The Lord's Plumb Line

by Wayne Blank

A plumb line is a simple but accurate tool used for determining whether or not something is perfectly vertical i.e. upright. Used since very ancient times, a plumb line consists merely of a line and a weight of some sort, at first just a stone, but later a weight made from lead. The Latin word for lead is plumbum, from which the weight came to be called a plummet (hence also the origin of plumber, originally a worker of lead - including lead pipes). Plumb lines were known to many people throughout Bible History, including Jesus Christ who would have owned a set of various weights of them for His use in the building trade. The Lord also used, and uses, a "plumbline," His Word, to determine how upright His people truly are in His sight. How upright they think they are, or how upright they proclaim themselves to be, means nothing to God.

"Behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of My people"

References to the use of a plumb line in the Holy Scriptures are almost always that of The Lord's plumb line, how righteously people stand (righteous actually means upright) according to His Word. Whenever God's people became crooked (and almost never did they ever think of, or see, themselves as evil and corrupt even though they became so evil and corrupt that God couldn't stand the sight or sound of the hypocrites any longer), The Lord sent in the wreckers to demolish what made itself a condemned building (see also Why Babylon? and The Galilee Captivity).

A Plumb Line Much of the purpose of The Lord's Prophets was to warn His people how crooked and warped they've become, regardless of how self-righteous they seem in their own eyes, whereby they think that "the evil that others do is not evil if we do it."

"Thus He showed me: and, behold, the Lord stood upon a wall made by a plumbline, with a plumbline in His hand. And The Lord said unto me, Amos, what seest thou?"
"And I said, A plumbline."
"Then said the Lord, 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 Isaac shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword" (Amos 7:7-9 KJV)

The condemnation wasn't just about The Lord's people back then. The Lord does not change. What He said was wrong back then is just as wrong today because The Word of God is Timeless.

"And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab: and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down. And I will forsake the remnant of Mine inheritance, and deliver them into the hand of their enemies; and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies; Because they have done that which was evil in My sight, and have provoked Me to anger, since the day their fathers came forth out of Egypt, even unto this day." (2 Kings 21:13-15 KJV)

The Messiah was and is however a better builder. We can be sure that He never built any crooked walls during His first coming, just as we can look forward with absolute certainty that the spiritual house (see the Fact Finder question below) of which He is the corner stone, or key stone, will be perfectly straight in every way. The Christ is coming to make straight all that has made itself crooked.

"Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion [see Who, What or Where Is Zion?] for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste." "Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place." "And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it." (Isaiah 28:16-18 KJV)

Fact Finder: What is the House of God?
See The House Of The Risen Son

Daily Bible Study Back-Issue Library
	Jesus Christ Bible History Prophecy Christian Living Encouragement	Eternal Life By The Book Bible Places Curiosities The Spirit World