PART TWO

 

 

Thus He showed me, and behold, the Lord [Master]

 was standing by a vertical wall with a plumb line in his hand.

And YAHveh said to me, "What do you see . . . ?"

And I said, "A plumb line."  Then YAHveh said,

"Behold I am about to put a plumb line in the midst of My people . . .

I will spare them no longer."

(Am 7:7‑8)

                                                                     Chapter 4

                               Zerubbabel's Plumb Line

 

The Holy One of Israel is bringing forth His eternal "plumb line" of truth.  He wants His children to see how crooked their ways have become as they personally and corporately have veered and compromised His truths.

The Master Architect has a divine blueprint for His eternal temple.  An unfathomable high price was paid to procure the building materials.  His death and atoning blood purchased stones, living stones—Jews and Gentiles—built on the foundation of the Hebrew apostles and prophets, with the Jewish Messiah Himself, as the Chief Cornerstone, ". . . in whom the whole building, being fitted together is growing into a holy temple in YAHveh . . . into a dwelling of YAHveh  in the Spirit"  (Eph 2:21-22).

YAHveh prophesied through Isaiah, ". . . See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; . . . And I will make justice the measuring line, And righteousness the plumb line; . . . "  (Isa 28:16-17 niv — emphasis added)

A plumb line is a vertical measuring line with a weight at the end.  When dropped parallel to the wall of a structure, it determines whether the wall is straight or crooked.  YAHveh, the great architect and builder, is standing with His divine blueprints and checking His house for foundational and structural accuracy.

The Master Architect spared nothing for the building of His earthly temple through His servant, King Solomon.  Solomon's Temple was to be a dwelling place befitting the eternal God's name, presence and glory.  Everything for this temple was precisely carried out as the architect had ordained.  Foundation, beams, walls, every square inch was custom made for the Holy One's dwelling place.  From Solomon's experience we have a key note of wisdom:  "Unless YAHveh builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; . . ."  (Ps 127:1).

Haggai and Zechariah are speaking prophetically to a latter day people about a house to be filled with greater glory than Solomon's Temple.  In the book of Zechariah, Zerubbabel is instructed to oversee the rebuilding of the temple which lay in ruins.

"Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit," says YAHveh of hosts. . . . "The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house, and his hands will finish it.  Then you will know that YAHveh of hosts  has sent me to you.  For who has despised the day of small things? . . . these [the remnant] . . . will be glad when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel— . . ."  (Zec 4:6-10)

As the Gentile age is concluding, Messiah is sending forth His ancient plumb line of truth to facilitate His eternal building program.  His words speak to us in detail about His house.  This is what YAHveh Almighty says:

"Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this house [of mine] lies desolate?"  Now therefore, thus says YAHveh of hosts, "Consider your ways!  You have sown much, but harvest little . . . Consider your ways! . . . rebuild the temple, that I may be pleased with it and be glorified," says YAHveh.  "You look for much, but behold it comes to little; when you bring it home, I blow it away. Why?"  declares YAHveh of hosts.  "Because of My house which lies desolate, while each of you runs to his own house.  Therefore, because of you the sky has withheld its dew, and the earth has withheld its produce.  And I called for a  drought . . . "  (Hag 1:4‑11)

In Haggai's day, the drought was physical; in our day, there is a growing spiritual drought.  "Do consider from this day onward, . . . from the day when the temple of YAHveh was founded, consider . . . the vine . . . and the olive tree . . . has not borne fruit . . ."  (Hag 2:18‑19).

This Scripture applies to Israel at the time they were to rebuild the temple.  Today, it directs our hearts to the conditions regarding the building up of His temple of holy, living stones.

The Spirit of Truth is speaking to our generation, saying that while we have labored to build our churches, synagogues, religious programs, homes, and personal wealth, we have neglected His holy house.  God's plumb line, which He uses to evaluate the faulty foundations we have built, is revealing crooked places.

Many Jews and Gentiles alike have become disappointed and disillusioned in their faith—expecting much from their forms of religion, yet receiving little.  Genuine evidence of YAHveh's power has been greatly lacking.  It should be as abundant as the rains that cause the ground to produce its bountiful crops.

YAHveh is asking, "Why so little, after all that has been said and done?  Why have the multitudes received so little compared with the spiritually abundant life they have hoped for and were promised?"

America is filled with spiritual meeting places.  There is no shortage of Bibles or even professing believers; however, neither Judaism or Christianity (with its varied and segmented groups) are not, by and large, producing devoted, holy worshipers who walk in utmost reverence for the Almighty.  Instead, many sit in congregations as frustrated, confused "pew warmers."  They are withering in a spiritually dry and barren land.  Why?  Because YAHveh's building plan has been set aside for man's inferior and faulty programs!

 

 

                                                            The Great Shaking

 

YAHveh is stirring up a remnant; His desire for them is a spirit of holiness and zeal for building a temple for His presence, glory, and name.

