The Why of God's Judgment

 The Logic of God's Judgment

 Book of Amos Chapters 1 through 4

 

As we take a look into the Book of Amos, we should realize that the Ten Tribes called Israel had moved away from God from the very first day of separating from Judah.

 As we study this book of prophecy, we will see that God has given this nation a last chance to repent and return to the truth of Jehovah and worship as God had given them in the Books of Moses.

 None of the kings of this divided nation called Israel had any interest in the truth of God nor the worship of the LORD Jehovah.

 We know the Lord is patient with His people, but there is an end to that patience, and after patience runs out, it is replaced with judgment.

 God always has to overcome His compassion for His people to bring judgment, but He will.

 It is these lessons we read about in the Old Testament that we can learn how God will react to these same types of things today.

 Rom 15:4  For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. 

 1Co 10:6  Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. 

 1Co 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. 

 We can visibly see how patient God is with the world we live in today, but the Old Testament proves that God's patience will end, and judgment will come.

 God will not allow wickedness and sin to continue indefinitely!

 The Book of Amos is a book of judgment!

 For one hundred and eighty years, the Northern Kingdom had rebelled against the LORD.

 Amos preached a message that focused on the coming judgment of God.

 Amos was just a lowly shepherd from Judah who prophesied mostly in Israel, showing us that God can use anyone willing to serve Him.

 *****Amo 1:1  The words of Amos, who was among the herdmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.

 In the Scriptures, earthquakes are mentioned as tokens of God's power, but also as a means of fine-tuning the timeline of the Scriptures.

 Job 9:6  Which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble. 

 Earthquakes are also tokens of God's presence.

 Psa 68:8  The earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the presence of God: even Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel. 

 Earthquakes that we are more familiar with are those that are from God's anger.

 Psa 18:7  Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth. 

 God's fierce anger is still in the future.

 Isa 13:13  Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger. 

 Isa 29:6  Thou shalt be visited of the LORD of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire. 

 Rev 16:18  And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. 

 *****Amo 1:2  And he said, The LORD will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither. 

 Amos was chosen because, in his preaching, he could roar, and his message was that God would soon roar out of Zion.

 In fact, Amos begins where the Book of Joel ends.

 Joe 3:16  The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.

 Zion was the same as the city of David to Amos.

 1Ki 8:1  Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the chief of the fathers of the children of Israel, unto King Solomon in Jerusalem, that they might bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the city of David, which is Zion. 

 Amos first begins to prophecy judgment on all those nations that have had any dealings with Israel.

 The LORD speaks from Zion, which He had assigned to be the central place of worship of the Jews and also the central place of government, as formed by King David.

Israel was to have a theocratic government. A government that followed the Word of God.

 God speaks to all His people, and He includes strangers.

 Zion is the dwelling place of the LORD, spiritually and soon will be physically for one thousand years!

 A roaring of the lion can be heard from five to eight miles, but God's roar will be heard from any location upon this earth if He so chooses.

 A lion's roar is aimed as a threat to his enemies, and the roar of God in judgment will be directed at His enemies, the enemies of the Church and the enemies of Israel.

 Jer 25:30  Therefore prophesy thou against them all these words, and say unto them, The LORD shall roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he shall mightily roar upon his habitation; he shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth. 

Jer 25:31  A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the LORD hath a controversy with the nations, he will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the LORD. 

Jer 25:32  Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth. 

Jer 25:33  And the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground. 

 This is another reason why the Lord Jesus is known as the Lion of the tribe of Judah. He will roar in judgment sooner than we think.

 *****Amo 2:6  Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes; 

Amo 2:7  That pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek: and a man and his father will go in unto the same maid, to profane my holy name: 

Amo 2:8  And they lay themselves down upon clothes laid to pledge by every altar, and they drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their god. 

 What was wrong with Israel in the day of Amos and still so today?

 This sent waves of shock through the crowd that Amos was preaching to, for in their mind they would say to you, "There is no way God's judgment would fall on them".

 They are so wrong because they know the key to God's Grace is obedience to His Word. Why would God not judge those who refuse to obey Him?

