Amos 9:11-15

Intro:

Today’s text may be one of the most difficult that I have ever had to preach through. That is a warning right at the outset. It isn't so much that the sense of the text is hard to grasp, the words and concepts and even the feel of the text all come simply enough. That is where we will turn first, however, we must then move on into: A. Bridging the gap between verses 11 & 12 and James’ use of those same verses in the 15th chapter of the book of Acts. This will give us a great opportunity to learn a bit about how we are to understand Bible translation and also how it is that we understand the word of God to without error.

B. Those issues are potentially thorny enough but then in verses 13-15 we will need to seek to understand the what and when of the fulfilment of these prophecies. As Jake has been working through Matthew 24 and now 25 we have seen that the most popular system of understanding prophecies in relation to the end times and the fulfilment of many of these things, the premillennial/dispensational system that is the most popular among, at the least American Christians and those places where American missionaries have spread the gospel, that this system, at least Jake and I (And many others) do not believe gives a good answer to these questions. Because we are so prone though to see the fulfilment of prophecies like those in verses 13-15 through a dispensational lens it will take some work to arrive at a different conclusion about prophecies like this one that relate to Israel’s establishment in the land.

Before we start though there is one more thing that I am not really going to give much mention to though it is probably important to note. Many modern “biblical” scholars try to make a case that this section about the restoration of Israel shoudl not be viewed as original to the book but rather added after the people returned from exile. They say that the shift is so sudden that there is no way that Amos actually would have included something like this to close his book. However we will see today that the connections between this section that the rest of the book are substantial and that there is no reason for us to give the time of day to modern scholars who through skepticism seek to view this prophecy through a lens that does not include inerrancy.

The central theme to this section of the prophecy and the major take away from today even if we don't wind up sounding out all of the problematic aspects of the text is that this God of Amos, the covenant God of Israel is not just a vengeful and wrath pouring out God, yes he is that, He will give full vent to His righteous anger and Israel will receive the just due for their sins, but that God in all of His perfection and completeness also takes great joy in restoring lost sinners to himself. This is the central theme of the end of Amos, God, “The Lord who des this” (12) takes great joy in redeeming His people. Israel in their covenants with God were to expect grave consequences for their faithlessness and failures to follow the rules f their covenant but they were also to expect, as far back as the very formation of the covenant in Deuteronomy that even in the midst of God’s wrath against their covenant unfaithfulness they would one day experience the wonder of God’s mercy as he brought them back to himself in His great and redeeming love.

We have a lot of ground to cover so we best get at it, lets pray and then hop right in!

PRAY & READ

In That Day

As we move into this final prophecy we will see that it involves two distinct aspects, the restoration of the Davidic line and the restoration of the people in a fruitful land. If you know your Old Testament you will reconize these as the two most significant of the promises to the people. God had first given them a land, this land had symbolized His pleasure in and faithfulness to them, God provides is the banner that reads loud over all that He did as He established them in the land that we read in Exodus “flowed with milk and honey”