Amos 9:13-15 - Homiletics

Out of the shadow into the sun.

Israel's atmosphere has cleared. The thunders are silent. The storms are blown out. The clouds are scattered. The shadow of "the great doom's image" has lifted. And now the sun comes out in the clear shining after rain. We look forth on a new land of promise, a land from which the curse of God and the track of the destroyer have disappeared. The ruins are rebuilt. The waste places bloom. The fields throw teeming crops, beyond the harvester's power to gather. The erewhile sinful and down-trodden people are prosperous and pure and free. It is a scene of idyllic beauty and peace—a happy finale to the dark storm times that have gone before. This time will be—

I. A TIME OF TEEMING PLENTY . Figures of unheard of fertility and abundance are multiplied.

1 . Seed time and harvest should overlap. "The ploughman shall overtake the reaper," etc. With a certain difficulty of defining the exact idea here, the general purport of the language is plain. The teeming crops could scarcely be gathered till another seed time had come, or else growth would be so quick that the harvest would begin as soon as the seed time was over. So Shakespeare—

"Spring come to you at the farthest

In the very end of harvest."

This rich promise was not now recorded for the first time. Conditionally on obedience, it had been made by the mouth of Moses seven centuries before (Le 26:5). But, absolutely made, it assumes a new value now. And as the events in it are altogether impossible in the natural world, it must obviously be taken in a spiritual sense. The plenty, like the previously threatened famine ( Amos 8:11 ), was not to be one of bread and water, but "of hearing the words of the Lord." In the spiritual sphere the seed time and the harvest may come together. The man who goes forth with seed may return with sheaves ( Psalms 126:6 ). Indeed, the Samaritan fields were "white unto harvest" ( John 4:35 ), when, as yet, the sowing had only begun. In such a case poetic figure becomes literal truth, and Zion, as soon as she travails, brings forth ( Isaiah 66:7 , Isaiah 66:8 ).

2 . The mountains should drop wine spontaneously. The vineyards of Israel were on the mountain slopes. Of the plethora of over-rich grapes with which they would be loaded many would burst, and in the spontaneous discharge of their juice the mountains would literally "drip new wine." This process, in its spiritual analogue, is more wondrous and delightful still. Spiritual plenty has its inevitable and enriching overflow. Freely have ye received, freely give. Spiritual character is always imparting of itself in spiritual influence. From the gracious lip there drops continually the new wine of "a word in season." And the religious life, "lived not for ourselves," is a tide of helpful action beating perpetually on the shore of others' lives.

3 . The hills should dissolve themselves in the products they yield. This is the force of the expression, "All the hills shall melt." The rich earth throws its own substance into the teeming crops it bears. The richer it is the larger proportion of its substance is expended in this process. Pure leaf mould would, in this way, almost totally disappear, transforming itself entirely into grain or fruit. In the spiritual sphere self-surrender for others is a law of life. Christ gave himself, and Christians give themselves, for men. "I will very gladly spend and be spent for you" ( 2 Corinthians 12:15 ) is the philosophy, not alone of Paul's, but of all Christian living. The gracious heart expends itself in helpful action. The sum total of philanthropic effort in the world is just the concreted spiritual energy of the godly company.

II. A TIME OF NATIONAL RESTORATION . ( Amos 9:14 .) Each term here has a spiritual reference, and the whole has an ultimate spiritual fulfilment. This comes:

1 . Generally, in the breaking of every yoke by Christ. Sin is bondage—enthralment by the devil, the world, and the flesh. Ceremonialism was bondage—subjection to "weak and beggarly elements" in symbolic and wearisome observance. From both Christ comes a Liberator. He "makes an end of sin" in every aspect; "destroying the devil," "delivering from this present evil world" ( Galatians 1:4 ), and fulfilling his righteousness in men "who walk not alter the flesh." He abolishes type, substituting for it the thing typified: for the shadow, the substance; for the Law, "grace and truth."

