Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?
Concerning our text in Amos 3:3, this verse is part of a series
of rhetorical questions (Amos 3:3-6) taken from ordinary life and presented to idolatrous
Israel. The idea is that once the first event takes place the second is sure to
follow. This reveals how stubborn their sin of idolatry was. God had to give
them obvious questions and then provide obvious answers! Colloquially speaking, they
were “duh” or basic questions! It was too late for Israel to avoid judgment for
their idolatrous ways. Amos, God’s prophet, was speaking, and next was divine judgment.
The interrogatives follow the logic that with every action there
is a reaction, a cause/effect; it’s the law of the harvest kind of stuff.
If you willingly sin in knowledge, divine judgment (chastening) will be the
result, hello!? When Israel is guilty of idolatry (cf. Ex 20:3-5), Yahweh is
unable to walk with them due to their ungodliness. It’s like gravity; throw
something upward, and it is going to wind up on the ground; likewise, whenever
Israel is up in the air in disagreement with Yahweh, judgment will fall next
after Amos quits talking!
When we sin against God willingly, do we think nothing is
happening because we can’t see anything happening, or that somehow our sin snuck past Yahweh’s
omniscience!? In reality, fellowship is automatically disrupted before we even
realize it! Disruption begins at the heart (cf. Mt 5:28). This is where 1 Jn
1:9 comes into play provided we willingly confess our sins to God. The verb
confess here actually means to agree; we agree with Yahweh about our sinful
behavior. Oh, that we were so knitted to God’s heart that we could feel the
slightest frequency of disruption!
If confession truly takes place (If we confess our sins), then there is the restoration of fellowship between a confessing believer and God –
He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Though the word repentance is not mentioned here in 1 Jn 1:9, it is inherent in the verb confess which is a necessary component for restoration to take place. Confessing or agreeing without a change of mind is an empty, meaningless confession. We must keep our confessions honest and real for Yahweh is all-knowing (cf. Jer 17:9-10).
So, we must ask ourselves this question. We may not be guilty of
the sin of idolatry as in Amos’ day, but “How can we walk with God as a
believer in a state of disobedience?” We know the answer to that! We can’t, and a lack
or delay of confession (or agreeing with Yahweh) invites trouble from
on High because God is not going to put up with us grieving the Holy Spirit
(Eph 4:30)!
How could Yahweh and idolatrous Israel walk together while in
disagreement? Light and darkness do not mix, right? Yahweh demands us to be
holy (1 Pet 1:15-16), and if not, fellowship with God is broken until we
confess (agree) and conform (repent) to Yahweh’s standards of holiness. He is
not going to walk with us while we are moving contrary to His will on any
matter.
The prophet Amos lets us in on the secret of fellowship. To walk
with Yahweh, you and I have to agree with Him. If we are contrary to Yahweh’s
standard of holiness, fellowship (having the peace of God) will not happen.
Amos was not talking to Israel for his own health, but for theirs! The fact
that he is telling them was a sure sign that judgment was looming around the bend!
Nothing happens in the life of Israel or our lives, for that matter, that is
outside of His sovereign control. We sin; we are chastened!
Sadly, Israel wanted to “shoot” the messenger (cf. Amos 2:12; 7:12-13)! Amos was the mouthpiece for Yahweh, and therefore, while Israel was telling Amos to shut up and get out, they unwittingly were attempting to silence God Himself! They didn’t want to hear or be bothered by what Amos had to say! Symbolically, they were telling Yahweh through Amos to shut up and leave!
So, let me ask you about your fellowship with God (the
peace of God, not peace with God which
involves salvation). How is it working for you? You know; we may be born again,
and though God loves us with everlasting love, He will not walk (or have
fellowship) when any of His children choose to walk in darkness rather than
the light. If you are found on the dark path it tells God and others that you
are in total disagreement with Yahweh and out of fellowship. Here is the cause
and effect: sin brings chastening; obedience brings blessings! Amos is talking
for God; divine judgment is heading Israel’s way! It doesn’t take a rocket
scientist to figure this out. If we are in disagreement with Yahweh, we know
what’s coming down the pike, yes (cf. Heb 12:5-11)?
(Amo 3:3) Can two walk together, unless they are
agreed?
