An Everlasting Marriage - Amos 8-9

“Thus the Lord God showed me: Behold, a basket of summer fruit. And He said, ‘Amos, what do you see?’ So I said, ‘A basket of summer fruit.’ Then the Lord said to me: ‘The end has come upon My people Israel. I will not pass by them anymore. And the songs of the temple shall be wailing in that day, says the Lord God—many dead bodies everywhere, they shall be thrown out in silence.’” Amos 8:1-3

In chapters one and two, the Lord used the phrase “for three transgressions... for four transgressions” nine times. After that, chapter seven had three “the Lord God showed me” visions, and then, a pause to inject Amaziah’s rejection of God’s Word, and now, here, in chapter eight, there is the fourth and final “the Lord God showed me” vision. Each vision is a judgment on their transgressions. “For three transgressions... for four transgressions.”

The fourth “the Lord God showed me” vision is of a basket of summer fruit. Fruit that has been picked and placed in a basket is usually ripe fruit. So, the Lord is indicating that harvest time has come. Israel’s fruit was not the kind God wanted. So, songs should turn to wails. Many will die.

The Lord used the metaphor of a bad crop to describe unacceptable behavior in Isaiah 5:4. “What more could have been done to My vineyard That I have not done in it? Why then, when I expected it to bring forth good grapes, Did it bring forth wild grapes?”

Galatians 5:19-21 lists the works of the flesh which are unacceptable fruits. “The works of the flesh are... adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

The Lord is saying here to repent of and no longer practice these sins or be excluded from His kingdom. These sins must be placed by faith under the cleansing blood of Christ to be removed.

Galatians 5:22-23 lists acceptable fruits. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.”

Galatians 5:24-26 adds: “And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.” The key to victory over sin is to abide in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit within you. Stay focused on Jesus. Don’t succumb to deception.

Revelation 14:18-19 uses harvest imagery as metaphor for the day of judgment, “And another angel came out from the altar, who had power over fire, and he cried with a loud cry to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, ‘Thrust in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for her grapes are fully ripe.’ So the angel thrust his sickle into the earth and gathered the vine of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.”

“Hear this, you who swallow up the needy, and make the poor of the land fail, saying: ‘When will the New Moon be past, that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that we may trade wheat? Making the ephah small and the shekel large, falsifying the scales by deceit, that we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals—even sell the bad wheat?’” Amos 8:4-6

The merchants of Israel had become professional scammers. They could hardly wait until the Sabbath ended each week so they could return to money-making. An ephah was roughly a bushel of grain. A shekel was their currency. They were experts at minimizing product and maximizing price. Eventually, these crafty sales people reduced poor people into a commodity for buying and selling. They probably did this by giving them credit at such high interest rates (usuary rates) that the poor became bankrupt and had to become indentured servants to them.

In Luke 19:8-10, Jesus transformed a scammer into a son of Abraham. Zacchaeus had been a scammer, but after he listened to Jesus, he said, “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor. And if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham; for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

“The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob: ‘Surely I will never forget any of their works. Shall the land not tremble for this, and everyone mourn who dwells in it? All of it shall swell like the River, heave and subside like the River of Egypt. And it shall come to pass in that day, says the Lord God, that I will make the sun go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in broad daylight. I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation. I will bring sackcloth on every waist, and baldness on every head. I will make it like mourning for an only son, and its end like a bitter day.’” Amos 8:7-10

The pride of Jacob will fall as his losses rise. The land will tremble and swell like the River of Egypt. The Nile River is prone to overflow its banks, but here the swelling of the Nile is used as a metaphor for an earthquake. The sun will go dark during daylight hours. Feasts and songs will be replaced by mourning as for an only son.

In Matthew 24:29, Revelation 6:12 and Revelation 8:12, Jesus reveals end-times events including earthquake and the sun darkened.

Exodus 10:21-23 says that the Lord darkened the sun over Egypt in the days of Moses.

In Matthew 27:45, the sky was dark during daylight hours while Jesus hung on the cross.

God is the One who said let there be light. He can also turn the lights off. Colossians 1:15-17 says, “He [Jesus] is the image of the invisible God... by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth... in Him all things hold together.” Jesus can also shake things up.

In regards to mourning the loss of an only son, this is a reference to the death of God’s only Son Jesus. In Zechariah 12:10, the Lord promised, “I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourns for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.” This prophecy is repeated in Revelation 1:7 about Jesus, “Behold, He comes with clouds, and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him.”

“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord God, that I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the Words of the Lord. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east. They shall run to and fro, seeking the Word of the Lord, but shall not find it.” Amos 8:11-12

Previously, in Amos 7:12-13, Amaziah told Amos to return to Judah, and to never prophesy to the people of Israel. Thus, here, the Lord promised that He would hide His Word from Israel.

In Revelation 3;19, Jesus declares, “Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent.” William Barclay wrote, “Jesus’ great love was expressed in His rebuke. It is, in fact, God’s final punishment to leave a person alone.” God had determined to leave Israel alone.

“In that day, the fair virgins and strong young men shall faint from thirst. Those who swear by the sin of Samaria, who say, ‘As your god lives, O Dan!’ And ‘As the way of Beersheba lives!’ They shall fall and never rise again.” Amos 8:13-14

The souls of young people shall thirst for spiritual sustenance but find none. The false gods of their land will leave them empty, and disillusioned. They will faint and not get up.

