Shabbat Shalom everyone. I would like you to open your Bibles this morning to the Book of Amos. We are in Amos Chapter 8 today, and I would like you please to read with us together the whole 8th chapter today. So, Amos Chapter 8, it's a rather short chapter. We're going to read chapter 8, verses 1 to 14, as we're moving along in the study of the prophet Amos. Amos, as we mentioned once and again, was a prophet that God had raised from the city, or I should say, from the town of Tekoa. And he was a shepherd that was raised by God to present the message of the judgment of God upon the northern kingdom of Israel, who departed from the will of the Lord.

So, in the 8th chapter, verse 1, we read: "Thus hath the Lord God showed unto me, and behold, a basket of summer fruit." And he said, Amos, what seest thou? "And I said, a basket of summer fruit." Then said the Lord unto me, "The end is come upon my people of Israel. I will not again pass by them anymore." "And the songs of the temple shall be howling in the day," says the Lord God, "There shall be many dead bodies in every place.

They shall cast them forth with silence." "Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail," "saying, when will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn?" "And the Shabbat, that we may set forth wheat, making the eifah small and the shekel great," "and falsifying the balances by deceit." "That we may buy the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of shoes, yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat." "The Lord had sworn by the excellency of Jacob, surely I will never forget any of their works." "Shall not the land tremble for this?" "And every one mourn that dwelleth therein." "And it

shall rise up holy as a flood, and it shall be cast out and drowned as by the flood of Egypt." "And it shall come to pass in that day," says the Lord God, "that I will cause the sun to go down at noon." "And I will darken the earth in the clear day." "And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation." "And I will bring up sackcloth upon all loyens, and boldness upon every head." "And I will make it as the mourning of the only sun, and the end thereof as a bitter day." "And all the days come," says the Lord God, "and I will send a famine in the

land, not a famine of bread, nor thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord." "And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east." "They shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it." "In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst." "They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, 'Thy God, O Don liveth, and the manner of Be'er Sheva liveth, even they shall fall, and never rise up again." "This is the end of Amos chapter 8." "Very solemn chapter, beloved brothers and sisters, as you and I read it, and listen to

this passage." "It's very humbling, because this is the word of the Lord." "This is what God have given to our forefathers, the people of Israel, through the prophet Amos." "The year sometime around 770, 780 B.C., before he eventually judged the northern kingdom of Israel by bringing the Assyrian to take them captive." "And since 722 B.C., up till the present day today, beloved brothers and sisters, the northern kingdom of Israel, of them as the ten tribes, are scattered among the nations of the world." "And they are now still finding themselves all over the nations of the world, because of the discipline of God upon the northern kingdom of Israel." "And Amos, this man that was raised

by the Lord, he was, as it says in Amos chapter 1 and verse 1, "the words of Amos, who was among the herdmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah, the king of Judah, and the days of Yeruvah, the son of Yeruvah, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake." "These are the words that God have used Amos to present before the northern kingdom of Israel." "Now, not all of us are always with us through a regular meeting such as this, our Shabbat, Saturday meeting, and I always have to remind us again of this prophecy, and to remind us that Israel, the nation, was divided into two nations.

Instead of having one nation, twelve tribes of Israel, what happened, because of the sin of King Solomon, God had caused the separation to happen in the midst of the nation of Israel." "God had taken ten tribes out of the kingdom of Solomon through his son Rehuvam, and he had given it to another man by the name of Yeruvam." "Israel was divided; the north, Israel; the south, Yehuda, Judah." "These two nations, which is one people, did not always treat each other in the right way, and they were scattered, now divided from among each other, no longer enjoying that which they have had in the days of King David, and even in the early days of King Shlomo, King Solomon." So now as the nation is divided, we can see that clearly here we have again the northern kingdom of Israel, and the southern kingdom of Judah.

And they were surrounded, of course, by those nations, all the nations that oppose consistently the whole nation of Israel. "But how sad, beloved brothers and sisters, that the people of God were divided in those days." And since the apostle Shaul Paul tells us that whatsoever things were happening to Israel serve to be an example and a lesson for us, we know that by the way of application, this challenge is for the assembly, the church today. Sadly, the church, the assembly, is just as divided in these last days as Israel was divided in days of old. So he raised a man, a man by the name of Amos.

And as Amos came from the area called Tekoa, Amos was just an ordinary Jewish young man who was a shepherd. He was going in the field there by Betlehem area. The Tekoa was not too far from south of Betlehem, and right somewhere there in the field, in the area there in Jerusalem, Betlehem area, he was a shepherd, and God called him and he says, Amos, I want you to rise up and to go to speak to the northern kingdom because judgment is going to come upon the northern kingdom. Now what happened with the northern kingdom is that they no longer retain the truth of God.

They have embraced idolatry. They have introduced these two golden calves in the location in Dan, right in the north here, and in the center right here in Betel. And instead of worshipping and coming to the temple in Jerusalem, they remained right there and went all the way to the north, worshipping, beloved brothers and sisters, golden calves. Worshipping golden calves. Well, what do you think the God of Israel will have to do? He loved his people. He loved the nation of Israel. They are his chosen nation. But when his own people have gone astray, he must come against them in discipline. And he turned to be, instead of their leader, to be their enemy because now he is ready to discipline his people.

