BY THE REV. ALEXANDER MACKAY, OBAN.
(Taken down by a Hearer.)
“But they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.”—AMOS vi. 6
(last clause).
LET us now look for a short time, as the Lord may be pleased to enable us, to the chapter read, the book of the prophet Amos, sixth chapter and the last clause of the sixth verse:—“But they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.” Although I have taken these words as the basis of a few remarks; I intend to draw your attention briefly to the contents of this chapter throughout. You may notice that the chapter divides itself into two parts. The first part is taken up with an accusation against God’s ancient people—Israel and Judah—and in that accusation God brings before them the sins of which they had been guilty, and these sins we might say culminate in the sin that is spoken of at the end of the sixth verse, “They are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.” And in the second part of the chapter the prophet Amos, in the name of the Lord, brings before God’s people what God would bring upon them on account of these manifold transgressions. Now, there is such a thing as ourselves being spoken to by these words. That is to say, if we find that the first part of this chapter, wherein God is bringing before Israel their sins, describes ourselves, we are bound to take that part to ourselves; and if the character belongs to us which God here gives to Israel, then we ought also to remember that just as God dealt with Israel of old, so He will deal with us too.
Let us notice then what God says in the first part of the chapter about His ancient people, Israel and Judah. As we go on endeavouring to find out what God says about them, we are to remember that these things are written for our learning as well as for their learning. Now, what is the first thing that is in this accusation? Well, the first thing in it is this:—“Woe to them that are at ease in Sion.” Sion means here the chief place where God was being worshipped, the chief city of the Church of God. That was Sion, and Sion here includes the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. When He says, “and trust in the mountain of Samaria, which are named chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came,” we are to understand by Samaria Israel or the ten tribes. You must remember that at this time the Church of God was divided into Israel and Judah, or the ten tribes and Judah and Benjamin, and Sion was the chief town, the chief place of Judah and Benjamin, while Samaria was the chief town, the capital, the city of the kings of Israel. That brings before us that when God
is here addressing, through the prophet, Sion and Samaria, He is addressing the whole of His covenant people or His Church. The first thing, then, He brings against them is this, that “they are at ease in Sion, and they trust in the mountain of Samaria.” Now, what did He mean by saying that they were at ease in Sion, and that they were trusting in the mountain of Samaria? Well, what He means by it is just this,—that they were satisfied with outward forms and outward performances, and that as far as vital godliness was concerned, there was scarcely such a thing to be found among them. There was a remnant among them, but, generally speaking, the people of Judah were at ease in Sion, and the people of Israel were trusting in the mountain of Samaria. Now, God here pronounces a woe against them. They were at ease; they were trusting in the work of their own hands; they were indifferent about those things which constitute vital godliness. And then He brings before them that they ought to remember what He had done to other cities which He names here. “Pass ye,” He says, “unto Calneh and see; and from thence go ye to Hamath the great; then go down to Gath of the Philistines: be they better than these kingdoms or their border greater than your border?” That is to say, they were at ease in Sion, they were trusting in the mountain of Samaria; they were thinking they were all right, they were prospering outwardly; but yet they were without God, without His favour, without His Spirit, and they were quite contented with their lot. Now, God tells them to pass on to consider the condition of other cities which He had visited, and which He had destroyed for the very sins of which they were guilty. They were saying that things would be all right with them, since they had the outward forms, since they had the name of Israel and of Judah, since they were the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, since they had the oracles of God, since they were giving a kind of outward respect and worship to God, and thinking that they would stand, but He calls upon them to pass on to consider these towns and what befell them. What befell these towns? Well, God overthrew them, and he asks here the question of Israel: “Be ye better than these kingdoms or their border greater than your border?” In other words, “Do you think that your Sion and your Samaria will stand for you. Go and behold what my power hath wrought on these towns which I have named! See how I have brought them down to the ground, and do you think that you, who are guilty of the same sins, shall escape?”
