Righteous In Eternity
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Text: Proverbs 12.28
The six proverbs of this section do not have a single theme but describe types of activity that may promote or undermine a wholesome life. One should be
cautious in both speech
choosing of friends (vv. 23, 26),
hard-working (vv. 24, 27),
able to control stress (v. 25).
The culmination of such behavior is joy in life.
From these general principles on the relationship between integrity and life, the text goes on to assert that the outcome of righteousness is in fact immortality (v. 28).
In the way of righteousness is life;
And in the pathway thereof there is no death.
Heaven’s Gate: A Brief History
The Heaven’s Gate cult, led by Marshall Applewhite and Bonnie Nettles, was a religious movement founded in the 1970s that combined Christian theology with New Age beliefs and a focus on extraterrestrial life. Applewhite and Nettles, believing they were the "Two Witnesses" from the Book of Revelation, preached that human bodies were vessels meant to be transcended for higher, more evolved forms. They claimed that through personal enlightenment and rejection of earthly desires, individuals could ascend to a higher plane of existence.
The group, originally known as "Human Individual Metamorphosis" or "Total Overcomers Anonymous," attracted followers through a message that intertwined Christian ideas of the Second Coming with space-age concepts of aliens and UFOs. Applewhite and Nettles taught that the Earth was about to be "recycled," and that the only way to escape destruction was to leave one’s earthly body and join a spacecraft following the Hale-Bopp comet.
Members severed ties with family, lived communally, and followed strict, ascetic rules that included celibacy, isolation from the outside world, and rigid discipline. By the mid-1990s, the group’s belief in the approaching "salvation" intensified.
In March 1997, believing that the Hale-Bopp comet was the sign of their final ascension, 39 members of Heaven's Gate, including Applewhite, committed mass suicide in a rented mansion in Rancho Santa Fe, California. They believed this would allow their souls to board the spaceship trailing the comet and transcend the limitations of their human bodies.
The Heaven’s Gate cult remains infamous for its combination of extreme beliefs, apocalyptic vision, and the tragic end that befell its devoted followers.
The denial of death is not a new phenomenon. But the teaching of Scripture puts the individual in a unique relationship to death.
Scripture does not deny death. On the contrary it asserts that there is no hope for all will face death.
And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
A time to be born, and a time to die;
A time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
Death is as certain as we are human. All because of this one truth…
Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
Notice again the context that we find verse 28 couched within.
The lip of truth shall be established for ever:
But a lying tongue is but for a moment.
Deceit is in the heart of them that imagine evil:
But to the counsellers of peace is joy.
There shall no evil happen to the just:
But the wicked shall be filled with mischief.
Lying lips are abomination to the Lord:
But they that deal truly are his delight.
My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.
He warns against lying: And we know there is judgement in lying.
But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
Consider the sin of laziness.
A prudent man concealeth knowledge:
But the heart of fools proclaimeth foolishness.
The hand of the diligent shall bear rule:
But the slothful shall be under tribute.
Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop:
But a good word maketh it glad.
The righteous is more excellent than his neighbour:
But the way of the wicked seduceth them.
The slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting:
But the substance of a diligent man is precious.
I think that we know that we shouldn’t lie. Lying is dangerous and wrong. He is the
Now consider the implication of this passage:
There shall no evil happen to the just:
But the wicked shall be filled with mischief.
promises stability in your life and not chaos when you walk in wisdom,
In the way of righteousness is life;
And in the pathway thereof there is no death.
promises that the righteous will never die.
The problem is, none of us are righteous; so this verse means hell for us. But in Christ we are counted righteous; and even though we might die, yet we will live forever.
But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
Faith in Jesus leads to life eternal beginning the moment you put your trust in him.
You see when I see the declarations of the Wisdom of God I am not to feel equiped to live the perfection of the demands of Holiness but to see just how grand my Savior is.
It is he would spoke only the truth and when declaring to us the person of God John declared him to be the very WORD himself.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was the opposite of lazy for Scripture says he came to “DO THE WILL OF HIS FATHER”
And it is this self same Jesus that when speaking to Mary said,
NOT: “A greater than Solomon is here” (Matthew 12:42).
NOT: “I am come that [ye] might have life and that [ye] might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).
Instead Jesus spoke the last word on death. “Thy brother shall rise again,”
John 11:23
Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again.
When Martha affirmed her belief in the resurrection at the last day, He said:
Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
In Christ death is swallowed up indeed.
For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.
That moment of salvation when Christ gives me his righteousness and I give him the filthy garment of my sin a transaction is made in the presence of God and that which was unrighteous is made righteous.
For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
What Christ has done is set us free from the contant fear of the enemy called death. He has given us the righteousness that qualifies to never die.
Jesus said,
And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?
There is no death for the believer.
Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
was Paul’s memorable way of stating his belief.
So confident was he of entering into life at death, he could say that he had Philippians 1:23
For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better:
But it must also be said that death is very real indeed for the unbeliever. A lost eternity awaits him at the end of life’s journey. He will not only be absent from the body but also absent from the Lord.
What is death?
It is a physical body dying – and much more.
It is also death to fellowship and joy with God (Luke 15:24; I Tim 5:6).
It includes the dead state of your soul by your first birth (Gen 2:17; Eph 2:1-3).
It is dying before your time by the judgment of God or men (Ps 55:23; Eccl 7:17).
It is the second death in the lake of fire (Rev 20:14; 21:8).
Fools face early death by men or God.
If they commit capital crimes, the magistrate kills them. If the death penalty is neglected, the Lord kills them. They die from STD’s, jealous spouses, other fools, violent accidents, drug overdoses, and suicide.
Parental discipline could save them from these untimely deaths (Pr 23:13-14).
Righteousness as simple as honoring their parents could add to their life expectancy (Pr 20:20; 30:17; Eph 6:2-3).
Foolish rebels reject righteousness and reap the grim consequences (Pr 8:36).
Time will not allow us to remember all the testimonies of Eli’s sons, Amnon, Princess Diana, Ananias and Sapphira, Absalom, Adonijah, Adolph Hitler, Haman, Alexander, Judas, Herod Agrippa I, Nabal, Onan, Lot’s wife, Pharaoh, Goliath, Belshazzar, etc.? That is not even counting the likes of rap artists, rock stars, movie kings and queens and financial tyrants of our day. The list could go on and on.
Wait but not all fools…
Fools who do not die early die without hope, go to hell, and face the second death.
While they lived, they were dead;
when they are dead, they have yet to die!
They hide their dead and dysfunctional lives with alcohol, plastic surgery, fake smiles, and drugs. The horrors of death and hell will take them down, down, down.
They will rue the day of their birth; they will grieve in anguish; they will beg for annihilation; there will be no relief, ever.
But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:
And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.
Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;
Reader, the righteousness of Jesus extends life! Wickedness shortens life!
In this world and the next! Solomon had seen it among his own brothers and many others of his generation.