God's Righteous Justice

Major Points of the Minor Prophets - God’s Ultimate Day
Introduction
Amos

The purpose of the book of Amos was to announce God’s holy judgment on the Kingdom of Israel (the Northern Kingdom), call them to repentance, and to turn from their self-righteous sins and idolatry. God raised up the prophet Amos, as an act of His great mercy to a people who repeatedly shunned and disobeyed Him.

From the verses that comprise the Book of Amos, we see the God’s great mercy stands in contrast to the injustice of His own people.

1. PRONOUNCEMENTS OF JUDGMENT (Chapters 1 and 2)
Amos first pronounced judgment on the nations that surrounded Israel. Those nations had sinned against the people of Israel once too often in the eyes of God (e.g., Genesis 12:3). But God also held that Israel’s sins deserved judgment as well. Because of all that the people of Israel had been given, their judgment would be even more severe than the judgment leveled against their enemies (Luke 12:48).

2. PROVOCATIONS FOR JUDGMENT (Chapters 3-6)
Amos then describes the ways that God’s judgement would be manifest (i.e., famine, pestilence and drought). Judgment came because of Israel’s refusal to repent and turn back to the Lord.

3. PICTURES OF JUDGMENT (Chapter 7:1-7a)
God used Amos’s intercession, much as He did through Moses, to withhold judgment against the people of Israel. This was an expression of God’s great mercy toward His people.

4. PROMISES AFTER JUDGMENT (Chapter 7:7b-15)
God promised to preserve a remnant of His people after His judgment. He also consoled them by assuring them of their future via the fulfillment prophesy that promises the return of the Messiah and the permanent settlement of God’s people in the land that has been promised to them.