In Amos 7:1–9 we are confronted with the reality of God. The repeated emphasis on the Sovereign Lord (the name Lord appears ten times in these verses) who reveals a coming judgment brings us face to face with God who is the Creator, Judge, and Ruler of this world (Amos 5:1–27). Whenever we find Lord (specifically written in small capitals) in our Bible, we should understand that it refers to God’s personal covenant name. This should remind us of everything that God has done for his people: how he revealed himself to Abraham and set his love upon Jacob, how he formed the people of Israel and led them out of Egypt, and how he drew near to them in covenant and bound himself to them. The repeated use of God’s covenant name is emphasizing God’s personal relationship with Israel whom he calls my people in Amos 7:8.

God has chosen to set his love upon Israel but this creates tension because God is holy, pure, and good whereas Israel is wicked, sinful, and rebellious. Because God is perfectly just, he cannot allow sin to go unpunished—not even the sin of those whom he loves. Even as he longs to show mercy, his righteousness demands judgment. In the visions of Amos 7:1–17, Amos is given a glimpse of the judgment that God has to bring.

First, there is the plague of locusts. There will be great hunger and death when covenant curses fall upon Israel. But this is what justice requires. Israel has neglected God’s law, so they must be punished. Thankfully judgment is stayed when Amos intercedes (Amos 7:2) and appeals for mercy, not because Israel is good or innocent, but because he is small. The plague of locusts will be the end of them; they are too small to survive. In his mercy, the Lord relents and Israel is spared. Second, we find the vision of a raging fire—all water sources dry up completely—even the underground lakes and rivers—so that the entire land is consumed with nothing left. Again Amos pleads with God, and once again the Lord relented.

God’s relenting does not mean that he changed his mind. God is immutable; he does not change. And Amos certainly has not convinced God to act differently to his original plan. Instead, what we get from these verses is an insight into the tension that comes from God being in a relationship with Israel. The Lord wants to be generous and kind to his people; he wants to show mercy in the face of judgment. In his grace, he has sent Amos to pray for the Israelites with the intent that Amos’s prayers would be the means of delaying judgment and achieving God’s purposes.

Twice a vision of judgment is given only for judgment to be delayed. But with the last vision things are different. After this third vision there is no answer from Amos. We simply have this picture of Israel being compared to a wall. The Lord had built his people true to plumb. He had given them his law and taught them how to live truthfully. Holding a plumb line against them, the Lord is now measuring whether or not the wall is straight. Though it is not explicitly mentioned, this vision conveys the message that Israel has become crooked and they need to be knocked down. God’s people have been weighed and measured, and they have been found wanting. And there is no response from Amos because there is nothing he can say. Twice he asked for judgment to be delayed, trusting in God’s patience and his desire to show mercy, but he cannot ask for judgment to be stopped completely. Israel has been disobedient, and sin must be punished. God is right to be angry.

From this first section of chapter 7 we can consider our need for a prophet. We need someone like Amos to speak to God on our behalf. We might not normally think of prayer as the task of a prophet. Normally a prophet's responsibilities have to do with speaking and revelation. But right at the beginning of the Bible, in the book of Genesis, the first prophet is a man named Abraham and he is known for prayer. He prayed for the people of Sodom (Genesis 18:16–33) and he prayed for King Abimelech (Genesis 20:1–18).

Amos has repeatedly shown the people of Israel that they are self-righteous and indulgent. He has highlighted how they bent the truth and thought that religious exercises excused them from any need for repentance and faith. As much as we would like to think that all these crimes are peculiar to them, we are guilty of the same. We have not lived up to the perfect standards of God’s righteousness, and therefore we also need a prophet to stand between us and God. But a prophet like Amos and Abraham is not good enough. We do not need a prophet who can only delay judgment, we need a prophet who can actually deal with our sins and God’s anger. A prophet who can bear judgment in our place.

In Jesus Christ we have a prophet who can do exactly that. But we do not only have a prophet in him, but also a priest and a king. The New Testament describes Jesus as a man who is in heaven now, seated at the Father’s right hand and interceding for us, that is praying on behalf of God’s people (Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25). And he can do that because he is the Christ who came to deal with our sins. He became the mediator of a new covenant, his sprinkled blood speaking a better word than the blood of Abel because it washes us clean from all our sins (Hebrews 12:24). As a result, with Jesus, there is never a point where our sins stop him from praying. There is never a moment where he has to be silent like Amos, unable to speak on our behalf. No, his blood has paid for all our sins—of the past, present, and future. How wonderful it is to have Jesus as our Chief Prophet, and to know that at this very moment, he is praying for us and speaking on our behalf?