Psalm 25; Amos 7:1-9; Rev. 1:1-8; Matt. 22:23-33
In the first two visions the Lord simply announces judgment against Israel and Amos pleads for mercy on behalf of the nation which he refers to as Jacob and in the third person singular. It is an interesting ploy, Jacob is not a nation, he is simply a man, too small to stand against the judgment of Yahweh. The final vision is of the Lord Himself standing beside a wall with a plumb line in His hand. The plumb line hangs alongside a vertical plane to determine whether the plane is indeed truly vertical, at a 90 degree angle to horizontal. This vision is about the righteousness of the judgment of God, there is a measurable standard against which Israel will be judged, the standard of righteousness with respect to the law. There is no appeal once one has agreed to the standard by entering the covenant. Now, Amos cannot intercede on any basis other than an appeal to God’s mercy. Our response to the plumb line of true righteousness is always, “Oh my!” We don’t realize how out of plumb we are until we see true righteousness. We tried to destroy the standard.
This story always makes me want to ask, “Are you serious?” The Sadducees do not believe in the resurrection of the dead, this life is all there is, and they know that Jesus doesn’t agree with them on this matter so they ask this silly question about whose wife will the woman be who was the wife of seven men in this life. As silly as it is, the question is based on the premise that this life is a precise analog for the next, a mistake many of us make when we think of the life to come. We only know what we have seen and what we have seen and know is a fallen, busted and broken world. We don’t know what God saw and we don’t know good, we only know broken.
John sees what no eye has seen and hears what no ear has heard. He sees into heaven and hears the heavenly choirs. He sees Jesus in all His glory and what he sees is given by an angel so that we can know something of the glories to come, so that we can wait with great expectation. He doesn’t answer all the questions we might have but his vision does give the lie to the belief that this life and this creation is an analog for the next. John also tells us that our role is priests to the Lord. We have to work that out, don’t we?
Jesus! what a Strength in weakness!
Let me hide myself in Him.
Tempted, tried, and sometimes failing,
He, my Strength, my victory wins.
Hallelujah! what a Savior!
Hallelujah! what a Friend!
Saving, helping, keeping, loving,
He is with me to the end.
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