Amos 7-9
Amos 7 starts off with two visions of God’s judgment on Israel. When Amos sees these, he pleads for God’s mercy, saying, “O Lord God, please forgive! How can Jacob stand? He is so small!” (Amos 7:2). This intrigues me. What prompted Amos’s reaction to these two particular visions? Was it because perhaps these particular visions were of a total destruction of all the land rather than a judgment specifically against the evil in the land, and Amos was crying out against the total destruction? There is much I don’t understand about this interaction, but it does bring home the truth that without God’s mercy, none could stand. We are all “so small” before Him.
I am struck by Amos’s boldness in pleading with God, but the thing that strikes me the most is that God relented. With both visions, God’s response to Amos was, “it shall not be.” Moses, on more than one occasion, likewise pleaded for God’s mercy on Israel, and God likewise relented. Abraham also once questioned God concerning the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. I believe Lot and his family were saved due to Abraham’s bold request. I believe it is important for God’s people to plead for His forgiveness and mercy – not just for ourselves, but for God’s remnant. These stories reinforce the truth that God listens to the prayers of the righteous.
Gal. 2
In Galatians chapter 2, we see what the “different gospel” is that Paul referred to in chapter 1. It is, in fact, the issue of circumcision that is mentioned in Acts 15. It is a gospel of the law. Circumcision was the sign of the covenant God made with His people through Abraham, but it was never about the circumcision. As with everything in the Old Testament, it was a picture of something greater. In this case, the circumcision of our hearts, which is the sign of God’s covenant with us through Jesus Christ, His Son.
We are no longer under the law, we are under Christ, who is the fulfillment of that law. This is the gospel we must steadfastly cling to. While the issue of circumcision may not be relevant to most of us today, the concept remains. As Paul put it in Galatians 2:16, “a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ.” Our actions do not – will never – justify us. They are merely the manifestation of our justification through faith in Christ.