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translations.
DECEMBER 11
Although I know that it is a
little wearisome to read of continual pronouncements of judgment against
Israel, it is still instructive. We learn something about God. God never wanted
these people to have to be punished. Even in our reading today, God will make
several pleas for the people to repent. After Elijah and Elisha, there were
three other prophets God sent to give Israel a final chance. We've read Hosea.
Here is Amos sent from God, from Judah to Bethel, to appeal to individuals to
turn to God. Finally we will have Jonah. Yes, Jonah and his adventures were
written and sent to Israel to show them that they needed to repent. If God
would save Assyrians (and cows) if they repented, He would certainly have saved
His people. Yet it was the Assyrians, ironically, who repented, and who later
took the northern kingdom into exile. There are lots of interesting lessons in
what took place and in how God worked. The chart, “Kings of Judah and Israel
and the Preexilic Prophets,” is at the end of this document.
Amos 4-6
Amos
4
Vs.
1-3 God has just rebuked Israel for their ivory houses and affluence. These
women apparently lived in those houses. While neglecting the poor and the
oppressed, these women lived for the affluence of their times. Bashan was the
lush area around the Sea of Galilee. The Hebrew word for husbands isn't actually husband, but "master." The joke
is that these men were like slaves to these women. Some might think that God's
title for these women isn't "politically correct," but then, let them
be the ones to tell Him that.
When
the Assyrians led captives into exile, they literally hooked them together like
fish on a stringer.
Cast out means that the ones who died in the
march would be thrown out and left on this mountain.
Vs.
4-5 God challenges them to worship their idols, to see if they can alter the
"bad luck" they've had.
Vs.
6-11 Highlight or underline all of the ways the Lord tried to break through to
these people. God couldn't do this today, could He? Notice the recurring line
that concludes each section here.
If
you want to read something that is like what you've just read, look at
Revelation 16:9-21.
Vs.
12-13 The people really don't know God. Verse 12 is ominous, prepare to meet your God. That was not
an invitation, it was a warning. I have met so many religious people who think
they know God. Sadly, they will have the most tragic shock when they stand
before Him and He says, “I never knew
you, depart from me, you workers of lawlessness” (Matt. 7:23). This is
reality.
Amos
5
Vs.
1-3 God promises this awful destruction and judgment.
Vs.
4-9 So God exhorts and urges them to seek Him. While there is no hope for the
northern kingdom, individuals could still come to Him. Neither God nor Amos is
shy about telling the people what the result will be for ignoring Him.
Vs.
10-13 Because they got rid of the prophets and hated the truth, oppression of
the poor flourished and they built their own houses and vineyards.
Notice again that the result of their actions was that the righteous became silent.
Vs.
14-15 Another plea by God for them to seek Him.
Vs.
16-17 For ignoring God, He will judge them and strike their crops.
Vs.
18-20 There must have been some ignorant people who were wishing for the Lord
to come. They didn't realize that if He came, it would be in judgment and they
would be the targets of His justice and rebuke. When I hear unbelieving people
wish that God would return to the earth, I know that even with the best of
intentions, they really don't know what they are wishing for.
Vs.
21-27 God is saying that their devotion to Him was always half-hearted at best.
According to v. 25, even in the
wilderness there were people who didn't give up worshiping false gods. The
present situation is just a continuation of that. Notice in v. 26 God says He
will send them into exile and they
will carry their helpless gods with them.
Amos
6
Vs.
1-3 What is this woe about?
Vs.
4-7 What is this woe about?
Vs.
8-10 Apparently the people will know it is the Lord working against them. They
will try to make it better by not talking about the Lord.
V.
11 The rich and the poor alike would be judged.
V.
12 Although it made no sense, Israel gave up justice and thereby poisoned
itself as a nation. Even animals know not to hurt themselves.
V.
13 This was a delusion.
V.
14 And God would raise up the
Assyrians to humble them.
