01 | Advent 2025 | Amos 9:11-15 | The Kingdom Restored

INTRODUCTION

This morning we begin Advent.

Waiting as Watchmen The promise of the Messiah (King) as the prophets of old patiently waited, in order to instruct us today as we wait.

Let us look into the prophets who spoke of a coming king who would restore the kingdom.

This morning we see that the hope of Advent is that the Lord …

… by sending the Son of David to rebuild his kingdom

… not only restores and redeems

… but also gathers the nations to himself.

PRAY

3:00

v11-12 | THE LORD WILL RAISE UP DAVID’S HOUSE

Read v11-12

Eschatological

This passage is eschatological.

It is about “last or final things.”

The whole book has spoken of impending judgement.

And now, in our passage, it clearly of another day: “In that day” and “Behold, the days are coming”.

The whole message of Amos has been: There is judgement coming.

It is immediately impending.

It is just and and catastrophic.

Now, Amos reveals that the point of his book has been to build a contrast for this shocking reality: There is restoration coming after judgement.

It is in the distance, it is grace and it is beyond imagination.

Because judgement was immediate and impending and restoration was in the distance …

… we will find that we have less clarity about the precise shape and timing of restoration

… but it will become clearer as the Lord unfolds history

… especially with the coming of the Messiah/King himself.

5:00

The Context is Always Covenant

One thing that is important in considering judgement and redemption is that none of this is actually new.

Amos isn’t making this stuff up.

He is reminding the people of the ancient covenant of the Lord …

… and how the Lord is applying that covenant in a particular moment

… and how the promise of the covenant unfolds into the future

… so that even in the face of judgement, the people of faith might have hope.

Deuteronomy 28

I would ask you to remember Deuteronomy 28 as you study the whole of the scriptures.

It is crucial to our understanding of God’s work in history.

It is the Lord most clearly revealing the parameters of his covenant to his people.

And it is the foundation for argument that the Lord makes through his prophets.

What is Deuteronomy 28?

The essence of the covenant is:

Blessings for obedience, Curses for disobedience.

But there is more!

The second chapter I would have you write down and remember always is …

Deuteronomy 30:1–3 ESV

And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you, and return to the Lord your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul, then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have mercy on you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you.

By the time we get to the prophet Amos …

… we are well into the impending announcement of curses for disobedience.

Judgement is coming. Exile is coming.

But the prophets remembers not only Deuteronomy 28, but also Deuteronomy 30.

Redemption and restoration are also coming.

Even though redemption comes on the other side of judgement.

James Hamilton God’s glory in salvation through judgement.

11:00

If you read Amos this week you will find …

… it is clearly not a picture of a people who took God’s warning in Amos to heart, repented, the Lord relented, and then they got blessing instead.

This is an oracle of God’s unilateral decision to bless in spite of Israel’s failure and only because of God’s covenant promise to redeem.

Israel was first chosen, not because of their greatness nor their goodness, but because of God’s unilateral love for them.

They exist as a people, from the beginning, as a people of God’s covenant love: his steadfast love and mercy (Deuteronomy 4:37).

So, they also are preserved and they will be restored as a people of covenant, according to God’s own unilateral love and purpose.

13:00

Why Judgement?

David Hubbard the messages of Amos are laced together with the thongs of God’s covenant commitment which makes Israel’s crimes so unspeakable and God’s judgment so necessary

time

David’s Booth

Read v11

David’s booth had fallen in so many ways.

The Northern Kingdom would fall, with the exile brought by Assyrians.

The dynasty of David had divided.

The kings of both Israel and Judah were a shadow of the glory of their height under David and Solomon.

Most importantly, the kings failed over and over again to lead the people in righteous, lasting repentance and true worship of the Lord alone.

Read Amos 7:2-3, 5–6.

Amos knows that Israel has no chance unless the Lord himself intervenes.

This is why it is such abundant grace what the Lord now declares!

Amos 9:11 just isn’t the verses that any casual reader of Amos would next expect!

Read v10 … then v11.

I would argue that these final verses of Amos are actually the heart and point of the book.

The Lord will surely judge.

He will put down the idolatry and vile practices among the people.

He will do so in such a way that the North would be utterly destroyed, and only a remnant of Judah in the South would remain.

But the Lord’s final intention is to restore and redeem.

Read v11b

And not just Israel, but a redemption that will extend to the nations.

17:00

Edom and the Nations

Read v12

Edom? Amos has already spoken about Edom.

Amos 1:11–12 ESV

Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because he pursued his brother with the sword and cast off all pity, and his anger tore perpetually, and he kept his wrath forever. So I will send a fire upon Teman, and it shall devour the strongholds of Bozrah.”

