Posted on 03/27/2021 11:47:03 PM PDT by Pilgrim's Progress
“The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion” (Proverbs 28:1 KJV).
It was early on when the first innocent man became the first wicked man when he rebelled against the command of God and ate of the forbidden tree in the garden of Eden. Rather than accept this as the downfall of man, many prefer to wickedly assign this account to the realm of mythology. Rather than face the Creator and admit to their need for a Saviour, they flee. They reason, as long as there is no God, there is no judgment. If there is no judgment, then I am free to do whatever I wish.
What did Adam and his wife do? Rather than to stand and face the One that gave them life, they fled to the bushes and hid themselves. What did the Author of life do? He searched until He found them and then He restored them to fellowship by removing their fig leaves (human works) and clothed them with the coat of an animal (God’s righteousness). Yes, our first parents still eventually died physically—but they died spiritually the instant that they sinned. It was God’s love that ruled in the garden that day, not man’s fear. Perhaps Shakespeare was a Bible reader which caused him to write, “conscience does make cowards of us all.”
On the other hand, we read of a teenager that took a stand for God and faced a giant named Goliath. Consider his words as he looked upon the enemy of Israel.
“And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock: And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him. Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God. David said moreover, The LORD that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the LORD be with thee . . . Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. This day will the LORD deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel” (1 Samuel 17:34-37, 45-46 KJV).
What was the attitude of king Saul’s men? They were not trusting God as David was so they did what anyone did that was trusting only in their own strength: they fled. “And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him, and were sore afraid” (1 Samuel 17:24 KJV).
Later on, that same boldness was found in a young deacon by the name of Stephen who willingly and boldly accepted martyrdom at the hands of the high priest, following in the footsteps and example of the Lamb of God that freely accepted death on the Cross that He might freely offer salvation to whomsoever will come and accept it. After that, how many have stood in the face of certain death at the hands of the enemies of the Gospel.
“They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect” (Hebrews 11:37-40 KJV).
The wicked were cowards and fled from the sound of the Gospel. Rather than to accept the truth of what they were, they hid behind stones and swords and saws and flames, killing them that would convict their souls.
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