A Pure and Holy People [Family Worship lesson in Deuteronomy 22:13–23:14]

How is marriage to be honored? Deuteronomy 22:13–23:14 looks forward to the hearing of God’s Word, publicly read, in the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these thirty-two verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that marriage is to be honored by guarding the purity of the marriages of men, and also by safeguarding the purity of the church as betrothed unto God. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson) Summary of the transcript of the audio: This passage applies the seventh commandment, 'You shall not commit adultery,' to both individual marriages and the collective holiness of Israel as God’s betrothed people. It establishes a legal framework that protects the sanctity of marriage by safeguarding a woman’s virginity, punishing false accusations with severe penalties, and ensuring justice. The laws distinguish between cases of guilt and innocence, emphasizing the importance of public accountability, and the protection of vulnerable women, especially in contexts where help was unavailable. Beyond individual morality, the passage extends this principle to the spiritual life of the nation, requiring ritual purity in the camp—such as the exclusion of eunuchs, illegitimate births, etc.—because God dwells among His people. Ultimately, the law calls the people to reflect the purity of their covenant God, mirroring the sacred union between Christ and His church, and to live in a way that honors both marital fidelity and divine consecration.

2025.12.03 Hopewell @Home ▫ Deuteronomy 22:13–23:14

Read Deuteronomy 22:13–23:14

Questions from the Scripture text: What is the situation in v13–21? What procedure are they to follow, and what penalties are to be inflicted in what cases? What situations do v22–29 address, and what is to be done in what cases? What sorts of things could defile Israel in the presence of God (22:30–23:13)? Why is this so serious (v14)?

How is marriage to be honored? Deuteronomy 22:13–23:14 looks forward to the hearing of God’s Word, publicly read, in the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these thirty-two verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that marriage is to be honored by guarding the purity of the marriages of men, and also by safeguarding the purity of the church as betrothed unto God.  

This section is the application of the seventh commandment (“thou shalt not commit adultery”) to the life of the nation of Israel. And while the other nine commandments in the book of Deuteronomy are quite obvious in the exposition and application of that particular commandment, the second half of our portion, particularly on the holiness and cleanliness of the campsite, doesn't seem to fit in the eyes of many. But those many are missing the theme, throughout the Bible, of God's visible church being a people who are betrothed to him, and the necessity of their purity in order to be appropriately betrothed to the Lord.

So, 22:13–23:14 covers the application of the seventh commandment in two different ways: one, in the particular marriages of the nation of Israel, when they are in the land (22:13–29); and the other, in the purity and cleanliness of Israel as a bride to the Lord, her Husband, Who loves her and Who is holy, and makes a dwelling for them together (22:30–23:14).

So in the first part, the purity of the marriage is to be protected in various ways. One is that virginity is to be highly prized. A woman is not to know a man the way a wife knows a husband, except for when they are married. And it was part of the tradition of Israel, as mandated by this passage, that evidence of the virginity be kept by the parents of the bride. Sinful men would accuse their new wife, to get out of the marriage. If it turns out to be false (v13–19), then the man who ought to have forfeited his life by accusing her of a capital crime, would not be permitted to leave her a widow of damaged goods. Instead, he receives three penalties.  First, he is to be beaten (v18, where the word means corporal, physical, bodily punishment). Second, he has to give 100 shekels of silver to the father of the young woman, twice the bride price, making it triple altogether. And third, he has to be her husband, and is not permitted to divorce her all of his days (Ex 22:16–17 clarifies that the extra bride price may be paid, and the father of the bride may refuse the arrangement, if he believes it's better for his daughter to be a daughter in his own house than a wife in the man's house).

So, a husband would be highly incentivized to seek God's grace to condition his heart, to delight himself in his wife, so that he would not even entertain thoughts of devious ways of trying to get out of his marriage. The way that the procedure and the penalties and everything was ordered, in Israel, taught them to respect the marriage and honor the marriage bed (cf. Heb 13:4).

Now it was possible that a man actually finds that his new wife was not pure. In that case, she has forfeited her life by committing a capital crime (v21), which was also the penalty for adultery, in which case both who commit it would be executed (v22). 

