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   The beginning of this prophecy sets the tone of Amos' message, the Lord will be heard in judgment from Zion Amos 1:2. The prophet reveals the spiritual corruption under religious formalism and material prosperity. He castigates the leaders for the deterioration and points out their total disregard of human rights and personality. He insists that God's people must seek the Lord and repent. Because Israel will not repent, there is nothing left but destruction. The day of the Lord will be an assertion of the claims of God's moral character upon those who have repudiated him. When this is recognized, there will be the glory of the promised Davidic kingdom; and that day is inevitable. The message of Amos is a cry for justice.

   Theological Significance: Amos is the great prophet of the "righteousness of God," As such, he demanded an ethical content to religion. He believed religion involved justice toward one's fellowman, and conferred great responsibility as well as blessing. Because Israel had been given an unusual opportunity  to know the will of God, she would be expected to live by this higher standard of righteousness.

   It is always the case that the prophet comes into conflict with the established custodians of the religious institution. It was so with Jesus, who met the hostility of the Jewish priests and Sadduccees; and it was the entrenched bitterness of the religious leaders which brought about his death on the cross. In this same tradition of the embattled prophet, Amos challenged the hypocrisy and blindness of the religious leaders who condoned a vicious system of exploitation and privilege because it was financially profitable. They were blind to the suffering. For Amos, religion was not worthy of the name if it did not lead to justice and righteousness. His theme was: "Let justice roll down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream."

   He was not foolish enough to try to base this principle upon the nature of man, or the instinctive goodness in human nature. Man's highest vision will always be distorted by his sin and self-interest. Amos based this great plea for righteousness upon the nature of God. It is God who has shown himself to be absolutely righteous and faithful in all his dealings. God had always proved himself faithful, even when Israel betrayed the covenant and disobeyed the divine Law. The claim of righteousness in human life and conduct was as strong as the nature of God himself. This is the basis of all human law and all human righteousness.

   There are many systems of philosophy and political life which try to base law and all human relationships upon the nature of man. Man is made the measure of all things. All such systems, whether communism, or humanism, or socialism, are doomed to fail because of one fatal flaw: they do not recognize the sinful, self-centered nature of man. They ignore God and deify man. Amos saw clearly, seven centuries before Christ, what some men have been unable to see today.