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: 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:
The fallen tabernacle is David's royal house and kingdom and dominion, pictured as a ruined tent, and its breaches and ruins are the breach made in the house of Israel. Its raising up is the work of Christ in this gospel dispensation, building a living temple from living people by preaching the everlasting gospel of the kingdom to every nation, kindred, tongue and people, so that the remnant of Edom and all the heathen called by His name may seek the Lord. This was shown at the Jerusalem conference to have been God's purpose from the beginning, to save Gentiles by simple faith and take out from them a people for His name who are adopted into Israel as one fold under one shepherd. In that day is the day when the sinners of God's people are slain and Israel is sifted among all nations, and the rebuilding follows that shaking and the preaching to the Gentiles at the close of the Gentile dispensation. Its completion comes at Christ's coming and the resurrection and restitution, when the faithful of every generation are made immortal and the throne of David is established as Christ's throne in the New Jerusalem in the new heavens and new earth restored to Eden glory.
Prophet's Context and Imagery
Amos was a herdsman and fruit gardener of Tekoa about twelve miles south of Jerusalem, called to go to Bethel and Samaria to prophesy against the idolatry and depravity of the northern kingdom as well as the surrounding nations. He delivered his message during the reign of Jeroboam II just after his great successes, when prosperity had brought luxury for the rich in houses of hewn stone paneled with ivory with feasting and music obtained through violence and robbery, selling of the poor and needy, false weights and measures, corrupt judges, and hatred of the upright. His prophecy was written out after he was expelled from the kingdom on the complaint of Amaziah the priest. Its message teaches that justice between man and man is one of the divine foundations of society, that privilege implies responsibility and failure to recognize responsibility brings sure punishment, that nations and by analogy individuals must live up to the measure of light and knowledge granted them, and that the most elaborate worship is an insult to God when offered by those who will not conform in will and conduct to his requirements.
The fallen tabernacle of David is a figure for David's royal family and its kingdom, house, throne and dominion, pictured as a ruined tent. Its breaches being closed and its ruins rebuilt describe the reestablishment of that rule over restored Israel. Those breaches and ruins are the breach in the house of Israel, where the sinners of Israel are sifted and removed and the breach is filled up by Gentiles taken out to be a people for his name.
David means his seed or heir, David's greater Son, Christ, who is raised up to rule over restored Israel. The rebuilding of Jerusalem and David's throne will not gather the perished brick, stone, timber and material of old, but will use different hands and new and more glorious material. Yet it remains the same city and throne because God builds it for the same purpose and gives it to David's seed, standing in the same place over the same promised land ruled by the same line of kings in David's posterity, the same house of Jacob and people of Israel.
Gospel Gathering of Nations
The fallen house of David is raised when God builds a people for his name out of the Gentiles, gathering them from every nation and kindred and tongue and people through the preaching of the everlasting gospel of the kingdom throughout the world. The house or tabernacle is a people, and its rebuilding is the building of a living temple from living people, a ruined tent restored so that Gentiles may seek the Lord and become part of his people. In Acts 15 this restoration is joined to God taking a people for his name from among the Gentiles, so that the remnant of Edom and the rest of humanity and all the heathen called by his name may seek him.
James brought this prophecy forward at the Jerusalem conference as authority for preaching the gospel to the Gentiles. The salvation of the Gentiles was part of God's plan from the beginning, and he was willing to save them through simple faith, as shown when he blessed their work and poured out his Spirit upon them.
God rebuilds by visiting the Gentiles to take out of them a people for his name, who drop that name and are adopted and brought into Israel. Jews who seek the Lord and Gentiles who come to him belong to one fold under one shepherd, gathered from every nation not according to birth or lineage, with Christ reigning over this everlasting kingdom. The sinners of Israel are sifted and removed, and the breach in the house of Israel is filled up by Gentiles, so that through Israel's fall salvation comes to the Gentiles and God's purpose from the beginning is fulfilled.