Then, we have another cycle of three cases (v23–29). The first one The case of a woman who is guilty and a man who is guilty. The second one, the case of a woman who is innocent, and a man who is guilty. And then the third, a woman who is innocent and a man who is guilty. So we have six total cases being presented here. The fourth and fifth case are both with the respect to a woman who is betrothed to one man, and the other man tries to seize her for himself. It's related to the sixth case, because the sixth case is a woman who is not betrothed at all, and a man who seizes her does have the possibility of obtaining her as a wife, depending upon whether or not the father is willing (v28–29).

For the betrothed woman (v23–24), if it happened in the city, she is expected to cry out. Again, this is an expectation, a principle in their culture. For the guarding of their marriage, the women are to be trained that if a man attempts to seduce them, that they cry out. So if she doesn't cry out (v23–24), then the two of them both are stoned to death with stones. If it happens out in the field, where there's no one to hear her, she is presumed to be innocent. This statute would also hinder those who attempted to sneak away together. The man, in that case, would know that his life is on the line. If they are found out, it's going to be assumed that the woman was innocent, because no one could hear her cry out. And he will be executed, but she will not. And so that would be a disincentive to a guy to try and sneak away with a girl where no one could hear them. This would help prevent sexual immorality in both cases.

So what may seem just to be lists of various cases and penalties, is actually a system that conveys the importance of marriage, the importance of faithfulness of the husband to the wife, and guards the interests of the betrothed woman and the married woman—in a way that other cultures at the time did not guard the interests of the wife or of the woman. Israel had righteous laws that distinguished them from other peoples (cf. 4:7–8).

In 22:30–23:14, the issue is not “putting away the evil from among you,” as it was in the first half of the passage (v21, 24), The issue here is keeping the camp holy because the Lord has made the camp holy (v14). So there are some samples or examples from the ceremonial law given here for the maintaining of the holiness of the camp and the holiness of the assembly. And these particular examples all have to do also with the purity of the marriage bed and purity in matters of sexuality. So, if a man has been made a eunuch (v1), he cannot enter the assembly. And then those of illegitimate birth (v2). And then on of severe illegitimacy (Ammonite or Moabite), not even to the 10th generation, because of how they had treated the people of God when they came out of Egypt (v3–6). Or an Edomite or an Egyptian to the third generation (v7–8), although there was special consideration for them both because of the nearness of relation between Jacob and Esau, who were brothers, twin brothers, and because Egypt was used by God to preserve Israel in the case of famine. and to provide for Israel.

But then even a man who had something happen during the night while he was sleeping that made him unclean—he would be unclean for a day (v9–11). Or even the question of how they would deal with when they went potty, and covering that up with dirt and keeping it clean (v12–13). All of these things were for the keeping of the camp pure, because Israel was betrothed as holy unto YHWH and he had brought them to himself to dwell with him and he with them (v14).

And so in some very detailed, specific, physical ways, they were to guard both the marriages of men and also the union of God with his people—prizing and pursuing purity in both of those circumstances. So we too are to guard our marriages, each of us. And then also, members of His church are to remember that they are consecrated as the betrothed of the Lord.

There's an overlap in applying the seventh commandment corporately as the bride of Christ with the third commandment (bearing the Name of God weightily and reverently upon our lips, and upon our lives). First, because He has put His Name upon us and therefore we are not to bear His Name lightly. And second, because we are betrothed to Him as the visible church. And so we are consecrated, and we are to be a holy people for that reason as well.

So may the Lord give us to live lives of purity within our marriage, and lives of consecration unto Him in our life as those who are members of the bride of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

What are you doing to guard your, and others’, marriages? How are you specifically resisting the view of marriage in the culture (and church culture) around you? How are you helping to keep your church pure, and consecrated unto the Lord?

Sample prayer:  Father, we thank You for speaking to us plainly, for teaching us to prize and value our own marriage, each of us, and to prize and value the betrothal of the church unto Your Son, our Lord Jesus. And we pray that You would give us to live pure, chaste lives. Help us, we pray, in an age of sexual immorality—in which people think it's no big deal to sin violently against these commandments that you had required to be punished by death. Give us to have our hearts and minds to be in line with Yours in Your Word, and not to be in line with the heart and mind of the culture. For we ask it in Jesus's Name, Amen!

