Amos - The plumb line and judgementAs a plumb line tests the straightness and trueness of a wall, the plumb line in the Lord's hand will test the trueness and sincerity of each believer's heart towards Him; whether He is truly their Lord or not – our obedience. John 14:15 “If you love me, keep my commands.
Amos 7:7 This is what he showed me: The Lord was standing by a wall that had been built true to plumb, with a plumb line in his hand. 8 And the Lord asked me, “What do you see, Amos?”
“A plumb line,” I replied.
Then the Lord said, “Look, I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.
Judgement
In Amos 8, the Lord shows Amos a “basket of ripe fruit” (NIV) or “basket of summer fruit” (KJV) which represents the harvest of ripe and mature fruit, His Bride. Once the Bride is gathered (raptured), judgement falls. No man knows the day nor the hour, only the Father.
Amos 8:8 This is what the Sovereign Lord showed me: a basket of ripe fruit [qayits: summer fruit, harvest]. 2 “What do you see, Amos?” he asked.
“A basket of ripe fruit,” I answered.
Then the Lord said to me, “The time is ripe for my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.
3 “In that day,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “the songs in the temple will turn to wailing. Many, many bodies—flung everywhere! Silence!”
Judgement recorded in Amos 8:10 describes several events which are similar to the events taking place at the opening of Sixth Seal (Revelation 6:12-17):
a great earthquake and resulting floods and tsunamis
the sun darkened in broad daylight - possibly due to the volcanic ash discharged into the atmosphere
Amos 8:8 “Will not the land tremble [ragaz: quiver, agitate, perturbed] for this,
and all who live in it mourn?
The whole land will rise like the Nile; [yeor: stream (of the Nile), flood]
it will be stirred up [garash: drive away forth, cast up out, divorced woman] and then sink [shaqa: drown, quench, sink]
like the river of Egypt.9 “In that day,” declares the Sovereign Lord,
“I will make the sun go down [bo: to come in, go in] at noon [tsohar: midday, noonday window]
and darken the earth in broad daylight [or: bright clear day].In Amos 8:10, the Lord declares “I will turn your religious festivals [chag: festival gatherings, pilgrim feasts] into mourning”. Could this possibly mean the Sixth Seal will be opened on a pilgrim feast day?
Amos 8:10 I will turn your religious festivals [chag: festival gathering, pilgrim feast] into mourning
and all your singing into weeping.
I will make all of you wear sackcloth
and shave your heads.
I will make that time like mourning for an only son [yachad: one and only, darling, desolate, solitary]
and the end of it like a bitter day.Festival of Unleavened Bread
According to Exodus 23:14-17 where the Lord instructs all men to appear before Him on the Festival of Unleavened Bread, Festival of Harvests with Firstfruits (Pentecost/Shavuot) and Festival of Ingathering (Tabernacles/Sukkot), there are 3 pilgrim feast days in a sabbatical year.
Exodus 23:14 “Three times a year you are to celebrate a festival to me.
15 “Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread; for seven days eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you. Do this at the appointed time [moed: appointed time, place, meeting] in the month of Aviv [Abib: “to be tender (green)”, fresh young ears (of corn not maize), Nisan], for in that month you came out of Egypt.
“No one is to appear before me empty-handed.
16 “Celebrate the Festival of Harvest with the firstfruits [Shavuot: Pentecost] of the crops you sow in your field.
“Celebrate the Festival of Ingathering [also known as Sukkot, Tabernacles] at the end of the year, when you gather in your crops from the field.
17 “Three times a year all the men are to appear before the Sovereign Lord.
2 Chronicles 29 records an interesting account of the purification of the temple ordered by King Hezekiah which was completed by the sixteenth day of the first month (16 Nisan), in particular the “consecration of all the articles that King Ahaz removed in his unnfaithfulness while he was king”.
Could this point to the completion of the judgement by the 16 Nisan which is Day 1 of the counting of the omer, immediately after the Festival of Unleavened Bread on 15 Nisan?
2 Chronicles 29:15 When they had assembled their fellow Levites and consecrated themselves, they went in to purify the temple of the Lord, as the king had ordered, following the word of the Lord.
17 They began the consecration on the first day of the first month, and by the eighth day of the month they reached the portico of the Lord. For eight more days they consecrated the temple of the Lord itself, finishing on the sixteenth day of the first month.
19 We have prepared and consecrated all the articles that King Ahaz removed in his unfaithfulness while he was king. They are now in front of the Lord’s altar.”
On this very same day, Israel left captivity in Egypt. Praise the Lord!
Shalom, Cecilia