“I will give one tribe to his son so that David my servant may always have a lamp before me in Jerusalem, the city where I chose to put my Name.”
1 Kings 11:36 (NIV)
This chapter of 1 Kings 11 lays out the situation by which the tent of David could be described by Amos as “fallen”. Verse 14 thru 22 seem to also explain how Edom could be described as a “remnant” by Amos. The northern kingdom of Israel under Jeroboam 2, to which Amos was sent as a prophet, was prosperous and militarily strong, and yet it was a shadow of what had been David and Solomon’s kingdom. It is clear from 1 Kings 11 that God is the one who broke David’s shelter, as judgment for the sin of Solomon, and yet it is also clear that God acted with restraint in Solomon’s life “for the sake of His servant David”- how much more does God act with restraint in our lives for the sake of His righteous Servant, our Lord Jesus Christ - praise His Name!
You can see the flickering light of promise in this chapter of judgment and darkness, especially in verse 36, and it is that flickering light of promise that Amos blows into flame with his last few verses. God will restore what has been ruined, He will rebuild, He will establish His people in their land according to His promise.
It is no small thing that Jerusalem is the city in which God choose to put His Name - it is the one place on this entire earth chosen by God to have his manifest Presence dwell with humans. I love to describe our beautiful British Colombia as “God’s country” especially when I meet people who have moved from BC to Ontario - I like to ask them “Why would you leave God’ country to come here?”- a little shudder usually goes through them.
Yes it is true that the whole earth is God’s possession, and that when our Lord comes back the entire earth will rejoice over His manifest Presence with His people.
Yet Jerusalem is the special place, the center of His Presence.
Come Lord Jesus Come.
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