A Surprising Message for the Self-Righteous (Amos 9:1–10)

A good friend preached through the book of Amos last year and titled the series, “A Surprising Message to the Self-Righteous.” This well summarises the book and perhaps particularly the opening ten verses of chapter 9. I therefore have borrowed his title.

Amos was called by God to confront Israel, the Northern Kingdom, with their sins of injustice born of idolatry. Though externally religious , the nation was inwardly apostate. Long before, they had broken covenant with Yahweh, beginning with their first king, Jeroboam I.

After the death of King Solomon, his son, Rehoboam, had assumed the crown, much to the displeasure of Jeroboam I. In revolt, Jeroboam had led the ten northern tribes in secession, separating them from the rule of Jerusalem and establishing what became known as the Norther Kingdom (also, Israel or Ephraim).

Jeroboam, fearing that the people would reconcile with Judah (Jerusalem) made the politically pragmatic and ultimately irreverent decision to establish Dan and Bethel as new places of worship. He built altars with golden calves and told the people that there was no need to return to Jerusalem: Their religion was just as good as the “old” religion. He even added a new breed of priests (1 Kings 12:25–33)!

Over the years, the Northern Kingdom became famous for her religious zeal and fervent “worship” (4:4–5; 5:21–23). As we saw previously, Israel (hypocritically) observed various biblically-prescribed festivals. God took no pleasure in them. Their religious activity was merely a cultic smokescreen covering their evil thoughts and deeds. Well-covered perhaps to others, but not to God. He saw their true condition and, in this chapter, we find the final curtain call for the nation. God’s wrath was going to fall. And the people, astonishingly, were surprised (v. 10)!

As throughout history, many today are guilty of presumptuous self-righteousness. Like water off a duck’s back, the self-righteous deflect any idea of God’s threatened condemnation. They are not bothered. The message of Amos remains deeply relevant.

As we study Amos’s final prophecy of judgement, we need to ask the Lord to open our ears and eyes to these ancient words. May we heed their relevant warning against smug and self-assured self-righteousness. This passage divides into three clear sections:

1. A Surprising Response (vv. 1–4)
2. A Sovereign Reminder (vv. 5–6)
3. A Stunning Reality (vv. 7–10)

A Surprising Response

First, we find a surprising response:

Perhaps you have heard an unlikely prospect for church attendance say something like, “If I enter your church, the roof will probably cave in.” This is precisely what we have here.

It is not surprising to find God “standing” here. What is surprising is what he commands. The “altar” most likely refers to the one at Bethel, the most significant place of worship in the Northern Kingdom (4:4–5; 7:12).

The altar was significant as a place of worship, a place of atonement, a place of finding peace with God, a place of communion, a place of commitment, a place of celebration, even a place of protection (Exodus 21:12–13; 1 King 1:50–51). But not now. It had become a place of condemnation because it was a place of counterfeit, phony religion. “The whole thing was a counterfeit: a counterfeit feast on a counterfeit altar to prop up a counterfeit monarchy! … God and religion were tools whereby self could be secured and life made secure for self” (Motyer).

To summarise, “The place where their sins were supposed to be removed became the place where their sins were multiplied…. Israel was very religious but had learned to sin at the place of worship. How many of God’s people multiply sin at their places of worship today?” (Betts)

“Strike the capitals until the thresholds shake and shatter them on the heads of the people.” Yikes!

A “capital” is the capstone on a pillar, which upholds a structure. It is integral to the structure of a building. When it is demolished, everything comes crashing down on the heads of the worshippers. God is commanding the destruction of a place of worship and the death of its pretended worshippers. This is literal “capital punishment.” Let that sink in.

The people of God had become the enemies of God, as were the Philistines in the days of Samson. Their judgement would be the same (see Judges 16).

Because the nation of Israel was not plumb with God’s word, their walls would be demolished (7:7–9). Rather than the “church” of Israel being a blessing, it was a hindrance and therefore needed to be destroyed. Rather than a place of safety, it had become a place of danger.

