Knowing that the Lord speaks to his people, we naturally want to know what he has to say. What is the message that the Lord seeks to bring them? Why does he roar from Zion? Biblically, the roar of a lion is associated with preparation for an attack. The lion roars when he is about to pounce upon his enemy. The roar of the Lord is therefore a warning that he is coming to bring devastation upon the people of Israel. The covenant curses will be carried out against them. Their end has come. Their time is short.
God’s judgment upon the northern kingdom of Israel does not come because he is unpredictable or unreasonable. Judgment is coming because the kingdom of God is not one in which sin is allowed to run riot. God’s church is not a place where people can simply live as they please. The freedom that comes from living in relationship with God is not the freedom to indulge every and any desire. We have been set free for a life of service, not for a life of sin. And so the people of Israel are going to learn that God’s commitment to justice is unyielding. He will not allow the guilty to go unpunished. He will not allow apostasy to continue forever. He will put an end to those who exploit the poor. Judgment is coming. The Lord has roared.
1 The words of Amos, who was among the shepherds of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.