The sinful and shameful times, described in the book of Judges, are
summed up in the book’s final verses of chapters 19, 20 & 21.
“Never has such a thing happened or been seen from the time the people
of Israel came out of Egypt until today” (Judges 19:30). “Then the men
of Israel went back to attack the rest of the territory of Benjamin ...
“ (Judges 20:48). “Everyone did what he considered right” (Judges
21:25). It was an ‘anything goes’ situation/ Left to our own resources,
we will go from bad to worse - further and further into sin,further
and further away from God. There is only one thing that can be done in a
situation like this. We must repent. We must return to the Lord with
our whole heart. When there is a true return to the Lord, even the most
sinful people can be mightily transformed. We do not see this at the
end of the book of Judges. We see the reverse of this - ‘where grace
abounded, sin did much more abound.’ As we see the same thing happening
in our own day, we must pray for the triumph of God’s grace over human
sin.
“At the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem”, the keynote of the service was joyful thanksgiving. They gathered together “to celebrate joyfully the dedication with songs of thanksgiving” (Nehemiah 12:27). “On that day they offered great sacrifices, rejoicing because God had given them great joy” (Nehemiah 12:43). They sang “songs of praise and thanksgiving to God” (Nehemiah 12:46). This joyful thanksgiving is only a foretaste of the greater joy and thanksgiving of heaven: “There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Revelation 21:4). In the city of God, “the glory of God” will be shining with everlasting brightness (Revelation 21:23). The Church of God will be “prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband” (Revelation 21:2). The beautiful picture of the godly wife in Proverbs 31 gives us an outline of what God is seeking to do in His people. It is summarized in Proverbs 31:30: “A woman who fears the Lord is to be
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