Thursday, December 30, 2021

The use of Amos 3:7 in Revelation 10:5-7 and the lack of "warning judgments"

 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