Jewelry
JEWELRY, EARRINGS, AND MAKEUP WHERE DID IT ALL START?
In the New Testament, there is very little mentioned about these types of things. And some people have taken some scriptures in the New Testament, and they misunderstand these verses of scripture, but I’m sure there are sure some people who do it maybe out of being desperate, they’re looking to find some way to justify themselves.
In talking about appearance, there are a few scriptures in the New Testament dealing with the word appearance. Sometimes people misunderstand these verses of scripture and they take these scriptures out of context. They begin to say God does not look upon appearance, he looks at what’s inside.
The scripture that uses the word appearance is not talking about clothing in any way. It has no reference to the outward appearance of clothing, makeup, or earrings. I’m going to bring to you in the context the Bible has them laid out.
St. John 7:24, “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.”
People use this verse of scripture to condone wearing makeup and women wearing pants or shorts and things of this nature.
St. John 7:19-23, “Did not Moses give you the law and yet none of you keepeth the law? Why ye go about to kill me? The people answered and said, Thou has a devil: who goeth about to kill thee? Jesus answered and said unto them, I have done one work, and ye all marvel. Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision, (not because it is of Moses, but the fathers) and ye on the Sabbath day circumcise a man. If a man on the Sabbath day receive circumcision that the law of Moses should not be broken, are ye angry at me because I have made a man every whit whole on the Sabbath day.”
Here in St. John 7:24 they are talking about circumcision. He is not talking about clothing or makeup. The whole subject here is Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath day.
II Cor. 5:12, “For we commend not ourselves again unto you, but give you occasion to glory on your behalf, that ye may have somewhat to answer them which glory in appearance, and not in heart.”
Now again, he is not talking about apparel.
II Cor. 5:8-11. “We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent for the body, and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labour, where present or absent we may be accepted of him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether good or bad. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are made manifest unto God, and I trust also are made manifest in you consciences.”
The people in both books to the Corinthians are questioning Paul in his walk with God. They were questioning his life.
II Cor. 3:1-3, “Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you? Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men: For as much as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit if the living God, not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart.” Ye are our epistles, known and read of all men.
So you see, it’s not the way you dress or the makeup and things of this nature that he’s talking about when it says appearance, but the way we live.
II Cor. 10:7-8, “Do ye look on things after the outward appearance? If any man trust to himself that he is Christ’s, let him of himself think, this again, that, as he is Christ’s, even so are we Christ’s. For though I should boast somewhat more of our authority, which the Lord hath given us for edification, and not for your destruction. I should not be ashamed.”
Again, he is not talking about clothing. What Paul is dealing with is the authority he has with God. So we find he’s talking about appearance of circumcision, of his life, and of his authority in these scriptures. These are not scriptures that we can use to dress any way we want or like the rest of the world.
NOW WHERE DID THE EARRINGS, JEWELRY, AND PAINTED FACES COME FROM?
WHY DID GOD’S CHILDREN HAVE THEM?
First jewelry and earrings:
Ex. 33:1-6, “And the Lord said unto Moses, depart, and go up hence, thou and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land which I sware unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed will I give it: And I will send an angel before thee, and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, Unto a land flowing with milk and honey, for I will not go up in the midst of thee, for thou are a stiffnecked people, lest I consume thee in the way. And when the people heard these evil tidings, they mourned, and no man did put on him his ornaments. For the Lord had said unto Moses, Say unto the children of Israel, Ye are a stiffnecked people. I will come up into the midst of thee in a moment, and consume thee, therefore now put off thy ornaments from thee, that I may know what to do unto thee. And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by the mount Horeb.
WHERE DID THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL GET THESE ORNAMENTS?
The children of Israel were in bondage, away from God in Egypt:
Ex. 3:20-22, “And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof, and after that he will let you go. And I will give this people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, and it shall come to pass, that, when ye go, ye shall not go empty. But every woman shall borrow of her neighbor, and of her that sojourneth in her house, jewels of silver, jewels of gold, and raiment, and ye shall put them upon your sons, and upon your daughters, and ye shall spoil (take from) the Egyptians.”
It was God’s plan for them to come out with all these ornaments. But the problem is the children on Israel misunderstood why he wanted them to have the ornaments. These people were in bondage, they were being used as slaves. They had nothing before God moved on the scene. But when they came out of Egypt they were wealthy.
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF ALL OF THIS?
God was going to have a tabernacle:
Ex. 35:1,4-5, “And Moses gathered all the congregation of the children of Israel together, and said unto them, These are the words which the Lord hath commanded, that ye should do them. And Moses spake unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, This is the thing which the Lord hath commanded, saying, Take ye from among you an offering unto the Lord, whosoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it, an offering of the Lord, gold, and silver, and brass.” There were many other items they had borrowed from the Egyptians, oil, wood, stones, goats’ hair. rams’ skins, and so on. Verse 10 says, “And every wise hearted among you shall come, and make all that the Lord hath commanded.”
Read Ex. 35:11-19. These verses describe all the things God commanded them to build. The Tabernacle, the ark, the table, the vessels. and the cloths of service.
Ex. 35:20-22, “And all the congregation of the children of Israel departed from the presence of Moses. And they came, every one whose heart stirred up, and everyone whom his spirit made willing, and they brought the Lord’s offering to the work of the tabernacle of the congregation, and for all his service, and for the holy garments. And they came, both men and women, as many as were willing hearted, and brought bracelets, and earrings, and rings, and tablets, all jewelry of gold :and every man that OFFERED AN OFFERING OF GOLD UNTO THE LORD.
