Shabbat Shalom everyone. I hope you have your Bibles with you. We're going to open our Bibles to the prophet Amos today. Amos in English, Amos in Hebrew. And today we are finding ourselves in Amos chapter 5 and we are reading Amos 5 verse 18 into Amos 6 and verse 14. I would like you to follow me as we are reading these verses. We are studying the prophet Amos. Amos chapter 5 and verse 18. And so we read, Woe unto you the desire the day of the Lord. To what end is it for you the day of the Lord is darkness and not light as if a man did flee from a lion and a bear met him or went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall and a serpent bit him shall not the day of the Lord be darkness and not light, even very dark and no brightness in it?

I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offering, I will not accept them, neither will I regard the peace offering of your fat beasts. Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs, for I will not hear the melody of thy vials. But let judgment run down as waters and righteousness as a mighty stream. Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Molech and your images the star of your God which ye made to yourselves therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus sayeth the Lord whose name is the God of hosts chapter 6 and verse 1 woe to them that are at ease in Zion and trust in the mountain of Samaria which are named chief of the nations to whom the house of Israel came pass ye unto a Kalin and see and from thence go ye to Hamat the great and go down to Gat of the Philistines be they better than these kingdoms or their borders greater than your borders ye that put far away the evil day and cause the seat of violence to come near that lie upon beds of ivory and stretch themselves upon their couches and eat the lambs out of the flock and the calves out of the meats of their stall that chant to the sound of vial and invent to themselves instruments of music like David that drink wine in bowls and anoint themselves with the chief ointment but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.

Therefore now shall they go captive with the first that go captive, and the banquet of them that stretched themselves shall be removed. The Lord God hath sworn by Himself, saith the Lord God of hosts, I abhor the excellency of Jacob, I hate his palaces, therefore will I deliver up the city with all that is therein. And it shall come to pass, if they remain ten men in one house, that they shall die. And the man's uncle shall take him up, and he that burneth him, to bring out the bones out of the house, and shall say unto him that is by the side of the house, Is there yet any wisdom?

and he shall say no then shall he say hold thy tongue for we may not make mention of the name of the Lord for behold the Lord commendeth and he will smite the great house with breeches and the little house with clefts shall horses run upon the rock will one plow therewith ox? For ye have turned judgment into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into hemlock. Ye which rejoice in a thing of naught, which say, have we not taken to us horns by our own strength? But behold, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel, saith the Lord, the God of hosts, and they shall afflict you from the entering of Hamath unto the river of the wilderness.

And I'm stopping with the reading of chapter 6 and verse 14. Beloved brothers and sisters, and so today in this ministry meeting, we are in the middle of the study of the prophet Amos. And as we study together the prophet Amos, I would like once again to emphasize, as we look at the maps and the charts that we have already presented before you more than once, I'd like you to just understand every message I have to emphasize it in order for us to understand it. By the time that the first king of Israel by the name of Yeruvam became the king of the northern kingdom, he have led the northern kingdom of Israel to remain in the north and no longer to come down to Judah, Yehuda, to Jerusalem, to Zion, to worship in the temple in Jerusalem.

What happened that this man by the name of Yeruvam kept our own people of Israel in specifically worshiping in two areas, in a place called Beit El, right here, and in the north in a place called Dan, and he had created with the rest of the nation two golden calves, and beside those golden calves there were altars upon which the northern people of Israel offered sacrifices to these golden calves in Bethel and in Dan. So what God did, because Israel slowly but surely departed from the way of the Lord, God raised a man by the name of Amos. Amos actually was not from the northern kingdom.

It was right here from the southern kingdom, Malchut Yehuda, the kingdom of Judah. He came from a village that is called Tekoa. Tekoa is right below Bethlehem, somewhere there in the center of Israel, the center of Judah. And there in Tekoa, he was simply a herdman. He was a moving flock. He was like a shepherd. When we're going to get to chapter 7, we will find out that he was not only a shepherd or a herdman, he was also a man that was gathering sycamore fruit and he was distributing that among the people of Judah. He was a shepherd and a gatherer of sycamore tree, a fruit from the tree.

And God raised Amos to go all the way north and to speak to the northern kingdom of Israel and to warn them against judgment that was going to come and surely at 722 721 BC that judgment came and the Assyrian came and took the northern kingdom of Israel to what we call to Ashur to great Assyria and many of them have suffered have died and been dispersed throughout all the then known nations of the world But as God's speaking to the people of Israel in the north through Amos, he gave them two prophecies in chapter 1 and chapter 2, of which he first of all showed that he's going to judge the surrounding nations of Israel.

The Philistines, the Edomites, the Moabites, the Ammonites, the Syrians, and also the people of Tyre. He going to pour judgment upon the surrounding nation who surrounded both Judah and Israel. But then after he finished in chapter one and the second half, he also promised that he will judge Judah a little bit later on. And he did at 586 BC when the people of Judah, the southern kingdom, were taken to Babylon. But even before this happened, he promised that he was going to send the northern kingdom to Assyria in order for them to spend some time disperse among all the nations to realize their wrongdoing brought about the judgment of God.