Amos continues with the shocking news that those who escape the catastrophic crush would be “killed with the sword.” Though God would use others to destroy the altar and the nation, he makes clear that “I will” do this (vv. 2–4). A supposed safe place had become a dangerous place because of self-righteous complacency. Sardis (Revelation 3:1–6) and Laodicea (Revelation 3:14–22) later experienced the same. Hebrews 10:26–31 warns of ongoing danger in this regard.

When would Amos’s words come to pass? His prophecy combines the Assyrian attack (722) with a later prophesied event: the destruction of the altar by King Josiah of Judah (see 1 Kings 13:1–6; 2 Kings 23:15).

There is a lesson here. Judgement delayed is not judgement denied. God fulfils his promises, including the day of final judgement. Are you prepared? Will you escape the wrath of the Lamb (Revelation 6:16)?

When the temple fell, those surviving would discover there was no place to hide. Neither “Sheol” (the deepest part of the earth), nor the height of “heaven” would provide a place of escape (v. 2). Mount Carmel, with its steep elevation, thick forests, and abundant caves, would prove futile as a shield from God’s wrath.

Further, if they dived to the depths of the deep blue sea, the Lord would raise up a sea-serpent to devour them. Unlike the great fish God prepared to rescue Jonah, this creature would be prepared to kill (v. 3). They might raise the white flag of surrender, arguing that “captivity” in Assyria would at least secure their lives, but not so, for God would “command the sword, and it shall kill them” (v. 4). The point is that God’s wrath was not only irrevocable but also inescapable.

Be very careful how you respond to God’s word (Revelation 6:16); be very careful how you respond to God’s Son (Hebrews 1:1).

Perhaps the most alarming aspect of this very disturbing scene is referenced in the second half of v. 4: “I will fix my eyes upon them for evil and not for good.” God had a fixed focus on his professed people—but not in an encouraging way.

Usually, when we read of God having his eyes on his people, it is a statement meant to comfort (see Genesis 2:8; 6:8; 44:21; Jeremiah 24:6; Psalm 34:15). In the words of Jesus, we are encouraged to know that God’s eyes are upon the sparrow (Matthew 10:29), which encourages us that God pays attention to his own. The thought that God’s eyes are “fixed on us” can be deeply comforting. However, in this scene, God’s fixed focus is anything but encouraging.

When I was a child, my father set his eyes upon me in two ways. He could look at me with care and affection, which drew me to him. But when I misbehaved, he fixed his eyes on me in a completely different way—in a way that caused me a healthy dose of fear. So here.

Feinberg captures the solemnity of this statement: “It has been well said, ‘The grave is not so awful as God.’ The omnipresence of God is a comforting and sustaining truth to the good but a terror to the wicked when judgment is in view.”

In 5:14, Amos exhorts the people, “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.” That last phrase helps us to understand the mindset of these people. They boasted that the Lord, the God of hosts was with them, but he wasn’t—at least not in the way they presumed. He was against them for evil (“ruin”) precisely because they did not seek good but rather did evil.

Smith and Page summarise: “The Lord they expected to meet at Bethel would be there, but not to receive them favourably…. When God’s people steadfastly refuse to seek good rather than evil (5:14), they can expect God’s gaze to be upon them for evil, not good.”

Self-righteousness has a blinding effect. It is self-deceptive. While these people were committing horrible acts of evil, they were saying, “The Lord is for us, the Lord is on our side!” How pathetic. And how too often repeated. God will bring such self-deception into judgement (1 Corinthians 3:10–15).

We can summarise: It is a fearful thing for religious hypocrites to fall into the hands of the living God. Rather than being received, we will be ruined. Rather than affirmed, we will be rejected.

A Sovereign Reminder

Verses 5–6 offer a humbling reminder: “The Lord GOD of hosts, he who touches the earth and it melts, and all who dwell in it mourn, and all of it rises like the Nile, and sinks again, like the Nile of Egypt; who builds his upper chambers in the heavens and founds his vault upon the earth; who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out upon the surface of the earth—the LORD is his name.”

Most believe these two verses are lines from a hymn in adoration of God’s transcendent sovereignty. Why did Amos insert them here?

