What’s Next?
Amos 9

Note: this are the notes I use to preach from, if you’d like to watch the sermon as I preach it, please visit South Suburban’s YouTube page.

-Big themes we’ve seen: 

-concern for the poor/marginalized must be present in our lives 

-historical events don’t determine our current standing

-all the religious practice in the world doesn’t matter 1 ounce unless it’s wedding to moral living as demonstrated by justice and righteousness.

-Pastor Jeramy covered the last 2 visions of destruction last week, how they’re tied together, this week we’ll just look at the last one and how it connects to our future hope

–Norwegian rats were tested once to see how long they could keep swimming. Gave up after 15 minutes. But, if they were pulled out and given time to recover they would make it over 40 hours.

-Having hope is unbelievably important. “Deaths of despair” are on the rise (Deaths from over drinking, drug overdose, or suicide)

-As we reach the end of Amos, we need to be reminded where we place our hope, and it’s not anything here on earth! Our hope is seated in heaven, it’s as secure as the empty grave.

-This is why Paul can remind us in Rom. 5 to “rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

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1. The Last Destruction (1-10)

-Need some background/historical understanding to get the picture here.

–1 Kings 12:25-13:1

-The first Jeroboam (who led the split of Israel) realized his people needed a place of worship to build national unity/identity. Built 2 centers at Bethel and Dan (north and the south) 

-A month after the feast of booths (looked at that in John 7 “I Am the light of the world”), Jeroboam made an alternative festival and system to replace God’s system. 

-Alex Motyer “The whole thing was a counterfeit: a counterfeit feast on a counterfeit altar to prop up a counterfeit monarchy!”

-In response to the first Jeroboam’s counterfeit claims, God sends “a man of God” to call out his sin.

-Just as the first Jeroboam set up a counterfeit claim, and a man of God is sent call out the sin, now in Amos 9, the second Jeroboam has propped up the same counterfeit claim and God sends another “man of God” to deal with his sin. But this time, it’s both Amos and the Lord.

1. God’s Omnipresence in Destruction (1-6)

-Just as Jeroboam stood beside the altar in 1 Kings 13, here it’s the Lord

-Meaning most likely in Bethel

-This is a unique vision (7-9 are the visions God gives to Amos) other 4 begin “This is what the Lord God showed me” and God asks Amos a question. This time, there’s no exchange between God and Amos.

-All the intercession Amos has done in the past has disappeared. There’s nothing else Amos can do, God is now sharing what will finally happen to His people, the judgment/destruction that God will allow to take place.

-God has extended grace for long enough. This mockery of a worship center is finally going to be addressed!

-capitals are the top of the temple, thresholds are the bottom

–merism – uses 2 extremes to refer to the whole thing (remember that, it’ll come up again in the next verse)

-This would take place during an earthquake, 1:1 “two years before the earthquake.” All these ideas we’ve seen before are coming back around!

-The destruction of the temple would fall upon all the people, and anyone who’s left will be killed “with the sword.” 

-Double emphasis “not one.”

-How comprehensive will this destruction be? How will one escape this judgment?

-Another merism in vs. 2.

-Sheol is the place of the dead (under the earth) Irony here is that they going to where they will be going anyway to try to hide! Don’t want to die? Go hide in a grave!

-Climb up to heaven can’t escape God. Does anyone know of another place where we see that idea? That God is everywhere?

–Psalm 139:8 “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!”

-Theme continues in vs. 3

-As Pastor Jeramy mentioned last week, Carmel is the site of a well-known showdown between Elijah and the prophets of Baal. Carmel is also one of the highest points in the Israel, and known for its’ thick forests and plethora of caves. 

-Then you’ve got the bottom of the sea! So where vs. 2 emphasized hiding in the spiritual realm, vs. 3 is the physical realm. 

-Again, in vs. 4

-Their captivity will also kill them. Instead of being refining, they will be slaughtered.

-Generally in the OT, God fixing his eyes on them was good! He would deal with their problems. In the Exodus, when God “hears the cries of his people in slavery” when he sends Moses. In this instance, his judgment is falling on them.

-Let’s think of a similar passage, but from the other side of this, that many of us know!