So Amos was raised. According to Amos chapter 7, in the verses that we read earlier in verse 14, Amos said, "I am not a prophet, neither was I a son of a prophet, but I was a herdman and a gatherer of a sycamore fruit, and the Lord took me as I followed the flock. And the Lord said unto me, Go and prophesy unto my people Israel." So Amos, what could he do? When God called him, and he, faithfully, in obedience to the Lord, have gone and began to speak the word of the Lord to the nation of Israel, who knew that he was coming from Judea, and he is not from Samaria, from the north, and they oppose him, they were not so happy for him to present before them the word of the Lord.

So the whole book of Amos is a book of judgment, judgment after judgment after judgment, that God is pronouncing upon his beloved nation of Israel, who have gone astray. Amos received, first of all, in chapter 1 and 2, eight prophecies. Those eight prophecies were given over all those nations: Tyres, Damascus, Ammon, Moab, Edom, and Gaza. Those are six nations, plus Judah and Israel. You have eight prophecies that Amos gave against all those nations together. But from chapter 3 on to the remaining of the book of Amos, it was directly prophecies and sermons and visions that were directed against the northern kingdom of Israel. chapter 3, 4, 5, and 6, God gave Amos to give three sermons of the coming judgment against Israel.

And now we are in the final chapters, chapter 7, 8, and 9. In these final three chapters, God gave Amos visions to see. And every vision represented a judgment that was going to come. If you remember, we have studied previously in chapter 7, we have studied those first three visions that Amos received. You remember that? Amos received the vision in Amos chapter 7, verses 1 to 3, the vision of the locust. In Hebrew, we call it Lekesh. The Lekesh came and the Lekesh was used by the Lord to destroy the land of Israel. Thus says the Lord, God showed unto me, and behold, he formed grasshoppers, locusts, in the beginning of the showing up of the latter growth.

And lo, it was the latter growth after the king's mowing. In other words, this is Amos 7 and verse 1, God have showed him the locusts, and the locusts represent the judgment of God upon the land of Israel. And all what Israel had for themselves have been taken by the Lord through these locusts, these insects. And you can just imagine, the crop have been destroyed, will be destroyed, the future had to happen, and Israel will experience a terrible time in the land. Secondly, we have already looked in our previous meeting together, in Amos chapter 7, verses 4 to 6, the second vision judgment was the judgment of fire. In Hebrew, we call it Esh, fire.

Fire would come, will destroy, you can see, destroy the crop, will destroy everything in the land. And so we read in Amos chapter 7, verse 4, Thus has the Lord God showed unto me, and behold, the Lord God called to an old by fire, and it devoured the great deep, and did it up a part. This is Amos chapter 7, and verse 4, And the Lord came in judgment, and he devoured the great deep, and did it up a part. In other words, the judgment of fire caused Israel to lose all its possession there in the land of Israel. That was the second vision that Amos had received. Well, the third vision that Amos had received, and we talked about it in a previous ministry meeting together, that was the judgment vision of the plumb line.

And that usage of the plumb line, look at the plumb line right here. The plumb line is a string that has a weight at the bottom, and it's really straight. If it's situated straight, it really shows anything else that is crooked, anything else that is not balanced or not level, is revealed by the Lord himself. Well, we read in Amos chapter 7, verse 7, Thus he showed me, and behold, the Lord stood upon a wall made by a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. To make an application for this judgment vision. And that judgment vision represented the truth of the word of God had been presented before Israel.

Anything that was crooked, anything that was not right, that was sinful, God will have to judge. In a sense, beloved brothers and sisters, God revealed to Israel how their conduct and lifestyle was. It's like in our life, as we mentioned it, the word of God is for us is like a plumb line. When we look at the word of God, God speaks to us through his word, and we know whether we live in a right way or not by the fact that the word of the Lord is presented unto us. And so, in the seventh chapter, we saw those three visions. Then, beloved brothers and sisters, now we come to chapter 8.

And in this chapter, there is the fourth vision. And that fourth vision is very interesting, because if you notice in the first verse, and I'm going to read Amos chapter 8 and verse 1, notice the kind of interesting vision that it is. It says here, "Thus has the Lord showed unto me, and behold, a basket of summer fruit." And I would like you to look at this next image here. Amos is now seeing a fourth vision, but it's kind of a little bit tricky to understand it, but what does he see? He sees a basket, and inside that basket there is what is called summer fruit. In other words, the fruit that was harvested and brought in, and that fruit is called, here most Bible translators call it summer fruit.

Now, if you read the Hebrew text, the Hebrew text do not call it summer fruit, because the name fruit is not even mentioned in Amos chapter 8 and verse 1. I was looking at all the translation that I could look upon, and every translation called it a basket of summer fruit. But the Hebrew text says that it was really a cage of summer. That's all, a cage of summer. I presume all the translators understood that that cage is like a basket, and the summer represents the fact that there is the gleaning that come at the summertime that the people of Israel will glean, and there will be the fruit in there, and that's why they added the word fruit or the word peirot.

But the word peirot or fruit is not mentioned in the text. So, just to give you an idea, when Amos was looking in that vision, what did he say? We don't call it a basket, but it's called a cage. It's like a cage of birds, or a cage when you catch up someone, and you put inside the cage, in some cases you put animals or birds. That's why it's called kluv in Hebrew. A kluv is when you catch some animal or you catch something, you put it inside, and then eventually you take this away. But the point, beloved brothers and sisters, that we have in Amos chapter 8, is that that basket of fruit, or that cage of summer, represents the fact that at the end of the season, the harvests have come, and the fruit have been gleaned and placed into the basket, or into that cage.

