The Second Sunday in Advent (OT)

Amos 5:1-17

Hear this word that I take up over you in lamentation, O house of Israel: 

²  “Fallen, no more to rise, 

is the virgin Israel; 

forsaken on her land, 

with none to raise her up.” 

³ For thus says the Lord God: 

“The city that went out a thousand 

shall have a hundred left, 

and that which went out a hundred 

shall have ten left 

to the house of Israel.” 

⁴ For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel: 

“Seek me and live; 

⁵  but do not seek Bethel, 

and do not enter into Gilgal 

or cross over to Beersheba; 

for Gilgal shall surely go into exile, 

and Bethel shall come to nothing.” 

⁶  Seek the Lord and live, 

lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, 

and it devour, with none to quench it for Bethel, 

⁷  O you who turn justice to wormwood 

and cast down righteousness to the earth! 

⁸  He who made the Pleiades and Orion, 

and turns deep darkness into the morning 

and darkens the day into night, 

who calls for the waters of the sea 

and pours them out on the surface of the earth, 

the Lord is his name; 

⁹  who makes destruction flash forth against the strong, 

so that destruction comes upon the fortress. 

¹⁰  They hate him who reproves in the gate, 

and they abhor him who speaks the truth. 

¹¹  Therefore because you trample on the poor 

and you exact taxes of grain from him, 

you have built houses of hewn stone, 

but you shall not dwell in them; 

you have planted pleasant vineyards, 

but you shall not drink their wine. 

¹²  For I know how many are your transgressions 

and how great are your sins— 

you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe, 

and turn aside the needy in the gate. 

¹³  Therefore he who is prudent will keep silent in such a time, 

for it is an evil time. 

¹⁴  Seek good, and not evil, 

that you may live; 

and so the Lord, the God of hosts, will be with you, 

as you have said. 

¹⁵  Hate evil, and love good, 

and establish justice in the gate; 

it may be that the Lord, the God of hosts, 

will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph. 

¹⁶ Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the Lord: 

“In all the squares there shall be wailing, 

and in all the streets they shall say, ‘Alas! Alas!’ 

They shall call the farmers to mourning 

and to wailing those who are skilled in lamentation, 

¹⁷  and in all vineyards there shall be wailing, 

for I will pass through your midst,” 

says the Lord. 

God knows all of our deepest and darkest sins.  The Lord God of hosts knows us inside and out.  He knows us better than we even know ourselves.  God takes our darkness and will turn it into light.  God removes our sins and transgressions.  But Amos is not focusing on God's removal of our darkness.

Amos is warning the people about their coming doom.  The Lord is going to visit his people and they are going to wail greatly.  God hates evil and loves the good.  God desires his people to act up right.  But he warns them that they will not eat of their harvest.  The day is coming soon when God will take these people from their home.

I think of the many people in our society leaving home and branching out on their own.  Children leaving parents, parents leaving their children when they get to retirement.  People continue to move and travel because of employment or even just a change of scene.  God is going to give his people a change of scene.

There will come a day when Jesus will truly give us a change of scene.  Jesus Christ will give us a new place to live.  In that place we will once again be restored to perfection.  The Darkness will turn to light.  It is time to seek the Lord and live.  It is time to trust in God, for in his Name we will be given life.