Amos 3:8 “The lion hath roared, who will not fear? The Lord God hath spoken, who can but prophesy?”
Amos begins his prophesy with the Lord’s Voice….as a roar from Zion…to the peoples round about His Jerusalem (Amos 1:2)…and it is the roar of the Victor.
Amos 1:2 “And he said, The Lord will roar from Zion, and utter HIs Voice from Jerusalem; and the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither.”
Jeremiah 25:30-31 “….The Lord shall roar from on high, and utter HIs Voice from His holy habitation; He shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth.
A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the Lord hath a controversy with the nations, He will plead with all flesh; He will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the Lord.”
God’s Voice is a special manifestation of Himself. His Voice first spoke in the re-creation of the earth…”Let there be light: and there was light”. (Genesis 1:3)
God’s Voice spoke through Christ Jesus about the re-creation of us,….”Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.” (John 3:7)
“…he that heareth My Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” (John 5:24)
“The lion hath roared, who will not fear?”
There are two kinds of fear in the Bible.
The fear of the Lord:
Proverbs 9:10 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the Holy is understanding.”
(In Proverbs, the fear of the Lord is a prominent part of the message there:
Prov.1:7 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge:…
Prov.3:7 “…fear the Lord, and depart from evil.”
Prov.8:13 “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy…”
Prov. 10:27 “The fear of the Lord prolongeth days:…”
Prov. 14:26 “In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence: and His children shall have a place of refuge.”
Prov.14:27 “The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death.”
Prov. 15:16 “Better is little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble therewith.”
Prov.15:33 “The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom:….”
Prov. 16:6 “…by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil.”
Prov.19:23 “The fear of the Lord tendeth to life: and he that hath it shall abide satisfied;….”
Prov.22:4 “By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, and honor and life.”
Prov.23:17 “Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long.”)
This fear is reverential awe….it places us on our faces before our God in love, trust, and surrender to His Will.
The fear of the Lord will keep us grounded in the Truth, to see things in their right order. “Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” (Ecc.12:13)
(We must remember that the judgment against all mankind is: “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Romans 3:18)
The second is the fear of man:
Proverbs 29:25 “The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe.”
This fear will cause people to do what they wouldn’t normally do, looking around to see the reaction of men…. or it will cause people to seek revenge, or lead them to tremble and give up. (“….fear hath torment” 1 John 4:18)…and how much this fear is used by the world, the flesh, and the devil.
The fear of the Lord will come to all who seek to know Him….aright.
If we can shake our fist in the face of God, and say, even by our actions: “I will not”…
…then it is certain that we have not the beginning of wisdom,…
…nor do we have the reality, which is the fear of the Lord.
He is Sovereign! And all things work….and will work, to His Sovereign determination (Rev.
4:11…”pleasure” is determination, there
And all things means all things!
This is fact….but it is what we do with this fact, that makes the difference in our lives.
We would change this….or we would change that. He would change us into His likeness….and this begins with the fear of the Lord.
Us, coming to the place where we cry out,…”Oh, woe is me! I am undone! And then raise our heads, and look up to Christ…and praise His name for letting us be near Him in any way!”
Reverence for Who He is …and surrender to what He has and will do!
Amos 3:6 “Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? Shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it?”
“Shall a trumpet be blown in the city and the people not be afraid?”
The trumpets were to awaken the people….to gather them, especially in times of war or trouble…or for repentance.
We are to make sure our “trumpet sounds” are clear. That we speak plainly and clearly to people about Christ Jesus our Lord.
1 Corinthians 14:8 “For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?”
We need to be clear in our words and actions that we stand with the Lord.
“Shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it?”
Nothing just happens.
All is under the Sovereign eye of God. What He wills, will certainly be….both in blessing and in judgment…
….what He allows, He will control…even the evil of the times, He is making to work for His glory, for He calls us to separate ourselves from it, and show that we are His…
Romans 6:17-18 “But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.”
Amos 3:3,8 “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?”
The lion hath roared, who will not fear? The Lord God hath spoken, who can but prophesy?”
In the Bible, to prophesy is to tell God’s people what is on HIs mind for now. Did the prophets also tell of future events? Yes, but the main theme of every prophet…
…..was to be God’s mouthpiece to remind and tell His people, what they were refusing to hear….through HIs Word.
Let us hear HIs Voice to us…in these last days of the church age:
Revelation 3:19 “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore , and repent.”
Does He say this in other scriptures? Yes, many. But here, in these last days of the church….His called out ones….
….He speaks to us as the Amen….the only One who can say…”Let it be!” And it will be!
He speaks to us as the Faithful and True Witness….who tells us how we are, so that we can repent….and have a blessing at HIs coming…instead of suffer loss.
2 John 8 “Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.”
We have come so far….will we turn back….or stop? Let us seek to Him and get His Witness against us…and repent…and be fully blessed.
He speaks to us as the beginning of the creation of God….for God’s thoughts of salvation for us were before He created anything else.
And so He created a body for Christ, before anything else was (Hebrews 10:5)
His body was prepared for His coming as the Man Christ Jesus…. that He might come and save us at the fulness of the time.
His Voice is not yet the trumpet call of “Come up hither” in the Rapture….but the Voice of the lion who is roaring….that HIs church might be awakened,….to come to Him….and fear Him.
Preaching, Teaching, and Notes 