answer ‘No.’\u00a0 Here are the first seven:<\/p>\n Amos 3:3 Can two walk together, except they be agreed?<\/strong><\/p>\n 4 Will a lion roar in the forest, when he hath no prey? will a young lion cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing?<\/strong><\/p>\n 5 Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where no gin is for him? shall one <\/em>take up a snare from the earth, and have taken nothing at all?<\/strong><\/p>\n 6 Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?<\/strong><\/p>\n In a very Hebrew way, Amos starts with the uncontroversial and builds to a climax.\u00a0 It would be nitpicking to say that on occasions the hunter might catch nothing in his snare; a practised trapper would certainly expect<\/em> to find something there.\u00a0 In the same way, the expectation is that the people will be afraid if they hear the warning trumpet.\u00a0 Lastly, if disaster or calamity befall a city, says Amos, it did not just happen by chance; the Lord did it.<\/p>\n The context may be argued to mitigate the conclusion.\u00a0 Amos has systematically laid out the sins ofSyria,Gaza,Tyre,Edom,Ammon,Moab, Judah and, lastly,Israel, his principal focus and burden.\u00a0 For their mounting transgressions God ‘will not turn away’.\u00a0 It may be possible to say that some disasters are specifically the doing of the Lord, in particular, those against nations whom the prophet has specifically identified.\u00a0 Others, it could be said, come out of nowhere, or that there is a naturalistic explanation for them, which was the proposition with which we opened.\u00a0 The reader must judge the sense of Amos 3:6 in its context.<\/p>\n Even in its context, Amos would tell us that deeds of violence and destruction at least against the nations he identified came from the same loving heavenly father who removes our transgressions from us as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12) and who desires not the death of a sinner but rather his repentance (Ezek 33:11).\u00a0 Calamity is coming from the very God who became one of us in the Lord Jesus Christ and endured the horror of the Cross to save mankind, or as many as would put their faith in him, from the consequences of their sins.<\/p>\n Righteous Perish with the Wicked<\/strong><\/p>\n It is a hard thought to take in, especially as there must have been, among nearly 3,000 souls who perished in the Twin Towers ten years ago last month, a good\u00a0 number who feared the Lord.\u00a0 The same would be true inNairobi, in August 1998, where 247 people died and 5,500 were injured in a bomb attack on the United States Embassy.\u00a0 One year ago, in June 2010, around Whitehaven inCumbria, a gunman killed twelve.\u00a0 Did God visit these atrocities upon those cities?\u00a0 On Boxing Day 2004, almost a quarter of a million lives were lost in the Asian Tsunami.\u00a0 The one inJapanearlier this year was believed to account for over a thousand lives.\u00a0 The insurers might call these ‘Acts of God’ but are we seriously willing to blame God for these inundations?<\/p>\n In London, on 7th July 2005, there was a smaller-scale terrorist assault than that in New York which still killed 48 innocent bystanders as well as the four bombers and left 700 injured.\u00a0 Is that the Lord at work as well?\u00a0 Two weeks later, a similar attack failed when the bombers made a mess of it.\u00a0 Many Christians, including me, gave thanks to God for protecting the city.\u00a0 But, in all honesty, should we give God the credit for savingLondonfrom death this second time but not recognise that he allowed the first offence to proceed to its deadly end?<\/p>\n After all, the Psalmist said: ‘Except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain<\/strong>‘ (Ps 127:1).\u00a0 The implication is that the Lord may have ill intentions against that city.\u00a0 Job asked his wife: ‘What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?’<\/strong> (Job2:10)<\/p>\n God Destroys Nations and Kingdoms<\/strong><\/p>\n Jeremiah was given a mission to his countrymen:<\/p>\n Jer 18:11\u00a0 Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.<\/strong><\/p>\n The prophet is as certain as Amos that in this instance at least God himself is the one sending the disaster, or the ‘evil,’ as the KJV translators put it.\u00a0 (The same Hebrew word is used as in Amos 3:6: ra’ah, meaning moral evil or an affliction or calamity.)\u00a0 That verse comes after God’s declaration in the famous potter’s house of his ability and intention to reward nations for their obedience and for their rebellion from his righteous laws:<\/p>\n Jer 18:7\u00a0 At what<\/em> instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it<\/em>; <\/strong><\/p>\n 8\u00a0 If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. <\/strong><\/p>\n 9\u00a0 And at what <\/em>instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it<\/em>; <\/strong><\/p>\n 10\u00a0 If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them. <\/strong><\/p>\n The Lord Jesus himself pronounced judgment against the towns of Corazin,BethsaidaandCapernaum(Luke10:13-15).\u00a0 A while later, when asked about the Galilaeans slaughtered by Pilate, the Lord Jesus did little to gainsay the understanding that such disasters are warnings or judgments from God:<\/p>\n \u00a0Luke 13:1\u00a0 There were present at that season some that told him of the Galilaeans, whose\u00a0 blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. <\/strong><\/p>\n 2\u00a0 And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things? <\/strong><\/p>\n 3\u00a0 I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.<\/strong><\/p>\n 4\u00a0 Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in <\/strong>Jerusalem<\/strong>? <\/strong><\/p>\n 5\u00a0 I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.