Alive, Yet Dead (Amos 5:1–17)

Philip Ryken and Michael LeFebvre observe, “We often succumb to the mistaken idea that ‘God’s chief end is to glorify me and help me enjoy myself forever’ and that Jesus’ death was to pay for my sins so I can keep on enjoying my life without God getting on my case.” This was perhaps the mindset—the “heartset”—of the church of Sardis as recorded in Revelation 3:1–6.

That church had a reputation of being alive. It probably was packed on Sundays, the singing may have been wonderful, the offerings were abundant, and they may even have been the sanctified envy of other churches. Yet the Lord of the church saw their true condition and his evaluation was: “But you are dead.”

This was the condition of those to whom Amos preached to centuries earlier. And it is fair to say that this is the condition of many in our own day.

The book of Amos has a way of getting under our spiritual skin, revealing hypocrisy and mere formalism in our professed love for him. Amos is a powerful reminder that God knows whether our worship is faithful or a mere façade. In 5:1–17 Amos addresses this in terms of a funeral dirge. He declares to be dead that which professes to be alive and makes the earnest appeal to seek God and live.

May both serious evaluation of our relationship with God and gracious salvation take place this morning as we study Amos 5:1–17 and its theme, “Alive, Yet Dead.”

The “lament” was used by the prophets to grab the attention of their hearers; it was a wakeup call that God’s judgement, including death, is near and apart from repentance it is certain. So here. Israel was spiritually dead and soon many of them would be physically dead as well. Keddie helpfully summarises, “Look into your coffin and see your true spiritual state—soon to be your physical state also! Continue as you are, Israel, but realize that it is your funeral!”

“Fallen” is a word that usually refers to falling in battle and hence to die and “the virgin Israel” refers not, obviously, to Israel’s purity (for she was not) but rather to what could have been her potential. The word often refers to a young maiden, a young woman who is anticipating a bright future. God had betrothed Israel to himself and yet Israel had chosen to be unfaithful. She would suffer the consequences. As an immoral betrothed virgin, Israel would suffer the death penalty (v.v3). Though Amos was not concerned with statistics, he was making the point that the vast majority of those in Samaria were going to die in battle. When the Assyrians invaded, some 25 years later, this is precisely what would occur.

Being spoken to as though you have died is meant to be an awakening experience. Being confronted with one’s true spiritual condition can be alarming. And it is meant to be. If we are not confronted with the truth then we run the risk of living a lie, dying in that lie, and being condemned forever because of that lie. We need straight talk. We need faithful confrontation with God’s truth. We need to guard against dismissing the conviction that God graciously gives. This brings us to the next point in the next passage.

Verses 4–7 address both what Israel must and must not do concerning her spiritually dead condition.

Israel must seek the Lord to receive life (v. 4). She must not seek life in her lifeless religion (v. 5). She must seek the Lord urgently, before it is too late (vv. 6–7).

Where to Seek Life

God is loving, patient, and gracious with his people (see 2 Peter 3:9–10). We see this here. Though he has pronounced Israel to be a spiritual corpse nevertheless he also offers life from the dead: “For thus says the LORD to the house of Israel: ‘Seek me and live’” (v. 4).

The one who has the power of death also has the power of life. Though Israel was a spiritual corpse nevertheless she could experience a spiritual resurrection. In a vision (Ezekiel 37:1–10), the Lord showed Ezekiel a valley of dry, dead bones and then asked him, “Can these bones live?” Ezekiel diplomatically answered, “LORD, you know.” Ezekiel obediently proclaimed God’s word and the bones came to life, connecting with each other through sinews and being clothed with skin. A once dead army came to life. The opportunity is here being provided to those of the Northern Kingdom. Would they respond in faith? Better, will you?

Some of you have heard the warnings of God’s impending, irrevocable, inescapable judgement if you die in your sins. You may even be aware that, right now, you are under the present wrath of God. But because God is gracious, he is offering you opportunity to turn from your sin, to turn to him, and, by trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ, to be saved from the guilt and punishment your sins call for. Will you seek and live?

I am reminded of the Lord Jesus Christ who stood outside Lazarus’s tomb. He called to him—commanded him—to come forth and that is precisely what his once-dead body did. Lazarus was given life by the word of God. That same life is available to you. Will you live? That is entirely up to whether or not you will respond to God’s gracious invitation.

