The Prophet Between the Living and the Dead Text: Amos 7:1-3
Introduction: The Terrible Mercy of God
We live in a soft age, an age that has domesticated God. Our modern god is a therapeutic deity, a celestial butler who exists to affirm our choices and soothe our anxieties. He would never dream of sending judgment. He is all mercy and no majesty, all sentiment and no sovereignty. But the God of the Bible, the God of the prophet Amos, is not safe. He is good, but He is not tame. He is a consuming fire. And in the book of Amos, we have seen Him roar like a lion against the impenitent house of Israel. He has pronounced judgment on their corrupt worship, their oppression of the poor, and their smug self-satisfaction. The sentence has been passed, and the executioner is at the door.
But just as the axe is laid to the root of the tree, we come to a startling interruption. In chapter seven, the form of the prophecy shifts from poetic oracles to a series of visions. And in these visions, we are given a glimpse behind the curtain of history. We see the terrible machinery of divine judgment being formed, but we also see something else. We see a man, a prophet, standing in the breach. We see intercession. We see God Himself, who has decreed judgment, making room for the plea of His servant. And we see a God who relents.
This presents us with what many moderns consider a theological problem. How can an unchanging God change His mind? How can the sovereign Lord, whose counsel shall stand, relent? The answer is that this is no problem at all for those who understand covenant. God is not a static, philosophical absolute like the Unmoved Mover of Aristotle. He is a living, personal God who has entered into a dynamic relationship with His people. He relates to us as a king, a judge, and a father. And in that relationship, He has ordained that the prayers of His people are a real cause that brings about a real effect. Intercession is not a charade we perform for our own benefit; it is a divinely appointed instrument that moves the hand of God. Amos, in this chapter, is not just predicting the future; he is shaping it.
This passage teaches us about the nature of true prayer, the gravity of sin, and the startling mercy of a holy God. It shows us the place of the prophet, not as a detached observer, but as one who stands between the living and the dead, pleading for his people.
The Text
Thus Lord Yahweh showed me, and behold, He was forming a locust-swarm when the spring crop began to come up. And behold, the spring crop was after the king’s mowing. And it happened when it had completed eating the vegetation of the land, that I said, “Lord Yahweh, please pardon! How can Jacob rise up, For he is small?” Yahweh relented concerning this. “It shall not be,” said Yahweh.
(Amos 7:1-3 LSB)
The Vision of Devouring Judgment (v. 1)
The first vision begins with God revealing His handiwork of judgment.
"Thus Lord Yahweh showed me, and behold, He was forming a locust-swarm when the spring crop began to come up. And behold, the spring crop was after the king’s mowing." (Amos 7:1 LSB)
Notice the source of this vision. "Thus Lord Yahweh showed me." Amos is not speculating. He is not offering his own political analysis. He has been granted sight, a window into the council of God. This is the essence of prophetic ministry. The prophet sees what God is doing and declares it.
And what does he see? He sees God "forming a locust-swarm." This is crucial. The locusts are not a random, natural disaster. They are not bad luck. God is personally crafting them, shaping them as an instrument of His wrath. This is a direct assault on the modern deistic assumption that God wound up the world like a clock and then let it run on its own. No, God is intimately involved, not just in blessing, but in judgment. He forms the light, and He creates the darkness. He makes peace, and He creates calamity (Isaiah 45:7).
The timing is precise and devastating. The locusts appear "when the spring crop began to come up." This was the latter growth, the crop that would sustain the people after the first cutting, the "king's mowing," had been taken as a tax. The king had already taken his share. This second growth was what the common people depended on for their survival. So this judgment is not aimed at the palace; it is aimed at the pantry of every family in Israel. It is a judgment designed to bring the entire nation to its knees, to strip away their material prosperity, which was the foundation of their pride and the object of their trust.
This is how God works. He targets our idols. Israel had come to trust in their economic boom, their military security, their full barns. They mistook God's blessing for God's approval. They were fat and happy and had forgotten the Lord who had prospered them. So God, in His terrible mercy, sends the locusts to devour the very thing they worship. He is answering the central problem Amos has been addressing: their worship of the golden calf, which is to say, their worship of wealth. When you worship a god of gold, you become hard and metallic. God sends a judgment that eats your gold.
The Plea of the Prophet (v. 2)
As the vision of total devastation unfolds, Amos does not simply nod in grim agreement. He speaks.
"And it happened when it had completed eating the vegetation of the land, that I said, 'Lord Yahweh, please pardon! How can Jacob rise up, For he is small?'" (Amos 7:2 LSB)
Amos sees the judgment through to its conclusion. He sees the land stripped bare. He sees the logical end of Israel's sin. And it moves him not to gloat, but to intercede. He cries out, "Lord Yahweh, please pardon!" This is the heart of a true shepherd. He loves the people enough to tell them the hard truth, and he loves them enough to plead for them when the consequences of that truth arrive.
