Talk of JESUS .com

Tag: zechariah

Amos the Seer: “I told you so (5x) – GOD showed me
I told you so!

Don’t we hate to hear it? While occupied in our own daily trespasses we stop up our ears to any who would warn of our sins: “Thus the Lord GOD showed me, and behold…”

And to make things worse, in the day of our demise the seer such as Amos could well lament, “I told you so, but you refused to listen.”

Amos 5:

Listen to this message that I am singing for you, a lament, house of Israel…

We’ve heard Amos previously warn:

Those who turn justice into wormwood
also throw righteousness to the ground.

Now the seer shows signs he tells Israel’s leaders ‘the Lord GOD showed me.’

Would a leader – a king, premier or president – dare ignore something that a seer [Amos] says the Lord God showed me?

How could a priest serving a people pledged to God not hear Amos when he demonstrates ‘what the Lord God showed me?’

Wailing in the streets

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

“There is wailing in all the plazas,
And in all the streets they say, ‘Alas! Alas!’

… For I will pass through you,”
Says the Lord.

It is not as if the LORD leads them out of their troubles as before from Egypt through the wilderness and before Israel subduing her enemies in the promised land.

Woe to you who long for the day of the Lord!
What will the day of the Lord be for you?
It will be darkness and not light.
Amos 5:18 CSB

The seer shows the fear of the LORD that will consume a man fleeing an enemy arrived safely at home, but there bitten by a snake.

Are we not all prey of the serpent of eden without the Lord God?

Rather than consuming Israel’s offerings for sin on the altar the Lord would consume Israel!

The Day of the Lord

20 Will not the day of the Lord be darkness instead of light,
Even gloom with no brightness in it?

21 “I hate, I reject your festivals,
Nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies.
```
We will have more about festivals to consider
when returning to the Gospel of John shortly.
```
22 “Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings,
I will not accept them…

The Lord will no longer accept Israel’s worship!

23 Take away from me the noise of your songs!

25 “House of Israel, was it sacrifices and grain offerings that you presented to me during the forty years in the wilderness?

Amos reminds that they had nothing to offer there before the pillar of fire of the LORD!

Idolatry

NO OTHER GODS!

The Law of the Living LORD our God is quite clear: He IS GOD and idols (even of good “Saints” or a Jesus of stone) are not. Yet Israel became a whore on the mountaintops of the stone images of idolatry.

26 וּנְשָׂאתֶ֗ם אֵ֚ת סִכּ֣וּת מַלְכְּכֶ֔ם וְאֵ֖ת כִּיּ֣וּן צַלְמֵיכֶ֑ם כּוֹכַב֙ אֱלֹ֣הֵיכֶ֔ם אֲשֶׁ֥ר עֲשִׂיתֶ֖ם לָכֶֽם׃
Amos 5:27 WLC

27 Therefore I will send you into captivity beyond Damascus,”
Says the Lord, whose name is the God of hosts.

Woe to those at ease

We have heard this before from the Prophet Isaiah who also preached against rituals and idolatry after Amos. The true prophet so often warns, “This is what the LORD God showed me.”

Warning & Advice to Scoffers Who Rule
Isaiah speaks to scoffers of God. Yet are your ears this day so filled with twisted speech that you do not even understand the significance of his warning?

Amos now warns the rich who govern and direct worship in Israel.

3 Woe to you who put far off the day of doom,
Who cause the seat of violence to come near;
4 Who lie on beds of ivory,
Stretch out on your couches,
Eat lambs from the flock
And calves from the midst of the stall;
5 Who sing idly to the sound of stringed instruments,
And invent for yourselves musical instruments like David;
6 Who drink wine from bowls,
And anoint yourselves with the best ointments,
But are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.

… now go into exile … And the sprawlers’ banqueting will pass away…

Judgment on Jacob

8 The Lord God has sworn by Himself,
The Lord God of hosts says:
“I abhor the pride of Jacob,
And hate his palaces;
Therefore I will deliver up the city
And all that is in it.”

