Amos wrote his words of prophecy about something of which he knew very little. It was instead the Lord who gave him a clear understanding. Amos had no reason to believe his words were true except he trusted God and if the Almighty said it was so, who was he to dispute it.

I doubt those around Amos understood or believed everything he said, for after all why would God use someone like him to speak to them. But such was the plight of most of the Jewish prophets. They enjoyed little respect from the people, but instead often received mocking, insult and even persecution for repeating what they heard from God. I doubt few boys grew up hoping they would be God's voice to a disobedient and vile people.

Moving along, do you wonder why God no longer uses men to reveal what He wants to say? Well, you might be surprised to know He still uses men to speak for him and they often experience the same disdain of the Old Testament prophets: mocking, insult and persecution. These men are prophets in every sense of the word, but not in the same fashion of those in the Old Testament.

Prophecy is a gift of the Holy Spirit to those who as a result boldly proclaim the truth of God's word without compromise or reservation. Most believe the gift is synonymous with a pastor's call to shepherd the family of God but it's not. A prophet may not be a pastor, but he is a preacher. His message is the revelation of God's word to a sinful world and his congregation is anyone who will listen.

The gift of prophecy is reserved for those with a high degree of assertion in their character. Correspondingly prophets usually have a low degree of responsiveness. That is, they are seldom corrected, influenced or made to change their opinion. Hardheaded? Perhaps, but they seldom are dissuaded from preaching even when their message is rejected, a character trait that keeps them going even when most would give in and give up.

Are you a prophet? You may have the gift of prophecy, but there is no more need for prophets to give us revelation outside what we have in the Holy Scripture. The Holy Bible contains everything we need to know and the Holy Spirit tells us everything else. Hebrews 1:1-4 confirms this fact. When Jesus came, He was the last prophet. He is the "new" Testament, or covenant. If there were blanks left with the prophecy of the Old Testament, Jesus filled them. If there were questions remaining, Jesus answered them as well. If there is anything else we need to know the Holy Spirit will tell us.

In effect, everyone who knows Jesus as personal Savior and Lord is more blessed than any Old Testament prophet, Amos included. These men would have no doubt given everything to know what we do. After all, they spoke of the Son of God in a future sense; we, on the other hand, speak of Him in the present sense. That's because the Holy Spirit reveals Jesus to everyone of us who calls ourselves a servant. Every moment of the day, He refreshes our mind and spirit by reminding us of what God's word says relative to our need. We should stop looking at the prophets as a privileged class and consider that God's blessed us far more than them.

1 Developed from Read the Bible Thru ( Am. 1:1-3:15 Rv. 2:1-17 Ps. 129:1-8 Pr. 29:19-20 )
2. Scripture comes from the Holy Bible, New International Version; (c)1978 by New York International Bible Society

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