THE TIMES OF REVIVAL (Amos 9:11) On Thursday morning from Christian Institute I received the Scottish update that contains matters relating to Scotland under parliamentary discussion in Edinburgh and in London. I would like you to read it for it contains articles that ought to you need to be aware of. Sometimes Christians are accused of scaremongering and being at odds with reality. What if I was to tell you 1. that possession and the use of the drug cannabis no longer carries with it the punishment that would have been handed out this time last year. 2. that in the Lord s Third Reading on Tuesday that three religious Anglican bishops (The Rt Revd the Lord Bishop of Manchester, The Rt Revd the Lord Bishop of Newcastle, and The Rt Revd the Lord Bishop of Worcester) voted in favour of allowing someone who was born as a man and who decided they felt more like a woman what if I was to tell you that those three Bishops voted to accept the full implementation of the Gender Recognition Bill so that a male born a male could change his sex to female if he believed himself to be so re-orientated. The Bill was accepted by a vote of 149 to 144. 3. that a police force in England threatened to prosecute another Anglican Bishop of Chester, Rt. Rev. Dr. Peter Forster for maintaining that homosexuals can and ought to reorientate to heterosexuality. He made a further comment that caused offence, I am about giving honour to marriage. 4. that homosexuals will soon be afforded the privilege of being able to marry and hold all the rights of a proper married couple. A Government committee has proposed that official forms should no longer ask for your marital status ; instead, you should be asked for your civil status. And this is not all! Read the publication to discover, - and check up for yourselves, - what is being done and proposed in our corridors of power.
D.G. 2 It was at the hour of prayer, - 3 p.m., - and Peter and John went up together to the temple in Jerusalem. They were walking through a part of the city where the sick and the poor congregated hoping to prey on the faithful as they made their way into the temple, Give us alms. Give to us what you can afford. Pity us drop something into our baskets. One of them in particular, - a lame man, - caught the disciples attention, Acts 3:6 Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. 7 And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. 8 And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God. The disciples had caught the attention of all those people round that Gate called Beautiful and they took the opportunity for evangelism; Peter began to speak to them all about the salvation in Jesus Christ alone. He told them v.14 ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; 15 And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead. You see, they had denied the claims of Christ to be the perfect Son of God and they had rebelliously shut Him out of their society. Even in the midst of such depths of social depravity the Word of God came mightily upon that city of old Jerusalem, v. 19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing [Revival!] shall come from the presence of the Lord. What happened as a consequence? 4:4 many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand. Don t you see the order? The Preaching of the Word of God Repentance, Revival. Last week we were looking at the sieve (9:9) and seeing how the wheat and the chaff would be separated and how God had promised the salvation of His Elect, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth, while on the other hand, v.10 All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword. What is Amos saying in these last few verses? How is the Lord speaking to him and through him? What has God to say to His people today through this old message spoken 750 years before the birth of Christ? I want at it from these three perspectives: (1) The Day of Revival Prophesied; (2) The Purpose of the Day of Revival; (3) The Promises concerning the Day of Revival.
D.G. 3 THE DAY OF REVIVAL PROPHESIED 11 In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old. God s promises are always fulfilled! Regardless of the obstacles, regardless of the people s stubbornness, regardless of the might and power of the forces that stand in vast array against Him God s promises are always fulfilled! Jesus said, - and it is a Divine principle that never shall they be undermined, - Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled (Mt. 5:18). In earlier days the children of Israel had entered into the land of Caanan which was tremendously fertile Dt. 8:7 For the LORD thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; 8 A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey; 9 A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass. 10 When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the LORD thy God for the good land which he hath given thee. God had blessed these people and had honoured them by placing them in the land of plenty. They were the envy of their neighbours. Their neighbours came and lived within their borders but sadly this contributed to the falling away of God s people because in next-to-no-time they began to forget that all the goodness and all their pleasant living was given to them out of the hand of God. Spiritually they had become a dry desert where nothing of any spiritual worth could grow. God would come along with the watering pots that were Jeremiah, Hosea, Isaiah, Amos and all the other faithful prophets and with them He would sprinkle His words over the land but the ground was so hard; Jer. 6:19 Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it. It was like the seed fallen from the sower s hand on to the wayside. But even in the midst of such a spiritual dryness/drought God s promises still stand! They had forgotten but He had not forgotten.
