Amos's Visions

    The visions that Amos saw lines up with Joel's and other prophets.  There is no indication that they knew each other.  It is just confirmation that they did come from God and that they would happen.  They were not nice vision.  The visions told of upcoming devastation.

    The first vision was the locust that represented God's wrath.  They would come when the spring crop began to sprout, after the hay was cut.  They would consume the vegetation of the land.  God relented since it would kill His nation.   

    The second vision was fire of ferocious judgment.  It would consume the land.  Amos cried out to God to stop.  Again God relented for the survival of the nation.  God was teaching forgiveness.  That is why He relented.  He taught His lessons through example.  If we didn't get it the first few thousand years, we should have gotten it when Jesus came.

    The third vision was the plumb line.  Amos saw a vertical was which God stood next to holding a plumb line.  It represented the nation being crooked: bringing the sin to light.  God was no longer going to spare His people, but was not going to destroy them.  The sanctuaries would become ruins and the house of Jeroboam would be slaughtered.  

       The visions were a call of judgment in which Amos did not ask to partake in.  Amos had to go to the priest to prepare the nation.  The priest Amaziah tried to ignore and send Amos away, but Amos made him listen.  The message was too important: Israel was going to lose everything.  The priest sent King Jeroboam a message saying Amos was conspiring against him.  

    His reaction did not help the situation at all.  The priest looked down on Amos.  Why would God talk to a herdsman when He could talk to His priest?  The arrogance was one of the reasons why the nation was going to endure severe judgment.    They were adulterous and needed to find their way back to God and it started with the priests.  God doesn't care about your position in life.  He cares about your heart and soul.

Amos 7