The land of Edom is named after Esau: Jacob’s brother (Literally renamed by the Lord as Israel), became a bitter enemy of the people of promise throughout the whole of their history.

Edom, the ancient enemy of Israel, will be judged with fire!

But the Lord will make a remnant of this ancient enemy of the people of Israel their own posession.

Even more, the Lord has a work do do among a remnant from all the nations!

This is perhaps the most important thing I can point you to in this passage this morning:

Acts 15:16–17 — Amos is quoted by James in the Jerusalem council as affirming the inclusion of the Gentiles in redemption.

As the word of the gospel went out from Jerusalem …

… and into the surrounding nations and peoples

… the apostles and early believers found that it wasn’t just the scattered Jews who would believe in Christ

… but there was a great redemption being established among the Gentile peoples of these nations

… most of whom had been historically and actively violent, conquering enemies of the people of Israel.

The question before the council of Jewish elders in Jerusalem was what to think of God’s work among the nations.

James’ response was to go right to our passage this morning and remember that the prophet had spoken …

… that the kingdom of David would be establish not only for the restoration of Israel

… but for the inclusion of former enemies and the nations of the earth.

21:00

This is the greatest of mysteries.

Not only will the Lord restore the people of promise, even as he brings them through great judgement …

… but the Lord will bring into his covenant people, into his restored kingdom

… a people who are called by his name from among

… Edom, the Lord’s explicit enemies

… and all the nations!

The kingdom of our the Messiah that is to come is greater than any kingdom of former times …

… because it is a kingdom not only of blessing but of redemption

… and a kingdom not only of one people but of all the nations.

22:00

James goes on to see how the Lord had been working the whole time.

Acts 15:21 ESV

For from ancient generations Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, for he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues.

I think the point James is making at the Jerusalem council is profound.

That through judgement the Lord had scattered the people of Israel.

A small remnant of faithful Israel went with the word and established faithful worship in all the places to which they were scattered.

And Moses was read, the covenant was remembered in every city.

What is shocking is that now, with the coming of Messiah, the Gentiles of these cities are coming to believe the covenant of redemption.

God has been making a name for himself …

… even as the people of Israel have been scattered

… as his word has been proclaimed among the nations

… so that even former enemies have been conquered by the Word of the gospel!

It is the Word that multiplies and increases.

24:00

APPLY

Ancient rabbis would come to understand Amos 9 as a call to expect and await a Messiah they called the “Son of the Fallen.”

Jesus is the Son of David, Son of the fallen booth.

It is by the advent of Jesus that the kingdom of God is restored!

It is the promise of this Messiah that Amos and the prophets were waiting for.

Let us learn from their expectation and waiting as we await the promise of his return.

25:00

In the remaining verses, the Lord increases our appetite and expectation by describing with vivid language the abundance of the Lord’s final restoration.

v13-15 | THE LORD WILL RESTORE THE FORTUNES OF ISRAEL

This section again begins, “Behold, the days are coming.”

The whole of Amos has warned of a day of judgement.

But there is a day that stands beyond that day.

There is restoration on the other side of judgement.

26:00

What follows is a series of reversals.

We’ve already seen how v11ff is a reversal of judgment

Now we see the imagery of that reversal displayed as lavish life under the king that is to come.

Abundance (v13)

Plowman overtakes reaper.

Treader overtakes sower.

Result:

mountains dripping with wine

hills flowing with wine

28:00

But the prophet isn’t done enlivening our minds with images of life.

The picture is not only of abundance, but also of partaking in the joy of life.

Enjoyment (v14)

Rebuild cities and inhabit them

Plant vineyards and drink wine

Make gardens and eat fruit

29:00

Amos 9 is a series of …

Explicit Reversals

Amos 3:11 ESV

An adversary shall surround the land and bring down your defenses from you,

The Breaches which were torn down are Repaired.

Amos 5:3 ESV

The city that went out a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went out a hundred shall have ten left to the house of Israel.”

The Cities which were destroyed are Rebuilt.

Amos 7:11 ESV

Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel must go into exile away from his land.

The Exiles who were scattered are Returned

Amos 4:9 ESV

I struck you with blight and mildew; your many gardens and your vineyards, your fig trees and your olive trees the locust devoured;

The Gardens and Vineyards which were blighted are Planted and Made Anew

Amos 9 is the intentional and systematic undoing of every prior judgment.

But the greatest of the judgements reversed, again, is Edom and the Nations.

Edom, the vicious and ancient example of the enemies of God, is embraced with belonging.

32:00

APPLY

This whole glorious promise is about the restoration of a kingdom.

