We need both truth and
holiness (Zechariah 8:3). Truth is not just something to be believed.
Truth changes us. Truth leads us into the pathways of holiness. We need
both "truth and peace" (Zechariah 8:19). When truth changes us, it leads
us into the paths of peace. The holy life is not to be a life of pride.
That is Pharisaism. We think that holiness is all our own doing. The
way of true holiness is also the way of peace. We seek to show, by our
way of living, that we have been saved by the Lord and changed by Him.
We show that the Lord is working in us, when we learn to walk in the way
of peace. We are not to be like the Pharisee who looks down his nose at
other people. We are to reach out to them in peace. At the Cross, we
have learned that we are loved. At the Cross, we learn to hold out the
love of Christ to other people.
“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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