Audio Download

The Book of Amos – Chapter 7:1-17 – Still at Ease in Zion, unwittingly being measured

[Aired January 18, 2025]

In Chapter 7 of Amos, as is most of scripture, God is signifying the measuring of his Elect for the building of his house and the turbulent path they will tread in glory; he temporarily lays aside the rest of Israel their salvation to their predetermined fate until the Lake of Fire—for non-spiritual eyes at ease in Zion, a one thousand mile stare of resigned disinterest, unless, of course, the prophets prophesy good things (1Ki 22).

Israel’s constant sea-sawing between somewhat obeying her Lord and resulting peace and wealth and disobedience provoking war, famine, and death typifies the Lord’s Elect since the cross. In Amos Chapter 6, we saw that the chief of sinners is the budding Elect, to their consternation at ease in Zion, portraying a more delicious ‘ease’ later in Babylon.

Pro 25:2  It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter.

It is for kings to know the mystery of the Lord’s word; not just any old king, but rather the kings and priests of God, the Elect, the Bride, who, like their Lord, have many names, all identifying with her Husband.

We know for certain that our Lord will strive with his ‘very elect’; paradoxically, it seems to belie that he will not always strive with men.

Isa 46:3  Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, which are borne by me from the belly, which are carried from the womb:
Isa 46:4  And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.

Rom 9:27  Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved:

It wasn’t the Lord’s plan to save old Israel from her inevitable fate of exile, and when she got to Babylon, she grew to like its riches far from the face of her Lord’s overbearing commands where she could deliciously indulge without judgement. She typifies Zion today, and the collective of Gentile Christianity, still at ease, nauseously bleating how good her fabled democracy is while creating 200,000,000 lies to substantiate her unwitting whoredom. It is the Lord’s very Elect he has given the “honour to search out the matter”, and, with a shudder to the soles of her feet, delightedly see that she is ‘small Jacob’, the “remnant”, the little flock he will save out of the commonwealth of Israel.

Accordingly, in Amos 7, the Bride of Christ, in training to be one in her Lord’s Kingship, is, and like him, a King who alone as ‘the’ remnant is given to search out the mysteries of her Husband’s word; he certainly does strive with her all the way to the First Resurrection. Paradoxically, though, at times, he doesn’t strive with us when our consciences accuse us of repetitious sins that sit at ease in our hearts, a most insidiously damning Zionist-like ease that must be eradicated. If we continue to hear the still small voice behind us saying, ‘This is the way’, and ignore it, we, like Esau, are in danger of the Devil secretly stealing our inheritance away, and no flood of tears will restore us.

Gen 6:3  And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

Isa 44:21  Remember these things, O Jacob, for you are My servant, O Israel. I have made you, and you are My servant; O Israel, I will never forget you.
Isa 44:22  I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like a mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you. 
Isa 44:23  Sing for joy, O heavens, for the LORD has done this; shout aloud, O depths of the earth. Break forth in song, O mountains, you forests and all your trees. For the LORD has redeemed Jacob, and revealed His glory in Israel. 
Isa 44:24  Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer who formed you from the womb: “I am the LORD, who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who by Myself spread out the earth,
Isa 44:25  who foils the signs of false prophets and makes fools of diviners, who confounds the wise and turns their knowledge into nonsense, 
Isa 44:26  who confirms the message of His servant and fulfills the counsel of His messengers, who says of Jerusalem, ‘She will be inhabited,’ and of the cities of Judah, ‘They will be rebuilt, and I will restore their ruins,’ 
Isa 44:27  who says to the depths of the sea, ‘Be dry, and I will dry up your currents,’
Isa 44:28  who says of Cyrus, ‘My shepherd will fulfill all that I desire,’ who says of Jerusalem, ‘She will be rebuilt,’ and of the temple, ‘Let its foundation be laid.’” (BSB)

Judah and Gentile Christianity remain to this day as the Lord’s servants, whereas the Lord’s Elect, typified by ‘small’ Jacob, the eminent servants of his focus, are given to understand that they, representing the Bride, are given to know the secret things of God and build her Temple spiritually within upon the foundation of her Husband, Christ. In the meantime, this very day, the Lord’s servants, Zionist Christianity, seem to be in a headlong rush to reestablish a temple on the original temple mount in Jerusalem—wait and see; our Lord will not suffer the filth of the Old Covenant’s former glory of works to last; possibly only just long enough before its guaranteed destruction to cataclysmically amplify his authority.

