Amos 9:11,12

RESULTS OF JUDGMENT PROPHESIEDDAVID'S THRONE AND DOMINION RESTORED

TEXT: Amos 9:11-12

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 its ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old;

12

that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the nations that are called by my name, saith Jehovah that doeth this.

QUERIES

a.

What is the tabernacle of David and why is it fallen?

b.

How and when will God raise it up and rebuild it?

c.

How will the covenant people possess all the nations?

PARAPHRASE

When I have thoroughly sifted and purged the covenant people through captivity and prepared them for the coming of the Messiah I will establish again the Messianic throne which I began in David and promised to perpetuate through his lineage. I will raise up the throne of David from the ruins into which it has fallen and restoreit until it far exceeds its former glory, This new Davidic kingdom will conquer in spiritual warfare many people from the former enemies of God's covenant nation. All from the many Gentile nations who become worshippers of Jehovah God will become citizens of this new Davidic kingdom.

SUMMARY

Out of the purging process of captivity God will bring about the fulfillment of His covenant of redemption through the revived lineage of David.

COMMENT

Amos 9:11. I WILL RAISE UP THE TABERNACLE OF DAVID. That this has its fulfillment in the establishment and ongoing of the Church cannot be questioned! All one has to do is turn to Acts 15:12-21 to find that Holy Spirit inspired apostles have confirmed such fulfillment. There can be no argument with the authoritative pronouncements of the New Testament when it specifically states the fulfillment of an Old Testament prophecy. The passage in Acts 15:12-21 is one of those key passages referred to in our introductory study entitled Interpreting The Prophets. This passage from Amos (Amos 9:11-12) is not the only prophet quoted by James in Acts 15:12-21, but it is quoted as having its fulfillment in the preaching of the gospel to the Gentiles and their reception into the Church which is the restored kingdom of David, Christ, the son of David, reigning upon that throne. We take the liberty of quoting extensively just here from New Testament Interpretation of Old Testament Prophecies, by James D. Bales, pub. The Harding College Press, pages 150, 151, 152, 153, 167, 168:

James did not say that he was quoting Amos. It is true that much is found in Amos, but it is not true that the context permits one to think that he is quoting Amos and adding to what Amos or any of the prophets said, when he said: After this I will return.

James expressly said that he was not referring to only one prophet. -And to this agree the words of the prophets.-' (Acts 15:15). James was using words from the prophets, plural, and not from a prophet, singular.

Why, then, when one fails to find all that James said in one of the prophets, such as Amos, must one conclude that James has added something to what one prophet said. James stated that he was using the words of more than one prophet.

... we can take written words of the prophets, and the ideas expressed in those written words, and put them together to say just what James said. And James evidently put together written words for he said that he was giving written words of the prophets which applied to the taking out of a people from the Gentiles for God's name. And the places from whence we take these words will be from passages which deal with the same theme. This is the judgment of God on Israel for her sins, and then the gathering of the children of Israel into His favorat least the gathering of those who would accept Him. In Jeremiah 12 God describes His forsaking of -mine house, I have left mine heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies.-' (Jeremiah 12:7). After a time of punishment He said, -And it shall come to pass, after that I have plucked them out I will return, and have compassion on them, and will bring them again, every man to his heritage, and every man to his land. And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, the Lord liveth; as they taught my people to swear to Baal; then shall they be built in the midst of my people. But if they will not obey, I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation, saith the Lord.-' (Jeremiah 12:15-17). Amos speaks of the same thing. He speaks of the Lord's destroying the sinful kingdom, except that He would not utterly destroy them (Amos 9:8-10). Then he stated that He would raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, etc. (Amos 9:11-12). They were, just as Jeremiah said, to be planted on their land after he had brought them out of captivity (Amos 9:14-15).

Jeremiah and James use almost identical words. -After that I have plucked them out I will return,-' God said through Jeremiah (Jeremiah 12:15). -After this I will return,-' God said through James in referring to what was written in the words of the prophets (Acts 15:15). God said, in other words, that after He had visited punishment on the house of Israel, that He would return and rebuild the tabernacle of David. It was after thisafter his punishments on Israel which were stated by Old Testament prophetsthat God would rebuild the tabernacle of David. It was not after the new covenant days, and the calling of the Gentiles, that God would rebuild David's tabernacle, And this having been doneGod having punished them for the sins which such as Amos and Jeremiah denounced them forGod was now rebuilding David's tabernacle,

There are words of the prophets written, other than those of Jeremiah and Amos, which show that the Gentiles were to seek the Lord. (Isaiah 11:10). Words of prophets which James quoted stated that the tabernacle of David was to be rebuilt in the future (future from the time that the prophets spoke) that the Gentiles might seek the Lord (Acts 15:16-17). Christ is that root of Jesse and today the Gentiles seek Him. Paul showed this when he proved from Old Testament prophecies that the Gentiles were to receive mercy of God, and he showed that these promises applied to the present dispensation of mercy. So Paul proved by Old Testament prophecies the same thing that James proved. (cf. Romans 15:8-9). Paul then quotes at least four Old Testament statements to show that God had planned to extend mercy, which was being extended during the gospel dispensation, to the Gentiles. And the fourth quotation is as follows: -And again, Isaiah saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles trust.-' Paul went on to say that he was -the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sacrificed by the Holy Spirit.-' (Romans 15:12; Romans 15:16). Christ, then, is the root of Jesse whom the Gentiles seek in this present age. But Isaiah said that it was to be -in that day.-' (Isaiah 11:10),. the context is applied by the premillennialists to a future dispensation. Yet, the Gentiles now seek the root of Jesse. They were to seek Him in that day.-' So evidently that day has come. Thus Paul and James agree, and agree with the prophets, that the present dispensation is the one in which the prophets had prophesied that the Gentiles would seek the Lord,

Mr. Bales also gives an excellent treatment of the phrase tabernacle of David. We shall quote briefly from his work but suggest that our readers purchase a copy of his book here quoted for detailed study:

The rebuilding of the tabernacle of David was evidently not a rebuilding of the Mosaical system, but the restoration of a king to David's throne. And that Christ is now on David's throne we have shown in another chapter. The Mosaical system will not be rebuilt. Its mediator, Moses, has now been replaced by Christ (Deuteronomy 18:15-17; Acts 3:22-26). The old Covenant was to pass away, and it has passed away (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Hebrews 8:5-10). Its sacrifices have ceased for the Lamb of God has been offered once for all to bear the sins of the world.

