Amos: The Shepherd Prophet (Part X)

Well, you can take your Bibles and open them to what book?

! We're going to finish it up tonight and finish up chapter 9, which is the final chapter in the book, this very small prophetic book.

And we, of course, are finishing up what Amos saw, the visions that God gave to him. And I really think that starting with verse 7 and all the way to the end of the book, though you could make a case that these passages are still tied to this fifth and final vision that Amos had of the Lord standing beside the altar.

Remember, we looked at that last week. Really, we have, there just seems to be a different subject here. And though the entire book has been one of, I guess we could say doom and gloom, judgment and the reasons for judgment and the descriptions of those judgments and repetition of that throughout the book.

When we get to the final part of the book in this chapter 9, we suddenly have something different. We have hope. And so we'll see that.

So there's destruction. And we're going to begin, or verse 7 really does begin by reiterating the judgment and the destruction that's coming, but then very quickly we move to restoration.

First of all, the destruction of the sinful kingdom, verses 7 through 9. So this is the destruction side of this portion of Scripture.

Now I emphasize sinful kingdom. And that will become clear as we go forward here. There will be, of course, no special immunity for Israel.

And even as Amos, even from the very beginning when Amos began to prophesy, and he was prophesying God's judgment upon Israel.

And you remember that he started out by detailing God's judgment upon all the nations surrounding Israel. And I ventured the thought that they were probably thinking that they were immune, that God was going to skip them.

But he zeroes in on them. And then, of course, the bulk of the book, of course, deals with Israel, the northern kingdom, and God's judgment on them. So they're not going to be exempt.

They're not immune. So verse 7 kind of tells us that. Are you not like the people of Ethiopia to me, O children of Israel? Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt, the Philistines from Kaptur, and the Syrians from Kur?

And just really, this is just kind of a, kind of hitting some specific points to remind them that if I judged these people, then I surely will judge you.

And yet, there will be a remnant spared. So even though the first few words, that first verse in this section of Scripture is specifically concerning judgment, very quickly in verse 8 opens a, kind of a window of hope.

And verse 8 says, Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the face of the earth, yet. And this is kind of one of those wonderful words, yet and but, that you have in Scripture, where the bad news is pronounced first, and yet, then comes some hope, some ray of sunlight.

Yet, I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, says the Lord. So, complete extermination of God's people was not God's plan.

So, don't make the mistake, I hope you haven't. I've tried to remind you at several junctures in our study of the book, that God said He's going to completely, there will be a total destruction, not of the people, but of the nation.

The northern kingdom, Israel. It will be no more. But that does not mean that God's plan was to exterminate all of His people.

Because there's a remnant. He's going to spare a remnant. God commands a thorough sifting, in verse 9, a thorough sifting of Israel in order to separate the bad from the good.

In fact, I would tell you that, you know, as we've studied through this book, the reasons that God gave for His judgment of Israel seem to, most of them seem to be directed toward a certain segment of the people, the rulers, the leaders, the wealthy.

Those are kind of on the upper crust of the society, that there were many poor and needy and the downtrodden that were not involved in the sin of Israel.

In fact, they were the ones being sinned against in many cases. So you had, remember, you have a combination in Amos of not only idolatry and the mixing of pagan religion with Yahweh worship, but you also had, of course, the civil and the social sins that were being committed by the haves against the have-nots.

And God was judging them for those two reasons. And so, here, you know, with the window, the door being open and the possibility of a remnant being spared, He's saying, I'm going to sift you and I'm going to discover the good from the bad.

And He said, for surely I will command and will sift the house of Israel among all nations as grain is sifted in a sieve, yet not the smallest grain shall fall to the ground.

That means the true grain, He's not going to lose any of it. It's not going to fall to the ground. What He'll have left, what He will have in His basket is the true seed, the true grain, and that is just another reference to the remnant that will be spared out of the northern kingdom.

When I say remnant, again, I'm not talking about a government or any society or entity as such, but a group of people that will be spared.

God pronounces a death sentence on all unrepentant sinners. And this not only applies, of course, to the people of Israel, the northern kingdom, the subjects of this book, but in the larger picture, God does pronounce a death sentence on all unrepentant sinners.

