Amos 4

Amos 4:1-13

AMOS—OR —ANCIENT AND MODERN Amos 1:1 to Amos 9:15THE opening sentences of this Book give us briefly, and yet somewhat fully, the history of the Prophet whose name it wears. He belonged to the herdmen of Tekoa, and prophesied in the days when Uzziah was king of Judah, and Jeroboam, Son of Joash, sat upon the throne of Israel, and two years before the earthquake. There are few Prophets the date of whose living is so definitely fixed. It is known that Uzziah and Jeroboam were contemporary kings in the period 809 to 784 B. C. It is certain, therefore, that sometime in these twenty-five seasons, Amos spoke. Some have thought to fix it accurately by referring to the history of this earthquake, which was one of the most terrible visitations the country had ever known of its kind. Josephus assigned, as the immediate occasion of this earthquake, the act of pride on the part of Uzziah in offering incense, for which God smote him with leprosy, and says, “Meanwhile a great earthquake shook the ground and the Temple parting, a bright ray of the sun shone forth and fell upon the king’s face, so that forthwith the leprosy came over him.

And above the city, at the place called Eroge, the western half of a hill was broken off and rolled half a mile to the mountain Eastward, and there stayed, blocking up the ways, and the king’s garden.”But it ought to be said, in all candor, that those people who swear by Josephus, but doubt the inspiration of the biblical writers, have poor occasion for their conduct. This ancient Jewish historian is so often writing down legend, tradition, and even his own imagination, for history, that one dare not receive his statement concerning this earthquake as authentic, and the very year of Amos’ writing remains undetermined.The place of his residence is put past dispute, however. It was at Tekoa, a little village twelve to fourteen miles from Jerusalem, and six miles south of old Bethlehem, the very one whence Joab brought the wise woman to intercede for Absalom, and which the king Rehoboam made a fortified town.His humble station was also affirmed; not even the owner of sheep, but a hireling, who as opportunity offered, followed the herds; and when there was no employment in that avocation, turned to the gathering and selling of sycamore fruit or figs.The most of the Old Testament Prophets are the sons of honored fathers, descendants from famed families; but already God is beginning to manifest forth the fact, which finds so many illustrations in New Testament teachers, namely,“How that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: “But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; “And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: “That no flesh should glory in His presence? (1 Corinthians 1:27-29). But in keeping with the humble station of this man, and his equally humble estimate of self, he spent only a single verse upon his personal history, as if the man were of little moment; while God’s message to the people was the subject of supreme concern.With what a sentence did he smite the ears of his auditors—“The Lord will roar from Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem; and the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither”.It is not difficult to imagine him a successful street preacher, for these words were doubtless uttered in the alley-like avenues of Jerusalem. When he had finished that first sentence, every Jew within hearing of it would be riveted in attention, and ready to give eager ear to all that followed. It is interesting now to note, either the consummate genius of the speaker, or else God’s evident inspiration for both arrangement and expression of his thought.It seems to me that this Book, upon close study, falls naturally into four parts and considered as a sermon or discourse, is ideal in its arrangement.The first of these divisions has to do withTHE PROPHET’S Amos 1:3 to Amos 2:3 From Amos 1:3 to Amos 2:3 Amos speaks solely concerning the heathen round about. He denounces Damascus; he condemns Gaza; he excoriates Tyrus; he reproves Edom, he censures Ammon; and delivers sentence against Moab. What an introduction for a street discourse in Jerusalem! Every Jewish auditor would be delighted, for these were their hated enemies, and to have a man whose very mien and tongue told of his Divine appointment to the order of Prophet, utter such excoriations, would arouse the smouldering hatred which the Jews held against these into a flame of enthusiasm for the man speaking such words.Now, before passing from this subject, let us see some essential truths suggested in these sentences.First of all, The Prophet’s ministry is predetermined. His speech was no trick of the elocutionist to catch his auditors by condemning their enemies. Amos disclaims all originality and responsibility for these words, introducing his deliverance by the sentence, “Thus saith the Lord”.

There are people who seem to entertain an impression that a prophet has no right to interfere in any affairs of another, and no occasion to condemn even the bad doings of his neighbors. It is not unusual to hear it said, “You belong in the Church; and at the most your ministry should spend itself within the circle of her membership. You may have a right to instruct her youth, and even admonish her adults, but what have you to do with others? Those politicians who live and move in another realm; those science Professors who instruct Truth in skepticism, those liquor sellers who lure you to debauch, that realm of commerce, created for barter, not to speak of other confessedly unchristian circles—what business have you with them?They recognize no allegiance to your views, no obligation to your opinions; they regard your speech, concerning their conduct, a presumption. Why, therefore, persist in taking upon yourself a service which is despised by the very ones of whom you speak?Amos’ answer to all of this is sufficient! “Thus saith the Lord”.That is the answer of every true prophet. He is not spying out his neighbors’ sins, and speaking against them because the sermon brings him either pleasure or profit, but because God has said,“Preach the Word; he instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. “* * But after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; “And they shall turn away their ears from the Truth, and shall be turned unto fables. “But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry?” (2 Timothy 4:2-5). Only a few years ago some nominal Christians all over this country were voicing a certain amount of sympathy with the Boxer movement; and taking their cue from the cry of these murderers “Down with the foreign devils,” asked, “What right have we to force our views upon these people when they do not want them?”—a question which can be answered in two sentences. Christians never force their views upon any, only preach them; and their warrant for doing that is in His Word. He who created China and has never signed a quitclaim to His right in that land and that people, namely, Jesus Himself, says, “Go ye therefore, and teach ail nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost”.God’s Prophets who call the Chinese to repentance, are there, commissioned of God Himself. Who will object to His conduct? Shall the creature take issue with the Creator?The Prophet’s message also is God-given. When Amos uttered these words concerning Damascus, and Gaza, and Tyrus, and Edom, and Ammon, and Moab, he was not speaking of himself, “But I will send a fire into the house of Hazael” and “I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza”, and “I will send a fire on the wall of Tyrus” and “I will send a fire upon Teman”, etc., etc.

