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PREPARE TO MEET YOUR GOD

Key Verse: Amos 4:12

"Therefore this is what I will do to you, Israel, and because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel."

Read Amos 1:1-2. The Scripture says that Uzziah had leprosy until the day he died. (2Ch 26:21) How did he contract this disease? (2Ch 26:16) What does the Bible say about the way for sinners to come to God for life (not for disaster)? (John 3:18; Acts 4:12; Luke 5:12)

Skim through Amos Chapters 1-9 and think about all the nations under God's wrath. Amos 9:8 reads, "Surely the eyes of the Sovereign LORD are on the sinful kingdom. I will destroy it from the face of the earth--yet I will not totally destroy the house of Jacob," declares the LORD." What does "the house of Jacob" refer to? (2:10; 3:1; Gen 27:9)

Amos 9:8 says that the Lord will "not" totally destroy the house of Jacob. Why? (4:12; 5:4; 2Ti 2:19) 

Read 9:11-15. What does "tent" [as in David's fallen tent] refer to? What do the following words have in common: reaper; plowman; planter; grapes; new wine; vineyards; gardens; and fruit? What is the present status of the prophecy described in v. 11? (Acts 15:16)

 PREPARE TO MEET YOUR GOD

Key Verse: Amos 4:12

Therefore this is what I will do to you, Israel, and because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel.

Today we would like to have a topical study based on Amos 4:12. To some the title may sound intimidating—and indeed it is. 

However, we should not regard the title negatively for our God is a loving God. For example, the name Amos, through whom God speaks, means in Hebrew, "the one who carries a burden." Through Amos then we can almost hear the voice of our Lord Jesus saying, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). 

So let us come to the passage with a joyful heart. How then can we prepare ourselves to meet our God? We can think about this question in four ways. 

First, in order to enable us to come to him, the Lord already prepared the way for us to come to him. 

According to Genesis 1-2, before he fell, Adam enjoyed an intimate relationship with God 24/7. But since the fall the relationship between Adam and his God remained broken. 

However, even since the creation of the world God foresaw the possibility for Adam to sin and thereby break the relationship with him. God then prepared the way for men to come to him, that is, the blood sacrifice of the Savior of the world. Speaking of this truth, the Apostle John testifies about Jesus saying that Jesus, the Lamb of God, was "slain from the creation of the world" (Rev 13:8).

Consider these two words: lamb and slain. The lamb had to shed blood that our sins might be forgiven. The Lamb did not sin. Yet God chose to slay the lamb in the place of sinners. Through the blood sacrifice of the lamb sinners can be made aware of his wrong doings, repent, and ask God for forgiveness. God in turn can forgive sinners of their sins. 

The Lamb that had to be slaughtered tells us that that God had to remove sin for unless he removes it, sinners cannot come to him. Without setting aside the barrier of sin, the two cannot come together, for sin causes the two to be constantly at war. 

But thank God for Jesus the Savior, the Lamb of God. So we may best prepare ourselves to come to our heavenly Father by accepting God's sin-forgiving love. 

For this reason each time we choose to come to God we first consider what God has done through Jesus the Lamb. In doing so, we are made "humble", for each time we think about Jesus having to suffer and die for our sins we only tremble. We tremble because we are made aware of the horrible consequences of our sinful rebellion. Then we tremble for God loves us sinners so much as to slay his one and only son. Thank and praise be to the Lord for this wonderful provision! 

Second, in coming to Him through Jesus the Son, we need to ask God for the special gift called the Holy Spirit. 

This is the next important step to meeting God in person, for among other works the Holy Spirit can do, he uniquely prepares us to join the fellowship with Him by cleansing us of our sins and thereby bringing about God’s healing, so that through his healing we would no longer be in the habit of sinning but empowered to live as children of light. 

Remember that healing comes with cleansing. The Holy Spirit does both the cleansing and healing. So the Apostle Peter says, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). He then says, “Repent and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord” (Acts 3:19). 

Two days ago I did a spring cleanup of the pond in my backyard. At the bottom of the pool there was a thick layer of muck. I siphoned out the dirty water, moved the fish to a bucket, and scraped out the muck. Then I refilled the pond with fresh water. Our mind is like a pond. It gets so many evils deposited into it. So in coming to God through Jesus, we need to ask God to cleanse us of our sins and heal us of diseases, sicknesses, and evil spirits entrenched inside of us. 