–Rom. 8:38-9 “for I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

-We, or at least I, often go to this verse as a good reminder of my standing before God. But if it’s true of God’s love, it’s also true of God’s perfect justice/judgment 

-Just as we can’t escape God’s love, we can’t escape God’s wrath. Our sin will be dealt with, casting it as far as the east is from the west (i.e. eternal) but our sin still has to be dealt with. All sin leads to death, and thankfully someone died in our place so that our sin now has an expiration date.

-Vs. 5-6 are thought of as a doxological hymn. Begins with a militaristic title “God of hosts.” Then lists out all the ways God’s ways are beyond ours.

-Think of it like this: both my grandparents were farmers in North Dakota. Integral to farming is water. When you drive through the countryside you see random ditches filled with water, pumps, sprinklers all that. We can direct the water in various places, God can call the water out from nothing. He can build a beach and destroy with a single word. God’s power is unstoppable and uncontainable, all we can do is worship Him. 

-Which is how the hymn ends: “The Lord is his name.” We’ve seen that before! 4:13, 5:8. All 3 instances are praise to God as the Creator of everything. We must respond in worship to this God!

-Idea then shifts to God’s people, up to this point, no escaping the judgment.

• The Shaking of God’s People (7-10)

-One of the most striking features of God’s people throughout history has been God’s unique relationship, care, and concern for them. Israel should have been wiped out by the Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Greeks, Romans, the early church should never have gained any traction in the first century!

-Christians were called atheists because they “only” worshipped 1 God, a humiliated carpenter.

-This thinking has led to an elitist mindset among God’s people in Amos’ day. They thought that since God had always provided for them in the past, no matter what happened in the future the same thing would be true! 

-God always keeps His promises, He’s promised to bless His people beginning with Father Abraham all the way back in Gen. 12

-Then comes vs. 7.

-God begins by comparing Israel to the Cushites/Ethiopians. NET- “you Israelites are just like the Ethiopians in my sight.” 

-group of people that lived south of Egypt, another way of saying the ends of the known earth. Israel is really the prime plot of land in ANE, everyone had to go through Israel to get anywhere else, part of the reason the land is so treasured by so many different people groups, even today! 

-Israelites had been depending on the fact that they were God’s “chosen nation” and neglected to pursue justice and righteousness in their lives today. Because they were neglecting current moral/ethical living, God viewed them exactly the same as he viewed the people living at the ends of the earth: the Cushites.

-But he also attacks the single greatest/most memorable event in Israel’s history: the exodus.

-So many references in this book point back to the events of the Exodos, Passover, Nile. That is the moment when God’s people claimed their own rightful place, and the nasty oppressing Egyptians were plundered, both in the Passover and in the Red Sea.

-But God was also behind the exodus of other people groups: specifically the Philistines and the Syrians, 2 of Israel’s bitter enemies. 

-I listened to a really interesting podcast this week where John Walton (OT Prof at Wheaton) addresses apocalyptic literature (Revelation & Daniel) and talks about prophecy not being the best term, because God being sovereign means He’s just telling people what He’s going to do!

-And since God is sovereign, He even rules over the affairs of nations that don’t contain His “chosen people.” Even some nations that are their enemies. 

-Finally get some good news at the end of vs. 8. While previously no one escaped the incoming judgment, now God says that He will not “utterly destroy” them. That’s a relief!

-But there will still be some kind of judgment. 

-There will be some sort of shaking out taking place.

-Colander example.

-God will weed people out, think of Matt. 13, the parable of the weeds growing up with the wheat. At the end of the day the wheat will be separated from the weeds.

-This shaking out will result in the death of all the sinners of His people, those who think they will never see or taste disaster.

-Similar to John the Baptist’s ministry in Matthew 8:7-10. “But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

-Just as the people in Amos’ day thought they were fine because of their heritage, so people in John/Jesus’ day thought they were fine. 

-Martin Luther’s 95 Theses began “Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.”

-It’s also true today! Growing up in America doesn’t make you a Christian. Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian. Being baptized doesn’t make you a Christian. Instead, what we’re commanded to do is “bear fruit in keeping with repentance.” Are you bearing that fruit?

-Throughout this book we’ve seen the fruit of what’s coming. Because people are being used and abused, because people are not being obedient to worship God rightly, because they are presuming upon God’s mercy, they will be severely judged. But that’s not the end of the story.

