Category: Heaven

Consider the End of the Wicked – Their Feet are “set” Upon Slippery Places

~ Jeff Crippen

If we only look at this present time and fail to consider “the end,” then we can easily become bitter when we see the wicked apparently prospering at the expense of their victims.  The Psalmist said it:

Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches. All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning. If I had said, “I will speak thus,” I would have betrayed the generation of your children. But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end. Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin. (Psa 73:12-18)

You can either read or listen to the sermon I preached on this very Scripture recently. As you will see, we all need a tune-up on our eyes of faith so that we set our minds on the promises of God and what He tells us about the true precarious position of the wicked and the sure, solid ground Christ’s people stand upon.

 

Let Me not be Put to Shame

~ Jeff Crippen

1Pe 2:6-7 For it stands in Scripture: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” (7) So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,”

One of the favorite weapons of the wicked is shame. Shaming its victims. Shame has a proper role (for the guilty who repent), but evil ones never use it properly. They, the ones who should be ashamed, work to shame the innocent. Reviling. Slandering. Accusing. Humiliating. They are of their father the devil who is known as the accuser of the brethren.

But Scripture affirms that the righteous will not be put to shame. Ultimately, on that Day when Christ comes in judgment, it will be the wicked who are shamed in front of all creation. Shamed for their shameful deeds. Shamed as they are exposed and judged for what they truly are. Any thread of honor and glory they may have enjoyed in this life will be taken away. We see a glimpse of it in this account given by Isaiah:

Isa 14:3-17 When the LORD has given you rest from your pain and turmoil and the hard service with which you were made to serve, (4) you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon: “How the oppressor has ceased, the insolent fury ceased!

(5) The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of rulers, (6) that struck the peoples in wrath with unceasing blows, that ruled the nations in anger with unrelenting persecution. (7) The whole earth is at rest and quiet; they break forth into singing. (8) The cypresses rejoice at you, the cedars of Lebanon, saying, ‘Since you were laid low, no woodcutter comes up against us.’

(9) Sheol beneath is stirred up to meet you when you come; it rouses the shades to greet you, all who were leaders of the earth; it raises from their thrones all who were kings of the nations. (10) All of them will answer and say to you: ‘You too have become as weak as we! You have become like us!’

(11) Your pomp is brought down to Sheol, the sound of your harps; maggots are laid as a bed beneath you, and worms are your covers. (12) “How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low!

(13) You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; (14) I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ (15) But you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit. (16) Those who see you will stare at you and ponder over you: ‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms, (17) who made the world like a desert and overthrew its cities, who did not let his prisoners go home?’

The prayer of the righteous, so often falsely shamed in this life by the wicked, will be answered in full:

Psa 25:1-3 Of David. To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul. (2) O my God, in you I trust; let me not be put to shame; let not my enemies exult over me. (3) Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame; they shall be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.

Surely, as our Lord has promised, the first shall be last, and the last first.