Before we think about chapter 9 of Amos I want to remind you of what we’ve already covered.  Amos was a trader from the southern Kingdom of Judah but God called him to go to the 10 tribes of Israel with a message for them.

The book is really divided into two sections: the first 6 chapters are sermons about the judgement that God was going to bring on the people because in their lives of luxury and prosperity they had forgotten him.  They had become self-centred.

The last three chapters contain a series of five visions about the destruction that God was going to bring on them.

We also need to be aware that these prophecies are serving two purposes: they are directed at the people of that day but they also speak of a time that is to come e.g. Isaiah speaks of a man who will appear who will save the people – in that time the person who saved them was King Cyrus of Persia.  He freed the Jews from exile in Babylon and allowed them to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple and restore the nation.  But it is impossible to read Isaiah without also understanding that it prophetically refers to Jesus.

The message of Amos came to fruition around 40 years later when the Kingdom of Israel was destroyed  and the people were taken captive by the Assyrians.  But I believe that there is also something in his message that is still to come.

So, what do we see in Ch 9?

1. God would destroy their sense of security in order to bring them to Himself.
Amos 9
1Then I saw a vision of the Lord standing beside the altar. He said, "Strike the tops of the Temple columns so hard that the foundation will shake. Smash the columns so the roof will crash down on the people below. Then those who survive will be slaughtered in battle. No one will escape!
As we’ve seen on other weeks the people Israel had created their own religion. In fact they had created a religion that was politically correct. It is a very dangerous thing whenever you make religion politically correct in an effort to fit in with the world.

Some people want to throw out whole sections of the Bible or discredit parts of the Bible in order to harmonize them with their beliefs. This is one of the dangers in the church today. Whenever we choose to compromise our beliefs and align them with the culture of this world, we make our faith irrelevant to God and worthless to the lost around us. God calls us to come to Him on His terms. We are called upon to have our lives transformed by God’s Word and His Spirit. It is us and not God’s Truth that needs to change.
King Jeroboam had wanted to make religion politically correct because he didn’t want to lose any people, but I think it is far better for the church to be spiritually correct and perhaps lose some people, than to be politically correct and lose the presence of God.
The people of Israel had placed their security in their false religion, so what God was going to do was to tear down that source of security.
II. They Could Run, But they Couldn’t Hide
Amos 9
2"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. 3Even 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 great sea serpent after them to bite and destroy them.

(New Living Translation)
When the day of judgment came, the people would try to hide, but wouldn’t be able to. Within forty years Israel would be taken over by the kingdom of Assyria. In was in 721 B.C. that Sargon would finish off Israel. The Assyrians were known for their ruthlessness and we’ve heard this before – They skinned their prisoners alive, and cut off various body parts to inspire terror in their enemies. There are records of people being buried up to the neck then having their tongues pulled out and a stake put through it; they displayed mounds of human skulls at city gates all to bring about stark horror and wealthy tribute from surrounding nations.

There is no running from God’s judgment. We read this in Revelation 6 regarding the final judgment of God.
Revelation 6:12-17 (New Living Translation)
12I watched as the Lamb broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake. The sun became as dark as black cloth, and the moon became as red as blood. 13Then the stars of the sky fell to the earth like green figs falling from trees shaken by mighty winds. 14And the sky was rolled up like a scroll and taken away. And all of the mountains and all of the islands disappeared. 15Then the kings of the earth, the rulers, the generals, the wealthy people, the people with great power, and every slave and every free person—all hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. 16And they cried to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. 17For the great day of their wrath has come, and who will be able to survive?"
This is what is coming in the end days. Have we committed our lives to this world or have we committed our lives to God?
III. Judgment for His people, Israel
Amos 9
8"I, the Sovereign LORD, am watching this sinful nation of Israel, and I will uproot it and scatter its people across the earth. Yet I have promised that I will never completely destroy the family of Israel," says the LORD. 9"For I have commanded that Israel be persecuted by the other nations as grain is sifted in a sieve, yet not one true kernel will be lost. 10But all the sinners will die by the sword—all those who say, `Nothing bad will happen to us.’

(New Living Translation)
Now whenever you read stuff like this, God seems pretty harsh. His judgment truly can be harsh, but when I read Scripture I see a God who is brokenhearted whenever He brings judgment to His people.

4. God's heart breaks for the lost
Amos 5:4-7 (New Living Translation)
4Now this is what the LORD says to the family of Israel: "Come back to me and live!
Ezekiel 18
23"Do you think, asks the Sovereign LORD, that I like to see wicked people die? Of course not! I only want them to turn from their wicked ways and live.
Ezekiel 18
31Put all your rebellion behind you, and get for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O people of Israel? 32I don’t want you to die, says the Sovereign LORD. Turn back and live!
Believe it or not, God’s act of judgment upon Israel was an act of mercy. Israel had totally fallen away from Him. Israel was totally caught up in idolatry. The only way that He could bring some of them back to Himself was this act of judgment. Unfortunately, it often takes God’s discipline in our lives for us to come back to Him. We as believers, however, need to remember that when God disciplines us He does it because we are His children.
Hebrews 12:6-7
For the Lord disciplines those he loves,
and he punishes those he accepts as his children."
As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children. Whoever heard of a child who was never disciplined? 8If God doesn’t discipline you as he does all of his children, it means that you are illegitimate and are not really his children after all.
5. A Promise of Restoration
Amos 9
11"In that day I will restore the fallen kingdom of David. It is now like a house in ruins, but I will rebuild its walls and restore its former glory. 12And Israel will possess what is left of Edom and all the nations I have called to be mine. I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will do these things.

It goes on to say that things will be so good that they will struggle to get a harvest in before the next ploughing takes place and they will be able to eat and drink and enjoy their lives.
We read this morning in Amos of God’s judgment upon the nation of Israel, but what we read here is now a promise of restoration. God here is speaking of a day when the land of Israel will overflow with His blessing.  That has been taken to have happened on the return from captivity in Babylon; or even in the founding of the state of Israel in 1948 and thiose may have been part fulfilment of the prophecy, but I think it is a day still to come – when they came back from exile it was to the southern kingdom of Judah, not Israel in the north; the promise is that they will never be uprooted again.  I believe the time that God is speaking of is the time after Christ returns.  I don’t know when that will be or how it will all work out but when we read Revelation…..
So how does all this stuff in Amos relate to our personal lives?
I. We need to place our security in God.
II. We need to tear down idols in our lives.
III. We need to remember that we can run from God, but we can’t hide.
IV. We need to remember that God’s heart breaks for the lost
V. We need to know that we can experience restoration in the desolate areas of our hearts if we just turn to Him.  – may be partial
Lastly we need to be aware that Christ is coming back and he will take all those who love him to be with him.  Our hope is sure and the future is glorious.

Through Jesus Christ, the sin and desolation of human lives can be replaced with the overflow of God’s grace. The message of Amos to Israel was to embrace the love of God before it was too late. This is also the message of the gospel to those who live in the world today.  It is a message of warning to those who don’t believe and hope to those who do.

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