When
you read v. 12, it seems so simple. There are some things people will not do in
one area, like not letting their valuable horses run on rocks; yet at the same
time people destroy their own lives and foolishly choose not to think about
life itself. No one would assume they were alone in the woods if they found a
car with the lights on. God has put us in this amazing world and given us
unexplainable bodies and minds, yet it makes more sense to our rebellious
hearts to ignore that evidence of His presence and His existence and not to
think about life or a Creator. These people in Amos foolishly thought they
could make a religious effort to appease God, but they really didn't want to
worship God in truth, because they really didn't want to obey Him. This is what
Jesus said in John 3:19-20. It is far easier to worship your own conception of
God and do what you want. Over the centuries, man has not changed.
Revelation 2:18-3:6
Revelation
2:18-29
This
is the church in Thyatira.
V.
18 Notice how Jesus describes Himself. I wonder what this will mean.
V.
19 Only one short verse of commendation. It really sounds good.
Vs.
20-23 But this really sounds bad and is very hard to imagine. It appears that
the real problem was with the leaders who allowed this to go on, thereby
infecting the church. What is interesting here is the woman referred to as Jezebel. According to 1 Kings 16:31 and
many other references, it was through Ahab marrying Jezebel that Baal worship
became a cultural norm in the northern kingdom. There in the OT, as in this
reference in Thyatira, this worship was very sexually oriented. Again, we have
seen a church in immorality in 1 Corinthians, with each of the three chapters,
5-7, addressing some issue of sexual misconduct among believers.
Vs.
24-29 So what is the reward here, and is this a general reward that everyone
will receive? And does Jesus' description of Himself have any connection here?
Since the reward has to do with authority, ruling, judgment and discernment,
that is probably what is meant by these aspects of Jesus' description.
My
first instinct in reading this is to see Jesus' description of Himself as
having ruling and judging authority from the Father. His eyes of fire probably
have to do with the kind of piercing discernment needed to judge the hearts and
intents of people. The bronze feet (2:18) are solid and unmovable.
It
seems that this promise for those who conquer in this situation is that they
will be given discernment and authority now as they struggle to hold this
church together and reform it so it will honor Christ. In the future, God will
give these people more authority, possibly leading a city as a mayor or
something during the Millennium. The morning
star (v. 28) seems to be for guidance and discerning location and
direction. Since Jesus is called the morning star, it would mean guidance from
Him. Jesus told His disciples more than once that He was giving them the keys
to the kingdom of heaven and whatever they bound on earth would be bound in heaven
because He was in their midst. This is present authority. In the parable of the
talents, Jesus talked about the faithful receiving cities to rule. Maybe this
future expansion of responsibility and service is also being referred to here.
Revelation
3:1-6
Vs.
1-4 Notice Jesus' description of Himself. Wow, there isn't a commendation here
for Sardis. You might have thought Laodicea was bad, but this church is
pronounced dead. Isn't it interesting that they had a reputation for being
alive, outwardly, but that it was only a sham? The Lord saw past the outward
show.
Now
this is interesting, because Jesus is actually repeating Himself here. Late in
His ministry and just months before His sacrifice, Jesus was again teaching His
disciples. Peter even asked if this applied to them and Jesus' implied answer
was "yes." To get an idea of what Jesus is saying here, read Luke
12:35-50.
35“Stay
dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, 36and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the
wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and
knocks. 37Blessed
are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to
you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he
will come and serve them. 38If he comes in the second watch, or in the
third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants! 39But know this, that if the
master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not
have left his house to be broken into. 40You also must be ready, for the Son of Man
is coming at an hour you do not expect.” 41Peter said, “Lord, are you telling this
parable for us or for all?” 42And the Lord said, “Who then
is the faithful and wise manager, whom his master will set over his household,
to give them their portion of food at the proper time? 43Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he
comes. 44Truly, I say to you, he will set him over
all his possessions. 45But if that servant says to
himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the male and
female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, 46the master of that servant will
come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and
will cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful. 47And that servant who knew his master's will but did not get ready or
act according to his will, will receive a severe beating. 48But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will
receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be
required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more. 49“I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already
kindled! 50I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress
until it is accomplished!
Notice
that in this text there is punishment, but not damnation. The fact that
believers will be chastened on earth is seen in Acts 5 and 1 Corinthians 11.