So Amos gave eight prophecies speaking about every one of those nations. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. This is in chapter 1 and chapter 2. Then we said, we have learned up to now, that in chapter 3, all the way to chapter 6, and today we're going to conclude chapter 5 and 6, that he almost gave also three sermons. And those three sermons began with the word, Heal this word. Chapter 3, verse 1, Heal this word. Chapter 4, verse 1, hear this word. And chapter 5, verse 1, hear this word. In Hebrew, he says, Listen to what God is saying to you, all people of Israel. So we covered chapter 3, we covered chapter 4, and we covered chapter 5, verses 1 to 17 in our previous ministry meeting, Which God said through Amos to Israel that the judgment will surely come and the punishment is imminent and it will surely come as Amos said to the people of Israel.

Very interesting that within the third, hear ye this word, message of Amos, he included in chapter 5 and in chapter 6, two woe judgment. If you notice in chapter 5 verse 18 that we read today, woe unto you the desire the day of the Lord. Notice in chapter 6 verse 1, woe unto them that it is in Zion. In other words, there are two woe judgments that are coming that are included in that hear ye the word of the Lord that is found in chapter 5 and in chapter 6. Now, it is said when you hear God is saying to his people, woe unto you. In Hebrew, the word is hoy. Sometimes we use this expression, oi, vavoy, oily, oily, oh, what?

It's like you would say in English, oh boy, look what has happened. And it is really speaking about the serious judgment that was going to come and in a sense it is God who's speaking through the prophet Amos and saying to Israel woe unto you and when God is speaking to his nation Israel he doesn't do it out of joy he doesn't do it out of pleasure he has in his heart he does it because in a sense god is sad because he knows what he's going to have to do to his nation his chosen people israel yet he's warning them and he you might say grieving at the same time oi unto you people of israel what is going to come upon you you know this expression of woe is found many times even in the Brit HaChadasha, in the New Testament, when Yeshua was warning the Pharisees and the Sadducees, specifically in Matthew chapter 23, you remember in verse 13, he says, woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, in verse 13 of Matthew 23.

In verse 14, woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees. In verse 15, woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, verse 16 and so on. He continues and he's speaking about the judgment that is going to come upon the people who refuse to submit to his authority. Now it's very much the same for us today as believers in Yeshua the Messiah. It doesn't mean because we are part of the ecclesia, the kehila, the assembly, the church that we are exempt from judgment because we always read 1st Peter chapter 4 judgment must begin at the house of God and if it began with us what's going to happen to them that obey not the gospel of God so the twofold woe judgment I mentioned here in Amos chapter 5 verse 18 to the end and Amos chapter 6 verse 1 to verse 14 The twofold woe judgment that is yet to come upon the nation of Israel.

So I would like you to follow with me on these twofold woe judgments that are found here. And I'd like you to see the reason for the woe judgment and the consequence of not responding to God's warning. the reasons and the consequences of the violation of the word of God and so the first thing we find out in Amos chapter 5 verses 18 to 27 that there is a woe judgment that is going to come because of hypocrisy that existed in the life of God's people namely in this context the people of Israel. God does not appreciate hypocrisy. And you know, hypocrisy in Hebrew, we call it it's like coloring ourselves with one color and then changing to another color later on, and then turning again and changing to another color.

Many years ago, when they were acting in the theater, they would put two face, you know, they would put one mask for one show and another mask perhaps it could be in a very same show that they would put the two separate masks which mean you are not really who you are you might go through the process of religious activity but you are i know you god says to his own people and i would like you to be sincere and not hypocrite that is not pleasure to the Lord. And so notice that in verses 18, 19, and 20, Amos chapter 5, here is the first reason for the first woe judgment.

Look at the reason in verses 18, 19, and 20. He says, Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord. To what end is it for you? The day of the Lord is darkness and not light. As if a man did flee from a lion and a bear met him or went into the house and leaned his hand on a wall and a serpent beat him. Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness and not light or even very dark and no brightness in it? Let's just pause here for a moment. I would like you to understand this expression. I would like you to see a chart in a moment here.

And I would like you to understand that the day of the Lord, whenever you read in the Hebrew Tanakh, in the Hebrew scripture, about the day of the Lord, in Hebrew we call it Yom Yehovah, Yom Adonai. It's a day in which God is going to come in judgment upon his people. it is a day that will actually before blessing going to come there will be judgment that's going to come first now again there are many views of bible teachers today and i just want to mention our view or my view what i teach and what i believe i believe we live today in what is known to be the ecclesia the day the days of the assembly the church age jew and gentiles are united together in the body of Messiah, while Israel, our nation, is still awaiting the day of restoration.

