Introduction: As winter began to settle in last week, I was having a little fun surfing the web looking for different places to go camping when it turns summer once again. Because we’ll be on sabbatical next summer, and therefore have a little more time than usual, I was casting my search outside of New England and wound up on a website for the Outer Banks of North Carolina. I’ve never been there, which is part of the attraction. It also looks to be an amazing, 125 mile stretch of beaches However, as I looked for campgrounds run by the National Parks Service, I found this statement: “The campground is near the ocean in a flat, sandy area with very little shade. If you tent camp, bring extra-long stakes . . ” Well, the need for extra-long stakes is never a good sign! It implies that there will be some extra-strong forces seeking to blow your tent down! The image of camping a few years ago in Minnesota, on our last sabbatical, and clinging to our tent for dear life when a tornado suddenly whipped through, came to mind and did not bring back good memories!

 

The prophet Amos speaks of a fallen tent, David’s fallen tent, referring to the rule of the shepherd who became king. His reign fell apart with a mighty crash in 930 B.C. Amos then goes on to speak of the restoration that God has in mind for this tent, using wonderful images of a secure and abundant land, with its inhabitants “up to their ears in grape juice!” What I want to think about with you this morning is that when everything might seem as if it’s falling down around us, God is in the process of picking up the pieces and making all things new. To see this, if you’ll allow me to push the image of a tent just a wee bit, I want to look with you at six tent stakes. We’ll first look at the stakes that made up David’s fallen tent, and then we look at the six, extra-long stakes that God used to restore this tent and in the process, bring a word of hope and joy to the world.

 

I. The Six Stakes of David’s Fallen Tent

Now, when I speak about the six stakes in David’s tent, I have in mind the major movements in the OT that lead up to what is the climax of the OT, the reign of David.  

 

1. The first stake represents the account of creation. Creation involves the Spirit of God hovering, and the voice of God saying, “Let there be”… and it was. Genesis 1 conveys the sheer power of God’s word to bring something out of nothing. God just speaks, it is, and it is good.

 

2. The second stake involves the story of Adam and Eve. This stake represents the fact that God uniquely created men and women to be in relationship with him. They were created in his image, and thus they were created for community – with one another, and with God. This stake also reveals how man and woman, though God had given them everything they needed, decided that they needed more, and so they disobeyed God and wandered away from him.

 

3. The third stake has to do with the lives of the Patriarchs, known as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It shows how God chose Abraham and then his descendants, to be made into a special people group, a people who would be as “numerous as the stars in the sky.” Through this people, blessing, and joy, would come to the world. 

 

4. The fourth stake focuses on Moses, and this people who had become known as Israel. Under the leadership of Moses, God rescued this people from slavery in Egypt, gave them his law to direct them in the best way to love him and others, and called them to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. As such, they were to reveal to the world around them the greatness of the God whose name is the LORD.

 

5. The fifth stake stands for David himself. It’s really the climax of the OT, for with the reign of David, all the vital pieces seem to be in place. Israel is in the Promised Land, she has her king, they are enjoying peace, and plans have been laid to have this king’s son – Solomon – build a magnificent temple for the LORD.

 

Then, catastrophe strikes. Everything falls apart. Solomon wanders from the Lord, the kingdom splits apart, foreign powers invade, and Israel goes into exile. She loses her land, her unity, her king, her peace, and as well, it seems, the Presence of God.

 

6. At this point, we can say that there is a sixth stake, to which the tent is clinging as it blows in the breeze. It is the stake of the prophets, who call Israel to reform and who speak both a word of judgment and a word of hope. But though Israel returns to the land from her exile, nothing is as it was. And by the time the last prophet had spoken – the prophet Malachi, around 430 B.C. – many had lost hope. If they hadn’t lost it then, the 400 years that followed, years without any prophetic word from the Lord at all, made things pretty miserable indeed.

 

Had God given up on his people? Had he abandoned his promises? Was the fallen tent of David blown over for good? Into these questions, into the centuries of silence, Luke’s gospel speaks. Luke, along with the three other gospel writers, reveal what only God can do – he can restore what is fallen. For what we see in the announcement to Mary is God pitching the tent of David once again. This time, it’s as if God is gathering together all of the old stakes, stretching them out a bit, and nailing these new, longer stakes back into the ground in a kind of reverse order.

 

II. The Six Stakes of David’s Restored Tent

#6, Prophet: The angel’s word to Mary really begins with his word that we heard last week to Zechariah. A new prophet would shortly come on the scene. His name would be John. He would remind people of one of the greatest of all prophets – Elijah – and he would prepare them for the coming of the Lord. Mark tells us that people literally poured out into the desert to hear him, they were so excited to think that they were going to hear from God once again.

 

 #5, David: The one to come, Mary is told, will be given the throne of his father David. He will reign forever and his kingdom will never end. The reign of David is being restored, but also remade into something far more glorious than before.

 

#4, Moses and Israel: The one to come would be holy, and he would be called the Son of God. Like Israel, which was know as God’s “firstborn son” (Ex. 4:22), this son would also take refuge in Egypt, and be called back again (Ma. 2:15). And like Israel was called to be, but failed, this son would live out, he would embody, the vocation of king and priest to perfection.

 

#3, Patriarchs: The “house” he would rule over (notice it’s no longer a tent) is called the house of Jacob, something far bigger and more secure than a tent. This stake takes us back to the beginning of Israel’s story, recalling God’s promise to Abraham and the patriarchs to bless all nations through his people. The gift of kingdom of God, we learn, would come with Gentiles included. It’s king would be a king for all peoples.

 

#2, Adam and Eve: In contrast to Eve’s unwillingness to be satisfied with what God had given her, and to trust his word, notice Mary’s response: “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said” (v 38). This is not, “I want to be like God,” but “I am willing to serve God.” This is the language of trust. This is the language of relationship. Joseph, too, for his part, was equally faithful. Both present a picture of faith that has been restored.

 

#1, Creation: As the Holy Spirit hovered over the formless waters at creation, and brought life miraculously out of nothing, so he would hover over, or overshadow Mary’s womb, bringing the new life that, through his life, death, and resurrection, would affect the renewal or recreation of the universe. To God’s “Let there be . . .” Mary says, “May it be as you have said.” The creative and powerful word and Spirit are at work again; a new heaven and a new earth are in view. Returning to the images in Amos, with the juice from an abundant land flowing once again, it’s like a rebirth of the Garden of Eden.

 

Illustration: College Reunion

 

Conclusion:

The message of Amos, the promise of restoration, demonstrates that God is still sovereign over the affairs of this world and will faithfully fulfill everything he has promised. It will happen in spite of the failures of his people, both then and now. When will it happen? We’re never told of the timing. What we are made aware of is that with the arrival of Jesus, David’s fallen tent is being picked back up. With the arrival of Jesus, we are shown that God does exist, that he is not silent, and that his plan to bring restoration to his world is not still on the drawing board, but has been put into effect.

 

Yes, today may be hard, and tomorrow may even be harder. We may feel like we’re living beneath a crushing load, having to take painful and slow steps. But we can still sing “joy to the world, the Lord is come” because, with the arrival of Jesus, the reign of God has already broken into human history. Even though its complete establishing lies somewhere in the future, we can take joy in this:

 

A new prophet has come, who has announced the long-awaited arrival of the kingdom of God.

There is a new David, whose kingdom and kingship will never fail.

There is a new Israel, who is the perfect king and priest.

There is a new community, which includes Gentiles and well as Jews.

There is a new Adam and Eve, whose actions reveal the way to live by faith.

A new creation will come, in which poverty and want, injustice and oppression, will be no more.