Such would have been utterly meaningless had it originated at the mouth of the Prophet.There are many people who object to God’s fire, kindled against His enemies, consuming the wicked. But let us not quarrel with God’s Prophet.

This blaze was not born of his breath. When the minister reads from Revelation, “The fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death”, don’t quarrel with John for the speech. Like Amos of old, his authority for the utterance is in the sentence “Thus saith the Lord”.When Hugh Latimer, one New Year’s day, went along with the bishop and nobles, who were carrying their presents to the king, with a Bible in his hand, and presented that as His gift, and the king opening it read, “Whoremongers and adulterers God will judge” he was angry with Latimer; and, Herrick says, “It is a wonder that bluff and fiery King Hall did not take off Hugh’s head.”Possibly the reason is found in the fact that even that fiery king knew that these were not Latimer’s words, and whatever quarrel he had was with God. The man who delivers God’s message is not to be blamed; and the man who does not present it is not God’s Prophet! “How shall they preach except they be sent”?When Moses was called to be a Prophet for God he poorly apprehended the Prophet’s part. His answer was “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since Thou hast spoken unto Thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue”. And the Lord answered him, “Who hath made man’s mouth” * * Go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say”.

The man, who, like Amos, gets his message from God is God’s minister.This Prophet’s judgment represents Divine justice. When he says “For three transgressions”, and “for four”, of “Damascus”, “Gaza”, “Tyrus”, “Edom”, “Ammon”, “Moab”, “I will send a fire”, there is absolute justice in the sentence declared.

Damascus must suffer because they have “Threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron”; Gaza because they have “carried away captive the whole captivity, to deliver them up to Edom”; Tyrus, for participating in the same, and forgetting “the brotherly covenant”; Edom because he “did pursue his brother with the sword, and did cast off all pity, and his anger did tear perpetually, and he kept his wrath for ever”; Ammon because he “ripped up the women with child * * that they might enlarge their border”: and Moab because “he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime”. “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap”.Men did not object when houses, infected with the black plague, were burned. There are some infections that can only be consumed in the flame. And there are some sins which can never be removed away save by the fire of Divine judgment; and that judgment always represents Divine justice also.Not a few people have spoken to me concerning a sermon once delivered by my colleague, Dr. Frost, expressing their gratitude in that he made it clear that the innocent were never punished on account of the guilty; and that the guilty never suffered above their deserts; and that judgment was always tempered with mercy.I confess to surprise that these things should strike any as new truths; they are as old as Revelation itself. Aye, they are inseparable from the very character of God.John Watson, in his “Mind of the Master” tells us that “what has filled many honorable minds with resentment and rebellion is not the fact of separation, but the principle of execution; not the dislike of an assortment, but the fear that it will not be into good and bad.” And he continues, “But Jesus rested judgment on the firm foundation of what each man is in the sight of the Eternal. He anticipated no protest in His parables against the justice of this evidence; none has ever been made from any quarter.

The wheat is gathered into the garner. What else could one do with wheat?

The tares are burned in the fire. What else could one do with tares? When the net comes to the shore, the good fish are gathered into vessels; no one would throw them away. The bad are cast aside; no one would leave them to contaminate the good. The supercilious guests who did not value the great supper were left severely alone. If men do not care for Heaven, they will not be forced into it. The outcasts, who had never dared to dream of such a supper, were compelled to come. If men hunger for the best, the best shall be theirs.”That is the truth of God’s judgment everywhere.

And when He consumed these nations with the besom of destruction it was only because to continue them would be to condone sin by reproducing sinners, and stain the earth, calling into question His own wisdom by letting iniquity go unpunished. Say what you will of these judgments, you must commend their justice. Who art thou that repliest against God?But from the Prophet’s neighbors we turn toTHE PROPHET’S NATIONS Amos 2:4 to Amos 6:14 To be sure Amos belonged by birth to Judah, but both these nations were his, by kinship, and by Divine appointment of Prophet to them. He came out of Judah, but he spake to Judah and to Israel. What a change must have come over the audience when this man, with eloquent speech, flaming with the evident enthusiasm of a Divine commission, turned suddenly from his denouncement of neighbors, to a kindred condemnation of the favored nations.“For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have despised the Law of the Lord, and have not kept His Commandments, and their lies caused them to err, after the which their fathers have walked: “But I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem. “Thus saith the Lord: For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes” (Amos 2:4-6). Heathenism is not all with the heathen. You read the words of this Prophet from Amos 2:4 to Amos 6:14 and you will find the elect backsliders, and indulging in the abominations of their neighbors. It is a phrase employed too often, I fear, by those unwilling to go, or through their gold and silver to send, “Why be interested in the heathen or foreign lands when there are so many heathen at home?”Such speak better than they desire. The heathen are at home; aye, the heathen, here, were the very company who called themselves saints. And this Prophet’s descriptions are not ancient; they are up to date!No single discourse upon which my hand has fallen has been comparable in clearness of expression, and vigor of thought, to one, once delivered by my late loved friend, Dr. John O.

