Proverbs 24:15 ¶ Lay not wait, O wicked man, against the
dwelling of the righteous; spoil not his resting place: 16 For a just man
falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into
mischief.
Psalm 37:23 The steps of a good man are
ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way. 24 Though he fall, he shall
not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand.
With Israel under the Law, a kingdom totally set
apart for God on the earth, this was a physical warning to those who would
think to oppress the home of the righteous by theft and fraud. With the church,
under the doctrines of Grace, this would be a warning not to seek to cause the
saved to stumble.
John Gill refers to the church as the resting
place of the righteous and that this is a warning to those who would watch for
the Christians to fall or fail and delight in it. But, as this is the Bible, it
is highly unlikely that those people who would take joy in watching the house
of God be brought to shame would be reading this so I looked to Matthew Henry
for light, who points out that this isn’t so much as counsel for wicked men
because they wouldn’t hear it anyway as per verses we’ve already read;
Proverbs 23:9 ¶ Speak not in the ears of a
fool: for he will despise the wisdom of thy words.
But as in defiance of them, to comfort the
Christian that those who would seek their destruction will fall into their own
sin, as Gill says, in which they will wallow, like a pig in muck and mud. And
yet, God will deliver His people.
I’ve prayed for guidance on this and I think
that we can get a more clear meaning for a spiritual and practical application
for the Christian. You see, in the last times the condition of the church is
pretty bad. You have the books relating to the doctrine for the Church Age
ending in a slave who has runaway from his master returning in humility in
Philemon. You have several churches in the first chapter of Revelation being
told that they have not just walked away from their first love but are steeped
in wickedness and error and are in danger of losing their place, their
candlesticks, as the churches of Christ.
And Paul, with the wisdom and understanding the
Holy Spirit has given him (2 Peter 3:15), tells us of the last times in the
church itself as that is the context of this passage;
2 Timothy 3:1 ¶ This know also, that in the
last days perilous times shall come. 2 For men shall be lovers of their own
selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents,
unthankful, unholy, 3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers,
incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 4 Traitors, heady,
highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 5 Having a form of
godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. 6 For of this
sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with
sins, led away with divers lusts, 7 Ever learning, and never able to come to
the knowledge of the truth. 8 Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do
these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the
faith. 9 But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest
unto all men, as theirs also was.
And again, Paul had previously warned Timothy
about the end of the Church Age;
1Timothy 4:1 ¶ Now the Spirit speaketh
expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving
heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; 2 Speaking lies in
hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; 3 Forbidding to
marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be
received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
And finally, note the parable of the mustard
seed which Christ relates in Mark, chapter 4, and in a different sermon in
Luke, chapter 13, with the birds of the air, or fowls of the air, likened to
the Devil in Matthew 13, lodging under the shadow of the of the tree that
represents the church and lodging in the branches.
Note, then, that within the church itself, within the
millions of professing Christians, there are wicked people who lay in wait
enjoying the benefits of fellowship, even the offices of the church, but always
seeking out who and how they may corrupt and cause to fall. Did Judas know he
was a devil as Jesus said about him in John 6:70? Does the corrupter, placed
within the body of Christ by Satan to destroy testimonies and crush faith, have
to know that he or she is a phony? I don’t think so. They might but I don’t
think they have to know what they are to do great damage.
The wicked man’s mischief will be revealed in
time, depending on how closely the congregation walks with Christ and knows His
words in this Book in their hearts. And yes, God will deliver the just and the
righteous, those who are just and righteous by virtue of Christ being just and
righteous, whose Spirit dwells in them. But, they are here, within the body of
Christ, and they will bring you down so that God will have to revive you, and
the way to know them is to see when that worship of Self is evident within the
congregation. Humanistic philosophy, putting man first, always talking about
“my” successes for Christ and how “I” did this or that for Christ and how “I”
have always raised my children or treated my spouse or the church the way God
would have me. They will dismiss your testimony and your experience as being
meaningless because it isn’t like theirs. You don’t have their experience.
They’ve been there, done that, and got the Tshirt. Maybe one day you’ll grow in
grace and be like them. The wicked are so confidant and optimistic that their
way is right and God is so fortunate to have them on His team. The next step is
off the cliff.
Five is often considered to be the number of
death and apostasy in the Bible by many commentators which would require a
number of pages to explain so we’ll leave it for some other time. But Lucifer,
another title for Satan, says “I” five times in the passage starting in Isaiah
14:12 about his downfall and pride. Goliath says “I” five times in his taunt of
God and of His people and David in 1 Samuel 17. The worship of Self is the
greatest form of idolatry in the Bible.
The wicked, within the house of God, lay in wait
for the righteous, but they shall fall into mischief and when the righteous do
fall, God will lift them up. Just be alert for the wicked within the ranks of
professing Christians.
Romans 1:32 Who knowing the judgment of God,
that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same,
but have pleasure in them that do them.
Watch out for those people in the
church who have a big “I” emblazoned on their foreheads and who not only are
carnal and worldly, loving sin for a season, but try to encourage you to do the
same, even if that sin is establishing their own righteousness rather than
completely depending on Christ’s and they want you to do the same.
I pray that the Holy Spirit guided me in writing
this, today. I have no idea who but apparently someone needed to hear it.
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