The Promise of Restoration | God's Unfailing Word | Amos 9:1-15

Show Notes

Episode 640: 
In this episode, we delve into the biblical text of Amos chapter 9. We discuss the themes of judgment and restoration found in the passage, where God expresses His anger towards Israel but also promises a future restoration. The hosts highlight the significance of God's mercy and the hope that comes after judgment, emphasizing that even in difficult times, God desires to bless His people.

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You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun in practical ways. Hey, everybody, welcome to Friday. Everybody's favorite day. Everybody's favorite day. Well, people love it in general because usually people are for the weekends. Well, and our listeners know there's a good chance it's going to be what made Chris mad this week? Oh well, if they care about that. Yes, So we were talking beforehand because we knew it. Says here what made Chris mad this week? Yes, we're doing it, but both you and I have spent an extended amount of time telling our stories today, yes, about our life, and so instead of having it be what made Chris mad this week, let's just say what irritated Chris this week? Because our listeners, if you're in Michigan, you know, but our other listeners would not. We're in studio today and last night we got like eight inches of snow, yes, right, So we got an of snow, yes, and so just the headache and the irritation of that, So both of us had many catastrophes today. Yeah, And by the time they listened to this, it have been weeks ago, right, but but yeah, so what made It's not necessarily what made me mad this week, because I did that last week. But yeah, what made Chris irritated this week? Which there is a different we're going to differentiate. We know it seems like splitting hairs, but it's a big difference. Yeah, so I got five This is not on. Behalf of everybody else in the world. This is literally it irritated you. Yes, yes, so so, So I got five cars in my driveway because my son just bought because he's rich. He's rich. He's got his Lambeau, he's got some Mercedes. Yeah, how about a two thousand and eight Ford Focus. That's right, and one of those, and then and then twenty twelve Ford Focus. These all things, these things all have like two hundred thousand miles on it. It's not rich, it's just you got a bunch of kids still living yeh, yeah, I. Got kids living home. So there's five cars in the driveway. My son just bought his truck yesterday, literally yesterday. So he wakes this morning, it's all snowy, and he has to transfer the tools that he was using from my truck that he was borrowing because he was using the Ford Focus that broke. So I literally just got it from from mechanic yesterday. So big long thing. But basically, you can't have the cars on the road because they're gonna plow, so they all gotta be stacking the driveway. So they got to be in order, in the order in which people leave. Okay, So my son has to get up this morning and he transfers all his tools and he leaves his my truck key in his pocket, goes to work at like four five in the morning and text me and says, hey, Dad, I've I'm so sorry, but my truck, which by the way, has four wheel drive, right, and now you have to drive this nasty Ford Focus. They can't even move in the snow, right, and so I'm literally on the way here. But it's just terrible. So but but here's what's worse on the on the bad roads. But what's worse by far is that that was the car that we had shifted last night and it was in the front, so my truck was behind it. So literally I don't. Have the keys to move my truck because he has them in his pocket. But it's the only thing I can use because everybody else is going somewhere today. So I literally have to get up this morning. I have to clean clear off the snow of three out of the four cars, and then I have to move them all into the street, which by the way, is horrible in itself because it's like it's like you ever try to move a forward focus in a foot of snow. It doesn't move. Very well, and so I'm literally fighting that. Then I get in my car, my forward focus, and I literally have to go eat and I have to literally move up two inches, move back two inches, move up two inches. I have to slowly turn it in the snow, which is like a foot of snow, which means like it doesn't work very well. And so it took me forever. I bet you literally it took me forty five minutes. Wow. And then I had to back up. And then after I move that into the street, I had to get then and get in all the other cars and move them back into the driveway just before I can come here. So that very much irritated. Irritated you today. And oh and here's my son. Here's my son didn't even realize any of this. He's at work right now and he's like, oh, hey, sorry dad. Oops. Oops, the car oops and and and unfortunately I didn't have a spirit set of keys. So there you. Go, There you go. That's what irritated me, that irritated you today. Yeah, yeah, there was a lot of snow. There was a lot of It was a lot of snow. And yeah, you're right, Ford focuses are light little cars. So your story my story. Yes, okay, So I'm We're in a new house and so out on myself. Sorry, hang on, let me introduce it properly. What irritated Jeff this week? Yeah, yeah, yeah, So we are in the process of moving, so we we didn't sell our old house. We're going to rent that to our son, and so we're just slowly moving out. And I didn't have my