#DailyDevotion When God Judges The Church Will You Escape?
Amos 9 I saw the Lord standing by the altar, and He said: “Strike the tops of the pillars to shake the thresholds. Smash them on the heads of all the people. I will kill with a sword any that are left behind. None of them who flees will get away; none of them will escape. 2Even if they would dig their way into Sheol [Place of the dead], My hand would get them from there. If they would go up to heaven, I would get them down from there. 3If they would hide on top of Carmel,I would search for them and get them from there.If they would hide on the bottom of the sea to keep Me from seeing them, there I would order the sea snake to bite them. 4If they would march ahead of their enemies into exile, I would order the sword to kill them there. I will watch them to hurt them and not to help them.”
The first verse is kind of striking. The LORD is seen standing by the altar. Is it the altar at Bethel? Is it the altar in Jerusalem? While recent context may indicate Bethel, it doesn’t seem so because the prophecy concerns Israel as a whole and not just the northern tribes. It may also be a figurative altar and temple with the temple being the house of Israel, the people of Israel in whom the LORD would dwell. This is similar to the Church being the temple of God.
The destruction of the top pillars to cause the thresholds to shake, fall and smash on the heads of all the people speaks of judgment upon all the people who make up this temple. Those who are not killed by the destruction of the temple, the LORD will kill with the sword and none shall escape. I think this tends to be a composite prophecy. It is fulfilled in a number of ways, first by the Assyrians destroying Samaria and exiling it’s people. Secondly, when the Babylonians destroy Judah and exile its people. Finally, when the LORD sends the Romans to destroy the temple in 70 AD and sends the people of Judah into the world. Unbelieving Israel is still suffering throughout the world to day because of their rejection of the LORD who is Jesus Christ. (This in no way gives license for Christians to persecute and harm Jews. It is the LORD who determines how, when and by whom they will suffer. Nor does it give a guilt free pass to anyone else to cause them harm, as we have seen in earlier devotions.)
The next few verses bring to mind Psalm 139 “7Where can I go from Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your face? 8If I go up to heaven, You are there, or make the grave my bed, You are there.” This Psalm is meant to be comforting to God’s people. The LORD turns it around on them now in His anger and wrath and makes it a curse. He lists first the impossible places for the people of Israel to go, showing that even if they went there, they couldn’t hide from Him or His wrath. He tells them it’s no use trying to go to other places they may have in mind, because He will find them there as well. The words are hard to bear, He will hunt them down wherever they go and kill them.
What a great warning for us, the Church. Peter warns us, 1 Pet. 4, “17It is time for the judgment to start in God’s temple. But if it is starting with us, how will it end for those who refuse to listen to God’s good news?” The LORD Jesus will purge the visible Church of the wicked who live unrepentant lives. We should do what we can to make sure we are not one of those. Let us rightly judge ourselves, confess our sins and cling to Jesus in His Word and Sacraments to escape the coming wrath of God.
Heavenly Father, You purge Your people of all that is wicked and perverse. May Your Holy Spirit purge our hearts of all things evil so we may trust Your Son, Jesus Christ, solely for our salvation. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.