But the problem was that the fruit was no longer ripe and ready to eat as normally we will eat fruit. It was actually overripe, and if you will not eat it quickly, it will end up to become rotten, and you will have to throw it aside, and you will not be able to enjoy that fruit. And the lesson here, beloved brothers and sisters, in this verse is that Amos have seen a cage, inside the cage you have that which you have gleaned in the summer time, but the problem that the fruit that was inside was getting corrupted, you have to eat it very quickly, because otherwise you will have to cast this fruit away.

And you notice the word samer that is mentioned here. In Hebrew, the word samer is the word kaitz. Kaitz, if you look again, the Hebrew text here, you see it says here kaitz, kuf yud tzaddik, and that word kaitz speaks of the summer. The summer that you and I enjoyed just recently, we enjoyed it very much, but the end of the summer is coming, and that's why the Lord used this to indicate the fact that Israel's days of enjoying living in the land, having their own ways is soon going to come to an end. And that's why you notice, and I'm reading now Amos chapter 8 and verse 2, look at this, we read, and he said, Amos, this is the Lord speaking to Amos, and he says, what do you see?

What seest thou? And he said, fruit in Hebrew, a cage of samer, a cage of samer, kluv kaitz, a cage of samer, but inside apparently there would be fruit. And now notice, beloved brothers and sisters, what the Lord is saying to Amos. Then said the Lord unto me, Amos is saying, the land is come upon my people of Israel, I will not again pass by them anymore. You see what God is using here, this cage, that inside you have samer fruit that is getting rotten, and soon enough, if you will not eat it right away, you will throw it away, it's really spoiling. And he using this image, or this vision, and you remember the thought of vision is chazon, Amos was still awake, and he saw that vision, this cage, or this basket of samer, of samer fruit, and as he sees it, God is asking Amos, he says, what do you see?

And Amos, he said, the basket of samer fruit. God said unto him, the end is come upon my people of Israel, I will not again pass by them anymore. Now, it is sad, or I should say it is unfortunate, that you don't all speak Hebrew, or read Hebrew, but the Hebrew word for kites, for samer, and the Hebrew word for end, kets, is almost the very same words. words. If you would look here, you will see the word kites, which is samer in Hebrew, but if you remove the center, the center letter, yud, together, it becomes the word kets. And kets in Hebrew means end.

So really, you can see how God is using this image, imagery, when he showed to Amos that vision. What does he show him? A cage. Inside the cage, you have fruit. Inside that fruit is getting rotten and spoiled. You better eat it, or otherwise it's going to be eventually thrown away. So, when you see that cage that have summer fruit, you will see that the end come upon my people of Israel, because I will not pass by them anymore. When you think about it, Amos was reading this, or seeing that vision, and speaking this to the nation in the north of Israel, I am confident that his heart was broken, because if you remember, in the previous chapter 7, Amos twice beseeched the Lord, and he said, O Lord God, forgive, I beseech thee.

Chapter 7 and verse 2b. And by whom shall Jacob arise? For he is small. Forgive God, forgive your people Israel. And God forgave. Then the second vision, if you remember, he said, O Lord God, cease, I beseech thee. By whom shall Jacob arise? For he is small. And God repented, and he stopped to bring about that judgment. He delayed it, you might say, whether Israel will listen to the word of the Lord, whether Israel will repent, and turn around, and come back to the Lord, and repent, and say, O Lord God, we have sinned, we have gone wrong, we want to change our way, O God, have mercy on us.

But sadly, they didn't. Sadly, they continue pressed on in their own way, and now you will notice in the third, and the fourth, and later on in the fifth, vision that Amos had received from the Lord. Amos didn't ask from the Lord anymore to stop it, because he knew that God was determined to bring upon his very own people whom he loved dearly, the judgment of 722 BC, when the Assyrians will take the northern kingdom of Israel away from the land of Samaria, and disperse them among the nations of the world. And so, beloved brothers and sisters, Amos received these visions, in Hebrew, this chazon, or chazonot in plural, and those visions represent the purposes and the plan of God that he has to accomplish, because of the failure of the people of Israel to submit.

And again, when we study such a chapter, we don't look at Israel and we say, look how bad they were, and we are not like that. We are okay. God will pass us by, but he will not pass by Israel. And remember that we often read the passage in 1 Peter chapter 4 and verse 17, For the time has come the judgment must begin at the house of God. Peter said to the brethren of the assembly to whom he wrote, and he said, And if the judgment is going to come upon the house of God, what shall be the end of them that obey not the gospel of the Messiah?

If God is going to deal with his children, if God is going to deal with his chosen people, imagine what's going to happen to those who refuse to accept the Lord Yeshua the Messiah. And so sadly, beloved brothers and sisters, look what God is saying to Amos. He says, The end is come upon, and I always emphasize it, upon my people of Israel. God is the one that has chosen the nation of Israel. They are his people. They were his people. They will be his people, as he is going to restore Israel in a future day. And he disciplines his very own people. Just like you and I as parents, we love our children, but a time discipline is necessary because they have disobeyed, rebelled and have gone against their own parents.

