Days Of Fruit And Wine Series

Introduction

Eighteen months ago, in September 2021, Marc Lore, former Walmart U.S. eCommerce president, announced a proposed new city that will be called Telosa. Telosa is derived from the Greek word “telos,” which means “purpose.”

Telosa is going to be built to have a target population of 5 million people by 2050. Lore hopes to have the first phase completed by 2030 with 50,000 residents.

Telosa is planned to be a 15-minute city, with workplaces, schools, and basic goods and services being within a 15-minute commute from residents' homes. Vehicles that are powered by fossil fuels will not be permitted within the city, with an emphasis instead being placed upon walkability and the use of scooters, bicycles, and autonomous electric vehicles.

A massive skyscraper, dubbed “Equitism Tower,” is conceived to serve as a “beacon for the city.” The skyscraper's projected features include space for water storage, aeroponic farms, and a photovoltaic roof.

Writing in Timeout.com in September 2021, Ed Cunningham stated that “the blueprint designs are, depending on your taste, either dazzlingly utopian or unsettlingly dystopian. There’s plenty of innovative architecture on display, alongside futuristic visions of public transport and spaces filled with greenery and nature” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telosa).

A utopia typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book Utopia, describing a fictional island society in the New World. The word “utopia” comes from two Greek words: “ou,” which means “no,” or “not” and “topos,” which means “place.” So, “utopia” means “no place.”

Interestingly, Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary has three definitions for “utopia.” They are: “1: an imaginary and indefinitely remote place; 2 often capitalized: a place of ideal perfection especially in laws, government, and social conditions; and 3: an impractical scheme for social improvement” (Inc Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. [Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, Inc., 2003]).

I would like to go out on a limb and say that Telosa will not achieve its utopian purpose. You young people need to keep that in mind because I will likely be long gone before my prediction comes true.

The reason I don’t believe Telosa will achieve its utopian purpose is that the founders are not considering fallen human nature. They are big into diversity, equity, and inclusion in ways that are contrary to Biblical revelation. I could not find any reference on their website to any churches or even religious institutions.

Nevertheless, the fact is that people long for a utopian city and utopian living. That will only come to fruition when God’s Messiah Jesus sets up his eternal kingdom here on earth. And the residents of that New Jerusalem will all be perfect and there will be no sin and suffering and fallen human nature.

Today, we are going to conclude our study of Amos in a sermon series that I am calling, “A Prophet for Today.” Amos was sent by God from the kingdom of Judah in the south to the kingdom of Israel in the north. He was sent to warn the Jews in Israel about God’s coming judgment. He preached to Israel for between one and two years. His prophetic ministry was in about 760 BC.

Throughout the book of Amos, we have seen one warning after another about God’s impending judgment against Israel. Less than a generation after Amos’ ministry, in 722 BC, the kingdom of Israel fell to the Assyrians. They were taken into captivity, never to return to their homeland.

But right at the end of his book, Amos shared with his listeners some of the glorious promises that await the people of God in the future. And it sounds a lot like the utopian city people long to live in.

Scripture

Let’s read Amos9:11-15:

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,”

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.

Lesson

In Amos 9:11-15, we learn about glorious promises that await the people of God in the future.