“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed; the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it. I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant them on their land, and they shall never again be uprooted out of the land that I have given them,” says the Lord your God.
– Amos 9:13–15
Thus the book of Amos ends with this promise in Amos 9:13–15, “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will restore you to your land; I will bless you in your land; I will plant you in this land, and you will never again be uprooted out of the land that I’ve given you.” What a promise this book where we see from the very beginning stark, sober, serious pictures of God’s judgment upon his people for their sin, and yet, in the end, we have a promise of a restoration, of redemption, of blessing. Oh, the goodness of God towards sinners who deserve his judgment and he leaves them with the promise of blessing.
Amos 9:13–15 Reminds Us We Will Be With God for All Eternity
Those who trust in God will spend eternity enjoying God and his people.
Isn’t this good news for all of God’s people? I step back, see the overarching storyline of the Bible, a world full of sinners, including you and me. When we trust in God specifically and replace our faith and trust in Jesus as savior and Lord of our lives in a world where there’s so much evil and suffering, we know that in the end, blessing awaits like full and final and eternal blessing.
The imagery here is like imagery we see in Revelation describing heaven. Eternity with God in his presence. It is free from sorrow and suffering. Also, it is free from sickness and sin. We will be free to enjoy God and one another perfectly. This is the promise God gives to all of his people who trust in him.
Amos 9:13–15 Leads Us to Praise God
So God, we praise you for your promise and we praise you in anticipation of its fulfillment. We long for the day when there will be no more sin. We long for a day with no more sorrow and no more suffering. You will wipe away every tear from our eyes. And everything will be perfect. Our relationship with you, our relationship with each other, our relationship with the world around us in a new creation, new heaven and new earth. Oh God, bring it about we pray.
Come Lord Jesus, come quickly we pray and help us, help us until that day. As long as you tarry to faithfully walk with you, to trust in you, to turn from sin today and every day, to walk in holiness with you, and God to lead other people to you that other people might enjoy you in this way forever, that other people might know your promise and have this hope. God, please make us active in sharing our faith, sharing the gospel that people might be saved.
Amos 9:13–15 Pray for the Unreached
God, we pray for this right around us. We continue to pray for this all around the world, for the Northern Uzbek people in Kazakhstan, half a million of them, no followers of Jesus. God, we know you sent Jesus to die on the cross for every nation, including the Uzbeks and Kazakhstan. So God cause your grace and your glory to spread in Kazakhstan among all the people groups there. Let it spread among the Northern Uzbek people that they might gather with us around your throne in paradise, in heaven. Help them to enjoy you forever and ever and ever. Cause the gospel to go to them. God cause disciples we made in churches to be planted and multiplied among the Northern Uzbek and Kazakhstan, we pray.
We look forward to that day when every nation and every tribe and every tongue and every people group in the world will gather around your throne and enjoy your presence. We will live forever with you. Come on Jesus, come quickly. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done we pray, on earth as it is in heaven. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