So now notice what he says in verse three. We can see that God is beginning to describe and to explain to Amos the vision itself. And he's showing to them how the end of Israel being in the land will surely come to pass. And you notice how he is now presenting before Amos that which is going to happen very shortly, about 40, 50, 60 years after Amos gave this message to the northern kingdom. Look at the sad thing that is going to happen. First of all, in verse three of our chapter, Amos 8 and verse three, he says, "And the songs of the temple shall be howling in that day," says the Lord God.

"There shall be many dead bodies in every place. They shall cast them forth with silence." Now, he began to explain the upcoming judgment that is going to come upon the northern kingdom of Israel. And he says, look, they are going to the temple. And I want to remind you that the temple in Amos 8 verse three is not the temple in Jerusalem, but it is the temple that they have built for themselves in the area of Bethel, in the center, in the northern kingdom. They did not come anymore to the city of Jerusalem. They actually were going to the temple that they have created themselves in the northern kingdom.

If you just go back to chapter seven for a moment of Amos, notice what it says there. In verse 13, notice what it says in verse 13, "But prophesy not again any more at Bethel," Amaziah told Amos. Why? "For it is the king's chapel and it is the king's court." Notice he used the word, "It is the king's chapel." That king's chapel was a sanctuary where the king had made for himself a temple, and for his people a temple in the city of Bethel. And if you will notice once again, the temple was in Judea, in Jerusalem. But now you notice here is the Bethel, they made for themselves a temple there.

And instead of coming to the only place where every Jewish man had to come to the temple in the city of Jerusalem, they remained in Bethel, and now they were singing there, they were going through the rituals. They said, "You know what? We belong to the nation of Israel. We continue to sing the song, but you know what? We don't have to go to Yerushalayim. We don't have to offer sacrifices on the altar in Jerusalem. We will create our own religion, a little bit of God, a little bit of Jehovah, the God of Israel, Israel, and a little bit of the golden calf, and a little bit of Ashtarot, and a little bit of that.

And in no time they made their own religious system that dishonored the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." Now, do you think we are different than that today in the church we live in today? How many places and how many times we can go and hear views of those who claim to believe that Yeshua is the Messiah, but they have mixed with that a little bit of a human merit, a little bit of this kind of God, or a little view of another deity and so on, and they're mixing with that and introducing a religion of man-made and not a divine fix, that which God had given to his people in his word.

So, they were singing the song, notice that in chapter 8 and verse 3 in the temple there, but God says, "Listen, that will change. You might go on and carry on in the song, so-called, going to be singing, but it will change and it will turn to become howling. When I'm going to come in judgment upon my people Israel who have failed from submitting to my authority, their singing in the temple in Bethel is going to turn up to be howling." And then, look at this, what he's mentioning here, in that day, notice chapter 8 and verse 3, "In that day the Lord God," he says, "The Lord God, there shall be many dead bodies that are dead bodies that will be in every place." You know, when is that what's going to happen?

That's when the Assyrian came. And the vicious of the Assyrian that they have caused to the northern kingdom of Israel, seeking to destroy the whole nation, taking from them and ripping them up from the land and eventually killing many of them who will remain, as it says here, many of the dead bodies have not even enjoyed normal burial. When a person dies, it's very common to put him in the grave, and he died and he was buried, and he died and he was buried. But look at this, many dead bodies in every place will be that they shall cast them, they will move them around, cast them to the side, and he says, and then it will be with silence, with "has" in Hebrew, it says, "has," they will be so overwhelmed.

You know, brothers and sisters, let me say that, that one day when God is going to come in judgment, every proud man or proud woman will have to learn a lesson, that God is still a holy God, and God will judge sin at any time. We will have, men will have to learn that. If we will not submit to the Lord today, sooner or later the judgment of God will come. Recently, I took a group to see Noah's Ark in Kentucky. And when you see the Noah's Ark, you just imagine, we read the first few chapters of the book of Genesis. When the flood of God's judgment came, everyone was humbled before the Lord.

They were mocking Noah and said, "Ha, you built this ark here. What for? There was not even raining here in this world." But when the judgment came, where were these men who mocked at Noah? Where God's judgment, righteous indignation against sin, had fallen upon men. And God indeed destroyed this world in the flood, because God is holy. Because God is holy. And sin will be judged. And because God is holy, it was necessary for him to send the Messiah, the Messiah, to be penalized for our sins. And when Yeshua was on the cross, God judged him instead of judging you and I, if we only would trust in him, because God cannot look upon sin.

That's the kind of God we have. He created the world for his own pleasure. And when men have gone astray with him, at the end, beloved brothers and sisters, they were walking and they were in huss. In English it says here, in silence. They could no longer say a word. When they look around what's happening here in this world. You know when you think of some of the catastrophic events that happened in the world just in the last few years. The tsunamis, for example. Where more than a quarter million of people died. Where was the proud then? When God gonna come in judgment upon this world, men will have to learn righteousness because God has to judge sin sooner or later.

That's why this basket of fruit represents the things are riping up and things are getting just worse and worse and worse. And the judgment is soon to come upon this world. Here, the judgment are soon to come upon the northern kingdom of Israel. And so here we find out that the Lord is explaining to Amos why does he have to judge his very own people. You notice in verses 4, 5 and 6, the sins of Israel rose up to God and filled up the cup of God's righteous wrath against sin which made it necessary to bring upon them an end of living in the land of Canaan and the dispersion of 722 B.C.

