Posted on 09/14/2019 7:00:09 AM PDT by Pilgrim's Progress
“He that walketh in his uprightness feareth the LORD: but he that is perverse in his ways despiseth him” (Proverbs 14:2 KJV).
“He that walketh in his uprightness feareth the LORD,” in the Old Testament when a man did right, he was righteous. And when a man did right, he lived in his righteousness. Now, that didn’t really work out because it was the Old Covenant, it was what God gave them as a type and picture of what He would give them in the better covenant. The New Testament saint is spiritually sealed in righteousness—and the righteousness that we have is an “imputed” righteousness—not an earned righteousness.
The Old Testament saint had a measure of earned righteousness where he was given a system, and if he submitted to it, he walked in his righteousness, and he did right, therefore he received the reward of righteousness and he usually got it right here on the earth. The New Testament believer is given an imputed righteousness, and whether we walk in the spirit or walk in the flesh we are still righteous in the eyes of God, and our rewards come in another life, later.
“He that walketh in his uprightness feareth the LORD,” that just goes to shows a guy that knows God and knows what God does with sin in the Old Testament. We have to remember that we are not living in the age of the Law. God is not manifesting Law and justice in this age. The thing that God is manifesting, primarily, in this age is grace. Grace is unmerited favor, and mercifulness—but in the Old Testament, it was a different story.
“For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward” (Hebrews 2:2).
In the Old Testament, judgment came speedily. Take Achan, for example. God didn’t wait for Achan to get to the judgment bar, to throw him into hell. He fell into hell right then and there, the earth opened up and swallowed him whole. Back then, the unrighteous man was walking on eggs and thin ice in dealing with God and with His Law, especially if you knew that Law. Today, God is manifesting His grace so there is much more leniency and longsuffering. But, when the ax does fall it is going to be a whole lot worse than it was for them of the Old Testament, because it is grace that is being sinned against. We are sinning against the light.
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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