 I saw the Lord standing beside the 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 heavens and 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 Restoration of Israel 11 “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,”[c] 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. Meditation God wants to free you from shame and self-condemnation through the power of promised grace. You are more than the worst thing you have ever done or the sin with which you secretly struggle. The grace of Jesus is immensely more powerful than any sin or shame that is ruling over you. Amos communicates the fourth vision from God, one that promises judgment on evil, sin, rebellion, and all who reject God. Humanity across the world and throughout history receives accusation, for “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” and “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 3:23; 6:23). But judgment and condemnation were not the last word for Judah and they are certainly not the last word for us. God promises to resurrect His people to repair and rebuild what has been ruined by sin and rebellion. God’s people will return to His promises and be rooted in His grace, “never again to be uprooted” (15). A partial fulfillment was the return of exiles under Cyrus in 538 BC. Greater fulfillment comes through the work of Jesus (Colossians 1:12-14) and fullness of the promise will be in the New Heavens and the New Earth (Isaiah 65- 66, Revelation 21-22). Sin, shame, ruin, and rebellion are never the last word. Grace wins in the end because Jesus Christ came to satisfy the judgment and wrath of God against sin so that in Him we are free to begin again. “There is no condemnation in Christ Jesus,” writes Paul (Romans 8:1). In Christ we are redeemed so we can return, find restoration, renewal, and resurrection. Richly Dwelling -God’s words of judgment are difficult to digest. His words of promise are life to a weary soul. How does understanding the former deepen the impact of the latter? -Are you tempted to define yourself by your shame or sin struggles? How does salvation of Christ empower us to move forward in freedom? -Ask the Spirit to give you a deeper sense of being forgiven and freed by grace. In Christ you are redeemed! You can return to His love to find restoration, renewal, and resurrection! Key Verse 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 Comments are closed.
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