[Darris McNeely] World events continue to baffle us at times and amaze us, but yet they grab our attention. As we study Bible prophecies, important to be able to relate the messages of any of the prophets to the world in which we live today, to help us to better understand, or as the biblical word is, to discern our time and our world.

The prophet Amos has a message that has a very timely message for our world today. The prophet Amos went to the nation of Israel in his day, in the Eighth Century BC, but it’s very interesting as you look at how that message is divided, that the initial statements that Amos records are to nations that were Gentile nations outside of Israel, occupying regions of the world that today grab our attention and the headlines, and we see events coming up.

Let me give you one example of this. Recently, the city of Aleppo in Syria fell after a long period of siege as a result of forces with the government of Syria attacking and anti-government rebels holding out. The large city, very old city, a great deal of carnage, suffering of people has taken place there – it is a terrible, terrible plight. And when we look at the book of Amos, chapter 1, beginning in verse 3, we find that the prophet actually addresses the nation of Syria, which is where Aleppo is today. And here’s what it says: “For three sins of Damascus, even for four, I will not relent. Because she threshed Gilead with sledges having iron teeth” (Amos 1:3)

Those are the words of God through the prophet Amos to the nation of Syria in that day. Syria still exists. Damascus today is the capitol of Syria. Aleppo, this tragic city, has suffered a great deal, almost exactly as the words of Amos here bring out – where she has been threshed with sledges having iron teeth. It doesn’t take a lot of perusal on the internet and the headlines of major news sites right now to understand the suffering, the carnage of people – Syrians being slaughtered by their own nation, their own government. God says He will bring judgment upon nations for treating their people like that.

The message of Amos carries with us a very important warning and message for our world to understand today. We’ll keep going though and show exactly how it applies to that same region of the world, to the headlines of today, to issues that are impacting all of us in our world that we wonder about.

That’s BT Daily. Join us next time.