Subject: Restoration Will Come: It’s Not Over Yet!
Amos 9:11-15
Introduction: The Book of Amos closes with a promise of restoration from the nation of Israel.
God has promised that He would not completely destroy the house of Jacob. During the Babylonian captivity, a great number of Israelites were destroyed, yet God promised to save a remnant. To understand the reason for their destruction in judgment, we need to remember what led up to this judgment.
After the death of Solomon and the division of the twelve tribes into two kingdoms, Jeroboam, the king of the northern country, Israel, wanted to make sure that the countries stayed divided.
To do this, he introduced idol worship to Israel, so that they would not go to Jerusalem and make sacrifices to God. From then on things went downhill until the nation Israel, a result of their sin and idolatry were carried away by the Assyrians. Later Judah and Jerusalem, the southern kingdom were carried away into Babylon as a result of their national sin. For years God sent faithful prophets to proclaim the word of the Lord calling the nations to repentance with little positive results. The people refused to listen. They refused to look to God for direction. In their prosperity, they developed a false sense of independence. They had the laws of God and the sacrificial offering that they could fall back on. They tried to obey the letter of the law without understanding the spirit of the law. Their worship became mechanical and inauthentic.
They would make sacrifices to God first and then turn around and worship idols.
The people in authority found they could take advantage of the poor, widows, and the strangers without suffering any consequences. Favorable judgments and powerful position could be bought by those who had money. If the poor needed money, the rich would take advantage of this, as the poor would sell themselves into slavery for a pair of sandals. Sin and evil practices had infected all aspects of Israel for literally a hundred years. God sent judgment on his people but only after more than a hundred years of warnings.
The religious leaders were judged for permitting idolatry; the political leaders were judged for refusing to follow God’s directions; the wealthy were judged for their greed and their abuse of the poor; the judicial leaders were judged because of their abuse of the justice system. As the leaders go, so goes the people who followed these leaders.
Out of a divided nation, with years of Israel’s captivity in Assyria and Judah and Jerusalem’s captivity in Babylon, God promises to save a remnant. We get a clear picture of the brokenness of the nation in Ezekiel 37. The valley of dry bones was a picture of the nation of Israel and Judah; scattered, dry bones, bleached by the wind, sand and sun.
In our text today, God promises restoration of the fallen house of David. God will repair its broken places and restore its ruins. He will bring about a new nation that is stronger and more powerful than what was there before. A new day will come, one that is not brought forth in judgment, but in liberation. This is a day where the people can once again enjoy the goodness of the Lord and live in his presence.
God not only promises that restoration will come, but He tells them how that restoration will take place. The restoration for Israel would come in two phases. The first phase would be immediate: God put it in Cyrus’ heart to release his people and allow them to return under the leadership of Nehemiah and Ezra. The second phases would be a future restoration when Christ would return. The captivity was so painful that it was difficult for Israel to think about a future. God sent a word of restoration. How could God possible restore this People? God promises to restore his people by lifting them up
1. God Promises to Restore His People By Lifting Them Up - Am 9:11 ¶ In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old:
The nation had lost their position of favor. They felt cast down and destroy with no hope for the future. They were out of place, completely gone astray but God comes to lift them up. “God is far more interested in who you are, than in what you do. You are human BEINGS, not DOINGS.”—RickWarren.
They would start with a clean slate as they returned. As they rebuilt they would work as equals, there was no division of classes. It was to be a new start for God’s people with a new relationship with God and with each other. The temple would be rebuilt. Sacrifices and worship would be authentic and re-established under the law. No matter where we find ourselves, when we repent, we can expect God to lift us up!
2. God promises to Restore His People By Fixing Them Up - Am 9:11 ¶ In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old:
Sin, separation and slavery have a way of breaking us up. The nation experienced a loss of joy, identity and self worth. They lost their names, the culture, religion and their hope. God promises to put them back together again. Jesus described the Father as a good shepherd who would leave the ninety-nine in search of the one. Jesus came to seek and to save that which is lost (Luke 19:10). God knows how to repair the breaches and build your faith, self esteem, and revive your hope.
3. God promises to Restore His People By Giving Them Increase - Am 9:12-13 “That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, saith the LORD that doeth this. Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt”
After the people are restored in their relationship with God, God raising them up to their former glory and then fixes everything that has been broken. God will restore His people by giving them increase: (1) give them an effective witness that will attract the unsaved and the uncommitted to Christ. (2) Make them effective workers and attract other workers who willingly join in the work (3) give them an abundant harvest for our labor.
This text speaks of real prosperity: (1) more people than we can house (2) more land than we can cultivate (3) more harvest than we can gather (4) more vineyards than we can pick (5) more grapes than we can tread and a cycle of blessing that will not stop. The planting season and the reaping season will overlap!
4. God Promises to Restore His People By Replanting and Maturing Them-. Am 9:14,15 “And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God.”
God will put his people in the right location. Their growth had been very limited in Babylon. Now they must be uprooted and disturbed again. God promises to replant them in their native soil. This was the land God picked out for them while they were in Egypt hundreds of years before. It is difficult to be productive when you are scattered and disconnected. But when they are replanted, they shall build cities and inhabit them; plant vineyards, and drink wine of them; they shall make gardens and eat fruit of them. Israel experienced many blessing when they return from captivity, but the perfect fulfillment of this promise can be found only in Christ Jesus. Christ alone completed the law and fulfilled the promises. Through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, God completed the restoration promised. Salvation and restoration is a gift that is now available to everyone.
With Christ, the restoration of Israel was complete and became available to all who believe. This means that if you and I have been push down by life or circumstances, He comes to restore us by lifting us up! If you or I have been broken and battered by the emotional storms of life that comes to steal our peace, joy and frustrate us. He comes to mend our brokenness. He can fix us up and repair what’s broken! This means if life has left you with few friends, limited resources, broke, busted, and disgusted and can’t hardly be trusted, there is a word for you. God will bring increase in your life. There is a place where you fit! There are people who will appreciate you, help you and be a blessing to you. There is healing for your body, your mind and your soul. This means if you and I have lacked productivity because we have been scattered through divorce, separation, and isolation. God will help us pick up the loose ends of our lives and our ministry. He will restore our sense of purpose and direction.
Lu 4:18-19 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
Restoration will come: It’s Not Over Yet! No matter where your life or ministry is right now, you must not give up. Things may be terrible for you now, remember God’s promise of restoration. Old folks use to say, I’m so glad trouble don’t last always! They knew somehow things would not continue that way forever.
Our lives can be restored through faith in Jesus Christ. Trust him to save you, then trust Him to restore you. Just as God restored righteous Job in the Old Testament, He can and will restore you. When He does, you will be stronger and healthier than when you went through the trial. Our lives can and will be restored by the grace of God through faith because It’s not over yet.
Ps 23:1-6 ¶The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.