Rust, on “The New Heathenism,” and printed in the Presbyterian Quarterly, October, 1902, and reprinted in pamphlet form by Whittet and Shepperson, of Richmond, Va. Rust’s opening sentence is, “We are prone to think that we have left heathenism far behind us in the centuries of the past; or that it is banished from our shores to hide its shame in the remote and darkened corners of the earth; and one is almost stung into a feeling of resentment when the charge is made that there is a lively revival of heathenism at our very doors, here in enlightened America, in this blessed day of grace.”Then Rust continues to show that commercialism has carried many a so-called Christian into heathen practices. The poet has written:“It is success that colors all in life; Success makes fools admired, makes villains honest; All the proud virtues of this vaunting world Fawns on success and power, howe’er acquired.” Rust thinks Ӕ ?stheticism also has been chosen as a term with which to clothe our cultured heathenism. He says, “When the people get rich suddenly they wish to acquire culture quickly.” The consequence is that “elegant ladies and gentlemen, strong in the languor of luxury, lounge in dainty drawing-rooms, and cultivate an Attic difference to virtue, and a Roman contempt for enthusiasm of robust manhood.”Occultism has, within the last ten years, enjoyed a “ridiculous revival.” “Teachers whose chief qualifications are long hair and soiled linen, profess an acquaintance with the mysteries of philosophy which would appall the real learning of the world. Hypnotists reveal the deep secrets of psychology on a month’s tuition which has been hidden from the wisdom of the world for ages. And the amazing thing about it is that thousands of people listen to the babble of these fellows who will not heed the oracles of God. A certain statistician has computed that there has been an increase of 300 per cent in fools in this country in the last fifty years, and one is half inclined to believe the estimate.”Socialism represents an extreme reaction against the proud, arrogant and esoteric tendencies, and by its very consciousness of wrong, it is attempting to get its rights by an attack upon all society.Now I confess it was most interesting to me to take that address of Rust’s, and compare his words with those of the Prophet Amos. Commercialism cursed God’s people in the times of Amos also, and they were called to judgment because they “sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes”.Ӕ ?stheticism found then the same sensual expression which it is receiving today, “They [stretched] themselves upon clothes laid to pledge by every altar”. “They [drank] the wine of the condemned in the house of their god”.

By their increased riches, through the oppression of the poor, they bought unto themselves beds of ivory, and stretched themselves upon their couches, and ate the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall, and chanted to the sound of the viol, and invented to themselves instruments of music, defaming David, by saying they were the same as his; and setting aside the little glasses, emptied great bowls of wine.And, by anointing themselves with the chief ointment imagined that they were a sweet incense to God, forgetting to grieve for the affliction of Joseph, until the drunkards of Ephraim came to be a byword in the streets of Jerusalem.As to Occultism, they turned from the worship of the True God to such false shrines and sorcerers that a temple to Asherah was restored in Samaria; the gold and silver images to Baal were set up; the smoke of sacrifice to idols could be seen upon their mountain tops, and incense smelt in the shade of every grove until the word was Gilead was given to idols. They transgressed at Bethel, and multiplied transgressions at Gilgal.And then the socialism that always attends oppression!

Selfish and sensual living stirred in the breasts of the unsuccessful, and made it easy to bring against their divided forces nations that should afflict them from the entering of Hamath unto the river of the wilderness.Beloved, what greater danger to the land in which we live than these same, before which the ancient people of God sadly fell? Is not the Church itself threatened by commercialism in which, as Rust puts it, “The evangelist has become the finangelist?” The denominations which twenty-five years ago existed on a creedal basis, today continue on a commercial basis. Are not our missionary treasuries pauper-stricken too often because even the people who wear the Name of God, have learned to love palatial residences, and expend upon person and pleasure the whole of their income. And, are not many being brought to the bar of judgment and condemned with the charge having been substantiated against them, by the Lord God Himself, “In tithes and offerings” ye have robbed Me?Let us see another thing to be inferred from the language of the Prophet Amos. Sonship does not insure against chastisement. The true father may witness the most evil deeds upon the part of his neighbor’s child without speaking a word of correction, or claiming the right of chastisement.

But not so when his own children go into sin. His very love of them compels their correction; while his past favors give him that paternal prerogative, God makes that the basis of Israel’s chastisement.

