Today we finish Psalm 85 and see that genuine “peace” depends upon “listening to what God the LORD has to say” (verse 8). The author, a son of Korah, informs us that salvation and peace result from hearing (i.e., “listening to” or “heeding”) the Word of God. The old English word for this kind of “listening” is the word “hearken,” which is not used much these days. To hearken implies listening with the intent to follow up with an active response (i.e., to do something). Here, several key words are repeated – “peace” (verses 8 and 10); “faithfulness” (verses 10 and 11); and “righteousness” (verses 10, 11, and 13). We see that the writer presents his ideas by using a literary form known as a couplet in which two related ideas fit together - “love” goes with “faithfulness,” and “righteousness” fits with “peace” (verse 10). Korah's son says that “righteousness goes before Him and prepares the way for His steps” (verse 13). Pursuing anything else is “folly” (verse 8).
In our section of Amos 3-4 today, we see that Amos reminds his audience at least three times to “hear the word the LORD has spoken” (verses 3:1, 3:17, and 4:1) because God imposes His wrath on those who do not “listen” or fail to put their faith in Him. From the time that God “brought Israel up out of Egypt” (verse 1), the people have not “hearkened” to the Word of God. “You only have I chosen of all the families of the earth” (verse 2) illustrates the high calling and privilege that God gave to Israel, but because they have not listened, “therefore, I will punish you for all your sins” (verse 2). Great privilege implies and requires high responsibility. In chapter 3, Amos appeals to ordinary logic in his discourse against the Israelites: “Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so?” (verse 3). “Does a trap spring up from the earth when there is nothing to catch?” (verse 5). Amos prophesies, “An enemy will overrun the land; he will pull down your strongholds and plunder your fortresses” (verse 11). Five times, the Lord says to Israel, “yet you have not returned to me” (verses 6, 8, 9, 10, and 11). In light of Israel’s failure, Amos issues his strongest statement: “Prepare to meet your God, O Israel” (cf., Amos 4:12). Here, the lesson for us to remember is that we are not to trifle with the Lord.
In Romans 3:9-31, Paul establishes that, before God and on the basis of sin, Jews are no different from or better off than Gentiles. We are all “alike” under the curse and power of sin (verse 9). Thus, we are captive to the same predicament. Neither circumcision nor keeping the law (i.e., being Jewish) can save us from our dilemma. We are in desperate need of an external Source of deliverance from our self-incurable state. Only God - the One Whom we have offended - can rescue us by His mercy from our hopelessly pathetic condition and from the frightful potential of His wrath. But God, Who is both just and the Justifier, is able to save us from our present hopelessness and from His wrath to come - according to His decree of the terms that He requires for peace - “faith in Jesus Christ” (verse 26). Everything else is excluded.
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