"Amos, what do you see?" asked the LORD. "A plumb line," I replied. "Behold," said the Lord, "I am setting a plumb line among My people Israel; I will no longer spare them: Sermons
I. THE SIN OF MAN MAY EXHAUST THE PATIENCE OF GOD. It must not, indeed, be supposed that the Divine nature is susceptible of capricious changes, such as men are liable to experience. But we have to consider God as the moral Governor of the nations of mankind. And we are taught that he is, as we say, in earnest in the laws which he promulgates, and in the promises and threats by which he accompanies them. He will not continue to threaten, and then falsify his owm words, by withholding punishment from those who withhold repentance. With no weariness, with no irritability, but with a righteous judgment and a compassionate heart, he will execute his threats. II. THE JUST RETRIBUTION OF GOD IS ACCORDING TO UNCHANGING AND INFLEXIBLE RULES OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. In human punishment there is often an element of caprice and an element of vindictiveness. From the Divine mind both are forever absent. No sinner can complain, or ever will be able to complain, that he has been punished beyond his deserts. On the contrary, he will ever recognize that wisdom and righteousness have characterized all the appointments of the eternal King. The plumb line is employed not only in construction but in destruction. And God who has made men's moral nature, and who roles over it and in it, will not violate his principles of righteousness in the administration of his government or in the execution of his sentences. III. THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IS A POWERFUL ENCOURAGEMENT TO REPENTANCE AND OBEDIENCE. It is a dissuasive from sin and impenitence, inasmuch as it is a guarantee that rebellion shall not go unpunished. It is an inducement to repentance, for it is part of God's unchanging purpose that the penitent and submissive shall receive pardon and acceptance. And it is not to be forgotten that God's purposes of mercy are as much distinguished by law as are his purposes of punishment. Mercy is in accordance with the "plumb line" of Divine righteousness, and in his gospel God appears, as he is, just and "the Justifier of him who believeth in Jesus." - T.
The Lord stood upon a wall made by a plumbline, with a plumbline in His hand. Homilist. All men are workers, the world is "full of labour." The words suggest two facts in relation to it.I. God has a COMMANDING VIEW OF IT. "He stands upon the wall" high up, so that every portion comes within His glance. He observes — 1. Its quality, good or bad. 2. Its variety, overt or occult. 3. Its influence, useful or pernicious.Solemn thought, that God's eye is on us in all our activities, and that the most, secret act eludes not His glance. II. God TESTS THE CHARACTER OF IT. "A plumbline in His hand." The mason uses the "plumbline" to determine the straightness of the wall, and thus God tests the character of human actions. What is God's "plumbline"? 1. His law as inscribed upon the human conscience. By this He tries all men, heathen, etc. 2. God's law as written in the Scriptures. By this He tries all who possess the revelation. 3. God's law as embodied in Christ. By this He tries all who have the Gospel. (Homilist.) Homilist. I. There is a KIND OF MASONRY IN THE FORMATION of man's character. Man's character may be compared to masonry in several respects.1. It has one foundation. Walls are built, not upon two, but upon one foundation. So is every man's character. There is some one principle on which it is organised. That principle is the paramount affection of the man. Whatever he loves most, governs him. If he loves pleasure most, his character is sensual; if he loves money most, his character is worldly. If he loves wisdom most, his character is philosophic; if he loves God most, his character is Divine, etc. 2. It has a variety of materials. In a building there are earth, lime, stones, bricks, wood, iron, etc. etc. These are brought together into a whole. Character is not formed of one set of actions, thoughts, impulses, volitions. All kinds of acts enter into it, mental, moral, muscular, personal, political, religious — all are materials in the building. 3. It is a gradual advancement. II. There is a DIVINE STANDARD BY WHICH TO TEST MAN'S CHARACTER. What is the Divine "plumbline" by which to test character? Here it is. "Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so unto them." Or, perhaps more intelligibly, the moral character of Christ. "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His." III. There is a TERRIBLE RUIN for those whose characters will not bear the test of this plumbline. "Behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of My people Israel: I will not again pass by them any more: and the high places of Israel shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword" (Matthew 25:31-46). (Homilist.) (J. Reid Howatt.) What seest thou? And I said, A plumbline Bricklayers, and stone masons, and carpenters, in the building of walls, use an instrument made of a cord, at the end of which a lump of lead is fastened. They