He reminds the Children of Israel that He alone had brought them up from Egypt, saying, “You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.”It is an Old Testament illustration of the New Testament assertion, “Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth”. For those who have been the recipients of Divine favor in our day, the poet’s sentences speak this same truth.“But if your ears refuse The language of His grace, Your hearts grow hard, like stubborn Jews, That unbelieving race. “The Lord with vengeance drest, Shall lift His hand and swear, You that despised My promised rest Shall have no portion there.” Beastly conduct necessitates bitter correction. Sometime when you have looked upon people whose moral filth and sensual living was such that your whole nature reacted from the sight, you have been tempted to adopt the language of the street and call them “cattle”. Perhaps you did not know that it was also the language of Scripture, and that it is possible for men to go so deeply into sin that God looks upon their condition as that of a beast in an unclean stall.To these ancient Israelites He said,“Hear this Word, ye kine of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, which oppress the poor, which crush the needy, which say to their masters, Bring, and let us drink. “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. “And ye shall go out at the breaches, every cow at that which is before her; and ye shall cast them into the palace, saith the Lord” (Amos 4:1-3). These are rude words of the Prophet; but let us remember that they were not his words, but God’s instead. It is an awful thing for one to come to that moral condition where his conduct reminds God of the “cattle” of the field!Such a condition cannot be covered over by feasts, offerings and ceremonies. It is in vain for such to come to Bethel, which means the House of God, and to Gilgal to bring sacrifice every morning, and tithes after three years, and offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, and proclaim and publish a free offering. As Joseph Parker says, “There is one thing wanting in all that elegant program, and for want of that one thing the whole arrangement dies in the air like a gilded bubble. What is omitted from this rehearsal? The sin offering, the trespass offering.

They will come with sacrifices every morning as donor to God; they will come with service and sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven; they will throw money into the treasury, and announce the sum in plain figures. But where is penitence? Where is contrition? Where is heart-wringing? Where is the tearing conscience, the presence of tormenting agony in the innermost life? Most worship is partial; many will have a little partial religion.

Some attention has to be paid to custom, to the habit, wont, and use of life; some mean coin must at least be thrown into the treasury, and thrown in with some ostentation; hymns must be sung, and fault must be found with the music, and judgment must be pronounced upon the rabbi, the priest, the teacher for the time being, and for a certain period there must be an odor of sanctity about what we say and do. All this trickery is possible; but it never reaches the Heaven of God.” And God only answers it all by saying,“Seek not Beth-el, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba * *. “Seek the Lord, and ye shall live * *. “Seek Him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The Lord is His Name” (Amos 5:5-6; Amos 5:8). But to pass on in our study of this Book, we come uponTHE PROPHET’S Amos 7:1 to Amos 9:10 It would be a marvel indeed if such a man as this went on without opposition. They beheaded Paul; they killed James, the Just; they crucified Jesus, and Amos reveals no spirit of compromise. How then can he hope to pass on in peace?The Prophet cannot escape the opponent. There is an Amaziah for every Amos. He will send to Jeroboam, the king, saying,“Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the House of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words. “For thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of their own land” (Amos 7:10-11). It is not pleasant to be pricked by the truth; to be irritated by an inspired word; to feel the lash upon the conscience, quickened by Sacred Scripture; and men always have opposed it, and they always will.Perhaps in modern times we have had no more faithful minister of the Gospel than was Charles Spurgeon. But he had to learn how to be slandered, he says, in order that he might be made useful to God. His statement is, “Down on my knees I have often fallen, with the hot sweat rising from my brow, under some fresh slander poured upon me; in an agony of grief my heart has been well-nigh broken; till at last I learned the art of bearing all and caring for none. * * If to be made as the mire of the streets again, if to be the laughing-stock of fools and the song of the drunkard once more will make me more serviceable to my Master, and more useful to His cause, I will prefer it to all this multitude, or to all the applause that man could give.”That was exactly Amos’ answer when told to prophesy no more at Beth-el, since it was the king’s chapel, and the king’s court. He replied, confessing his humble estimate of himself,“I was no Prophet, neither was I a Prophet’s son; but I was an herdman, and a gatherer of sycamore fruit: “And the Lord took me as I followed the flock, and the Lord send unto me, Go, prophesy unto My people Israel. “Now therefore hear thou the Word of the Lord”. It is the only answer one needs to make to his opponent; and it is the only answer one can make that carries with it any assurance of success. Do you remember that when David, the lad, after being scoffed by his elder brother, and scorned by Goliath, the giant, said to that Philistine, “Thou contest to me with a sword, and with a spear and with a shield: but I come to thee in the Name of the Lord of Hosts”. Oh, beloved, whoever our opponents are, and whatever our opposition, that is the only Name in which we can stand; and that Name is sufficient!Speaking in that Name we cannot be silenced by secular powers. Amaziah, in his inability to meet Amos single-handed, tried the trick of the pious politician, namely, arraying the secular powers against this servant of the Lord. It is an old trick; it was done in the days of Elisha; and repeated in the days of the Son of Man. He was charged with opposition to Caesar; as were His Apostles with rebellion against the civil government.

