‘How can you say, “We are wise because we have the law of the Lord,” when your teachers have twisted it so badly? 9 These wise teachers will be shamed by exile for their sin, for they have rejected the word of the Lord. Are they so wise after all? 10 I will give their wives and their farms to others. From the least to the greatest, they trick others to get what does not belong to them. Yes, even my prophets and priests are like that. 11 They offer superficial treatments for my people’s mortal wound. They give assurances of peace when all is war.Holy Bible, New Living Translation, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.) 1996.

'These evil prophets deceive my people by saying, ‘All is peaceful!’ when there is no peace at all! It’s as if the people have built a flimsy wall, and these prophets are trying to hold it together by covering it with whitewash! 11 Tell these whitewashers that their wall will soon fall down. A heavy rainstorm will undermine it; great hailstones and mighty winds will knock it down. 12 And when the wall falls, the people will cry out, ‘Where is the whitewash you applied?’13 “Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will sweep away your whitewashed wall with a storm of indignation, with a great flood of anger, and with hailstones of fury. 14 I will break down your wall right to the foundation, and when it falls, it will crush you. Then you will know that I am the Lord! 15 At last my anger against the wall and those who covered it with whitewash will be satisfied. Then I will say to you: ‘The wall and those who whitewashed it are both gone. 16 They were lying prophets who claimed peace would come to Jerusalem when there was no peace. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!’Holy Bible, New Living Translation, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.) 1996.

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Judges decide and discern. Judging and discerning is one of the functions of leadership. To judge means to be able to tell the difference between what is good and bad. Job spoke of the way an honest judge created well-being in society by releasing peace and justice ( JOB 29:12). Amos spoke of the blight to society created by dishonest judges ( Amos 5:10). Jesus said that for judgment He came into the world. He came to bring genuine judgment that would stand out from bogus and defective judgment ( John 9:39). He said ‘I have come into the world to give sight to those who are spiritually blind and to show those who think they see that they are blind.”(Living Bible). This has already been foretold in prophecy. When Jesus began His ministry He quoted from Isa 61. He said, ‘To all who mourn in Israel he [Jesus] will give: beauty for ashes; joy instead of mourning; praise instead of heaviness. For God has planted them like strong and graceful oaks for his own glory’ (NLT).

None of Jesus’ disciples belonged to the professional religious ruling class, yet they all became apostles, priests and governors of the Church that Jesus was establishing on the Rock of submission to His leadership. Today Jesus has planted leaders among His people. They are oaks of righteousness who protect and strengthen the people. Despite scorn and marginalisation these people are have one thing in common: A passion for Jesus, loyalty to Him and a desire to see Him glorified in places of worship. Shortly He will give them affirmation, praise and leadership roles in the new wine skins He is making. Today in the sense described above, God is beginning to judge the church. He is reconciling and separating. Jesus is drawing a line between what in the church is of man and what is of Him. He is distinguishing between what pleases Him and what offends Him. These are the days of Elijah, of the Forerunner who prepares the way of the Lord.

These are also the days prophetic calls to repent. They are the days of Ezekiel of whom the Lord says, “Stand up, son of man,” … “I want to speak with you.” 2 The Spirit came into me as he spoke and set me on my feet. I listened carefully to his words. 3 “Son of man,” he said, “I am sending you to the nation of Israel, a nation that is rebelling against me. Their ancestors have rebelled against me from the beginning, and they are still in revolt to this very day. 4 They are a hard-hearted and stubborn people. But I am sending you to say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says!’ 5 And whether they listen or not—for remember, they are rebels—at least they will know they have had a prophet among them Ezek 2: 1-5 NLT. Prophets and prophetic ministries will arise who will communicate God’s opinion of the church to the church whether the church wants to listen or not., Jesus is also in the process of creating His true church, His Bride. This church will be where Jesus is loved and honored. Much of it will not be in the buildings it is in now. The church will be where people are. The church will be filled with His manifest Presence which will evoke repentance, humility and adoration from His people. This is symbolized in the following passage: ‘Then the man brought me through the north gateway to the front of the Temple. I looked and saw that the glory of the LORD filled the Temple of the LORD, and I fell to the ground with my face in the dust’ Ezek 44:4 NLT.

This judging of the church is symbolized by the plumb line. Builders use plumb lines to ensure that walls are straight. Something that does not match the plumb line is ‘out.’ The Lord is now showing the church what accords with His Kingdom and what diverges from it. For example: ‘Then he showed me another vision. I saw the Lord standing beside a wall that had been built using a plumb line. He was checking it with a plumb line to see if it was straight. 8 And the LORD said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” I answered, “A plumb line.” And the Lord replied, “I will test my people with this plumb line. I will no longer ignore all their sins. 9 The pagan shrines of your ancestors and the temples of Israel will be destroyed, and I will bring the dynasty of King Jeroboam to a sudden end’” Amos 7: 7-9. At this time Jesus us saying that he will no longer tolerate our sins and that He expects us to abandon the humanistic mind-set that has been a substitute for the Presence and leading of His Holy Spirit.

At this time Jesus is telling us that He wants us to leave off our self-deceptions and conceited ways. He wants us to hear what is just and true, he wants us to allow Him to teach and discipline us and tell us what we need to hear, rather than what we want to hear. He wants us to realize that He, not we is the measurer and judge of all. “I will take the measuring line of justice and the plumb line of righteousness to check the foundation wall you have built. Your refuge looks strong, but since it is made of lies, a hailstorm will knock it down. Since it is made of deception, the enemy will come like a flood to sweep it away’ Isa 28:17 NLT. Joshua and Zerubbabel have already begin their work of building a House where the Lord of Hosts is worshiped and where all can come to pray. The priest and the governor represent all who minister before the Lord, rather than man, whether lay or clergy and all who have been gifted with an intercessory, prophetic, apostolic ministry to call the church to it’s high calling of total submission to the Lamb. The seven lamps represent the Light of the World and the prophetic revelation that leads the God hungry people. To these God says. ‘‘Do not despise these small beginnings, for the LORD rejoices to see the work begin, to see the plumb line in Zerubbabel’s hand. For these seven lamps represent the eyes of the LORD that search all around the world’ Zech 4:10.
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