When studying prophetic scripture common sense will not aid with the understanding. Whenever possible, one must...
1. know if there is further revelation on this subject. (especially if the prophecy is in the Old Testament)
and
2. whenever possible, let the further revelation define the words of the prophesy
So here is the passage above starting at verse 11
11 “On that day I will raise up The tabernacle of David, which has fallen down, And repair its damages; I will raise up its ruins, And rebuild it as in the days of old; 12 That they may possess the remnant of Edom, And all the Gentiles who are called by My name,” Says the Lord who does this thing. 13 “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “When the plowman shall overtake the reaper, And the treader of grapes him who sows seed; The mountains shall drip with sweet wine, And all the hills shall flow with it. 14 I will bring back the captives of My people Israel; They shall build the waste cities and inhabit them; They shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them; They shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them. 15 I will plant them in their land, And no longer shall they be pulled up From the land I have given them,” Says the Lord your God."
At the time this was written the "tabernacle of David" was understood to be a temporary tent erected by King David on Mount Zion to house the Ark of the Covenant. The reference is here:
LINK
***Hard Stop***
Let me go a different way. I realized this would require several pages of scripture and explanation. For those with a bias it would be lost on them. So I am going to pick out the main themes of the passage and set them in their proper place according to the revelation provided in the New Testament.
Tabernacle of David: This housed the Ark of the Covenant. In the tabernacle, David, a king, performed the duties of a priest by offering the (among others) the
fellowship offering. Here in Jewish history is a
Kingly Priest who is actually David. So what is being rebuilt and repaired is:
1. the testament of God's covenant with the people
2. the administration of a royal priesthood
3. the inclusion of the Gentiles within this covenant and administration ("
And all the Gentiles who are called by My name...)
We should recognize this as the appearing of Jesus: He was of the
line of David and the
High Priest of the Melchizedek order (not Levi or Moses).
Levi and Moses represented
the people before God.
Jesus and Melchizedek represented
God before the people.
It's this
royal, priestly administration that Jesus came to restore NOT the priests that were created at Sinai through the Law.
This was a priesthood that represented God to the people and Jesus came to show us exactly that: the Father.
The "
remnant of Edom" should be understood to be all of humanity or all of creation.
This is a global administration.
Let's move forward.
The way that "
the plowman shall overtake the reaper" is when the reaper is bogged down by the abundance of grain that the plowman overtakes the reaper.
This hearkens back to God's promise in Joshua (Joshua or
Yehoshua in the Hebrew is the name "Jesus" in the Old Testament) , hundreds of years before Amos was written:
"I have given you a land for which you did not labor, and cities which you did not build, and you dwell in them; you eat of the vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.’"
This land of promise and the cites of promise are because of the abundance of Gentile believers.
In the kingdom of God, riches come into the throne room when those who were once NOT God's people (only those of promise are God's people) come to God. God doesn't let them win the lottery or give them insider trading information to amass wealth. No, He compounds the gains by gaining people unto himself. For example here:
All Kedar’s flocks will be gathered to you,
the rams of Nebaioth will serve you;
they will be accepted as offerings on my altar,
and I will adorn my glorious temple.
Here, the first and second born of Ishmael, the Arabs, will be gathered to God. Largely, the Arabs are currently under the demonic rule of Islam yet it is prophesied that they will abandon their demonic god and turn to the Lord. When that happens all their riches (not just gold and silver but mostly their uniqueness in the Body of Christ) will benefit the whole house of God.
Let's move forward.
Sweet wine is understood to be new wine. New wine is typically sweeter. This is understood to be an increased harvest. Certainly, if that harvest occurs over the whole earth then multitudes no one could count would be included in the sweet wine.
"My people" should be understood to be "people of promise". Abraham (and his seed) are the inheritors of the world:
In Romans we read
"It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith."
The priestly administration that
secured the world for Abraham and his seed (
meaning One Seed who is Christ Galatians 3:16, again going back to the tabernacle that is restored, a royal priesthood) is Melchizedek. This occurred 430 years before the law was given at Sinai. So, we are dealing with the people of Promise Israel NOT the people of natural DNA Israel. AS Paul wrote:
"For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, “In Isaac your seed shall be called.” That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed."
The children of promise are
all who are contained in Christ, the High priest of the line of royal priests, the order of Melchizedek.
This is the covenant that is being restored in the passage. Therefore, the lands that are given to them, the cities that are restored, are
found in the whole earth. This is how complete the administration of Christ is: it covers the whole earth, a global kingdom.
To no longer be able to be uprooted requires the new earth.
Otherwise, God would undo, by His own hand, what He accomplished when the old heaven and old earth pass away:
This is in Revelation:
"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away..."
This is just a little ways further in the same passage: "
“Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God."
We have come full circle back to the tabernacle of David, when God is in us and we are in Him... the fulfillment of the Jesus' prayer, our High Priest:
"...that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me."
In Him,
there is no Jew or Gentile. He is a New Man, having become One from the two. That's what we know from Paul's letter to the Ephesians:
"..so as to create in Himself one new man from the two (Jew and Gentile)
, thus making peace, 16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross..."
Amen
