Sharper Iron — The Day Is Surely Drawing Near: Amos’ Funeral Dirge for Israel

Rev. Sean Daenzer, pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Great Bend, ND and Peace, Barney, ND, joins host Rev. Timothy Appel to study Amos 5:1-3.

When a funeral dirge is sung, our ears perk up to learn who has died. The surprise of Amos 5 is that death has come to God’s own people, Israel. Though physically alive, they are spiritually dead. They have not heeded the LORD’s call to repentance through increasingly severe plagues, and so they have met their God in death rather than life. Their failure to cry out to the LORD for mercy, having not even recognized their need for it, has led to their own fall, which they have brought upon themselves. Tragically, due to her own idolatry and injustice, the virgin Israel did not receive the wonderful gifts her husband, the LORD, desired to give. On her own land, the destruction of Israel would occur at the hands of Assyria in 722 BC. Only a tenth of the soldiers would remain, and these ten tribes of Israel would be lost to history. Yet the prophet sings this funeral dirge with the desire that the people hear and recognize that there is no hope in themselves. Only the LORD Himself can raise the dead from their graves. In this repentance, the LORD calls us to meet Him on His terms, so that we would not have death, but life. This happens in Christ crucified for us. Through faith in Him, we meet God and live.

“The Day Is Surely Drawing Near” is a mini-series on Sharper Iron that digs into the book of Amos. This Old Testament prophet speaks the LORD’s roaring Word in order to call us first to repentance over our idolatry and injustice and second to faith in the Messiah in the line of David, Jesus Christ. Only through faith in Him will we stand forgiven and redeemed on the coming Day of the LORD.

Sharper Iron, hosted by Rev. Timothy Appel, looks at the text of Holy Scripture both in its broad context and its narrow detail, all for the sake of proclaiming Christ crucified and risen for sinners. Two pastors engage with God’s Word to sharpen not only their own faith and knowledge, but the faith and knowledge of all who listen.

Sharper Iron is underwritten by Lutheran Church Extension Fund, where your investments help support the work of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Visit lcef.org.

Amos 5:1-3

Seek the Lord and Live

5 Hear this word that I take up over you in lamentation, O house of Israel:

²“Fallen, no more to rise,
is the virgin Israel;
forsaken on her land,
with none to raise her up.”

³For thus says the Lord God:

“The city that went out a thousand
    shall have a hundred left,
and that which went out a hundred
    shall have ten left
    to the house of Israel.”

English Standard Version (ESV)

Rev. Timothy Appel

Although a mathematics degree may not be incredibly helpful to (proudly born-and-raised Texan) Rev. Timothy Appel while hosting Sharper Iron, his love of CFW Walther and the season of Easter will come in handy. His Call is shepherding the flock at Faith Lutheran Church in Godfrey, Illinois, and he’s also husband to wife Kristin and dad to their growing basketball team of children. When he’s not carrying out pastoral duties, you may find him reading “The Lord of the Rings,” snacking on Reese’s peanut butter cups, playing dominoes with his boys, or studying up on Texas history (including Sam Houston, of course).