God shows Amos another vision of Himself holding a plumb line. Though Israel was built big, long and impressively, when it was put to the test – when the plumb line was dropped – it became clear to all observing, how far they had strayed. Amos could no longer intercede because he could see before his eyes just how deserving of judgment Israel was. So God tells him that He will no longer pass by them for the sake of the remnant.
But what is the plumb line in this vision? God says, “you shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy” (Lev 19:2). That is our plumb line – as Christ said, “be ye perfect.” Such law is a plumb line in the hand of God with which He checks the walls of our lives. It is not until we compare our lives to the plumb line of perfect law that we find just how skewed our lives really are. It must be recognized that against the measure of God’s perfect law, the church will always be skewed. In this way the plumb line leads us to the second strand, that of Redemption.
Christian, be reminded of how Christ is the cornerstone of the church which He is building into a temple of the Holy Spirit out of stones which were once dead, but are now made alive by grace through faith. Christ was measured with a plumb line, and though He was perfect, He was torn down like a badly sagging wall. He was made to pay for what is badly skewed and sagging with the walls of our lives.
