What other scriptures warn about the fleeting nature of wickedness? Flourishing Like Grass? Psalm 92:7 as the Launch Point “Though the wicked sprout like grass and all evildoers flourish, they will be forever destroyed.” (Psalm 92:7) God’s word assures us that any apparent success of the wicked is short-lived. Scripture repeats this theme again and again, underscoring how quickly evil withers under God’s judgment and how pointless it is to envy wrongdoing. Psalms: A Repeated Refrain • Psalm 37:2 – “For they wither quickly like grass and wilt like tender plants.” • Psalm 37:10 – “Yet a little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look for them, they will not be found.” • Psalm 37:20 – “The enemies of the LORD…will vanish; like smoke they will vanish away.” • Psalm 37:35-36 – “I have seen a wicked, ruthless man flourishing…yet he passed away, and was no more.” • Psalm 73:18-19 – “Surely You set them on slick ground…How suddenly they are laid waste.” • Psalm 1:4 – “The wicked…are like chaff driven off by the wind.” Proverbs: Wisdom Cuts Through the Mirage • Proverbs 10:25 – “When the whirlwind passes, the wicked are no more, but the righteous are secure forever.” • Proverbs 24:19-20 – “For the evil man has no future; the lamp of the wicked will be extinguished.” • Proverbs 11:7 – “When the wicked man dies, his hope perishes.” Job: Hard Questions, Clear Answers • Job 20:5 – “The triumph of the wicked has been brief and the joy of the godless momentary.” • Job 20:7-8 – “He will perish forever…He will fly away like a dream.” • Job 21:17-18 – “Are they like straw before the wind, like chaff swept away by a storm?” Prophets: God’s Verdict Against Passing Powers • Isaiah 14:11, 15 – “Your pomp has been brought down to Sheol…You will be brought down to Sheol.” • Nahum 1:10 – “They will be…consumed like dry stubble.” • Malachi 4:1 – “All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble; the coming day will set them ablaze.” New Testament Echoes: Same Theme, Same Outcome • James 1:11 – “So too, the rich man will fade away in the midst of his pursuits.” • 1 Peter 1:24 – “All flesh is like grass…the grass withers and the flower falls.” • 2 Peter 2:12 – “Like irrational animals…they too will be destroyed.” • Revelation 20:10, 15 – “The devil…was thrown into the lake of fire…If anyone’s name was not found written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” Putting It All Together From Genesis to Revelation, God declares the same truth: wickedness may look impressive for a moment, but its end is swift, sure, and catastrophic. Grass withers, chaff blows away, smoke vanishes, lamps go out—every picture drives home the literal certainty of judgment. The believer can rest, refusing envy or fear, because the Only True Judge guarantees that evil’s fleeting bloom will be followed by everlasting ruin, while righteousness endures forever. |
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