 To the world today that misunderstands God's nature. Yes, God is Love, and because of this, He is long-suffering.

 His long-suffering means He is waiting for the world to repent and turn from its wicked ways, but it never will, so eventually God's justice must prevail on those who live wickedly, or He would not be the God of truth.

 Israel was feeling really good about everything when Amos was preaching about judgment on all those other nations, but their attitude changed when Amos began with God's judgment upon Israel.

 The Judgment of God is coming to this world, and the only way to miss it is to repent and turn back to our Creator. Our God is also our Creator!

 God has warned this entire world.

 Mat 3:7  But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 

Mat 3:8  Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: 

 2Pe 3:9  The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 

2Pe 3:10  But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. 

2Pe 3:11  Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, 

2Pe 3:12  Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? 

 God's justice must prevail!

 These verses describe to us the crimes of Israel.

 1) We see a perversion of justice. The judges took bribes and condemned the righteous.

Keep in mind, Judas took silver to condemn our righteous Savior.

 For the very smallest of bribes, they rejected the cause of poverty in their own nation.

 Eze 13:19  And will ye pollute me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to slay the souls that should not die, and to save the souls alive that should not live, by your lying to my people that hear your lies? 

 They continuously broke the Laws of God.

 2) They desired that the poor be removed from the earth.

 This sounds like today, when our politicians remind us that if not for the poor and the elders there would be plenty of money to waste on other things, while they intentionally try to move the middle class into that poor category.

 Those who are poor are also those who are depressed, even though depression can attack anyone, no matter their status.

 It is many of those who are poor who are almost forced to do crooked and evil things in an attempt to survive.

 We cannot defend this, but we can acknowledge it.

 The world continuously ignores the dignity of human life if you are not a part of their crowd.

 3) For a man and his father to go into the same maid could be said to be incest, which was forbidden and could be seen as organized prostitution, but it is certainly fornication.

 Eze 36:20  And when they entered unto the heathen, whither they went, they profaned my holy name, when they said to them, These are the people of the LORD, and are gone forth out of his land. 

Eze 36:21  But I had pity for mine holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the heathen, whither they went. 

 4) Those who were well off would take the outer clothes of those who had fallen on hard times, as a pledge. These would be the clothes they wore during the day and covered themselves with at night.

 Those who stole those clothes would think nothing of wearing them to the House of God.

 They engaged in hypocritical worship by worshipping at every altar in any place of worship, even those places where idols were worshipped.

 Israel's worship of Jehovah had become corrupt.

 Before we pray and worship at any altar, we had better be sure we are in a true House of God!

 5) Israel rejected the Lord as the source of their blessings since the Lord removed them from the Iron Furnace of Egypt.

 *****Amo 2:9  Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath. 

Amo 2:10  Also I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and led you forty years through the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite. 

Amo 2:11  And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites. Is it not even thus, O ye children of Israel? saith the LORD.

Amo 2:12  But ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink; and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not. 

 As we read the Old Testament, we read over and over how God had blessed this nation and had forgiven their many sins.

 It was the Almighty God who had destroyed the Amorites and allowed Israel to take over their cities and their homes.

 They were certainly wicked people, but Israel was falling into the same trap of judgment.

 It was the Almighty Living God who had saved Israel from Egypt, where they had been slaves for nearly four hundred years.

 It was the Almighty God who had sent to them His prophets from their own nation, and they had murdered many of them.

 6) Even the Nazarites who had committed themselves to live righteously and devote themselves to the Lord were forced to drink wine against their vows.

 I absolutely cannot see how those of a certain religion can serve wine at communion, knowing God said not to drink wine at all.

 We have to make a vow to live righteously to be saved!

 Those who interfere with God's children will truly suffer the wrath of God.

 Mat_18:6  But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

Mrk_9:42  And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea.

Luk_17:2  It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.

 Israel at this time was no different than the nations and peoples God had removed from Canaan Land!

 Have you noticed how the Church is following in these same steps?

 If you are in a godly church today, it is a must to resist any change that goes against the Word of God! All the Word of God!

 Jer_6:16  Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.

 We cannot be so foolish as not to walk in the truth of God.

