Amos 5:14-15 - Homiletics

The nation with which God will dwell.

The opening words of this presage imply a history. Israel "not only did evil, but they sought it out and the occasions of it" (Pusey). They gave evil their special attention, never failing to do it when they had opportunity, and seeking opportunities when none presented themselves. In fact, they did it with an amount of method and pains which they are now called upon to direct into a new channel, and apply to the doing of good.

I. THE PRESENCE OF GOD WITH MEN IS THE CHIEFEST EXPRESSION OF HIS FAVOUR . It was the original, and remains the normal condition of human life.

1 . It is the restoration of acceptance. Separation from God is penal. God "drove out the man" and we remain "afar off" because of sin committed. He will dwell with us again only when our sin is put away. The king will not consort with rebels as such. He will meet them only as subjects and friends. The condition of access to his presence is the equitable recovery of his forfeited favour. In the promise to dwell with Israel was the implied promise to restore them to his favour.

2 . It is the restoration of God-likened. "What communion hath light with darkness?" None. The two things are essentially antagonistic, and fellowship between them is impossible. Accordingly, Adam left God's presence and hid even before he was driven out of the garden. In losing the Divine likeness he had lost all relish or fitness for the Divine presence. The one could be recovered only with the other. Born from above, and made partakers of the Divine nature, we are in affinity with God, and come with relish to his presence.

3 . It is the restoration of happiness. "In thy presence is fulness of joy." Sin means loss on the one side and infliction on the other. Its guilt separates from God, with the result that our being is incomplete. Its corruption introduces disorder among our own powers, and disease in each, and so unrest and misery become inevitable ( Isaiah 48:22 ; Isaiah 57:20 ). In reunion with God these two occasions of unhappiness are removed. By regeneration the old nature is crucified, and the new one is set by faith in union with God, where it has spiritual completeness, and so its ideal of a happy state. Hence the Christian's aspiration is summed up in one idea—to "be with Christ, which is far better."

II. ISRAEL HAD A THEORETICAL DIVINE PRESENCE WITH THEM WHICH WAS NOT NOW IN FACT ENJOYED . ( Exodus 29:45 , Exodus 29:46 .) It is implied in God's offer to be with them under certain circumstances, that he was not with them then.

1 . He was not with them in worship. God's presence at the Jewish national worship was pledged ( Exodus 20:24 ). But the worship must be his worship, conducted according to his appointment. This it now was not. Where not positively idolatrous or profane, the worship of Israel was utterly formal and hollow. In such worship the Divine presence is not desired and is not enjoyed ( Isaiah 1:13-15 ). The worship must be real, the heart contrite, in which God promises to be present. Israel failed of God's promised presence by tailing to claim it on the appointed terms.

2 . He was not with them in war. For centuries he had been ( 6:16 ), and victory attended their arms ( Joshua 24:12 , Joshua 24:18 ; 1 Chronicles 17:21 ). Nothing could withstand them. The nations of Canaan, in whose sight they had felt as grasshoppers, were subdued before them. And God had explicitly connected their victories with his presence and help ( Exodus 17:11 , Exodus 17:14 ; Psalms 44:1-3 ). But there came a time of which the psalmist had to say, "Thou hast cast off and put us to shame, and goest not forth with our armies" ( Psalms 44:9 ). The conditions on which the Divine promise of help in the field was suspended were violated or ignored, and God left them to fight with the arm they preferred to his.

3 . He was not with them in their daily walk. They did not seek him nor want him, nor were they fit to be near him. The graces to which his presence is congruous, the means by which his presence is secured, were all absent, and so they were a nation given up of God and forsaken ( Isaiah 2:6 ; Jeremiah 7:29 ). He no longer dwelt with them, nor met them, nor directed them, nor spoke to them. He became, as he does to all under like conditions, "a God afar off, and not a God near at hand;" and the journey of their national existence, begun in such goodly company, was left to be finished alone.

III. TO MAKE THE THEORY OF GOD 'S PRESENCE FACT , THE THEORY OF ISRAEL 'S SEPARATION MUST ALSO BE FACT . God's withdrawal was the natural reply to Israel's forsaking. His resumption of relations would synchronize with their return to righteousness.

1 . Evil must be rejected . This duty is laid down in three degrees. It is not to be sought, nor done, nor loved. It had been all three. It could cease to be the one only by ceasing to be the others also. The seeking implies that the love and the doing have gone before. The love guarantees that the doing and seeking shall follow in due course. The way to break off' from evil is to be utterly separate. The least link of connection will develop into a mighty chain.

2 . Good must be chosen. This is dutiful. Duty has a positive side still more important than its negative one. Mere avoidance of what is wrong would be a colourless thing. God's Law is not merely a system of restrictions, but a system of commands. There must be actual doing of what is right, with a knowledge that it is right, and because it is right. And this is no more dutiful than natural The qualities that turn away from evil turn instinctively to good. Indeed, the two things are so antagonistic that the love of the one and the hatred of the other are only different aspects of the same feeling. And in this choosing of God, again, there are three phases or degrees answering to those in the avoidance of sin. It is to be loved , as the fairest and most amiable thing on earth. It is to be done, as the only thing that is fitting and right. It is to be sought, as a thing important and desirable in the highest possible degree.

3 . Justice must be done. "Established in the gate." Unjust judgment was a prevalent and crying evil. The Jewish character was prone to it, and the experience of it at the hands of strangers only strengthened the tendency. Perversion of justice is one of the most constant elements in natural corruption everywhere. A corrupt man makes a dishonest trader, an unjust judge, and an oppressive master. Fair and upright dealing between man and man has no natural basis, unless in the fear of God. The fear of God, on the other hand, will naturally coordinate itself with regard for man. The man who "does justly and loves mercy" is one who "walks humbly with God."

IV. WHAT GOD DOES FOR ISRAEL HE DOES FOR THEM AS BEING " THE REMNANT OF JOSEPH ." This form of expression is significant.

1 . The remnant. This implies weeding out by previous judgment. Israel had sinned long, and in punishment had been almost decimated. This was necessary as a matter of justice. Until it had been done they could not be saved. Sinners, individually and collectively, must receive for the wrong they have done. God's original promises were made to Israel as a nation, and not to individuals, and the nation in his eye was the remnant left after his judgments had run their course. To this remnant hope of deliverance is here held out as a Brand plucked from the fire; a thing on which, justice having been vindicated, mercy may now, and not till now, be shown.

2 . The remnant of Joseph. This means Israel as the covenant people. Joseph was Israel's favourite, "the man that was separate from his brethren," and the recipient of the promise ( Genesis 48:4 ) given to Abraham ( Genesis 17:8 ) and repeated to Isaac and Jacob. Accordingly, the "remnant of Joseph" is equivalent to the "remnant according to the election of grace" ( Romans 11:5 ). God never forgets his covenant, never fails to give its promised blessings, never gives them to the covenant people, but as covenanted mercies. On the broad ground of creaturehood his general mercies are distributed, but special mercies are on the narrower basis of a spiritual relation. All wherein we are made to differ from others is the gift of a God in covenant, and the story of providence is at bottom the story of grace ( Romans 8:32 , Romans 8:28 ).