Amo 9:14-15 | KingComments | STEP | But what is all the abundance worth if there are no people to enjoy it? God has a supply of blessing just for His people. A land without people is dead. A people determines the land. God’s people live in God’s land. Once God has restored the captivity of His people, it means that His people are no longer in the foreign land, where God has led them because of their unfaithfulness, but that He has brought a change in their captivity. He has brought them back to their own land, the land He promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their offspring. Through their own sins they have been driven out. Through God’s grace and the work of Jesus Christ, their Messiah, they are brought back into it. With Him at their head ( ) they will rebuild their cities and live in them without anyone frightening them. With Him at their head, they will plant vineyards and enjoy undisturbed joy, of which the wine is a picture. With Him at their head, they will eat all the fruits that their orchards will produce, without fear that others will eat them ( ). The people will be able to enjoy the results of their labor in undisturbed peace, without fear of punishment (cf. ). There will be an abundance of mouths to consume the abundance of fruit.

‏ Amos 9:14-15

The People Enjoy the Blessing

But what is all the abundance worth if there are no people to enjoy it? God has a supply of blessing just for His people. A land without people is dead. A people determines the land. God’s people live in God’s land. Once God has restored the captivity of His people, it means that His people are no longer in the foreign land, where God has led them because of their unfaithfulness, but that He has brought a change in their captivity.

He has brought them back to their own land, the land He promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their offspring. Through their own sins they have been driven out. Through God’s grace and the work of Jesus Christ, their Messiah, they are brought back into it.

With Him at their head (Hos 1:11) they will rebuild their cities and live in them without anyone frightening them. With Him at their head, they will plant vineyards and enjoy undisturbed joy, of which the wine is a picture. With Him at their head, they will eat all the fruits that their orchards will produce, without fear that others will eat them (Deu 28:33).

The people will be able to enjoy the results of their labor in undisturbed peace, without fear of punishment (cf. Amos 5:11). There will be an abundance of mouths to consume the abundance of fruit.

Blessing Forever

The blessing they will then enjoy will last forever. It is not possible to see its fulfillment in the time after exile when a remnant returned from Babylon. It is also not possible to see these things being fulfilled in the course of the history of the Christian church with the fullness of the nations as the final fulfilment.

Israel has been driven out of its land many times in the course of the centuries. But under the reign of the Messiah that time is gone forever. God Himself will plant His people in His land. And if He plants and nurtures, who will tear them away?

Amos began his prophecy with weeping shepherds and a withered Carmel. He concludes his prophecy with a scene full of joy and fertility. The glory of that time will be so great that all suffering will be gone and forgotten. Then the word of Isaiah is fulfilled: “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former things will not be remembered or come to mind” (Isa 65:17).