 What is a hypocrite? A hypocrite is a person who pretends and is deceitful.

 Claiming to believe in the LORD is not enough to become acceptable to God.

 A true believer will do their best to follow the LORD!

 A true believer will do their best to be obedient to all the Word of God.

 A true believer will do their best to live righteously in this world.

 A true believer will be looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ.

 Tit 2:11  For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, 

Tit 2:12  Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; 

Tit 2:13  Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; 

Tit 2:14  Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. 

 A hypocrite is deceitful.

 What did the Lord Jesus say we needed to watch out for in the end times?

 Mat 24:4  And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. 

Mat 24:5  For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. 

 We cannot allow false so-called Christians to destroy our churches!

 1Jn 2:3  And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. 

1Jn 2:4  He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 

1Jn 2:5  But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. 

1Jn 2:6  He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked. 

 *****Amo 2:13  Behold, I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves. 

Amo 2:14  Therefore the flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not strengthen his force, neither shall the mighty deliver himself: 

 In response to any rebellious attitude and opposition of people in answer to His concerns, God has no choice but to react in "Judgment".

 Sin is a heavy burden that will take us into the pits of Hell, when God is so willing to forgive if we will repent and return to Him.

 Why would anyone want to go to Hell to spend an eternity there?

 The Northern Tribes of Israel were guilty of extreme wickedness, and God judged them by sending them into captivity into a nation that worshipped idols and rejected Jehovah.

 God is saying that His cart is so heavily loaded with sin that anything He rolls over will be crushed into non-existence.

 God will have removed His compassion.

God will have removed His mercy.

God will have removed His grace.

God will have removed His love, and this leaves only His "judgment"!

 God had stated that He hated Esau and the Edomites no longer exist as a people.

 God is telling sinners that He hates sin, and the Lord Jesus will say, "I never knew you," or to Him, you did not exist.

 Mat_7:23  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

 Are those Ten Tribes of Israel still lost?

 The “lost tribes” were not entirely lost — many integrated into local populations, and some groups, like the Samaritans, preserved their identity.

 The one thing we know for sure is that there are Jews scattered all over the world, and many of them have gone back home to Israel.

 We can say that there are no lost Tribes of Israel because God knows where they all are.

What did God do?

God shows them instances of judgments He had sent at various times to correct His people.

 *****Amo 4:6  And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. 

Amo 4:7  And also I have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain upon one city and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered.

Amo 4:8  So two or three cities wandered unto one city, to drink water; but they were not satisfied: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. 

Amo 4:9  I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the palmerworm devoured them: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. 

Amo 4:10  I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, and have taken away your horses; and I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.

This is not some form of toothache, but it is famine.

Their teeth would be clean because they had nothing to eat.

The Laws of Moses, which they were so proud of, stated: Deu 28:48  Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the LORD shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he hath destroyed thee. 

Deu 28:49  The LORD shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand; 

In all the years since God had taken Israel out of Egypt and formed the nation that they are today, they have never truly repented of rejecting God and His Word.

God disciplines because He loves us, not because He hates us!

The stubbornness of Israel's rejection caused God to be harsher with His people.

All God has ever asked from any of us is to repent and turn back to Him.

The LORD sent famine and hunger, and this famine struck every city so that each city would not have the resources to feed its people.

Next, God sent drought, and God sent this drought three months before harvest time, so there would be very little to harvest.

They had three months to repent and save their crops, but they were too stubborn to give in.

They would hear about rain in another city, but by the time they got there, the water would be used up.

When they did have enough water for meager crops to grow, God sent the blight and the palmerworm.

Blasting was the damage caused by the scorching East wind.

Eze 17:10  Yea, behold, being planted, shall it prosper? shall it not utterly wither, when the east wind toucheth it? it shall wither in the furrows where it grew. 

Mildew would also ruin some crops. Mildew is caused by fungi from dampness and is the opposite of conditions caused by drought.

The locust swarms and disease would take anything that was left of their crops.

They faced economic devastation, but they still would not repent.

War, drought, and famine always end in disease, sickness, and plagues among the people. 

