Even when the worst of circumstances come, we figure at least a few will escape. Perhaps some will be away from home and will escape by being absent. Perhaps there will be some fluke happenings and some will escape. After all, even in the worst tornado there always is a living infant cradled in a treetop or an uninjured person in the rubble! People always marvel at the few who escape when destruction is everywhere. Perhaps someone will successfully hide and escape by being unnoticed. Perhaps some will just be sneaky enough to figure out how to get away or hide.
We are accustomed to thinking the best will happen for a few even in the most destructive circumstances.
Total destruction rarely means all people were destroyed. Maybe all buildings were destroyed. Maybe all animal life died. Maybe there were no signs of life at first glance. Maybe outsiders say, “No one could live through this much destruction!”—yet, someone always does.
People tend to think two things before a disastrous situation occurs: (a) “That could not happen to me!” (b) “If that did happen, not everyone would be destroyed—at least a few would escape that horrible event.”
There are always survivors! No matter how bad the event was, there are always survivors! We always hope for survival by an incredible, unexplainable escape. After all, who invented the statement, “We are hoping against hope”? So no matter how bad an event is—from plane crash to hurricane—we always look for survivors, and we expect to find them.
A part of our culture is to expect there to be survivors. Not matter how bad the event is, those in charge always approach disaster with recovery or rescue efforts. In our culture, we do not expect everyone to be killed, and we expect to be able to successfully treat the injured.
A true story: A woman brought a sick infant to our mobile clinic. The child did not have a life-threatening problem. The nurses explained carefully to the mother how to restore the child’s health. They instructed the mother to bring the child back when the clinic returned the following week. The mother did not return for weeks. The anxious nurses asked her (upon her return) about the child. The mother shrugged and answered, “When an animal gets sick, it dies; when a child gets sick, it dies.” Death was expected when sickness occurred. There was little you could do about it where this woman lived.
We are unaccustomed to thinking that “total destruction” means a complete loss of human life. “There will always be the exception, and that exception will be me. Everyone else may die, but I will survive!”
We are taught to expect the best “for us” in every dire situation.
Amos neared the close of his short written prophecy by declaring the unthinkable: There will be no survivors! Why? “You have made a very patient God justly angry. In His just anger, He declared no one shall escape the consequences of the offenses.”
It would be easy for people in the Northern Kingdom to dismiss everything Amos said. (a) They were sure Amos was wrong. (b) They were confident they had not angered God. The thought that they would experience a disaster in which there would be no survivors was a preposterous thought!
Amos revealed his vision by declaring that the Lord God was standing by the altar. Ordinarily, that was good! The Lord God by the altar often meant that the Lord God accepted the human gifts presented at the altar. The Lord God speaking by the altar brought words of blessing as He spoke in truth.
The opening imagery of God standing beside the altar was encouraging. (Nothing could heighten the truthfulness of God’s message as could God standing by the altar.) They would expect this scene to produce good news.
Not this time! The Lord God would speak in truth, but it would not be words of blessing. Instead of truthful words of blessing, He spoke truthful words of destruction.
This time God’s news was not good!
What did He say?
He, the Lord God, would break the unbreakable! Their impressive structures would not protect them! The Lord God would strike the tops of the columns with such force that the bottoms of the doorways would shake. (That would be a force beyond imagination! Imagine fleeing to your strongest building only to have it fall on you.)
It always has been easy for people to put their confidence in that which they produced. (We still do!) That which profoundly impresses us produces our sense of security. They thought their strong structures could and would protect them from anything. That the top of the columns could be struck with such force that the thresholds would shake was beyond imagination! (Remember, some of the ancient columns still stand today.)
Not everyone would be successful in fleeing to their strongest buildings. The ones who did not make it would be killed with the sword.
People who could, would flee for a sense of safety to their strong buildings. However, not everyone would have opportunity to do that. For them it was immediate death.
Whether by the collapse of their strongest buildings or by violent acts of war, none would escape. If it were possible to dig a hole (to hide in) in Sheol, there would be no escape. (Sheol was the undefined world of the dead, here pictured as the lowest possible realm.) If a person were to ascend to heaven, the Lord God would pull him down. They could hide on the highest mountain accessible to them, and God would find them. They could go to the bottom of the sea, and God would send a serpent to bite them. They could even go as captives to their enemies, and God would direct a sword to them.
There would be a lot of death, and a lot of captivity. There would be no place to hide; no place would be ignored. The imagery was “from the highest high to the lowest low,” there is no escape from this disaster. If they could do the impossible, there would still be no escape. Why? God devised the disaster!
All of this said something simple: “There will be absolutely, positively no escape from My just anger. Were it possible to do anything imaginable, it would not work. When you make God justly angry, you will face His anger. If I say you will be destroyed, you will be destroyed—there is no escaping and no place to hide. When I say it will happen, it will happen.”
“Think the unthinkable—there will be no escape! Nothing can rescue you! God’s anger is inescapable!”
“Do you understand who I am? Do you understand the power I have? I can make the earth melt and give people reason to mourn. I am the mysterious one Who is beyond explanation. There is nowhere that I am not. I do things you cannot explain. I am the Lord!”
They needed a better understanding and grasp of Who God is! He cannot be controlled or manipulated by humans! He is as serious about your destruction as He was about your blessings! Do not think you are dealing with another human! You have made Him justly angry by your attitude and behavior, and He will act against you in His anger!
God has great power to do us good, and does us good. That is His preference! However, if we reject Him and refuse to learn His purposes or live by His values, we give Him no alternative. The power that He wished to use for our good is turned to be used for our destruction. See Jeremiah 18:5-10.
God has incredible power! He prefers to use His power to bless you, but He will use it to destroy you if you insist.
For Thought and Discussion:
1. Even when the worst of circumstances come, we figure what?
We figure at least a few will escape.
2. How can escape occur?
Perhaps by absence, perhaps by a fluke happening, perhaps by hiding, perhaps by the sneakiness of the person.
3. Total destruction rarely means what?
It rarely means all people are destroyed.
4. There are always what?
There are always survivors.
5. In most people’s thinking, who will be the exception?
“I” will be the exception.
6. As Amos neared the close of his written prophecy, he declared the unthinkable. What
was the unthinkable?
The unthinkable: There will be no survivors (no one who escapes) because you made the patient God justly angry with you.
7. In Amos’ vision, discuss the fact that the Lord God was by the altar.
The discussion should include that this ordinarily would be a good thing, and always it is authoritative. The power for good God would have used to bless you will be used to destroy you.
8. The Lord God would strike the top of the columns with such force that what happened?
The thresholds would shake.
9. What happened to those who could not reach their strongest buildings?
They would be killed by the sword.
10. Discuss the hopelessness of escaping.
The discussion should include that no matter what they did, their act would not result in escape.
11. State the simple thing Amos said.
This discussion should include that it is impossible to escape from God’s anger.
12. Discuss God’s use of His great power.
The discussion should include that God preferred to use His power to bless them, but if they refused to learn His purposes and live in His values, He would use it to destroy them.
Link to Student Guide
Lesson 12