READING FOR DECEMBER 29, 2025: AMOS 6, REVELATION 19, PSALM 132:1-10 AMOS 6
In the last chapter Amos was mourning, what counse- lors today call pre-grieving, the coming destruction of Israel. In this chapter we see that Israel appears to be oblivious to the dangers that Amos saw on the hori- zon. They, at least an elite of the land, felt secure and without any concerns. Amos suggests they inspect some of their neighbors: Calah in the northeast, Hamath in Aram, and Gath in the southwest. The context suggests these locations may have also been secure at one time and may have then experienced God’s judgment. The prophet implies that Israel is nearing their own time of similar destruction. Amos has identified a group of people in Israel who maintained a luxurious but unobservant lifestyle. They had not perceived or at least grieved the moral collapse of Israel. These elites will be at the very front of the line going into exile. This will mark an abrupt and permanent end to their lavish ways.
What is God’s opinion of them? “The Lord God has sworn by Himself, the Lord God of armies has declared: “I loathe the arrogance of Jacob, and detest his citadels; therefore, I will give up the city and all it contains” (vs. 8). What could be worse than God giving up a city? This will take place through the agency of another nation: “I am going to raise up a nation against you” (vs 14).
These so-called people of God were in imminent danger and didn’t know it. It seems that their immediate comforts blinded them to the great danger of their ways, the “arrogance of Jacob.” Some questions for us might be is there an arrogance of 2025, an arrogance of the USA, an arrogance of Yorktown or our church? As this chapter points out, pleasant current conditions are no guarantee of permanent ease. Consider below:
- “Clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because God is opposed to the proud, but He gives grace to the humble” (1 Pet. 5:5).
- “God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Submit therefore to God. But resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:6-7).
This sin of arrogance is often difficult to perceive in oneself. As one pastor put it: It is not likely we will wake up in bed and be unaware that someone other than our married partner is beside us. But we rarely notice when we become arrogant. This is because we really believe we have earned our comfortable status—forgetting the many advantages we have been given by being born into favorable socio-economic circumstances. REVELATION 19: Christmas is a time for parties. We enjoy getting together and eating and drinking and laughing and exchanging gifts. Revelation 19 speaks of a coming party. After the complete fall of Babylon in the previous chapters, this chapter opens with a great multitude shouting, “HALLELUJAH!” A few verses later it is announced that the time has come for the party to end all parties…the wedding feast of the Lamb. (19:6-9) This is the fulfillment of another of Jesus’ parables. "The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for READING FOR DECEMBER 29, 2025 CONTINUED: REVELATION 19, PSALM 132:1-10 his son. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come. "Then he sent some more servants and said, `Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.' "But they paid no attention and went off--one to his field, another to his business. The rest seized his servants, mistreated hem and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. "Then he said to his servants, `The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.' So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. "But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. ‘Friend,' he asked, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?' The man was speechless. "Then the king told the attendants, `Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' For many are invited, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:1-14}.
There is a coming banquet, and the Bible portrays it as a real party with real food and drink. Jesus said, “Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God” (Luke 14:15). A time is coming when we will gather on the other side and sit down for a great banquet…the wedding feast of the Lamb. When you think of a wedding feast, do you think dull and boring? Weddings are a time of celebration, joy and laughter. Much thought and preparation goes into a wedding feast. This was particularly true in the Jewish world of Jesus’ day. When you have a wedding reception, you put out the best you can afford. In the parable, the feast included oxen and fat- tened cattle. This was going to be quite the feast! What kind of reception can God afford?
All are invited but not everyone will attend. In the parable Jesus said there would be those who ignore the invitation. All are invited, but only those with proper clothing will be seated. This is shown in the parable by the one who was not dressed properly. In today’s text, wedding clothes are given to the guests to wear. (19:8) Paul explains the nature of that clothing, “…all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” (Gal. 3:27) Are you so dressed?
PSALM 132:1-10 As the people traveled to the Temple, they asked for God’s special presence, for the priests to be clothed with righteousness, for the saints to shout for joy, and, for the sake of David, favor to be bestowed on God’s anointed one. Our church assembles once a week. It’s such a danger for our frequent wor- ship to become routine, even mindless. Consider why we should be joyful to gather together. We are now the priests clothed in the righteousness of Jesus: “You yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 2:5). Although God the Father did turn away from His Anointed One (called the Christ or Messiah) for our sakes when He hung on the cross so that our sins could be punished, the Father has now “highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:9-11). Aren’t you getting eager for Sunday?