These would be the same type of plagues that God used on Egypt, but they still would not repent.

So, God sent war.

The young men, the pride of most nations, were slain with the sword of their enemies. This is what war does. War removes many of the next generation and affects a nation for years.

God took away their ability to defend themselves.

The stink of unburied carcasses lay everywhere, and even more disease came to Israel.

*****Amo 4:11  I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.

Amo 4:12  Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel. 

Amo 4:13  For, lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, The LORD, The God of hosts, is his name. 

God reminds them that their sin was counted just as hideous and wicked as the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah, and they would have perished if God had not plucked them out of the fire.

Their homes were burned, their cities were burned, and everything they had left was burned, and they have been to if God had not plucked them from the fire.

There was only one thing left to do, and it was for God to come to this earth and take care of this rebellion Himself.

We should all ask ourselves, "Are we ready to meet the God of the Bible?"

God's judgment is certainly coming to this world.

Judgment is inescapable for those who refuse to repent and return to the Creator.

God will not send an angel.

God will not send the death angel.

God will come Himself, and if He comes in His glory, no one will be able to stand before Him.

There is only one way out to safety, and it is by repentance and returning to the God who made us.

Act 17:29  Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device. 

Act 17:30  And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: 

Act 17:31  Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. 

We can meet God in the clouds, or we will meet God in "judgment," and we do not have much time left to decide!

Amen

Lean Not on Your Own Understanding

 Amaziah-The King Who Stopped Short of the Goal

 Book of 2 Chronicles Chapter 25

 

I think the greatest thing we can learn from the Old Testament is "what not to do".

No matter how powerful we become upon this earth, we are very, very small compared to God!

 Over and over, we read how people went against the Word of God, and God had to take away His hand of blessing.

You see God does not cause our problems; He just removes His hand of blessing that would have stopped most of our problems.

God wants us to allow Him to dictate how we live our lives to gain the greatest blessings while we are alive and even greater blessings when we join Him in Heaven.

God wants to deal with us as any good Father would.

We are foolish people when we do not realize that God wants to bless us and not take away our blessings.

 People believe that God does so many things to them, when actually it's the Devil who has more freedom when God removes His hand of blessing and protection.

 We get a bird's eye view of these things in the Books of the Kings and the Chroniclers, and in the divided nation, we see how leaders rebel against a loving God, and it did not go well for them.

None of us like discipline, but for all of us, a little discipline is necessary.

 Throughout the Old Testament, God dispensed His theocratic kingdom through mediators, the prophets.

 God appointed human leaders through whom He revealed His will and made Himself known. He still does this today.

 The final ultimate form of God's theocratic kingdom will be the Millennial Kingdom governed by Jesus Christ.

There is no more important subject in the Old Testament than the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ!

 The Old Testament looks forward to all the things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, and it gives us true history so we can better understand.

 We must understand that God deals with Israel to bring her to a place of Spiritual blessing in which she will be the agent for God to bless the nations of the world.

 We now know that this will not take place until after the Rapture of the Church and the Seven Years of Tribulation, which the Church will miss.

 The Mosaic Covenant was conditional and a demonstration of God's Holiness.

 All those who would enter into fellowship with our Holy God would have to meet His Holy Standard.

 Jer 31:31  Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: 

Jer 31:32  Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: 

Jer 31:33  But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. 

Jer 31:34  And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. 

 The Prophets of the Old Testament teach us how God will achieve this with Israel.

 We know the Messiah will rule this earth from Jerusalem, but the Messiah first came as a suffering Messiah through whom God offers forgiveness of sins.

This forgiveness is for the whole world, but each individual must acknowledge it.

1Jn_2:2  And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

 The one thing we see in all the Bible is the continuation of sin in the human race, and there is only one race in all the Scriptures.

 Red, yellow, black, and white, we are all sinners in His sight, but we are all forgiven if we trust what God has done for us.

Rom_3:23  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

 We know the Messiah to be a descendant of King David.

 2Sa 7:12  And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. 

2Sa 7:13  He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever. 

2Sa 7:14  I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men: 

2Sa 7:15  But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee. 

2Sa 7:16  And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever. 

