MLK - But let justice run down like water...


Here is something I read from What’s in the Bible: The Story of God through Time and Eternity by R.C. Sproul and Robert Wolgemuth, which I think has deep significance for January 18, 2016:
But let justice run down like water, And righteousness like a mighty stream (Amos 5:24) 
During the years of the civil rights movement in America, this was one of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s favorite biblical passages. He knew what Amos knew: A nation that disregards the cries of the poor and the respectful treatment of all her citizenry is a nation in peril—a nation out of plumb.
As with Dr. King’s upbraiding of complacent Americans, Amos got in the faces of the Jews. He warned them that their offerings and sacrifices were a stench to God’s nostrils because while they were outwardly performing their religious duties, they were treating one another with disregard. The poor were “sold for a pair of shoes” whole the women had “become like the fatted cows of Bashan.”
Justice did not prevail because, during Amos’s time, it was common for judges to accept bribes, so that the rich would always be declared innocent and the poor would be thrown into prison or worse.
Amos preached on a subjected that predated the ministry of the prophets: the “Day of the Lord.” for thousands of years, Jews had longed for the day that God Himself would come to destroy the wicked and save the righteous. This was to be a good day for saints, but a bad day for the unrepentant sinner.
One can certainly say that Dr. Martin Luther King in some way connected to the mind and message of the prophet Amos. Amos’ vision of the “Day of the Lord” and even the dream of Dr. King, while in some way finds expression in the vindication of the least, lost, and lowly of this world, still anticipates ultimate realization in the future. When Jesus Christ appears again, the dead shall be raised from the graves. The saints shall be resurrected to eternal life in a new heaven and new hearth and the sinners to eternal condemnation in the lake of fire (John 5:28-29; 1 Cor. 15:1-58; 2 Cor. 5:9-10; Heb. 9:27-28; Rev. 20:11-12; cf. Dan. 12:2).

All the saints sing, come Lord Jesus come.

Blessings!

WGN

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