With the light of the New Covenant shining upon it, Amos’ words in these verses point to the glory of the Gospel age culminating in the future glory of the new heavens and new earth. Promises such as these are both ‘already,’ and ‘not yet;’ such Gospel promises are ours to believe and hold fast to now, but await their eternal fruition in the future.
“The plowman shall overtake the reaper,” describes far more than merely the reversal of agricultural affects associated with the fall of man, but this applies to the church in this present age and in glory, as Christ converts sinners and the kingdom of God leavens the world. As people from every tribe and tongue and nation are gloriously saved, they become members of an invisible church which prefigures a day when people from all nations will worship God as one.
The return of an exiled people and enjoyment of the vineyards and gardens again goes beyond merely speaking of human real estate; these are all shadows of a greater substance. Hebrews 11 tells us that while Abraham dwelled in the Promised Land, he understood that the land would be temporary and pointed to a future city whose builder and maker is God.
“I will plant them in their land, and no longer shall they be pulled up.” There is coming a day when the land which mankind surrendered at the Fall will be Paradise Regained and restored in an eternal building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. It is the triumph and glory of the church that it will outlast all other forces, even the very gates of hell to be the permanent possession of the Lord!
