#86 “Great Intercessors of the Bible”

(Amos - Burden Bearer)

 

“O Lord God, forgive, I pray!
Oh, that Jacob may stand, for he is small!”
 So the Lord relented concerning this.
“It shall not be,” said the Lord."

(Amos 7:5-6)

The Message (MSG)

In reviewing the life of Amos the prophet, one could say had much in common with Habakkuk, in that he too was faced with a nation, which had turned their back on God.  Much like the people during Josiah, Nehemiah and Jeremiah’s time one would conclude that many nations, like Judah thinks there charitable deeds or works will prevent God from passing judgment upon them. Let us say just, as Jesus’ said to Satan during His wilderness experience, “Thought shall not tempt the Lord you God.” (Luke 4:12 ) in other words, ‘Don’t put His mercy to the test’.  Let us not make the mistake of thinking that God will contend with us forever; that He will continue to look away while we blatantly commit abdominal acts of trespass against His righteousness. It’s not just America but nations the world over, which have sold future generation into bondage; because, of their own lust for self gratification and moments of fleeting ecstasy. 

Amos knew that God would not delay His Judgment much longer and knew he had to do something to get God’s attention. Why does it require, some catastrophic event to get a nation to pray and repent? When a nation gets to the point where not even the threat of destruction, will turn them from their wicked ways… then we’re in trouble.  Don’t get me wrong we are not the forerunners, when it comes to nations suffering immense moral decline. Likewise we are not the only nation, which has turned its back on the very Godly principles, which it was founded upon. What now is the church going to do in such a time as this? What should we say to these things? Knowing that these are perilous times we now live in, what should be our stance? There are those who would say, “He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Revelations 22:20) judge the wickedness of the earth! 

So what is our destiny considering the course we’re choosing to embark upon? When we consider other nations which have gone before us in the same path which we ourselves are taking, knowing full well that they met their doom in disgrace and divine judgment of God.  Pastor John MacArthur in a sermon he preached from the book of Isaiah 6, saw as it were a mirror reflection between America and the nation of Israel in its decline; to which he wrote: 

It’s time, I think, for us to begin to sing the funeral song…for our own nation, because we are guilty of the very same sins. Grasping materialism, drunken pleasure seeking, defiant sinfulness, moral perversion, arrogant conceit, and corrupt leadership mark our own nation. They are as thoroughly endemic and systemic in the life of America as ever they could’ve been in the life of Israel. And we, too, have had immense spiritual privilege, though we are not a covenant people, though we have not been given our land, as it were, by divine covenant and divine mandate. We have, nonetheless, had great foundations built on the Christian faith from which we have turned. We had in the early years of this nation a commitment to the Word of God. We have abandoned that with alacrity, with eagerness. We want nothing to do with God. We don’t want Him intruding into our lives. And we, therefore, as Israel of old, stand under God’s punishment.

(MacArthur, John - Warning to a Nation in Crisis. 2010)

I might add that many feel the same way as Dr. MacArthur regarding the paths we are choosing to follow; whose end most definitely will be destruction, should we choose not to repent and cry to our God for His mercy and forgiveness. We as intercessors must continue to stand in the Gap for our nations crying out, “Lord God, forgive us and cleans us from our unrighteousness and restore us!” let’s take a look at the three visions of destruction, which Amos saw was facing the children of Israel:

This is what the Sovereign LORD showed me: He was preparing swarms of locusts after the king’s share had been harvested and just as the second crop was coming up. When they had stripped the land clean, I cried out, “Sovereign LORD, forgive! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!” So the LORD relented. “This will not happen,” the LORD said. This is what the Sovereign LORD showed me: The Sovereign LORD was calling for judgment by fire; it dried up the great deep and devoured the land. 5 Then I cried out, “Sovereign LORD, I beg you, stop! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!”  So the LORD relented. “This will not happen either,” the Sovereign LORD said.  This is what he showed me: The Lord was standing by a wall that had been built true to plumb, with a plumb line in His hand. And the LORD asked me, “What do you see, Amos?” “A plumb line,” I replied. Then the Lord said, “Look, I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel; I will spare them no longer. “The high places of Isaac will be destroyed and the sanctuaries of Israel will be ruined; with my sword I will rise against the house of Jeroboam.” Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent a message to Jeroboam king of Israel: “Amos is raising a conspiracy against you in the very heart of Israel. The land cannot bear all his words. 

For this is what Amos is saying: “‘Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will surely go into exile, away from their native land.’” Then Amaziah said to Amos, “Get out, you seer! Go back to the land of Judah. Earn your bread there and do your prophesying there. Don’t prophesy anymore at Bethel, because this is the king’s sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom.” Amos answered Amaziah, “I was neither a prophet nor a prophet’s son, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees. But the LORD took me from tending the flock and said to me, ‘Go, and prophesy to my people Israel.’ Now then, hear the word of the LORD. You say, “‘Do not prophesy against Israel, and stop preaching against the house of Isaac.’ “Therefore this is what the LORD says: “‘Your wife will become a prostitute in the city, and your sons and daughters will fall by the sword. Your land will be measured and divided up, and you yourself will die in a pagan country. And Israel will certainly go into exile, away from their native land.’” (Amos 7:1-17 NIV)

Can you hear the voice of the intercessor crying out to God…“’Sovereign Lord, I beg you, stop! How can Jacob survive? He is so small’!” pleading with God to spear the people; not to destroy them?  Each time God showed Amos another vision of destruction his reply was the same... “Please Don’t Lord God!” We as intercessor can know the plans of God before He brings them to pass, but this is our opportunity to stand in the gap and plead with the Lord God to turn away for His Judgment against the people.  In this chapter of Amos we see a parallel in the visions to the judgment s,which God brought upon Egypt on the behalf of Israel.  What is more distressing is this, God promise not to put upon them the things, which He had put on the Egyptians. “He said, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the LORD your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, your healer.” Yet because of their rebellion God was preparing to send the judgment of Egypt upon them.  I wonder what promise are we causing God to revoke; because of our wickedness? 

Although God relented from the visions He had sent to Amos, it did not mean that He would not bring judgment upon Israel, just that it would not be as devastating as He had previously planned. What I would like for us to focus on however, is the heart of Amos the intercessor, how his intense love and concern for the children of Israel was not abated; because of their treatment of him.  Often times the very people we are sent to pray and stand in the gap for may not understand what our assignment is on their behalf. As a result they may even tell us to leave, stop praying and prophesying over them. They may remove you from their mist even by force. But we as intercessors must not respond in the flesh, rather in the spirit. Jesus when he was being crucified for the sins of humanity cried out, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing!” when have you had to pray this very prayer? “Father God do not judge them on my behalf, hold this not to their charge!" I have been there and trust me you don’t want to go there, but if you do just know that even then God will answer your prayer; but it doesn’t mean that judgment want still come…but He will be merciful on your behalf. 

My Prayer: Father God, You are so merciful and true, as we lift up our nations and their leadership and the people, we ask you to please relent and turn away for massive destruction which you may be planning to bring. We know that You are Gracious and Kind and that you do not wish that any should parish in their sins; but come to repentance and be saved. (Ezekiel 18:23) Father God, turn us from or sin and bring us back to You! Break the hold of immorality, which holds many captive today to the addictions, obsessions and possession, which torment us daily. Break the shackles and chains, which keep us imprison in the wickedness of our body and minds.  Come and heal us and heal our lands… we pray, in Jesus’ name Amen!!!

Have A Bless Day…Go in God’s Peace! 

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