Relenting and Revealing
Sermon 9 in Series
Amos 7:1-9
[1] This is what the Lord GOD showed me: behold, he was forming locusts when the latter growth was just beginning to sprout, and behold, it was the latter growth after the king’s mowings. [2] When they had finished eating the grass of the land, I said,
“O Lord GOD, please forgive!
How can Jacob stand?
He is so small!”
[3] The LORD relented concerning this:
“It shall not be,” said the LORD.
[4] This is what the Lord GOD showed me: behold, the Lord GOD was calling for a judgment by fire, and it devoured the great deep and was eating up the land. [5] Then I said,
“O Lord GOD, please cease!
How can Jacob stand?
He is so small!”
[6] The LORD relented concerning this:
“This also shall not be,” said the Lord GOD.
[7] This is what he showed me: behold, the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. [8] And the LORD said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said,
“Behold, I am setting a plumb line
in the midst of my people Israel;
I will never again pass by them;
[9] the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate,
and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste,
and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.”
1. How does Amos demonstrate the right perspective and a right heart in his intercession?2. How does Amos’ intercession draw our attention to Christ? In what ways is Christ a better intercessor than the line of prophets before him?
3. How does it direct your Christian life to know that “Christ is in the next room praying for you?”
4. How should we think about the relationship between our prayers and God’s actions?
5. What does God’s relenting from the locust and fire disaster demonstrate about his character? In what areas can you imitate the mercy of God more in your life?
6. What is the plumb line and how does it reveal Israel’s crookedness? How does this draw us to Christ and Christlikeness?
References: Genesis 41:32; Deuteronomy 28:38, 42; Genesis 3:15; Revelation 8:7; Exodus 32:11-14; Numbers 14:13-19; Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25; Jeremiah 18; Exodus 34:6-7; Deuteronomy 17:14-20; Matthew 5:17; John 5:22.