drop it over the side of the wall, and, as the plummet naturally seeks the centre of gravity in the earth, the workman discovers where the wall recedes and where it bulges out, and just what is the perpendicular. Our text represents God as standing on the wall of character, which the Israelites had built, and in that way testing it. What the world wants is a straight up and down religion. Much of the so-called piety of the day tends this way and that to suit the times. We have all been building a wall of character, and it is glaringly imperfect, and needs reconstruction. How shall it be brought into perpendicular? Only by the Divine measurement. The whole tendency of the times is to make us act by the standard of what others do. There are ten thousand plumblines in use, but only one is true and exact, and that is the line of God's eternal righteousness. Nothing would make times so good, and the earning a livelihood so easy, as the universal adoption of the law of right. Suspicion strikes through all bargain-making. In the same way we need to measure our theologies. All sorts of religions are putting forth their pretensions. All religions but one begin at the wrong end, and in the wrong place. The Bible religion demands that we first get right with God My text gives me a grand opportunity of saying a useful word to all young men who are now forming habits for a lifetime. A young man is in danger of getting a defect in his wall of character that may never be corrected. Oh, this plumbline of the everlasting right! God will throw it over all our lives to show us our moral deflections.(T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.) Builders could not build our houses as they ought without a plumbline. Israel had been built up as a people, so to speak, with a plumbline; everything was right; God approved of them. But now Israel had become a very different people from what they were at the beginning. Very early Jeroboam began to introduce calf worship. The people thus became very wicked, and departed from the way of the Lord more and more. Amos went to warn Jeroboam the Second. But all his warnings were in vain. Amaziah the high priest told him to go away, for they did not want his services there. God comforted Amos by showing him a plumbline, and in effect saying, "I have noticed how Israel, like a wall which was once upright, has been gradually giving way, and yet I have passed it by, but I cannot do so any more." This is what God says at last to every kingdom or nation that ceases to be upright and true. How many nations there have been that have begun fairly, but have got worse as time passed by! God is always with His plumbline trying our lives. What is His plumbline? The grand old Book. By this, too, we ought all to be trying ourselves. You are building up a life. Every thought you cherish, every word you utter, and every deed you perform is the building up of character and life. Bricklayers are not foolish enough to think that if they build a wall out of perpendicular it Will stand. If a man will grow up crooked, or dishonest, or untruthful, he is bound to come down sooner or later. If Jesus comes to us, He is sure to find something or other in our character that is not right, and very likely He will find a good many bulging defects. It may be selfishness, untruthfulness, unkindness, or some other sin. We must build up our life according to His law. We cannot do anything ourselves without His help; but that help He is ever ready to give.(David Davies.) People Amaziah, Amos, Isaac, Jacob, JeroboamPlaces Bethel, Brook of the ArabahTopics Add, Amos, Behold, Line, Longer, Midst, Pardon, Pass, Plumb, Plumbline, Plumb-line, Replied, Seeing, Seest, Setting, Shut, Sin, Spare, WeightedOutline 1. The judgments of the grasshoppers,4. and of the fire are diverted by the prayer of Amos. 7. By the wall of a plumb line is signified the rejection of Israel. 10. Amaziah complains of Amos. 14. Amos shows his calling 16. and Amaziah's judgment. Dictionary of Bible Themes Amos 7:1-9Library Whether Irony is a Sin?Objection 1: It seems that irony, which consists in belittling oneself, is not a sin. For no sin arises from one's being strengthened by God: and yet this leads one to belittle oneself, according to Prov. 30:1,2: "The vision which the man spoke, with whom is God, and who being strengthened by God, abiding with him, said, I am the most foolish of men." Also it is written (Amos 7:14): "Amos answered . . . I am not a prophet." Therefore irony, whereby a man belittles himself in words, is not a sin. … Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica Scriptural Types. The History of the Prophetic Sermons, Epistles, and Apocalypses The River of Egypt, Rhinocorura. The Lake of Sirbon. The Prophet Hosea. On the Interpretation of Scripture The Essay which Brings up the Rear in this Very Guilty Volume is from The... Links Amos 7:8 NIVAmos 7:8 NLT Amos 7:8 ESV Amos 7:8 NASB Amos 7:8 KJV Amos 7:8 Bible Apps Amos 7:8 Parallel Amos 7:8 Biblia Paralela Amos 7:8 Chinese Bible Amos 7:8 French Bible Amos 7:8 German Bible Amos 7:8 Commentaries Bible Hub |
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