The End is Near

Our culture is fascinated with the idea of the end of the world.  For Christians, however, the day of the Lord is the finish line, not the time of destruction. Today Pastor Jerry continues his series “Let Justice Roll” from the book of Amos.     

 

Amos 5: 1-6 (NLT)

1 Listen, you people of Israel! Listen to this funeral song I am singing:

2 “The virgin Israel has fallen,
    never to rise again!
She lies abandoned on the ground,
    with no one to help her up.”

3 The Sovereign Lord says:

“When a city sends a thousand men to battle,
    only a hundred will return.
When a town sends a hundred,
    only ten will come back alive.”

4 Now this is what the Lord says to the family of Israel:

“Come back to me and live!
5 Don’t worship at the pagan altars at Bethel;
    don’t go to the shrines at Gilgal or Beersheba.
For the people of Gilgal will be dragged off into exile,
    and the people of Bethel will be reduced to nothing.”
6 Come back to the Lord and live!
Otherwise, he will roar through Israel like a fire,
    devouring you completely.
Your gods in Bethel
    won’t be able to quench the flames.

 

Amos 5: 18-21(NLT)

18 What sorrow awaits you who say,
    “If only the day of the Lord were here!”
You have no idea what you are wishing for.
    That day will bring darkness, not light.
19 In that day you will be like a man who runs from a lion—
    only to meet a bear.
Escaping from the bear, he leans his hand against a wall in his house—
    and he’s bitten by a snake.
20 Yes, the day of the Lord will be dark and hopeless,
    without a ray of joy or hope.

21 “I hate all your show and pretense—
    the hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies.

 

2 Peter 3: 10-11 (NLT)

10 But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment.

11 Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live,

 

Amos 5:24 (NIV)

24 But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!

 

Amos 7:2-6 (NLT)

2 In my vision the locusts ate every green plant in sight. Then I said, “O Sovereign Lord, please forgive us or we will not survive, for Israel is so small.”

3 So the Lord relented from this plan. “I will not do it,” he said.

4 Then the Sovereign Lord showed me another vision. I saw him preparing to punish his people with a great fire. The fire had burned up the depths of the sea and was devouring the entire land. 5 Then I said, “O Sovereign Lord, please stop or we will not survive, for Israel is so small.”

6 Then the Lord relented from this plan, too. “I will not do that either,” said the Sovereign Lord.

 

Hebrews 1: 1-2 (NLT)

1 Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. 2 And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son he created the universe.

 

 

Amos 7:7-9(NLT)

7 Then he showed me another vision. I saw the Lord standing beside a wall that had been built using a plumb line. He was using a plumb line to see if it was still straight. 8 And the Lord said to me, “Amos, what do you see?”

I answered, “A plumb line.”

And the Lord replied, “I will test my people with this plumb line. I will no longer ignore all their sins. 9 The pagan shrines of your ancestors will be ruined, and the temples of Israel will be destroyed; I will bring the dynasty of King Jeroboam to a sudden end.”

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