In order to walk righteously before Jehovah both faith and hope are very requisite. Present results are no real standard of judgment, and too apt to do harm to our spirits as well as to deceive others. And what does He see fitting?
“Fret not thyself because of evil-doers, be not envious of the wicked;
For there shall be no future (or, reward) to the evil [man]; the lamp of the wicked shall be put out.
My son, fear Jehovah and the king; meddle not with those that are given to change;
For their calamity shall rise suddenly; and who knoweth the destruction of them both (or, of their years)?
These [things] also [are] of the wise.
To have respect of persons in judgment is not good.
He that saith to the wicked, Thou [art] righteous, peoples shall curse him, nations shall abhor him;
But to those that rebuke [him] shall be delight, and a good blessing cometh upon them.
He kisseth the lips who giveth a right answer” (vers. 19-26).
It is a great thing for a believer to occupy himself and his lips with the good, especially now that God has revealed Himself in the Son incarnate; that he may not be overcome of evil but overcome it with good. The Jew was expressly separated from the Gentile, devoted as he was to his gods that were in no sense God. But the Christian who is surrounded by evil men and impostors is called to bear witness to Him who came in grace and truth, a divine person as truly as He was manifested in flesh, and this that his soul might receive of His fullness. He is thus enabled to pity and seek the blessing of the wicked instead of envying them.
The awful end of rejecting the Savior to his own ruin is present to one's own spirit, humbled by the known grace of God who will send the Lord Jesus shortly to execute a judgment which will extinguish the lamp of the wicked.
Therefore all the more does the believer fear God and the king in the form of honoring him who is His representative in earthly things, and to be obeyed in all things save to the dishonor of God and His word. Even then he is to suffer the consequences, never to resist or rebel like those given to meddling and change. For even here their calamity rises suddenly when they least expect it; and who knows the ruin that impends till it falls far and wide? “Fear God, honor the king,” says 1 Peter 2:1717Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king. (1 Peter 2:17).
In a sort of appendix that follows the opening maxim is the value and duty of impartiality in judgment; which with respect of persons is but a mockery. But this undue favor assumes its worst form when the wicked person is complimented as righteous. Such a reversal of equity provokes whole peoples to curse the perpetrator and draws out the abhorrence of the nations in hasty likes and dislikes.
Honest rebuke of the wicked or of any unprincipled favor shown them as the rule wins delight and the cordial desire for a blessing upon such. It draws out the strongest mark, not only of respect but affection, when a right answer is given; whereas self curries favor by compromise.