D.G. 4 Through Amos and the prophets God promised, Amos 9:11 In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old. and God s reputation was built upon keeping His Word! The tabernacle of David you remember how the tabernacle had been stolen by the Philistines in Shiloh (I Sam. 4). Eli s sons Hophni and Phinehas were there with the ark of the covenant. They were two rascals of the worst calibre and where you find leaders professing the authority of God acting in complete disobedience to the God they claim to serve you always find a people who are confused and away from the Lord. That was how it was in these days. And in v.11 Eli s two sons were killed. A messenger from the army ran to tell old Eli and the Bible tells us v.13 his heart trembled for the ark of God. It was enough to kill the old man, v.17 Israel is fled before the Philistines, and there hath been also a great slaughter among the people, and thy two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God is taken. Now you need to go away over to II Sam 5. For years the ark of the Tabernacle of God remained in the hands of the enemy until David and the armies of Israel went up against the Philistines in the valley of Rephaim and God told him, II Sam. 5: 24 when thou hearest the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees, that then thou shalt bestir thyself: for then shall the LORD go out before thee, to smite the host of the Philistines. So David went a won a great victory over the enemy of the people of God and he brought the Tabernacle to Jerusalem amidst great rejoicing; it became known as the tabernacle of David (II Sam. 6:17) and by the bringing up of that tabernacle to the city of Jerusalem it demonstrated God s power and God s favour upon His own beloved people. The tabernacle of David stood for rejoicing in victory because it was the entrance in again of God s presence among His chosen children of Israel. Turn to Is. 16:5 And in mercy shall the throne be established: and he shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging, and seeking judgment, and hasting righteousness. What a tremendous promise that is here being prophesied!
D.G. 5 By now the tabernacle of David had taken upon itself much more than simply a wooden structure, - it was a place of God s Divine authority. It s the place of God s mercy; it is the place of God s Sovereignty; it is the place of God s Truthfulness; it is the place of God s judgement and it is the place of God s righteousness. Do you see what the Word is saying? To the remnant of God s chosen people God s promises are made with the tabernacle of David in His mind! When you come to Amos 9:11 this is the same great Day of Revival that is being prophesied by God s servant and it is not with reference to a wooden structure sitting at the front of the Jewish Temple, - it means much more than that! This is God at work, I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen. This is a work of God and His grace upon a people totally undeserving and unworthy. When He mentioned the tabernacle of David they would have thought of the Tabernacle in Jerusalem but it was more than that. God promised, I will close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old. God says, I am going to undo all the mess that man has made and how did He do that? Through another Amos, or Isaiah, or Malachi, or John the Baptist? Turn over to Acts 15. When the apostles and elders met in the first great Council of the Church at Jerusalem James stood up in front of them all and proclaimed, v.14 Simeon (i.e. Simon Peter) hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name. 15 And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written, 16 After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up: 17 That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things. 18 Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world. So what is this tabernacle the Bible keeps referring to? John gives you the answer so clearly, Jn. 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
D.G. 6 John says, He tabernacled among us; Who is the He? It s Jesus He is the fulfilment of all the Old prophecies. Yes, God prophesied He was going to raise up out of the ashes of the nation of Israel a Tabernacle to His glory, - not an earthly Tabernacle made by human hands... but a Tabernacle from out of the splendour of Heaven s glory. Yes, this was the tabernacle of David but not how any priest or theologian or scribe or Pharisee could ever have imagined it. This was about Jesus! The New Testament begins, Mt. 1:1 The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David. This v.11 is a prophecy that, - whatever else it may point to, - ultimately points to the Lord Jesus Christ Who is in every form the fulfilment of that prophecy when God said, In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David. The writer to the Hebrews saw it also, 8:1 We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; 2 A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle. 9:11 Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle. In the penultimate chapter of the Bible we again have the same language, Rev. 21:3 I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. 4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. You see, it becomes so clear what God was prophesying even as far back as the Prophet Amos. God s Word is sure. God s Word is specific. God s Word can never be altered. His ways and His plan are from everlasting. What He promises He always brings to pass. He promised His Son and even before the foundation of this world and all the worlds not even yet discovered, He planned and He promised salvation unto His people. He honoured and kept that promise and His Son being born into a stable in Bethlehem was as much part of that promise as when His Son died on the cross of Calvary... for even when the angels appeared to the shepherds He was already a Saviour, Lk. 2:11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
D.G. 7 CONCLUSION Do you know this Saviour? Do you love Him as your Master and your Lord? Is He tabernacling /living within you? Has he possessed you and you are His possession? I thought we might have finished the prophecy of Amos this morning, but the picture here is too beautiful and too significant to rush; have you seen it? Have you been looking? Do you see Christ here? This same Lord Jesus Heb. 9:12 by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. The day of revival prophesied when God spoke through His servant, In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old.