It is most amazing how patriotic some men become, once the preaching of the truth reveals their personal sins, and those which they have in common with so-called statesmen, at one and the same time.They are not welcomed by the fallen, and sometimes are most bitterly opposed by men who have proclaimed themselves children of the King. Be it remembered, however, that the same Amaziahs who rise to charge God’s Prophets with treason will be compelled to listen, eventually, to the Divine sentence of the Lord,“Thou sayest, Prophesy not against Israel, and drop not thy word against the House of Isaac. “Therefore thus saith the Lord; Thy wife shall be an harlot in the city, and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be divided by line; and thou shalt die in a polluted land: and Israel shall surely go into captivity forth of his land” (Amos 7:16-17). And yet—The Christian’s courage will accord with the Divine commission. Amos only needs to answer, “The Lord took me as I followed the flock, and * * said unto me, Go, prophesy unto My people Israel. When you have spoken in the language of Scripture, and are conscious that your purpose was to help and not hinder; to reform and not deform; to convert and not divert, then fear will flee away, and like Peter and the other Apostles of Jesus, you can answer the command of silence, “We ought to obey God rather than man”, and “We are His witnesses of these things.”S. E. Herrick, speaking of Savonarola, in the times when all Florence was ablaze, having been basely betrayed by their ruler, says that Savonarola remained the one calm spirit, and assigns as the reason, “He is the man who dwells unmoved in (The secret place of the Most High’, and ‘under the shadow of the Almighty’ ”Every man ought to dwell there who is consciously seeking the glory of God, and faithfully presenting the Truth of God. Paul seems to have entertained that opinion of the whole Christian life, when he wrote the Ephesians,“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might. “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. “Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. “Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with Truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; “And your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace; “Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked” (Ephesians 6:10-16). This Book concludes with thePROPHET’S Amos 9:11-15I want to make that also the conclusion of this chapter. This prediction is brief, but how blessed!“In that day will I raise up the Tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old: “That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by My Name, saith the Lord that doeth this. “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt. “And I will bring again the captivity of My people Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. “And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God” (Amos 9:11-15). Take the three points of this prediction and delight thyself in them.The restitution of the House of David is pledged.“That day will I raise up the Tabernacle”. That promise is found in a hundred forms in this Old Testament, and was made the occasion of James’ appeal to missionary endeavor, when, at the council of Jerusalem, he stood before the people saying,“Men and brethren, hearken unto me: “Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for His Name. “And to this agree the Words of the Prophets; as it is written, “After this I will return, and will build again the Tabernacle of David, which is fallen dawn”. Simeon did not see that Tabernacle rebuilt; James was not privileged to witness it; nor have we; and yet the Word of the Lord will not fail. The House of David is yet to be exalted in the earth.Dr. Gordon tells us, “There is a fragment of Jewish legend that has floated down to us, which represents two venerable rabbis as musing among the ruins of Jerusalem after its destruction. One is giving way to unrestrained lamentation, saying, ‘Alas! alas! this is the end of all. Our beautiful city is no more; our Temple is laid waste, our brethren are driven away into captivity.’ The other, with greater cheerfulness, replies: ‘True; but let us learn from the verity of God’s judgments, which we behold about us, the certainty of His mercies. He hath said, I will destroy Jerusalem, and we see that He hath done it.

But hath He not also said, I will rebuild Jerusalem, and shall we not believe Him?’” The latter rabbi was right! The same God who, by His might, said to His people, “I will sift the House of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve”; and speedily fulfilled the threat, also declared of one day in the future, “In that day will I raise up the Tabernacle of David that is fallen”.

He will fulfil His promise. “And I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old: that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by My Name, saith the Lord that doeth this” (Amos 9:11-12).There is your pledge of the gathering out of the Gentiles. “The heathen which are called by God’s Name.” Isaiah had long ago said, “The Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising”. Jesus once reminded the multitudes of the promises of God concerning His Son—“In His Name shall the Gentiles trust”. But more explicit still is that other statement of His concerning the destiny of Jerusalem—“Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled”.Beloved, this is your age and mine; the period in which we who were aliens, by nature, are being grafted into the True Vine. Arthur T. Pierson has at some time expressed the thought that he never succeeds in winning a soul to the Saviour without entertaining the hope that this may be the last man needful to the filling up of the time of the Gentiles. But, oh, how such a suggestion ought to stir apprehension in the breasts of all Gentile-unbelievers, lest we approach the day of the Lord, and the time of our opportunity will be past!Finally:—The Prophet also predicts the return of the Jews to their own land.“I will bring again the captivity of My people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. “And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God” (Amos 9:14-15). My brethren sometimes ask whether I see what appears clear evidences of the signs of the times; and if I do, there is something marvelous in this Zionist movement. Only a short time ago a clipping from your own paper here says that in the city of Milwaukee alone thousands of Jews have given their most ardent support to this Zionist movement to buy back again their own land, and make it the place of refuge to their persecuted people. So the movement has enlisted the Jews of St. Paul and Minneapolis. They do not see the significance of such a barter, but who knows but God is already beginning to fulfil literally those promises of His Word,“Surely the isles shall wait for Me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far * *. “And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee: for in My wrath I smote thee, but in My favour have I had mercy on thee” (Isaiah 60:9-10). And again,“I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion” (Jeremiah 3:14). The first-fruits of that final restoration which is fully pledged, and made emphatic by a hundred repetitions, and when, according to Jeremiah, God will gather the remnant of His scattered flock out of all countries into which He has driven them, and bring them again into their fold. And they shall be fruitful and increase, for in those days He will raise up unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and execute judgment and justice in the earth (Jeremiah 23:3; Jeremiah 23:5). “O then that I Might live, and see the olive bear Her proper branches, which now lie Scattered each where,

And without root and sap decay, Cast by the husbandman away, And sure it is not far! “For surely He Who loved the world so as to give His only Son to make us free, Whose Spirit, too, doth mourn and grieve To see man lost, will, for old love, From your dark hearts this veil remove.”

