Proverbs 11:30-31
‘The perverseness of transgressors, shall destroy them…. The wicked shall fall by his own wickedness…. When a wicked man dies, his expectation shall perish…. To him who sows righteousness, shall be a sure reward…. Righteousness tends to life…. He who pursues evil, pursues it to his own death…. The righteous shall flourish like a branch!… The fruit of the righteous, is a tree of life!… Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed on the Earth!’ Proverbs 11:3-31.
God does not destroy people merely because of His Own sovereign choice. He destroys only the perverse, who have kept on transgressing His Holy Law. For it is only the wicked who fall. And they do so, by their own wickedness.
It is they who act treacherously, who are taken in their own mischief. As a result, when a wicked man dies, his expectation shall perish. For the hope of iniquity, perishes. That is, all of his boasts fade away — and he becomes the permanent inheritor of trouble.
On the other hand, the integrity of the upright — shall guide them. The righteousness of the perfect, shall direct his way. That is, when perfected by the imputation of Christ’s goodness, those thus made righteous shall have their way directed for them.
It is the uprights’ imputed righteousness which shall deliver them! When a righteous man dies, his hope does not perish. He is delivered out of trouble. And by knowing the Lord, he is delivered.
‘To him who sows righteousness, shall be a sure reward…. Righteousness tends to life’ — yes, to everlasting life! But ‘he who pursues evil, pursues it to his own death’ — yes, to his own everlasting death!
‘The righteous shall flourish like a branch’ — like the green leaf. He shall keep on being full of life, and shall never wither.
‘The fruit of the righteous, is a tree of life.’ For the righteous keep on bearing fruit for the Lord. That fruit is a tree of life. It is by eating of that tree that man would have passed from losable life to unlosable and everlasting life (Genesis 3:22 and Revelation 22:2,14,19).
For ‘the righteous shall be recompensed on the Earth!’ Right here on Earth, when it is renewed into the New Earth!.
‘He that is righteous, let him become still more righteous!… Blessed are they that do His Commandments, so that they may have right to the tree of life and may enter…into the city! But outside are…sorcerers and whoremongers and murderers and idolaters, and whosoever loves and makes lies!’ (Revelation 22:11-15). So then — a tree of life is the fruit and reward of the righteous!