There is coming a judgment day. Verse 10 says, all the sinners of my people shall die by the sword. Again, the use of the word sword, which is used over and over throughout the book, which helps us understand that the judgment that God is sending and eventually did send some 25 years later, was an invading army, and it would be the Assyrians.

So, the sinners, all the sinners of my people shall die by the sword. Those who say the calamity shall not overtake nor confront us. Those who have some false assurance, you know, that somehow they're immune or that they're going to escape.

And then we have in verses 11 through 15, which takes us through to the end of the book, the restoration of true Israel. So, you have the destruction, this promise, but even in the description of the destruction, there is hope that is conveyed.

And there is a remnant that is identified that God is not going to utterly destroy His people. But then, the rest of the book, the rest of the chapter, we have words of restoration.

The restoration of true Israel, those who have stayed true to Him. All of Amos' previous messages consistently predicted gloom and doom for Israel.

In fact, I admit to you, it makes it difficult for the teacher to teach through or preach through a book like this because it's very repetitious. It just seems like it's the same theme over and over again.

And Amos is prophesying and he's saying the same thing over and over. It's doom, it's gloom, it's judgment. And so, all the previous messages have consistently had that tenor to them.

Gloom, doom for Israel. Amos' closing message, though, here in these verses 11 through 15, includes a future promise, promise of glory, really, for the remnant alluded to in verse 8.

In 8. So, there's a remnant identified in verse 8. And then, in verses 11 through 15, he's going to describe the glory that will ultimately come to pass.

And so, for them, the gloom will end in glory. Then, three things. We'll divide these last few verses in the chapter into three parts.

Not because I did it that way, but that's the way they are divided, pretty much. The theme, there are three themes here. First, a rebuilding. There's a rebuilding going to take place.

Verse 11. On that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David, which was fallen down, and repair its damages. I will raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old.

Alright, so he's talking about a rebuilding here. And there are, in this verse, four verbs that define the rebuilding.

And there are four verbs, but there are actually two couplets of verbs. Two pairs, I guess you could say. There's raise, repair, and then there's raise and rebuild.

You see those in the text, don't you? On that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David, which was fallen down, and repair its damages. So there's the first couplet, or two verbs.

Raise and repair. And I will raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old. So raise and rebuild. So God is going to do something.

There's a restoration coming. And this has great meaning, not only for the people of Israel in that day. I didn't notice that thing jumping around.

But also for Israel, and not just Israel, but others, and we'll get to that in a minute, in the future. God is going to be raising, repairing, and raising and rebuilding.

All right, now let's just kind of pick this apart a little bit. Lines one and three are obviously parallel. I will raise up the tabernacle of David.

And then the parallel thought is, I will raise up its ruins. The ruins of the tabernacle of David is the implication. So those really are parallel thoughts.

I thought it's kind of the same thing being said twice. And yet when you put them together, you have an important description. The terms tabernacle and ruins, I will raise up the tabernacle, I will raise up its ruins.

Those two words describe, really the words themselves describe something flimsy, something apparently weak, like a hut or tent.

We could even say a tent. In fact, quite often in Scripture, tabernacle is translated a tent. And indeed it was a tent. In those days, when God gave Israel the dimensions for the tabernacle, it was basically a tent, a large tent.

All right, so these two words then describe a hut made of the most common materials. So to what or whom is this referring?

That's the question. I don't think that it's a what, as in the sense of a literal tabernacle that's going to be raised up, or a hut that's going to be raised up.

I think it's a whom. There's a person that is being referred to here. I'll give you a hint. He is the tabernacle of David that will be raised up.

Or tent. He's the ruins of David that will be raised up. Now think about David. David was king in the time, prime time for Israel.

They're glory days. And Israel never was like that again after David's reign. And so in a sense, it has become weak and ruined.

And so he's going to raise it up. God is going to. And so who are we referring to here? He is the hut made from common materials.

That's a hint. Here's another hint. He's the fulfillment of Isaiah 53. For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of a dry ground.

He has no form or comeliness. And when we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. Now who are we talking about here? Of course. So the flimsy hut made of the most common materials is a king coming out of the house and lineage of David.

