C H Spurgeon's Sermon Notes on
Amos 7:7. The Plumbline

Thus he shewed me: and behold, the Lord stood upon a wall made by a plumbline, with a plumbline in his hand. — Amos 7:7

The metaphors of Amos are very forcible, though homely and simple.

He was God-taught; or, as men say, self-taught. Let his vision come before us, as though we saw it ourselves.

What the Lord had done was according to rule: "he stood upon a wall made by a plumbline." His past dealings are just and true.

The Lord continues to use the same infallible rule: wherever he is, he has a plumbline in his hand.

The plumb of lead falls in a straight line, and therefore the line is the best test as to whether a wall is truly perpendicular. The plumbline shows whether it bows outward, or inclines inward. It never flatters, but by its own certainty of truth it reveals and condemns all deviations from uprightness: such is the judgment of the Most High.

We shall treat the plumbline as the emblem of truth and right.

I. A PLUMBLINE IS USED IN BUILDING.

In all that we build up, we must act by the sure rule of righteousness.

1. In God's building it is so.

He removes the old walls when tested by the plumbline, and found faulty. Truth requires the removal of falsehood.

He builds in truth and reality. Sincerity is his essential.

He builds in holiness and purity.

He builds to perfection according to the rule of right.

2. In our own life-building it should be so.

Not haste, but truth should be our object.

Not according to the eye of man, but according to fact.

We should build by the Word; in God's sight; after Christ's example; by the Spirit; unto holiness. Only thus shall we be using the plumbline.

3. In our building of the church it should be so.

Teaching the Scriptures only in all things.

Preaching nothing but the gospel.

Laying sinners low by the law, and exalting the grace of God.

Leading men to holiness and peace by the doctrines of truth.

Exercising discipline that the church may be pure.

II. A PLUMBLINE IS USED FOR TESTING.

That which is out of the upright is detected by the plumbline, and so are men tested by the truth.

1. We may use it—

On the wall of self-righteousness, conceit, boasting, etc.

On the wall of careless living.

On the wall of trust in ceremonials.

On the wall of reliance upon merely hearing the gospel.

On the wall of every outward profession.

2. God uses it in this life. He tests the hearts of men, and tries their doings.

They are often detected in the act of deception. Time also proves them, and trials test them.

3. He will use it at the last.

4. Let us use it on ourselves.

Are we born again? Are we without faith, etc.? Are we without holiness? Or is the work of the Spirit to be seen in us?

III. A PLUMBLINE WILL BE USED FOR DESTROYING.

Strict justice is the rule of God's dealing on the judgment-seat. The same rule will apply to all.

1. Even the saved will be saved justly through our Lord Jesus, and in their case every sin will be destroyed, and every trace of evil will be removed before they enter heaven.

2. No one will be condemned who does not deserve it. There will be a trial, with witnesses, and pleadings, and an infallible Judge. The righteous are saved by sovereignty, but the wicked are condemned by righteousness alone.

3. Not a pain will be inflicted unjustly.

Differences will be made in the cases of the condemned.

There will be the strictest justice in each award.

Every circumstance will be taken into account.

Knowledge or ignorance will increase or abate the number of stripes (Luke 7:47-48).

4. Rejecters of Christ will find their doom intolerable, because they, themselves, will be unable to deny its justice (Luke 19:27). The lost know their misery to be deserved.

5. Since every sentence will be infallible, there will be no revision. So impartial and just will be each verdict that it shall stand for ever (Matt. 25:46).

Are we able to endure the test of the plumbline of perfect truth?

Suppose it to be used of God at this moment.

Will it not be wisest to look to Jesus, that we may have him for a foundation, and be built up in him?

Savings and Sentences

Amos 5:4-27 Exposition by C H Spurgeon

Amos 5:4. For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live.

And that it just the message of God to professing Christians now: “Seek ye me.” Get away from your mere ceremonies, from trusting in your outward performances, and get really to God himself. Get beyond your fellow-worshippers and your ministers, beyond your sanctuaries and your supposed holy places, and get in spirit and in truth to God himself: “Seek ye me, and ye shall live.”

Amos 5:5. But seek not Beth-el, nor enter into Gilgal and pass not to Beersheba; for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Beth-el shall come to nought.

These were the places where the calves and other idols were set up for the worship of God by means of visible symbols. That was the Romanism of that day. Pure spiritual worship was ordained by God, but that was not enough for the idolatrous Israelites. They must needs set up the image of an ox, the emblem of power, — not that they would worship the ox, they said, but that they might worship the God of power through that symbol. And that is the plea of Papists to-day: — “We do not worship that cross; we do not worship that image; but these things help us. They are emblems.” But they are absolutely forbidden by God: “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them.” The first commandment forbids us to have any other God than Jehovah; the second forbids us to worship him through any emblem or symbol whatsoever.

Amos 5:6, 7. Seek the LORD, and ye shall live, lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Beth-el. Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth,

Here you have another great truth, — that, in order to seek God aright, we must turn away from sin. All the Ritualism in the world will not save us, or be acceptable to God; there must be purity of life, and holiness of character; justice must be done between man and man, and we must seek to be right before the righteous and holy God.

Amos 5:8. Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, —

The Creator of the spring-bringing Pleiades, and of the winter-bringing Orion, —

Amos 5:8, 9. And turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the wafers of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name: that strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress.