Then He goes on to bring before them the sins of which they were actually guilty, and He says, “Ye that put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near.” How were they putting away the evil day? They were just saying, “Peace, peace,” when there was no peace. That was how they were putting away the evil day. The prophets Hosea and Amos were contemporaries for some time, and these two witnesses were
protesting against Israel and Judah, and declaring that God was to overthrow them, and that on account of their idolatry and on account of their wickedness ; but they were putting far away the evil day. They were saying, “The evil day may come, but it will not come in our time.” And by that very indifference—by that very putting away of the evil day, and concluding that it would not come in their own time—by their very neglecting to observe the threatenings of God through His prophets—they were only hastening the coming of the day.
Now let us notice, before we proceed further, how applicable this is to our own state as a land. We are a land which has been in covenant with God, as Israel and Judah were of old, and we are a land concerning which it has been true that for a great number of years we have been at ease in Sion and we have been trusting in the mountain of Samaria ; and although God in His providence has been speaking loudly throughout the whole world against the workers of iniquity, yet we have been going on, and that in the forwardness of our ways, and doing exactly as Israel and Judah were doing. We have been putting far away the evil day, and by that very neglect of the threatenings of God’s Word and the admonitions which He was giving to us in His providence, we were causing the seat of violence to draw nigh. We were wringing judgments from the hand of God, and that by our very ease and by our false security and false trust.
But the prophet here goes on to say that “they were lying upon beds of ivory and stretching themselves upon couches, and eating the lambs out of the flock and the calves out of the midst of the stall.” What does that bring before us? It brings before us that the people of Israel and Judah were in a very prosperous condition. They were so rich that they were lying on beds of ivory, and they were so indolent that they were stretching themselves upon couches ; and as far as food was concerned, they were living in excessive luxury, and that notwithstanding God’s warnings and God’s judgments. They were going on putting far away the evil day, and living in this manner, and is not this description very, very applicable to ourselves as a land? Have we not been very rich? Have we not been lying on beds of ivory? Have we not been stretching ourselves upon couches? Have we not been faring like the rich man—sumptuously every day? Oh, yes! This was true of Great Britain before this terrible War broke out, that as far as the people of the land were concerned, from the highest to the lowest, we were faring sumptuously every day, and continuing regardless of the claims of the Almighty. We were doing despite unto the Spirit of grace ; we were going on in our own ways and pleasures and there was no word regarding God, and at the same time we were putting away the evil day that was at the door.
Then, He goes on further, and says that “they were chanting to the sound of the viol and inventing to themselves instruments
of music, like David,” making David, very likely, an excuse. They were given over to the pleasures of sense; they were trying to satisfy their appetites with the most dainty morsels they could procure, and they were endeavouring to satisfy their ears, not with the sound of God’s Word, but with the sound of music. Not only that, but they were adding to these instruments of music, and they were taking David as an example and as an excuse for their multiplying of the instruments of music. Now, how do we stand with regard to this verse? Friends, supposing that God had spoken these words to ourselves in the first instance, would it not be true of us that we were given over, and that altogether, to music and dancing? I ask you if these words are not exactly fitting our own condition as a land? Yes, verily! for music in this land became such a curse that there was hardly any religious exercise whatsoever engaged in without some instrumental accompaniment; they would require to have a musical instrument. I was very much surprised—although I might not have been surprised, I might have looked for it—but when I was in England I had an opportunity of going in to several of the churches there. I was in a Baptist, a Methodist, and a Church of England place of worship, and I was also in a Presbyterian meeting place, and in all those places there was instrumental music. Music was everywhere. But I did not need to go to England in order to see these things. I had only to look about me at home, and what would I find? Music everywhere. There is hardly a religious service held in Oban without instrumental music. Now, what does this mean? It means, friends, that we have departed from the ways of God, and that God has departed from us, and that we are now become so low that we are not able to recognise or to apprehend that things are so terrible as they are. Oh! but it might be said, “Did not David invent instruments of music, and were they not at liberty to follow the example of David?” Many in our day are taking David as an excuse for introducing music into the worship of God. Well, if you read your Bible, you will find that David got strict instructions from the Almighty Himself to introduce