God never intended for his people to keep these things. God was providing them with the means to build the Tabernacle. The children of Israel who were disobedient to God, look what they did with their earrings and ornaments, they melted them down and made an idol and bowed down and worshipped it, saying this is our God. How many people have let ornaments become their God?
If you read down to verses 30-32, it says, “And Moses said unto the children of Israel, See, the Lord hath called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, And he hath filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship.” In other words, God was giving him the know how to use all these things, to build and cut stones and work with the metals. Verses 34-35, “And he hath put in his heart that he may teach both he, and Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan.” God will like for us that have been taught already, to have the understanding of the Standard of Holiness is getting further away from what it used to be. If we don’t teach and drill it into the people’s minds and also get our young people established in the way of Holiness, there will be no way of Holiness in a few years.
In the Bible, whenever you find women using paint and earrings and jewelry,
which we call make-up today, they were always called or referred to as lewd, or harlots.
(I’m not saying that everyone who uses make-up, earrings, and jewelry is a harlot.)
But they have picked up on these things and the Bible is against it. How can you be holy, lift up a standard of holiness and dress like the lewd women of the Bible?
Hosea 2:1-4, “Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi, and to your sisters, Ruhamah. Plead with your mother, plead, for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband, let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breast. Lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst. And I will not have mercy upon her children, for they be they children of whoredoms.”
What the prophet here is doing, if you study it out, is taking the natural to show the spiritual. Israel had gotten themselves into Spiritual Idolatry. They were committing Spiritual fornication with all sorts of idol gods.
Hosea 2:5-10, “For her mother hath played the harlot, She that conceived them had done shamefully, for she said, I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink. Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, make a wall, that she shall not find her paths. And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not find them, then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband, for then was it better with me than now. For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal. Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness. And now will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and non shall deliver her out of mine hand.
And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith the Lord.”
God gave Israel a lot of things coming out of Egypt and they misused it for awhile, but God was able to get some of them that was of a willing heart to give them up and to do what he wanted to do with them from the start. God gave this woman something but she wasn't recognizing it and God took it back. Look how she used these things. She was using them like the Egyptians were using them, and like the Children of Israel was using them when they didn't know any better and didn't know the will of God.
God is classifying by the prophet Hosea that this is the way of lewd women. God's people do not pick up ways of harlots and lewd women. God said, "Come out from among them and be ye separate. Touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you" (II Cor. 6:17).
These are the unclean things.
II Kings 9:30-34, "And when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it, and she painted her face, and tired her head, and looked our at a window. And Jehu entered in at the gate, she said, Had Zimri peace, who slew his master? And he lifted up his face to the window, and said, Who is on my side? Who? And there looked out to him two or three eunichs. And he said, throw her down. So they threw her down, and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall, and on the horses, and he trode under her foot. And when he was come in, he did eat and drink, and said, Go, see now this cursed woman, and bury her, for she is a king's daughter.
Everyone knows about Jezebel, she is known for the way she painted herself and drew men to her.
Should God's people, a Saint of God in The Church of Jesus Christ, that is supposed to have been called out and living a Standard of Holiness, be doing the same things that Jezebel was doing? There's no way you can mix the two!
Eze. 23:38-41, "Moreover this they have done unto me, they have defiled my sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned my sabbaths." Profane means to bring down, to make it plain or ordinary, to take away from. "For when they had slain their children to their idols, then they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it, and lo, thus have they done in the midst of mine house. And furthermore, that ye have sent for men to come far unto whom a messenger was sent, and, lo, they came, for whom thou didst wash thyself, paintedst thy eyes, and deckedst thyself with ornaments. And satest upon o stately bed, and a table prepared before it, whereupon thou has set mine oil."
They are taking things that God had intended for his sanctuary and look how they're using it, and remember the same woman that is doing this has painted herself up.
Eze. 23:42-47.
The scripture goes on to say how men that were of the common sort (drunkards) came with bracelets and crowns to them. The righteous men shall judge them and shall stone them and their children and burn their homes.
Eze. 23:48, "Thus will I cause lewdness to cease out of the land, and that ALL WOMEN may be taught NOT to do after your LEWDNESS."
This does not take a revelation or fasting for days to understand. It is very plain; God wants lewdness out of the land, so how can you bring it into the church?
I Tim. 2:1-8, Speaks of praying for all men and leading a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. I Tim. 2:9-10, "In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety, not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls or costly array; But (WHICH BECOMETH WOMEN PROGESSING GODLINESS) with good works." Modest means restrained, hold back, humility, characterized by purity, chaste. Was Jezebel restrained? NO. They braided their hair back and then they would put gold and silver and other jewels in it to cause it to shine and entice men.
I Peter 3:1-5, "Likewise ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands, that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by conversation of the wives. While they behold your chaste conversation (manner of life) coupled with fear. Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaited the hair (silver and jewels), and of wearing gold (earrings), or putting on of apparel (costly array), but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands.
The holy women he is referring to was like Sara, Abraham's wife. Did they dress like Jezebel? Did they dress like lewd women? I think not.
Space will not let me go on, but I believe you can see that what I have given to you, God's word, is right, and should be obeyed by all that say they are living for God. I pray you will receive it.
The Church of Jesus Christ
Bis. Jarret R. Spence, Pastor
Portage, IN