As a young boy growing up in rural America, I was around a lot of building projects. Though I couldn’t do much, I’d carry things around the site, help hold a board, or a tool, or take measurements. Occasionally, I got to pound some nails.
Sometimes I’d get to hold or check the plumb line. This simple yet remarkable instrument was used to ensure a vertical line was ‘true’ or plumb. It was employed to make sure what you built wasn’t crooked; that, as the structure grew taller, it wouldn’t topple nor resemble a ‘Tower of Pizza’ (oops, Pisa – effect of being quarantined for too long!).
‘For these seven rejoice to see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel, They are the eyes of the Lord which scan to and fro throughout the whole earth.’ Zechariah 4:10
The Holy Spirit inspired Zechariah to prophesy to the Children of Israel to take courage and rebuild the temple after they returned from Babylonian captivity. As he does, his vision grows beyond their present predicament. He had much to say about the coming of the Messiah, and the End Times. Chris Berglund is among God’s servants who has prophesied the significance of the book of Zechariah to our church in this season.
Whenever Jesus is about to build, He drops a plumb line. It’s a sign that He must test us first. Are we well-aligned (plumb)? Can we bear weight? Like a Chief Architect or Inspector, He needs to assure that the structures we’ve built for Him will support the awesome things He’s about to do on earth.
This pandemic has been a divinely-orchestrated separator – a plumb line. God’s eyes are scanning to and fro to see who’ll ‘pass inspection’, and qualify to build His house to the next level. Some clearly will be found wanting. Beloved, we must not respond in fear and disqualify ourselves; God is looking for faith (Luke 18:8). We must not be preoccupied with other distractions like the foolish virgins who were caught without oil in their lamps. We’d all do well to ‘buy for yourselves’ while we still can! (Matthew 25:9).
We also don’t want to be like those who merely make God their refuge – appealing to Him for shelter, protection, and salvation. This ‘save me’ attitude may qualify people for Heaven, but it’s not the character of the ones the Lord of Hosts is looking for to align with Him as great battle lines are being drawn up at the End of the Age.
Tragically, many Christians around the world have inherited a weak spiritual disposition because the emphasis of the Church’s message has been on what we’re being saved from (Hell), rather than what we’re being saved for (Kingdom)! We’ve worked hard to get people saved, then fed them milk week after week. We’ve raised toddlers when God has need of warriors. A steady diet of the ‘Grace Message’, self-help sermons or the ‘Prosperity Gospel’ will not produce people ‘useful for the Master’ (2 Timothy 2:21).
If we’re going to conform to the King’s will in these end times, we’ve to change our mindsets to be like our father Abraham’s. Though he had never seen warfare, he trained all 318 servants in his household to fight in times of peace (Genesis 14:14). Though unlikely champions, these herders, gardeners, cooks and dishwashers defeated four fierce and experienced foreign armies to deliver Lot and his entire family from certain death.
Many things we’re doing show that we too have Abraham’s blood running through our veins. Whether it be through serving hungry taxi drivers, or providing cards, food, and health supplies to foreign workers in the dorms, we’re reaching beyond ourselves. Each week, testimonies with pictures of hundreds of families being fed through our CGN churches also reveal that we, as a people and tribe, are hearing the call to not only be safe, but to save; not just to stay healthy, but to heal.
God will have an end-time army. When the plumb line is dropped, a people – through and upon whom He can build His Kingdom – will arise. Our goal is to make sure that we all ‘pass inspection’ and qualify for the exciting things God is about to do.
