Yesterday I finished reading the book of Amos in my quiet times. Since few people have a knowledge of this book I’ll post a summary of the main sections of the book over the coming days, including application points for both Christians and non-Christians. If you haven’t got a Bible read or listen to Amos here. I hope it’ll be useful.
Amos divides into three parts:
- 5 sermons (Chapters 1-6)
- 5 visions, with a brief argument with a priest (7-9:10)
- Yahweh’s promise to restore Israel (9:11-15)
Amos’ prophecies seem to have been in the Northern Kingdom known as Israel or Samaria (cf. Amos 7:12-13).
The main theme of the book is that Yahweh judges whether his people seek him. If they do not horrific judgement is inevitable. This means three things:
- God will judge the things non-Christians do with justice, punishing them where punishment is deserved.
- God has no favourites and judges his people with justice as well.
- Jesus deserves praise because he bore the punishment illustrated in this book, the punishment we deserved.
(Illustration by Blair Israel, Amos 7:8 in The Flaming Fire Illustrated Bible. Visit the site for free Biblical Illustrations)
Tim Wilson is a primary school teacher in the North East of England. A Bible-believing Christian, he's committed to putting Jesus at the centre of everything he does.
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