Suggested songs: ARP15 “Within Your Tent, Who Will Reside” or TPH174 “The Ten Commandments”

The Beloved Who Beautifies [Family Worship lesson in Song of Songs 1:16–17]

How does the Bride respond to the Bridegroom's praise? Song of Songs 1:16–17 prepares us for the evening sermon on the coming Lord's Day. In these two verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the Bride responds to the Bridegroom's praise by praising both Him and her fellowship with Him.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2025.12.02 Hopewell @Home ▫ Song of Songs 1:16–17

Read Song of Songs 1:16–17

Questions from the Scripture text: How does she introduce her exclamation (Song of Songs 1:16a)? What does she exclaim about Him? What does she call Him? What else does she exclaim about Him (verse 16b)? What else does she describe (verse 16c)? As what color? What else does she describe (Song of Songs 1:17a)? As of what wood? And what else (verse 17b)? As of what wood (verse 17c)?

How does the Bride respond to the Bridegroom’s praise? Song of Songs 1:16–17 prepares us for the opening portion of the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these two verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the Bride responds to the Bridegroom’s praise by praising both Him and her fellowship with Him. 

In Song of Songs 1:16, the word that's being translated ‘handsome’ is the masculine form of the word ‘fair’ in Song of Songs 1:15. And what we have is the response of the church to Christ. Whenever He praises the beauty that he has attributed to us, the beauty that He has worked in us, the beauty that He sees in us (verse 15), we immediately want to throw it back onto Him—because any beauty that is in us is from Him. The beauty is natively, rightly, properly His. The beauty is only ours derivatively. It's ours as a gift, but it's His by virtue of Who He is and what He is like in Himself. He is inherently beautiful.

It's this way and should be this way with believers: that, in any good thing, as soon as we receive any commendation, or possess any good thing, or any praise whatsoever, we would always want to turn it, immediately, to the praise of the Lord Jesus. 

He never finds us more lovely (Song of Songs 1:15), or make us more lovely, than when we are expressing our love to Him (Song of Songs 1:12-14). Never do we perceive the loveliness of Christ (Song of Songs 1:16-17) so much as when He is displaying His love to us (Song of Songs 1:15).

The riches of the glories of Jesus (Song of Songs 1:16) are known especially when He is saying, “Behold, you are fair, my love, behold, you are fair” (Song of Songs 1:15). And the church ought to respond, recognizing that whatever good is in us is rightly and properly from Him, and rightly and properly to His praise.

He had commanded, “behold.” She responds, “behold,” not as a command, but as a form of obedience—as if to say, “yes, behold; I'm looking, and this is what I see; I see your beauty. Any beauty that might be in me has come from you.”

The beloved is the origin of His bride’s beauty. And His beauty is of a different quality, a different character. So she hurries to add the word, “pleasant” (Song of Songs 1:16b)—a second word that means a similar thing, with more emphasis on the experience of beauty, rather than the content of beauty. He is beautiful in Himself, and beautiful to enjoy.

By calling her “My love” (Song of Songs 1:15), He gave to her to find her identity in Him, and to know Him especially in his union with her. So now, she responds, “my Beloved” (Song of Songs 1:16). Again, she's recognizing that it is in union with Him, and in shared life (communion) with Him, that she has whatever beauty she has. He is the One Whose beauty is ultimate (verse 16a–b). He is the One Who is ultimately pleasant. And she has come to be beautiful (“fair,” Song of Songs 1:15), only because she has been united to Him, Whom she knows now as her Beloved.

But it isn’t just He Whom she experiences as beautiful. Her shared life with Him beautifies everything else that she is experiences (Song of Songs 1:16-17). Notice the shared life: not “Your bed,” but “our bed”; not “Your houses,” but “our houses.” She is experiencing her life as something in which she has a joint interest and experience with the Lord Jesus (cf. Romans 8:17).

And so, the church’s experience of the most comfort and intimacy with Christ (“our bed,” Song of Songs 1:16c) is given a color of refreshment and life and fruitfulness (“green”). And the structure and order which He has erected for their life together (“the beams of our houses,” Song of Songs 1:17a; and, “our rafters,” verse 17b) are given a substance of strength and beauty and endurance (“cedar” and “fir”). And there is certainly some allusion to the cedar of the temple that Solomon himself had built, where the Lord made a life for His people with Himself, by provision of priesthood, sacrifices, etc.

