A sermon delivered to All Saints Anglican Church on July 12, 2009 at the Convent Chapel of St. Mary's Medical Center, Huntington, WV and based on Amos 7:7-15.
Amos 7:7-15
7 This is what he showed me: behold, the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. 8 And the Lord said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said,
“Behold, I am setting a plumb linein the midst of my people Israel;I will never again pass by them;9 the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate,and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste,and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.”
10 Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear all his words. 11 For thus Amos has said,
“‘Jeroboam shall die by the sword,and Israel must go into exileaway from his land.’”
12 And Amaziah said to Amos, “O seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah, and eat bread there, and prophesy there, 13 but never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king's sanctuary, and it is a temple of the kingdom.”
14 Then Amos answered and said to Amaziah, “I was no prophet, nor a prophet's son, but I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs. 15 But the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’
Introduction
When we were homeschooling our daughter Lindsey, we bought a Latin language program for her. Initially, I tried to help her out with her vocabulary words, and I noticed that our basic question words in English: Who What Why, When… seemed to all have Latin counterparts that start with Q. Now I’m no Latin scholar, but I’d like to use a little device today from Latin to help us explore the subject of Prophecy – Old Testament and New.
The basis for this message is our reading from Amos today (7:7-15) in which Amos sees a vision of the plumb line and talks briefly about his role as a prophet. With apologies to the Latin scholars in our midst, I would like for us to consider some Prophetic P’s and Q’s. Namely:
The Personnel of Prophecy or Qui (Who?)
The Purpose of Prophecy – or Quare (Why?)
The Product of Prophecy: Quod (What?)
But first the setting for our passage from Amos:
Personnel (Qui): Amos, a shepherd from the Tekoa who is also a dresser of Sycamore fig trees. He is not a ‘professional’ ‘prophet for profit’ but an ‘amateur’, not a “prophet or the son of a prophet” but someone God called out for a special purpose –
Purpose (Quare): to speak to the northern tribes of Israel about their injustice and unfaithfulness and to warn them about the judgment to come:
Product (Quod): The product that Amos produces is a Prophecy from God, the ‘Word of the Lord”, ‘oracles’ of impending judgment that begin with “Thus says the Lord”, or “Hear this word”. These oracles descry cruelty and oppression by Israel’s neighbors, but also contain accusations and warnings against Israel itself.
In this prophecy there are also Visions with explanations. Our reading today from Amos chapter 7 contains the vision of the plumbline. Earlier in the same chapter are pictures of Locusts coming to eat up the crops and fire devouring the land. The prophetic word comes with metaphorical visions of what the Lord is doing or will do.
It’s also significant to note that Amos uses many different literary techniques. The introduction to Amos from the ESV online says… …”the dominant literary form is satire, with the usual elements of objects of attack, a satiric vehicle …, a satiric norm or standard by which the criticism is conducted, and a prevailing satiric tone… In addition… Amos is a master of smaller forms such as metaphor and simile, epithet (“you cows of Bashan,” 4:1), parallelism, rhetorical questions, and parody … Other genres that find a place in the book include saying or proverb, doom song, woe formula, and visionary writing."
So Prophecy in the Old Testament is a literary product, an art form replete with the techniques of artistry, that stands on its own as Art. All of this is an attempt to get the people’s attention, to call them to repentance and have them return to the Lord before it’s too late and doom comes upon them. Prophecy is ultimately rooted in God’s love and concern for his people. Prophecies in the Old Testament are stern poems from a loving God to his errant children which contain accusations and judgments, but also promises and encouragement – if only the people turn back.
The most successful example of Prophecy I can think of is Jonah at Nineveh. Jonah delivers the prophecy, and the people repent and worship the Lord. Mission Accomplished.
However, unlike Nineveh, when Amos delivers his prophecy, the priest Amaziah, tells him to get lost and go prophecy somewhere else – not exactly the right way to receive God’s Word! Old Testament Prophecy is meant to produce a result – Repentance.
Importantly,the success of the prophecy is not gauged by the result, but upon the faithfulness of the prophet to deliver the message.
Prophecy in the New Testament
In the New Testament prophecy takes on a more varied complexion. Just taking a brief look at the Gospel of Luke gives us several types:
Chapter 1: The Angel Gabriel prophecies to Zechariah about the birth of John the Baptist , who will …” turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”
Gabriel also prophecies the birth of Jesus to Mary (1:33,34) “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
When John is born, his father, Zechariah sings the song, sometimes referred to as the “Benedictus”, prophecying over John:
You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High, *
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,
To give people knowledge of salvation *
by the forgiveness of their sins.
The ancient Simeon also prophecies in song after having seen the baby Jesus. In the song we call Nunc dimittis: (Luke 2:29‑32)
Lord, you now have set your servant free *
to go in peace as you have promised;
For these eyes of mine have seen the Savior, *
whom you have prepared for all the world to see:
A Light to enlighten the nations, *
and the glory of your people Israel.
Coming to John the Baptist, he really is the embodiment of the Old Testament type of prophet. In fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy, he cries out in the wilderness, preparing the way of the Lord, saying
8 Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. … “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.” … “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
Clearly, this is the classic prophetic message: Repent and believe – or else!