2 . For individuals, when the Son makes them free. Spiritual bondage cannot survive believing union with Christ. His blood dissolves the chains of guilt. His Spirit breaks the bonds of indwelling sin. Acceptance with God is not conditioned on an impossible obedience to the whole Law, "for we are not under the Law, but under grace" ( Romans 7:6 ). The life of self-surrender is not made burdensome by a carnal nature, "for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made us free from the law of sin and death." The conditions of the life of joyous fellowship are presented in the inwrought spirit of adoption, and the "Abba, Father" of the free, on Spirit-opened lips ( Romans 8:15 , Romans 8:21 ; John 4:18 ). They are free indeed, whom, trebly loosing thus, the Son makes free.

3 . For the nation, when brought into the Church during the millennial era. Their conversion in the latter days is distinctly and repeatedly foretold ( Hosea 3:4 , Hosea 3:5 ; Romans 12:12 , Romans 12:15 , 23; 2 Corinthians 3:16 ). National restoration this may not strictly be, but it is more than equivalent to it. When the long wandering return, when the hearts cold and embittered for ages glow with heavenly love, when the veil drops that hung on mind and sense, when the broken-off branches are set again in the good old olive tree, a spiritual fulfilment will have come of Amos's words, more glorious than any literal or local one, as the glory of the second temple exceeds the glory of the first.

III. A TIME OF RESETTLEMENT IN THEIR OWN LAND . (Verse 15.) In three classes of events, come or coming, we have as many steps in the fulfilment of this promise.

1 . The return from the Babylonish exile. The captivity was God's final, because effective, disciplinary measure. Israel was thoroughly sickened with heathen gods and heathen ways. Osiris and Isis in Egypt, and Baal and Ashtaroth in Palestine, had won, almost without wooing, an attachment which, in Babylon, Bel and Nebo could not so much as stir. The last and bitterest prescription had succeeded, and soon the patient, cured abroad, was ordered home. Amidst tremendous difficulties, Jerusalem was repaired, the temple rebuilt, and the land in a measure resettled, and so an approximate fulfilment of Amos's glowing prophecy realized ( Ezra 7:13 , etc.).

2 . The c alling of the Gentiles. They are the spiritual Israel, the true children of Abraham ( Galatians 3:7-9 ). They throw off the yoke of the mystic Babylon; "possess the kingdom forever" ( Daniel 7:8-22 ); "inherit the earth," as their own land; repair the ruins, and restore the spiritual wastes left by sin; and they revel in "the feast of wines on the lees," etc. "Throughout the world Churches of Christ have arisen which, for the firmness of faith, may be called cities ; for the gladness of hope, vineyards ; and for the sweetness of charity, gardens " (Pusey).

3 . The future restoration of the Jews to Palestine. This is foretold ( Ezekiel 28:25 ; Ezekiel 36:28 ; Ezekiel 37:25 ). God does the work ( Ezekiel 34:11-13 ) through Gentile agency ( Isaiah 49:22 ; Isaiah 66:20 ). "They are to be nationally restored to the favour of God, and their acceptance publicly sealed by their restoration to their land" (David Brown, D.D.). Converted Israel will be eminent alike in character and influence in the millennial Church ( Isaiah 59:21 ; Isaiah 66:19 ; Ezekiel 39:29 ; Micah 5:7 ). Held again by the old people, her cities rebuilt, her grandeur restored, her broad acres reclaimed and fertile, and, above all, Jesus Christ on the throne of the nation's heart, Palestine will be indeed "the glory of all lands."

IV. ALL THIS SECURED BY INFALLIBLE GUARANTEE . There is no romancing with inspired men. What they say is coming, as God is true. The pledge of this is:

1 . God ' s character . "Saith Jehovah," i.e. "the One who is." He is Reality as against the seeming, Substance as against the typical, Veracity as against the deceiving, Faithfulness as against the changeful. As being Benevolent he is true, human happiness depending on confidence in his character. As Independent he is true, being above all possible temptation to deceive. As Unchangeable he is true, falsehood being essentially a change of character. As Omnipotent he is true, the use of moral agents in free and yet infallible execution of his purposes being passible only as his Word is a revelation of his thought.

2 . His existing relation. "Thy God." Not a God unknown. Not a God apart. Not a God untried. In his present attitude, his covenant relation, his past deeds, in all such facts is "confirmation strong." The God they connect themselves with is a God to trust. His perfections are the strands, and his relation their twining together, in the cord of confidence not quickly broken, which binds the soul to his eternal throne.