Day 244 - The Beauty of Holiness

Today's Reading: Song 5-6 and 1 Tim. 5

Truly He is altogether lovely, the chiefest among 10,000...

In today's reading we find more imagery given to show the description of Solomon and his true love.

I love Song 6:10, "Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?"

Here is another illustration of what Christ's pure bride, the church, is to be...

In Prophets and Kings it is written: "Clad in the armor of Christ's righteousness, the church is to enter upon her final conflict. "Fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners" (Song 6:10) she is to go forth into all the world, conquering and to conquer." (p. 725)

Regarding the imagery we see throughout the book of Solomon, Ellen White writes the following:

"The great motive powers of the soul are faith, hope, and love; and it is to these that Bible study, rightly pursued, appeals. The outward beauty of the Bible, the beauty of imagery and expression, is but the setting, as it were, for its real treasure—the beauty of holiness. In its record of the men who walked with God, we may catch glimpses of His glory. In the One “altogether lovely” we behold Him, of whom all beauty of earth and heaven is but a dim reflection. “I, if I be lifted up,” He said, “will draw all men unto Me.” John 12:32. As the student of the Bible beholds the Redeemer, there is awakened in the soul the mysterious power of faith, adoration, and love. Upon the vision of Christ the gaze is fixed, and the beholder grows into the likeness of that which he adores. The words of the apostle Paul become the language of the soul: “I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: ... that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings.” Philippians 3:8-10. (Education, p. 192)

I love two key thoughts I see here in this quote... "the beauty of the imagery and expression is but a setting for its real treasure--the beauty of holiness." I also love the phrase that "the beholder grows into the likeness of that which he adores."

So very true! Let us behold the One "altogether lovely." Let us gaze upon the One that is altogether holy. Let us fix our hearts on Him! "I have set the Lord always before me. Because He is at my right hand, I SHALL NOT BE MOVED." (Ps. 16:8)

Tomorrow's Reading: Song 7-8 and Ps. 99-101