Notice now, I'm reading verses 4, 5 and 6. In verse 4, God pointing to Israel's wrongdoing. Look at the wrongdoing that there was practice at that time. It says, "Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail." God is kind of lifting up and showing to Israel through Amos, through that vision, through this chazon that he gave to Amos. He says, "Look! Look at what's going on in the land. What do you do?" He says, "You swallow up the needy. And then what also you do? You make the poor of the land to fail. He's already poor. She's already poor.

They're already poor. But what you're doing, you're causing them to fail. You're treating them awfully in the wrong way. You're abusing the poor. You're abusing the needy." That's what he's saying. Look at the way you are treating those that are poor in the land. In Deuteronomy chapter 15, the Lord said to Israel, "If you have any of your brethren poor, you make sure to meet his need. You make sure to treat him or her right. Don't cause them to fail. Don't cause them to stumble. Don't add to their sorrows already by your behavior towards them." And the Lord is revealing this to Amos there. I was thinking to myself when I'm thinking of that list of those verses in the Bible, in Scripture, that is really speaking to us of those that are poor and needy.

And you remember what Yaakov, this is James, what he wrote in James Yaakov chapter 1, he said to them in verse 27, he said, "Listen, pure religion." What is pure religion? Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in the affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the world. Pure religion. We don't have religion, we have a relationship with the Lord, but it is a pure ways that God is pleased with is to meet the people's need problem, the fatherless, the widows and the poor and in the midst of the people of God and not to, as it says here, to cause them to fail even further and further and further.

This is what Amos is presenting before the people of Israel. I also took a note of the fact that when Yeshua the Messiah came into this world, it is very interesting that though he was the richest man on earth, according to 2 Corinthians chapter 8 and verse 9 we read, "For ye know the grace of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich." When the Messiah Yeshua entered into this world, he didn't identify with those who were in the palace. He didn't identify with those who were rich and mighty of this world, but he identified with the poor among our people of Israel and there he became poor.

And you remember we read in Matthew chapter 8, "The birds of the air, the foxes of holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man have nowhere to lay his head." When Yeshua came to this world, he was a man of sorrow. He became poor man. But look what happened here. Ye that swallow up the needy, to make the poor of the land to fail. And he continued, and now notice what he's adding, and he continued, and he said to them, saying, "When will..." And look at this, brothers and sisters, how we can be religious externally, but not having the mind of God at all.

Look at this. It says in verse 5 and 6, he points to the wrong attitude and the practice of those in those days of the northern kingdom of Israel. He says, In verse 5, they were saying, "When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn, and when the Shabbat, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small and the shekel great, and falsifying the balance by deceit." In other words, when will these holidays, or appointed seasons, that God gave our people Israel, when they're going to be over, so we can go out, and continue in our own ways. This is amazing, when you really think about it.

It's like for us today, to say, "When can I end up with these days, that I can go out into this world, and continue in my own ways, and my own dealing, and I will no longer be limited, in carrying on in my own ways." And you see, they were saying, the new moon is, that which has to do with Rosh Chodesh, for our people of Israel. It is a time, where the shofar will be blown, and the people are gathering together, because a new month began. And the Shabbat day, one of the ten commandments, that were given to the people of Israel, "Thou shalt keep the Shabbat day holy." Because, and God wanted his people, to be gathered around him, and so, look what they were saying, "When will the new moon be gone?

Let it get over, so we can go out, and carry on in our own way, that we may sell the corn. And when the Shabbat be gone, that we may set forth the wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, falsifying the balances by deceit." And you notice what happened, and the ephah is a meshum, and making the ephah small, and making the shekel large, and falsifying the balances by deceit. This is wrong. This is the wrong treatment, of those to whom, with whom we have to deal in a right way, in a fair way. So that's the condition, that existed in those days.

And notice, in verse 6, he says, "That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes, yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat." In other words, the way that they were treating the poor, the needy, and the others was wrong. And they were falsifying, as it says here, in verse 5 and 6, they were selling the refuse, they were treating the poor, and the needy in the wrong way, and therefore, God was not happy with his people. Isn't that, the very similar situation, that exists in the world, in which we live in today? 2800 years later? Is it not, this the same, a condition that exists today, even among the body of Christ, the body of Mashiach, the body of Messiah?

Whatsoever things were written the fourth time, the Apostle Paul were written for our learning. That we will learn from this, and we know how, ourselves, to treat one another, and this is what God had said, concerning the people of Israel. And again, I would like to emphasize, he says, this will come upon, my people of Israel, the chosen people of God. And so, in the first six verses, Amos sees the reason, of Israel's end in the land. Sin have rose up to God, you might say before God, the cup is now full, and the time of judgment, is to come. to come. So now, in the next verses, the second half, of this chapter, from chapter 8, verses 7 to 14, in these verses, beloved brothers and sisters, Amos is told, how the Lord, is going to bring about, Israel's end, in the land.

in the land. How God will do so, against his chosen people, Israel, it must have grieved him, in his heart, but he had to do so. So notice that, two points, I will emphasize, here in this passage. First of all, in verses 7, 8, 9, and 10, the Lord point, to the sure judgment, that is going to come. Judgment, is going to come. So notice in verse 7, the Lord said, I'm not going to forget, what they have done. I'm not going to forget. Notice in verse 7, the Lord had sworn, by the excellency of Jacob, notice he said, surely I will never forget, any of their works. Now you see, maybe Israel thought, that the Lord will forget, and maybe you and I, sometimes think, that the Lord will forget, but the Lord is not going to forget, because the Lord knows, everything about us, and he wants his people, to repent, and turn back to him.