Romans 11, verse 25 says, blindness in part happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles become in, and so all Israel shall be saved. It takes us to the future day. So we live in a time, right in this time, in which is called the assembly age or the church age, the Messiah died on a Roman cross every one of us that have accepted Yeshua the Messiah became part of the congregation the assembly the called out one but there will be an end to the church age which will come when the church when the assembly going to be taken up to heaven to be in the presence of the Lord and the Lord will rapture his own people and take them to be with him in glory When that will happen and the church, the assembly, the Kehillah, the Ekklesia will be taken to heaven, then we're going to begin what is known to us all from scripture as the tribulation period.

The tribulation period is Daniel last week. It's seven years in length. And that is known in the Bible as the day of the Lord. what does that mean it is a day in which God will come in judgment number one upon the world number two to refine his people Israel and number three to culminate with the second coming of the Messiah and that finally he will establish what is known to us the millennial age the messianic kingdom so this is more or less just to give an idea what we believe and teach and understand from scripture and of course there are many views today but for us we understand that and teach that we live in these days of the assembly that jew and gentiles are united together in the body of messiah and we believe that this end this day of the church age will come to a conclusion And then finally, there will be the seven-year tribulation, which will culminate with Israel restored at the second coming of the Messiah, and finally going to be the reign and rule of the Messiah, where Satan is going to be bound for a thousand years, until finally there will be the eternal order, when Satan is loosened at the end of the thousand years.

And then finally we have the judgment of the Lord upon the whole world that remain rejecting him at the end of the Messianic kingdom and he will establish the eternal order. This is called the new heaven and new earth of the Revelation 21 and 22. So back to Amos, please, for a moment. In Amos chapter 5, but notice what happened here. The Lord is speaking through Amos in verses 18, 19, and 20 And he says to some of the people of Israel who desire for the day of the Lord that he will come. Notice it says in verse 18, woe unto you the desire, the day of the Lord, to what end is it for you?

He said to them in verse 18, and he said to them, the day of the Lord is darkness. It says it's not light. In other words, why do you desire the day of the Lord? Now pause here once again with me for a moment as we look at this. You see, because, beloved brothers and sisters, the tribulation period, because they knew that the end of the tribulation will bring the millennial age, the kingdom reign, and Israel restored and blessed, they say, wow, we really want the day of the Lord. They desired the day of the Lord. But they were mistaken to assume that they're going to be exempt from the punishment of God because they will have to experience the punishment of God as well.

Now again, if you just pause with me and think with me, when Amos was preaching this message to the northern kingdom of Israel, if you look at the map one more time, when Amos was preaching, do you know when he was preaching? He was preaching there sometime around 780-770 B.C. 45-50 years later, Israel will be taken captive by the Assyrians. Imagine from 772 B.C. up till today, over 2,700 years pass by. And Amos was already speaking about a future day that is yet to come in a coming day. And so he didn't see at all the days in which you and I live in today.

All what he saw, soon Israel is going to be taken by the Assyrians, then the day of the Lord will come, the judgment will come, and ultimately Israel will be restored into the Messianic kingdom and blessing will flow. He didn't see the days in which you and I live in today. He didn't realize that we're going to still take so many generations will pass until it's going to come to pass. You and I know that because we live in today and we have the complete canon of Scripture in our hands. So he says, woe unto you. The desire, the day of the Lord, and I want you to know he's saying to them that the day of the Lord, he said in verse 18 and 19, he said, listen, it will be a day of darkness, a day of darkness and not light.

There is a tribulation period before the Messianic kingdom will come. There will be a time of darkness and sadness and sorrow that Israel will experience and the whole world will experience. Now if you just for a moment turn to Zephaniah for a moment, just to read a couple of verses in another prophet. Zephaniah chapter 1 and verses 14 and 15. Look how Zephaniah described the day of the Lord. Zephaniah 1 verse 14, the great day of the Lord is near. It is near and hastened greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord, the mighty men shall cry there bitterly. Verse 15, that day, the day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of cloud and of thick darkness.

verse 16 a day of the trumpet and alarm against the fan city and against the high tower verse 17 and i will bring distress that's the tribulation period i will bring distress upon men and they shall walk like blind men because they have sinned against the lord and their blood shall be poured out as dust and their flesh as the dung Sephaniah chapter 1 neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord's wrath but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.

But you see, beloved brothers and sisters, misunderstanding what the day of the Lord is caused these individuals from among our people Israel to say, wow, we really want the day of the Lord to come. Not understanding that the day of the Lord is a day of trouble. It will culminate with the second coming of the Messiah and the blessing of restoration of the people of Israel. But the whole seven years of tribulation is a terrible time, beloved brothers and sisters, which Amos is seeking to instruct the people of Israel. And so he's telling them in verse 19, look how he described it in verse 19, the horrors that will exist on the day of tribulation, the day of the Lord.