Then, when he finds us that we mean business in asking for help, in his great mercy, through the Holy Spirit, he cleanses us of our sins, and thereby brings about healing, making each of us to be a new creation. 

The other side of the coin is also true: one may come to God with the desire for the fellowship with Him but not with a humble mind but with a proud mind, not through God’s way but on his own. King Uzziah, in the day of Amos, is a good example. He approached the throne of God with a proud mind. In his pride he even tried to burn incense which only priests were allowed to do. The priests confronted the king, whereupon he became angry. What happened to him? He was zapped on the very spot as 2 Chronicles 26:19 reads, "Uzziah, who had a censor in his hand ready to burn incense, became angry. While he was raging at the priests in their presence before the incense altar in the LORD'S temple, leprosy broke out on his forehead." 

Third, we need to prepare ourselves to come to Him, not every once in a while but all the time, not just for his blessings but for the personal fellowship with Him. 

Last Sunday we studied about the faith and spirit of Stephen. In his case he had the fellowship with Jesus constantly. So even at the very moment of death, he saw heaven open with Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 

But not all of us do that. Rather we come to God sporadically and superficially. For example, during the meal time we say grace, saying, "O God thank you for my breakfast. I love my egg. I love my chicken. Thank you very much for my delicious meal. Amen." Then we forget about him. 

But the Bible tells us that he wants us to come to him and walk with him all the time. And he wants us to come to him not just for some goodies but for the fellowship with Him. 

King David set a good example on this when he said in one of the songs of ascent, "My heart is not proud, O LORD, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. But I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me” (Psalm 131:1-2). 

He also said in one of his Psalms, "One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple" (Psalm 27:4).

In reality, on so many occasions, we find ourselves avoiding and running away from the Lord. This is because we want to do whatever we want to do. Soon we go from bad to worse; and we become no different than unbelieving people. In some cases we even become worse than unbelievers. 

How then can we avoid becoming like this? Again the blessed Psalm of King David answers the question: "One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple." Here the word “all” stands out for our attention: “all the days of my life…” What does “all” mean? “All” means all. 

Numerically speaking, “all” the days of our life are the sum total of “each” and “every” day of our life here on earth. So in order for us to be able to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of our life, each and every day we must seek the Lord and secure a fellowship with Him. 

One way to fulfill King David’s noble desire is through having daily bread. So right after the spring conference, we would like to study Deuteronomy Chapter 8 so we would learn how to do daily bread regularly. 

But for now I would like to recite the lyric of one hymn song entitled “Day by Day”: “Every day the Lord himself is near me. With special mercy for each hour, all my cares he fain would bear and cheer me. He whose name is Counselor and power, the protection of his child and treasure is a charge that on himself, He laid. ‘As your days, your strength shall be in measure’, this [is] the pledge to me he made. 

The lyric of this song begins, “Every day the Lord himself is near me.” In the same way, In Revelation 3:20 [the Risen] Jesus says to the members of his church, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” So each and every day we need to open our mind and heart to the Lord and make the conscious choice to invite him in to our life and walk with Him. 

Fourth, when we come to the unceasing fellowship with our God  how will He bless us? 

This time let us open the Bible to Amos 9:11-15. 

"In that day I will restore David’s fallen tent.  I will repair its broken places, restore its ruins, and build it as it used to be,  so that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations that bear my name," declares the LORD, who will do these things.  "The days are coming," declares the LORD, when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman and the planter by the one treading grapes. New wine will drip from the mountains and flow from all the hills. I will bring back my exiled people Israel; they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them.  They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them," says the LORD your God.

This passage describes the fruitfulness of the one who remains in constant fellowship with the Lord. He will be like Adam in the Garden of Eden before the fall. Through the study of the book of Acts (1-7) we saw that Jesus’ disciples (about 120 of them) bore lots of good fruit, all thanks to their full devotion to the Lord. Even as we wait for the second-coming of our Lord Jesus the Lord will bless us to bear lots of fruit when we listen to the voice of the Lord and remain in close fellowship with him.

One word: prepare to return to your God O Israel