Proverbs 31 … Consider Him Who is Known in the Gates

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Originally posted: 1/24/2021

Her husband is known in the gates,
When he sits among the elders of the land, (31:23).

It was May of 1984, only five months after I had met Jesus and trusted Him for salvation, when I attended a ladies’ retreat. Although I do not remember the speaker’s name, I remember her message. It was on what is often referred to as the Proverbs 31 Virtuous Woman. I actually still have my notes from that retreat.

Although I barely remember what she looked like or the sound of her voice, there was one thought she articulated that has stayed with me as though I just heard it yesterday. I will never forget the words she spoke as she turned our attention to Proverbs 31:23: Her husband is known in the gates, When he sits among the elders of the land.
         “Ladies, your husband will be known by the way you make him known.”

Our retreat speaker went on to explain from this passage that because this husband took his place among the elders, he was a man of influence. And due to the way that this wife conducted her life, through her deeds and her words, this excellent wife was regarded as an asset to him in advancing and increasing his influence in the public’s eye. (As a side note, I made a commitment before the Lord to never publicly bad-mouth my husband. I am profoundly grateful for the Lord’s faithfulness to this commitment made back in 1984.)

And today as I looked for Him in this chapter devoted to reminding a young king of all that his mother had taught him about the need for righteousness in ruling his kingdom and in finding his wife, I was reminded that throughout His Word, God has called Himself our Husband, and compares our relationship with Him to a marriage. Several verses are included below for meditation:

“For your husband is your Maker,
Whose name is the Lord of hosts;
And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel,
Who is called the God of all the earth,” (Isaiah 54:5).

“Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord, (Jeremiah 31:31-32).

“In that day,” declares the LORD, “you will call me ‘my husband’; you will no longer call me ‘my master,’” (Hosea 2:16 NIV).

“I will betroth you to Me forever;
Yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in justice,
In lovingkindness and in compassion,
20 And I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness.
Then you will know the Lord,” (Hosea 2:19-20).

“Then the kingdom of heaven will be comparable to ten virgins, who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom,” (Matthew 25:1).

“You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent ahead of Him.’ 29 He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been made full. 30 He must increase, but I must decrease,”  (John 3:28-30).

For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. 32 This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church, (Ephesians 5: 31-32).

“Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.” 8 It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints, (Revelation 19:7-8).

And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband… 9 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and spoke with me, saying, “Come here, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb,” (Revelation 21:2, 9).

He is our Husband, He sits exalted, and He is Known in the Gates.

Consider Him Who is Known in the Gates

  • He is Known in the Gates… as understood in His creation.
    • “To whom then will you liken Me
      That I would be his equal?” says the Holy One.
      26 Lift up your eyes on high
      And see who has created these stars,
      The One who leads forth their host by number,
      He calls them all by name;
      Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power,
      Not one of them is missing,       (Isaiah 40:25-26).
    • For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse, (Romans 1:20).
  • He is Known in the Gates… as spoken in the prophets.
    • nor have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His teachings which He set before us through His servants the prophets, (Daniel 9:10).
    • God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, (Hebrews 1:1).
  • He is Known in the Gates… as explained in His Son.
    • No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him, (John 1:18).
    • in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world, (Hebrews 1:2).
  • He is Known in the Gates… as revealed in His Word.
    • You are near, O Lord,
      And all Your commandments are truth.
      152 Of old I have known from Your testimonies
      That You have founded them forever,       (Psalm 119:151-152).
    • for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God, (1 Peter 1:23).
  • He is Known in the Gates… as given in His Name.
    • “I am the Lord, that is My name;
      I will not give My glory to another,
      Nor My praise to graven images, (Isaiah 42:8).
    • And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved, (Acts 4:12).
  • He is Known in the Gates… as made evident in our conscience.
    • because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them, (Romans 1:19).
    • For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, 15 in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, (Romans 2:14-15).
  • He is Known in the Gates… as demonstrated in His bride.
    • “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven,” (Matthew 5:16).
    • But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light, (1 Peter 2:9).

How do we respond to Him Who is Known in the Gates?

It truly is a lofty goal to become a virtuous woman to an earthly husband. But oh, to be counted virtuous as His bride… what more could we desire?

As His bride, we are to live a life that will make Him Known in a way that will be an asset to Him in advancing and increasing His influence in the public’s eye, that others would be drawn to want to know Him because they see His Spirit having His way in us.

Let us live to bring Him glory as we shine our light on Him Who is Known in the Gates.

“Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven,” (Matthew 5:16).

Oh, may we live as His chosen bride who boldly proclaims the excellence of His gospel, that others would be brought out of the darkness and into the marvelous light of Him Who is Known in the Gates.