God showed me five signs
I will leave it to you to read the five signs Amos tells us, ‘the Lord God showed me.’

Let the Holy Spirit convict the church!

The Lord Jesus, Redeemer of Israel, later showed signs no other Prophet could ever do. Yet even the Messiah Jesus was not believed.

So how do you think Amos was received by the leaders of the land and their appointed teachers and priests?

The five signs build in intensity and importance.

A brief glance

7:2 When the locusts finished eating the vegetation of the land, I said, “Lord God, please forgive! … So the Lord relented…

4 The Lord God showed me this: The Lord God was calling for a judgment by fire. It consumed the great deep and devoured the land. 5 Then I said, “Lord God, please stop! …

“This too shall not be,” said the Lord God.

7 Thus He showed me: Behold, the Lord stood on a wall made with a plumb line, with a plumb line in His hand. And the Lord said to me,

“Amos, what do you see?”

And I said, “A plumb line.”

Opposition

10 Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent word to King Jeroboam of Israel, saying,

“Amos has conspired against you right here in the house of Israel. The land cannot endure all his words…

12 Then Amaziah said to Amos, “Go away, you seer!

Amos responds to the priest with the anointing of the Lord in his calling.

“I was no prophet…, But I was a sheepbreeder.

I will spare them no longer

What do you think?

The Lord has relented from punishment for sin. Will you repent?

And once again, the Lord holds back and does not punish. Will you now repent?

So the Lord measures the place of your worship, the people of His pasture. It is a time for harvest, a festival of blessing in times before.

3 In that day the temple songs will become wailing”—this is the Lord God’s declaration.

“Many dead bodies, thrown everywhere!

Silence!”
```
Do you now FEAR THE LORD?
```
4 Hear this,

you who swallow up the needy,
And make the poor of the land fail…

10 I will turn your feasts into mourning
and all your songs into lamentation;
I will cause everyone to wear sackcloth
and every head to be shaved.
I will make that grief
like mourning for an only son
and its outcome like a bitter day.

11 Look, the days are coming—
this is the declaration of the Lord God—
when I will send a famine through the land:
not a famine of bread or a thirst for water,
but of hearing the words of the Lord.
12 People will stagger from sea to sea
and roam from north to east
seeking the word of the Lord,
but they will not find it.
```
SILENCE! of the LORD. Do you hear it?
```
God’s Judgment Unavoidable

Did you repent when you heard the word of the Lord?

And did you bow down when the Lord showed you mercy?

Now, therefore, the Lord stands beside the holy altar of worship and Amos speaks the unspeakable judgment of the Lord upon the people of His Own covenant.

I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and He said,

“Strike the doorposts, that the thresholds may shake,
And break them on the heads of them all.
I will slay the last of them with the sword.
He who flees from them shall not get away,
And he who escapes from them shall not be delivered.

“Though they dig into hell,
From there My hand shall take them;
Though they climb up to heaven,
From there I will bring them down;
The word of the LORD – Amos 9:2 NKJV

The further words of the Lord paint a fearful judgment and death of the people of His promise, a covenant Israel has broken.

The Prophet Amos confronts you and says, God showed me all this that you might repent. Do you?

All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us.
Amos 9:10 KJV

The ending that is not yet the end

Amos offers only a distant glimmer of hope.

“On that day I will raise up
The tabernacle of David, which has fallen down,
And repair its damages;
I will raise up its ruins,
And rebuild it as in the days of old…

The Lord God will once again accept worship by the sons of David. Yet how?

We will learn more of this next in returning to the Good News of John.

