The second half of Amos 4 focuses on the things that God has done to get Israel’s attention. Even so, they refuse to turn to him and continue their rebellion. This week’s passage offers a glimpse of God’s incredible patience towards his people while also revealing the extent to which the human heart can become hardened. 

This week, we move into chapter four, where God has a word for the women of the land who are complicit in the nation’s sin. This passage gives us greater clarity regarding Israel’s actions and what God is going to do in response. The issue is not only their outward behavior, but also the posture of their hearts toward God that lies behind those actions.

In God‘s continued indictment against Israel, Amos moves the case further in 3:9–15. In this passage, we get further explanation into the nature of Israel’s evil as well as the way God is going to punish them. It is a lesson that serves as a warning for us on what we can expect when we are insistent to hold onto sin.

After calling out the nations for their sin and proclaiming judgment upon them, God turned his attention to his own people in last week’s passage. The focus will remain on Israel throughout the rest of the book. In the beginning of chapter 3, God reminds Israel of their relationship to him as his people and shows how the very nature of this relationship actually serves as a witness against them in their continued rebellion.

In last week’s passage, God delivered a word of judgment for the outside nations. In this week’s text, the Lord centers his attention on the sins of his own people. This serves as a humbling reminder that God’s grace is not to be taken lightly and that the way we live our lives matters to Him.

Last week, we were introduced to the idea that God has a difficult word to deliver through Amos–he is about to roar at his people, Israel. However, before he delivers his message to them, the Lord declares judgment on the nations that surround them (1:3-2:3). It is a reminder that all people will be held accountable to a holy God, and that no injustice will go unpunished.

Now that we have concluded our series in Matthew, we go back in time approximately 700 years, before the birth of Christ, to the book of Amos. It is a time of prosperity for God's people. But it is also a time of moral decay and empty worship. In these first two verses of the book, we see that God is sending a messenger to deliver news that will upend the comfortable life of the people of Israel.

He is risen indeed! On this Resurrection Sunday, we conclude our more than two-year-long series in the Gospel of Matthew by celebrating our Lord’s glorious resurrection and the calling that is placed on His disciples’ lives in response to His victory.

On this Palm Sunday, we have arrived at the point to which the Gospel of Matthew has been guiding us over the last two and half years: the crucifixion and death of our Lord Jesus Christ. In this account of the events of that day, the author doesn’t spare the details of the utter humiliation our Lord faced. Yet, at the moment Jesus yielded his spirit, we get a glimpse of the Lord's victory through the responses of some of the witnesses, including creation itself.

After Jesus has been abandoned, betrayed, arrested, and accused by his own people, Matthew depicts Him standing trial before the Roman governor Pilate. Unlike the Jewish religious leaders, Pilate doesn’t personally find any fault with Him. Nevertheless, God’s sovereign plan for redemption moves forward as Pilate yields to the external pressures of the crowd.