For today, One Year Bible Online links here.
These two parables are more closely linked than they at first appear. Those who rely on the word of the wicked will believe and testify to things which are not true, but those who listen carefully will be able to distinguish between the bravado of the wicked and the confidence of the righteous. The wicked will put up a false front while the righteous will think carefully before assessing a problem.
The psalmist recognizes that he is suffering because he sinned against God, but has turned back to God and begged His forgiveness. The wicked will seize upon our every misstep and attempt to use it against us in order to discredit whatever good we have done. If we confess our sins and turn to God, He will come to our rescue and aid us in accomplishing His will.
In this passage Paul gives us the core of the Gospel message, without which everything else is worthless. Jesus died, was buried, and rose from the dead on the third day. If there is no resurrection from the dead than the Gospel message is null and void. If no one rises from the dead, than Jesus did not rise from the dead. If those who preached the Gospel from the beginning were lying about the resurrection, than they are liars, not teachers of a great moral philosophy. Moreover, while the message being taught by Paul and the Christian Church today has value to us in this life, if this life is all there is, it is a terrible tragedy to accept suffering in order to be faithful to the message.
However, Jesus did indeed rise from the dead. As a result, all of those who worship and follow Him will be raised from the dead when He returns. When the time is fulfilled and everything has been made subject to Christ, He will make entropy (which is, in a way, another word for death) no more.
The book of Job is a great example of the importance of reading the Bible through regularly. Job’s friends say some things which have the ring of truth. Job’s friends repeatedly tell him that if only he would confess his sins and get right with God, all would be well. Certainly, it is good advice to tell someone to confess their sins and get right with God. However, Job repeatedly asks them to point out what sins he had committed. Job goes further and tells us that it is not possible for anyone to be truly righteous before God. Job asks the question that we all ask at some point, to one degree or another, wouldn’t we be better off if we were never born if we are going to suffer this much? This part of Job is the perfect counterpoint to the point which Paul was making about resurrection in today’s passage. Life is truly not worth living if this life is all that there is.