1. SEEK THE LORD AND LIVE (5:4, 6, 8).
“Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon” (Isa. 55:6, 7).
Acts 17:27.
2. SEEK NOT BETHEL (5:5).
“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
Gen. 28:19; I Kings 12:29; Revelation 8:10,11.
3. SEEK GOOD AND NOT EVIL (5:14).
“that ye may live” (5:14; cf. 5:4, 6).
Isaiah 1:16, 17 says, “Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.”
Psalm 97:10; Romans 12:9.
Over and over again in the Bible we see that in the midst of warnings and pronouncements of inevitable judgment, God, in His mercy and grace, holds out the promise of hope – if His people will repent and seek His face (cf. Amos 5:4). |