Amos 4:12

THE Amos 4:12WHEN the title of these forty volumes was selected “The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist” it was my purpose to do what we have been doing for more than ten years now, give the morning to exposition and the evening to soul-winning. At that time I had no fears whatever for such a program as it related itself to the New Testament; I knew that it was full of evangelistic texts: but I wondered whether I should always find in the Old Testament Scriptures inspired sentences that would be particularly adapted to the evangelistic appeal. Now that we approach the end of this whole Bible study I confess to you, what you have doubtless discovered, namely, that the Old Testament is quite as rich in such texts as is the New. In fact, for sententious statements, it even surpasses the New. The text of tonight is an instance! How significant the injunction, “Prepare to meet thy God”. Our fathers in the ministry were almost uniformly evangelical men; and one who studies the sermons that fell from their lips is bound to be impressed with their constant use of Old Testament texts. In brevity, clarity, direct appeal, they hold the proof of their inspiration.The frivolous age to which we belong needs this inspired injunction “Prepare to meet thy God”.Some quiet meditation upon this text would suggest the following: That Meeting Is Certain: The Time of It Is Indefinite: The Event Is Imminent.THE MEETING IS CERTAINIt is definitely determined. Paul, writing to the Hebrews, said: “It is appointed unto men once to die” (Hebrews 9:27).In his First Letter to the Corinthians he also wrote: “In Adam all die” (1 Corinthians 15:22).While to the Romans he writes: “So death passed upon all men” (Romans 5:12).In the Old Testament the Prophet Ezekiel wrote: “I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die” (Ezekiel 33:8).Father Ryan wrote: “Only a few more years! Weary years! Only a few more tears! Bitter tears! And then—and then—like other men, I cease to wander, cease to weep, Dim shadows o’er my way shall creep; And out of the day and into the night, Into the dark and out of the bright I go, and death shall veil my face, The feet of the years shall fast efface My very name, and every trace I leave on earth; for the stern years tread, Tread out the names of the gone and dead!” It cannot be evaded! As “death reigned from Adam to Moses” so it has continued until this hour victor against all men save Enoch and Elijah. In view of that history, what man can afford to ignore its certain coming; or the fact that, for him, it means a personal appearance in the presence of God?Professor Austin Phelps is reported to be the author of the story that when Dr. Paulus of Germany who was an infidel came to die, he sent for a number of his students. To them he had taught against immortality and now that he was consciously passing into the great unknown, he addressed them somewhat as follows: “Young gentlemen; I have sent for you to show you how a man believing and teaching as I have done, can die. I do not want any one to think that I have weakened at the last moment.

I know that I am going into the future, but I know that there is no consciousness there. For the soul of man, there is no hereafter.” While his students stood about his bed the old professor sank into a comatose condition; but, after a while, he started up and looking about him with a strange light in his eyes he cried out, “There is a hereafter!” and fell back to die.

It was as if God had given him this conscious moment with which to correct his false teaching, and with his last word to bear testimony to the truth “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment”.Robert Murray McCheyne, that matchless young Scotch minister whose life, like that of his Master, ended with his youth, bore such testimony to the truth of Scripture as to make his name immortal among men. In the volume “Memoir and Remains” we have this statement from him,“I was in a very wicked family today where a child had died. I opened my Bible and explained this verse to them over the coffin of the little one, “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment”. Solemn words! We have only once to die and the day is fixed. If you die wrong the first time you cannot come back to die better a second time.

If you die without Christ, you cannot come back to be converted and die a believer; you have but once to die. Oh, pray that you may find Christ before death finds you! ‘After this the judgment’.Not after this, purgatory.

No further opportunity to be saved, ‘After this the judgment’. As death leaves you, so judgment finds you. If you die unsaved, you will be so in the judgment. May I never see you at the left hand. If I do, you will remember how I warned you, and prayed for you, and besought you to come to the Lord Jesus.”That form of infidelity which has brought many a man of the twentieth century to doubt the hereafter is the devil’s own philosophy. This text was born as its antidote.

The testimony of the ages is to the effect that this text points to wisdom’s ways, “Prepare to meet thy God”.Such preparation is possible. In John’s Gospel, fifth chapter, we read these words: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation”.If you will consult the marginal reading of your Scofield Reference Bible you will find the word “Judgments” and underneath it in parenthesis “(7)”.

