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LORD, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell in Your holy hill? He who walks uprightly, and works righteousness, and speaks the truth in his heart; He who does not backbite with his tongue, nor does evil to his neighbor, nor does he take up a reproach against his friend. (Ps. [[15:1-3|bible.19.15.1-19.15.3]]) [emphasis added]
May their obedient and dedicated state before the Lamb be ever before us as motivation in our walk during the present age!was found no deceitListen, for I will speak of excellent things, and from the opening of my lips will come right things; for my mouth will speak truth; wickedness is an abomination to my lips. All the words of my mouth are with righteousness; nothing crooked or perverse is in them. (Pr. [[8:6-8|bible.20.8.6-20.8.8]])
And they made His grave with the wicked-But with the rich at His death, because He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth. (Isa. [[53:9|bible.23.53.9]])
They are firstfruits in at least two ways: they are the first among many redeemed Jews during the Tribulation and they are the first among a purified Israel which will result from the time of Jacob's Trouble:I will leave in your midst a meek and humble people, and they shall trust in the name of the LORD. The remnant of Israel shall do no unrighteousness and speak no lies, nor shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth; for they shall feed their flocks and lie down, and no one shall make them afraid." (Zep. [[3:12-13|bible.36.3.12-36.3.13]])
They represent the early stages of the glorious promise made to Israel as part of her New Covenant:But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more. (Jer. [[31:33-34|bible.24.31.33-24.31.34]])
without faultNotes
1 Concerning the need to tame the tongue: Ps. [[5:9|bible.19.5.9]]; [[17:3|bible.19.17.3]]; [[19:14|bible.19.19.14]]; [[39:1|bible.19.39.1]]; [[120:1-7|bible.19.120.1-19.120.7]]; [[141:3|bible.19.141.3]]; Pr. [[10:19|bible.20.10.19]], [[31-32|bible.20.10.31-20.10.32]]; [[15:2|bible.20.15.2]], [[4|bible.20.15.4]]; [[15:28|bible.20.15.28]]; [[18:21|bible.20.18.21]]; [[21:23|bible.20.21.23]]; Isa. [[6:5|bible.23.6.5]], [[7|bible.23.6.7]]; [[59:3|bible.23.59.3]]; Mtt. [[12:34-35|bible.61.12.34-61.12.35]]; [[15:18|bible.61.15.18]]; Jas. [[1:26|bible.80.1.26]]; [[3:6|bible.80.3.6]]-[[3:8|bible.80.3.8]].
2 Frederick William Danker, and Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 47.
3 Danker, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 47.
4 Richard Chenevix Trench, Commentary on the Epistles to the Seven Churches in Asia (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 1861), 402.
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