Christ daily strives with his Bride for her to understand the secret things of God by his spirit in visions of God-inspired thought, and she sees the locusts (grasshoppers), the false prophets with stings in their tails, coming a mile off, intent on eating her tender shoots of truth. Without fear and fanfare, she resists these Devil’s agents by simply requesting her Lord’s intervention, knowing that calling on the Lord’s name to be saved from the wiles of the Devil follows a rich unity with Christ’s mind and not from her former dusty and repetitious mumbling of contextual scripture that she is saved without chastisement. She is an incipient King, rightly dividing the word of God and understanding spiritual meanings.

Rom 10:13  For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Mat 5:45  … for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

Significations:

Warning Visions

Amo 7:1  Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me; and, behold, he formed grasshoppers in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and, lo, it was the latter growth after the King’s mowings. 
Amo 7:2  And it came to pass, that when they had made an end of eating the grass of the land, then I said, O Lord GOD, forgive, I beseech thee: by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small. 
Amo 7:3  The LORD repented for this: It shall not be, saith the LORD. 

Num 13:33  And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight. 

Jdg 6:5  For they came up with their cattle and their tents, and they came as grasshoppers for multitude; for both they and their camels were without number: and they entered into the land [The Temple of God we are] to destroy it.

Rev 9:7 And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.
Rev 9:8 And they had hair as the hair of women [denoting churches], and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.
Rev 9:9 And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle [the sound drowning out the still small voice of truth].
Rev 9:10 And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months [for the length of time it takes for grace though Christ’s faith to do its work within].

Nah 3:17  Thy crowned [Nineveh and Israel in bed as one; doctrines of Gentile Christianity and we in our time unrighteously sitting on Christ’s throne as the mother of harlots] are as the locusts, and thy captains as the great grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges [protected by the multitude of voices drowning out the truth, speaking the same lying doctrines] in the cold day, but when the sun ariseth [Christ’s words] they flee away, and their place is not known where they are.
Nah 3:18  Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria: thy nobles shall dwell in the dust: thy people is scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth them.

In Amos 7:1-3, the Lord’s Elect experiences bountiful spiritual growth of nutritious hay to feed her spiritual mind. Meadow grass and wheat, upon being mown or chewed down by stock, will stool out, meaning that the plant suffers stress, and to compensate, it puts forth more stalks for fodder or, in the case of wheat, more heads of grain. In either case, both examples amplify the subsequent harvest and can point to the Biblical account of the early rain and latter rain as vital for a bountiful harvest.

Deu 11:12  A land [The Bride, our bodies, the Temple of God] which the LORD thy God careth for: the eyes of the LORD thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year. 
Deu 11:13  And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul,
Deu 11:14  That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil.
Deu 11:15  And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full. 

Jas 5:7  Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. 

Our Lord, in repenting of ‘mowing’ Jacob being us, is him saying that he will not allow the giants of our land to chew us into the ground as do locusts (and should drought follow) for us not to spring back. Nonetheless, the stress from the evil spirits devouring our initial spiritual growth and the new shoots do not kill our roots in Christ, and we endure to spring forth again much stronger for the trial. The process is a type of our Lord forgiving Jacob that he is assured to be fruitful.

Exo 23:29  I will not drive them out from before thee in one year; lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against thee.
Exo 23:30  By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land.