Thus we believe that this key passage in Amos 9:11-12, as interpreted by Spirit-borne apostles in Acts 15:15-16, along with the multitudes of other such prophecies as compared with the New Testament teaching that the covenant made to Abraham is fulfilled in Christ, proves that the Old Testament prophets were speaking of the Messianic kingdomthe church of Christnot some dispensation or millennium which is to follow the age in which we are now living. Of course, the consummation of all that God promised in His covenant with Abraham and has potentially accomplished in Christ, will all be realized when Christ comes the second time, not to deal with sin, (not to give another opportunity for the salvation of the Jews or anyone else), and when all the ages will be over and time shall become eternity and He shall make a new heaven and a new earth.

Amos 9:12. THAT THEY MAY POSSESS THE REMNANT OF EDOM. Connected as it is to what has gone before, this phrase is, of course, fulfilled in the establishment of the church and the evangelization of the Gentiles just as the preceding prophecy is so fulfilled. See our comments on Obadiah 1:20-21 for further study. The Old Testament prophecies most certainly did not have their ultimate future fulfillment in the mere literal restoration of the Jews to a portion of land. Listen to John P. Milton in Prophecy Interpreted, pages 14, 15, 71, 72, 73:

The prediction of Amos, -that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by my name-' (Amos 9:12), implies the conquest of Edom and other Gentile nations and their incorporation by force into the national Israel; which could be one way of sharing the blessing of the covenant, at the same time as it indicated the victory of God and of His people over their enemies, The imagery fits the historically contemporaneous situation. But there are other Old Testament prophecies, such as in Isaiah 2 and Micah 4 which have already dropped the imagery of physical conquest in favor of the more spiritual one of a voluntary seeking of the Lord in response to invitation, and have thus prepared the way for the New Testament use of the Amos passage in Acts 15:17.

There are too many people today who believe that unless God fulfills in a literal way, by restoring the physical Jewish nation to a physical Palestine, the covenant He made with Abraham, that God is not faithful to His word. Mr. Milton continues:

God is faithful to His word, but He can get along without us if we are faithless. That is both the glory and the tragedy of Israel. That which God set out to do through Abraham as His servant and through Israel as His people He has fulfilled, and is fulfilling now, through Christ and the Christian Church, It couldn-'t be made any clearer than it is in Acts 3:17-26. Read it in your Bible. And notice, it does not say a word about the land of Palestine, or even about Israel as a nation, but drives straight to the heart of the promise of blessing.

We must learn to distinguish between that which is the very essence of a promise, or its central idea, and that which belongs to the temporary forms of which God made use in bringing the promise to fulfillment. We must learn to distinguish, too, between the eternal and the transient in prophecy. The possession of the land by Israel was an essential stage in the working out of God's covenant of blessing for all men. So was the call of Abraham and the history of the people of Israel. But nowhere in the New Testament is there the slightest indication that these are of the essence of the new covenant. The -central idea-' in the Old Testament promise which is fulfilled in Christ is not the promise of a bit of territory on earth. If the New Testament is right in what it says, even the patriarchs saw more clearly than to set their hopes on an earthly Canaan: they looked for a better country, a heavenly one:

And, again:

When Amos says,. (Amos 9:11-12), James in Acts 15:15-18 puts it. The difference is significant. The prophet uses what to him must have been a perfectly natural picture of covenant fulfillment in the form of a national conquest of an ancient enemy. It is as if he visualized the incorporation of Edom in Israel as a result of conquest; in this way the blessing of God's covenant would be shared also by them. The New Testament uses the picture of the Gentiles seeking the God of Israel and a share in the blessings of His people. See Isaiah 2:2-4 and Micah 4:1-4. What is the nature of those blessings? A careful study of the covenant will make it clear that even in the case of Israel they were essentially spiritual. Should it then be too difficult to see that when Amos speaks of the mountains dripping sweet wine he may be concerned with more than material prosperity; and that its ultimate reference is to -every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places of Christ? It belongs to the progressiveness of revelation to bring out the meaning latent in the original promise in and through the fulfillment. The -times-coloring-' disappears. and the spiritual reality remains, only more clearly discerned as befits the fulfillment. Which is the more important to stress, the promise of the land or of the blessing? Which is the -central idea-' in the covenant promise?

This leads us to a consideration of the next section of Amos which describes in highly figurative and times-coloring language the future glory and prosperity (spiritual) of the Messianic kingdom (tabernacle of David).

QUIZ

1.

How may we be sure of the interpretation and fulfillment of this prophecy?

2.

How many prophets did James quote in Acts 15:15-17 besides Amos?

3.

What is the tabernacle of David?

4.

How many more times is Christ coming to the world? What is He coming for?

5.

Who is to possess the remnant of Edom, and all the nations. ?

6.

How does prophecy in Amos connect with Obadiah's prophecy?