snowblower over at the house. Yeah, so finally I got it over, but it was all gummed up last year. We forgot to run the gas out of it, and I didn't put any stay bill. In it, and so it wound up gumbing up the carburetor. So I had to go get it fixed and the guy got it back to me right away. But then it was leaking gas somehow from the carpetor so I was trying to figure out how to fix that and tinkering around with it. Long story short, it seemed like everything was going to be fine. It started it up yesterday. It was going fine. So then we get this big snowstorm last night. I go out there this morning, I run one pass with my snowblower and it's out of gas. Yeah. Right, So all that gas had leaked out the gas tank. So now I don't have a gas can because my gas cans are at the other house. So I run down the gas station trying to find a gas can. They don't have much. I have to go to another gas station, all in the deep snow, you know, and it's like, you know, six thirty in the morning, the morning. Yeah, So I go to the next gas station. I finally find one. I pay an insane amount of money for a gas can in the gas station and then get a gallon and half a gas I come racing back, I pour the gas in. I'm out there and I'm snowblowing. I did it the wrong way, which means I basically had to snowblow my my driveway twice. And while I was out there. We live on a cull de sack that's not part of the homeowners association. And the snowplow had come through, and one of the guys had left his truck on the street, and so we have this massive drift of snow in the middle of our street now because of how the snowplow guy had plowed on our street. So then while I'm snowplowing or while I'm snowblowing, this lady across the street starts to back out. Her brother had blocked her in, so she gets in his car, she backs out, and she backs right into that snow drift. So now she's stuck with that car and can't get her car out either. So then she pushes past, and she gets her car stuck in the snow drift. So I'm out there pushing her car, pushing her brother's car, digging them out, all that kind of stuff. And yeah, so that irritated me. It's just the what should have been twenty five minutes turned into an hour and a half and. A sore back, yeah, for sure. And then I decided, you know what, I'm just gonna go ahead and use my snowblower and snowblow the street because this guy left this giant truck you know, well he left this giant drift in the road. So yeah, and I got done just in time to make. It to the studio today. Yeah, and so that so it's just the irritating What should have been twenty minutes is an hour and a half. There are some listeners keep this in mind. There are some listeners who live in other countries. Right, I don't know what a snowblower is. They don't even know the. Experience of what it means, right, and so so just imagine they're thinking themselves, why would anybody choose to live. In Michigan, because this is where God made us go. It's got sick joke. It's the tundra of Detroit. Yeah, actually, you know what this happens like once a year, a big snowstorm once or twice a year is really all we get where we're at. We're kind of blessed we don't get a ton of snow. It happens once or twice. You go further north, and it's feet of snow a year, right, right, or meters of snow if you're listening overseas, right. Yeah, that's hilarious. So anyways, that was it was just what should have been twenty minutes turned into an hour and a half and a sore back. Yeah, so not necessarily relatable to all mankind, but it irritated. Definitely irritating to talk it out. Yes, yes, yeah, And so my son's gonna come home and be like, oh, here's keys. I'm gonna be like thanks, thanks, thanks a lot. Well, I don't know, I don't have a transition for this one. Oh you know what, speaking of being deep in it, yeah right, people of Israel, people of Israel were in it deep. That's right, And Amos is having visions about how deep they are. Yes, okay, there it is. Yes, we're actually gonna dig down deep, says in this passage. Oh there it is, okay, Amos. Chapter nine, This is it. We're on the home stretch, is nine, the last one, yep. And we're going to finish up and eventually get to some good news. Hang on, because we've had some couple of days of bad news. Yeah, well a lot of days. Yes, But it's gonna start off with bad news, okay, and it's going to transition. Have to have bad news before you have good news, otherwise it's just news, correct, right, So here we go, Amos chapter nine, It says, then I saw a vision of the Lord standing beside the altar. This is in the temple, right, he said, Strike the tops of the temple column, so that the foundation will shake, bring down the roof on the heads of the people below. I will kill with the sword those who survive. No one will escape. Even if they dig down to the place of the dead. I will reach down and pull them up. Even if they climb up into the heavens, I will bring them down. Even if they hide at the very top of Mount Carmel, I will search them out and capture them. Even if they hide at the bottom of the ocean, I will send the sea serpent after them to bite them. Even if their enemies drive them into exile, I will command the sword to kill them there. I am determined to bring disaster upon them, and not. To help them. Who. Well, let's get to the good news. We got a few more minutes here. The Lord, the Lord of Heaven's armies, touches the land, and it melts, and all its people mourn. The ground rises like the Nile River at