Amo 7:4  Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me: and, behold, the Lord GOD called to contend by fire, and it devoured the great deep, and did eat up a part.
Amo 7:5  Then said I, O Lord GOD, cease, I beseech thee: by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small. 
Amo 7:6  The LORD repented for this: This also shall not be, saith the Lord GOD. 

Our Lord contending with us by fire clearly correlates to us being devoured and thus saved by fire in this age, juxtaposed by Noah and his family of eight being saved from being devoured by the great deep beneath the ark. While both the fire and the flood devour all as ‘one event to all’ (Ecc 9:2), our Lord’s mercy allows it to devour his Elect with a controlled burn, little by little of our contentions against his word, until we are entirely consumed. We thus are able to ‘rise’ from being severely humbled, as did Jacob upon enduring wrestling with Christ.

The Lord doesn’t need to repent as if his mind is subject to double-mindedness. It was the Lord’s plan that Jacob would be initially small in number since his wife, Rachel, only had two sons, Joseph and Benjamin, to uphold their tribe’s inheritance. It was a fiery trial for Jacob to contend with Rachel’s constant dripping, her malcontent unable to bear children made unbearable by her sister’s fecundity. Jacob’s foreshadowing of the Bride is a work in progress whereby the plumbline upon her, the New Jerusalem’s wall our Lord hadn’t finished measuring, and the Old Jerusalem destined for demolition.

Ecc 3:1  To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
Ecc 3:2  A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; 
Ecc 3:3  A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
Ecc 3:4  [Rachel and we, the ‘barren woman’] A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
Ecc 3:5  A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
Ecc 3:6  A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
Ecc 3:7  A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
Ecc 3:8  A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

Amo 7:7  Thus he shewed me: and, behold, the Lord stood upon a wall made by a plumbline, with a plumbline in his hand. 
Amo 7:8  And the LORD said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A plumbline. Then said the Lord, Behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of my people Israel: I will not again pass by them any more: 
Amo 7:9  And the high places of Isaac shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword. 

The Lord, in stating to Amos that he would not pass by Old Israel any more, would have been a ‘bitter in his belly’ experience not unlike what John in Revelations saw since the concept enigmatically announced God abandoning Israel. In verse 10 below, Amaziah [‘am-ats-yaw’], the priest of Bethel, bore that vapid consternation somewhat sarcastically, saying, “The land is not able to bear all his words”. Being the priest, his contempt perfectly characterised Israel’s demeanour toward her Lord, as were Cain’s accusations for the burden of judgment.

What Israel didn’t see was the Lord’s plan spelt out in the wilderness since Egypt to this day in the spiritual meanings and pattern of the Holy Days and Feasts—indeed, they couldn’t bear Amos’s or any of the prophet’s words, but a remnant coming out of futuristic Israel, would, now bearing a light burden made easy by her Lord’s power and might.

Amos Accused

Amo 7:10  Then Amaziah [‘am-ats-yaw’ = Jehovah is mighty] the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words. 

And yes, the Lord had pre-plotted Israel’s demise precisely as he has ours, so we could spiritually most graphically see that all of scripture is our experience, though now, able to bear his fiery words.

1Co 3:21  Therefore, stop boasting in men. All things are yours, 
1Co 3:22  whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas [Amos] or the world or life or death or the present or the future. All of them belong to you,
1Co 3:23  and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

Because Solomon pursued other gods, including his relentless search for the implausibly ‘perfect wife’ from every ethnicity available, regardless of their god’s ideologies, the Lord was about to divide Israel—Ephriam, comprising ten tribes in the north, and Judah, constituting Judah and Benjamin, in the south.

1Ki 11:9  And the LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the LORD God of Israel, which had appeared unto him twice,
1Ki 11:10  And had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods: but he kept not that which the LORD commanded.
1Ki 11:11  Wherefore the LORD said unto Solomon, Forasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant. 
1Ki 11:12  Notwithstanding in thy days I will not do it for David thy father’s sake: but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son.
1Ki 11:13  Howbeit I will not rend away all the kingdom; but will give one tribe to thy son for David my servant’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake which I have chosen. 