 This is the purpose of God to gain as many as will accept Him into His Heavenly Kingdom.

 The Old Testament gives us the history of Israel in the way God moved these people to fulfill His purpose for them.

 Our lesson continues to show us how the divided nation of Israel and the kings in the line of David continued to fail God in His purpose, but the plan of God continued to move forward, as it still does today.

 How many of us stop short of the goals God has set for us because we have slipped backwards from time to time?

I know I have. I am a work in progress.

I also know that God does not ever change. This is why we need to study the Old Testament to learn from the mistakes made then.

 *****2Ch 25:1  Amaziah was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem. 

2Ch 25:2  And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, but not with a perfect heart. 

 After our salvation, God the Father gives us opportunities to earn rewards that will be in Heaven when we get there.

 When an opportunity arises, we must grab it, or else we will lose that opportunity.

 God gave opportunities to the Kings of Judah to become great kings, but most of them let pride and discipline be their downfall.

 Pro_16:18  Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.

 In fact, God provides opportunities to every national leader because it is God who put them in place.

 We know we just do not see great leaders anymore.

The leaders of today are poisoned by the wickedness of this world.

What did God say on the day of Noah?

Mat 24:38  For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,

God says the world keeps going as it always has, disregarding the sin that is in this world.

We here in America have great hope for the one who sits in the chair of the president today, but we do not know as of yet.

All we know is that he was the best choice to change the direction our nation was following, and he still is. 

Opportunities are lost by God's people because we just do not know how to discipline ourselves in the Word of God.

 When we as Christians meet the Lord Jesus in the clouds, He will probably remind us of all those lost opportunities.

 In the Books of the Kings and Chronicles, we see the lost opportunities of the leaders of Judah and Israel.

 Judah had nineteen kings and one queen, and most of them were wicked rulers.

 We must completely understand that God is not going to allow us to live like a bunch of pagans.

 Amaziah was the son of Joash, also written Jehoash, and was the ninth King of Judah.

 Joash was the son of Ahaziah, King of Judah, and the only one of his children who escaped from the wicked Queen Athaliah when she killed her own grandchildren.

 At the age of seven, Joash became King of Judah, and for twenty-three years, he did right in the eyes of God because he was led by Jehoiada, the High Priest of Israel.

 When Jehoiada died, Joash fell into the hands of bad advisors, and he revived the worship of Baal and Ashtaroth.

 When he was rebuked by Zechariah, the son of the High Priest, he had Zechariah stoned to death in the Temple.

 He had allowed the people to build worship centers on former pagan sites, and God was not pleased.

 He failed to remove the High places where the worship of false gods took place.

 False worship began to intermingle with the worship of Jehovah, and God was not pleased.

 These same things still happen today, and some inside the Church.

 People just never change from their wicked ways because they cannot without God in their lives.

 Ecc_1:9  The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.

 Not too much later, he was assassinated by two of his own servants.

 Even though Amaziah was known as a mostly good king, we find that Amaziah was much like his father, King Joash, and never truly committed himself to the Lord.

From time to time, Amaziah would worship idols instead of the Lord.

We have a lot of our leaders who claim to be Christian, but the fact remains that any leader who only gives the Lord part of his heart is not really a leader at all and certainly does not belong to God.

God is an all-or-nothing God.

Amaziah did not close the "high places," which were places where false worship took place.

Amaziah did not serve God with a perfect heart.

Once Amaziah returned from his captivity in Israel, he was not much good to the people of Judah, and a conspiracy was made, and he too was assassinated.

 We cannot just be guided by the Preacher; we must be guided by the Word of God and the Holy Spirit.

 Amaziah began his reign by punishing the murderers of his father but not their children in obedience to the Word of God, but this was about all he did in obedience to the Word of God

Amaziah was not going to be the new King David.

He actually helped to bring idol worship into Judah.

 Amaziah numbered his army and became a foolish king.

 *****2Ch 25:5  Moreover, Amaziah gathered Judah together, and made them captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, according to the houses of their fathers, throughout all Judah and Benjamin: and he numbered them from twenty years old and above, and found them three hundred thousand choice men, able to go forth to war, that could handle spear and shield. 

