Age of Grace First, Then the Millenium

 

As we reach the final chapter of Amos, we cannot help but be struck by how relevant his prophecies sound to our generation. We have journeyed through this remarkable book and encountered a series of solemn warnings from God. Five major warnings stand out overall.

 

  • The first concerns foreign interference in Israel and the judgment that will ultimately come upon the nations that oppose God’s purposes for His people. This is how Amos begins his prophecy in chapters 1 and 2.

 

  • The second warning concerns dangers from within: religious corruption and the influence of men who claim to speak for God even though God has not sent them. Amos addressed this in chapters 3-5.

 

  • The third warning is the inevitable consequence of turning away from God, including the dispersion, the Diaspora, and the rise of antisemitism, as the nation of Israel is handed over to the nations. This is seen in chapters 6-9.

 

  • The fourth warning, the great conflict of Armageddon, concerns the final outworking of this hostility against God’s people and against all that pertains to God. While we see this throughout the book, chapter 9 emphasizes it.

 

  • Finally, the fifth warning, at the same time the most blessed promise, is the return of Yeshua to the earth to establish His Kingdom and restore the Davidic throne. This is how Amos ends his book. Even this is a warning, for it reminds us that the present world order will not continue indefinitely; the King Himself is coming to judge the earth.

 

Humanly speaking, a prophecy about the establishment of the Davidic throne seems almost impossible. As we look at the turmoil in our world, the hostility toward Israel, and the growing instability among the nations, we may wonder how such a glorious future could ever come to pass. Yet what is impossible for man is certain for God.

 

Listen to the glorious promise of Amos 9:11: “In that day I will raise up the fallen booth of David, and wall up its breaches; I will also raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old.”

This is God’s promise that Israel will not only survive, but also will be fully restored as a nation. More than that, it is a promise that God will fulfill the covenant He made with David concerning the Messiah and His Kingdom.

 

Reading the Scriptures, you may have noticed that many promises given to Israel remain unfulfilled. Take, for example, the promise concerning the land. God promised Abraham and his descendants a land extending “from the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates” (Gen. 15:18). Israel has never yet permanently possessed all of this territory. The biblical boundaries extend far beyond the land from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. Today, when we hear the slogan “From the river to the sea,” believers should remember God’s own promise: “from river to river.” God has not forgotten His covenant.

 

Another promise awaiting its full fulfillment is the Davidic Covenant, to which Amos now points us. What does this covenant teach us?

 

  • First, it tells us that Yeshua will return. Before establishing His Kingdom, He will gather the Jewish people from the four corners of the earth and bring them back to their land.

 

  • Second, He will restore the fallen Tabernacle, or throne, of David. From Jerusalem, a Son of David, Yeshua Himself, will reign over the Messianic Kingdom.

 

  • Third, the nations of the world will turn to the God of Israel. The Gentiles who enter the Messianic Age will regularly come to Jerusalem to worship the Lord, as Isaiah prophesied in chapters 2, 11, 40, and 66. What a blessed time that will be!

 

While Amos gives us this glorious prophecy about the restoration of David’s fallen kingdom, another New Testament prophet adds a crucial element about its timing and helps us better understand it.

 

The other prophet is James, the half-brother of Yeshua and leader of the congregation in Jerusalem.  The prophecy in Amos 9:11 is so important that James cites it at the first great council of the Body of Messiah, the Jerusalem Council, recorded in Acts 15.

 

Why and how did James cite Amos? If we understand this, we will have a much clearer understanding of the roles of Israel and the church. At that time, the Jewish believers were struggling to understand why so many Gentiles were coming to faith in Yeshua. This may sound strange to many Christians today, but the early congregation was entirely Jewish at the beginning. In the first chapters of Acts, there were no Gentile believers at all. This was a continuation of Israel’s history.

 

However, as Gentiles began entering the congregation in large numbers, significant questions arose. Many Jewish believers, particularly those from the Pharisees’ party, insisted that Gentile believers be circumcised and keep the Mosaic Law to be fully accepted into the community of faith.

 

To resolve this issue, a council was convened in Jerusalem. Present were some of the leaders of the early congregation: Peter, Paul, John, and James. James, the leader of the Jerusalem congregation, spoke last, and what he said is remarkable. From Acts 15:15-17, we read, “With this the words of the Prophets agree, just as it is written, After these things I will return, and I will rebuild the tabernacle of David which has fallen, and I will rebuild its ruins, and I will restore it, so that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by My name.

 

Notice first that James says, “the words of the Prophets agree.” For James, the prophets spoke with one voice. Each prophet contributed another piece to the prophetic puzzle, but together they proclaimed a unified message from God. However, James also introduces a significant chronological detail that helps us understand the times we live in. This is important. Look carefully at what Amos says, “In that day I will raise up the fallen sukkah of David.”

 

But then see what James adds, After these things I will return. For Amos, In that day meant after the Tribulation, yet James changes the wording to after these things. Why this difference and what are these things that James is referring to?

 

By the time we reach James, one more element was added to the outworking of God’s plan. There was a new lapse of time, a mystery of time, that allowed the remnant of the Gentiles to join the congregations, the remnant of Israel. For Amos and the Hebrew Scripture prophets, as soon as the Messiah comes, dies, and is resurrected, the Throne of David is reestablished. However, when the Messiah came, died, and rose, another period of time was added for Gentiles to come to believe (the Church Age), and this period has lasted about 2000 years so far.

 

James, inspired by the Holy Spirit, points to this new era so that new Jewish believers can understand why so many Gentiles came to their congregations.

 

Throughout much of church history, many Christian interpreters understood Amos’s prophecy of the restoration of David’s kingdom as spiritually fulfilled in Christ’s first coming and applied to the Church. James and Paul, however, point to a future fulfillment: in this present age, God is gathering Gentiles, but after the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, the Messiah will return to restore Israel, fulfill God’s covenant promises, and establish the Davidic Kingdom on earth. We are not yet in the Millennium, and the Jewish people continue to play a central role in biblical prophecy. In fact, Paul warns Gentile believers not to become arrogant toward Israel but to recognize God’s ongoing purposes for the Jewish people.

 

 

 

Go to the video  –  The Book of Amos Part 9 – the Restoration of the David’s Kingdom