flood time, and then it sinks again. The Lord's home reaches up to the heavens while its foundation is on the earth. He draws up water from the oceans and pours it down his rain on the land. The Lord is his name. Are you Israelites more important to me than the Ethiopians? Ask the Lord. I brought Israel out of Egypt, but I also brought the Philistines from Crete, and I led the Aramaeans out of care. I, the Sovereign Lord, am watching this sinful nation of Israel. I will destroy it from the face of the earth. But I will never completely destroy the family of Israel, says the Lord. For I will give the command and will shake Israel along with the other nations as grain is shaken in the sieve. Yet not one true colonel will be lost, but all the sinners will die by the sword, all those who say nothing bad will happen. To us in that day. Finally we're going to get to the good news. Here it is in that day I will restore the fallen House of David. I will repair its damaged walls from the ruins. I will rebuild it and restore its former glory. And Israel will possess what is left of Edom and all the nations I have called to be mine. The Lord has spoken, and he will do these things. The time will come, says the Lord, when the grain and grapes will grow faster than they can be harvested. Then the terraced vineyards on the hills of Israel will drip with sweet wine. I will bring my exiled people of Israel back from distant lands, and they will rebuild their ruined cities and live in them again. They will plant vineyards and gardens. They will eat their crops and drink their wine. I will firmly plant them there in their own land, and they will never again be uprooted from the land I have given them, says the Lord, your God. Wow, well there you go. Yeah, well there you go. And I love the promise of restoration. It's great. I was trying to read ahead and the notes from the Life Application Study Bible. There's always like these really great study notes on the bottom, which we very much encourage people, by the way. To get one. Why you're waiting, Why are you waiting the twenty bucks? Go get one online? And this is not the only study Bible that you can get that's great, but we like this one. I think it's super functional for a person who says I'm not a Bible scholar for sure. Right, that's why it works so well. Yeah, and so there's a note here that says the Jews of Amos's day had lost sight of God's love for them and his purpose for calling them the rich. Were care free and comfortable refusing to help others in need. They observe the religious rituals and hopes of appeasing God, and they did not truly love him. Amos announced that God's warnings against destruction and evil ways we must not assume. That is not what I was trying to read. I was trying to read the restoration piece. Sorry, that's just more of the same, right there. There's not a note on the restoration piece eleven through fifteen. Yeah, okay, sorry, but. I like it. That was a good note. Sure, it's a good note. Yeah, but it's about the warnings. But in that funny hot it's a listed under thirteen to fifteen, and yet it's talking really more about the bad stuff anyway. The restoration is a promise that God will definitely show his mercy. So even after that, you know, there's a there's a judgment, there's a punishment for sin, there's a there's definitely a very clear vision about how God hates sin, he says, but yet I will never destroy the House of Israel completely, he says, I will restore them. And I love how he says the grapes will grow faster than they could be harvested. How's it impossible? How's it impossible? You know how long it. Takes to grow grapes before you harvest them. It takes a very long time. And the grain, both the grain and the grapes. Yeah. Yeah, So God's going to supernaturally just bless them. Beyond me, to give them more than they can handle. More than they can handle the blessings. Right, So there's going to be a time where God restores and so once again it's just a it's more of a statement, not necessarily about hows it related to you. Well, you know, maybe you don't go grapes. I'm not saying that that's the lesson here. The lesson is is that God wants what's best for you. That God, even though that God hates sin, and that God's going to correct his children, God wants to bless you. He wants to bring you to a place where he wants to give you all the great things that he has in store for you. So what he's doing is he's predicting. A time that the nation of Israel is going to repent. They're going to have to go through hardship, unfortunately, and they do by the way. They go through. Hardship and things, you know, get destroyed, and then the people of Israel look to God. Unfortunately, it takes all of that for them to look to God. But then they do, and then what does God do? God? God says, well, now that you've looked to me, now I'm gonna bless you. And so the lesson there is, don't wait until you have to get punished to look to God. Don't wait until your life goes bad to look to God, because you know, there's definitely times in our lives where, you know, when things are bad, it's like, Okay, God, now I'm going to run to you help. You know, things have gotten out of my control. The things that I'm looking to you are the things that I cannot control anymore. But when we're still in control, and. When we when we're you know, trying to manage your own lives and things are going great, we have a tendency to forget God. And by the way, that's not a