PRÉCIS ON THE ASSURANCE OF GOD’S JUSTICE TOWARD THE WICKED: VINDICATION IS FROM THE LORD – A CODICIL

SCRIPTURE. “Fret not yourself because of evildoers, neither be envious against those who work unrighteousness (that which is not upright or in right standing with God). For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.” – PSALM 37:1-2, AMPC

KEY TERM: “CUT DOWN!” ‘Namal’ [יִמָּ֑לוּ]: “To be clipped, as with ‘a branch that is to be cut down [and thrown into the fire;’ cf. Matt. 3:10; Jn. 15:6]; from a verb meaning to languish, wither or fade; also, to circumcise; to separate the parts of any body by an edged instrument, either by striking, as with an ax, or by sawing or rubbing; to penetrate; to pierce; to affect deeply.”

QUOTATION. “Don’t misunderstand me. The terrorist actions of Al-Qaeda were and are unmitigatedly evil. But the astonishing naivety which decreed that America as a whole was a pure, innocent victim, so that the world could be neatly divided up into evil people (particularly Arabs) and good people (particularly Americans and Israelis), and that the latter had a responsibility now to punish the former, is a large-scale example of what I’m talking about – just as it is immature and naive to suggest the mirror image of this view, namely that the Western world is guilty in all respects and that all protestors and terrorists are therefore completely justified in what they do. In the same way, to suggest that all who possess guns should be locked up, or (the American mirror-image of this view) that everyone should carry guns so that good people can shoot bad ones before they can get up to their tricks, is simply a failure to think into the depths of what’s going on.” ― N.T. WRIGHT, Evil and the Justice of God, 2006; edited

COMMENTARY. “For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb. Which in the morning looks green, pretty, and flourishing, and in the evening is cut down, and then fades away; see Psalm 90:5; and so the wicked prosper and flourish for a while, and then they perish with all their honour, riches, and wealth; so that their happiness is a very short lived one, and therefore need not be envied and fretted at.” – JOHN GILL, An Exposition of the Old and New Testament, 9 vols., 1746-1763; edited

DK. While there is ample cause for righteous indignation and outrage among God’s true followers for the disgraceful conduct of the Establishment Church in America, we need not stew in it. No, beloved, as Codicil to my recent essay on Divine Hatred, there is a God who assures us that ultimately, HIS JUSTICE shall Reign Supreme.

Our vindication is thereby assured as we continue in faithfulness and wait for the Final Judgment of the Wicked. Both in this life, beloved, and in the Life to Come. ‘His Righteous Anger shall accomplish it, not ours.’