We read here in verse 19, if a man did flee from a lion and a bear met him or went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall and a serpent beat him. In other words, a man will not be able to flee out of the trouble that he is going to experience when the Lord is going to come in judgment. Notice verse 20 says, shall not the day of the Lord be darkness and not light, even very dark and no brightness in it. So don't desire the day of the Lord, Amos is saying to Israel in those days, because it is only going to be against you because of your sin and disobedience and rebellious against me.

You know, sometimes I hear even today people sing, and we sometimes even sing that song, for the day of the Lord is come. But we don't understand that the day of the Lord is the day of judgment. It is only after the day of the Lord, after the seven years of tribulation, that there will be this millennial age when the Messiah will rule and reign, Israel restored, blessing to the world during the millennial, the kingdom age. But until that seven year of tribulation, the day of the Lord is going to be a day of trouble, and the Bible settles it. Amos tells us, and Tephaniah tells us, and even Yeshua himself in Matthew chapter 24 mentioned this specifically about the tribulation period, and he said, and I want to read this verse for us as well, in Matthew 24, it says here, I'm just going to read this one single verse in chapter 24.

Yeshua, look what Yeshua said in these verses. He says, he said to them, For then shall be great tribulation, verse 21, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, nor, nor ever shall be. That tribulation, Jeremiah, call it in Jeremiah 30, verse 7, Sarat Yaakov, Jacob's trouble. Terrible days will come. And Amos saying, woe unto you the desire, the day of the Lord. It's not going to be a day of light for you. It's going to be a day of darkness. And if you haven't turned your heart to him, you will end up to experience the judgment of God. That's what he's saying to the northern kingdom of Israel.

And so now notice not only that, that's the first reason that he gave them this warning, but again, notice in verse 21 to verse 26 of Amos chapter 5, he gave them the second reason why they will experience their first woe judgment. And you notice what the second reason, notice that the Lord hated and despised hypocrisy. He hated and despised religion without reality. This is exactly the danger that you and I are today. Just have a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. Religion, you see, that's what religion does. It does it in the past, in the history of our people Israel, and it's existing today in the history of the church.

The very same story, the very same experience. So in verses 21 and verse 22, the Lord tells them that he despised. Look what he's saying to them. He says, verse 21, I hate, I despise your feast days. The Hebrew word is chageichem. He says, and I will not smell your solemn assemblies. The solemn assembly has to do with atzarotichem in Hebrew. You have all sort of gathering together, and you have all sort of external time together, very religious activity and so on. And God says, not only that I hate it, I despise it. I don't enjoy it at all. He continues and he says, he says in verse 22, Though ye offer me burnt offering and your meal offering, I will not accept them, neither will I regard the peace offering of your fat beasts.

In other words, they were going through a form. Sacrifices were offered. They were going through the normal, you might say normal motion that God is expected from Israel to offer sacrifices and so on. But God says, listen, I don't need your sacrifices if your heart is not in there. What's the point? You go through the motion, you have a religious activity, but your heart is not there. And beloved brothers and sisters, listen, every feast that was given to our forefathers, the people of Israel, pointed to the Mashiach. Every sacrifices that were expected from the people of Israel to offer was pointed to the Messiah. The blood that was shed and poured upon the altar.

The feast that was celebrated, whether it is Passover or whether it is Sukkot, everything pointed to the Messiah of Israel who will come in the fullness of time. But if you offer those sacrifices and celebrate those feasts and reject the word of God and continue on in your own way in life, what's the point? I despise it. I actually hate it. Verse 23 says, take thou from me the noise, listen to this, The noise of your songs. Don't sing. He's saying, can you imagine? Take this noise, it become a noise to him. For I will not hear the melody of thy vials. See, brothers and sisters, we don't speak about Israel now only because it's applied to us.

We can go through the motion, be religious, but our hearts are far away from the Lord. Oh yeah, we go to the church meeting, we sit in the pew, we sing the song, we bring the sacrifice, but our hearts are hardened and not broken before the Lord. And the Lord says very clearly, says, really, I really hate it, I despise it, take it away from me. God is not going to be fooled by man. He knows the hearts of all of us and he's saying this to Israel because they were going through the motion. They continued to go through the motion and you notice I found it extremely interesting because in verse 21 he said, I will not smell your solemn assemblies.

What does it mean to smell the solemn assembly? You see, when the solemn assemblies were practiced in biblical days. There were sacrifices offered and the sacrifices rose up to God. And the aroma, the smell of the innocent lamb that was killed spoke to God about his Messiah, his son Yeshua the Messiah. And when you offer all these sacrifices that really doesn't come from the heart and he doesn't speak of the Messiah God says I'm not going to smell it it doesn't give me any enjoyment and that's why he's saying I'm not going to smell it he said put it away I don't need you to bring this to me because I will not listen to your song I don't want to have your sacrifices offered because to me it has no value you know in Genesis chapter 8 when Noah came out of the ark and he offered a sacrifice.

