October 2021

Yesterday we saw how God gives us plenty of warnings about the judgment that everyone will eventually face, though He gives us an “out” — which is Jesus. In today’s chapters, God continues with His warning of the coming judgment on Israel, however, the Book of Amos ends with God’s promise of Mercy and Grace.

Throughout the Bible, God gives us explicit commands and instructions on how we are supposed to worship Him and behave towards other people. Given that, when these commands are broken, there must be judgment. Nevertheless, God, though He is a just and fair God, always gives us an out — a chance to REPENT. A

Meet Amos. He’s a rancher, raising sheep and probably cattle, along with being a farmer of figs. He was a businessman from a small, country town in northeastern Judah, who more than likely traveled a lot to the northern kingdom of Israel for business. Amos knew the territory. He was also a godly man. Even

God doesn’t beat around the bush. He is like a parent toward a child — in this case, the child is Israel. God loves His people, yet He has to discipline them. Like any loving parent, it breaks His heart to have to do it. Seriously, it’s not like He didn’t keep warning them! In

Even God has a breaking point. The sin of idolatry spread like a cancer throughout the northern kingdom of Israel. With each international alliance came new false, pagan gods to worship. God watched as His beloved people kept rejecting Him, rejecting the law so clearly given, until He could no longer let it continue. God

These next chapters of Hosea consist of God calling Israel out. It’s their judgement, God is the Judge, and Hosea is the prosecuting attorney. He cuts to the root of Israel’s problem — first the people, then the priests. There’s no beating around the bush with God. What’s more, He explains exactly what they —

How angry can God get when we disobey? We’ve seen God’s wrath in the Great Flood, Sodom and Gomorrah and we’ll see more of God’s wrath during the Great Tribulation. Yet, God loves His creation. He loves us. He doesn’t want us to disobey. God sends us prophets to warn us. He sent prophets to

It’s c. 800 BC, and God’s prophet, Jonah has just come off an assignment that rendered victory for Israel. We have that account in 2 Kings 14. There was judgement for the pagan, Gentiles in the kingdom of Assyria (modern-day Iraq) and there was blessing for the Hebrews. Subsequently, Jonah was proud, felt self-satisfied, and

Way back in the Book of Judges, we had a recurring theme: “The Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight”. It became a vicious cycle. Here we have a similar recurring theme: “King ________ did what was evil in the Lord’s sight”. That applied to the kings of the northern kingdom of Israel — all

Yesterday, we saw Jehu, the king of Israel, the northern kingdom, kill off all of Ahab’s evil kin to fulfill God’s promise. He was ridding the kingdom of bad influences. Yet, he kept the gold calves that Jeroboam set up. Today, we find one of wicked Jezebel‘s daughters, Athaliah, crown herself queen of Judah when