Justice Like a River (Amos)

Welcome to this week’s Companion Thought on the Minor Prophets. The prophet Amos gives us the well-known Scripture, “Let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream.”

I don’t know about you, but I’ve heard a lot of people quote this verse as a blessing, a picture of a time of unprecedented peace and abundance where God’s righteous kingdom will reign. But here’s something to consider. 

Throughout the gospel, we’re given the bad news first. Only after we realize how much trouble we’re in, do we get the good news that God has provided a way of escape. 

In this picture of justice rolling like a river and righteousness flowing like a never-failing stream, Amos is not giving good news. At least not YET. He’s delivering bad news—he is warning the rebellious Israelites that they are about to experience a deluge of God’s wrath that will wipe them out. We miss this because we are unfamiliar with the terrain of Israel, but in Amos’s day, the people would’ve understood exactly what the prophet was saying.

The desert areas in Israel have valleys called “wadis” that are typically dry. But when it rains, flash floods roll through them destroying everything in their path. If you’ve ever lived through a flood where a river overflows it banks you know that walls of mud and debris can crash through a town in moments, sweeping away homes, roads, bridges, high rises, and people. 

That’s what it will be like when God says, “Enough. I’m going to judge those who have perpetrated and aided evil and injustice in our world. When that happens, it is not going to be a lovely, idyllic picnic by a flowing stream. Justice is going to roll in like river, and the righteousness of God will surge wave after wave until all the world systems that create and house immorality, that encourage the worship of people, places, and things rather than God, that defy and mock everything God calls good, are swept away. 

Then, and only then, will the waters still and the kingdom of God reign in fullness. And those of us who have trusted in Jesus will enjoy the peace and abundance we’ve been promised.

Amos gives us an uncomfortable truth. If we have something in our lives that is incompatible with what God values and don’t deal with it, God will. But first, He sends warnings. They’re everywhere in the Bible, especially in the book of the prophets. So don’t neglect the books of the prophets in the Bible They can keep you on the right path; or if you’ve wandered, bring you back.  

Remember, the same water that brings life can bring destruction. We don’t want to be caught in the deluge but refreshed by God’s life-giving waters. Through the prophet, Ezekiel, God says, “I will send down showers in season; there will be showers of blessing.” How do we receive these blessings? By following the Lord and His commands. God says, “Seek me and live.” (Amos 5:4)