We read about this very interesting in chapter 8. We find out how much satisfaction the Lord found in the sacrifice that Noah had offered. And I want you just to listen to this. It says in Genesis 8 verse 20, and Noah built an altar unto the Lord and he took of every, listen to it, every clean beast and every clean fowl and he offered it as a burn offering upon the altar. And then it says in verse 21, And the Lord smelled the sweet saviour unto the Lord. And he said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground anymore for man's sake, for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth.

When Noah offered the burnt offering, we call it the Ola in Hebrew, that which rises up to God, it spoke to God about the supreme sacrifice that will come. And God was satisfied. And on the basis of this sacrifice, which pointed to the Messiah of Israel, the Savior of the world, God could forgive sin. But to go through the motions that have happened here in Amos chapter 5 in the days of old, that did not satisfy God and therefore he said to them, I hate, I despise, take thou away from me your noise of your songs, I will not hear the melody of your vials. God was sad when his beloved nation Israel conducted themselves in such a way.

And I can tell you that God is sad when you and I are having merely a form of religion and not reality in our hearts, where we fall in love with Yeshua and seek to live for him. And we know how much we fail ourselves. Day by day we are struggling with it when the world is creeping in, when Satan is attacking us, when the flesh is rising up, and how we are struggling to live out our life for the Lord in a way that is pleasing to Him. And that's why the Lord will also expect from us to learn from what He said through Amos to the people of Israel.

So notice now in verse 24, He is giving them their answer. in order for you to do the right thing and to be restored, he said, but let justice run down as waters and righteousness as a mighty stream. In other words, do the right thing. Let judgment or correctly justice in Hebrew mishpat do the right thing. Be fair, be right. Then he said, and righteousness, let it pour like a stream. In other words, when God's people do the right thing and then bring the sacrifices, speaking of the Messiah, God can accept it. But when we go through the motion, oh yeah, we go through the feast, we go through the offering, the sacrifices, but in our hearts we are not there where the Lord is.

How can the Lord appreciate that? He can't. He can't, and that's why he said to Israel, he gave them a challenge in verse 24. It says, let judgment run down as waters. Let do the right thing. Let justice run down and let righteousness be as a mighty stream. Do the right thing. Seek to please the Lord and honor Him. And then you can come with the sacrifice and then still please the Lord. Now, you know that sadly, when you read those verses, many times, even from our own Jewish circle, The conservative Jewish people who do not believe that Yeshua is the Messiah know what they say.

They use this verse. And they say, you see, God does not want sacrifices. What he wants is he will do tzedakah, do the right thing, do good things. We don't need a blood atonement. You see, he says here, let justice run down as water. Let righteousness be as a mighty stream. We will do the right thing. We'll do tzedakah, do good deeds. And God will be happy. We don't need the sacrifices because God said, I hate and I despise it. But you see, them like they and many others don't understand that it's still necessary to offer the sacrifice and of course it is the Messiah's blood that had to be shed because even the best of us who do the right thing still comes from an old sinful nature.

And that nature, sin nature had to be judged and it was judged when Yeshua the Messiah paid for our sins when he died on the Roman cross and so this verse is not to be used in such a way this verse means that that come and offer the sacrifices but don't do it out of a hardness of your heart as a religious man or religious woman do it and also live your life in a way that is pleasing to me Have your heart tender, do the right thing, seek to please the Lord in your life, live a godly life. That's what he's really saying. And so in verse 25 and verse 26, the Lord reminded Israel even of past history.

He said in verse 25, he said, Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness, 40 years, O house of Israel? You see, when you came out of the land of Egypt, you offered sacrifices and offering during the wilderness journey unto me. But in additional to that, look at this, verse 26. But ye have borne the tabernacles of your Moloch. And Kiun, he says, your images, the star of your God, which ye made to yourself. In other words, he says, even though you offered sacrifices during the times of the wilderness journey between Egypt to Canaan. Yet you were not always true to me in a sense because you also even in those days he says you have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Kiyun, your images the star of your God which is made to yourself.

In other words they had all sort of things that have allowed themselves to be crept in into the life of the history of Israel which happened in the past and is happening in the day when Amos is sharing with Israel and warning them of judgment to come. I want you to turn with me to Acts chapter 7 for a moment and you will see that Stephen, the first Hebrew martyr, have mentioned Amos there in his communication with the Sanhedrin at the early days of the birth of the assembly, the Ecclesia. Look what he said, what we read in Acts chapter 7, verse 42 and 43. This is the voice or the words of Stephen, who was speaking to the Sanhedrin.

And you notice what he is sharing with them, the whole history of Israel. And he arrived to verse 42, and he said to them, Then God turned, and he gave them up to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets. Who does he refer to? Amos. And he said, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts? and sacrifices by the space of 40 years in the wilderness? Yea, ye took up the tabernacles of Moloch and the star of your God, Eranfen, figures which ye made to worship them, and I will carry you away beyond Babylon. You see, Stephen is quoting what Amos had shared with the northern kingdom of Israel as a warning for the coming judgment and he's saying look at your behavior oh people of Israel you have offered unto me sacrifices in the wilderness but it was not only that because you violated my word and you have borne the tabernacle of your moloch and kiyun, your images, the star of your God, which ye have made to yourself, or which ye made to yourself.

