An objection I have seen raised against the Latter-day Saint appeal to Amos 3:7, a common “proof-text” used to support the need for modern prophets/continuing revelation is why God does not reveal to them disasters (natural or otherwise) in advance. A potential answer may be found in the light of Rev 10:5-7 which uses Amos 3:7 and Dan 12:6-7. As Richard Bauckham wrote:
The revocation of the seven
thunders is explained by the angel’s solemn declaration
in 10:5-7. Here we need carefully to observe the allusions both to Daniel
12:6-7 and to Amos 3:7. (Italics indicate allusions to Daniel’ underlining
indicates allusions to Amos.)
Revelation 10:5-7: Then the angel
whom I saw standing on the sea and the land raised his right hand to heaven
and swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and what is
in it, the land and what is in it, and the sea, and what is in it: ‘There will
be no more delay, but in the days of the sound of the seventh angel, when he is
about to blow his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished,
as he announced to his servants the prophets.
Daniel 12:6: One of them said to
the man clothed in linen, who was upstream, ‘How long shall it be until the end
of these wonders?’ The man clothed in linen, who was upstream, raised his
right hand and his left hand toward heaven. And I heard him swear
by the one who lives forever that it would be for a time, times and half a
time, and that when the shattering of the power of the holy people comes to an
end, and all these things would be accomplished.
Amos 3:7: Surely the Lord GOD does
nothing, without revealing his secret (סוד) to his servants the
prophets.
The reason why there are to be no
more warning judgments is that there is now to be no more delay before the
final period of history, Daniel’s period of ‘a time,
times and half a time,’ in which the secret purpose (μυστηριον) of God for the coming of his
kingdom is to be accomplished. This is the secret purpose which God announced
to Daniel and to other prophets of the Old Testament period. But to them it
remained mysterious. Daniel did not understand the words of the man clothed in
linen (Daniel 12:8) and was told that they were to remain sealed until the time
of the end (Daniel 12:9). The full meaning of what Daniel and the other
prophets foresaw with regard to the last days of history before the end
remained mysterious to them. Only now to John will the scroll of God’s purpose
for the coming of his kingdom, now unsealed, be given.
Unlike Amos, Revelation does not
say that God revealed (נלה) his secret to his servants the prophets, but that
he announced (ευηγγελισεν)
it. This makes it clear that the prophets themselves remained a secret, while
also suggesting its character as the good news of the coming of God’s Kingdom.
This
is the significance of בשׂר (translated by ευαγγελιζομαι in Jewish Greek) in its
theologically significant Old Testament occurrences (Isa 40:9; 41:27; 52:7;
61:1; cf. also Ps 40:9 [10]; 68:11; and especially Ps 96:2-3). It is the
significance which ευαγγελιζομαι
has in Revelation’s only other use of the verb (14:6). (Richard Bauckham, “The
Conversion of the Nations,” in The Climax of Prophecy: Studies in the Book
of Revelation [London: T&T Clark, 1993], 260-62, emphasis in bold added)
Amos 3:7 is not a text I myself use to support the need for continuing public revelation. However, it does support the doctrine of the "divine council." On this, see David E. Bokovoy, "בקעי תיבב ודיעהו ועמש: Invoking the Council as Witnesses in Amos 3:13," JBL 127, no. 1 (Spring, 2008): 37-51.
Further Reading
Not By Scripture Alone: A Latter-day Saint Refutation of Sola Scriptura