So he's saying about Israel, Israel, he says, I will notice, it's very strong, word he says, here in verse 7, he said, the Lord is sworn, by the excellency of Jacob. What does that mean, by the excellency of Jacob? In Hebrew, it says, big on, Yaakov, big on, in other words, when Israel was so proud, in those days, and they were kind of assuming, I'm fine, I don't need God, and I don't need the ways of God, God says, of Israel through Amos, I have sworn, by the pride of Yaakov, of Jacob, I'm not going to forget, the wrongdoing, unless they will repent, and confess, confess, I'm surely going to bring the judgment upon them.

This verse, remind me, of 2nd Corinthians 5, in verse 10, where the apostle Paul says, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of the Messiah, he's speaking to believers, he's speaking to believers, that every one of us, will give an account, of the things, the way we have lived our life, as believers. We may forget, others may forget, but every one of us, one day, as believers, not for our salvation, but we're going to stand before the judgment seat of the Messiah, 2nd Corinthians 5, in verse 10, that everyone, will give an account, for what you have done, in his life. And when you think about it, if it wouldn't be for the Lord, Yeshua, the Messiah, our sins, so great, so many, that unless God, have forgiven them, on a basis, of the finished work of Yeshua, the Messiah, who will ever be able to stand?

That's why, we have to be so thankful, as we read today, 1st John, that the apostle, John, as well as the apostle Paul, said, listen, we need to repent, and turn away, from our evil way, and then, go back to a relationship, with the Lord, who will forgive us, if we confess our sins, he is faithful, and just, to forgive us, and to cleanse us, from all unrighteousness. But they didn't heal, brought about the necessity, of the Lord, to bring the judgment, of the Assyrian, to come, into the land, of Samaria, and to take them, captive.

Look at verses, the next verse, verse 8, the land, and its people, of Israel, will experience, turbulence time, terrible days, he is mentioning here, the prophet, Amos, to Israel, notice in verse 8, 8, he says, shall not the land, tremble, for this, and everyone, mourn, the dwellers therein, and it shall rise up, holy as a flood, and it shall be cast out, and drowned, as by the flood, of Egypt, in other words, in other words, God is saying, listen, the land, shall be troubled, he is speaking about, a time, of discipline, that he will have, to bring upon, his beloved nation, the land, and its people, will experience, terrible time, and he noticed, brothers and

sisters, how he lead us here, to the tribulation period, Amos here, is going beyond, the days, of 722 BC, and he takes us, to the future, tribulation period, because look at the next verse, verse 8, and verse 9, actually verse 9, it says, and it shall come to pass, in that day, and that day, is a, you might say, title in scripture, that applied, to the tribulation period, in Hebrew, we call it, Sarat Yaakov, Jacob's trouble, that will happen, at the end, of the days, after the church age, will come, to its conclusion, and Israel, direct dealing, with Israel, will be, when the antichrist, will come, and Israel, will go, through the terrible, experience, of

tribulation, and notice, what he says, in verse 9, it says here, and it shall come to pass, in that day, says the Lord God, that I will call, listen, the sun, to go down, at noon, and I will darken, the earth, in the clear day, now that's never happened, in history, the only time, that the sun, refused to shine, specifically, was when Yeshua, the Messiah, died, on a shameful, Roman cross, and you remember, it was darkness, all over the face, of the land, and Yeshua cried, Elohi, Elohi, lama az-zavtani, my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me, and God, laid upon the Messiah, the judgment, that we deserved, and Yeshua cried, my God, my

God, why has thou forsaken me, and then he answered, if you remember, in Psalm 22, for thou art holy, thou that inhabitest, the praises of Israel, a holy God, had to judge sin, and he judged it, in the person, of Yeshua, the Messiah, but here, beloved brothers, and sisters, he's speaking about, taking Israel, taking Israel, from the time, that Amos, was ministering, and preaching, and receiving this vision, he takes all the way, to the end of the days, to the tribulation period, Amos doesn't know, of the age, in which you and I, live in today, as far as him, is concerned, he's speaking about Israel, the nation, and the nation, that will be at the

time, of the tribulation period, and it says, that the sun, will go down, at noon, how is it possible, the sun, is in its brightest, in the middle of the day, and then it says, and the darkness, of the earth, will, will come upon the earth, in a clear day, this is, a catastrophic event, that is going to happen, judicially, by the holy, and righteous God, who will bring judgment, judgment, doing those, terrible, days, of the tribulation, now, I want you to notice, and I just want to read, a verse, in, Matthew chapter 24, look at the words, of Yeshua, the Messiah, in Matthew chapter 24, and verse 29, that's the Messiah said, when he

was still alive, before he died, in Matthew 24, it says, listen to this verse, and I'm reading that, verse 29, immediately after, the tribulation, of those days, notice what he says, the sun, shall be darkened, and the moon, shall not give her light, and the stars, shall fall from heaven, and the power, of the heavens, shall be shaken, that's what Yeshua, the Messiah himself, said, when he was still, alive, before his death, on that shameful, Roman tree, Roman cross, the prophet, Yoel, who wrote, a few hundred years, before Amos, wrote, he said, in Yoel, chapter 2, we read, and I'm going to read, just a couple of verses, verses 1, and verses 2, he said,