"'I am with you,' declares YAHveh."  So YAHveh stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel . . . and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and worked on the house of YAHveh of hosts, their God . . . (Hag 1:13-14)

 

"For thus says YAHveh of hosts, 'Once more in a little while, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, . . . AND I WILL FILL THIS HOUSE WITH GLORY,' says YAHveh of hosts. . . . 'The latter glory of this house will. be greater than the former,' says YAHveh of hosts, 'and in this place I shall give peace,' declares YAHveh of hosts."  (Hag 2:6-7, 9)

YAHveh is also speaking clearly to this generation that will see the establishment of His eternal house described by Haggai as "this latter house."  He is calling to a remnant of Jews and Gentiles who will be as pure gold refined in His holy fire, individuals who will rejoice to see Zerubbabel's plumb line of truth.

The Holy One of Israel has put a plumb line of immutable truth into the hand of Zerubbabel, the symbolic builder of YAHveh's latter day temple.  The Great Architect is measuring the hearts of men and women, as well as every religious agenda, according to His eternal standard.  He WILL have a holy remnant and a holy temple that are in plumb with His full counsel of truth.

This great shaking has already begun.  It will ultimately remove everything unholy, impure, hypocritical, carnal, and built by man's devices.  All that is not rooted in Him is destined to fall as rubble; then a pure, humble, and obedient generation will be formed as "living stones" (1Pe 2:5) into God's holy house.  YAHveh will fill this house with such glory that indeed, "The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former . . ." (Hag 2:9).

 

 

                                          Whitewashed, Bulging Walls Will Fall

 

The righteous remnant will wholeheartedly rejoice to see the errors and crooked places revealed and rectified.  This holy remnant shares the Almighty's desire to have a temple comprised of redeemed "living stones" (1Pe 2:5)—Jews and Gentiles—built together on His correct foundation with straight walls.  It will be a holy and sound spiritual structure that will endure the coming storms.

At the close of the age, it is now time for YAHveh to inspect thoroughly all that has been built in the name of religion.  With His plumb line extending down from heaven's "architectural suite," He is detecting crooked, bulging walls that are not in line with His standards expressed in Scripture.  YAHveh's full counsel of truth, His plumb line, is conveyed in both the Old and New Covenants.  One Covenant (Testament) without the other is only a partial portrait of the Almighty, His plan of salvation, and His eternal building program.

The Holy One is against all "vain imaginations" (see Ro 1:21) that cause His people to justify the erroneous building programs and traditions.  Ezekiel shows us what the Master Builder thinks of spiritual buildings that have been built on faulty foundations—spiritual houses with crooked beams and flimsy walls sloppily covered with man's whitewash.

Thus says the Lord YAHveh,  "Woe to the foolish prophets who are following their own spirit and have seen nothing. . . . You have not gone up into the breaches, nor did you build the wall . . . to stand in the battle on the day of YAHveh."  (Eze 13:3-5)

 

It is definitely because they have misled My people by saying, "Peace!" when there is no peace.  And when anyone builds a wall, behold, they plaster it over with whitewash; so tell those who plaster it over with whitewash, that it will fall. . . . Behold, when the wall has fallen, will you not be asked, "Where is the plaster with which you plastered it?"  (Eze 13:10-12)

 

So I shall tear down the wall which you plastered over with whitewash and bring it down to the ground, so that its foundation is laid bare; and when it falls, you will be consumed in its midst.  And you will know that I am YAHveh.  Thus I shall spend My wrath on the wall and on those who have plastered it over with whitewash; and I shall say to you, "The wall is gone and its plasterers are gone . . ."  (Eze 13:14-15)

Those who desire truth at any price will forfeit the familiar comfort zone of a man‑tainted religious system that has compromised God's standards.  Such systems are like whitewashed, bulging walls in the sight of the Great Architect.  The holy remnant must seek the ancient foundation of our faith—our holy, Hebrew roots as revealed in the full counsel of Scripture.

Woe to those who continue to exchange His plumb line of truth and righteousness for the crooked standard of man's doctrines and traditions.  Woe to those who build their own empires and not His!  The whitewashed, bulging walls are doomed to collapse like rubble and fall on all who remain within them in smug complacency.

This is precisely what YAHveh showed Zechariah concerning the unsealing of the scroll that would bring His righteous decrees.  As the scroll is magnified, a curse of destruction will come upon every unholy house and man-made empire it enters.

"This is the curse that is going forth over the face of the whole land; . . . I will make it [the scroll] go forth," declares YAHveh of hosts, "and it will enter the house of the thief and the house of the one who swears falsely  by My name; and it will spend the night within that house and consume it with its timber and stones."  (Zec 5:3-4)

 

                                                                       Timber!

 

Repent!  Repent!  "Come forth from her midst, My people, And each of you save yourselves From the fierce anger of YAHveh" (Jer 51:45).  As the wind of His breath blasts upon the earth, the whitewashed, bulging walls of man's vain efforts will collapse.  At the same time, the breath of YAHveh's Spirit will fill His pure remnant afresh; they will arise by His Spirit into a mighty army.