Jesus himself can be thought of as a Prophet in this mold, especially when he foretells the destruction of Jerusalem in and his eventual return in Luke 21:
20 “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. 21 Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are inside the city depart, and let not those who are out in the country enter it, 22 for these are days of vengeance, to fulfill all that is written. 23 Alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! For there will be great distress upon the earth and wrath against this people. 24 They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive among all nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles…
25 “And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, 26 people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 27 And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. …
So even in the New Testament there are Old Testament “Thus says the Lord “ types of prophecy. But when we come to the letter 1 Corinthians, we encounter something new. Paul says,
“Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.”
Suddenly, prophecy is no longer just for the capitol ‘P’ prophet, but it has become a gift to the church and something for us to seek. Paul speaks in the imperative voice. This is a directive, something you should do. Prophecy is for all of God’s people, not just the selected prophet. We as Christians are all God’s prophetic Personnel. (Qui)
Quare - Why?, For what purpose?
1 Cor 14:3: …the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation. …the one who prophesies builds up the church. As an unbeliever hears prophecy,”he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you.”
So, again we see that the purpose of prophecy is to call people to repentance and worship of God.
Now the Product itself. Another New Testament example of prophecy is in Acts 21:10:
10 While we were staying for many days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. 11 And coming to us, he took Paul's belt and bound his own feet and hands and said, “Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘This is how the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’”
We have seen before that a prophet often receives a vision and then is given a meaning for that vision. Here the prophet acts out the prophecy and then provides the meaning. The actual prophesy then consists of visions or metaphorical actions that give a message of warning or hope to the recipient.
Prophecy may also be addressed to individuals in order to encourage them. It’s not unusual for a prophet to call someone out and then tell what is going on in their lives, and afterwards give a message of encouragement. This is sometimes called ‘reading your mail’. It can be embarrassing in a way, but it’s also amazing when someone who doesn’t know you accurately tells what is going on in your life and then gives you an encouragement to go on – especially when you’re having a tough time. The purpose again is to build up the church.
I’d like to now actually enter into this process briefly. Last week after our service, Cindy told me that while Peter Schoew was giving a Scripture reference and Jim was playing the piano, she had had a vision. She was reticent to share it, but I asked her to write up what she felt the Lord was showing her so that she could share it with us today.
Cindy’s Vision
Last Sunday, after Fr. Peter shared about his gift and the scripture that inspired his “spirit song” then Jim began to play his offertory – God called to my memory the focus of my prayers at the last Friday night Mission Tri-State prayer meeting.
In that prayer meeting with all the lovely incense and quietness God was showing me his spirit moving through the “desolate” parts of our city between Hal Greer and 20th St. As his spirit moved from house to house I would see houses repaired, cleansed, and lights go on and glow warmly from the windows. I watched this happen to many homes until I came to one particular house where the spirit stopped. It was a familiar place that I pass when crossing town. There the young men sit on the porch or saunter on the side walk and street in front of this house. I usually get a little nervous when I pass by here. There the spirit stayed. I could see no repair, cleansing or lighting going on here. God just stopped there – so with some effort, I prayed for the young men.
This one is hard because I don’t like to see young men sitting around on a porch. I think they should be out working. The young men there look bored, listless and possibly dangerous. Sometimes I am scared of these men especially when they walk in the street without looking to see if a car is coming. I found it hard to persevere in prayer for them because I did not want to “see” them. That was the vision at the Friday night prayer meeting…
Now back to the present. Jim was playing the offertory and I was meditating on the scripture passage Fr. Peter had copied for us
“ Give ear, O God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city… We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For your sake , O my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name.” Daniel 9:18 - 19
So the Lord brought me back to the young men on the porch. As Jim played (and Jim I believe you were mediating God’s spirit) -- the Lord began to give me His heart for the young men – tears formed in my eyes and I thought I would openly begin to weep, but I took a deep breath and “regained composure.” But now I began to pray in earnest for the young men on that porch. I saw them as “lost boys” -- lost in every way. The closest some have been to their fathers is the night they were conceived. They’ve not grown up with a father to teach them the way of men, and they don’t know the fatherhood of God. But God was showing me how much he loves them and wants them to be a part of his family. God hasn’t forgotten them and he doesn’t want us to forget them either…
Explication:
To summarize, let’s note the several aspects of what Cindy has shared with us and see how our P’s and Q’s apply.
Personnel is obvious – but just a note on this. Cindy does not consider herself a ‘prophet’ – just someone who got a vision. I think the Lord is developing this gift in her, but she’s a regular person, a Christian just like the rest of us.
The Purpose of her vision seems to be to call attention to God’s heart of compassion towards those we could call Lost Boys and to spur us on to mission.
Finally the Product consists of a
-A Vision
-Sparked during worship service (music gift and scripture teaching in play)
-The propohecy includes the prophest’s initial response, but also
-God’s perspective –his heart, compassion
-In response the prophet weeps and repents, she has a new perspective, and new compassion for the lost.
-Lastly, a Mission orientation is stressed,– we as the Church are admonished to reach out to these “Lost Boys’.
Not many of us used to speaking out such prophecies in church, but I hope that will change in time. We may not be ‘prophets for profit’, or be called to go stand in front of kings or presidents to call out injustice or oppression, but we are all called of God to respond to his leading however it may come. In this case, we are to ‘Seek to prophesy. …’ I hope today’s lesson will help us to mind our P’s and Q’s regarding prophecy and that the Lord will grace us with more of it – for the up-building of our church. May it be so. In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