But the house of God is not ultimately the structure that Solomon built out of cedar. That house itself—by use of cedar, by use of gold, by use of the great stones that were used in it—looked forward to the life of God with His people, in His ordinances, as they would ultimately be experienced in Christ: Christ leading our worship, Christ drawing us near to God, Christ addressing us with God's word, Christ consecrating us as our high priest. And He has furnished for us those ordained servants by whom He Himself leads us before God. The structure that He has provided should be strong, enduring, beautiful and sweet to us, as cedar and fir are. 

And so as the bride responds with her praise of His beauty, she is also responding with praise of intimacy with Him, and of the provision that he has made for the house.

Finally, this word rafters, refers to a covered walk, a third concentric circle, out from the bedroom and the household. The first is very intimate. Then there's the household, which is the life with Him which He provides. But then there's also these rafters, some sort of structure in which to walk. And so, even in her going out to do business, or daily life, or whatever she's going out to do, she still has that fellowship with Him that goes wherever she goes. 

As you do, in your, life all the things that you go to do, you go accompanied by, bordered by, the fellowship that you have with Him. His beauty, His pleasantness, fills the whole of the life of the church, the whole of the life of the Christian. May God give you to have this experience of Christ.

How are you enjoying Christ? How are you enjoying times of intimacy with Him? How are you enjoying the structure that He has provided for drawing near to Him? How are you enjoying fellowship with Him, even as you go out into the rest of your life?

Sample prayer:  Lord, we thank You for this song. We thank You for the poetry of it. We thank You most of all for the reality that this poetry is being employed to describe. Give us, we pray, to have a life, not only of intimate moments with You, but then, in your church, and in our engagement even in the world, that it would always flow from, and be accompanied by, the fellowship that we have with our Lord Jesus. For we ask it in His Name, Amen!

Suggested songs: ARP73C “Yet Constantly, I Am with You” or TPH425 “How Sweet and Awesome Is the Place”

2025.12.01 Hopewell @Home ▫ Proverbs 19:16–23

Read Proverbs 19:16–23

Questions from the Scripture text: What does the one in Proverbs 19:16a keep initially? And what does this cause him to keep? What is the opposite of doing this (verse 16b)? And what happens to that careless person? Upon whom does the man in Proverbs 19:17a have pity? To Whom, ultimately, is he lending? What will He do (verse 17b)? What should one do with his son (Proverbs 19:18a)? During what time? If he does not chasten his son, then upon what does he set his heart (verse 18b)? To what sort of man does Proverbs 19:19a refer? What will happen to him? What does not actually help him (verse 19b)? What must a son do (Proverbs 19:20a)? Unto what end (verse 20b)? What is he tempted to hope will be implemented (Proverbs 19:21a)? But what will actually win out (verse 21b)? What does the poor man desire for you to be (Proverbs 19:22a, cf. Proverbs 19:17a)? To whom is he superior (Proverbs 19:22b)? What leads to what end (Proverbs 19:23a)? In what condition (verse 23b)? Unmarred by what (verse 23c)?

What do godly parents hope for their children? Proverbs 19:16–23 looks forward to the midweek sermon. In these eight verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that parents hope in God to bless their discipline and instruction, unto their children’s fearing YHWH, unto their life and joy.  

This section continues to build on what a man can get from his father, which we have in the previous passage. And you remember that, especially when it came to the obtaining of a wife, What a man receives from his father is a subset of what he receives from God. This passage follows up on that, and it's bookended by two statements, presenting this as a matter of life (Proverbs 19:23) and death (Proverbs 19:16).

As a father gives the instruction of the Lord (cf. Ephesians 6:4), his children learn to obey God by obeying dad (Proverbs 19:16a). In this way, they come into the life-giving fear of YHWH (Proverbs 19:23a). And not just life, but fullness of joy (verse 23b) and absence of harm (verse 23c). There's nothing that a father should want for his children more than that they would have life, with abiding satisfaction, and not be harmed at all—i.e., that his children would fear YHWH.