hear ye the trumpet, in Zion, and sound, and alarm, in the holy mountain, let all the inhabitants, of the land, tremble, for the day, of the Lord, cometh, for it is, nigh, at hand, and he continued, a day of darkness, and of gloominess, a day of clouds, clouds, and of thick, darkness, Joel, is mentioning this, in his second chapter, speaking of this, terrible event, that is going to come, and he takes us, Amos takes us, all the way, to the tribulation period, in Hebrew, we call it, Sarat Yaakov, Jacob's trouble, and so, we continue here, in that, very same verse, and I can just continue, for a moment, to read in Revelation, just this one

verse, because I, I made a note for myself, in Revelation, chapter 16, in the middle of the tribulation, we read in verse 10, and I'm going to read, that verse, it says here, and the fifth angel, pour out his vial, upon the, the seat of the beast, and his kingdom, was full of darkness, and they, gnashed their tongue, for pain, again, John, the apostle, received the revelation, from the glorified Messiah, and in connection, with the tribulation, period.

Terrible time, that is going to come, but as far as, Amos is concerned, is going to come near, but prophetically, he takes us further, and further, because you notice, beloved brothers and sisters, since 722 BC, the 10 tribes of Israel, are not in the land, the way they used to be, before the Assyrians, dispersed, the people of Israel. Verse 10, of Amos chapter 8, says Israel, Israel, feasts, and song, will be turning, into lamentation. In verse 10, we read, "I will turn your feasts, into mourning, and all your songs, into lamentation, and I will bring up, sackcloth, upon all loins, and boldness, upon every head, and I will make it, as the mourning, of an only son, and the end, thereof, is a bitter day." Now, if I would be, Amos, I would be shivering, to even express this, and to see this.

But the Lord, has given this, to Amos, and I can tell you, beloved brothers and sisters, as Amos was presenting, before his people, even though they were not part, of the southern kingdom, Judah, they were part, of the northern kingdom, Israel, he loved his people, and his heart, was grieved, when he had to present, such a message, to the people, of Israel. But judgment, must begin, at the house of God, and sure enough, God, is presenting, this judgment, against Israel. Now notice, the final verses. Sad chapter, sad message, that Amos received, from the Lord, that vision, but yet, this vision, was necessary, for Amos to see, to receive explanation, and to pronounce it, upon the people, because he was a faithful, message.

And I'm sure, it grieved his heart. So in the last verses, verses 11 to 14, the Lord, ultimate punishment, of a famine, that will come, upon the land, and the people, of Israel. And I want you to notice, this famine, is not famine, for food. Not famine, of bread, and water, and water, but it is a famine, in Hebrew, we call it ra'av, is a famine, of the hearing, of the word, of the Lord. You might say, right now, Brother Gideon, you preach the word, you speak the word, you preach the word, you preach the word, and sometimes we say, well we're exhausted, how much can we take?

But brothers and sisters, listen, there is a day coming, that God had predicted here, that there will be a famine, but it will be, a different kind, of famine, it will not, an issue of bread, or water to drink, or bread to eat, but it will be, the famine, of the fact, that people, will not be able, to hear, the message, of the word, of the Lord, and to receive, from him, guidance, and clear direction, in their life, because God, going to bring, this famine, upon, the nation, of Israel, and even further, upon the nations, of the world, and so we read, in verse 11, Behold, the days come, sayeth the Lord God, and I

will send, a famine, in Hebrew, ra'av, in the land, not a famine, of bread, nor a thirst, for water, but of hearing, the words, of the Lord, can you imagine, you remember, what God, said to Israel, in Deuteronomy, chapter 8, men shall, not live, by bread, alone, but by every word, that proceedeth, out of the mouth, of the Lord, shall men live by, men, was not created, just to have, pleasures, in this world, but not to have, a relationship, with the living God, but look, what's going to happen, God said, I'm going to send, the famine, and the famine, and it's not going to be, an issue of bread, eating, or water, drinking, but it's

going to be, a famine, of the hearing, of the words, of the Lord, and then he continues, he says in verse 12, they shall wander, from sea to sea, and from north, even to the east, they shall run, to and fro, to seek the word, of the Lord, and shall not find it, Solomon said, in the Proverbs, when there is no vision, the people of God, are scattered, when there is no message, from the word of God, the people of God, are not able, to govern, their lives, can you imagine, what it ha, what will happen, if we don't, we are not able, to hear, people, can you imagine, if we will not, be able,

to hear, guidance, from a living God, to give instruction, for his own people, what an amazing, judgment, is this, you and I, hold the Bible, in our hands, that for us, it become like, a treasure, through this Bible, through this Hebrew scripture, the Tanakh, and the Britach, and the Sha, God is speaking, to his people, God, but can you imagine, when there will be, no message, from the word of God, and he is not speaking, about the world now, he is speaking, about his own people, can you imagine, you are going to go, to a church meeting, and the Bible, will not be read, and taught, and the scripture, will not be open, can you

imagine, you have a religion, without the living God, and here, he said, they are going, they are going, they are going, to be sending, a famine, of the hearing, of the word of the Lord, because they will not, be able to hear, the message, from the word of God, they are going, to find it, they will wonder, from sea to sea, from the north, to the east, they shall run, to and fro, to seek, the word of the Lord, us, what does that mean, if we will not, going to be able, to have guidance, from the word of God, you know, in the days, of Samuel, you read, 1st Samuel, chapter 3, Israel, at that