(That one tribe is Judah, incorporating Benjamin that certain people today, who say that they are Jews and are not, have seized the name as God’s elect, to which Gentile Christianity in lockstep of strong delusion swoon, and soon to burn with fire. Rev 17:16  And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire).

Meantime, out of Amos’ generation, the Lord raised up adversaries against Solomon for his lethargy for his Lord’s word that riches indulge, one named Jeroboam, to wrest the Kingdom from Solomon.

1Ki 11:26  And Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephrathite of Zereda, Solomon’s servant, whose mother’s name was Zeruah, a widow woman [meaning = ‘full-breasted; diseased; leperous’ to feed her many harlot church’s; symbolic of the Great Whore who says that she is not a widow
Rev 18:7 and characterised mother of the Ten Tribes of Israel], even he lifted up his hand against the king.
1Ki 11:27  And this was the cause that he lifted up his hand against the king: Solomon built Millo, and repaired the breaches of the city of David his father.
1Ki 11:28  And the man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valour: and Solomon seeing the young man that he was industrious, he made him ruler over all the charge of the house of Joseph.
1Ki 11:29  And it came to pass at that time when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that the prophet Ahijah [ akh-ee-yaw = brother of Jehovah] the Shilonite found him in the way; and he had clad himself with a new garment; and they two were alone in the field [symbolic of Cain and Able and the principle of the elder serving the younger—Old Israel in transition to serving the new version]:
1Ki 11:30  And Ahijah caught the new garment that was on him, and rent it in twelve pieces:
1Ki 11:31  And he said to Jeroboam, Take thee ten pieces: for thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, Behold, I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to thee:
1Ki 11:32  (But he shall have one tribe for my servant David’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake, the city [the incipient New Heavenly Jerusalem, the Elect of God] which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel:):) 
1Ki 11:33  Because that they have forsaken me, and have worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the children of Ammon, and have not walked in my ways, to do that which is right in mine eyes, and to keep my statutes and my judgments, as did David his father.
1Ki 11:34  Howbeit I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand: but I will make him prince all the days of his life for David my servant’s sake, whom I chose, because he kept my commandments and my statutes:
1Ki 11:35  But I will take the kingdom out of his son’s hand, and will give it unto thee, even ten tribes.
1Ki 11:36  And unto his son will I give one tribe, that David my servant may have a light alway before me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen me to put my name there. 
1Ki 11:37  And I will take thee, and thou shalt reign according to all that thy soul desireth, and shalt be king over Israel.
1Ki 11:38  And it shall be, if thou wilt hearken unto all that I command thee, and wilt walk in my ways, and do that is right in my sight, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did; that I will be with thee, and build thee a sure house, as I built for David, and will give Israel unto thee.
1Ki 11:39  And I will for this afflict the seed of David, but not for ever.

That saga is a major event for Israel and for the Bride’s potent understanding since it all directly points to her being the spiritual Judah, replacing the dismally failed physical Judah and Benjamin in Amos’ time. Consequently…

Amo 7:11  For thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of their own land. 

Likewise, anytime we fail to bear the Lord’s chastisement and refuse to die by the sword of his word, if we are indeed his ‘very Elect’, we will humbly be made to spiritually die and submit to his commands, gladly captive to the Kingdom. There we will always be with our Husband harmoniously eating and being in the same spirit as prophesied.

Amo 7:12  Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there: 
Amo 7:13  But prophesy not again any more at Bethel: for it is the King’s chapel, and it is the king’s court. 

The Lord’s Elect, having come from lowly estate, now in eternal unity with him, don’t need to be prophesied to since they are the fully consummated prophets at one with their Husband and the Father. As seen in these following verses, they, in rulership with her Lord, will assuredly prophesy and judge in the Lake of Fire the entirety of Gog and Magog, the world, “my people, Israel”.