2Ch 25:6  He hired also a hundred thousand mighty men of valour out of Israel for an hundred talents of silver. 

2Ch 25:7  But there came a man of God to him, saying, O king, let not the army of Israel go with thee; for the LORD is not with Israel, to wit, with all the children of Ephraim. 

2Ch 25:8  But if thou wilt go, do it, be strong for the battle: God shall make thee fall before the enemy: for God hath power to help, and to cast down. 

2Ch 25:9  And Amaziah said to the man of God, But what shall we do for the hundred talents which I have given to the army of Israel? And the man of God answered, The LORD is able to give thee much more than this. 

 Amaziah found that he had three hundred thousand men who were able to go to war.

 Notice that a man had to be at least twenty years old to serve in the army and physically able.

 Then Amaziah committed a no-no.

 He hired a hundred thousand mercenary soldiers of Israel.

 If we are God's people, then we must trust that God will provide for our victories in life.

 If Amaziah had gone to war with the help of this mercenary army and won, then he could have bragged about how great he was instead of how great God is.

 The man of God stepped in to warn him.

 It is important to God that we turn away from evil associations with the enemies of God.

Our job is to witness to them the truth of God, but we are not to become a part of the lost crowd.

 It was Edom who had refused to allow the nation of Israel to travel through their land in the exodus from Egypt.

 It was Edom who had helped round up escaping Jews to give to Nebuchadnezzar.

 We should remember Edom was established by Esau, the brother of Jacob.

We would think that one side of the family of brothers would help the other side in their time of need, but not Edom. Edom is Esau

What did God say? Rom_9:13  As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

Mal 1:2  I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob, 

Mal 1:3  And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness. 

 Eventually, Edom and Moab were taken over by the Nabateans.

 King David had conquered the Edomites, and so would King Amaziah without the help of that mercenary army.

 This would not have happened had he kept that army with him.

 It is God who has the power to help, but He also has the power to take down, as many who have faced Israel have found out.

 Amaziah gave this army a hundred talents of silver, which he had promised, and sent them away, but they were not satisfied with that.

 King Amaziah had to choose between losing the hundred talents and losing the war with the Edomites. He chose to win.

As the servants of God, we cannot allow ourselves to be pushed into disobedience because of others, especially by those who do not know the Lord as their Savior.

Satan smiles every time this happens.

We must be led by the LORD and not by the circumstances we face in this world.

 *****2Ch 25:10  Then Amaziah separated them, to wit, the army that was come to him out of Ephraim, to go home again: wherefore their anger was greatly kindled against Judah, and they returned home in great anger. 

 One man wrote that this army was disgraced by this rejection and disappointed with the spoil they hoped to gain and sent home empty.

 It is believed that a hundred talents were probably given to the officers who raised this army, and the soldiers themselves got nothing. This is the way greed works.

 You cannot trust an angry army of a hundred thousand men!

 They returned to Israel with great anger.

 *****2Ch 25:11  And Amaziah strengthened himself, and led forth his people, and went to the valley of salt, and smote of the children of Seir ten thousand. 

2Ch 25:12  And other ten thousand left alive did the children of Judah carry away captive, and brought them unto the top of the rock, and cast them down from the top of the rock, that they all were broken in pieces. 

2Ch 25:13  But the soldiers of the army which Amaziah sent back, that they should not go with him to battle, fell upon the cities of Judah, from Samaria even unto Bethhoron, and smote three thousand of them, and took much spoil

 What did this man of God say? It may be okay to hire others who have the same hope in God and have an interest in Heaven, but God will never allow us to associate with those whom He has given over to the Devil.

 We cannot expect godliness from those who are ungodly.

 Amaziah was now convinced that he was stronger without the army of Israel than he was with them.

 The Valley of Salt ֶwas a significant geographical and military location in the ancient Near East, mentioned in several Old Testament passages. 

It is generally identified with the southern end of the Dead Sea, in the arid and salt-impregnated plain between Judah and Edom.