And now notice in verse 27, where he closed the first woe judgment because of hypocrisy. He says, here is what's going to happen, Israel. In verse 27, we read, therefore, dispersion will come. In Hebrew, we call it Galut Ashur. Galut means the captivity, the dispersion, is the diaspora, Galut in Hebrew, and it is Galut Ashur, the Galut of Assyria. And so he said in verse 27, Therefore, will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus? Notice that Damascus is present-day Assyria. He's saying that he's going to take them beyond Damascus. Here is Damascus, here is, and he's going to take them beyond Damascus because Assyria, in Hebrew, Ashur, is greater than Syria.

It's a larger space. One of the kingdoms that existed in those years, and the Assyrians came and they took the nation of Israel beyond the city of Damascus, says the Lord, whose name is the God of hosts. And so, beloved brothers and sisters, the first woe judgment is mentioned in Amos 5, verse 18 to 27. Now here's the second woe judgment, is the 14 verses that following. Remember in biblical days, we don't have a breakdown, Amos 1, Amos 2, Amos 3, Amos 4, Amos 5. The divisions are made by men. So he continues now, and he's speaking about the second woe that is going to come upon the northern kingdom. And the second woe that God is really, you might say, unhappy to pronounce.

is the second reason is because of the fact that many in the northern kingdom have self-security and self, you might say, confidence. They did not trust in the Lord. They thought that everything is fine with them. They are not, they are pretty good. They are okay. They are the people of God, the chosen people of God. So they had self, you might say, self-security and self-confidence. you know, everything is going to be fine. After all, God is not going to judge His own people. We are the chosen people. We are the people of Israel. And we learn here that because of self-security, because of self-confidence and lack in trusting Jehovah, here He is now bringing about the second woe judgment.

And so notice in verses 1 and 2 that Israel trusted in the security of living on the mountain of Samaria. It's a high mountain. If you go to the land of Israel, you will see this high mountain of Samaria, just the same like the high mountain of Jerusalem. And here in verse 1 of Amos chapter 6, Amos is saying, Woe unto them that are at ease in Zion, they trust in the mountain of Samaria, which are named chief of the nations to whom the house of Israel came. So you see, they have self-confidence while we are living in Shomron, in Samaria, and a mountain, and we're going to be pretty well protected.

No enemy can come against us, and we are secure, and we are in a good position. And the Lord said unto them, woe unto them that sit at ease. You know, to have at ease. You know, it's like the believer today. Sometimes we can live at ease. You know, we can say, no, no, I don't need to judge myself. I don't need to have self-control. I can continue in my own way. I can do my own thing. And surely, slowly and surely, we find out that after all, the sin is so easily beset us. And it doesn't take too long. And we're kind of shifting away from the presence of the Lord.

We know it personally. We know it by experience. So he says to them, oh, listen, you are sitting at ease in Zion. He's including also Jerusalem because later on, Jerusalem is going to be taken captive as well. You trust in a mountain of Samaria, Har Shomron in Hebrew. He says, you are not realizing that soon it will come. The judgment will come. So he says to them in verse 2, he says, just look around. God reminded Israel that greater and stronger city than them fell. And now notice what he said, pass through Hamat. I should say the first one pass into Kalea or Kalena and then he said and see and from thence go ye to Hamat the great and then he said and go down to Gat of the Philistine and then he said be they better than this kingdom or their border greater than their border or than your border.

He's saying to them, Israel, don't you realize that Kalea and Hamat and Gat were already taken in judgment already earlier? Go and watch and you see. Do you think that your borders are greater? You think that you are better than they? Nothing going to secure you, even a mountain of Shomron, of Samaria. In verses 1 and 2, he's giving them this warning. He says, don't be at ease, don't think that the judgment will not catch up with you, it will surely come upon you. And then verses 3 to 6, Amos 6, verses 3 to 6, Israel really lacked self-control and careless about others of the nation. And you can see the list of the things that he's mentioned in verse 3, verse 4, verse 5, and verse 6.

Let me just point them to you. Ye, in verse 3, number 1, that put far away the evil day and caused the seat of violence to come near. You put away, you think, you know, later on we are not too worried about preparing for the future day. Or you put away evil day and what you do, you allow violence to come near. You carry on with things that are dishonoring to the Lord. He says, what's the point? You will see that the judgment will come upon you because of the fact that you are blindly put away the coming day of judgment. Secondly, in verse 4, that lay upon beds of ivory and stretch themselves upon their couches and eat the lambs out of the flock and the calves out of the meats of the stall.