There will be a restoration of his lineage of his house. And that could only be Jesus. Alright.

Now again, remember there are two couplets, two sets here. Lines two and four are also parallel. I will.

I will. Whoops. That wasn't supposed to be there. Yeah. I will repair its damages. That's what I'm getting at there with my lines.

Here's the first part of the parallel. I will repair its damages. And I will rebuild it as in the days of old. Those are parallel thoughts. And so what is it referring to?

The couplet refers to a rebuilding of the Davidic kingdom as it was in the days of old. Okay.

In the heyday of Israel. When David was sitting on his throne. So I'm going to rebuild it as in the days of old. Now to what is this referring?

This time it is a what. Referring to a time when there was unity in Israel. That's when David was king.

A time when God was their true king. Even though David was king. But he was the under king. God was the king through David.

And so it was a time when Israel was a theocracy. This is the good old days. That the Bible there is referring to. The prophecy is referring to. And so God had promised David that his kingdom would never end.

And he did this in a number of places. But 2 Samuel 7.16 is a statement of his covenant with David. And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you.

Your throne shall be established forever. So this was the promise given to David. That his throne would be established forever. But something bad happened after David and Solomon.

And you can only find maybe 2 or 3 kings that sat on the throne of Israel. That were good kings and did right in the sight of God. In fact maybe only 2.

And so things were in disrepair. And then eventually both Israel and Judah were conquered. And so things were just in a shambles.

But God had promised that his throne, David's throne, would be established forever. And so how will that come about? Well, that's what Amos is getting at.

This king that will be raised up. Jesus, we've already talked about that. He's the tabernacle of David. The ruins of David that will be raised up. He will rule a kingdom that is everlasting.

And that hasn't happened yet. But it will. And the good thing is the church is a part of that. Alright, still under rebuilding we have verse 12.

11 and 12 come under the heading of rebuilding. Verse 12 says that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the Gentiles who are called by my name.

The remnant of Edom and all the Gentiles, those are somewhat parallel thoughts or identities, means in short that the kingdom will include people from every nation, Jews and Gentiles.

Alright, so let's review here. Jesus is the one that the prophecy is referring to when God says he's going to raise up the tabernacle of David, the ruins of David.

And his kingdom, he will be ruling the kingdom, David's kingdom. That's what's referred to there.

As in the old days, I'm going to bring that back, rebuild that. The kingdom is talking about the kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And that kingdom will consist of people from every nation, every tribe, every tongue, every nation on this planet, Jews and Gentiles.

It's a wonderful prophecy. The kingdom then consists of all, if you could just have one phrase that describes everyone who's going to be in this kingdom, it would be these, all who are called by my name.

That's me. And you. We're called by his name. The New Testament confirms this in Acts 15, 13 to 18.

And I don't know if you remember much about that passage. It's called the Jerusalem Council. And, you know, there was an issue. Gentiles were being saved.

Gentiles were being added to the church in kind of the far reaches of the kingdom or where the church existed in that day.

So what to do about that? Is that going to work? And there's a lot of debate about that. You know, Gentiles. So the gospel is going to come to the Gentiles as well. And so now you're having these Gentile churches pop up and even Jewish, predominant Jewish churches where Gentiles are now being saved.

And what to do about that? And that's what the Jerusalem Council was all about. And James, as he's making a case to the Jerusalem Council, he quotes the very passage we're looking at here in Amos.

In Amos 9, 11 to 12. And he quotes that in support of God's work in visiting, he said, visiting the Gentiles to take out of them a people for his name.

So James is making a case that, yes, indeed, the gospel has come to the Gentiles and they should be received into the churches and so forth because God has visited the Gentiles and he's taking from them a people for his name.

All right. So that confirms then what Amos is talking about, that this kingdom that will one day come, whose king will be Jesus, a restoration of the old Davidic kingdom, though it will be much better, will consist of Jews and Gentiles alike.

The second part of it is a renewing. Not only rebuilding, but a renewing. Verse 13. Behold, the days are coming.

So we know that's a future thing that is referred to there. The days are coming, says the Lord, when the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes, him who sows seed.

