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"Seek Me and live"

Text: Amos 5:4

A GLIMMER OF HOPE

Dire warning was given to Israel. Plagues, disaster and death were warned. War was looming. Was there still a glimmer of hope?

“For thus says the LORD to the house of Israel:
‘Seek Me and live;
But do not seek Bethel,
Nor enter Gilgal,
Nor pass over to Beersheba;
For Gilgal shall surely go into captivity,
And Bethel shall come to nothing.'”
Amos 5:4-5

1. “Thus says the LORD to the house of Israel”

a) The Lord continued to reach out.

b) Israel could still be salvaged and redeemed if it would turn to the Lord.

2. “Seek Me and live”

a) This was a word that God gave to King David.

i) Seek My face (Psalm 27:8).

ii) This invitation was given to Israel too.

b) And live

i) Life and Death are in the hands of God.

ii) He can grant life or He can deliver death.

iii) Everything depends on the choice to be made.

3. “Do not seek”

a) Bethel

i) This was famously associated with Abraham and Jacob (Genesis 12:8; 28:19).

ii) But Bethel had become a centre of idolatrous worship (1 Kings 12:28-29).

b) Gilgal

i) Historically, Gilgal was the place where Joshua set up a memorial stone (Joshua 4:19-20).

ii) But Gilgal had also become an idolatrous place of worship (Amos 4:4).

c) Beersheba

Beersheba in the far South had also become a centre of idolatry.

4. Gilgal and Bethel

The former will go into captivity and the latter would come to nothing! God would not be found there!