Restore. Repair. Rebuild the Ruins.
“In that day I will restore David’s fallen tent. I will repair its broken places and restore its ruins, and build it as it used to be, so that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations that bear my name,” declares the LORD, who will do these things.
Amos 9:11-12
The pages of Amos are filled with sorrow—this lament I take up concerning you: “Fallen is virgin Israel, never to rise again” (5:2). The visions the LORD gives his prophet are too great to bear. He cries out: “Sovereign LORD, forgive!” (7:2); “Sovereign LORD, I beg you to stop! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!” (7:5).
“Yet”—that little word creeps in: “Yet I will not totally destroy the house of Jacob (Israel),” declares the LORD (9:8). And words like restore, repair, rebuild the ruins jump off the page.
The plan was there all along for the remnant of Edom and all the nations that bear my name. James confirms it in Acts 15:16-18 as he quotes this passage in Amos, adding after these things: that have been known for the ages. From the beginning of time, for perpetuity and eternity, for forever, God had the remnant of believers in mind, those who bear His name: For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:12-13).
Drum roll, at the end of time—“in that day”—the blessings of eternity will flow: “Things are going to happen so fast your head will swim, one thing fast on the heels of the other. You won’t be able to keep up. Everything will be happening at once—everywhere you look, blessings! Blessings like wine pouring off the mountains and hills. I’ll make everything right again for my people” (Amos 9:13-15, MSG).
Therein lies the HOPE that is fundamental in the book of Amos, in all of Scripture in fact, to those that bear my name.
In the meantime—our joy lies elsewhere. Perhaps this chorus says it best:
“But until then my heart will go on singing,
Until then with joy I’ll carry on,
Until the day my eyes behold the city,
Until the day God calls me home.”
—Until Then, Bill and Gloria Gaither, 1994
Nancy P
All Scripture quotations are from the NIV 1973, 1978, 1984, unless otherwise noted.
