Woe to you who put far off the day of doom,
Who cause the seat of violence to come near. Amos 6:3
Now it came to pass that Jerusalem saw a time of peace and prosperity. It was in such a time that a man from among the sheepherders was given the word of the Lord, and of course he would need to go to where the words of woe and doom were least welcome: Jerusalem. Fortunately, the background of Amos was well suited to bringing an unwelcome word or two. When God called the people the lost sheep of Israel, He was not conveying a compliment to them. Sheep often reflect the worst aspects of a group of people: slow to recognize danger, yet easily panicked; prone to wander off, but complacent to a fault; and of course they can be weak, blind, stupid, obstinate, rebellious, and about every other derogatory word that can be written. One thing sheep do not do, as far as we know, is to laugh at the person bringing them the message of doom and woe. That scoffing bit seems to be a human characteristic.
Amos did deliver his message from the Lord, and we can read it to this day. The destruction of Jerusalem did come and the scoffers were rounded up and taken to captivity as foretold. The question we might have in this age is: Who's next? Amos was not the only prophecy of great doom and woe. The Revelation, Daniel, the Olivet Discourse, and many other prophecies of the end have not yet come to pass, but we dare not scoff or be complacent as those long-ago sheep of Jerusalem were in the time of Amos.
Live in Christ as we await His return,
Bucky
Post Script: Must be Monday, eh? I resent that! On second thought, it may be that I am more prone to look up words like doom, woe, judgment, et al. on a Monday morning for some reason.
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