That kingdom is the kingdom of the Son of David, the Messiah.

When he comes and establishes his kingdom it is the final kingdom.

Read v15.

Hebrews 12:28–13:1 ESV

Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.

This is not a kingdom that belongs to any people by their own right.

The covenant and the prophets make this clear.

According to the covenant, all people stand under curse and judgement.

But a kingdom is not defined by its people, but by the King himself.

The boundaries of the kingdom are set by the power, authority and rule of the king.

This kingdom is a kingdom that belongs to Christ, the Messiah Jesus.

And the people of that kingdom are the people who who belong to Christ by the grace of his gospel.

Any hope of participation in this kingdom is found in submission …

… to Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the fallen booth.

But for all who receive him, these receive a kingdom that cannot be shaken.

35:00

APPLY

The purpose of the preacher is the same purpose as the prophet.

We consider the covenant of our Lord as he has revealed it in his Word.

And we ask how the people in our midst are to live in light of this covenant.

This morning we submit to the Word as we receive it from Moses and the prophets, and from Christ and his apostles.

5 Implications

1) Judgement is swift and sure.

Our God is a consuming fire!

Amos takes 9 1/2 chapters to make this point.

Let us not wander off into idolatry or walk in unrighteousness in this life.

The Lord will bring vengeance upon the one walks as his enemy, who does not turn in repentance and faith …

He will judge their idolatrous worship …

… and their abuse of the vulnerable as we see in Amos

Let every one of us be warned not to live as an enemy of the Lord and his righteous way.

His covenant is sure, with all its blessing and all its curse.

37:00

2) Redemption is the Work of God Alone

There are none righteous, no not one.

Redemption and restoration is the work of God’s grace toward sinners.

We must not presume that some legalistic token of obedience provides any amount of hope against judgement.

Redemption belongs to the Lord.

The kingdom belongs to the King.

Entrance into that kingdom is by grace alone through faith alone.

38:30

3) Redemption Passes Through Judgment

This is the aspect of the gospel that has most caught my attention …

… because it is the aspect of the gospel that I believe has been most ignored in American cultural Christianity.

The Lord God does not ignore righteous judgement.

The gospel is that Jesus, himself, God the Son made flesh …

… though perfect in righteousness before the Father in heaven

… endured through the judgement of the cross

… in the place of sinners

… so that all who believe in his perfect sacrifice

… would be forgiven of sin

… and granted the life he secured by his resurrection.

It is by this gospel alone that the righteousness of God is revealed in saving sinners.

40:00

4) Redemption is Abundant Grace

Not only the prophets, but also the psalmists speaks of this abundant joy.

Psalm 16:11 ESV

You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

We who wait on the Lord should have a giddy expectation.

Our minds ought to be alive with thoughts of abundance grace.

Our words and our works of art and our prayer and our proclamation …

… should be filled with abundant hope.

41:30

5) The Lord is Still Gathering the Nations

As James interprets Amos, the Lord declares: I will rebuild … that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord.

The Lord is building his kingdom as his word multiplies and increases to the ends of the earth.

This morning the word of Moses, fulfilled by the word of Christ comes again to us.

But this week, the word of the Lord must also go out from among us.

43:00

Gospel

I’ve mentioned that the greatest mystery of this passage isn’t just that the Lord would restore …

… but that he would extend redemption to the ends of the earth!

Amos agrees with and moves forward the revelation of Genesis 12.

Genesis 12:3 ESV

I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

The prophets and all the people of God throughout the ages and through many judgments have waited patiently in faith for this mystery to finally be revealed.

Ephesians 2:11–13 ESV

Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh … remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

Paul continues …

Ephesians 2:15–16 ESV

… that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.

The gospel of Jesus Christ reveals that Jesus is Lord.

He is the king who rules over one united kingdom.

This is the mystery of the ancient covenant to Abraham, through whom all the families of the earth would be blessed.

The gospel is the mystery revealed: that Edom and the nations would be brought in.

Ephesians 3:6 ESV

This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

46:00

Do we long for his coming?

Ephesians 1:13–14 ESV

In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

We have a good deposit.

Though we do not yet live in the eternal city and we do not yet see the mountains dripping with wine …

… our minds are full of these vivid images by faith

… “until we acquire possession of it.”

For our King is …

Ephesians 1:21 ESV

… far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.

48:00

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1 Timothy gives such a relevant word that takes in the seriousness of so much …

… of the judgement found in Amos upon the rich evildoers

… and the faith-filled expectation of final redemption.

1 Timothy 6:17–19 ESV

As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.

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Ephesians 3:14–19