Listen up, little ones
Listen for the words Lord and Israel.
Reading
Amos 9:1-15—Judgment and Restoration
Keys for kids
- Israel was God’s special nation.
- Yet too often they lived very sinful lives.
- God destroyed Israel but saved a remnant.
Questions
- What did God see when He looked at Israel?
- What does God see when He looks at you?
- How is God continually restoring His church?
Notes
(See below for all authors. Today’s notes are from a commentary on Amos by Gordon Keddie)
The key expression in these verses is ‘the sinful kingdom’ (9:8). This describes the real state of the nation. In their own eyes, however, the Israelites were not that bad at all. It must have been a terrible shock for them to hear that God now regarded them as no different from other nations, the ‘lesser breeds without the law’, to use Kipling’s phrase.‘ …
Men want to feel that God is on their side and that he accepts them ‘warts and all’. But God looks at Israel and sees ‘the sinful kingdom’. … The Lord has stripped away the pretensions of Israel. … [Yet] There will be a remnant according to the election of grace. …
In the long run, the Lord’s people will be reconstituted as a revived and faithful church of God. And the proof of this is in all that was revealed in Jesus Christ, in all that the gospel has acccomplished in millions of lives through the ministry of the New Testament church and even, if we may be so bold, in the fact that you, reader of this book, have the gospel preached to you at this moment in your experience. God … spoke a word of free grace to the remnant, even in the midst of the maelstrom of judgement!
Swedish Method questions
Praise
Psalm 80, 119u
Prayer
- Turn in prayer from any sin and turn to God in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
- Pray for the reading and preaching of God’s word tomorrow.
- Pray for a member of our church, for your family, and for a non-Christian friend/family member.