GOD EVENTUALLY GETS FED UP

GOD EVENTUALLY GETS FED UP  

"Thus saith Jehovah; For three transgressions of Damascus, yea, for four" Amos 1:3

Amos was a man of Judah, who was sent by God to prophesy in Israel. In this book we have the notes of his ministry. No prophet, in the technical sense of the word; nor the son of a prophet, that is he had no training in the schools of the prophets, he nevertheless was a veritable prophet of God. His outlook upon the Divine government was of the widest. He saw God judging, NOT JUDAH AND ISRAEL ONLY, but ALL THE NATIONS. The first section of the book contains eight oracles concerning the nations, setting forth this fact. Each one of them is introduced by these words, "For three transgressions . . . yea, for four." The language is obviously figurative, rather than mechanical. The truth thus emphasized with reference to all the nations is that of the Divine patience, and justice. Upon all these nations the wrath of God was to fall, but not until their persistence in wickedness was such as to leave no room for any other method of dealing with them, enough is enough. The "three transgressions" represent FULLNESS OF INIQUITY; but when that becomes "four," then the iniquity has PASSED BEYOND THE BOUNDS OF THE DIVINE PATIENCE. This is always the law of God's dealings with nations. The stroke of His judgment never falls until sin has become so COMPLETE that there is no room for the exercise of mercy. In the Bible we see the good getting better to perfection while the bad get to their worst and then we see the complete exercise of the mission He was sent to this earth. When that is so, His judgments inevitably come, and that in the interest of humanity as a whole. A careful reading of these narratives will show that the national sins against which God proceeds, are always those of wrong done to other nations.