What? And the treader of grapes. Let me look in here real quickly, make sure I didn't make a mistake.

When the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes, him who sows seed. All right. He's right. The mountain shall drip with sweet wine and all the hills shall flow with it.

Now what is this talking about? It's talking about a time when all of creation will be renewed. We're talking about a time that's yet future even for us.

And the imagery is quite interesting. You have four agricultural activities included in this verse. There's plowing, reaping, treading, and sowing.

Or planting. Sowing would be planting. Those four activities. And what the passage is saying is that the earth will one day, when God restores and renews His creation, the earth will be so fertile that plowing will begin again even before the reapers have finished the previous crop.

The standard thing that happens, of course, is the plowing, or excuse, the reaping is done, and then you have months before we plow again and plant again.

But the earth in that time, I believe it's the millennial kingdom, will be so fertile that it just won't be any break in the process of planting and sowing and planting and treading and so forth.

The mountains shall drip with sweet wine and all the hills shall flow with it. What is that talking about? Well, literally, the grapes will be so luscious that their juice will run off the hills in little streams.

Now, these are hyperbole. I mean, these are exaggerations. They're meant to highlight the renewing of this creation, the creation that is under such a burden because of sin.

All creation has been poisoned because of sin and corrupt because of sin. And so this is highlighting a day when that will be over. So verse 13 says, Behold, the days are coming.

And that means that these are descriptions, this description of fertile earth and abundant crops is a description of a future time when God will renew or redeem His creation.

I want to remind you of Romans 8, 19-22, For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope, because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. I don't know if we think about that in that way, but when Adam and Eve sinned in the garden and sin entered into the world, not only was passed on to all of their children, including us today, but their sin also corrupted all of God's creation.

And so it's kind of interesting to think of it in a metaphorical way that the creation itself is even groaning for the consummation of all things, for the Lord to come and for His sons, His true sons to be revealed.

But there will be a day when all that will be renewed. And so in the millennium, God will remove all pollution, diseases, barrenness, unfruitfulness, corruption, all these things that sin has brought into the world.

And then third, a reversing. So we had a rebuilding, a renewing, a reversing. Reversing something that God has done. Verses 14 to 15. Let me just read the passage.

I will bring back the captives of My people Israel. They shall build the waste cities and inhabit them. They shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them.

They shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them. I will plant them in their land and no longer shall they be pulled up from the land I have given them, says the Lord your God.

Now there's an immediate sense in which God is going to restore them to their land. And so there are many who would point to these passages and say that this is a reference to Israel returning to their country as they have today.

But it really goes even beyond that to a time when God's people will be restored and there will be a reversing of the curse and the judgment.

I added this quote. This represents, this quote, or this passage rather, represents a total and complete reversal of the curse of sin. So it's not only something that affects Israel and their sin and consequential judgment, but it goes even beyond that to look at the curse of sin on all of the race, all of the human race.

And there's going to be one day a complete reversal of that. Now it's already been accomplished, this reversal of the curse of sin has already been accomplished at Calvary, at the cross.

But it's not going to be realized yet until the end of this age when Jesus will establish His kingdom. This quote by Mottier I think is really good.

The time will come when King Jesus will reign over a worldwide company, company of people. When sin's presence, power, and penalty will have been removed from the scene.

When abundance, satisfaction, and security will be the order of the day. Is it not too idealistic to be real?

Too good to be true? Too impossible ever to be achieved? No. Because this is not a vision of what would be ideal. Amos is not having a vision of something like we would have a dream.

My dream would be the ideal thing. And that doesn't necessarily mean your dream is going to come true. It's more than just a vision of what would be ideal or even an aspiration after.

You know, we have dreams of some ideal thing that may never ever come about. Or we may have aspirations, desires for things. Sometimes we call those dreams.

An ideal situation. We aspire to something. But this prophecy is neither of those two things. it's a pledge. It's a pledge. A pledge from God that it will happen.

So we don't have to just, we're not just hoping that one day we'll be removed from even the very presence of sin. That's not just a desire, an aspiration, or a dream.

It is a pledge from God. And that's why the book ends with this phrase, says the Lord, you're done. And that makes it a promise that you can count on.

Thank you.