 It is believed to be part of the Arabah, a broad plain at the Dead Sea's southern end, bordered by salt mountains, salt marshes, and brackish water.

 Twenty thousand men of Edom died in this war with Judah.

 Ten thousand of them were just murdered, but we should understand what God said.

 This place is now called Petra. Selah and Petra are the same.

 2Ki 14:7  He slew of Edom in the valley of salt ten thousand, and took Selah by war, and called the name of it Joktheel unto this day. 

 The name Joktheel means subjugated of God.

 Today, many liberals would scream bloody murder at such a thing, but God does not ever forget the cruelty of His enemies.

 Eze 25:12  Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because that Edom hath dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and hath greatly offended, and revenged himself upon them; 

Eze 25:13  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also stretch out mine hand upon Edom, and will cut off man and beast from it; and I will make it desolate from Teman; and they of Dedan shall fall by the sword. 

Eze 25:14  And I will lay my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel: and they shall do in Edom according to mine anger and according to my fury; and they shall know my vengeance, saith the Lord GOD.

 Oba 1:10  For thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever. 

 Edom or Esau is a picture of sin, the old nature of the flesh.

 Edom had always behaved as a merciless enemy of God's people and was judged for it.

 We cannot feel sorry for God's judgment of sin!

When armies were victorious in those days, they would take plunder, which could include men, women, children, cattle, and any other wealth of the defeated army.

Since there were no prisons, the defeated army was often killed to keep them from seeking revenge.

We could feel sorrow for any people if we had the opportunity to lead them to the Lord, and we did not even try.

 Col 3:5  Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: 

Col 3:6  For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: 

Col 3:7  In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them. 

 While Amaziah was occupied with Edom, those soldiers from Israel showed just how foolish it was for Amaziah to associate with them.

 We next see that Amaziah becomes a foolish king.

 *****2Ch 25:14  Now it came to pass, after that Amaziah was come from the slaughter of the Edomites, that he brought the gods of the children of Seir, and set them up to be his gods, and bowed down himself before them, and burned incense unto them. 

 We might ask ourselves, "Why would Amaziah do such a thing"?

 The only answer is that he was not completely sold out to Jehovah!

 Of all the sins we commit, false worship is the worst besides rejecting the Lord Jesus, which has no forgiveness!

 Exo_34:14  For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:

 What Amaziah should have destroyed, he began to worship.

He bowed down to these false gods on more than one occasion, and he became a fool.

If false gods cannot save us, why would we consider them gods?

America is full of people today who worship material things and figures of the imagination.

No one has ever seen God, so no one can make an idol that is in His likeness.

It’s the same for Jesus Christ. We do not know what Jesus looked like except to know He took on the resemblance of the Jews.

Jesus was likely a first-century Jewish man with olive-brown skin, short black hair, a beard, and a modest, stocky build, standing around 5 feet 5 inches tall.

Isa 53:2  For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. 

We should not have objects of worship for either one, for they are no more than idols.

What had God said?

 Deu 7:5  But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire. 

Deu 7:6  For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. 

Even a picture of said Jesus Christ can become an idol if we see it as a thing to worship.

 Another King of Judah had failed God's people.

 Amaziah had potential, but he became a failure.

 Amaziah became boastful and arrogant because of his military victory, which he would not have had if he had not listened to the man of God.

 This arrogance would cost Judah a great deal more!

We should realize that if the Kings of Judah had all lived by the Word of God, then God would never have allowed Nebuchadnezzar to destroy Jerusalem, and the Middle East would be far different from what it is today.

It is the same for the Church today. If the Church is obedient to the Word of God, it will thrive because God's plan works while our plans fail.

The truth is, at this moment, the Church is failing because it has allowed the world to get inside the Church, and man's laws have overcome God's laws.

Just because a judge can decide the fate of certain people, only God can decide the true fate of all people.

Amaziah challenged the king of the Northern Kingdom, King Joash.

*****2Ch 25:18  And Joash king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, Give thy daughter to my son to wife: and there passed by a wild beast that was in Lebanon, and trode down the thistle. 

