Restoration

Introduction:

Inescapable Judgment

Divine Earthquake

Strike

The capitols - the doorframes

The thresholds - the point is to bring the house down.

It seems like Amos is still banking on some future earthquake. Amos 1:1 “The words of Amos, who was among the shepherds of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.”

Shatter

The houses are going to come down on top of them.

The question is whether this is a literal earthquake or if Amos is just using an earthquake an a metaphor for the coming Assyrian conquest. However, there is a plethora of evidence both biblical and archeological that point to a literal earthquake.

Divine Exile

Kill

Of those that survive the earthquake

Thousands will die when Assyria arrives

“I will” - the first in a series

Inescapable

“If they...”

Dig into sheol

The grave

Not even death saves you from God’s judgment.

Climb to heaven

Given as a contrast to sheol

Proves the point that there is nowhere to hide.

Hide on peak of Mt. Carmel

A literal place which is in contrast to the mor figurative ones that Amos just used.

A mountain ridge near the Mediterranean coast where Elijah had his showdown with the prophets of Baal.

Hide on the bottom of the sea

Given as a contrast to the peak of Mt. Carmel.

But also a literal place even if it is not realistic to go there.

Give themselves us as prisoners

You cannot even hide among the enemy.

God will find you there.

“I will...”

If they dig into sheol… from there my hand shall take them

If they climb up to heaven… from there I will bring them down.

If they hide on Mt. Carmel… from there I will search them out and take them

If they hide from my sight on the bottom of the sea… there I will command the serpent and it shall bite them.

If they go into captivity before there enemies… there I will command the sword and it shall kill them

I will fix my eyes on them for evil and not for good.

Evil = harm, punishment, condemnation

In the words of David: Psalm 139:7–12 “Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.”

Is God a vindictive, genocidal maniac?

When a judge pronounces a just verdict do we accuse him or her of being vindictive?

I would argue that anyone who questions the goodness of God on the basis of his harsh judgments does not have an adequate theology of sin. In other words the simply do not understand just our sinful sin is.

If God is holy then He must be just, and if He is just then every condemnation, every violent act He has made was not only justified but righteous.

When you question God’s character relating to these acts of judgment in the Old Testament it means that you do no sufficiently value the holiness of God.

When you have even a minimally adequate view of sin and holiness you walk away amazed that God has not wiped us out completely.

Broken Relationship

The God who:

Melts the earth (v. 5)

Controls the flooding of the Nile (v. 5b)

Lives in the heavens and the earth is His basement (v. 6a)

Pours out the sea (v. 6b)

“the LORD is His name”

The God whom you have so casually rejected is Yahweh.

God is not a puppy that can be pacified with treats of church attendance or monetary giving.

This is what made Jesus so offensive to so many. God wants neither your money nor your conformity to some legalistic ritual if He first does no have your heart.

Israel had totally lost sight of that reality, and so do many Christians today.

Strangers (v. 7,8a)

We are estranged

“Are you not like the Cushites, the Philistines or the Syrians?”

You are just like anyone else. I look at you and I don’t see my bride I see a stranger.

Wow, that sounds bad doesn’t it?

Have you ever read Scripture and been completely unmoved?

Have you ever sung one of the great hymns of the faith with absolutely no sense of the God you are supposedly worshiping?

Have you ever accepted the credit for something that God clearly did?

Have you ever forgotten to pray?

Have you ever put a paycheck before His glory?

Then when some tragedy befalls us and God seems a stranger we blame Him.

The eye of judgment

The name of the Lord has been profaned.

Therefore the eye of the Lord has fallen on these sinners.

So that the hand of the Lord will strike them.

The declares the Lord the God of Hosts.

Reconciled Relationship

5 Pictures of Restoration

A Glimmer of Hope (v. 8b)

Anyone who sees the God of the Old Testament as a vindictive genocidal, maniac hasn’t really read the Old Testament.

Oh, I am sure there have been many secular academic types who have managed to get through it, but when you come to it determined to find something you will often find it whether it is there or not.

You see when you read the Old Testament with attempted objectivity what you will find is grace, unmerited, undeserved, unearned grace.

The first glimpse of which we see at the end of v. 8, “except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob’, declares the Lord.”

So after establishing through the whole book that they deserve to be totally wiped out God says He is not going to do it. This is a consistent theme in the O.T. God always preserves a remnant.

A Sieve Shaken (v. 9,10)

This hope doesn’t come easy.

Israel will be like a nation sieved by the Lord.

Those that do not really belong to Him will fall away, but the pebbles, those that are truly His will remain.”

A Tabernacle Raised (v. 11,12)

Israel is a tent whose poles have fallen in the wind, but God will raise them up.

The reminder of David is a picture of God’s promise to Him that one of his descendants will reign forever.

They will posses the land God promised to them.

A Paradise Possessed (v. 13)

Amos describes a paradise for the survivors, for the remnant.

A place where your crops are so fruitful you can’t plant them fast enough.

A place of divine prosperity.

A Promise Made (v. 14, 15)

Two more “I will” statements with very different results.

I will restore… and they will rebuild and plant and eat.

I will place them on their land… and they will never again be uprooted.

David’s Conclusion

Psalm 139:23–24 “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!”

This is not a man hiding from God.

Rather this is a man embracing the conviction of God in order to be in a right relationship with God.

Conclusion: What do we make of this?

Maybe the God you have chosen to see in Scripture isn’t actually the God who is reflected there.

Maybe if you would just give God a chance you will find that He is good.

Most importantly, there is no sin greater than God’s grace. Restoration is always possible. A prodigal son is always welcomed home.