Because they simply couldn’t imagine God doing such a thing. It seemed unbelievable. They were so self-assured that they lost sight of God’s holy, sovereign power.

After all, Israel was at the peak of its military power: economically prosperous, and religiously fervent! It was therefore inconceivable that she would be destroyed, including her famed place of worship. The self-righteously religious were filled with unbelief, as in our own day.

People hear about the day of judgement. People hear the warning of eternal punishment. Christians are warned that we reap what we sow. And yet they (and we) are little moved. We don’t take such messages seriously—until it is too late. Amos therefore sings a hymn to honour the Lord of judgement as a means of awakening his hearers to the knowledge of his awful power. Beware.

Sadly, the self-righteous pay little heed to uncomfortable theology. Even if they believe in God’s wrath, they only believe it is “aimed” at others.

I need to repeat the conclusion of Reinhold Niebuhr concerning the apostate Christianity of his day, which, he said, preached “a God without wrath who brings men without sin into a kingdom without judgement through a Christ without a cross.”

Verse 5 reminds us of the magnitude of God’s pre-eminence. He has the power to carry out all that he says he will do (Betts). The God who sovereignly rules all and over all, powerfully shakes the earth, bringing about destruction and causing its inhabitants to mourn. In other words, there are no purely “natural” disasters. God sovereignly orchestrates them. Rather than coming up with a “theodicy” to defend God, we should be humbling ourselves before him, repenting of our sin.

Verse 6 portrays God as transcendently straddling the universe, immanently causing rain to fall. This points to mankind’s complete dependency upon the triune God. Again, such knowledge is meant to have a humbling effect upon us.

The point is that God is not be trifled with. The same God who kindly gives the rain and graciously floods the Nile, ensuring an abundant harvest, also exercises his sovereignty to bring judgement on his self-righteous people. He sovereignly shakes things up. It might be too late for some, but such a hymn is a means of perseverance to the true and faithful.

God has not changed. The problem is that most don’t believe this. That is why self-righteous people continue to “worship” each week, even enthusiastically, while the sword of God’s judgement hangs over them.

This is why churches face seeming relentless conflict stirred up by bitter, implacable, unappeasable members. I recently heard of a church which failed to pass a vote to reform its polity because non-attending, non-ministering, non-committed church members showed up for the members’ meeting to vote it down. It is a marvel the building still stands. Yet it will not escape.

Sadly, far too many people remain in churches where “Ichabod” (see 1 Samuel 4:21) clearly characterises the gathering.

A Stunning Reality

The oracle closes with a stunning reality:

As Amos declares God’s final word of judgement upon his unrepentant people, he confronts a fatal flaw in their theology: presumptive grace.

Underlying the people’s rebellion was the idea that, since the Lord had sovereignly chosen them to be a nation of priests to him (Exodus 19:5–6), they could sin with impunity. They assumed they were immune to God’s judgement. Because they assumed they were better and greater than all other nations, they therefore presumed God always had their back, even when they turned their backs on him. How foolishly wrong.

These final four verses breakdown into two main points.

The judgement would be indiscriminate (vv. 7–8a). The Cushites most likely inhabited the region of what we know today as Ethiopia/Sudan. It was geographically distant, and so to refer to this people was to speak of those “at the far ends of the earth.” Amos’s point is that, when it comes to accountability, Israel was like every other and all nations. When it comes to the Creator/creature distinction, Israel had the same accountability to God as the most distant people.

Amos reveals that God’s judgement of sinful kingdoms—including the sinful kingdom of Israel (v. 8)—is indiscriminate. Israel was not given a free pass to live as she pleased simply because she had been “baptised” through the Red Sea. God’s judgement of sin and sinners is based upon the same standard. “A past relationship with God is not a license for sin or a promise of continual protection from judgement. God acts with abundant grace toward people and nations around the world, but each is held accountable for its behaviour” (Smith). There is no immunity from God’s righteous judgement. “The transgressions and sins of each nation determine its destiny” (Smith). Righteousness exalts a nation while sin remains a reproach to it (Proverbs 14:34). The G20 should bear this in mind.