The fear of YHWH is displayed when you do good in situations where no one but YHWH will repay you (Proverbs 19:17)—when someone is kind to the poor (verse 17a, Proverbs 19:22a) and tells the truth (verse 22b). For this fear, discipline is necessary (Proverbs 19:18a), because we are wrathful by nature (Proverbs 19:19, cf. Ephesians 6:4). Without discipline, a child will remain foolish (Proverbs 19:22) and be destroyed (Proverbs 19:18b). Discipline brings us into submission to YHWH’s will (v21b), rather than trying to exert our own (Proverbs 19:21a). 

For the parent, this knowledge makes it a matter of the heart. Proverbs 19:18b is sobering; to fail to discipline isn’t just to be lazy or naïve; it is to set your heart on your child’s destruction. Parenting isn’t just a matter of habits, but of the heart. There is a window of hope (verse 18a) that threatens to slip away.

If they don't receive counsel and instruction, then they will continue to be fools, and they will continue to need discipline. And once they get out of the season of life in which discipline will help, they will bring themselves more and more under the punishment and wrath of God. The goal is that by the time the child comes into the next season of life, he will be wise (Proverbs 19:20). Thus, he will come to receive everything happily under the providence of God, in the fear of God; and, even those things that others experience as evil, he will know to be for his good in God’s mercy to him.

What is your attitude toward disciplining children? What is your attitude toward being disciplined by the Lord? How can you tell what value you are placing upon fearing Him? What sort of life are you hoping to obtain?

Sample prayer:  Father, thank You for not setting Your heart on our destruction, but giving Christ for us. And then giving us Your word by Your Spirit, Who uses it to bring us to Christ and to grow us in Christ. We pray that Your Spirit would do so, even with this passage that we have just heard. For we ask it in Jesus's Name, Amen!

Suggested songs: ARP184 “Adoration and Submission” or TPH131B “Not Haughty Is My Heart” 

Lifesaving Discipline [Family Worship lesson in Proverbs 19:16–23]

What do godly parents hope for their children? Proverbs 19:16–23 looks forward to the midweek sermon. In these eight verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that godly parents hope in God to bless their discipline and instruction, unto their children’s fearing YHWH, unto their life and joy. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson) Summary of the transcript of the audio: This devotional presents a call to cultivate the fear of YHWH as the foundation of true life and lasting satisfaction. It emphasizes that obedience to divine instruction—applied by godly parenting—preserves the soul, while neglect leads to spiritual death. One example of this life is compassion for the poor, not as mere charity but as an act of reverence toward God’s image. The text underscores that genuine wisdom comes through heeding counsel and enduring discipline, especially in youth, as unchecked rebellion and indulgence lead to wrath and repeated consequences. Ultimately, the goal is a life trusting God’s eternal counsel, where even trials are received with joy under His providence, resulting in abiding satisfaction and freedom from evil’s grasp.

2025.12.01 Hopewell @Home ▫ Proverbs 19:16–23

Read Proverbs 19:16–23

Questions from the Scripture text: What does the one in v16a keep initially? And what does this cause him to keep? What is the opposite of doing this (v16b)? And what happens to that careless person? Upon whom does the man in v17a have pity? To Whom, ultimately, is he lending? What will He do (v17b)? What should one do with his son (v18a)? During what time? If he does not chasten his son, then upon what does he set his heart (v18b)? To what sort of man does v19a refer? What will happen to him? What does not actually help him (v19b)? What must a son do (v20a)? Unto what end (v20b)? What is he tempted to hope will be implemented (v21a)? But what will actually win out (v21b)? What does the poor man desire for you to be (v22a, cf. v17a)? To whom is he superior (v22b)? What leads to what end (v23a)? In what condition (v23b)? Unmarred by what (v23c)?

What do godly parents hope for their children? Proverbs 19:16–23 looks forward to the midweek sermon. In these eight verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that parents hope in God to bless their discipline and instruction, unto their children’s fearing YHWH, unto their life and joy.  

This section continues to build on what a man can get from his father, which we have in the previous passage. And you remember that, especially when it came to the obtaining of a wife, What a man receives from his father is a subset of what he receives from God. This passage follows up on that, and it's bookended by two statements, presenting this as a matter of life (v23) and death (v16).