The God of the weak, the Defender of the oppressed. Ye that oppress the poor, and tread down the people, seek ye him, and wash your hands from the steins of your past injustice.

Amos 5:10. They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.

There is still a generation that cannot bear to be told of its faults, and that shows its venom against everything that is right.

Amos 5:11. Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them.

God has often shown how be can overthrow those who oppress the poor.

Amos 5:12-17. For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right. Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time, for it is an evil time. Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken. Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph. Therefore the LORD, the God of hosts, the Lord saith thus, Wailing shall be in all streets, and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skillful of lamentation to wailing. And in all vineyards shall be wailing: for I will pass through thee, saith the LORD.

National sins bring down national judgments; and when God grows angry against the people, he makes the places of their feasting, the vineyards where grow their choicest vines, to become the places of their sorrow, so that wailing and distress are heard on all sides. Oh, that nations knew the day of their visitation, and would do justly! Then would such judgments be averted.

Amos 5:18. Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end is it for you? the day of the LORD is darkness, and not light.

“The day of the Lord is darkness, and not light,” for such as you, impenitent, unjust, graceless sinners. “The day of the Lord” will not bring blessings to you; but it will be —

Amos 5:19. As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.

From bad to worse do they go who think to escape from present misery by plunging into the presence of God. The suicide is, of all fools, the greatest, for he goes before God with his own indictments, nay, with his own sentence in his hand. He needs no trial; he has condemned himself.

Amos 5:20-22. Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it. I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept these: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts.

See how God’s speaks about public worship and formal sacrifices when the heart is not right with him. When the moral conduct of the offerer is wrong, the Lord will not accept his offering.

Amos 5:23, 24. Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols. But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.

This is what God asks for, — righteousness, not sweet music. Have they not, at this very day, turned what were once houses of prayer into music-halls, set up their idols in our parish churches, and adorned their priests with every kind of Babylonian garment which they could find at Rome, the mystical Babylon? Are they not turning this nation back again to that accursed Popery, the yoke of which our fathers could not bear? Therefore, the Lord is wroth with this land; there are storm-clouds gathering over it, because it is not sufficiently stirred with indignation against those idolatrous men who are again seeking to come to the front among us.

Amos 5:25. Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?

“Did you worship me? Did you offer sacrifices to me?” “No,” said God, “ye did not.”

Amos 5:26, 27. But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves. Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the LORD, whose name is The God of hosts.

Oh, for pure worship! Oh, for pure living! Oh, for hearts that spiritually worship the Lord, for Jesus said, “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.” “But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth?”

HYMNS FROM “OUR OWN HYMN BOOK” — 364, 529; AND FROM “SACRED SONGS AND SOLOS” — 39.

DISCLAIMER: Before you consult commentaries, sermons or other resources, first consult the Word of God, studying the Scriptures diligently (2Ti 2:15-note) and inductively (See inductive Bible study) in dependence on your Teacher, the Holy Spirit, Who Jesus promised would guide us into all truth (John 16:13).
 

THOUGHTS ON
INTERPRETATION
OF PROPHETIC BOOKS

In regard to the OT Prophetic books such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, and the 12 "Minor" Prophets, remember that the most accurate interpretation is derived by applying the following principles:

(1) Read the Scripture literally (unless the text is clearly figurative, e.g., Jesus said "I am the door..." Jn 10:9). If one interprets a text symbolically (allegorically, figuratively, spiritualizing) when that text makes good sense literally, one potentially opens themselves to the danger of inaccurate interpretation, for then the question arises as to who's "symbolic" interpretation is correct and how imaginative one should be in evaluating a "supposed symbol"? Many of the commentaries and sermons on the OT prophetic books unfortunately are replete with non-literal interpretations (except when it comes to Messianic Passages, which are usually interpreted literally). Therefore the watchword when reading any commentary on Old Testament prophecy is caveat emptor ("buyer beware"). Read all commentaries like the Bereans (Acts 17:11-note).

(2) Study the context which is always "king" in interpretation (don't take verses out of context.)

(3) Passages addressed to Israel should be interpreted as directed to the literal nation of Israel and should not be interpreted as addressed to the NT Church, an entity not mentioned in the Old Testament. The promises of Jehovah to the nation of Israel (e.g., see Millennial Promises) remain valid (Jer 31:35, 36, 37, Nu 23:19, Lk 21:33) and have not been passed on to the NT Church because Israel has "defaulted" (See study Israel of God). Remember that while Scripture has only one correct interpretation, there can be many legitimate applications (See Application), and therefore the OT prophetic books are extremely applicable in the lives of NT believers.

(4) Scripture is always the best commentary on Scripture. While an attempt has been made to list resources that adhere to these basic interpretative guidelines, not all the works listed in these collections have been read in detail. Therefore should you discover a resource you feel is conservative and/or orthodox, please email your concerns.

Related Resources:

Inductive Bible Study - Guidelines to Assure Accurate Interpretation

Inductive Bible Study Interpretation of Prophetic Scripture

Interpretative Views of the Revelation of Jesus Christ
Allegorical Interpretation - Tony Garland
Interpreting Symbols - Tony Garland
Basic Considerations in Interpreting Prophecy - John Walvoord