He drives this home by referring to the Philistines and the Syrians (Arameans?). The Lord is saying, “Just as I established you (Israel) as a people, bringing you out of Egypt, so I established other nations. In a real sense you are no different from them. Just as I determine their borders, so I determine yours” (see Acts 17:26–28). Therefore, “The standard of behaviour I expect of them is no different than the standard I expect of you. If they behave like a sinful kingdom, I will judge them. Since you behave like a sinful nation, I will judge you.”

Redemption does not reduce God’s standard. Redemption does not lesson the expectation. In fact, it heightens it. Those who claim to have been redeemed do not have license to sin. Instead, they have been given power for godliness (2 Peter 1:3). But if we behave like the Cushites and the Philistines, we should not be surprised if God treats us like them.

Don’t rely on your self-righteous baptism, church membership, daily devotions, tithing, or any other self-motivated religious duty.

This also applies corporately. A self-righteous local church (i.e. composed of self-righteous members) is not protected against God’s judgement simply because of a glorious past. Just read church history. Visit old churches in our country or famed churches in the UK or in New England in the United States and witness the unmistakeable and tragic evidence.

We need to beware. We need to repent of self-righteousness. We need to have an ethos of humble repentance before the Lord.

This final word of final judgement (vv. 8b–10) includes a hopeful phrase: “except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob.” Is this a contradiction?

A distinction needs to be made between Israel as a geopolitical nation and Israel as the people of God. I believe this is what we have here.

Nationally, Israel was doomed to defeat. In fact, tracing one’s genealogy was nearly impossible for a Jew after the Assyrian destruction and the cultural assimilation of Israel. The Northern Kingdom was destroyed never to rise again. And yet God still had his remnant.

God had made an inviolable covenant with “the house of Jacob.” He had made a covenant to redeem a people from their sin, not merely to redeem them from slavery. God would not break his everlasting covenant, regardless of the faithlessness of a merely cultural church (see Romans 9:6).

True Israel according to election would be saved. This is the point of the illustration of the sieve.

The “sinful kingdom” of Israel would be destroyed, yet the true people of God would be spared and God’s redemptive purposes would survive and advance. As Smith and Page observe, “God’s judgements sift his people to remove the bad from the good.”

A sieve was a means of separating wheat from chaff. By the use of some kind of a mesh, grain was placed on it and then it was shaken. The good would fall to the ground to be collected while what remained would be discarded as waste.

When God said he would “shake Israel among all the nations,” he was saying that, like all nations, he would judge Israel as a means of discovering the true and faithful (though he might be speaking of a dispersion “among all the nations”).

That which is left in the sieve—a “pebble”—would not “fall to the earth.” The pebble is rubbish to be discarded. Betts helpfully comments, “‘No pebble shall fall to the earth” means no person who has rejected the Lord will escape his judgement. The purpose of God’s judgement was to remove those who rejected the Lord and save those who have been faithful to him.”

God’s judgement would make a distinction between the true and the false; it would make a distinction between the real and the self-righteous. And the result would no doubt be stunningly surprising. This is clear in v. 10: “All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword who say, ‘Disaster shall not overtake or meet us.’” As Feinberg comments, “Those who did not believe in a judgment will be made to suffer it.” They were in for the shock of their lives—an everlasting shock.

Please hear this: If you are not under the judgement of God’s famine of hearing the word of the Lord (5:11–14) then take heed to your ways. Please examine yourself and your profession of faith. Are you seeking to do good as defined by God? Is your worship marked by scriptural sincerity or by self? Do rivers of justice and righteousness flow from your life or are you like the materialistic cows of Bashan and their worldly and oppressive bulls?

These sins can be subtle, but they are always seductive. Let the word examine your life. Humble yourself under God’s mighty hand, repent, and follow Christ.

John the Baptist had a similar message to the self-righteous of his day (Matthew 3:7–12) as did the apostle Paul (Philippians 3:1–3; Galatians 3:10–14)—as have preachers for twenty centuries, for the problem continues. This message of Amos remains relevant for you and me. Let us not waste this word. Rather, let us repent of self-righteousness. We will then not be surprised on Judgement Day.

AMEN