time, was not right, with the Lord, it says, that the word of the Lord, was precious, was rare, in those days, there was no visions, God, did not speak, 450 years, between Malachi, and the coming, of the Messiah, there was no prophets, before the Messiah, Yeshua came, until, John the baptizer, said, behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away, the sin, of this world, can you imagine, we are going to chase, all the preachers, we are going to tell them, I don't want to hear, the word of the Lord, I have itching ears, I don't like to hear, I have to say, I want to feel good, I want to have my own way, I

don't want any, any conviction, I don't want any, any responsibility, I don't want any challenge, I'll do my own thing, well God says, okay, you will see, what's going to happen, there is a day coming, when I am going to send, this famine, and you are not going to be able, to hear the word of the Lord, you are going to wander, from place to place, from the north, to the south, from the east, to the west, go seeking, everywhere, but you will not find it, because you rejected my word, when I first appealed to you, to turn to me, but you will not find it, and you notice, he continues, and he says, even

the young people, it says here, in verse 13, in that day, shall the fair virgins, this is the young ladies, and the young men, will faint for thirst, not thirst for bread, and water, but thirst for the word, of the Lord, but they will not, going to be able, to have it, what a sad, condition, is the pronouncing, of the word of God, and I know, that America, and Canada, and Europe, is not the church, the assembly, because the assembly, is only, all true believers, belong to the assembly, but you know, that America, and Canada, and Europe, used to be, so called, a Christian countries, who believed, the Bible, who understood, that the Bible, is

the word of God, and we can put it, in every hotel, in every motel, you would have, the Gideon Bible, now you're going to go, most of the places, you search for a Bible, no Bible, because, men reject, the word of God, setting him aside, going further, and further, and further, away from him, and God says, okay, there will be, that day, when you will, seek for me, and you will not, find my word, you will, you will want, to read, the word of the Lord, you will want, to hear from the, the voice of the Lord, but I will not, allow you, to find it, because, I'm going to, judge you, because, of your

rebellion, against the Lord, brothers and sisters, you know, the Lord gives us, a little bit of time, to gather ourselves together, and to hear the word, of the Lord, maybe to get up in the morning, and to pray, and to read a passage, from the word of God, maybe to make a phone call, to a friend, and to read a, a verse from the Bible, of encouragement, or to come, to the meeting, and sit around the Lord, and hear the word, of the Lord, and you know, when we don't, want the word, of the Lord, the Lord, will take it away, from us, God, not going to force us, a himself, on us, but we

will have, to learn a lesson, when we reject, the word of the Lord, as Israel, had to learn, that lesson here, in our chapter, now let me conclude, at the last verse, and that's it, for today, here is, the final, portion, in connection, with the fourth, vision, that, Amos received, from the Lord, in verse 14, they, that swear, by the sin, of Samaria, and they say, thy God, this is a small g, thy God, or Dan, liveth, and the way, or the manner, of Be'er Sheva, liveth, even they, shall fall, and never, rise up, again, those, that seek, after other gods, in this case, the God of Dan, remember I told you, if you would

look at that, map one more time, and you will notice, that in Dan, there was an image there, the golden calf, it was called, the God of Dan, then you had, in Bethel, another golden calf, it was the God, of Bethel, and he says, those, that are going, to continue on, and if it were, continue to swear, by that sin, adapting idols, and other gods, and not the God, of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, of Israel, he says, they, shall, fall, and never, rise, again, in other words, when they continue, with their own way, continue, in their own, wrong direction, identifying, with false gods, with false, that which is dishonoring, to the Lord, eventually, they are

going, to fall, and they will, never, rise, again, and you remember, in history, all those, great, opposers, of the God, of Israel, they ended up, to, be, eventually, destroyed, by the God, of Israel, remained the same, he never changes, his word, remained the same, here you are, Amos is writing, 780, or so, BC, and you, and I now, 2019, AD, we're still reading, the same message, and it applies, to us, today, and the Holy Spirit, of God, speaks to us, and convict us, and speaks to us, show us, he says, listen, how about you, where do you stand, what about, your relationship, with the Lord, Yeshua the Messiah, did you, set him aside, and continue,

in your own way, how about you, how do you, going to live your life, as a believer, in Yeshua the Messiah, and if you are not, a believer, God says, I love you, I love you, so much, that I gave, the darling, of my bosom, Yeshua the Messiah, to pay, for your sins, I want you, to be blessed, and to have, a life, eternal, and so beloved, brothers and sisters, here is, almost sadly, I can, I can just, imagine, the sadness, that gripped, his heart, as he, spoke, concerning his own, people, the beloved, people of God, the nation, of Israel, the judgment, had to come, and look at us, brothers and sisters, where is, the

northern kingdom, of Israel today, they are no longer, in the land, and the little land, that you have there, they fight, every day, there are bullets, being shot, there, there are rockets, being shot, to there, there are people, who don't, who say, this land, is not yours, the only time, that Israel, will finally receive, the promised land, is when Israel, as a nation, will look upon him, the Messiah himself, acknowledge, that he, Yeshua, is the Messiah, and eventually, will be restored, and possess, all the land, that God, had promised, the people of Israel, I am, longing, for these days, to come, and I trust, that you, long for these days, to come, as well, can

we say, amen to that?