But look at the basis of his appeal. It is not based on Israel's merit. He does not say, "Pardon them, for they are basically good people who made a few mistakes." He does not say, "Pardon them, for they have promised to do better." He knows better. He has spent six chapters cataloging their incorrigible rebellion. Instead, he appeals to God's grace on the basis of Israel's weakness. "How can Jacob rise up, For he is small?"
This is a stunning statement. Throughout the book, Israel has been acting big. They are proud of their military might, their economic strength, their religious festivals. They are arrogant and self-sufficient. But Amos, the true seer, sees them as God sees them: small, fragile, utterly dependent, and on the brink of annihilation. "Jacob" is the name that recalls their humble and often pathetic origins. Amos is reminding God of their covenant history, of the unconditioned grace that chose a man named Jacob, a trickster and a supplanter, and made him a great nation. He is saying, in effect, "Lord, if you deal with them according to their pride, they will be destroyed. But remember them in their smallness. Remember your covenant with Jacob."
This is how we must pray for our own nation. We cannot plead our own righteousness. We cannot point to our founding documents or our history of blessing as though these things put God in our debt. We must come before Him and say, "Lord, have mercy on us, for we are small. We are foolish. We are weak. Apart from your grace, we will not stand." True intercession begins with a clear-eyed assessment of our own helplessness.
The God Who Relents (v. 3)
The response to the prophet's plea is immediate and profound.
"Yahweh relented concerning this. 'It shall not be,' said Yahweh." (Amos 7:3 LSB)
Here is the heart of the matter. God relents. The Hebrew word is nacham, which can mean to be sorry, to repent, or to comfort. It does not mean that God was caught by surprise or that Amos presented Him with new information that caused Him to change His eternal decree. God is not a man, that He should repent (Numbers 23:19). His sovereign plan is never thwarted.
So what is happening here? God is responding to the situation as it has now changed. The situation has changed because a man prayed. God's eternal decree included the sin of Israel, the vision of judgment shown to Amos, the intercession of Amos, and His own relenting in response to that intercession. God relates to us in history, within time. When we repent, the sentence of judgment that was rightly upon us is lifted. When we pray, God responds. This does not make God mutable; it makes prayer meaningful. God has built the prayers of His people into the very structure of how He governs the world.
Think of it this way. A judge declares a just sentence upon a criminal. But then a mediator, a kinsman-redeemer, steps forward and satisfies the demands of justice. Does the judge change his mind about justice? No. He remains a just judge, but he is now able to show mercy because the situation has been altered by the act of mediation. Amos is acting as a type of Christ, the great Intercessor. He stands in the gap.
God says, "It shall not be." The judgment is averted. The locusts are called off. This is a staggering demonstration of the power of intercessory prayer. One man's plea, based on the smallness of the people and the greatness of God's covenant mercy, turned aside a national catastrophe. Do we believe this? Do we pray like this? Or are our prayers timid, perfunctory, and faithless, betraying a deep-seated belief that history is a closed system, and God's hands are tied?
Conclusion: Standing in the Gap
This short episode is a microcosm of the entire biblical drama. We see a holy God whose justice demands judgment upon sin. We see a sinful people, Jacob, who are small and helpless, unable to save themselves. And we see a mediator who stands between them and pleads for mercy.
Amos here is a shadow. The substance is the Lord Jesus Christ. We, like Israel, are small. We are helpless against the devouring locusts of sin and death. The righteous judgment of God has been declared against us. We stand condemned. But we have a great high priest, one who did not just plead for us, but who became the plea. He did not just ask God to pardon; He purchased the pardon with His own blood.
On the cross, Jesus stood between the wrath of God and the smallness of His people. God did not relent from pouring out the full measure of His judgment. But He poured it out on His Son. The locusts of God's wrath devoured Him, so that we, the guilty, might go free. Because of His intercession, God says to all who are in Him, "It shall not be." The judgment shall not fall on you.
This truth should do two things. First, it should fill us with profound gratitude and security. Our standing with God does not depend on our own size or strength, but on the finished work of our Intercessor. Second, it should embolden us in our own prayers. We are called to be a kingdom of priests, to stand in the gap for our families, our churches, and our nation. We have access to the throne of grace. We have the ear of the God who relents. We must learn to plead with Him as Amos did, with boldness, with humility, and with a desperate love for the people He has called us to serve. We must look at our corrupt and dying culture and, instead of despairing, we must pray, "Lord Yahweh, please pardon! How can Jacob rise up, For he is small?" And we may be surprised at how the God who loves to show mercy will answer.