Why do the Wicked Flourish

          

In the closing days of World War II in Europe, many high ranking Nazi officials were able to slip away in the confusion and escape the justice of the world for their heinous crimes against humanity. The paths of their escapes came to be known as rat lines, as though they were rats escaping. Many of them were able to escape to South American nations and other places around the world.

They made a new life for themselves, often using the much money they had stolen from their victims when they were in power. In subsequent years, a few of them got caught but others did manage to live out the rest of their lives in obscurity. Many of them lived in luxury and died of old age. In the years following their peaceful deaths, their stories were uncovered and told to the world.

The sense of outrage was palpable not only from Jewish survivors of the Holocaust, but from all who may question the existence of God. The stories say that Hitler committed suicide. We are not told exactly how he did it; maybe he blew his brains out or took a cyanide capsule, as the red army was burning Berlin down right over his head.  He escaped the wrath of the Russians. But, a far more terrifying adversary was waiting for him when he died.

In Psalm 37:35-36 David says “I have seen a wicked and ruthless man flourishing like a luxuriant native tree, but he soon passed away and was no more; though I looked for him, he could not be found”. Here the wicked are compared to a green tree which flourishes for a time but soon dies .That tree’s honour is the fading leaves. Although its shadow dwarfs the plants which are condemned to pine beneath it, yet it is itself a dying thing.

In the book of Job chapter1 the Lord said to Satan that Job “is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.” Soon after this, Job lost his property, all his children and he got a painful skin disease. His friends came to comfort and advice him. They came with the law of retribution; Job’s suffering was payment for his hidden wickedness. What had happened to him only happens to the wicked.

After describing the evils that befall a wicked man in chapter 18, Bildad said ,“surely such is the dwelling of an evil man; such is the place of one who does not know God”(Job 18:21). In chapter 20 Zophar’s told Job “the mirth of the wicked is brief, the joy of the godless lasts but a moment. Though the pride of the godless person reaches to the heavens and his head touches the clouds, he will perish forever.

The youthful vigor that fills his bones will lie with him in the dust. He will spit out the riches he swallowed;    He cannot save himself by his treasure. His prosperity will not endure. In the midst of his plenty, distress will overtake him...Though he flees from an iron weapon, a bronze-tipped arrow pierces him... such is the fate God allots the wicked, the heritage appointed for them by God”.

But in chapter 21Job said that the opposite is true. He said “the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power. They see their children established around them. They spend their years in prosperity and go down to the grave in peace. Yet they say to God, ‘Leave us alone! We have no desire to know your ways. Who is the Almighty that we should serve him?  What would we gain by praying to him?’ (Job 21:1-15)

Fact of the matter is, a lot of wicked people make it safely through this world successfully right to a peaceful death in their beds. They are successful in all their business ventures. They live long, healthy lives. They have large, loving families. They have no fears because nothing bad ever seems to happen to them. God leaves them alone, lets them prosper and even seems to bless them.

These people openly mock God. They have no time for him; they are too focused on advancing their own agendas. They don’t go to church or read the Bible or pray. They consider doing those things a waste of time. Yet Job knows full well that every good thing they have got came ultimately from God. They do not give credit to God for the good things they enjoy and yet he continues to bless them.

The frustrated Job asked “how often does calamity come upon them? It is said, ‘God stores up the punishment of the wicked for their children. Let him repay the wicked, so that they themselves will experience it! Let their own eyes see their destruction; let them drink the cup of the wrath of the Almighty. Can anyone teach knowledge to God, since he judges even the highest?

Both the wicked and the righteous end up in the same place. They both die, “one man dies in full vigor, completely secure and at ease. His body well nourished, his bones rich with marrow. Another man dies in bitterness of soul, never having enjoyed anything good. Side by side they lie in the dust and worms cover them both” (Job 21:17-26). So the wicked do not get repaid in this lifetime.

Job 21 is quite depressing, but God’s providence does not end in Job 21. Job does not have an answer, but there is an answer. The final answer must come in eternity but we can see the beginning of that in Psalm 73. Asaph, the author, is puzzled by the prosperity of the wicked. He comes out a little bit more hopefully but still does not have a full answer. He says,“surely God is good to Israel to those who are pure in heart.”

However, “my feet had almost slipped,for I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked, they have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong. They’re free from the burdens common to man; they’re not plagued by human ills.” They say, ‘How can God know? Does the Most High have knowledge?’ The wicked are always carefree, they increase in wealth.”

Surely in vain, I’ve kept my heart pure. All day long, I have been plagued; I’ve been punished   every morning. When I tried to understand all this, it troubled me deeply until I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny. Surely you place them on slippery ground; you cast them down to ruin. How suddenly are they destroyed, completely swept away by terrors!”

Asaph seems to agree with Zophar. However Zophar focuses almost entirely on the material aspect of Job’s troubles and virtually ignores the spiritual dynamic. He sees the carrying off of ‘possessions’ (Job 20:28) as the ultimate judgment. The loss of fellowship with God, in this life or after it, does not strike him as a far worse fate. But Asaph’s mind goes beyond this life and he values his relationship with God more than prosperity.

Asaph says “when my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, I was senseless and ignorant; Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand, you guide me with your counsel and afterward you’ll take me into glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire beside you. My heart and my flesh may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

In Psalm 16 David says “You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing. Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance. I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad; my body also will rest secure.

Jesus taught that the ultimate display of God’s justice concerning the wicked will not be in this world. We can only see it now by faith as we read the scriptures and understand God’s intentions. The Scripture is clear, that in every single case God will display his justice meticulously. For the arrogant wicked, there is no escaping justice, terror awaits them. Such is the fate God allots the wicked, the heritage appointed for them by God.

In Luke 16 Jesus gave a parable of the rich man and Lazarus, which directly addresses the issues brought up in Job 21. The parable directly addresses the wealthy, powerful, rich oppressor who could not care less about the poor people. The story is not over in this life. The problem of the wicked will not be fully addressed in this life. Jesus demonstrated that there is another world where all things will be made right.

The wicked men are commonly set in high places and prosper in this life. The righteous men lie grovelling with their mouths in the dust, as the very underlings of the world. But after death the tables will turn. The wicked will be cast into the dungeon of hell while the righteous will enter the kingdom of heaven. The wicked will suffer eternally but the righteous will find lasting joy in heaven.

Abraham had no problem giving up the well watered plain of Jordan with its cities, accepting to live in tents on the mountains (Gen. 13).His eyes of faith had seen a better country—a heavenly one. He had seen a city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God (Heb 11:10,16). The cities on the plains were later destroyed (Gen 13:10) but God’s city is eternal.

By faith Moses refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. By faith he... persevered because he saw him who is invisible (Heb 11:24-27).

When wicked men chuckle to themselves, as they lay on their deathbed, surrounded by loving family and confident of passing on a vast fortune amassed by crime. When they feel they have beaten the system and escaped an invading army or a peasant uprising. As they slip from this world in peace, they cannot conceive of the terrors that will await them in the next world.

Proverbs 16:8 says “better a little with righteousness than much gain with injustice”. Jesus asked “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mark 8:36-37)  In Luke 12:4-5 he says , “do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do nothing more. Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell.