Amos 9:8–10 inform us that there will be some people who survive God’s judgment, a remnant who are spared. God will judge evil and destroy sinners, but there are some who will survive. The house of Jacob will not be utterly destroyed.
The mention of a sieve and Israel being shaken conveys the idea of separation—a distinction will be made between those who truly belong to God and those who are complacent in privilege. For the one group there will be eternal death, for the other there will be salvation. Only the righteous will pass through judgment to have a place in God’s new creation.
We know that when it comes to the people of Amos’s day, there was no one amongst his audience who was truly able to stand up to the plumb-line of God’s perfect standards. Amongst Israel there was no person who had perfectly obeyed God’s law. But eight hundred years later that all changed. God the Son took on flesh with the result that Jesus Christ was a man who perfectly trusted in God and knew him as Father. He could be trusted to always use power and privilege to do good. A kingly judge never swayed by money, a prophet who always spoke the truth, a priest who protected and cared for the vulnerable—all the responsibilities that Israel had and failed to do were accomplished by him. The result is that he was able to pass through the sieve of God’s judgment and by God’s grace, so can all those who trust in him. There is a future in God’s new creation for everyone who seeks the Lord, on account of Jesus Christ, God’s elect will be saved.
8 Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the surface of the ground, except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,”declares the LORD.