The fact that believers will be rebuked as they enter heaven and stand at the
judgment seat of Christ can be found in 1 Corinthians 3:15.
This
church outwardly was doing business, but was no longer in the harvest. Everyone
thought they were a happening place and God was present, but Jesus said they
were dead, that they had fallen asleep. If you read the passage in Luke, you
have this intense sense of readiness on the part of the church. That section
ends with Jesus casting fire on the earth, giving Himself as the sacrifice for
mankind and then bringing division because of His name. This readiness in
awaiting our Lord's return means living for Christ in this harvest.
V. 5 Before you focus
on the blotting out part, notice the part about Jesus confessing the name of
that disciple before His Father and His angels. Jesus said this to His
disciples more than once. It was never a threat to them of losing their
salvation, but rather that they wouldn't receive divine help and commendation
for their present trials and endeavors in the harvest. This reference is also
from Luke 12:8-9, And I tell you,
everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son
of Man also will acknowledge before
the angels of God, but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God. Rather than Jesus potentially blotting
anyone's name out of the book of life,
this seems more like Him highlighting that name as an acknowledgment. He is
really assuring them that in spite of their trials and fears, their names would
never, ever, ever be blotted out. That should give the present-day disciple
great assurance.
Notice
the white garments. These garments are
a symbol of forgiveness, having been cleansed by Jesus. If you do a search in
Revelation on the white robes, you'll find Revelation 7:13-14. They are made
white by the blood of the Lamb.
It
seems to me that the description of Jesus having the seven spirits of God and the seven stars (3:1) has to do with
the seven churches being sent out to all the world. Again, if you do a search
on the seven spirits, they are sent into all the world. That seems like witness
to the world. So, in one hand Jesus has the seven stars, representing the
churches or their pastors, and in the other the seven spirits that go out into
the world. It seems that the church is to be out in the world proclaiming
Christ and making disciples. That apparently was not being done by this church.
I think all of this
has to do with salvation. The fact that Jesus uses what He said to his
disciples from Luke 12 is pretty cool. I think the reward Jesus is talking
about is spiritual enablement in carrying the gospel to the lost. The robes are
white from the blood of the lamb (Rev. 7:14), and Jesus is constantly sending
angelic help to us as we are awake and working in the light, in the harvest,
expectant of His return. Look at what the angel said to Daniel in Daniel
12:3, And those who are wise shall shine
like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness,
like the stars forever and ever.
You
could do a lot of sermonizing here regarding churches that look alive but are
dead; because they have lost their first, "salvation," love for the
Lord. They are no longer reaching out. But the message is for each of us, in
our personal love and pursuit of Christ in the harvest. Verse 4 says there were
still some people who had not lost the love of their Lord and the joy and wonder
of their salvation. Jesus personally appeals to them. It only takes one person
on fire for Christ, in love with Him, following in the harvest, to start a fire
and make disciples, who make disciples, who reach the lost and make of them disciples,
who make disciples.
Psalm 130
I
guess it would have been nice to go to Jerusalem to worship and to have had
everything in life running fine. But when you read this psalm, you sense a
closeness and need for God that we don't often sense when everything is going
smoothly. I think the deeper sincerity and deepest longing for God came from
these people who were worshipping from the "depths." I think of the
church of Smyrna, the church that suffered, being the only one that was whole
before Jesus. I think I'm beginning to understand spiritually, the connection
between suffering and need, and closeness to Christ. I think I'm beginning to
rejoice in the needs the Lord allows in my life to keep my heart longing for
Him. He deserves deep and sincere worship and praise.
Vs.
1-2 This is the cry for the Lord that made this worship very close and
personal.
Vs.
3-4 This reminds me of Jesus' constant mentions to His disciples that as they
prayed, they needed to forgive others. Here the psalmist is saying that he
knows his own frailty and guilt before God.
Vs.
5-6 Waiting for the Lord is a very difficult show of trust and dependence on
God. It is what God really wants.
Vs.