What a wonderful suggestion. Seven is God’s numeral for perfection. It means that all judgments for a believer are overpassed, and he can face the judgment day itself without fear.A few days ago on the train I went into the observation car, and looked over the magazines there and found an article, in one, written by Clarence Darrow giving the history of the Massie trial in Hawaii. You will remember that Massie was convicted of murder and the penalty might have been life imprisonment or the gallows; but in the Governor of Hawaii Massie found a friend and a pardon followed hard upon the judgment of jury and the sentence of the Judge, and he quit the Island a free man. In Jesus Christ every sinner may find just such a Friend; yea, even a greater One, a Friend who, though He knows our guilt, and understands perfectly that the sentence passed upon us is just, anticipated the same and met its demands in His own person, so that when the great day of judgment shall come He will appear for us and we will not even be required to stand in that court at all, for, as Jesus says, “He that heareth My Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation”. That is your opportunity of adjustment. Why not make it now?THE TIME IS Like the Second Coming of the Lord, “No man knoweth it”.There is not a single one of us that can pass from this house tonight with any conceivable assurance that we will reach our homes with life in the body. When, eight years ago, four of the officials of this church were returning from one of the most delightful days that four men of kindred spirit had ever spent, not a one of us dreamed of danger when suddenly a car, driven by drunks, and running at fifty or sixty miles an hour, down hill, swerved from its side of the road and struck us, straight head on, and put the life of each of us in instant peril, it was only of God’s grace that we lived to tell the tale. And when, three years ago the thirteenth of last July, my wife and daughter and self were speeding across the high plains of Wyoming there came from the region of the rear tire an explosive sound, and one second later we all lay bleeding and helpless in a ditch, it was only the grace of God that so manipulated our bodies as to land them with life in them.You will pick up your newspaper tomorrow morning and there will be the report in it of one life snuffed out by a railroad crossing, another ended by an automobile collision, and the report of a third run down in the streets and left for dead. And not one single one of them will have had even a premonition of death’s approach sixty seconds before its actual occurrence.It is not unusual, of course, for people who have long been on beds of affliction and who have seen their flesh wasted and have felt the heart weaken day by day to anticipate the end and be in the spirit of expectation when it comes; but it is altogether unusual for one to go from apparent health into the arms of death and ever realize that the last enemy is at hand.A few years ago Van Hove De Saint Pol, Belgium’s famous composer, was conducting light opera in the city of Stekene, when, suddenly, he halted the concert and said to the musicians, “Play a certain funeral march.” They could not understand but they were the servants of his will and they shifted instantly to the same, and their instruments sounded forth in a funeral harmony. He directed the march until the last note ended and as it died on the ears of the audience, his baton dropped from the nerveless hand and he fell dead. Apparently De Saint Pol knew that death had come and only by sheer will power held his place to the last heart beat.

It is the exception that proves the rule; most people who go suddenly, go without an intimation of death’s approach and consequently without opportunity for preparation to meet God; and unfortunately multitudes of them have failed to make it.It is not many years since the National Press Association in London gave a dinner in honor of Thomas Huxley on the occasion of his birthday and Major G. H.

Putman, an American Civil War veteran, proposed a toast to the presiding officer, George Whale. When Mr. Whale responded to it this is what he said, “Do I say, let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die?” “No, I say, Take hands and help for today we live.” And from that he proceeded in a ruthless attack on Christianity, in the process of which he ridiculed the idea of the Holy Spirit. In the middle of a sentence he stopped, fell backward, and the men who ran to his assistance found him dead.That infidel had not a moment left in which to prepare to meet his God. And yet he had enjoyed seventy-five years, of 365 1/4 days each, and had wasted them all, or at least had utilized none of them in making ready for the great adventure. “In such an hour as ye think not” death cometh!The time of it is already appointed. But only that God who holds the power of life and death in His hands can know.

Possibly when the hour breaks that all mysteries are made plain we shall learn that for each man it was the right time. When a wicked man dies in his youth we wonder whether God treated him justly and why He did not give him longer time in which to repent.

By our very question we assume an unprovable proposition, namely, that longer continuance of life would lead to repentance. It might be that God saw that to continue longer would be to only add sin to sin and make the day of final reckoning less favorable.When a good man dies in his youth we are disposed to complain again and say, Why did God cut off one who was so useful, and one of whom the world had such need?When I hear men thus talk I think of what Arthur T. Pierson said concerning the death of my beau ideal in the ministry, A. J. Gordon. On the occasion of his funeral, Pierson, who was only one of the several speakers called to that solemn occasion, said,“There is something beautiful to me in God’s taking him away right in his prime, in the fullness of his beauty; for we remember men as they make their last impress upon us.

We shall always remember Adoniram Judson Gordon as the full grown man in his prime of intellect, in his prime of Christian achievement, in the midst of the glory of the work that has grown to this point and now never can decline under his hand, for his hand is no more upon it. Is not that better than for him to have grown old, to have decayed in intellectual power, to have declined in social influence, to have dimmed the majesty of his imperial scepter?”This much at least ought to be the faith of believers, namely, that He who holdeth the power of life and death in His hands “doeth all things well.”But in the face of that truth there is another fact that we ought to reflect upon:Death is stealthily approaching.

It makes no difference whether we are young or old, that day draws on. You may remember that in Victor Hugo’s “Les Miserables” there is a report of a man who lived in the country near D_____ and who had been a member of the National Convention. His name was G_____ . The little circle in the village in which he lived spoke of him with a sort of horror and looked upon him as a sort of monster. He had not exactly voted for the execution of the King, but had favored it, so was a half regicide, and was esteemed a terrible creature altogether. The solitude in which he dwelt added to their superstitious fears, but when the good Bishop, so loved by them all, learned that the old conventionalist was dying, and could not live through the night, he took his cane, put on his overcoat, and set out for the uncanny place, the retreat back of the trees that the citizens regarded as an accursed spot.When the Bishop entered the house the sick man said, “Who are you?

This is the first time since I have lived here that I have had a visitor.” The Bishop responded, giving his name, and the old man answered, “Then you are my Bishop.” “Possibly!” “Come in Monseigneur,” and he extended his hand. The Bishop answered, “I am glad to find that I have been misinformed.

