Psalm 37:18-20
‘The Lord knows the days of the upright!… Their inheritance shall be for ever! They shall not be ashamed in the evil time!… But the wicked shall perish!… The enemies of the Lord…shall consume into smoke!’ Psalm 37:18-20.
Calvin comments: “Nothing…is more profitable for us, than to have our eyes continually set upon the providence of God, which alone can best provide for us everything we need. On this account, David now says that ‘God knows the days of the righteous’….
“This doctrine we ought to improve, as a source of consolation under every vicissitude…. We may be harassed in various ways and distracted by many dangers which every moment threaten us with death. But this consideration ought to prove to us — a sufficient ground of comfort!…
“Our days are numbered by God…. We ought to enjoy, in this pilgrimage of ours on Earth, as much peace and satisfaction as if we were put in full possession of our paternal inheritance and home! Because we are regarded by God — David from this concludes that our inheritance is everlasting!…
“‘They shall not be ashamed in the season of adversity!’… The faithful have no right to expect such exemption as the flesh would desire, from affliction and trial — but they are assured of deliverance, in the end…. Even in famine and want…, He nourishes us graciously and liberally….
“‘But the wicked shall perish!’… The righteous are satisfied in the time of famine, whereas the ungodly shall perish in the midst of their affluence….
“God brings them to nought…. In calling them ‘the enemies of Jehovah’ — He teaches us that they are justly overwhelmed by His vengeance, which they bring upon themselves by their own wickedness….
“He says that they ‘shall be consumed…into smoke!’ This is…the same…as ‘to vanish away quickly’….
“There is no stability or substance in them…. The wicked are consumed into smoke, as fat melts or wastes away.”
The doctrine taught here, is that as their fat melts away and gets wholly and rapidly consumed by the fire on the altar of the burnt offering — so the wicked shall melt away and be quickly consumed in the fire of Jehovah’s wrath. The Chaldee translation paraphrases the last clause thus: ‘They shall be consumed in the smoke of Gehenna’ or Hell!
So the ungodly shall be burnt up in everlasting fire. But the inheritance of the upright, shall be for ever! Which of the two are you?
