Gary Gleans

When we discipline our children we always try to make sure they know exactly why they are being disciplined.  God is doing exactly that with the children of Israel in this passage.  He wants to make sure the people of Israel clearly understand why they will be judged, how He had warned them in the past and that there would be no escaping from this judgment.  There could be no doubt as to what was going to happen as well as why it was going to happen.  God does not take the judgment of mankind lightly which is why He has gone to such great lengths to warn us of the wrath to come.  God’s judgment of Israel and many other nations is simply a small foretaste of the final judgment He has prepared for all the earth. This is a reality for which we must prepare and call all men to prepare. THE PROBLEMS THAT CAUSED JUDGMENT: Amos calls the nation of Israel cows of Bashan, most likely because this was a lush land and the cows there were especially fat.  It was a...

God will do what He says He will do.  He does not make false warnings or veiled threats; but He does warn the people of His wrath to come so they might repent and turn to the Lord.  People often are lulled into a false sense of security, thinking that they can continue to walk in sin without any consequences from the Lord.  God’s patience is often misinterpreted as God’s lack of ability to judge the earth.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  God has repeatedly judged the earth as well as the individual sins of men and nations.  His Word is full of warnings and the workings of His wrath have been repeatedly revealed on the earth.  Israel was about to experience this reality so God faithfully lets them know of the coming judgment.    GOD’S WORDS OF WARNING: God established a unique and covenant relationship with His people Israel when He established them through Abraham and He demonstrated His commitment to that covenant by setting ...

As I read this chapter and the one preceding it, I am struck by the sameness of the nations of Judah and Israel to the other nations that have been mentioned.  God had called them to be a distinct nation from those surrounding them.  They were to be separated and holy unto God as an example to these nations and as a means of God using them to reach these other nations.  Unfortunately, they tried to do all they could to become just like all the other nations around them.  The desire to “fit in” and be just like everyone else is one of the most dangerous desires we carry in our hearts.  When God saves us He calls us to be sanctified or separate from the world.  He wants to use us as instruments of His grace to reach a fallen world with the Gospel of Christ.  The only way we can be effective at doing that is if we are distinct from the world.     MOAB: The Moabites were descendants of Lot, Abraham’s nephew just like the Ammonites....

God knows the future.  He knows what He is doing and is in full control over the events of this world.  People often live as if God were unaware or powerless to do anything about the sins of men.  All men and all nations will be held accountable before God.  He takes into account the sins of a people and He will bring judgment down upon them in His time.  Amos uses his first two chapters to announce God’s judgments on the nations.  He explains why they will be judged and how they will be judged.  Though there were many sins, Amos foretells a very similar judgment of all of them with only small variations.  God may stand by patiently allowing sinfulness in a people but the day will come when His patience will end and He will have accumulated multiple reasons to justify His judgment of the nations. DAMASCUS: Amos starts out with a warning to Damascus of their coming judgment due to the way that they waged war with Gilead.  This is a condem...

As the Lord moves throughout the history of the world He uses nations to bring about judgment on His people and then He moves to judge those nations.  When we see a nation like Babylon being used to bring about judgment on Israel we should not assume that Babylon is in some way more godly than Israel.  In fact, just the opposite is true.  God may use them as an instrument of His judgment so that He can later be proven to be the objects of His judgment.  We may not always understand God’s methods or be able to see how His workings in history will come together for His glory, but we can be assured that He is in control and that He knows exactly what He is doing. THE PROMISE OF REVENGE: The nations surrounding Israel invaded the land and took the people captive.  This was all a part of God’s plan of judgment for His people.  However, in taking the people captive these godless nations also desecrated the temple of the Lord taking the gold and silver from t...

Joel looks to the day of the Lord in which God will step to the forefront of history and fulfill His promises of both judgment and blessing.  None of these stages should come as a surprise because they have all been foretold many times before beginning with Moses and going right up through the other prophets.  God had determined to bless His people but sometimes that blessing can only be brought about through judgment.  God works through difficulties in our lives and will often promote suffering in our lives so we will be able to learn the importance of holiness and experience the joys of forgiveness. RETRIBUTION: Joel describes the methodical advance of the armies that will march on the nation of Israel.  This will take place as a part of God’s retribution for the sins of immorality and idolatry that have become common place in Israel.  God will judge the nation and bring it to its knees.  A great and powerful nation will fall like fire on the land an...

Joel, like all the prophets laments over the sin and the resulting destruction that plagued the nation of Israel.  The destruction of the land and the pain caused by sin was astonishing and the people were either dead or in great torment.  People often consider God to be distant and unconcerned over the sins of His people.  Men often live as if there is no consequence for sin.  God has repeatedly demonstrated throughout history that this not the case; but sinful men prefer to ignore the evidence of truth in favor of continuing to live in the comfort of their sin.  The day of the Lord is a day of reckoning when men will be called to account for their sin and all will know that sin has great consequences before the Lord. THE CRIES OF DEVASTATION: The land of Israel has been devastated by the repeated attack of what are called locust.  Several different species of locust are mentioned that sequentially devour everything in the land.  If that were not...