surprise. God predicted that back in Deuteronomy, right back when he delivered the children out of Israel and he sent them into the Promised Land. He said, okay, I've finally I've finally given you the Promised Land. And he said, let me just give you a warning. When things go great, you will have a tendency to forget the Lord that got Yeah and so and so. God knows when things go well, don't forget them. When things when God is blessing you, then we should be motivated to serve God even more because of our blessings. This is why David was such almost a superhero in the Bible. Why God always celebrates David is David is one of those few people that when things got great, he kept making God the center. Yeah right, it's so rare. This is what God wanted. So if you ever want to see what God really is hoping for you and your family, it's not that once the prosperity comes you forget him, but rather, as you know that your generosity increases, your commitment to God's ways, increases, your commitment to holiness, increases your celebration of everything that God is doing good in your life, your testimony, you sharing with other people what God is doing. Pointing all the glory in your life to God. Like David, and God says, man, I'm going to establish David's kingdom forever, right forever. This is what he want to do. He gave him peace, he gave him prosperity, you know there towards the end of his end of his reign. Of course, you know, there was a struggle with his family when he started sinning. Right, So even then David allowed his own flesh to get in the way, but he never let God get out of place. God was always God in his life. He's always leading the people to do these things. In God pours out this incredible blessing on him. And so that's what God wants, and that's why he celebrates. Even here it talks about I'll restore the fallen house of David. He's still This is hundreds of years later and he's still talking about Dave. It right, the promise I made to David hundreds of years ago. Why because David was a man chasing after God right, literally says, a man after God's own heart. He's chasing after God's heart. He's pursuing God and God goes. That's what I love. I'm gonna bless him where he's still even with all these curses on Israel. He said, I'm still gonna bless David. I'm going to restore this fallen house and I'm going to repair his damaged walls. The other thing I love about it is, you know, I've had people tell me that I know God judged me, right, I know that this situation is in my life because God is getting my attention, right, Yeah, I know people that have sinned significantly and lost so much. Yeah, and say, I know that this is a consequence, you know, God's consequence for my sins, and I will usually then, you know, and there's a a sometimes a depression that comes with that, or just kind of a less than kind of position that person starts to take. And so then it's passages like this I love because even in God's let's be honest, these last eight chapter has been pretty rough. There's gonna be dead bodies everywhere. I'm so angry at you. The fire from heaven is coming. I'm gonna send your enemies to wipe you out right. I'm so mad at you. You're cheating on me. You used to be a virgin. Now you're cheating on me with other gods. He's so mad at them, but then he goes, but my anger is not gonna last forever. Right, So if you would turn and run back to me, you'll live. That's what he said in chapter five, right, six, whatever it was, Just turn back to me and run back to me, and you'll live. But I love it that even then judgment, if God's judgment comes in your life, it doesn't last forever. Right. And God's mercy is what endures forever. God's loving kindness, David says, is what endures forever. And so even in God's judgment on all the evil, because God's going to be just. Hey, you people are ripping off poor people. You guys are selling other humans. You guys are horrible to the people around you. You're pretending like all these blessings are yours because you earned them. He says, I'm going to bring judgment. Justice is coming. That's what it is. Anytime God brings judgment, it's a justice issue. So he said, I'm gonna bring judgment. I'm going to bring justice. But then listen, when that part's done, you turn back to me. Your grain is going to grow faster and you harvest it. Your grapes are going to grow faster than you're going to harvest them. Your terraced vineyards on the hills are gonna drip with sweet wine. I'm gonna bring all my people back, and I'm going to restore your ruined cities, and you're gonna replant your vineyards and your gardens. You're gonna eat your crops, you're gonna drink your wine, and I'm gonna firmly replant you there in your own land. So even then, God's giving hope at the end of a really bad declaration, He's still giving them hope that, hey, I'm not done with you. I still love you. Right by the way, I wanted to you know, you know, I wanted to point out in verse number twelve, it's so simple. These words are so simple. It says the Lord has spoken, and he will do these things. And you know what, it's a great statement to just take one verse like that and to sort of sit in its meeting and realize that, you know, God is the same what yesterday, today, and forever, isn't he So so when it says, the Lord is spoken and he. Will do these things. Just know that that is always consistent with God. I mean, obviously we've talked about God being able to change his mind and change his wrath