As far as the identity of the two,
it probably refers to unfaithful Israel and Yahweh. The Creator God is not going to walk together with an idol worshipper (cf. Ex 20:3-5); that is an abomination. Yahweh will not walk with darkness. I think there’s room to make
application to our lives; two equals Yahweh
and you. Walk (literally back and
forth) is referencing a lifestyle, not just a hike to some unknown place on occasion. Enoch
walked with God (Gn 5:22, he gets a timeline and is mentioned twice); Noah walked
with God (Gn 6:9), and we know Abraham walked with God as well (Gn 17:1). A
case could be made of others, but to walk with God which is equivalent to
walking in the ways of God (contrast 2 Kgs 8:27, the worldly way). We are all
encouraged to walk with God (cf. Micah 6:8).
The word agreed (Heb, yā῾ad) is
actually translated as an appointment (Job
2:11), met (Josh 11:5), meet (Neh
6:10). Can two (Yahweh & you or me) walk
together unless they are agreed. Metaphorically speaking, can light and darkness walk together? Can disobedience and holiness walk together? This is not a bilateral meeting of opposites where both parties
meet in the middle somewhere flexing and compromising for some consensus in order to walk side by side. They
bond spiritually, not repelled by each other. You get the idea.
Yahweh is eternally immutable (no change happening there, Mal
3:6); man, on the other hand, is subject to change. In this context, change must agree with the Changeless. Fellowship is predicated on positional sanctification (sonship) and practical sanctification (purity). This change is radical and a departure from the routine of the flesh because he
or she must agree to conform his/her life to the image of God’s Son (Rom 8:29)!
Otherwise, we find ourselves out of fellowship and walking solo in the energy of the flesh (Jesus is
present, Heb 13:5, but the peace of God is absent in the life, cf. Php 4:7) due
to a disagreement (sin) with Yahweh’s will in a matter.
Sadly, this is not uncommon in Christendom due to the prevalence of willful
spiritual ignorance in the body of Christ. Fellowship is based upon spiritual
regeneration (Jn 3:3), and our walk is matching our talk. We are walking in
fellowship with Yahweh because our thoughts, words, and walk are aligned with
His Word/Will.
If our fellowship with God is broken due to willful sin, we are not walking worthy (literally, of equal weight) of His calling (Eph 4:1-2); we are not walking by faith (2 Cor 5:7); we are not walking in the Spirit (Gal 5:16; Rom 8:4); we are not walking in love (Eph 52); and we are not walking as children of light (Eph 5:8)! How do we avoid all of this down the wrong trail thinking, speaking, and acting? By walking the talk (the hypocrisy vaccine), being the change you want to see in the world through Christ! By the way, the vac is not a one-time shot, but you knew that!
As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him (Col 2:6, emphasis mine).
It just doesn’t pay to disobey by walking in the
ways of the world; it’s unloving (cf. Jn 14:15) and sinful. It is a progressive nightmare! There are no
blessings to be found along the dark path: walking in the counsel of the
ungodly, standing in the path of sinners, and sitting in the seat of the
scornful (cf. Psa 1:1; 1 Jn 2:16-17).
We are reminded by Paul that whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God (1 Cor 10:31). So, let me ask you, “How is your fellowship with Yahweh working out?” Are you discovering your walk is not matching your talk? Turn that negativity into a positive by continuing to calibrate your walk and talk to the Word and will of Yahweh; don’t give up!
The hypocrisy vaccine is to walk the talk. On my best days, I make discoveries of contradictions in the way I should walk before the Lord, and my heart is not running on all three cylinders: intellectually, emotionally, and volitionally to create a balance in my walk and talk. Our internal engines run far better under Holy Spirit diagnostics, yes? We have to make spiritual adjustments constantly throughout the day, every day, or we will misfire. Our sinful nature has a way of reminding us that it doesn’t like the ways of the Holy Spirit (Gal 5:17)!
Disagreeing with Yahweh will always miss the mark of God’s standard of holiness (cf. Mt 5:8; Heb 12:13-14; 1 Pet 1:16); it’s known by another draining and contentious word – sin. If we are out of alignment with the teaching of Scripture, fellowship is broken because God’s standard of living is based on His Word, not on what our culture is doing. It definitely prevents us from being the catalyst of change that we want to see in the world – being like Christ and seeing others come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ through our obedience of walking the talk in a way pleasing to God!
Fellowship with Yahweh contributes to that grand idea because it aids in keeping our walk and talk calibrated to God’s will and way, being the change we want to see in the world and making us more effective as a witness for Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world. If we are on the same page as Yahweh, you and I can walk with Him just as Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and others did so long ago. The thought of that is incredible! <><
Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?
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