-This is where we need to know about our sin before we can get to the good news of the gospel message! Most people think they’re not actually that bad, and until you realize how bad you really are, you’ll never realize your need for a Savior!

-Expressive individualism is the predominant theme today. Summed up as “you be you” or “be true to yourself.” Or “My truth.” So what do we do when our expressive individualism runs into contradiction with someone else’s expression of their individualism? Our culture today says “Cancel!” Christ says “confess.” Then when we’ve confessed our need to stop pursuing our own individualistic expressions, then we can have life, and life abundantly.

-What does that look like?

• Everything is Restored (11-15)

-Significant shift between vs. 10-11. We go from lots of destruction to “in that day” and a long list of really good things happening, just as Amos is prone to do, it’s 5 things: the king, the nations, the earth, the people, and the land.

-First, the king. God raises up “the booth of David that is fallen.” 

-Weird phrase, generally the house of David. Could be referring to the fake “feast of booths” that Jeroboam enacted back in 1 Kings 12.

-In the feast of booths, the king acted out his mediating role between God and the people, so once again God’s people would have a king like David who perfectly mediated on their behalf. That which David overseers would be repairs, raised up, and rebuilt, that is everything will be restored! 

-Second, the nations.

-The Messianic hope is not just for Israel, but for everyone. Edom here is standing in for all peoples. The remaining remnant (after the shaking out we saw in vs. 9) will join with God’s people.

-Think of God’s promise to Abraham in Gen. 12:3 “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” God’s plan has always been to bless the entire world! We’re not on plan B, C, D, everything that’s going on is part of God’s plan A.

-When does this happen? James (Jesus’ half-brother) actually quotes this in Acts 15:16-17 as a reminder to the early Apostles that it has been God’s plan from eternity past to bring all nations to himself! 

-Third, the earth.

-Where previously the earth has been stricken by famine, locusts, now the earth will produce in abundance.

-First the plowman will overtake the reaper. That is, those who are prepping next year’s seeds will run into the people who are still taking out last year’s crops. They’ll be so bountiful they won’t be able to harvest it all!

-Then the treader of grapes will overtake the one who seeds it. Grapes were used to make wine, people would tread, step on, the grapes to get the juice out. In this case, the time from seeding to harvesting is so small, the planters won’t be able to keep ahead of the growing grapes. Could you imagine dropping a seed in the ground, and instantly it’s producing fruit? 

-But that’s not all! The grapes will be so productive that the mountains and hills will be overrun with their wine! Those are some productive grapes!

-This is the culmination of what we see in Romans 8:20-21 that an implication of the Fall is that even the creation was broken. The planting and harvesting that was supposed to be easy now takes work! The soil that should have been easy to till is now filled with rocks and clay.

-Fourth, the people.

-This is picking up a theme we say in 5:11 where the people would build houses but NOT dwell in then, and plant vineyards but NOT drink the wine because of their transgressions.

-This time, everything they work for will bear fruit!

-Lastly, the land.

-The land from which they would be led out in exile would be returned to them. And this time they’ll possess it forever!

-These passages are in the Bible to point us to where we’re commanded to place our hope. Heb. 6:19 “we have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain.”

-As I mentioned before, it seems that people either fixate or forget about the end times, but God has called us to do neither! God has called us to use the hope of our future home as the motivation for faithful living today. We can’t change the past or the future, but we can (and must) be faithful today.

-We also need this reminder in the midst of our suffering/difficulty. Think of some of our brothers and sisters in the faith living in a place like India right now. Or China. Or North Korea. Or Iran. When they come read a passage like this it gives them the motivation they need to remember that this world is not our home. As they face the daily threat of loss of home, of job, even of life, they can place their hope that death isn’t the end.

-But we need that reminder too, because I think we’re often too ready/willing to plant ourselves firmly here in the midst of our comforts and earthly possessions instead of living to see God’s kingdom come and His will be done right here and now, just like it’s being done in heaven.

-And that’s the tension we currently live in! God has tasked us with caring for his creation here and now, but not to put our entire hope/confidence in it. That’s where we get busy loving and caring for the people God places in our life and in our body, the church, so that we can together see God honored and glorified as we do our best to remain faithful each and every day until that day when Jesus comes back.

-Just as I read at the beginning, I’m going to end reading Rom. 5 “rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”