Proverbs 14:32, Two Eternal Destinies!

August 31, Proverbs 14:32

Psalm 49 “Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth” (Rev. 14:13).

Two Eternal Destinies!

2. How Do The Righteous Die? Hopeful! They sorrow not as others (1 Thes. 4:13-18), because death is swallowed in Victory (1 Cor. 15:42-58). Calvin said, “The word ‘hope’ I take for faith; and indeed hope is nothing else but the constancy of faith.” “Faith is the victory, that overcomes the world” (1 John 5:4).

1. Sinners Saved: Just as the wicked are the unconverted who die in their sins, so the righteous are those who, acknowledging their own unrighteousness, have, by God’s amazing grace become partakers of the righteousness of Another, even the righteousness of Christ. Yes, all have sinned. There is none righteous. All our righteousnesses are filthy rags in the sight of a Holy God. It then follows that all who are righteous are made so by grace through faith in the atoning blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is but a summary of the Gospel. Salvation is all of grace, but destruction is all of sin.

2. Sin’s Statistic: “One out of one dies.” That is one statistic the pollsters cannot manipulate! The grave levels us all, rich and poor, young and old alike, yet not quite alike for all. That all must die is proof of the reality of sin, for the sting of sin is death. It is “The King of Terrors,” and so it remains for all who die in their sins. Death cuts down the fairest lilies, as well as the foulest thistles. The wicked have no remedy against death, and the only remedy that can deliver them they spurned. Death comes for the righteous, too, but it only shortens their way to heaven. They don’t just wait for the undertaker but for the Uppertaker. Here’s why. Because the death of Jesus is the ground of the believer’s life. He stands upon it, and upon it alone, for time and eternity!

3. Saints’ Safety: The righteous hath hope in his death. This is no false pride or feeble hope, but a place of safety. As noted above, the righteous, too, are children of wrath even as others, but they, by the grace of God, are begotten again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. These only have hope where they need it most. An unbeliever boasted he was not afraid to die. “Well,” said the Christian, “but have you any hope in death?” After a moment, the reply came, “No!” “Then,” said the other, “you are on the level with that beast over there. He has fed and is satisfied, and stands in the shade whisking off the flies, and has neither fear nor hope.” Though the righteous are not delivered from the stroke of death they are delivered from its sting (Henry).

Will your anchor hold in the floods of death,
When the waters cold chill your latest breath?
On the rising tide you can never fail,
While your anchor holds within the veil.

Thought: “We are more sure to rise out of our graves than out of our beds” (Watson).

Prayer: Thank You, Lord, for “a hope so great and so divine”.