Amos 5:6 - Seek God And Live!

Amos 5:6; Seek God And Live!

CONTENT; What's in the verse; Translations; Paraphrase; Word 
Study:  

Amos 5:6 (KJV)  Seek the LORD, and ye shall live; lest he break 
out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, and there be 
none to quench it in Bethel. 

Fire: Amos uses the word "fire" as a symbol of God's consuming 
judgment nine times in this book. [Jamieson, Fausset, And Brown 
Commentary] 

House of Joseph: The northern kingdom of Israel, dominated by 
the tribe of Ephraim, descendants of Joseph. [NIV SB] 

Bethel: The main religious center of the northern kingdom. [NIV 
SB] 

CONTEXT; What's around the verse; Overview; Topic:

Overview
Israel's sins required punishment (3:1-15). Amos cried out 
against the pampered wives of the wealthy (4:1-3), corrupt worship (vv. 
4-5), and indifference to God (vv. 6-13). The nation had to seek the 
LORD and do justice (5:1-15), or face the dark "Day of the LORD" (vv. 
18-20). God hated Israel's corrupt religion (vv. 21-27), and would judge 
her for her complacency and pride (6:1-14). [The 365-Day Devotional 
Commentary] 

SECTION HEADINGS

A lament and call to repentance  (5:1-17)
A Threefold Call to Turn Away From Sin  (5:4-17)
No salvation without repentance  (5:4-7)
Seek the Lord and Live  (5:1-17)

CROSS REFERENCES; What's in verses elsewhere.

Jeremiah 4:4 (KJV)  Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take 
away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of 
Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench 
it, because of the evil of your doings.  

Ezekiel 33:11 (KJV)  Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord 
God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the 
wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil 
ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?  

Amos 5:4 (KJV)  For thus saith the Lord unto the house of 
Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live:  

Mark 9:43-48 (KJV)  And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it 
is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands 
to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: [44] 
Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. [45] And if 
thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter 
halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the 
fire that never shall be quenched: [46] Where their worm dieth not, 
and the fire is not quenched. [47] And if thine eye offend thee, 
pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God 
with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire: [48] 
Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.  

Jer 29:13 (KJV)  And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye 
shall search for me with all your heart. 

Mat 6:33 (KJV)  But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his 
righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 

1 John 5:11, 12 (KJV)  And this is the record, that God hath 
given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath 
the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not 
life. 

COMMENTARY / APPLICATION: Moving From The Head To The Heart
What is God teaching here? What does it teach about Jesus?

We are to seek God, and live (vv. 4-6). Note that the text 
emphasizes seek "Me." It's not religion that produces a just society, but 
personal relationship with the living God. [The 365-Day Devotional 
Commentary] 

Salvation comes when we personally seek to meet the living God, 
not when we regularly and routinely carry out meaningless acts of 
worship. God, the Savior, issues a personal call to life in Him. 
[Disciple SB] 

To seek the Lord and live is to seek Him with all your heart and 
soul (cf. Deut. 4:29). [Believer's SB] 

Amos called the people to repentance with the words "seek God 
and live" (5:4, 6, 14). Note: repentance is one of the first steps 
to union with Christ after belief. [New Bible Companion] 

There is one sure remedy for a world that is sick and dying in 
sin--"seek the LORD and live." Sin seeks to destroy, but hope is found in 
seeking God. In times of difficulty, seek God. In personal discomfort 
and struggle, seek God. When others are struggling, encourage them 
to seek God too. [Life Application SB] 

There are many whose hearts are aching under a load of care 
because they seek to reach the world's standard. They have chosen its 
service, accepted its perplexities, adopted its customs. Thus their 
character is marred, and their life made a weariness. In order to gratify 
ambition and worldly desires, they wound the conscience, and bring upon 
themselves an additional burden of remorse. The continual worry is wearing 
out the life forces. Our Lord desires them to lay aside this yoke of 
bondage.  He invites them to accept His yoke; He says, "My yoke is easy, 
and My burden is light." He bids them seek first the kingdom of God 
and His righteousness, and His promise is, that all things needful 
to them for this life shall be added. Worry is blind, and cannot 
discern the future; but Jesus sees the end from the beginning.  In every 
difficulty He has His way prepared to bring relief. Our Heavenly Father has 
a thousand ways to provide for us, of which we know nothing.  
Those who accept the one principle of making the service and honor of 
God supreme, will find perplexities vanish, and a plain path before 
their feet. DA330 

A union with Christ by living faith is enduring; every other 
union must perish. Christ first chose us, paying an infinite price for 
our redemption; and the true believer chooses Christ as first and 
last and best in everything. But this union costs us something. It is 
a union of utter dependence, to be entered into by a proud being. 
All who form this union must feel their need of the atoning blood of 
Christ. They must have a change of heart. They must submit their own 
will to the will of God. There will be a struggle with outward and 
internal obstacles. There must be a painful work of detachment as well as 
a work of attachment. Pride, selfishness, vanity, worldliness--sin 
in all its forms--must be overcome if we would enter into a union 
with Christ. The reason why many find the Christian life so 
deplorably hard, why they are so fickle, so variable, is that they try to 
attach themselves to Christ without first detaching themselves from 
these cherished idols.  After the union with Christ has been formed, 
it can be preserved only by earnest prayer and untiring effort. We 
must resist, we must deny, we must conquer self. Through the grace of 
Christ, by courage, by faith, by watchfulness, we may gain the victory. 
5T231 

There are certain parts of your background and makeup over which 
you had no control. God never consulted you before he selected your 
parents, color of hair, height, nationality, or shoe size. These were 
determined by him before you were ever conceived (Psalm 139:13-16; Jeremiah 
1:5). Hearing that, you may be tempted to conclude life is a 
fatalistic journey over which you have no control. 
Not so! The Bible makes it clear there are important choices 
that you and you alone must make: the decision to believe in Jesus 
Christ for eternal life (John 3:16-18), the decision to live a life 
distinct from the world (2 Corinthians 6:17), the decision to "Be good, 
flee evil" (Amos 5:14). Your destiny is determined by choice, not 
chance. 
And as with any decision, it is impossible not to decide, for to 
postpone the decision indefinitely is to decide already. Take the three 
decisions mentioned in the previous paragraph and decide on your response 
to each: will you ... or won't you? Choose carefully, for your very 
life and happiness are at stake! [Daily Walk Bible]