Where Not to Seek Life

God knows the hearts and thoughts of Amos’s audience and therefore cautions them against confusing what he is offering them with their own solution to the problem: “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” (v. 5).

God was aiming at their heart while they were guilty of simply relying on externals. God called for repentance and they were busy with rituals.

Amos mentions three places where Israel had established religious shrines, counter to God’s one prescribed locale in Jerusalem. Each of these places was significant in the lives of Israel’s patriarchs.

“Bethel” means “house of God.” Near to Bethel, Abraham first began to call upon the name of the Lord (Genesis 12:8; 13:3). It was here where Jacob dreamed of a ladder from heaven and where the Lord affirmed to him, “I am with you” (Genesis 28:19). As we have seen, Jeroboam II established unauthorised worship here (1 Kings 12:25–30). The house of God had become a house of gods.

Israel, under Joshua, had rededicated itself at Gilgal (Joshua 5). The second generation out of Egypt were circumcised and Passover was observed. It was a seat from which the prophet Samuel would guide the people, and it was an appointed meeting place with God (sacrifices). It was also the site where Saul was anointed the first king of Israel. But the reproach that had been rolled away was not rolled back upon them by their unauthorised and hypocritical worship (4:4–5).

In Genesis 21, Abraham built an altar at Beersheba, calling upon the name of the Lord. Beersheba signified God’s presence with Abraham as seen in Genesis 26:13 where God told Isaac, “I am with you.” Tragically, like Bethel and Gilgal, it had been corrupted by hypocritical worship.

If Israel woul seek the Lord and live, she would need to genuinely seek the Lord. She would need to reject her self-styled worldly religion. Her religious places of worship promised life, but God revealed that they were places of death. Therefore, if Israel wanted spiritual life, she must avoid that which was spiritually dangerous—her places of worship!

Many places of “worship” in our country are damningly dangerous and need to be avoided. Where there should be gospel light there is only gospel lite, or gospel little—little or no gospel truth. God’s appointed places of worship must keep the main thing the main thing.

Our temptation is to seek spiritual life—to seek the Lord—in the familiar, but often the familiar is false. We don’t need programs, we don’t need places, we don’t need rituals—we need the Lord, the source of life (John 17:3).

As God declared that these places would prove fruitless (Bethel and Gilgal would be destroyed by Assyria, while Beersheba was in Judah), so we learn that all human attempts to be right with God, all human attempts to have life as God intends, would prove futile in the end. There is only one way to seek the Lord, to find him, and to have life—through the Lord Jesus Christ (John 14:6; Acts 4:12).

When to Seek Life

Seventeenth-century pastor, Richard Baxter, commenting on his ministry wrote, “I preached as never sure to preach again, and as a dying man to dying men.”

This is the mindset Amos reflects as he intensifies his plea for repentance. Amos knows that his prophetic message was precisely that: truth. God was going to pour out his wrath on an appointed Day of the Lord and, “like fire” that “devours” “the house of Joseph,” would be destroyed. No amount of religion or self-improvement could quench God’s wrath. God is just and sins against him must be punished. And lest any of his audience was deluded into thinking they were clean before the Lord, Amos condemns them as those who turn the sweetness of justice into the bitter injustice of “wormwood.”

Friend, do not delay making right with God. Do not presume on God’s love grace, and patience. Seek the Lord while he may be found. Seek him today. Repent and believe today.

This applies not only to those who need to be reconciled to God but also to those who have been reconciled to God. If you have been guilty of living autonomously, living independent of God’s commands—including his commands of meaningful church membership—then repent, seek the Lord, and start really living today. Repent of your individualism and connect with the body of Christ and begin serving the Lord by serving those who belong to the Lord.

Are you guilty of treating others as though they are not the image of God? Do you treat the poor and needy as mere “dust” to be trampled or (as bad) to be ignored? Have you mistreated those under your influence? Are you guilty of racists attitudes and behaviour? If so, seek the Lord and live before judgement falls.

A Central Concern

Verses 1–17 form a chiasm. A chiasm is designed to put the emphasis on the middle portion of a text—in our case, vv. 8–9.