Israel lived in ease and in carelessness. Imagine, they were living in beds of ivory and they were stretching themselves on the couches and they're having good time while the others are suffering and they did not recognize that the rest of their brethren have suffered while they abused and used the remaining of the nation. They would sit at ease and they lay upon beds of ivory. In verse 5 is the third reason. It says they chant and invent instrumental music. You see, it's so nice if you sit down on a couch and on a bed of ivory. Now you can develop some music so you'll have it nicer for yourself, right?

So that chant to the sound of the vial and invent to themselves instruments of music like David. It is amazing that he takes them to the time of David when David was playing the harp. And you remember who he was playing the harp for? For King Saul. And King Saul eventually took a javelin and he wanted to kill him. And so they were sitting at ease, they were inventing musical instrument, and they were not realizing that the judgment of God is coming. They needed to straighten matters with the Lord, and they didn't do so. Oh, yes, later on, they push away further and further the day of judgment.

And it will surely come, God is saying to them in the next verses. Verse 6 is the fourth thing. They drink wine, but they don't drink it from a little cup. They drink it from a big bowl. Notice that, verse 6. They drink wine in bowls. We don't need this little cup or small cup, but we'll drink the big bowl so we're going to be drunk and forget about what is ahead of us in the coming day. Drink wine in bowls and listen, anoint themselves with the chief ointments. And then he said at the end of verse 6, but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.

In other words, they living a life carelessly without to pause and recognize, wait a minute, Amos is already telling us what is going to come, The judgment of God that is going to come. So they did not care at all. They were not grieved for the affliction of Joseph. Now why does he mention Joseph? Again, to remind you. Joseph, we learn that Yosef, according to Genesis chapter 48, was the father of Ephraim and Menashe. There were those two tribes that were part of the northern kingdom, the kingdom of Israel. If we look at the map once again, they were part, you see, here's Menashe. And you notice that Ephraim in the center here and Ephraim and Menashe were sons of Yosef.

And listen, the first year of Am, the king of the northern kingdom, the king of Israel, he came from the tribe of Ephraim who was a son of Joseph. So whenever you say Joseph or whenever you say Ephraim, you really mean all the ten northern tribes of Israel because the first king of the northern tribe was a descendant of Ephraim by the name of Jeroboam, Jeroboam in Hebrew. So what did they do? They did not pause and grieve for the affliction of the rest of the poor people in the northern kingdom and so on. They did not care for them, and they pushed off the day that is coming, the day of judgment.

They have laid in beds of ivory. They have drunk from bowls of wine. They have created for themselves musical instruments. They live in ease, and they didn't realize that judgment is coming. When I read this passage, I was immediately directed to Revelation chapter 3 to the seventh church called the Laodicean church that Yeshua the Messiah wrote about when he was speaking to the apostle Yohanan, John, on the island of Patmos. He said to the, listen to this, to the Laodicean church in which you and I live in today, the last days of the church age. Revelation 3 and verse 14, and unto the angel of the church of the Laodicean write, These things say as the Amen, the faithful and the true witness, the beginning of the creation of God.

I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would that thou were cold or hot. So then because, listen to that, because that thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. He continued, because thou sayest, I am rich and increase with goods and have need of nothing. And you knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. You don't realize your spiritual state. I need nothing. I'm okay. But you don't realize that you are, and he gave him the least wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. And he said a little bit later on, he says, Behold, I stand at the door and I knock.

If any men hear my voice and open the door, I will come in unto him and will sup with him and he with me. To him that overcometh, I will grant a seat with me in my throne. Yeshua the Messiah speaks to the assemblies like God through Amos is speaking to the nation of Israel. The Lord Jesus, the Messiah, used a man by the name of Yohanan, John, to give us the message of the revelation. While God used Amos to give the northern kingdom the message that we have in the book of Amos. And so now let's just draw towards the end of the second world judgment.

In verses 7 to the end, verse 7 to 14, God promised that he will send Israel to captivity. Eventually, it will bring about the captivity of 721-722 B.C. And so notice just these remarks in verse 7. Israel will go captive and he said all the feasting will come to an end. I'm reading verse 7. Therefore, notice the word therefore. Therefore now shall they go captive with the first that go captive and the banquet of them that stretch themselves shall be removed. In other words, they're going to be going captive and all the banquets that they have, drinking from a big bowl of wine, sitting in an ivory bed, putting far away the evil day, and then, as he says, we're getting musical instruments to kind of play, put them at ease.

They will have to have an end to this banquet. They will be taken captive. Then notice verses 8, 9, 10, and 11. Many in Israel will die. Sadly, brothers and sisters, it happened in 722, 721 B.C. Look at verse 8. The Lord God has sworn by himself, says the Lord, the God of hosts, I will uphold the excellency of Jacob and hate the palaces, his palaces. Therefore will I deliver up the city with all that is therein. The city is the city of Shomron. Har Shomron, the city of Samaria. God said, I'm going to deliver Samaria to captivity. Verse 9, look what's going to happen. In verse 9, he gives us like a language as it's those who remain there speaking to each other.

