The Lord is constantly presenting the northern tribe of Israel with impending destruction, throughout the book of Amos. He even compares it to a lion breaking into a sheepfold and rips the place apart so that only a piece of fur is left. You’re going to be that devastated; God says. To put it in our terms; it’s like roadkill that’s been out on the road for a week. That’s all that will be left of you.
The whole book piles up this impending destruction until it culminates in Amos 9:11-15
“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,
that they may possess the remnant of Edom
and all the nations who are called by my name,”[c]
declares the Lord who does this.
“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.
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.
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."
No matter what God has to say to his people about judgment; he never ends that way. God promises that he will make it right. God says I will rebuild the booth of David. It’s interesting Amos is writing over a hundred years before Jerusalem will be destroyed. The tabernacle hadn’t been torn down yet. You have both a promised of destruction, the booth of David, Jerusalem and the temple, will be destroyed as well as a promise of restoration, the booth of David will be rebuilt.
The point is this: we have this idea of things being permanent. When you see things come apart that we have depended upon, like the temple to Israel, it can really eat at us. Anything built by human hands will be torn down. It has a cycle of time it goes through. That was a very difficult lesson for Israel to learn.
God promises to raise it up the gaps and ruins. When the Lord is your center, you can count on him raising it up again. Israel had to understand that. God said you are about to take the plunge. He lays out the impending destruction, but he comes and says listen I will build you back up.
That’s the key. God has to do it. God promises such blessing that it will overwhelm them, “the plowman will overtake the reaper.” There will be such bountiful harvest that they won’t be able to keep up. What a beautiful picture of God’s blessing. That’s what God promises us in Christ. “God has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing” (Eph 1:3).
God works through the pain and heartache to bring about overwhelming joy. You can’t concentrate on the old. God doesn’t end the page with destruction. He doesn’t end the story until he brings about restoration. God promises Israel, you will drip with this stuff. You won’t be able to control it. That’s the kind of God we have. Be assured in the midst of everything that might be going on around you and in your life, God promises infinite blessing in Jesus. When we direct our life and church around Jesus, he will bring revival!
In Christ,
Pastor Luke LeViere