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The Virtuous Body of Christ - Part 7 Discussion

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“The virtuous body of Christ” - Part 7

April 17, 2016

with Steven Crook

 

Mar 4:26  And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground;
Mar 4:27  And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how.
Mar 4:28  For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.
Mar 4:29  But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come.

Good or bad, we always want the harvest of the earth. Physically, it is required for us to live or die if we don’t have it and this is equally as true spiritually. Whether the beasts of the planet partake of the earth and then we use them for sustenance or if we grow crops for our food needs, we benefit from the “fruit” brought forth from the earth.

In our study today, we are going to consider verses 15-18 of Proverbs 31 and how they connect to the kingdom of God of which we are all being trained as kings and priests to rule in.

Today we find ourselves continuing to be admonished by the story of the virtuous woman as told in Proverbs 31.
In verses 15-18 we are told this about the wondrous lady and her qualities by our mother who tells us they are valuable to us as a husband and king.

Pro 31:15  She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens.
Pro 31:16  She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard.
Pro 31:17  She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms.
Pro 31:18  She perceiveth that her merchandise is good: her candle goeth not out by night.

The first quality found in the verses for today comes from the virtuous woman who is ready to work.

Notice, she does not wait for the morning when everyone else arises but she rises earlier than them to provide for the needs of her home. It is also implied that she must be wealthy because she has maidens which are given a portion as well.

She arises while it is yet night to do these tasks. So then we must consider the timing of her actions and who they benefit. They benefit her but also her household since she is obviously a part of her own household.

Here is what the night represents to us scripturally:

Gen 1:5  And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

Exo 14:19  And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them:
Exo 14:20  And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night.

Job 17:11  My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart.
Job 17:12  They (THE THOUGHTS OF THE HEART) change the night into day: the light is short because of darkness.
Job 17:13  If I wait, the grave is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness.
Job 17:14  I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister.

Psa 104:20  Thou makest darkness, and it is night: wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth.

Psa 139:11  If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.
Psa 139:12  Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.

Rom 13:10  Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
Rom 13:11  And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
Rom 13:12  The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.2
Rom 13:13  Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.

1Th 5:3  For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
1Th 5:4  But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
1Th 5:5  Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
1Th 5:6  Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
1Th 5:7  For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
1Th 5:8  But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.
1Th 5:9  For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,

I attempted to use scripture to tell a story there about our transition from night to day. Light was brought forth from darkness just as we are brought forth from night, darkness and death into day, light and life.

In fact, the way darkness is revealed is by bring light to it from WITHIN it. There are many examples I could use, but there is one that is an example that comes from a recent exchange I read on the mailing list this week.

Gen 19:1  And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground;
Gen 19:2  And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant's house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night.
Gen 19:3  And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat.
Gen 19:4  But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter:
Gen 19:5  And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them.
Gen 19:6  And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him,
Gen 19:7  And said, I pray you, BRETHREN, do not so wickedly.

There is a lot that is being said in this story but I am only going to point out applicable parts to our verses today. Notice it is evening when the angels of the Lord come to Sodom. Lot petitions them to stay with him all night but then the men of the city, who Lot references as BRETHREN, come to “do wickedness” to Lot’s guests.

Lot was a watchmen of the gate who knew what would happen to these men and no doubt tried to prevent this by welcoming them in to his home. With all of

Lot’s actions, it was the angels who ended up saving Lot in several ways. The angels saved Lot from the mobs by blinding them and then saved Lot from the LIGHT which would be brought upon Sodom and Gomorrah.

Gen 19:10  But the men put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door.
Gen 19:11  And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great: so that they wearied themselves to find the door.

And a few verses later:

Gen 19:22  Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.
Gen 19:23  The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar.
Gen 19:24  Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;
Gen 19:25  And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.

The angels of the Lord saved Lot and his family thereby showing us a type of the Passover. This was given to us in that they ate unleavened bread.

I also want you to notice that it was FIRE, which produces a large amount of LIGHT, which was called down from heaven form those which were WITHIN the city while it was DARK. Light was brought forth from darkness in this type and shadow and points us to those that are used, while it is night, to bring about the light of the Word of God.

1Th 5:6  Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.

Since we are talking about the traits of a virtuous woman we should consider this personality trait that she is who rises early to get to work and in this case it is for the work of the Lord. While other sleep she is providing for her household.

The fruit of our hands

Our next verse points us to why we want to be diligent. We mentioned in our last study that this virtuous woman seeks wool and flax and willingly works with her hands. Well, now we will see that she is benefitted by the work of her hands due to the increase that is gained.

Pro 31:16  She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard.