music into the worship of the sanctuary. David did not invent them of his own accord, no more than Moses invented the tabernacle, and directed it according to his own pattern and his own wisdom; but David, according to the wisdom that was given him and according to the directions and instructions of the Almighty, introduced music into the worship of the Lord’s House. But does it follow from that that you are to follow the example of David, who was living when the worship of the sanctuary was ritualistic? Oh, no! You do not find in the New Testament the least warrant for the use of instrumental music in the worship of God; but, on the contrary, you have the express declaration of the Apostle that the singing, the praise in the sanctuary is to be “the fruit of the lips” (Hebrews xiii. 15). And as far as I am myself concerned—perhaps I have not much of an
ear for music—but I must say that the most beautiful music that ever I heard was just the human voice, and there is no singing in my estimation, and in the estimation of others, that will come up to “the fruit of the lips.” And why do men, then, go after instruments? The reason is just this, that when the grace of God is absent from the heart they will need to get something else in its place. And if the question were asked: “Why have we gone as a land to the instruments?” Is it an indication that we have grown in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ? Oh, no! But it is an indication that the Spirit of God has left us. It is an indication that we are taken up with our own pleasures and the satisfying of the flesh in the worship of God more than having the true Substance, which is Christ, and His favour in the worship. Now, this “people chant to the sound of the viol and invent to themselves instruments of music, like David.” He brings here still another accusation against them: “That drink wine in bowls”; that is to say, they were drunkards. It was not a little wine they were using at all; it was not in common cups or common measures they were taking it at all; they were taking it “in bowls.” And, then, “they were anointing themselves with the chief ointments.” There you have fashion at its height. They were trying to satisfy all their senses—their eyes and their ears, their smell and their taste; they were trying to find satisfaction in the creature, and there was no word about the Creator. Now, how do we stand with regard to these matters ourselves? Oh, friends, are we not a byword among the nations with regard to strong drink; and, as far as pampering our bodies is concerned, as far as following fashion is concerned, are we not guilty in this? Have we not been mad upon our pleasures?
But now the crowning sin is mentioned by the prophet, and it is this—“They are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.” That is to say, “The true cause of Christ is nothing to them.” They were thinking that everything was going on very smoothly, hence they were enjoying their pleasures and satisfying their own lusts. They were not remembering that the state of the cause of Christ was very low in the land. That was not a grief to them, and has not this been our crowning sin as a land? Was not this the crowning sin of Europe? Europe, that is now wallowing in its blood, “was not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.” Europe was bent on the pleasures of the flesh and on the satisfying of the senses, but, as far as Christ’s cause was concerned, there was not one word about it. And this was our own crowning sin as a land. Christ was “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” in our midst. We hid, as it were, our faces from Him. We despised Him, and esteemed Him not. We saw no beauty in Him that we should desire Him. We forsook Him and went after our vanities, and we had no word about the low condition of Christ’s cause in the land. “But they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.”
This is now the first part of this chapter, and it is very evident that, if you apply it to our own state, it is very, very applicable to us. It is so applicable that it might, in the first instance, be spoken to ourselves. Now, this is a rule which you and I would do well to go by with regard to the Scriptures. If the Scriptures describe your character, you are warranted to believe that God is speaking to you. Whether He is describing your condition as a lost sinner, warning you with regard to the result of your sins, you ought to remember to lay to heart that God is speaking to you personally, or whether He is, on the other hand, encouraging you and giving you promises; if these promises are suitable to your condition, you are just as warranted to receive them as you are to receive His threats and His warnings. In fact, if you ask me the question—”What warrant have I got to apply the Word of God to my own condition?” Well, this is your warrant. If the Word of God applies to your state, to your circumstances, you are warranted to apply it to yourself, and we have no hesitation whatever in declaring that the first part of this chapter is applicable to the state of this land. We have been at ease in Sion; we have been putting far away the evil day; we have been causing, by our indifference, the seat of violence to draw near; we have been lying on beds of ivory, stretching ourselves on couches, eating the lambs of the flock and the calves out of the midst of the stalls; we have been inventing instruments of music, and bent altogether on music; we have been drunkards, and we have been indulging ourselves in fashions which will pass away.