Picture an hourglass. In a literary structure, the first lines parallel the last lines and they centre on the middle lines. In our case, vv. 1–7 form the top of the hourglass while vv. 10–17 form the base. Both sections emphasise Israels sins of oppression and false religion and both contain threats of God’s judgement. But the middle verses emphasise why the threats should be taken seriously: because of the Lord’s omnipotence.

Amos reminds his readers that Yahweh is Creator. He created and controls the constellations (v. 8a) and he controls the sunrise, the sunset, and the rain (v. 8b). These are not mere natural phenomena but are the deliberate actions of the transcendent and immanent God. “The LORD is his name” and Israel dare not treat it in vain. Amos is indicating that, just as they can count on the sun rising and setting, just as they can count on the rain fallings, so they must count of God’s faithful judgement. We dare not take God’s name and identity for granted.

Amos builds on this in v. 9, thundering forth the warning that Yahweh is able to bring a flash flood of destructive fury upon the wicked, regardless of their strength, and to bring to desolation places of supposed safety.

A “fortress” was often built as part of a walled city and was supposedly impenetrable from enemies. Therefore, fortresses were used as “safe storage” for wealth. But God would bring these places of supposes safety to destruction. None would escape his wrath.

We need to remember our Creator God as the Judge who will do righteously, including the exercise of his justice. He has all power to destroy.

But this same power of God can also “turn deep darkness into the morning.” “He is able to turn the deepest darkness of human depravity and destruction into light again, as he can also bring to an end the day of prosperity and power” (Smith and Page). God is able to rescue those who seek him from his wrath. He can redeem the rebel, he can save the sinner, he can give life to the dead. Therefore, seek him and live!

A Futile Future

Amos highlights their sinful oppression of the poor (v. 10–11a), and returns to it in v. 12, concluding that things are so corrupt that many out of prudence, out of a concern for their own safety keep silent.

They hate the truth and therefore despise those who are of the truth. Not liking the righteous message, they shoot the righteous messenger. “Those who courageously upheld justice and truth became the objects of hate, ridicule, and oppression” (Betts).

They tread upon and extort the weak simply because they can (v. 11a). They abuse those who are just and who do right in the public square, (v. 12a). They ask for bribes and pervert justice, especially concerning the weak (v. 12b).

The Consequential Therefore

Those who claimed to be right with the Lord (after all, look at their political, military, economic prosperity) were guilty of “many transgressions” and of a “great” many “sins.” “Therefore,” they would pay for it.

“Therefore” in Amos is used repeatedly to introduce the theme of judgement. As we have seen, the principle of cause and effect is operative in God’s exercise of justice (3:3–8). We reap what we sow.

Here, the judgement reaped is that of futility. Though these religiously sinful hucksters had built extravagant homes (off the backs of those they oppressed), they would not enjoy the pleasure of dwelling in them, for they would be destroyed. And though they had large and beautiful vineyards, they would not enjoy the fruits of the vine, for the fire of God’s wrath would devour them (see vv. 6–9).

When we defy the word of God, we are merely setting ourselves up for futility. Oh, one might enjoy the pleasures of sin, but only for a season. That season of seeming fruitful folly will eventually turn to destructive damnation.

The drunkard and drug addict knows this. Those caught up in pornography know this. The sweet taste of bitter hatred turns to the poison of cynicism, the venom of sullenness, and the death of relationships resulting in the deep darkness of loneliness. The hatred of Christ and his gospel can make one popular for the hour but not in hell forever. The solution is to seek the Lord and live—now.

But there is one other just consequence of unrepentant sin, one other display of God’s wrath: Justice remains silent (v. 13).

This verse is hotly debated among commentators, who offer different interpretations. But most agree that they speak of those who choose to remain silent in such a time of corruption. The motive, however, is up for debate. That is, do they remain silent out of fear or out of a sense of futility? Perhaps both. In other words, some choose silence to ensure safety and others choose silence because to speak against corruption is useless.

When a society reaches this point, God’s wrath is being revealed (Romans 1:18ff). We must speak up before we are given up (Romans 1:24, 26, 28). Seek the Lord while there is time. Even in his wrath there can be found mercy. Here the word of another prophet: “O LORD, I have heard the report of you, and your work, O LORD, do I fear. In the midst of the years revive it; in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy” (Habakkuk 3:2). This is the theme of the next section.