וְשָׁפַכְתִּי֩ עַל־בֵּ֨ית דָּוִ֜יד וְעַ֣ל יֹושֵׁ֣ב יְרוּשָׁלִַ֗ם ר֤וּחַ חֵן֙ וְתַ֣חֲנוּנִ֔ים וְהִבִּ֥יטוּ אֵלַ֖י אֵ֣ת אֲשֶׁר־דָּקָ֑רוּ וְסָפְד֣וּ עָלָ֗יו כְּמִסְפֵּד֙ עַל־הַיָּחִ֔יד וְהָמֵ֥ר עָלָ֖יו כְּהָמֵ֥ר עַֽל־הַבְּכֹֽור׃
http://blb.sc/009Nio

“I will pour out on the house of David
and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
the Spirit of grace and of supplication,
so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced;
and they will mourn for Him,
as one mourns for an only son,
and they will weep bitterly over Him
like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.
Zechariah 12:10 NASB
March 21, 2020
That you may have Certainty – 6 – Gentiles
“I, the LORD, have called You in righteousness,
And will hold Your hand;
I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people,
As a light to the Gentiles…

Behold, the former things have come to pass,
And new things I declare;
Before they spring forth I tell you of them.”

Isaiah 42:6,9 NKJV

What is a Gentile?

The NLT Study Bible’s introduction to the Gospel of Luke summarizes the perspective of Gentiles to the Jewish mind in this way:

“The ultimate outsiders were Gentiles, and Luke emphasizes that God’s salvation extends even to them.”

Jewish daily practices had been refined into an exclusionary culture of separation from Gentiles who observed worship from a distance. Have you ever entered a worship service and felt like an outsider? I have.
```
We'll address a first century meaning in our next post, but first Isaiah's context from seven centuries before Christ.
```
What makes Gentiles different from Jews?

גּוֹי – gowy from the Hebrew – nation or people, usually of non-Hebrew people

Although used generically as description of people from any nation, Gentile may be used as an insult to a foreigner. (Of course, no one today would do that, would we?)

Hear Isaiah’s tone with this word (גּוֹי) here translated, ‘nations.’

Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the LORD, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are utterly estranged. Isaiah 1:4

Which one of the Nations does Isaiah address, which people to which the LORD is foreign to their lives?

Isaiah speaks specifically to Judah and Jerusalem!

Faithfulness to the LORD is what is supposed to separate Jews from Gentiles. The Prophet of God warns that because of their sin (iniquity), these Jews are no different than other nations.

Does any of this have a contemporary ring?

Like ‘sin,’ ‘iniquity’ is accusation too intolerant for ears of leaders unwilling to obey the Lord God.

Iniquity – עָוֹן – `avon – perversity, depravity, guilt or punishment of iniquity

Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth;
for the LORD has spoken:
“Children have I reared and brought up,
but they have rebelled against me. – Isaiah 1:2

By the time of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, Isaiah’s rebuke from the LORD fell on deaf ears of a broken Israel. But God’s warnings had been constant for Israel, then neglected by generations even back to Moses.

Deuteronomy 8:

“The whole commandment that I command you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers…

3 And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna… that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord… 19 And if you forget the Lord…

20 Like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God.

Nations, Gentiles (the same word): make yourself like them by turning from the Lord and you shall perish. As Isaiah concluded more than six centuries later: they are utterly estranged.

Why does a Jewish Messiah matter to the Nations (Gentiles)?

Zechariah 2:
```
[circa 5th Century Before Christ]
```
10 Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for behold, I come and I will dwell in your midst, declares the Lord.

Were these the songs of Palm Sunday, praise from Jews and the Gentiles?

11 And many nations shall join themselves to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people. And I will dwell in your midst, and you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you.

The Messiah, Jesus, Emmanuel, God With Us; here entering Zion (Jerusalem) and joining Himself also to the Gentiles. How will He do that? How will the Nations know that Jesus is sent also to them?

¹²And the Lord will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem.”

Here gathered the Jews for a Passover festival in a Zion ruled by Gentiles. Romans, Greeks, people of the Nations all present for an event of witness. Yet the witness would be of a New Covenant of Blood on a Cross. Their witness would be of a resurrection and a new hope. The Gentiles were now joined to God in the Blood of the Messiah!