Now, let us come to the second part of the chapter; for these words, “They are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph,” not only look back, but look forward. This is where the division of the chapter comes in. In the next verse and down to the end, we have got the result of what has gone before, or in other words, we have God’s dealings with Israel and Judah brought vividly and most terribly before our notice. If the first part belongs to us, let us remember that we are bound also to apply to ourselves the second part, and what does God say that He will do with Israel and Judah, who have been thus guilty before Him? “Therefore, now,” He says, “shall they go captive with the first that go captive, and the banquet of them that stretched themselves shall be removed. The Lord God hath sworn by Himself, saith the Lord, the God of Hosts, I abhor the excellency of Jacob and hate his palaces; therefore will I deliver up the city, with all that is therein.” That is what God is going to do. When He will bring upon them the Assyrian, which is His rod, and which destroyed Israel and led them into captivity, the Assyrian will take to do with them at the very outset. “They shall be first that shall go captive,” and God is determined that He will not repent, nor regard, but that He will give them over, and that to the hand of the enemy, and that the captivity which is to overtake them is to assuredly come, for He says, “I abhor the excellency of Jacob.”
Then He tells us what a fearful desolation there would be throughout the land when God shall deliver them into the hands of their enemies. “And it shall come to pass, if there remain ten men in one house, that they shall die.” Now, ten men in a family is a very large number and you would expect that a good percentage of ten would be left, but He says here that, although there would be ten in a family, yet in one way or another, everyone of them would die. When it is said, “ten men,” you will remember that these are young men, for you will notice here that it is the uncle—and the uncle is generally older than the nephew—who brings the body out of the house in order to bury it. It is the uncle who looks after the dead, and that indicates that the men were young men, and although there should be ten young men in a house, it shall come to pass that they shall die, and when the uncle would bring out the bones out of the house and “say unto him that is by the sides of the house,” that is, to the man who was to bury them along with him, “Is there yet any with thee? And he shall say, No. Then shall he say, Hold thy tongue; for we may not make mention of the name of the Lord.” What does that mean? It means, friends, that although this fearful desolation was to overtake this people on account of their sins, that a whole family of ten should die, yet men would be so hard, so impenitent, so blind, that they would not see the hand of God in it, and when one would mention that this was the Lord’s doing, he would be told to hold his tongue, that it was not a thing that was proper in those days to ascribe such a calamity to the Almighty. “For, behold, the Lord commandeth, and He will smite the great house with breaches and the little house with clefts.” Not only would this be true of one house here and there throughout Israel and Judah, and not only would it be true of the rich to the exclusion of the poor, but He says “great houses” and “little houses,” that is to say, every family in the land was to be involved in this awful judgment that was to overtake them. As the first part of this chapter is applicable to our own condition, have we not good cause to fear that the second part—if it has not really been fulfilled already—shall be fulfilled at no late date in our history? For what is true about our families throughout the land, great houses and small houses? What is true of whole families? That they are away at the War. Have you not heard of every man in the family—father and sons in some instances—being taken and are either in the Army or Navy? Now, that is an instance of the terribleness of the present situation, and it is a terrible sign of the times. The most of our families throughout the length and breadth of the Highlands and Lowlands, and England now as well, are at the War. New legislation* has been passed that will bring everyone into it that will be able to do anything in connection with Government work. The hand of God has to be recognised
* This sermon was preached when the last Military Service Act was passed.
