Posted on 05/24/2019 5:13:38 AM PDT by Pilgrim's Progress
“Lay not wait, O wicked man, against the dwelling of the righteous; spoil not his resting place: For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief” (Proverbs 24:15-16).
“Lay not wait, O wicked man, against the dwelling of the righteous, spoil not his resting place,” possibly looking to kill the dweller in order to take possession of the dwelling. The religious system that Christ dealt with had instituted a way whereby they could take the house from the widow when her husband died: “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation” (Matthew 23:14).
The Pharisees had figured out a way to get that house by telling the woman that if she would turn that house over to them, if her husband was in purgatory, they would pray him out. (The Jews do not call it ‘purgatory’ per se, but they do hold to an 11-month period of purification for eleven months while Qaddish is prayed for them. They believed that that period could be shortened, or longer, based on how severe the man’s sins were).
“For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief,” you just can’t keep a good man down. Seven times . . . there are seven resurrections in the Bible. And in every one of those resurrections, a just man comes up.
1. Jesus 2. Old Testament Saints: “And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose” (Matthew 27:52). 3. The believer, when he trusts Christ—there is a spiritual resurrection: “Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead” (Colossians 2:12). 4. New Testament saints at the Rapture: “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (I Thessalonians 4:16-17). 5. Tribulation saints at the second Rapture. Revelation 7:9-17 describes this great multitude. Note that the New Testament Christians are already there since chapter 4:1. 6. Israel, as a nation, will be resurrected at the second coming of Jesus Christ: Ezekiel 36 and 37, where the dry bones are brought to life. 7. The Great White Throne Judgment. You may ask, “Where are the just men there?” They are those that were killed at the end of the Millennium: “And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth” (Revelation 11:18).
So, there are seven resurrections in the Bible and each of them involve either a just man, or a group of just men. Seven is the number of perfection, or completion, in the Bible.
Let’s read a chapter of Proverbs a day and see what God might have for us. As the Lord leads, share with us what God has shown you in a special way and by His grace let us build up a devotional repository. Let’s keep our knives and forks handy for some daily bread!
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