“I saw the Lord standing by the altar, and He said: ‘Strike the doorposts, that the thresholds may shake, and break them on the heads of them all. I will slay the last of them with the sword. He who flees from them shall not get away, and he who escapes from them shall not be delivered. Though they dig into hell, from there My hand shall take them. Though they climb up to heaven, from there I will bring them down. Though they hide themselves on top of Carmel, from there I will search and take them. Though they hide from My sight at the bottom of the sea, from there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them. Though they go into captivity before their enemies, from there I will command the sword, and it shall slay them. I will set My eyes on them for harm and not for good.” Amos 9:1-4

The Lord is ready to bring the temple to their false god down on their heads. This reminds me of the time in Judges 16:29-30, when Samson took hold of the two pillars which supported the temple of the false god Dagon. He pushed with all his might on those pillars and the temple fell on the lords and all the people who were in it.

The Lord promised to slay every last one of them. Though they dug to hell or climbed to heaven, though they hid in a mountain or in the depths of the sea, they would not escape His judgment. God’s sword would find and slay them. No one escapes God’s judgment unless they turn to Him alone for salvation.

In Revelation 6:15-17, after the sixth seal judgment occurs, “The kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?’”

“The Lord God of hosts, He who touches the earth and it melts, and all who dwell there mourn. All of it shall swell like the River and subside like the River of Egypt. He who builds His layers in the sky, and has founded His strata in the earth, who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the face of the earth— the Lord is His Name.” Amos 9:5-6

God is well able to do what He says He will do. Earth and elements submit to His commands.

“Are you not like the people of Ethiopia to Me, O children of Israel? says the Lord. Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt, the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir?” Amos 9:7

Israel was not superior to Ethiopia. They had been slaves in Egypt. Israel also needed the Lord to rescue them from the Philistines and Syrians.

In Matthew 3:9, John the Baptist told the religious leaders of Israel, “Do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.” The Lord is our Savior not our racial heritage.

Until God’s judgments began, Israel mistook His longsuffering for His approval.

In 2 Peter 3:8-9, Peter wrote to us saying, “Beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

The Lord had been patient with Israel’s ungodly ways but now He was ready to let them reap the consequences of their transgressions.

“Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the face of the earth. Yet I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, says the Lord. For surely I will command and will sift the house of Israel among all nations, as grain is sifted in a sieve. Yet not the smallest grain shall fall to the ground. All the sinners of My people shall die by the sword, who say, ‘The calamity shall not overtake nor confront us.’ On that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down, and repair its damages. I will raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old; that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the Gentiles who are called by My Name, says the Lord who does this thing.” Amos 9:8-10

Though the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah from the face of the earth, He would not eliminate Israel. He would sieve them. A purified remnant would survive. Dust and dirt would be removed. The kernel of grain would remain. That kernel of grain is symbolic of Christ who is the Bread of Life. God preserved a remnant of Israel for His Name’s sake because the Messiah was to come from their race.

“On that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down, and repair its damages. I will raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old; that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the Gentiles who are called by My Name, says the Lord who does this thing.” Amos 9:11-12

In Acts 15:13-17, at a Jerusalem Council, the Apostle James declared Amos’ prophecy fulfilled. In Acts 15, there were Gentiles called by the Lord’s Name. Acts 15:3 says that the conversion of the Gentiles caused great joy to all the brothers. In Acts 15:8-9, Peter declared. “God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them [the Gentiles] by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.”

In the end-times, God’s people will consist of a restored Israel from David’s “booth” and Gentiles who profess faith in Messiah. Both Jew and Gentile saved by God’s grace in Christ.

“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him who sows seed. The mountains shall drip with sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it. I will bring back the captives of My people Israel. They shall build the waste cities and inhabit them. They shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them. They shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them. I will plant them in their land, and no longer shall they be pulled up from the land I have given them, says the Lord your God.” Amos 9:13-15

The prophecy of Amos ends with good news because it shifts from focus on transgressors to focus on Messiah. Faith in the right Savior yields right outcomes. The Lord blesses people. The plowman overtaking the reaper and the treader of grapes overtaking the sower of seeds mean that before they finish processing the first crop, the second crop will already be in the making. Sweet wine dripping and flowing represent an abundant harvest. Exiles will be restored to the Promised Land. There will be cities and gardens. There will be stability, security and peace.

In Ephesians 2:11-12, the Lord reminds Gentiles how they were previously “without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”

Ephesians 2:15-16 says that Christ “abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both [Jew and Gentile] to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.” Ephesians 2:18 says, “For through Him [Christ] we both [Jew and Gentile] have access by one Spirit to the Father.”

Ephesians 2:19-22 says, “Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.”

The Lord Jesus replaces temples to false gods with Himself. He replaces the idolization of destructible brick and mortar temples with His invisible presence. He is always with us. Plus, we have fellowship with fellow believers in His body, the Church, by His Spirit. Praise the Lord!

In Revelation 21:10-23, New Jerusalem’s gates have the names of the twelve tribes of Isreal on them symbolizing the Old Testament. The twelve foundations of New Jerusalem’s walls have the names of the twelve apostles on them symbolizing the New Testament. In the middle of New Jerusalem is the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb. God’s goal in giving us His Word is to bring us to Himself. To restore fellowship. To have an everlasting marriage with us!