As a father gives the instruction of the Lord (cf. Eph 6:4), his children learn to obey God by obeying dad (v16a). In this way, they come into the life-giving fear of YHWH (v23a). And not just life, but fullness of joy (v23b) and absence of harm (v23c). There's nothing that a father should want for his children more than that they would have life, with abiding satisfaction, and not be harmed at all—i.e. that his children would fear YHWH.

The fear of YHWH is displayed when you do good in situations where no one but YHWH will repay you (v17)—when someone is kind to the poor (v17a, 22a) and tells the truth (v22b). For this fear, discipline is necessary (v18a), because we are wrathful by nature (v19, cf. Eph 6:4). Without discipline, a child will remain foolish (v22) and be destroyed (v18b). Discipline brings us into submission to YHWH’s will (v21b), rather than trying to exert our own (v21a).

For the parent, this knowledge makes it a matter of the heart. v18b is sobering; to fail to discipline isn’t just to be lazy or naïve; it is to set your heart on your child’s destruction. Parenting isn’t just a matter of habits, but of the heart. There is a window of hope (v18a) that threatens to slip away.

If they don't receive counsel and instruction, then they will continue to be fools, and they will continue to need discipline. And once they get out of the season of life in which discipline will help, they will bring themselves more and more under the punishment and wrath of God. The goal is that by the time the child comes into the next season of life, he will be wise (v20). Thus, he will come to receive everything happily under the providence of God, in the fear of God; and, even those things that others experience as evil, he will know to be for his good in God’s mercy to him.

What is your attitude toward disciplining children? What is your attitude toward being disciplined by the Lord? How can you tell what value you are placing upon fearing Him? What sort of life are you hoping to obtain?

Sample prayer:  Father, thank You for not setting Your heart on our destruction, but giving Christ for us. And then giving us Your word by Your Spirit, Who uses it to bring us to Christ and to grow us in Christ. We pray that Your Spirit would do so, even with this passage that we have just heard. For we ask it in Jesus's Name, Amen!

Suggested songs: ARP184 “Adoration and Submission” or TPH131B “Not Haughty Is My Heart”

Identifying Kingdom Heirs [Family Worship lesson in Matthew 25:31–46]

How do you get ready for the Son of Man to come in His glory? Matthew 25:31–46 looks forward to the morning sermon in the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these sixteen verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that you get ready for the Son of Man to come in His glory by grace-sustained adoration, affection, and action. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson) Summary of the transcript of the audio: This passage reveals that readiness for Christ’s return is rooted in divine election and sustained by a life of adoration, affection, and action toward fellow believers. The final judgment centers not on abstract moral performance but on how individuals have responded to Christ’s suffering through His mystical union with His people, making acts of mercy toward the vulnerable a reflection of worship and love for Him. True faith is marked by adoration of Christ as YHWH, which produces genuine affection for His redeemed, expressed in tangible acts of service. These actions are not a means of earning salvation, but a fruit of being predestined for the kingdom, and living by God’s grace.

2025.11.29 Hopewell @Home ▫ Matthew 25:31–46

 Read Matthew 25:31–46

Questions from the Scripture text: Who is coming (v31)? In what condition? With whom? To do what? Who will be gathered before Him (v32)? What will He do to them (v32–33)? What will He say to those on the right hand (v34–36)? By Whom are they blessed (v34)? What is prepared for them? Since when? What are they now to do with it? What have they done? How will they respond to His saying this (v37–39)? What is His explanation (v40)? What will He say to those on the left hand (v41–43)? Where will they be sent (v41)? What haven’t they done (v42–43)? How will they answer (v44)? What is His explanation (v45)? How does v46 summarize the outcome?

How do you get ready for the Son of Man to come in His glory? Matthew 25:31–46 looks forward to the morning sermon in the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these sixteen verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that you get ready for the Son of Man to come in His glory by grace-sustained adoration, affection, and action.

