Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth: much more the wicked and the sinner (Prov. 11:31).
On some docks in great seaport cities you may see a sign reading "Stowaways prosecuted on the other side." Two months' imprisonment is the usual penalty. A stowaway is one who sneaks aboard ship and hides to steal a passage.
Is it not true that those who leave our mortal shores unrepentant will indeed be prosecuted on the other side? Our promise text refers not only to the wicked but also to the righteous. "The righteous shall not be recompensed in the earth," but certainly not in the earth as it is now. God does send many blessings to His people here. Of those who serve Him fully, Jesus said: "There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's, but he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life" (Mark 10:29, 30).
But notice, the full reward is in the world to come, the new earth, redeemed after our Lord's second coming and the judgment of the great white throne. "Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth," our Lord declared in His sermon on the mount (Matt. 5:5). Right here on this earth, where the Son of God was crucified when He came to seek and to save that which was lost, the righteous whom He died to redeem will receive their eternal reward. For God created the earth "not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited" (Isa. 45:18).
As the righteous are to be rewarded here, so also are the wicked. Here where they have sinned, they will meet their final reward. They will rise in the second resurrection, be judged guilty, and receive their punishment when fire comes down from God out of heaven and devours them (Rev. 20:9). This will be the end of sin and sinners.
MEDITATION PRAYER: "The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether" (Ps. 19:9).
On some docks in great seaport cities you may see a sign reading "Stowaways prosecuted on the other side." Two months' imprisonment is the usual penalty. A stowaway is one who sneaks aboard ship and hides to steal a passage.
Is it not true that those who leave our mortal shores unrepentant will indeed be prosecuted on the other side? Our promise text refers not only to the wicked but also to the righteous. "The righteous shall not be recompensed in the earth," but certainly not in the earth as it is now. God does send many blessings to His people here. Of those who serve Him fully, Jesus said: "There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's, but he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life" (Mark 10:29, 30).
But notice, the full reward is in the world to come, the new earth, redeemed after our Lord's second coming and the judgment of the great white throne. "Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth," our Lord declared in His sermon on the mount (Matt. 5:5). Right here on this earth, where the Son of God was crucified when He came to seek and to save that which was lost, the righteous whom He died to redeem will receive their eternal reward. For God created the earth "not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited" (Isa. 45:18).
As the righteous are to be rewarded here, so also are the wicked. Here where they have sinned, they will meet their final reward. They will rise in the second resurrection, be judged guilty, and receive their punishment when fire comes down from God out of heaven and devours them (Rev. 20:9). This will be the end of sin and sinners.
MEDITATION PRAYER: "The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether" (Ps. 19:9).
RSS Feed