7-8 Now it is not just individual waiting, but the entire nation is to look to
God and wait. Notice that there is a mention of steadfast love here. God keeps His covenant. Keeping His covenant
with Abraham means that someday God will redeem the entire nation and save
them. That is what we are reading in both Amos and Revelation. In the end, God
will save and redeem. So, for now, we wait and hope.
Proverbs 29:21-22
There is a wide range of meaning
for v. 21. Some translations say that if you pamper the slave, he will become
rebellious. Given that v. 22 has a man of wrath who creates destruction, I
would say that v. 21 is the opposite. Because of the kind treatment of the
master, not only is the slave not rebellious, he becomes like a son. This is a
good picture of Abraham and Eliezer of Damascus who was Abe's best servant and
would have become the heir of all he had. It was this same godly Eliezer whom
Abe sent to find a bride for Isaac.
He
that delicately bringeth up his servant from a child shall have him become his son at the length. Proverbs
29:21, KJV
Please Read
the Following Disclaimer
I'm writing the Reading Notes to and
for those who are following a One Year Bible and are interested in growing
deeper as a disciple, following Jesus in the harvest. My hope is to see the
growth of a discipleship culture in the church, that is, groups of 3-4
disciples, meeting weekly, encouraging each other to follow Christ and work to
reach out and make disciples, who make disciples. The Bible itself is the most
universal and important discipleship manual we have and it is the key to our
growth and service in Christ. Nothing keeps us more focused on why we are here,
or what we are to be doing, or whom we are to be following. My comments are
only meant to provide some explanation of the events or to show the flow of
God's plan of redemption. My comments are in no way exhaustive, but are
designed to keep us, as disciples, focused on Christ and our role in His
harvest. My hope is that the people in these groups will grow in Christ and be
willing, after a year, to find 3 others to meet with and encourage in their
growth as disciples, making disciples in the harvest.
If you would like a more descriptive
commentary that is still readable and concise, I'd recommend the Bible Knowledge Commentary (BKC).
I read the BKC in doing background for the Reading Notes and refer to it quite
often. I also make reference to maps or charts in the BKC, though I will only
note where those resources can be found. Often you can do a search for these
and find them in Google books. Buying both volumes of the Bible Knowledge
Commentary would be a good idea.
I am not endorsing any particular
One Year Bible translation; in fact, I read something you probably don't, Die
Revidierte Lutherbibel, 1984. Unless noted, all Scripture quotes are from the
ESV Bible.
Anyone reading along with us is welcome
to do so and is encouraged to take their own notes and make their own
observations. If the comments made do not agree with your particular tradition
or understanding, that's OK. Nothing I've written is meant to criticize any
point of view, but only to express the truth of what God has written to us, as
I understand it. Often there is a breadth of opinion on certain events, both
historical and prophetic. Many of my views come from my church background,
theological training and my personal study.
I'm doing
this with discipleship in mind, meaning, I'm writing out thoughts that will
keep discipleship and our growth as disciples applied to what we are reading. Remember,
the real focus of the Reading Notes is to be a supplement, a disciple’s
commentary, giving motivation and insight so that we will keep following our
Lord in the harvest, reaching the lost and making disciples, who make
disciples. Being in the Word every day,
sitting at Jesus’ feet, learning directly from Him, is the essential essence of
being and making disciples.
May the Lord bless you as you follow Him in the
harvest, reaching the lost and making disciples, who make disciples. Dan
If you would like documents
containing an entire month of the Reading Notes, go to https://sites.google.com/site/dlkachikis/reading-notes.
If you would like a full
presentation of discipleship read Simply
Disciples*Making Disciples.
Or if you are struggling with
insomnia and would like a long boring dissertation on disciple making, these
can both be found on https://sites.google.com/site/dlkachikis/reading-notes.
Reading Notes ©, Dan Kachikis
2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018
The One Year Bible © by
Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton Illinois 60189
The Holy Bible, English
Standard Version® (ESV®) Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of
Good News Publishers.
All charts/graphics/outlines
from the Bible Knowledge Commentary are used with the permission of David C.
Cook.
© 1983, 2001 John F Walvoord and Roy B Zuck.
The Bible Knowledge Commentary is published by David C Cook.
All rights reserved. Publisher permission
required to reproduce.
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