No Compromise
Text: Amos 7:7-17
Amos 7
7 Thus he shewed me: and, behold, the Lord stood upon a wall made by a plumbline, with a plumbline in his hand.
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:
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.
10 Then Amaziah 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.
11 For thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of their own land.
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:
13 But prophesy not again any more at Bethel: for it is the king’s chapel, and it is the king’s court.
14 Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet’s son; but I was an herdman, and a gatherer of sycomore fruit:
15 And the Lord took me as I followed the flock, and the Lord said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel.
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.
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.
Key Verse: “Also Amaziah said to Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there: But prophesy not again any more at Bethel: for it is the king’s court” (Amos 7:12,13).
Message:
After they had been straightly commanded not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus, Peter and John’s response was emphatic and definite: “Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:19). In the face of fierce threat and opposition, these servants of God refused to compromise their stand on God’s word.
Amos had earlier stood in the gap for the land of Israel in the preceding verses of the text. Afterwards, he was shown a plumbline and given a prophetic message of an irreversible punishment upon the land and King Jeroboam’s house. The plumbline he saw in this context represented the word of God which must be delivered uncompromisingly in order to make the people aware of their sins, and help straighten their crooked lifestyles. It was surprising that Amaziah, the chief priest in charge of the temple at Bethel, was not concerned about hearing God’s message nor helping the people to repent. In fact, he did not count the message as prophecy but saw God’s message as a conspiracy.
The word of God is the solid foundation upon which the Christian faith is built. It must not be compromised in any form. We must be courageous both in obeying and preaching the Word. No matter how tough the opposition and persecution, we are to remain undaunted like Amos and the Apostles. Those who are in the habit of picking and dropping what to obey and what not to obey from God’s word because of position, prestige or fear of men are in the same boat as Amaziah. Such need to repent now. Do not allow anything to come in between you and the word of God (Luke 12:5).
Thought For The Day: Compromise is a snare to the soul.