<\/strong><\/p>\n The Lord appears to be saying that there was sin inGalileeandJerusalemwhich did indeed deserve judgment, even though the unfortunate individuals on the receiving end of these particular terrible events were not necessarily those responsible for the judgment.<\/p>\n How Long Shall the Wicked Triumph?<\/strong><\/p>\n And then Jesus immediately uses these two incidents to issue a warning to his hearers to repent, on pain of perishing in the same way.\u00a0 Indeed, when the Romans sackedJerusalemin AD70, the destruction was total and the loss of life immense.\u00a0 Even thoughJerusalemandJudahdeserved the demolition that was to come, the Lord still cried out in anguish over what was to come:<\/p>\n Luke 13:34\u00a0 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather<\/em> her brood under her<\/em> wings, and ye would not!<\/strong><\/p>\n God is full of lovingkindness and compassion, but that must also involve judgment on the wicked, either in this world or the one to come, and as nations cannot be called to account in the next world, they must be dealt with in this.\u00a0 It is not loving to let sin abound, even if grace abounds much more (Rom 6:1).\u00a0 No father stands by while his children trash the backyard.\u00a0 No Almighty God can let injustice and evil flourish for ever.\u00a0 The Psalmist cried out, ‘How long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph?<\/strong>‘ (Psalm 94:3).<\/p>\n There is also a sense of collective responsibility.\u00a0 We are all responsible for the sins of our nation.\u00a0 Folk may be born again, but if they do not sound the trumpet of warning, Ezekiel says God will require the blood of the wicked at their hands (Ezek3:18-21, 33:2-7) .\u00a0 The righteous always have a prophetic duty to lift up their voices like a trumpet and warn about the sin in the land (Isa 58:1).\u00a0 The understanding that the Lord can either protect a city or a nation or bring judgment against it places upon us a huge responsibility as ‘strangers and pilgrims’ in the land:<\/p>\n Jer 29:7\u00a0 And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace. <\/strong><\/p>\n The text presents prayer and seeking peace as two separate activities, so the Lord requires more of us than just praying for peace.\u00a0 If we truly wish to see peace in our nation, then we must seek the Lord as to what would make peace with him and then witness that prophetic word (prophetic in the sense of forthtelling the word of God) to our leaders.\u00a0\u00a0 As God has clearly set out what he expects of nations in his word, it is not difficult for mature Christians to seek the Lord in the Bible and proclaim that word ‘in the great congregation’ (Psalm 40:9).<\/p>\n It Could Get A Lot Worse Yet<\/strong><\/p>\n I often hear Christians suggest that our national situation and\/or that of the world in general is so bad that the Lord Jesus is set to return any day soon.\u00a0 If we accept the pre-millennial eschatology behind the suggestion for the sake of argument, one trouble with the view expressed is that Christian campaigners were saying exactly the same in the nineteen-seventies.\u00a0 They thought it was bad enough then.\u00a0 Another possible problem is that if the source of the evil for which God would bring judgment originated in the nineteen-sixties, then seventy years from then, rather than fifty, may be the time of judgment.\u00a0 Either way, it could get a lot worse yet if there is no change in policy in our nation.<\/p>\n The proportion of Scots in favour of gay marriage has risen from 41% to 61% in just nine years, from 2002 to 2010.\u00a0 How long will it take until we are likeSodom, where righteousness was turned completely on its head?\u00a0 I am more concerned for our future now than at any previous time. I really believe that unless Christians stand up quickly a time is coming when no man can work (John 9:4) and very few of us will be saved out of the trial to come.\u00a0 Ezekiel was moved to suggest that only the three most righteous men he could think of would be saved when the Lord stretched out his hand against the land:<\/p>\n Ezek 14:20\u00a0 Though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness.<\/strong><\/p>\n The ministry of Christian Voice may be summed up in these words: ‘Working for Godly government; praying for national repentance.’\u00a0 If Amos, Jeremiah and the Lord Jesus spoke words which are applicable today, then unless our nation repents, we can expect more and worse disasters in the years to come.\u00a0 The people of the Lord, Ezekiel’s watchmen, have an awesome duty to perform in any age.\u00a0 The prophet Amos says:<\/p>\n Amos 3:7 Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.<\/strong><\/p>\n The word of God is clear.\u00a0 Even without a specific prophetic warning, the secrets of the Lord have been revealed in Holy Scripture.\u00a0 We know what God requires of us.\u00a0 We need to have our own lives in order and we must be active in building the Kingdom and in speaking out against evil.\u00a0 The final two questions posed by Amos are these:<\/p>\n Amos 3:8 The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord GOD hath spoken, who can but prophesy?<\/strong><\/p>\n Dear friends, I am sorry this is such a solemn article, but I have to speak it as I see it.\u00a0 The very survival of our nation could depend on whether Christian men and women like us rise to the challenge before us.\u00a0 The Lord Jesus calls us do a very simple thing in proclaiming his word.\u00a0 If we do this simple thing, we can depend on our mighty God to do the clever stuff, indeed to do the miraculous.\u00a0 It is not over yet!\u00a0 Can we rise to the challenge?<\/p>\n <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Scriptural Reference Amos 3:6 By Stephen Green First Published in Christian Voice September 2011 Amos 3:6 Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it? 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