Amos 9:1-15                                                                                                Kevin E. Jesmer

Key Verse: 9:11,12                                                                                      9/18/13

“In that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins  and rebuild it as in the days of old, ¹² that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by my name,” declares the Lord who does this.”

     Dear Jesus Christ, thank you for the dawn of a new, fresh and bright day. Thank you for the mission you have brought into our lives. We can face each day with hope and expectation that you will work in us and amongst us. I pray that we can have a mission where the whole family can participate. I pray that you bless the Engage programs at church. Help us to all to Engage our community and family and the world with the love of God and the gospel of Jesus. May your Kingdom engulf the hearts of all people, starting with mine. Please help us to accept one word of God through this passage. I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen!

Part1: The Eyes Of The Lord on a Sinful Nation (1-10)

Verses 1-10, “I saw the Lord standing besidethe altar, and he said: “Strike the capitals until the thresholds shake, and shatter them on the heads of all the people; and those who are left of them I will kill with the sword; not one of them shall flee away;  not one of them shall escape. ² “If they dig into Sheol, from there shall my hand take them; if they climb up to heaven, from there I will bring them down. ³ If they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, from there I will search them out and take them; and if they hide from my sight at the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them. ⁴ And if they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it shall kill them; and I will fix my eyes upon them for evil and not for good.” ⁵ The Lord God of hosts, he who touches the earth and it melts, and all who dwell in it mourn, and all of it rises like the Nile, and sinks again, like the Nile of Egypt; ⁶ who builds his upper chambers in the heavensand founds his vault upon the earth; who calls for the waters of the sea  and pours them out upon the surface of the earth—the Lord is his name. ⁷ “Are you not like the Cushites to me, O people of Israel?” declares the Lord. “Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor and the Syrians from Kir? ⁸ Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the surface of the ground, except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,” declares the Lord. ⁹ “For behold, I will command, and shake the house of Israel among all the nations as one shakes with a sieve, but no pebble shall fall to the earth. ¹⁰ All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say, ‘Disaster shall not overtake or meet us.’”

The Lord stands by the altar, announcing a judgment which no one can escape (1-6). I find this amazing that that the Bible states that people will try to escape God’s wrath everywhere, even at the bottom of the sea and even by climbing up to the heavens. In Amos’ time people were not able to hide at the bottom of the sea and in the heavens. But they are now. We are on the verge of sending someone to Mars and having a colony on the Moon. There is actually a bed and breakfasts at the bottom of the sea. Is this a kind of fulfilled prophesy in the Bible?

I know the point is that you cannot go anywhere to escape the wrath of God. We can not hide behind our money or our good works or our Christian heritage or by following Christian traditions. John 1:12-13 read, “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— ¹³ children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” (NIV) You can not hide behind family background, nor your own will power. But you must be born of God. This is by humble repentance unto faith. If we cannot hide anywhere and behind anything what shall we do? Obviously we must surrender and give our hearts to Christ and submit to him.

The people at this time should have willingly surrendered their hearts to the Lord. But they did not. This is unreasonable for God had showed his favor to Israel by delivering her from slavery in Egypt. He also blessed other nations. They were taking the grace of God and spurning his love. It is like a person who accepts the grace of Jesus and then turns their heart to the world. This should be unthinkable. God’s grace has been show to me in abundance. He granted me his grace and blessed my life and my family. We have eternal life and a personal relationship with Jesus. We walk by faith in this world. Thank God for his love. I pray that he places our feet on solid ground and helps us to stand during our pilgrimage in this world.

In this passage, Amos prophesies that God will destroy them from the face of the earth. The eyes of the Sovereign Lord now look down on all the kingdoms who spurn his love. Actually, is it God’s fault that people find themselves from the love of God? No. Think of the gospel as a life preserver being thrown out to you, as you are tossed about in the raging seas. If you do not reach out and take hold of the life preserver, then what will happen? But also think of it this way. The gospel is a life preserver and you are too weak to take hold of it. God takes your arms and wraps them around the preserver. But still you reject the preserver time and time again. Do you blame God? I hope not. We are our own worst enemies sometimes. Never ever reject the love of God.

Part 2: God Will Restore David’s Fallen Tent (11-15)

Verses 11-15, “In that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins  and rebuild it as in the days of old, ¹² that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by my name,” declares the Lord who does this. ¹³ “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when the plowman shall overtake the reaper  and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed; the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it. ¹⁴ I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit. ¹⁵ I will plant them on their land, and they shall never again be uprooted out of the land that I have given them,” says the Lord your God.”

God’s promise to Israel began to be fulfilled when Jesus sent his apostles to the Gentile world with the gospel. We can see this in Acts 15:13-18, which reads “When they finished, James spoke up. “Brothers,” he said, “listen to me. ¹⁴ Simonhas described to us how God first intervened to choose a people for his name from the Gentiles. ¹⁵ The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written: ¹⁶ “‘After this I will return and rebuild David’s fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it, ¹⁷ that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles who bear my name, says the Lord, who does these things’— ¹⁸ things known from long ago.”  It was God’s plan all along to call a people who were not his people. He chose to work though, not the privileged, but through the rejected people of this world (for the gentiles were rejected by the Jews of that time.) I thank God for calling the gentiles to be his people and his servants. I can be one of those by the grace of Jesus. I am not Jewish. I am a “French Canadian/Norwegian/Belgian/Polish/Ukrainian” American. In a word, I am a gentile believer. But I have received the grace of Jesus and I am now part of God’s family. I am his servant and his spirit dwells in me as I follow Christ and serve Christ. Now, God is working through me to help “restore David’s fallen tent”. What a wonderful privilege for me and all Christians.

There is wonderful imagery given in verses 13-15. It is an image of peace, security, happiness, contentment and extreme fruitfulness.  The fulfillment of this promise will be completed when Jesus comes again…when the kingdom of God comes in its wonderful fullness. This is our great hope…the glorious kingdom of God. We can get a taste of the kingdom of God even now. We can experience the kingdom of God even now and the appreciation of God’s kingdom grows with every passing moment.

Some people may get a taste of the peace and security and joy living a life in Christ even as they live today. This is no guarantee however. Jesus gives his people the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. That is more than enough. Everything else is gravy, but not guaranteed. But we will live a blessed life while walking in this world. What this life is will be different for every person.

I thank God for the security of the Kingdom of God. Lately, I have been thrown into some insecurity. There are some insecurities in ministry, in trying to secure a place to send missionaries to Ontario. Where do we g next with this? Normally I would experience vague anxieties. But God is my rock. He is the one bears his fruit in peoples’ lives. He is my salvation. I can have peace and joy trusting in Jesus for all things.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for forgiving me and saving me and working through my life and family.

One Word: Jesus restores David’s tent