How do you get ready for the Son of Man to come in His glory (v31)? What makes you ready is being predestined from the foundation of the world (v34). Who will receive, and what they receive, is prepared from all eternity. All depends upon Him, so even as we think about how to live, we realize that this will only be by His grace. We are dependent upon Him for our living that way. The rest of humanity are cursed. They are volitional, they make their choices, their real choices, they are wicked, but ultimately it is because they are reprobate. There is a double predestination, and God is righteous and just in doing so.

So election is one answer. But those who are elected have these three attributes: adoration, affection, and action.

The first is adoration. It is all done as worship unto Him. He receives what is done, particularly to Christians, as being done unto Him. And therefore, they are not just actions made in affection for particular people. they are actions made in adoration of the Glorious One.

Do you adore the Lord Jesus? Do you worship him? In all of the love that you have for those who are Christians, is it especially because they are His? Is it especially because they are His, and because He receives it as done unto Him? We can't skip adoration. We can't go straight to feeling really warm and fuzzy towards those who are called Christians. Adoration first.

Second, affection. If we adore Him, we will love Him and all those who are united to Him (v40). So He'll say, for I was hungry, you gave Me food. I was thirsty, you gave Me drink. I was a stranger, you took Me in. I was naked, you clothed Me. I was sick and you visited Me. I was in prison, you came to Me (v35–36). How could the Lord Himself have ben in such situations (v37)? He has so united Himself to those whom He is saving that they inherit with Him, but He suffers with them (cf. Rom 8:16–18). Thus, adoration of Christ must necessarily be joined to affection toward Christians. If you do not adore Jesus, then whatever affection you have for others who are called Christian is not truly Christian affection, because true Christian affection is rooted in adoration of the Christ to Whom they are united. But if you don't have affection towards Christians, it is also true then that you don't adore Jesus.

Finally, affection towards Christians isn't just a warm feeling. Affection is expressed in actions. Those who are His have real earthly needs, like food and hunger and clothing and illness, like having no home and needing a place to stay, or being imprisoned and needing to be remembered or advocated for. If we take no action, then there was no affection. That doesn't mean that love is only an action. That means that love includes both. There are those who take lots of actions, but they do it out of pride or a desire to justify themselves or feel good about themselves. These actions are a litmus test, not because they make the difference between the sheep and the goats, but because the difference between the sheep and the goats makes their actions.

So that's one of the ways that we can diagnose whether we need to be brought to a repentance that begins with renewed adoration of the Lord Jesus, and is felt in affection for Christians, which is expressed in those actions. And that's how you live as someone who is ready for his return.

How are you adoring Jesus? What is your affection to Christians? How are you putting this into action?

Sample prayer:  Father, we thank You for this portion of Your Word. We thank You for Your Son and His clear teaching about His return and what makes the difference in us. We thank You for Your electing love and for Your free decree and predestining out of Your good pleasure. And we ask that by Your Spirit, You would produce in us that adoration of Christ, and affection towards Christians, that produces Christian action. For we ask it in Christ's name, AMEN!

 Suggested Songs: ARP32AB “What Blessedness” or TPH98A “O Sing a New Song to the Lord”

2025.11.28 Hopewell @Home ▫ Song of Songs 1:16–17

Read Song of Songs 1:16–17

Questions from the Scripture text: How does she introduce her exclamation (v16a)? What does she exclaim about Him? What does she call Him? What else does she exclaim about Him (v16b)? What else does she describe (v16c)? As what color? What else does she describe (v17a)? As of what wood? And what else (v17b)? As of what wood (v17c)?

How does the Bride respond to the Bridegroom’s praise? Song of Songs 1:16–17 prepares us for the evening sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these two verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the Bride responds to the Bridegroom’s praise by praising both Him and her fellowship with Him.

In v16, the word that's being translated ‘handsome’ is the masculine form of the word ‘fair’ in v15. And what we have is the response of the church to Christ. Whenever He praises the beauty that he has attributed to us, the beauty that He has worked in us, the beauty that He sees in us (v15), we immediately want to throw it back onto Him—because any beauty that is in us is from Him. The beauty is natively, rightly, properly His. The beauty is only ours derivatively. It's ours as a gift, but it's His by virtue of Who He is and what He is like in Himself. He is inherently beautiful.

It's this way and should be this way with believers: that, in any good thing, as soon as we receive any commendation, or possess any good thing, or any praise whatsoever, we would always want to turn it, immediately, to the praise of the Lord Jesus.