Verses 9 and 10. I read earlier verse 8, but now verses 9 and 10. And it shall come to pass, if there remain ten men in one house, that they shall die. And a man's uncle shall take him up, and he that burneth him to bring out the bones out of the house, and shall say unto him that is by the sides of the house, is there yet any with thee? And he shall say no. Then shall he say hold thy tongue for we may not make mention of the name of the Lord. In other words so many will die when the Assyrian will come and take the people the northern kingdom of Israel to Assyria.

Those that will remain you remember we said that there will be in earlier passage there will be 10% to remain. Some of those will die during the judgment of the 722, 721 B.C. And notice, those that will remain, it will come to pass, verse 9 and 10, that some will come out of the house to bring the bones, to burn them. Not to bury them, to burn them. Notice as it says in verse 9, he that burneth him. In other words, they will do things that they will never do. Cremation, you might say. In the scripture, we are taught the burial instruction, but the time was so bad that they were just wanting to put the body away by burning them, get them out of the way.

And then someone, his uncle, will ask him, as it says here in verse 10, he will ask him and he will say, is there yet anybody remain alive? And when he says no, no, no, then he's going to say, shh, don't hold your peace, Don't say, don't say anything that we may not mention the name of the Lord because they understood by now that Jehovah came in judgment. He said, don't mention the name of Jehovah because you're going to heal and the judgment will fall upon even those that remain. And notice verse 11, give us the answer. For behold, the Lord commandeth that he will smite the great house with the breeches and the little house with clefts.

It is the Lord that brought judgment upon His own people. The great house and the small house. The rich and the poor. The judgment of God came during that day. Don't mention the name of the Lord lest He hear you and He will know that you are alive as if God doesn't know. And He will bring the judgment upon you as well. How sad, beloved brothers and sisters, what we hear here in this passage. And notice now verse 12 and 13, the Lord shows Israel that sin cannot go unpunished. Leviticus tells us, be sure your sins will find you out. Galatians 6 tells us, whatsoever man soweth, that shall he also reap.

Sin has to be judged. Yeshua was judged on our behalf. And he paid a price for our sins. But notice what he says here in verse 12 and 13. Shall horses run upon the rock? It's not possible. Horses don't run upon rocks. Horses, if they run upon rocks, they will slide and fall. Then he continued at 12 and he said, Will one, this is a horse, will a horse plow there with an oxen? And the answer, of course, is no, it's not possible. horse does not plow with an oxen. They don't fit. And then he continued in verse 12, for ye have turned justice into gall and the fruit of righteousness into hemlock.

In other words, you have turned judgment or correctly justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into bitterness. You have twisted everything around. In other words, what he said earlier in the previous chapter 5 in verse 14, he says, Seek good and not evil. Verse 15, Hate evil and love good, but what they do, they reversed it. And what he's really saying, because you reversed it, because you have chosen, you turn justice into poison and righteousness into bitterness, sin has to come because it is not possible that God will not judge sin because like it's not possible that a horse will ride on rocks or a horse and an ox will plow together, it's not possible that sin will not be judged.

It will ultimately be judged. And so verse 13, Ye which rejoice in a thing of naught, which say, have we not taken to us horns by our own strength? They trusted in themselves and not in the Lord. And he said to them, sin will have to come against, sin judgment will have to come against you because of the sin that you have continuously carried on in your life. And surely the judgment will come. And that's how he concludes the third, hear this word judgment in verse 14 of chapter 6 by saying, the Lord promised a judgment against the house of Israel will surely come to pass. And I'm reading verse 14.

But behold, I will raise up against you a nation. That was the Assyrian. O house of Israel, Beit Israel, saith the Lord, the God of hosts. And they shall afflict you from the entering in of Hamat. This is in the north of Israel. Because they are the northern kingdom. Unto the river of the wilderness. This is the southern part of Israel. They're going to come from the north and they're going, as it says here, they will afflict you from the north to the south. The whole land will be devastated when the Assyrian will come. And beloved brothers and sisters, by God using twice, in chapter 5 and verse 18, in chapter 6 and verse 1, the word hoi, whoa, it must have grieved his heart.

when he had to punish his beloved nation of Israel. God's strange work is judgment. He loved to show grace, but judgment must come. And surely judgment did come in 722-721 B.C. because God is holy and sin had to be punished. And as we continuously refer to that verse in 1 Peter chapter 4 and verse 17, for the time is come, the judgment must begin at the house of God. And if it first began at us, what shall be of them that obey not the gospel of God? May the Lord speak to us, remind us of that, and help us continuously to turn to Him, to recognize our weakness, to recognize that we need His help, we need His grace all the time, because otherwise God will have to discipline even the people whom He had chosen and brought unto Himself.

May the Lord bless His Word. Can we say amen to that?