This gathering completes the number of the kingdom's subjects, and all Israel being saved means the complete Israel of God made up when the gathering from the Gentiles is finished. Literal Israel judged themselves unworthy of being the light of the world, and God then took out of the Gentiles a people for himself until that complete number is gathered in. David's throne was the throne of the Lord in the dominion usurped by Satan, overturned when wicked Zedekiah, the last king to sit on it, was removed, to be re-established when he whose right it is sits upon it.
The raising up is the work of Christ in this gospel dispensation, especially the spread of the gospel among the Gentiles. It embraces the whole gospel work from its inception to its completion, from the presentation of David's son to the Jews, to the gathering of the true seed out of all nations, to the giving to Christ of the throne of his father David, to the destruction of the nations under the seventh trumpet, and to the establishment of his kingdom under the whole heavens. David means his seed or heir, David's greater Son, Christ, since the promise to seek David their king could not be fulfilled literally before Christ because David was dead. It is not an unfulfilled promise requiring a special future work for the Jews in a coming age, nor does it teach a return of the Jews as such or the conversion of the world.
This work of gathering calls for consecrated service to carry the message to the world, preparing the way for the Lord's coming and removing the reproach caused by delay. The restoration promised for that day, after the sifting of true Israel among all nations without losing one grain and after the slaying by the sword of all the sinners of his people who say evil will not overtake them, is the sealing of the law and the binding of the testimony to prepare the righteous. That prepared people possess the remnant of Edom and all the heathen called by the Lord's name, and the same work shows that one called Christian can still be a heathen in God's sight if his faith holds heathen doctrines and error and lacks the testimony of Jesus.
Timing and Final Restoration
In that day is the day when all the sinners among God's people who say evil will not overtake them are slain by the sword. It is identified with the time of Israel's sifting among all nations and the shaking and separating of the church like chaff from wheat, so that the restored community is pure. In that dispersion and trial the faithful are not lost, though not one grain is lost, while the sinners perish.
The closing chapters to which the promise belongs refer to the last days and to restoration under Christ. The rebuilding follows a time of calamity and belongs to the time of restoration, linked with God saving His people in the last days. Its promise of salvation for God's people applies also to last-day conditions.
The promises to Israel and the land of Israel are fulfilled to living Israel at the commencement and beginning of the day of the Lord, before the resurrection of the just. This restoration occurs together with the gathering and deliverance of living Israel and the outpouring of God's Spirit on the living saints just before the resurrection of the just. The gathering includes literal Israel delivered in Jerusalem at the battle of the great day of the Lord, as well as God's living saints and people in every nation, who are later redeemed with the righteous dead at Christ's second appearing.
The rebuilding follows the preaching of the gospel to the Gentiles and takes place at the close of the Gentile dispensation, after the period in which the church is gathered from among the Gentiles. The kingdom is temporarily in abeyance after the Jews reject Jesus, and the church serves during this interval. When Jesus returns, the fallen kingdom is restored and established.
The raising is in the day of the resurrection, Christ's coming, and the restitution, by restoring the pious of Israel to an immortal, incorruptible state. Because the promise concerns the faithful of every generation, it is fulfilled when the pious dead are raised to everlasting life, with faithful Jews alive at Christ's coming sharing in it by translation, while unconverted Jews are not included. It is a permanent restoration of the pious to their land, in which the family of David will reign over the converted people of all nations, who become subjects and heirs of the Son of David.
The restoration is placed in the time of the new heavens and new earth, understood as Christ's reign of righteousness on the renewed earth in the first dominion's Eden-like beauty and freedom from sin. The throne is Christ's throne in the capital of His kingdom in the new earth, the New Jerusalem, fulfilled when the earth is redeemed from the curse and brought back to Eden glory and the saints are established in the new earth. The rebuilding will not gather the perished brick, stone, timber and material of old Jerusalem and the old throne, but will use different hands and new and more glorious material, yet it remains the same city and throne because God builds it for the same purpose and gives it to David's seed, standing in the same place over the same promised land, ruled by the same line of kings in David's posterity, the same house of Jacob and people of Israel.
The restoration is linked to the antitype of the ancient tabernacle. The heavenly High Priest comes from within the veil, gathers His royal priesthood, and restores David's tabernacle. Zion and Jerusalem witness the fulfillment of the ancient types.