Join us as we conclude the powerful book of Amos. In this episode, renowned Christian radio voice Roy Hanske reads from Amos Chapter 9, offering a vivid recount of visions that capture both divine judgment and promises of restoration. Through these passages, we explore the duality of God’s nature—His unwavering justice and His boundless mercy. Discover why Israel was on the brink of judgment and what promises God extended toward a faithful restoration.
Welcome to AddBible, an audio daily devotion from the Ezra Project. We join Allen J. Huth as he shares Bible passages and comments from over 30 years of his personal Bible reading journals.
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Today we conclude the book of Amos. The final chapter, chapter 9, will be read by our guest reader, Roy Hanske. Roy Hanske has been on Christian radio in Denver since 1985. He is one of our more famous voices in Christian radio here in the Mile High City. So let’s listen to Roy Hanske on Amos, chapter 9.
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Amos chapter 9. I saw the Lord standing by the altar, and he said, Strike the tops of the pillars so that the thresholds shake. Bring them down on the heads of all the people. Those who are left I will kill with the sword. Not one will get away, none will escape. Though they dig down to the depths below, from there my hand will take them. Verse 2. Verse 3. I will keep my eye on them for harm and not for good. The Lord, the Lord Almighty, He touches the earth and it melts, and all who live in it mourn. The whole land rises like the Nile, then sinks like the river of Egypt. He builds His lofty palace in the heavens and sets its foundation on the earth. He calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out over the face of the land. The Lord is His name. Are not you Israelites the same to me as the Cushites, declares the Lord? Did I not bring Israel up from Egypt, the Philistines from Kaphtor, and the Arameans from Kirr? Surely the eyes of the sovereign Lord are on the sinful kingdom. I will destroy it from the face of the earth. Yet I will not totally destroy the descendants of Jacob, declares the Lord. For I will give the command and I will shake the people of Israel among all the nations as grain is shaken in a sieve and not a pebble will reach the ground. All the sinners among my people will die by the sword. All those who say disaster will not overtake or meet us, In that day I will restore David’s fallen shelter, I will repair its broken walls and restore its ruins, and will rebuild it as it used to be, so that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the nations that bear my name, declares the Lord, who will do these things. The days are coming, declares the Lord, when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman and the planter by the one treading grapes. New wine will drip from the mountains and flow from all the hills, and I will bring my people Israel back from exile. They will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine. They will make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them, says the Lord your God.
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We have been using my journals from 1997, 2004, and 2011 to get us through the book of Amos. And today on Chapter 9, I have nothing in my 1997 journal or in my 2004 journal. So let’s look at my 2011 journal. In 2011, I read Amos 7-9 on one day and Revelation chapter 7 as I was reading the whole Bible that year, so Old Testament passages each day and New Testament passages each day. On Amos chapter 9, I wrote one line. We cannot hide from God’s judgment, and I was referring to verses 2-4. Yet He loves us and promises restoration, and I was referring to verses 11-15. Amos chapter 9 is the last vision that Amos saw. It starts with verse 1, I saw the Lord standing beside the altar. Chapters 1 through 6 were oracles of judgment. Chapters 7 through 9 were visions that Amos saw concerning that judgment. Imagine for a moment seeing what Amos saw. He said, I saw the Lord standing beside the altar. What would it really be like to see a vision of the Lord? I’ve written in my journal, we cannot hide from God’s judgment. Let’s look at verses 2 through 4. If they dig into Sheol, from there shall my hand take them. If they climb up to heaven, from there I will bring them down. If they hide themselves on the top of Carmel… From there I will search them out and take them. And if they hide from my sight at the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them. And if they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it shall kill them. And I will fix my eyes upon them for evil and not for good. The Jews of Amos’ day could not hide from the judgment of God, nor can we even this day. When we as a sinful people push God far enough, his judgment is sure and it is comprehensive. Let’s look at verse 8. Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the surface of the ground. For the nation of Israel, there was no escape. But verse 8 continues, “…except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, declares the Lord.” We will come back to the exception in a moment, but let’s continue with the judgment of God in verses 9 and 10. “…for behold, I will command and shake the house of Israel among all the nations, as one shakes with a sieve, but no pebble shall fall to the earth.” All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say disaster shall not overtake or meet us. No one escapes the judgment of God. Amos, like so many other minor prophets, declares the judgment of God. But in every one of these books, there’s a way of escape, as we see in the final closing verses of Amos chapter 9. Through books like Amos, we may learn that God is certainly a God of judgment. He can fix his eyes upon people for evil and not for good. We don’t like to think of God that way. But we should, because he is the same yesterday, today, and forever. But in every one of the minor prophet books, there is restoration because of God’s love, his grace, and his mercy. Verses 11 through 15 declare the love, the mercy, and the grace of God here in Amos 9. We’ll close our thoughts on chapter 9 with verses 14 and 15. After all this judgment, God says, 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 their gardens and eat their food. What a promise to a sinful people. God does this because he is a covenant keeper. He’s the one that chose the nation of Israel to be his family. He’s the one that brought them up out of the land of Egypt. He’s the one that gave them the promised land. And He is the one that will promise the restoration of the people on the very land that He gave them. As we read this prophecy thousands of years later, we see its truth. Israel is in the land. That is an amazing testimony of the faithfulness and the promise of God. Nation after nation over the history of the world have tried to destroy the nation of Israel, but it still exists on the very land God gave it this day. To God and God alone be the glory. Let’s summarize the book of Amos. in the first six chapters we saw the oracles of judgment in the last three chapters we’ve seen the visions that amos saw of that judgment at the time of the writing of amos israel was experiencing wealth and prosperity like the days under solomon they attributed their success to god’s blessings but amos points out that wasn’t true they were actually under the curse of god because they disobeyed god’s covenants their worship of god was more like attempts to manipulate him like the pagan religions all around them. How much of this is the same today? Our success, though it belongs to God, we take credit for. The judgments in the prophecy of Amos were profoundly correct. In 722 BC, the northern kingdom of Israel ceased to exist. Though Israel thought God was going to judge their enemies, those nations around them, they did not realize the judgment would come to them. They would actually be held more accountable than the pagan neighbors around them. The applications and the lessons from Amos are profound. History appears to repeat itself. We are like them. We have great success. We give lip service to God, but actually we attribute our own success to ourselves. God is a jealous God. He doesn’t share his glory with anyone, not you or me. He judged his own people then. He will judge his people again today. Unless, unless, unless… We come back to God. Throughout the Minor Prophets, throughout the books of the Old Testament, God continues to call us to return to Him. If we do, He will suspend His judgment and wrap His loving arms around us. Friends, the choice is ours. What will you do after hearing the book of Amos? Will you continue a path of disobedience and disregard? Or will you return to the Lord and experience His love and His blessings? Let’s pray. Father, the warnings in the book of Amos are just another example of your grace. You continually reach out to your people, warning us what you will do if we don’t come around to you. You beg us to listen, and if we listen, we avoid your judgment. If we don’t, you have no choice but to follow through with your justice and your judgment. I, for one, Lord, choose to follow you. And I thank you that I have experienced your blessings, your grace, your love, and your mercy throughout my life. I pray for those listening to Add Bible today. Might they make the same choice to follow you on a consistent basis and enjoy your love, your grace, your mercy, and your blessings. We thank you for the choice you give us. May we choose wisely. Amen. Thanks for listening to AdBible today. I love passages like this because they impact my life. I don’t read for information. I read the Bible for transformation. In other words, I can read or listen to a scripture passage, like it, set it aside, and move on with my day. I got information. The Bible offers so much more. After I read the passage for information, I read it again for transformation. I want to personalize what I read, so I get out my daily Bible reading journal and record my thoughts from the passage. What did I read? What does it mean to me in my life right now? What do I need to do to apply it to my day, my week, my life? After I read the passage a second time and journal, then I pray. What I read ignites my prayer as I pray through the concepts of the passage. After that, I pray for other matters on my daily prayer list. If you want to watch me demonstrate my personal quiet time, visit EzraProject.net and watch the Quiet Time How To video. I know you will enjoy it and want to share it with others.