13 Be silent, all flesh, before the Lord, for he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.

To be continued…

That you may have Certainty – 7 – An outsider’s view from a Gentile
May 5, 2018
That you may have Certainty – 5 – A King of the Jews

King of the Jews

Herodian coin from Judea with palm branch (right) and wreath (left), 34 AD.

And Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” And he answered him, “You have said so.” – Luke 23:3

They had remembered hearing the indictment of this gentile governor

while hiding their faces from his Roman judgment seat. Although complicit in Jesus’ prosecution, an illegitimate half-jew Herodian sat powerless while Roman troops ruled the streets of Jerusalem.

While Jesus was not the kind of Messiah King they had expected, He did acknowledge the title bestowed by Jews accusing Jesus of treason against Judah and Rome.

Most amazingly, Jesus has now appeared to these disciples after His resurrection! He continues to appear to hundreds of disciples; here and there, even in the locked rooms of Jerusalem.

Herod’s rule as tetrarch of Galilee and Peraea, holds no authority over Judea, ruled by Marcus Pontius Pilatus, Roman prefect (governor) under the emperor Tiberius.

Captive Israel, now named Judea, Samaria, Galilee and Perea had no king, only legions of Rome. Most people lamented for the days of their strong kings, David and Solomon. Occasionally some rebelled against Rome, led by misguided ambitious young lions in hope of glory.

Judge or King?

From the day Israel crossed the Jordan its people encountered many kings of surrounding kingdoms. The Hebrew people had followed the Lord, but judges would become unable to rule this stiff-necked and proud people.

1 Samuel 7:

15 Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. 16 And he went on a circuit year by year to Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah. And he judged Israel in all these places. 17 Then he would return to Ramah, for his home was there, and there also he judged Israel. And he built there an altar to the Lord.

1 Samuel 8:

“… Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.”

More than a thousand years before Pilate judged Judea, here marks the beginning of kings of the Jews. Samuel was no more inclined to accept a king of the Jews than the Roman governor Pilate.

6 But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord. 7 And the Lord said to Samuel,

“Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.

8 According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you. 9 Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.”

A King to rule over Israel

A risen Christ Jesus must have reminded disciples of the Lord’s anointing of their kings. Its truth had not been as their traditions recalled, but rather a concession to the desires of their forefathers.

1 Samuel 9:

… “Behold, there is a man of God in this city, and he is a man who is held in honor; all that he says comes true. So now let us go there. Perhaps he can tell us the way we should go.” …

5 Now the day before Saul came, the Lord had revealed to Samuel: 16 “Tomorrow about this time I will send to you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him to be prince over my people Israel. He shall save my people from the hand of the Philistines. For I have seen my people, because their cry has come to me.” 17 When Samuel saw Saul, the Lord told him, “Here is the man of whom I spoke to you! He it is who shall restrain my people.”

A Humble King and Triumphant Return

What was it worshipers near Jerusalem had sung while laying palm branches before Jesus?

“As for me, I have set my King
on Zion, my holy hill.”

I will tell of the decree:
The LORD said to me, “You are my Son;
today I have begotten you.

Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
and the ends of the earth your possession.

You shall break them with a rod of iron
and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”

Psalm 2:6-9

It had been a week of anointing for the King of the Jews.

The Cross had not been the anticipated breaking of Israel’s oppressors, but the Lord’s embracing forgiveness for mankind.

And now with a resurrection begins the ascent to His Kingdom of righteousness and everlasting reign. Jesus certainly must have repeated stories of the kings and predictions of the Prophets. For the Gospels retell those very scriptures.

His disciples hear their beloved friend, the risen Messiah, tell why He had to be crucified on a cross and sacrificed for our sins.

Zechariah 9:9

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you;
righteous and having salvation is he,
humble and mounted on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Come, Lord Jesus.

To be continued…

May 2, 2018