Just Judgement

Thus says the LORD: “For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have threshed Gilead with threshing sledges of iron. So I will send a fire upon the house of Hazael, and it shall devour the strongholds of Ben-hadad. I will break the gate-bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitants from the Valley of Aven, and him who holds the scepter from Beth-eden; and the people of Syria shall go into exile to Kir,” says the LORD.
Amos 1:3–5
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A Just Judgement
The pagan nations, kings, and rulers of Amos’ day revolted against the true Lord and His anointed King, and for that, the Lord would punish them. To rebel against God is madness; no one can stand against God. But God scoffs at such madness and promises to judge the rebels. As fallen and sinful people, we can often become self-righteous when we hear about God’s judgment on the nations and peoples of the past, but we should take heed. We too often chase after the false gods of our own day, ignoring our true Lord. Just as in Amos’ day, God’s own chosen people, Judah and Israel, had committed even worse transgressions than the pagans, and so they too would receive their just judgment; we too deserve God’s wrath. And if not for the love of God, we would face the same punishment. But in Christ’s life, death, and resurrection, we have salvation. God originally fashioned man and woman in His image, and in Christ, He has redeemed every person from every nation and of any age, from conception to the end of natural life. God desires the death of no one. His desire is to bring all people into His kingdom of grace through faith by His Means of Grace won for us on the cross.