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AMOS

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Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · May 10, 1905

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 31, No. 19.

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AMOS.

By F. D. Starr

BY F. D. STARR.
“Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets.” Amos 3:7. This is one of the books in which the secrets of the Lord are revealed, hence the necessity of studying this book as well as the productions of the other prophets.
How anxious the majority of the people are to get the latest news, to keep up with the times, and so they are very eager to get the daily newspaper at the earliest possible moment to find out what is taking place in the world. And it seems really astonishing that the inventions of this age have made it possible to learn what is taking place on the opposite side of the globe in just a few hours after it transpires. But the utmost that science undertakes to do is to inform us of events that have already transpired up to the present time. None of even the wisest pretend to go into the future to describe events. Supposing that it should become possible to do this, would not the people eagerly grasp every opportunity to gain the information to be thus imparted?
But this is exactly what prophecy does. It exceeds the limits of human information, as far as heaven is higher than the earth. It not only leads us up to the present, but gives us with unerring accuracy the events of centuries in advance. Why should there not be a corresponding interest in learning what the prophets have spoken concerning the future? The regret that many will experience for having neglected this golden opportunity is plainly set forth by Amos in chapter 8, verses 11–13. Listen to the startling prediction:
“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a 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.”
There have been many and grievous famines in the land since the prophet uttered these words, but this famine has not yet been experienced. The word of the Lord has thus far been accessible to all who wished to find it and be benefited by it, but when the decree found in Rev. 22:11 shall be given, God’s Spirit will cease to strive with men, and then the word of salvation contained in the Gospel message will no more be offered to men. O, that we all might realize the necessity of searching and studying that word while we have it!
Amos was simply a herdsman, and no doubt would be despised by the noble and the rich, but God spoke through him, and his words are just as important as if spoken by an inspired king.
The abnormal greed of even professors of godliness as seen both in ancient and modern times is thus set forth by this prophet: “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 Sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah 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?” Chapter 8, verses 4–6.
Could a more vivid picture of business life as now existing be given than this? The root of all evil is bearing its wretched fruit on every hand. But with pleasure we note in the termination of this inspired scroll, the happy prediction concerning the Israel of God:
“I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God.”
Here we have a promise of the new earth wherein the righteous shall dwell. So beyond all of earth’s misrule and disappointments there shines forth from the prophetic word the light of an eternal day.

Obadiah.

This is the short book of the Old Testament, consisting of only one chapter. Obadiah seems to have been contemporary with Daniel, Ezekiel, and Jeremiah. Brief as is this inspired prediction, yet there is one statement in it that is worth vastly more than ponderous volumes of human lore.
Concerning the finally impenitent, the statement is made in verse 16, “They shall be as tho they had not been.” This is the Bible doctrine concerning the end of the wicked. All through the sacred volumes we find the ungodly compared to various kinds of combustible and destructive substances, such as chaff, stubble, fat, etc. When we find that the Lord does not present before us the idea of a place of unending existence in torment for the finally lost, but that they shall be punished according to their deeds and then be consumed and be as if they had never been, as if they had never existed, our hearts respond, Amen, and we say the Judge of all the earth will do right. Whether with many or few stripes, His anger will cease in their destruction.