2Ch 25:19  Thou sayest, Lo, thou hast smitten the Edomites; and thine heart lifteth thee up to boast: abide now at home; why shouldest thou meddle to thine hurt, that thou shouldest fall, even thou, and Judah with thee? 

2Ch 25:20  But Amaziah would not hear; for it came of God, that he might deliver them into the hand of their enemies, because they sought after the gods of Edom.

We get a close-up view of what pride can do to us if we fall into its trap.

God may have allowed Amaziah to be victorious if he had not begun his worship of false idols. 

 Truth be known, it was probably Joash, King of Israel, who had sent that army back into the land of Judah.

 We can see that the areas and the cities that are mentioned were once part of Israel, and Samaria was the chief city in the kingdom of the Ten Tribes of Israel.

 God was on the side of Amaziah until he turned his back on God and began to worship idols.

 One of our greatest problems we as humans has been that we think we are far more important than we really are

Many of us walk around thinking we are some great things, but we are nothing without the Lord Jesus Christ.

 Without the love of God, we are nothing!

 It is Okay to take a little pride in our accomplishments and our achievements, but we must never think we did those things under our own power.

 We must never look upon others as being of less value than we are!

 Self-pride and self-righteousness are enemies to our relationship with our Righteous and Holy God.

 Psa 10:2  The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined.

Psa 10:3  For the wicked boasteth of his heart's desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the LORD abhorreth. 

Psa 10:4  The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts. 

 When we go to others to solve our problems and not to God, we are just asking for failure.

 When we say goodbye to God, He will say goodbye to us.

 He will never force us to follow Him or His Words!

 2Ch 25:22  And Judah was put to the worse before Israel, and they fled every man to his tent. 

2Ch 25:23  And Joash the king of Israel took Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Joash, the son of Jehoahaz, at Bethshemesh, and brought him to Jerusalem, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim to the corner gate, four hundred cubits.

 The arrogance of Amaziah cost his nation dearly; even the House of God was plundered.

He was captured and was a prisoner to Israel until the death of Joash.

The wall of Jerusalem was broken down for about six hundred feet.

The treasures of the Temple were stolen.

The treasures of the king's house were taken.

Many royal hostages were taken back to Samaria.

It should be very clear that God will judge us for our sins against Him and His Word.

 *****2Ch 25:24  And he took all the gold and the silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of God with Obededom, and the treasures of the king's house, the hostages also, and returned to Samaria. 

2Ch 25:27  Now after the time that Amaziah did turn away from following the LORD they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem; and he fled to Lachish: but they sent to Lachish after him, and slew him there.

It should be easy to see that the Bible is always right. Pride does go before our destruction.

When we say goodbye to God, we begin walking on dangerous ground.

Our biggest problem from the beginning of time is that we just think too highly of ourselves.

Joash was even more wicked than Amaziah.

We see that wicked people can see through the motives of other wicked people much better than we can.

Almost all wicked people are driven by the same motives!

We would be wrong if we cannot see that God is using Joash to punish Amaziah.

Amaziah would enter his own home as a prisoner and see it plundered by Joash.

A section of the wall of Jerusalem is destroyed, and Joash goes too far when he plunders the House of God.

Joash takes hostages from the house of Amaziah to make sure Amaziah does not plan to retaliate.

Joash's advantage was a surprise attack, but more importantly, God's help. Other than God punishing Amaziah, Israel was no stronger than Judah.

God had already given Israel over to destruction.

After Amaziah's exile, he ruled in Judah for fifteen more years, but he was never the same, and he accomplished nothing else during his reign.

He never returned to the Lord, and in a conspiracy, he fled Jerusalem and was assassinated, but he was still buried with his fathers in the city of Judah.

Amaziah had the potential to be a great king, but once he left the Lord and filled his heart with apostasy and self-pride, he was just a figurehead sitting upon the throne of Judah and never accomplished anything for God's people.

We just must not squander the opportunities God gives us to fulfill the purpose He has for us.

If we just follow the Word that God has given us we live a good life here on earth and a much better life in Heaven.

1) Gen 1:1  In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

2) Rom 10:9  That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

3) Mal 3:6  For I am the LORD, I change not

These are mine right now but what are yours.

Amen