in this matter, and you and I are very blind indeed if we do not recognise the hand of God in it. It is a terrible situation indeed, and the end is not in sight, and who can tell what the end will be? We know that already fathers and sons are all at the War. We know that there will not be very many left in the land in a very short time, and we know that already breaches have been made on great houses, and clefts in little houses, for if you consider the number of heirs of estates throughout the land who are already in eternity, and if you consider the number of families that have got someone in the grave or in the sea, it is most appalling already, but we are very much afraid that they are only a few yet in comparison with what will be true before the end of this terrible calamity, for God says at the end of this chapter, “Shall horses run upon the rock? Will one plow there with oxen? for ye have turned judgment into gall and the fruit of righteousness into hemlock: Ye which rejoice in a thing of nought, which say, Have we not taken to us horns by our own strength? But, behold, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel, saith the Lord the God of hosts; and they shall afflict you from the entering in of Hamath unto the river of the wilderness.” Now, that is to me at least the most solemn part of the chapter altogether, for what does it mean? It means that God will not repent with regard to this judgment that He is bringing upon Israel. “Shall horses run upon the rock? Will one plow there with oxen?” Oh! no. Well, He says, “Ye have turned judgment into gall and the fruit of righteousness into hemlock,” and that just means that notwithstanding God slew them and that His hand would be laid upon them, yet they would not repent, but they would continue to harden their hearts, continue impenitent, continue to reject the overtures of God’s mercy, refuse to come to Him, and refuse to humble themselves, and, therefore, the wrath was going to come on them to the uttermost, and it did come upon them. Israel did not repent, Judah did not repent, but they hardened themselves in their iniquity and God raised up the Assyrians against them, and they brought them captive to Babylon.
Friends, these last verses of this chapter ought to be a great warning to ourselves, for we seem as a nation just to be given over of the Almighty. “Shall horses run upon the rock? Will one plow there with oxen?” “Why will ye be stricken any more? Ye will revolt more and more.” Notwithstanding all that God has done for us, the warnings that He has given us, the calamities that are overtaking us; notwithstanding that there is coming down upon counties throughout Great Britain as it were fire from heaven, great hailstones from heaven, as it is written in the Book of Revelation; notwithstanding these things, we are not repenting, but on the contrary, we are just going on as we formerly were doing and any pleasures that are not being indulged in in this land, it is not at all because men have a different mind with regard to these things but because God in His providence has put a stop
to them. I have brought before you, I think, already the fact that these banquets, which used to be the order of the day at this time of the year, have stopped to a certain extent, but yet men are endeavouring to keep them up and men are endeavouring to bring children into them, which is the worst sign of all. The curse of God is upon the parents who are endeavouring to bring their children to the dance and to the ball, to the vain song, and yet we find throughout the land children being taken to concerts which go under the name of a concert for charity. It is just a concert for the devil’s work, and men need not think they will deceive God by tacking on the name “charity” to a concert, where the vain song and the dance are the order of the day. Men need not think they will cheat God with regard to this matter. The thing on the face of it is clearly the work of Satan, and the curse of God is lying heavily, as I said already, on parents who lead their children to these vanities, and especially when God is speaking so loudly to this land.
Now, you will say, “What is God going to do with us?” Well, it is very hard to say what He is going to do with us. It seems very probable that the Lord in His judgment will bring us very, very low yet as a land. That seems to be as clearly established from God’s Word as that we are here this night, that God has, to a certain extent, given us over to hardness and to indifference. These very verses are just an indication that He is not going to turn to us. There is no doubt at all that if we would turn to God, He would turn to us, but we are not turning to God and, consequently, He is against us. His hand is against us whatever the end of it will be, and it becomes us as creatures, who are living in a terrible hour, in a terrible day, to make sure of this, that we ourselves and our children shall be found under the shelter of the blood of atonement, for it seems that there are terrible days ahead of us. That seems to be very clear, and oh! friends, friends, as long as you have time and opportunity, flee to the Rock of Ages, against which the gates of hell will not prevail. Do not be satisfied with the vanities of the world; do not be satisfied with a name to live while you are dead, but seek to be found in Christ before you will perish, for “now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation,” and “him that cometh to me,” says Christ, “I shall in no wise cast out.” But go you on with the vain world, and seek worldly enjoyments, forgetting God and turning your back upon Him, and, as sure as you have a being, the day is not far away when you will find out you were the greatest fools on the face of the earth; that you heard God’s warnings and God’s invitations and despised His counsel, and, that, consequently, you will now have to face the consequences, which will be terrible in the extreme. May the Lord bless to us His own Word!
THE gate which leads to life is a strait gate, therefore we should fear; it is an open gate, therefore we should hope.—Brooks.