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"As grain is sifted in a sieve"

Text: Amos 9:9

KEEPING THE PROMISE OF NOT DESTROYING ISRAEL COMPLETELY

The Lord went on to reveal and to explain how He was going to ensure that Israel would survive the judgment that had been issued.

“For surely I will command,
And will sift the house of Israel among all nations,
As grain is sifted in a sieve;
Yet not the smallest grain shall fall to the ground.
All the sinners of My people shall die by the sword,
Who say, ‘The calamity shall not overtake nor confront us.'”
Amos 9:9-10

1. “For surely I will command”

a) What God would do next was intimated.

b) This was a definite plan of the Lord.

c) This plan would be as His “command”.

2. “And will sift the house of Israel among all nations”

a) The imagery of a sieve was employed.

b) The function of a sieve:

i) As a sorting device.

ii) To separate the grain from the chaff.

c) A fine sieve

Not even the smallest grain would fall out and be lost.

d) God would watch over every faithful child of His.

i) They may suffer exile.

ii) But God will protect and preserve them.

3. “All the sinners of My people shall die by the sword”

a) “My people” would be a synonym to describe the nation of Israel in general.

b) But some of these “people of Israel” were wicked and unrepentant sinners.

c) They would suffer the fate of the wicked and will thus perish.

4. Identification of these sinful people

a) They reject God’s word of judgment.

b) They reject the word that God had given… that calamity would come to the nation.

c) They reject the idea of God punishing the nation with a severe calamity.