and things, but that's not what this is. This is a this is a promise of restoration. So when he says, hey, I'm gonna I'm gonna go ahead and give you a promise. The Lord has spoken and he will do these things, it's very different than a warning. And then all of a sudden, people repatting the God says, Okay, that's fine, I'll change my mind. But this is like say, hey, this is going to come. This is a blessing that is going to come. This is a promise, and my promise is I keep right. So that translates into you know that you and I today can rely on God's promises to. You and me every time. So we live and. On the other side of Jesus Christ, right, this this is before Jesus had come, In fact, five six hundred years before Jesus had come. And so in this case, yeah, I think I think back in the I don't know what it is five and thirty eight BC seven oh seven fifty three BC. I was looking at all these timelines on the top. Gosh, this book is so helpful, isn't it. But I was, oh, it's got side notes seven fifty three there it is. So it's got all these side notes of timelines, which is really cool. I was just looking at the wrong one. But here it is seven hundred years before Jesus had come, and and that we live two thousand years after Jesus had come. But just know that when God makes a promise, he's always always going to be true to it. So you and I could look back at every promise, whether it's a generic principle about how our lives will be blessed, how God wants what's best for us, or you know, if we do this thing, then then God will promise to bless us if we honor God in our marriage, if we honor God and our business practices or income, when we honor God with our lives and our morality, that there's going to be promises attached to it. And then just general and obedience. You know, God says, hey, if you seek out me, then I'm going to continue to be with you and empower you and strengthen you and bless you, and I mean all those things that we build our lives upon as followers of Christ. We can trust because if God says it, he will do these things. Let me show you a really cool thing along those lines. Yep, he says in verse eleven, I will restore the fallen House of David. Now re parents damaged walls from the ruins. I will rebuild it and restore its former glory. And then he says, and Israel will possess what is left of Edom and all the nations I've called to be mine. In Acts chapter fifteen, Paul and Barnabas come back to the council in Jerusalem, and James is the big dog among all the leaders in Jerusalem, and all the Christians are saying, well, we're not sure that gentiles are allowed to be Christians. Is this James the brother of Christ or James the disciple son of Alpheus? This is James the brother of Christ? Right, isn't he the Yeah, he's the leader, so he's they come to him and they go and they have this council. Are gentiles allowed to be Christians? Do they have to get circumcised? They have to convert to be Jews? All this kind of stuff, and James quotes, amos, Oh, that's so cool that passage. That's so cool, and he says, So. They go, everyone listening quietly as Barnabas and Paul told about the Miraca's science and won who's got had done through them among the Gentiles. And when they had finished, James stood and said, brothers, listen to me. Peter has told you all of about the time God first visited Gentiles to take from them a people for himself. And this conversion of Gentiles is exactly what the prophets predicted as it was written. And then in verse sixteen he says, after our return and restore the fallen house of David, and I will rebuild its ruins and restore it, so that the rest of humanity might seek the Lord, including the Gentiles, all those I have called to be mine. The Lord has spoken, he who made these things known so long ago. And so my judgment is that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who were returning to God. Instead, we should write and tell them, you know, all these things. He was saying, that that promise of David's house being restored, and that not only Israel but Edom and all the other people that are going to be my nation. James was saying that was happening once people like you and me can become Christians and. Not just the Jews. Wow. So James has recognized that Amos had two meanings to his prophecy. One is God's going to restore Israel. The other is God's going to restore a kingdom. So because Jesus was from the house of David, Jesus is the final king in David's lineage, right, and now he sits on the throne. And because of Jesus, all of us get to be a part of that restored kingdom. And then when it's all done at the third meeting of that passage is when it's all done at the end of time, God says, I'm going to make everything new right, and then in that point then everything is going to be perfect, just like he was saying all the blessings, I'm going to set you down and there'll never be a time you and I get to be a part of the end of Amos. I got to tell you that that little discovery that you just pull, that that was worth the price of admission. Yeah, it was a note By the way, it was a note in the Life of Vacasion study boy. It's not that I'm a genius, it's just there I went, Oh, I forgot about that passage. Well, hey, the Bible, guys, is free. So when I say it's worth the price of admission, it's worth you tuning in, is what I meant to say. Hey, well, hey, that is a great place to end, and that is our time, so hopefully we will see you Monday. On the Bible Beasts