Amos 9:1-4

God's judgment on Israel -- Amos 9:1-4 : The people of Israel had been unfaithful to God. They had worshipped idols, taken advantage of the poor, been dishonest in business and been very violent. Now they would face punishment by many of them being killed and by others being exiled in a foreign land. In a vision Amos saw the Lord standing by the altar in the idols temple. He shook the columns and they fell and destroyed many of the unfaithful people. Those that tried to escape were killed with the sword. God said, (1) Not one of them shall flee away, and (2) Not one of them shall escape. It would be impossible for these people to escape from the wrath of God. The impossibility of escaping from God's judgment is seen in the words, "If they dig into Sheol, from there shall my hand take them; if they climb up to heaven, from there I will bring them down." This is the same idea used by David in Psalm 139 to prove that there is no escape from God's wrath.

Amos reminded the people that there would be no escape from the judgment of God. Neither a mountain nor the bottom of an ocean would hide a person from the Almighty. God said, "If they escape to the peaks of Mount Carmel, I will search and find them. And if they hide from me at the bottom of the ocean, I will command a sea monster to bite them." Nothing is really hidden from the vision of God. "All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do." (Hebrews 4:13) God promised that many would die by the sword. They had no respect for human life, so now it was time to reap what they had sown. God said, "I will fix my eyes upon them for evil and not for good." The evil spoken of here is not something morally wrong. Their rebellion had brought things to such a point that God was determined to hurt them, not help them.