THE BRIDE BEAUTIFIED
Part 2
Jack Davis
“Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness” – Psalm 29:2. Faith in the Lord and all His name represents makes us partakers of His holiness; saints, holy ones, being born again of the Holy Spirit. We are made fit to glorify His name. Let us give Him all the glory due unto Him. We have been bought and brought into the realm of true worshipers, wherein we are to worship Him in spirit and truth. As we adore Him, He adorns us.
“One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and inquire in His temple” – Psalm 27:4. There seems to be several things involved in the “one thing.” I think here of one being singularly, centrally, focused with desire upon the lover of our soul. Considering Him in intimate acquaintance, knowing Him in the depths of our being as He is revealed to our hearts is most transforming – II Cor. 3:18. Paul urged that we not be conformed to this world, but be transformed, and he prayed to have Christ formed in us – Gal. 4:19. He encouraged that as we receive the truth spoken in love, grow up into Christ in all things – Eph. 4:15. He also spoke of God’s purpose that we be conformed to the image of His dear Son – Rom. 8:29. Now that’s beautification!
A very real aspect of the beauty of Holiness is that effectual working of the Word in those that believe – I Thess. 2:13. Thus He makes our lives productive for His glory. These traits are wonderfully expressed in the fruit of the Spirit. I appreciate the way the Holy Spirit is at work in our lives to graciously reproduce the beautiful characteristics of the life of Jesus Christ within the believing. Yielding child of God. Hallelujah!!
“Thou art beautiful oh my love…How beautiful are thy feet with shoes, O prince’s daughter…” – S.O.S. 6:4, 7:1. The King’s description of His great love is as one that is bright, shining, pleasant, well pleasing, and well shod, (with the preparation of the Gospel of peace). There is a saying that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The fact is that our dear Lord is able to see where no other can. The thought and intents of our heart’s are clearly defined unto Him. Preparation for being made most desirable in the sight of Him who shall reign as King of kings, is to be realized as we come to know him experimentally, intimately as our Lord. We are just absolutely ugly without His holiness. This unique beauty is not on old, dried up, harsh, demanding, unrelenting trait that many consider holiness, at all.
“The King’s daughters were among thy honorable women; upon thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir…the king’s daughter is all glorious within: her clothing is of wrought gold. She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework…” – Psalm 45:9,13,14a.
Shall we expect to stand,
One day at the right hand,
Of Him who provided redemption’s plan?
Shall we be brought,
In the golden glory he wrought,
All glorious within, and in raiment of needlework,
Adorned just for Him? WHY NOT ??
MORE BEAUTY TIPS. “Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear: forget also thine own people, and thy father’s house; So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty: for he is thy Lord; and worship thou him” – Psalm 45:10-11.
+ Hearken: He would have us give the more earnest heed to His wonderful Word, which calls for an open ear, a receptive mind, and a responsive heart. The Hebrew seems to indicate to me, a listening attentively, hearing intelligently, and understanding with consent to obey.
+ Consider: The gist here, I cause to perceive with the eyes of the heart, gaze, and experience. Meditate, it greatly transforms our thinking As we think on the things given for our consideration in His word, our spiritual food for thought. The Old Testament symbol, ‘Chew the cud,” ruminate, turn it over and over in your mind. It is one of the ways we come into the awareness of the near presence of the God of peace – Phil. 4:8-9.
+ Incline thine ear: The Hebrew expresses a trait most becoming to Him; stretch out, bend forth, cause to yield, expend. He would produce from our life faithful feet. Thus we submit to, and honor the Word’s authority in our everyday living.
+ Forget also thine own people: We do well to forget in a sense, where we came from in the old creation, being fully aware that we are in Christ a new creation. But this doesn’t teach us to neglect to pray for our loved ones. Forgetting them with a spiritual concern is not a Christ like attitude. We do well to encourage them on toward God’s highest and best. Yet He would have us hold Him as our first love, that is love preeminently for Him. Let us forget in the sense of not being distracted or detoured from going on into deeper relations with Him. Rebecca was asked “Will you go?” We either go on or draw back. We choose whether we will allow natural relations, family ties, and loyalties to hinder us from a closer walk with our dear Lord, and leading of the Holy Spirit on into God’s best. When the bridal message catches us, capturing our hearts, we cry out to Him to draw us. When we go on whole-heatedly with Him, our families can also be drawn. When we are half-heated, insincere this is not as apt to happen.
Our soon coming Bridegroom would present us holy, unblameable, unreprovable in His sight. He sanctifies wholly in order to preserve us blameless (spirit, soul and body) in view of His coming. Faithful is He that has called us who will do it. In the beauty of His holiness He sanctifies and cleanses us with the washing of the Word, in order to present us glorious, without spot, wrinkle or blemish. ARE YOU AVAILABLE ?
Has He ever begun a good work in us? Is our confidence in Him? Do we expect Him to complete it in time? Are we telling Him things even while it hurts? Are we appropriating it by faith? Is He able to accomplish that work He has begun on time? He is doing a work that is exceeding abundantly above all we ask or think according to the power that is at work in us.
Let Him work, don’t get in the way, then it will be done in both the will and do of His good pleasure. When it is finished he will give us a glorified body that will radiate the beautification work that he has been doing in us during our earthly so-journ.
