Good works are an expression of gratitude in the believer’s heart (John
14:15, 23; Galatians 5:6). They are the fruits of the Spirit (Titus 2:10-12),
and thus spring from grace, which they illustrate and strengthen in the
heart.
Good works of the most sincere believers are all imperfect, yet like their
persons they are accepted through the mediation of Jesus Christ
(Colossians 3:17), and so are rewarded; they have no merit intrinsically,
but are rewarded wholly of grace.
- WORM (1.) Hebrews sas (Isaiah 51:8), denotes the caterpillar of the
clothes-moth.
(2.) The manna bred worms (tola’im), but on the Sabbath there was not
any worm (rimmah) therein (Exodus 16:20, 24). Here these words refer to
caterpillars or larvae, which feed on corrupting matter.
These two Hebrew words appear to be interchangeable (Job 25:6; Isaiah
14:11). Tola’im in some places denotes the caterpillar (Deuteronomy
28:39; Jonah 4:7), and rimmah, the larvae, as bred from putridity (Job
17:14; 21:26; 24:20). In Micah 7:17, where it is said, “They shall move out
of their holes like worms,” perhaps serpents or “creeping things,” or as in
the Revised Version, “crawling things,” are meant.
The word is used figuratively in Job 25:6; Psalm 22:6; Isaiah 41:14; Mark
9:44, 46, 48; Isaiah 66:24.
- WORMWOOD Hebrews la’anah, the Artemisia absinthium of botanists.
It is noted for its intense bitterness (Deuteronomy 29:18; Proverbs 5:4;
Jeremiah 9:15; Amos 5:7). It is a type of bitterness, affliction, remorse,
punitive suffering. In Amos 6:12 this Hebrew word is rendered “hemlock”
(R.V., “wormwood”). In the symbolical language of the Apocalypse
(Revelation 8:10, 11) a star is represented as falling on the waters of the
earth, causing the third part of the water to turn wormwood.
The name by which the Greeks designated it, absinthion, means
“undrinkable.” The absinthe of France is distilled from a species of this
plant. The “southernwood” or “old man,” cultivated in cottage gardens on
account of its fragrance, is another species of it.