A Hope for Grace

Amos would not surrender to the so-called “inevitable.” Though he believed God would punish Israel for her “many transgressions,” he also believed that God would spare a “remnant.” He hoped for Emmanuel.

Israel boasted that the Lord was “with” them (v. 14) but clearly he was not. Yet here Amos holds out the “gracious” hope (v. 15) that he will be. Amos hopes in the grace of God that the “remnant of Joseph” will be saved.

This is the second time he mentions Joseph (vv. 6, 15). Why?

For one thing, the northern kingdom (Israel) is also called Ephraim because this was the largest tribe in the northern kingdom. And since Ephraim was one of the sons of Joseph (the other being Manasseh), “Joseph” was used interchangeably. That being so, I think there is a theological reason.

It was a characteristic statement with reference to Joseph that “the LORD was with him” (Genesis 39:3, 21 ,23; Acts 7:9). In the context of his name mentioned here, this is the main idea. The people said the Lord, the God of hosts was with them (v. 14) but obviously it was a false claim (“as you have said”). Clearly he was not. But Amos here gives the hope inspiring promise he “will be with you.” And the implication is “just as he was Joseph.” This is the promise of Emmanuel (Matthew 1:23; Isaiah 7:14).

This promise could be theirs if they would repent and seek the Lord. For when he is “with” his people, there is life.

We know that Israel as a nation did not repent. Israel conspired to do injustice to God’s promised Emmanuel by crucifying him. But this was the means by which God came to be with his people. Jesus was raised from the dead, enthroned at the right hand of the Father, and has been interceding for two thousand years bestowing saving grace and giving life to those who repent and seek the Lord. Those experiencing this grace know that God is with them and they have the assurance that he will be with them when they stand before him on judgement day. Is God with you?

Have you repented? How do you know?

Those who have Emmanuel in their lives will “hate evil and love good.” James Boice observed, “There is no seeking after God that is not at the same time a seeking after good and a shunning of evil. There is no seeking after God that is not at the same time a seeking after justice. Anything else is hypocrisy.” Is this you?

What you love indicates whether or not you live. What you hate indicates whether you are spiritually alive. As Motyer says, “A new life is primary evidence for having had credible dealings with God. Where there is no change, then we are saying that God makes no difference!”

Those whom God makes alive will love what he loves—righteousness, justice, mercy, grace. This will be revealed in relationships in all spheres. Those whom God makes alive will hate what he hates—such things as injustice and calloused, inhumane treatment of others, including the especially vulnerable. “Seeking what is good is not the same as seeking God, but it is a corollary. Seeking God and seeking good represent the two dimensions of true religion…. One who truly seeks the Lord also seeks the welfare of the poor” (Smith and Page).

We can summarise that, when God has given spiritual life, when he is truly “with his people” then the lives of others will improve. We will desire this for, as Motyer observes, “When grace transforms a person it brings this aspect of life into focus: a determination to create a society in which righteousness dwells.” May God so work in our lives that others receive the collateral blessings.

A Lamentable Reversal

The lamentation is comprehensive/universal as it includes the public square, the streets, the farmers in the countryside as well as the professional mourners. All are to lament because “the LORD will pass through” their “midst.”

This phrase is used in Exodus 12:12 where Israel was told on the eve of the tenth and final plague upon Egypt that the Lord will “pass through” the Land of Egypt, killing the firstborn sons executing judgement on all of the gods of that pagan land. How sad that Israel has become an Egypt. How sad that God will treat those who could have lived as those who are actually covenantally dead. How sad that “God’s people” are being condemned with the world. And how sad that this continues in our day (1 Corinthians 11:31–32).

Friend, please take this word seriously. Please ask the Lord to show you whether you are alive or dead. And if you are dead, then seek the Lord and live. Charles Feinberg helpfully notes that “this chapter shows that in the midst of warnings, God, in his infinite love, holds out the brightest promises for obedience and faith.” Repent and call upon the Lord Jesus Christ today!

Christian brother and sister, let us be grateful for what the Lord is showing us through the shepherd of Tekoa. Let us seek to know and serve and to love the Lord more intentionally. May the world see that indeed though we once were dead in our sins yet by God’s grace in Christ we have been made alive, all to the glory of God.

AMEN