Seek Me that you may live

​“For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel, “Seek Me that you may live.”

‭‭Amos‬ ‭5:4‬ ‭NASB1995‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/100/amo.5.4.NASB1995

“Seek the Lord that you may live, Or He will break forth like a fire, O house of Joseph, And it will consume with none to quench it for Bethel,”

‭‭Amos‬ ‭5:6‬ ‭NASB1995‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/100/amo.5.6.NASB1995

Israel is commanded to seek The Lord so that they may live. The time of following their idols, that they have carried around, is over and it is time to pay the penalty of idolatry or repent and live. Do you think that is also the call for us today? Seek God and live while we still have time on earth. While we still have an option. For on the day of judgment every knee will bow to honor God the father and Jesus. It is time to put down our idols and seek God. This is better explained in the first four commands of the Ten Commandments 

“You shall have no other gods before Me. 

You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, 

You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain. 

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.”

‭‭Exodus‬ ‭20:3-5, 7-8‬ ‭NASB1995‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/100/exo.20.3-8.NASB1995

To sum it up Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. 

“Seek good and not evil, that you may live; And thus may the Lord God of hosts be with you, Just as you have said!”

‭‭Amos‬ ‭5:14‬ ‭NASB1995‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/100/amo.5.14.NASB1995

Next Israel was commanded to seek good and not evil. Every sin is directed toward another person except immorality which directly affects our own body (1 Corinthians 6:18). Be holy as I am holy is how Jesus stated it at the end of Matthew chapter 5. And can be better explained in the last six of the Ten Commandments. 

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you. 

You shall not murder. 

You shall not commit adultery. 

You shall not steal. 

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 

You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

‭‭Exodus‬ ‭20:12-17‬ ‭NASB1995‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/100/exo.20.12-17.NASB1995

To sum it up, love people as you would yourself. 

But Israel decided not to seek God nor good and had to face the penalty that was headed their way. 

“Therefore, I will make you go into exile beyond Damascus,” says the Lord, whose name is the God of hosts.”

‭‭Amos‬ ‭5:27‬ ‭NASB1995‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/100/amo.5.27.NASB1995

The God of hosts has two meanings. It could be the God of the heavenly bodies: the stars, planets, moon, and sun. Or it could be the God of all the armies. Looking at verse 26 makes me think that God is referring to Himself as the God of all the heavenly bodies. Could it be that those are all the places where God keeps His army stationed? 

Remember there will be a time when God sends Jesus back to the earth to lead an army from heaven. With His double-edged sword, He will wage a war against the beast, the false prophet, and the kings of the earth that follow them. 

“And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND Lord OF LORDS.”

‭‭Revelation‬ ‭19:14-16‬ ‭NASB1995‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/100/rev.19.15-16.NASB1995