First she considers a field and then buys it. There is an obvious spiritual connection to what this field is and what is IN this field.

Mat 13:37  He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man;
Mat 13:38  The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;
Mat 13:39  The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.

I started this study off by reading from Mark 4. In Mark 4, the earth is mentioned along with seed and harvest of the kingdom.

Let us now connect this with the vineyard and a great treasure.

Deu 28:12  The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.

Pro 15:6  In the house of the righteous is much treasure: but in the revenues of the wicked is trouble.

Mat 12:35  A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.

Mat 13:44  Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.

Mat 13:52  Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.

Mat 6:21  For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Luk 5:37  And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish.
Luk 5:38  But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved.
Luk 5:39  No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better.

I have continuously stated that WE are, and anyone who God knows of, the body of Christ. We are the virtuous wife that Christ seeks. Christ means anointed. So anyone that is anointed is seeking this virtuous wife but what tells us that we are to ONLY SEEK this wife external to us?

In other words, the kingdom of God is WITHIN you!
If it hasn’t been realized yet, the wine that comes from vineyards, has just been PURCHASED by this virtuous woman but her currency is the blood of Jesus Christ.

The wine is DOCTRINE. That is why you see and immediate issue of doctrine being posed by the Pharisees right after Jesus speaks about the old and new wine being put in old and new bottles.

Luk 6:1  And it came to pass on the second sabbath after the first, that he went through the corn fields; and his disciples plucked the ears of corn, and did eat, rubbing them in their hands.
Luk 6:2  And certain of the Pharisees said unto them, Why do ye that which is not lawful to do on the sabbath days?

Once you realise that you are standing on solid ground, a ROCK so to speak, then you are able to GIRD yourself with this strength.

Your legs are the most powerful muscle groups in your body as far as power goes. The thing that supports your walk is STRENGTH from your legs. Likewise, the thing that supports the STRENGTH of your work is YOUR ARMS.

Why do I mention your WALK and WORKS?

Pro 31:17  She girdeth H2296 her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms.

When we gird ourselves, we are places the girdle on our hips and legs around about the area of our waist.

H2296
châgar
BDB Definition:
1) to gird, gird on, gird oneself, put on a belt

Jdg 3:16  But Ehud made him a dagger which had two edges, of a cubit length; and he did gird it under his raiment upon his right thigh.

1Sa 25:13  And David said unto his men, Gird ye on every man his sword. And they girded on every man his sword; and David also girded on his sword: and there went up after David about four hundred men; and two hundred abode by the stuff.

Since we are considering what this strength might be, and we know from scripture that our strength IS THE LORD, it is good for us to know the Lord Himself is covered in strength who then becomes our very covering.

Psa 93:1  The LORD reigneth, he is clothed with majesty; the LORD is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded himself: the world also is stablished, that it cannot be moved.

Having all this understanding, wisdom and knowledge helps us as this virtuous body of Christ to know that what we have is truly valuable.

Pro 31:18  She perceiveth that her merchandise is good: her candle goeth not out by night.

We covered in the last study that the merchandise that we have is not from Babylon the great whore who has fallen but from the Lord. Merchandise is something that by definition must be purchased.

However, that purchasing process started because our Husband purchased us with His blood. Then, he gives us a crown as His queen along with a robe and ring which all give us very standing and power.

When we realize all that we have been freely given, it will cause our light to never go out.

In the tabernacle, the Lord commanded that a golden candlestick of oil and light burn day and night.

This is the same Light that must be lit so that the fire of the Word of God burns brightly within us.

Exo 38:21  This is the sum of the tabernacle, even of the tabernacle of testimony, as it was counted, according to the commandment of Moses, for the service of the Levites, by the hand of Ithamar, son to Aaron the priest.

Rev 15:1  And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.
Rev 15:2  And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.
Rev 15:3  And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.
Rev 15:4  Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.
Rev 15:5  And after that I looked, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened:
Rev 15:6  And the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles.

When we combine the concepts that the husband and wife are one with Jesus Christ and His bride being One, then we can conclude that when we arise in the night to take care of the needs of our household, we are doing so for the household of God.

When we purchase the WORLD, which we are, we do so with the blood of Christ and then we search WITHIN it to find the Light the burns there because this is where our Husband is and because we are concerned with the household and kingdom of God, we are ALWAYS conscious that our friends, family and enemies will all have this Light in them in the Lord’s timing.

This realization will help us keep focused on knowing that all is of the Lord and we are always seeking to work diligently for the kingdom.  None of us are perfect and we definitely have seasons which produce more work than others, but we should not let that discourage us from realizing just how much our Husband loves His wife.