- The Explore the Bible lesson for Sept. 25 focuses on Amos 9:5-15.
After a series of oracles, sermons and visions of the Lord speaking through the prophet, God now speaks directly. Amos says he saw the Lord standing by the altar (9:1), but the spokesman does not open his mouth beyond this. Standing in that religious place, the Lord speaks a direct word to his people, and it is ultimately a word of hope.
These are the last words spoken in Amos. The Lord has spoken through his prophet to tell the people (in specific detail) what their sins against the Lord are. The desire was always to call God’s people back to him. Repentance is the means to turn a wayward people back to their God. The people have been told of their lack of obedience to God and his ways, and now, after all the rebukes, the Lord promises a time of hope for those who are repentant.
Before God’s final word of a future hope, he begins with a word about who he is. He is described with words of action. God “touches the earth and it melts” (9:5). He “builds his lofty palace in the heavens and sets its foundation on the earth” (9:6a). The Lord “calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out over the face of the land” (9:6b). God builds, sets, calls and pours.
God is an acting God over all creation. The one whose name is the LORD is the one who creates and remains the Lord over his creation (9:6). Israel has been called out for their attempts to silence the voice of God and ignore his decrees. This is their reminder that the Lord is far too powerful to be silenced and ignored.
Also before God speaks a final word of hope, he first has to remind the people of an essential truth: their unique calling does not excuse them from just punishment for their sins. Covenant does not mean impunity from legitimate divine rebuke.
The Lord is powerful and will not tolerate the injustice and idolatry arising from the arrogance of his people. God wants better for his creatures. He will shake out the sinful like shaking a grain sieve. Not a pebble will fall to the ground (5:8-10). Yet, the grain will fall, and the Lord will restore it. There will be a remnant.
Offering a word of hope
Here, abruptly, the Lord shifts to a word of hope. Much of Amos looks to the future, but often that future speaks of coming judgment. Here, the final word, speaks to coming hope.
Similar to before, the Lord’s uses active verbs to describe the future. God will “restore…repair…rebuild” (5:11). The future of the remnant is in the hands of God, and he is working to renew.
The future, in fact, is so bright the harvesters will not be able to keep up with the bounty. Whether this is meant to be literal or figurative, the message is the same: the future will be one full of blessing. Verse 14 describes the actions of those reaping the blessing of God: rebuilt, plant, eat and drink. The hope is in God’s hands and the blessings are for the remnant. The book ends with a final note of promise: “‘I will firmly plant them there in their own land. They will never again be uprooted from the land I have given them,’ says the Lord your God.” The future God says he is preparing is a sure one.
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The hope in Amos comes at the end of what otherwise,seems only a harsh book. In Amos, there is judgment after judgment, call to repent after call to repent. Only in the final five verses is there promise of a time when God will renew.
Repentance today holds promise of future hope
The book of Amos reminds us that in the Lord, the call to repent is linked to God’s promises of hope. Repentance for today holds the promises of hope for the future.
God can do whatever he wants. He can change the hearts of minds of who he pleases, but God chooses to give us choice—autonomy. Amos calls Israel to repent and return to the Lord. Out of the repentant remnant will come a promised future full of hope, blessing and life.
Preaching a message to repent from sin and return to the Lord can seem far too harsh a call for many a preacher (I admit I have struggled with how to speak about repentance). Yet, Amos reminds us that the purpose of repentance is to return to the Lord, and in the Lord, there is hope.
Hope is the final world. With God, it always is. Hope comes to those who have repented with true hearts and have returned to their God, who is always ultimately turning toward them. We have to choose whether we will turn toward the hopes of God, though. We have to choose whether we will repent from what holds us in death and return to a God who promises life, blessings and hope. This is not just a one-time choice at the moment of our baptism. Cornelius Plantinga says, “Recalling and confessing our sin is like taking out the garbage: once is not enough” (Plantinga, Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin). Hope is always in view for those willing to turn from what holds them in death and return to the Lord of life.
Maddie Rarick is pastor of Meadow Oaks Baptist Church in Temple, Texas.
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