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light, (1 Peter 2:9).

And let us love like He loves us, that as His faithful bride we would we live and love so that others would know Him. And what a joy it would be, that if because we live and love as His virtuous bride, others would come to know that we are His disciples who belong to Him Who is Known in the Gates.

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another,” (John 13:34-35).

Let’s Grow Together!

2 thoughts on “Proverbs 31 … Consider Him Who is Known in the Gates”

  1. Hello

    I just read this post you made and wanted to ask your honest opinion about your love for Jesus

    Has your love for Him been constant? Through the hardships of this life that come our way?

    Has your Love for Him been known by others and have wanted the same relationship?

    I don’t ask to question your love for Jesus but rather am asking because I don’t have that kind of Love for Him as those scriptures talked about

    I claim to be a Christian and I’m nice to people but I don’t have that love for Jesus

    I truly believe that when someone has Love for Jesus others will see it and know there is something different about that person and I desire that

    I just don’t know how to get there

    I read scripture everyday and every night I run the audio visual at church each week, I’m surrounding myself around church family and yet in my heart I know my Love for a jesus is not there and that scares me because I don’t want Jesus to say when He returns “ depart from me I never knew you”

    I desire to be that man in proverbs who is known at the gates, not to be known and feel puffed up but to have purpose and influence and to ultimately have this because of my love for Jesus

    Any thoughts about my situation would be greatly appreciated

    Thanks for reading

    Reply

    • Hello Christopher,
      Thank you for your email. I apologize for not getting back to you sooner as my husband and I were out of town.

      I appreciate your question and concern. I always want to start at the beginning… with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Christopher, have you acknowledged that you are a sinner, unable to save yourself, and then repented by turning away from your sin and turning to Jesus by placing your faith in His sinless life, death, burial, and resurrection? And if so, then as the Scriptures declare, you are a new creation in Him.

      For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them, (Ephesians 2:8-10).
      Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come, (2 Corinthians 5:17).

      The Scriptures also tell us that apart from Christ, we are dead in our trespasses and sins.

      And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience, (Ephesians 2:1-2).

      If you are certain that you have trusted in Christ and are born again, then you can think about the love that you desire for Him (because obviously dead people can’t love).

      About forty years ago, as a new believer I was struggling with not doing it right. I had called my husband in tears telling him, “I don’t feel like a very good Christian.” At that time, we subscribed to a bi-monthly publication called Discipleship Journal. My husband replied, “There is an article about that in this month’s Discipleship Journal. I quickly found the magazine and opened it to find the third article down was titled “I Don’t Feel Like a Very Good Christian.” Yes, exactly the words I had spilled out on the phone to my husband!

      So here was the overall gist of that article. The fact that I was struggling with that feeling meant I wanted more! As humans, we will never get it right, never do enough, never be all we want to be, and never love Him enough! But what I have learned is that when I always want more, then I am then desiring to love Him as Jesus commanded.

      And He said to him, “‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ 38 This is the great and foremost commandment. 39 The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ 40 On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets,” (Matthew 22:37-40).

      Please notice in this command, nowhere does Jesus tell us to love Him with all our feelings, but with all our heart, soul, and mind.

      Our heart directs our desires, affections, and commitments. Our soul is all of ourselves so that includes faithful obedience in our serving, our choices, and yes, in our suffering. And our mind must be submitted to His Truth; this means a commitment to think Biblically; and to do that we must study to know His Truth.

      Love does not always feel like our human understanding of love. Sometimes it means choosing obedience when we don’t feel it. Isn’t that what Jesus did as He knelt and prayed in the garden?

      And He was saying, “Abba! Father! All things are possible for You; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what You will,” (Mark 14:36).

      Jesus brought His heart, His soul, and His mind to His Abba Father, and while His feelings were strong, Jesus submitted to His Father’s will. As fully God yet fully human, Jesus wrestled with feelings that wanted the cup removed. Jesus knew His Father could do that; but because of His great His love for His Father and for us He submitted His own will to that of His Father’s. And that is the ultimate act of Love. A love that led Him to obey, even at the great cost of suffering on the cross.

      So Christopher, over the years I have learned that feelings definitely lie, and I cannot gage my love for my Savior based on the fickleness of my feelings. Living by faith does not always mean I feel like I am doing enough, being enough, or loving enough. But as I come to His Word each and every day to learn His Truth, and as I trust what He alone is able to do to enable me to obey His greatest commandment, I believe what He says is true. And if you have been born again Christopher, He will perfectly do in you what He has already begun!

      For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus, (Philippians 1:6).

      I am praying for you. He is faithful.
      Blessings in Christ,
      Sande
      Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things, (Philippians 4:8).

      Reply

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