Amo 7:14  Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet’s son; but I was an herdman [a lowborn and despised calling], and a gatherer of sycamore fruit [figs]: 
Amo 7:15  And the LORD took me as I followed the flock, and the LORD said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel. 
Amo 7:16  Now therefore hear thou the word of the LORD: Thou sayest, Prophesy not against Israel, and drop not thy word against the house of Isaac. 

This powerful directive states that the ten tribes of Israel, meaning Gentile Christianity today, are not judged during that era or in the present. Instead, they are simply unwitting bystanders, delusionally as the Lord’s wife, deciphering scripture in their favour (epic ad nauseum, “I am no widow; I have a husband…” Rev 18:7). God’s primary focus is on his little flock, the budding Bride, and all the periphery chronicles in scripture, serve to build faith and belief in their Lord and his workmanship in her, recreating Christs (plural).

Hence, the Lord directs Amos to prophesy to Israel for their guarantee of exile and not against them for what the Lord has decreed will happen since it is He who sends the house of Isaac into Babylon.

Jer 29:4  Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon; 
Jer 29:5  Build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them; 
Jer 29:6  Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; that ye may be increased there, and not diminished.
Jer 29:7  And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace. 

Gen 17:19  And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.

Gal 4:28  Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.
Gal 4:29  But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
Gal 4:30  Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.
Gal 4:31  So then, brethren, we [The Bride of Christ] are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free. 

Amaziah, who didn’t want to hear what he considered an evil prophecy against his kingship, sarcastically told Amos to go preach in Judah—where someone might want to hear his message. Amaziah knew that the people in Judah, like those in Israel, also despised the Lord’s authority, disregarding God and attempting to take His place on the throne. Covertly, the whole stay of water and bread was taken away from Israel and Judah.

Isa 3:1  For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water,
Isa 3:2  The mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient,
Isa 3:3  The captain of fifty, and the honourable man, and the counsellor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator.
Isa 3:4  And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them.
Isa 3:5  And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour: the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honourable.
Isa 3:6  When a man shall take hold of his brother of the house of his father, saying, Thou hast clothing, be thou our ruler, and let this ruin be under thy hand:
Isa 3:7  In that day shall he swear, saying, I will not be an healer; for in my house is neither bread nor clothing: make me not a ruler of the people.
Isa 3:8  For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen: because their tongue and their doings are against the LORD, to provoke the eyes of his glory.

Amo 7:17  Therefore thus saith the LORD; Thy wife shall be an harlot in the city, and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be divided by line; and thou shalt die in a polluted land: and Israel shall surely go into captivity forth of his land.

The consequences of Amaziah [‘am-ats-yaw’] effectively ‘killing the prophets’ (Mat 23:37. Acts 7:51-52) as we once did results in wives, women, and children ruling the already emasculated men, and the priests of the land abdicated headship. Even though Amaziah’s wife apparently did become a harlot, so, too, and because of Eve’s curse, do all physical wives, not directly, but rather by their focus being on authentic Martha-like busyness instead of a Mary-like balanced approach with the spiritual taking precedence. A harlot has no interest whatsoever in what drives the mind of her debtor to seek delusional unity of spirit with her. Neither do most wives for their husbands once they have their future secured by the best provider their ‘gin’ (Isa 8:14. Amo 3:5) can capture, and their biological needs of children are satiated, typified by Israel to her Lord and husband’s righteous lust to be of one mind, thus equating all wives equated with gentile churches intrinsically with harlotry-such as we individually have been.

Accordingly, the Bride is being measured by the plumbline of Christ’s righteousness today, eagerly expressing her delight by actively arousing her Husband’s kisses. She knows by her bright unity in not denying his spirit, is life eternal from the captivity of being a harlot. However, in the next study of this series, she will typically suffer for a little while longer.