Kind of makes you wonder what she had been all this time. A dishonest woman? A fake woman? An impure woman? A woman of ill repute?
honest: good; not hiding the truth about someone or something; free from fraud or deception, legitimate; reputable, respectable; praiseworthy; marked by integrity
There are those who have been hanging around Jesus for some time; attending church, singing hymns, claiming His name, etc. God is looking to make of you an honest woman. Instead of only going to church, you will become the church. No longer will you simply sing songs, your life will become a new song unto the Lord (Isaiah 43:18-21). Rather than just claiming His name, you will bear His name as you obey Him, walking in His authority and power. Eye has not seen nor ear heard the glorious things in store for those who love the Lord, but it requires your submission to Him in all things (Ephesians 5:24). You must be made an honest woman.
"And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach." Isaiah 4:11
In Babylon, there are plenty of whorish women around - one on every corner - offering a relationship with God in name only. You can claim to belong to Jesus, but live for yourself. You can have the appearance of being holy, but do as you please, never submitting to the headship of Christ. As Minister David Wilkerson stated, such persons only want to be free from the guilt of sin, but truly have no desire to stop sinning. When we join ourselves to such women, we make of ourselves a harlot and will never be acceptable to God (I Corinthians 6:16).
"There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel. Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore, or the price of a dog, into the house of the LORD thy God for any vow: for even both these are abomination unto the LORD thy God." Deuteronomy 23:17-18
One thing we need to understand is that a harlot can be extremely religious. Deceit is her cover and she seeks acceptability by being found amongst God's people. However, the difference between a whore and a bride is that the bride submits to her husband as a sign of her love for him. When you see a professing believer in deliberate disobedience to God, then you know such is not the Bride of Christ.
Jesus wants to take away the shame, loneliness, fear, and pain of being estranged from Him and give you a crown of righteousness, but are you willing to receive it?
Who Can Find a Virtuous Woman?
"I turned about [penitent] and my heart was set to know and to search out and to seek [true] wisdom and the reason of things, and to know that wickedness is folly and that foolishness is madness [and what had led me into such wickedness and madness]. And I found that [of all sinful follies none has been so ruinous in seducing one away from God as idolatrous women] more bitter than death is the woman whose heart is snares and nets and whose hands are bands. Whoever pleases God shall escape from her, but the sinner shall be taken by her.
Behold, this I have found, says the Preacher, while weighing one thing after another to find out the right estimate [and the reason]—Which I am still seeking but have not found—one upright man among a thousand have I found, but an upright woman among all those [one thousand in my harem] have I not found.
Behold, this is the only [reason for it that] I have found: God made man upright, but they [men and women] have sought out many devices [for evil]." Ecclesiastes 7:25-29
The text above was written by King Solomon as he considers his life and how he has departed from the Lord (I Kings 11:1-4). As Minister David Pawson states about the book of Ecclesiastes, it is the writing of a man who had become disappointed, disillusioned, and hopeless at the end of life. He had lost the one thing worth living for: communion with God.
What was his problem? He had loved many "strange women". Yet consider this. The issue wasn't the strange women themselves; it was that this is what he in particular loved. The cause of sin always lies within (John 3:19; James 1:14-15). Strange women would not have been a snare for Solomon had it not been what he sought after. Now, in old age, he can only sit back in bitterness as he considers the role these strange women played in his downfall, even claiming that he had never seen an upright woman.
This sums up what many have experienced in church. They have been led by their own lusts into relationships with the Harlot Church, and they come away bitter and resentful as to how they were deceived. Instead of seeking to be cleansed from the sin in their hearts which led them to the Harlot, they spend their days microscopically examining and criticizing her.
People have even commented on this blog how they have searched all over and finally come to the conclusion that there is no longer any Godly church in the world. In essence, such persons call God a liar. Just as in Solomon's day, there does remain an honest woman, but you must have eyes to see her. If you are unable to discern the presence of the Church, then you must begin to ask yourself, "Why?" What is blinding your mind so that you cannot see God's presence amongst His people? A virtuous woman may be rare to find, but she exists.
God calls His people to come out of Babylon, but when you do, you must not become stagnant in a place of bitterness; stiff-necked in the Wilderness of Sin. You must continue on in obedience into the Promised Land to receive your inheritance. Otherwise - not fully of the world, but not wholly in Christ - Jesus will spew all that is lukewarm out of His mouth.
There is a religious debate regarding whether Solomon died in God or in sin. Scripture does not say. Yet, it should not be so with us. God tells us to make our calling and election sure (II Peter 1:10). Don't come to the end of life and realize that you have been settling for just naming the name of Christ. Seek to be known by Him and to be made His own (Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 13:25-28). Submit your life to Jesus Christ and let Him make an honest woman out of you. He gave His life for His Bride so that He could sanctify and cleanse it by the washing of the water of His word (Ephesians 5:26).
You can be the wisest person in the world, but if you do not obey the Lord, it will gain you nothing of substance.
"Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man." Ecclesiastes 12:13
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Sweet Nothings
Amen...Good word...
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