He never finds us more lovely (v15), or make us more lovely, than when we are expressing our love to Him (v12–14). Never do we perceive the loveliness of Christ (v16–17) so much as when He is displaying His love to us (v15).

The riches of the glories of Jesus (v16) are known especially when He is saying, “Behold, you are fair, my love, behold, you are fair” (v15). And the church ought to respond, recognizing that whatever good is in us is rightly and properly from Him, and rightly and properly to His praise.

He had commanded, “behold.” She responds, “behold,” not as a command, but as a form of obedience—as if to say, “yes, behold; I'm looking, and this is what I see; I see your beauty. Any beauty that might be in me has come from you.”

The beloved is the origin of His bride’s beauty. And His beauty is of a different quality, a different character. So she hurries to add the word, “pleasant” (v16b)—a second word that means a similar thing, with more emphasis on the experience of beauty, rather than the content of beauty. He is beautiful in Himself, and beautiful to enjoy.

By calling her, “My love” (v15) He gave to her to find her own identity in Him, and to know Him especially in his union with her. So now, she responds, “my Beloved” (v16). Again, she's recognizing that it is in union with Him, and in shared life (communion) with Him, that she has whatever beauty she has. He is the One Whose beauty is ultimate (v16a–b). He is the One Who is ultimately pleasant. And she has come to be beautiful (“fair,” v15), only because she has been united to Him, Whom she knows now as her Beloved.

But it isn’t just He Whom she experiences as beautiful. Her shared life with Him beautifies everything else that she is experiences (v16c–17). Notice the shared life: not “Your bed,” but “our bed”; not “Your houses,” but “our houses.” She is experiencing her life as something in which she has a joint interest and experience with the Lord Jesus (cf. Rom 8:17).

And so, the church’s experience of the most comfort and intimacy with Christ (“our bed,” v16c) is given a color of refreshment and life and fruitfulness (“green”). And the structure and order which He has erected for their life together (“the beams of our houses,” v17a; and, “our rafters,” v17b) are given a substance of strength and beauty and endurance (“cedar” and “fir”). And there is certainly some allusion to the cedar of the temple that Solomon himself had built, where the Lord made a life for His people with Himself, by provision of priesthood, sacrifices, etc.

But the house of God is not ultimately the structure that Solomon built out of cedar. That house itself—by use of cedar, by use of gold, by use of the great stones that were used in it—looked forward to the life of God with His people, in His ordinances, as they would ultimately be experienced in Christ: Christ leading our worship, Christ drawing us near to God, Christ addressing us with God's word, Christ consecrating us as our high priest. And He has furnished for us those ordained servants by whom He Himself leads us before God. The structure that He has provided should be strong, enduring, beautiful and sweet to us, as cedar and fir are.

And so as the bride responds with her praise of His beauty, she is also responding with praise of intimacy with Him, and of the provision that he has made for the house.

Finally, this word rafters, refers to a covered walk, a third concentric circle, out from the bedroom and the household. The first is very intimate. Then there's the household, which is the life with Him which He provides. But then there's also these rafters, some sort of structure in which to walk. And so, even in her going out to do business, or daily life, or whatever she's going out to do, she still has that fellowship with Him that goes wherever she goes.

As you do, in your, life all the things that you go to do, you go accompanied by, bordered by, the fellowship that you have with Him. His beauty, His pleasantness, fills the whole of the life of the church, the whole of the life of the Christian. May God give you to have this experience of Christ.

How are you enjoying the Lord Jesus? How are you enjoying times of intimacy with Him? How are you enjoying the structure that He has provided for drawing near to Him? How are you enjoying fellowship with Him, even as you go out into the rest of your life?

Sample prayer:  Lord, we thank You for this song. We thank You for the poetry of it. We thank You most of all for the reality that this poetry is being employed to describe. Give us, we pray, to have a life, not only of intimate moments with You, but then, in your church, and in our engagement even in the world, that it would always flow from, and be accompanied by, the fellowship that we have with our Lord Jesus. For we ask it in His Name, Amen!

Suggested songs: ARP73C “Yet Constantly, I Am with You” or TPH425 “How Sweet and Awesome Is the Place”