“The wicked is driven away in his wickedness: but the righteous hath hope in his death.” (Pr 14:32 AV)
Not
the death of the wicked, but his own death.
It is interesting the phrase “…driven away…” means to be thrust
out. Clearly, the inference is to
eternal death versus eternal life. The
above truth is one the world cannot understand.
They cannot understand how the saint hopes in his death. The lost fear death. The saved welcome it. There is a difference in how the lost dies
compared with how the saved die. The
lost is thrust out into eternal damnation while the saved are welcomed with
open arms. This reality will become more
and more important the closer our LORD is to His return. The God-hating world will do everything in its
power to discourage the saint. Let not
this happen! Our life is but a pilgrimage
and our home is eternal. All that we see
that is discouraging will all pass away.
Only that which is eternal will last.
There is always hope because the one thing the enemy of God, truth, and
the saint cannot take away is our eternal home.
It is guaranteed!
I
have been through a couple of surgeries.
When I was about ten years old, I had a tonsillectomy. Then in my early fifties, I had a should
debridement and realignment. Throw on
top of that a colonoscopy, and I have been under anesthesia a few times. It is always the same. You go off into slumber with no care in the
world. The moment before you are out,
all anxiety is gone and there is a surrender to the power of the drugs. That moment might be brief, but it is
there. The thought is the power of the
drug the inevitable sleep which follows is far better than the fear of what
might transpire during surgery. For my tonsillectomy
and shoulder debridement, I had the hope that when I awoke, those problems
would be gone. For the most part, they
were. There was recovery time. But after I had consumed ice cream and baby
food for a week, I was back to normal and a whole lot healthier. After about six months of therapy, my
shoulder was in better shape than the other which had not been touched. It took time to recover. But my life before that sleep was far worse
than the one after. I don’t have
infection nearly as much as I did prior to my tonsillectomy. My left shoulder is absolutely pain-free and it
has more range of movement than my right shoulder. Prior to the surgery, the surgeon explained
exactly what he was going to do, how he was going to do it, and what I should expect
once recovery was complete. Especially
with the debridement, this was the factor that led me to this surgery. If I had the hope of complete and full
recovery resulting in my shoulder being pain-free, sign me up! I will endure the anxiety of surgery for the
hope of all the trouble associated with it disappearing!
The
thing is, when we sleep the sleep of death, there is no recovery period. We are instantly transformed into the
likeness of Christ. There is no more
pain or sorrow. All the former things
are passed away. When we arise from our
sleep of death, what waits for us on the other side is beyond our
comprehension. I agree with Paul when he
writes, “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not
worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” (Ro
8:18 AV) I have a hope which the world
cannot take away! This they will learn in
due course. They ignored it in the first
century. Since then, there have been
countless persecutions of God’s people.
Each time, they could not take the hope of the saint. It is this hope that gives us the strength to
endure. “This world is not my home, I’m
just a passin through. Treasures are
laid up somewhere beyond the blue. The angels
beckon me to heaven’s open door. And I can’t feel at home anymore.” – Jim Reeves
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