You do not appear to me to be so sick as was reported.” “Monseigneur,” replied the old man, “I shall be dead in three hours. I am something of a physician. I know the steps by which death approaches. Yesterday my feet only were cold; today it crept to the knees; now it is at the waist; when it touches the heart all will be over.” How true his diagnosis! But how seldom it is that we can so mark the stealthy approach of the last enemy. With the most of us it is exactly the opposite—“In such an hour as ye think not”.ThenTHE EVENT IS Does not the meaning of the text lie in that very fact—“Prepare to meet thy God”?It may come at once. Life is the most valuable of all human possessions, “All that a man hath will he give for his life”, and yet it is the most uncertain of all riches. That is why men carry insurance upon it. If, when I came to this city thirty-five years and more ago, I could have known that I would be alive until now, I could have used that money to better advantage than in insurance investment. But I did not know! No man does; and just because the hour is so uncertain, but the event itself so very imminent, we tax ourselves for the sake of those who will be profited in the instance of our passing; and how often it turns out that that taxation was intelligent. Just a few years ago one of our first citizens in this city took out a life policy for a million dollars, and in less than eighteen months his heirs received the payment of the same.David Everard Ford was speaking a truth with which we are all sadly familiar when he wrote: “How vain is all beneath the skies! How transient every earthly bliss! How slender all the fondest ties That bind us to a world like this! The evening cloud, the morning dew, The withering grass, the fading flower, Of earthly hopes are emblems true,— The glory of a, passing hour.” It must be soon! That is a statement that children do not appreciate; but every old man will bear his testimony that the statement is true. Life “is swifter than a weaver’s shuttle”.As our great S. F. Smith wrote: “As flows the rapid river, With channel broad and free, Its waters rippling ever, And hasting to the sea, So life is onward flowing, And days of offered peace, And man is swiftly going Where calls of mercy cease.” Some years ago I clipped from a newspaper an article entitled “A Race with Death.” It reported the breaking up of the ice of Niagara. A great ice bridge had formed in the gorge of the river and people had been accustomed to walk over the same. The warm sun touched it one day and loosened it from the bank abutment. It happened on a Sunday. There were not so many people on the ice bridge, but many on the steel arch bridge below and the cracking of the ice was indicated by the motion of the same as the terrible current began to lift it out. The hundreds on the banks shouted warnings to those on the bridge.

Some had only gone a short distance and they hurried to safety; but some had even reached the center and it became a race for life. All but three people, a man near the New York side, hurried to shore and jumped the short-distance, and a man and a woman fleeing toward the Canadian shore. The woman made it. The man seemed to be alone but he kept his courage and took account of all his surroundings and seeing the steel arch bridge below waited until the ice reached its vicinity and then he clutched and hung on to the girders and climbed to safety. When the man and woman reached the Canadian shore a shout broke from the lips of the thousands who had watched with bated breath, for all were safely over. The newspaper said it was truly a race for life.It is a very certain fact that whether we know it or not, we are all running the same race.

But, unlike the Niagara experience, we are not going to win against the last enemy, but lose instead. The only exceptions will be the saints at the Coming of the Lord; all others will fail “Time is winging us away To our eternal home; Life is but a winters day,— A journey to the tomb: Youth and vigor soon will flee, Blooming beauty lose its charms; All that’s mortal soon shall be Enclosed in death’s cold arms.” That end should be peaceful. If the text is regarded and put into practice it will be. For the man who is prepared to meet his God there is nothing to fear. When Jacob Boehme, the great German musician, was dying he said to those who stood about his bed, “Open the window and let in some of that music. How sweet!”William Edgar, the Christian editor, who died a few days since, left behind him a matchless testimony of his experience in passing into the shadows of death, as he did, some years ago, when undergoing a severe surgical operation. He declared that he was consciously immortal and knew that his soul would survive his body, and he was supremely happy in the fact of passing into another better and more beautiful world.Dr.

Way land Hoyt, my predecessor in this pulpit, uttered one of those thoughtful and sound interpretations for which he was famed when he said, “Etymology gives us the real meaning of that word “peace.” Too frequently we associate one of the results of the thing with the thing itself. Oftenest when we say “peace” the idea arises of calm as of a lake on a June day when the winds are whist; of freedom from the clash of warring desires; of the rest which follows when, at last, the soul settles itself on some great truth or teaching which can no more be questioned.

And peace does hold capsulate all such gracious results as these, and many more of a similar sort; but all these are rather the blooms which set their beauty on the tree of peace instead of the tree itself.Think of the root picture lying back of everything in that word “peace”. Primarily and etymologically “peace” means “a joining”. It means this, as to its root idea, in the Greek, the Latin and in our English. You get the picture in the old Anglo-Saxon word pak, hence comes our word compact, from pak, plainly, “a joining.”One who has the peace of God has it because he is joined to God. The old fear, enmity, chasm, between the soul and God has passed. Jesus Christ has ministered a joining.

And now the soul, thus through the atoning Christ, joined to God, enters into the possession of the calm, rest, stoppage of turmoil—which are the legitimate results of such conscious joining of the soul to the Heavenly Father. There is no possession so rich and so enriching as this peace—this being joined to God through Jesus Christ!When Stonewall Jackson, the Christian warrior, was dying, doubtless reflecting upon the long marches and hard fighting he had endured, he said, “Let us cross over the river and rest under the shade of the trees.”What a beautiful way to go!

Prepared to meet one’s God!