Elder Goh Kee Tai

The Prosperity of the wicked
'The tabernacles of robbers prosper, and they that provoke God are secure; into whose hand God bringeth abundantly' (Job 12:6)

When Job, a 'perfect and upright' man, was struck with a series of calamities one after another in quick succession, with all his children and possessions completely taken away and he himself afflicted with terrible sores all over his body, his three friends came to comfort him. They could not understand why he was so severely afflicted and were of the view that since God is righteous, He blesses the good and afflicts the wicked: ‘who ever perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off? Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same. By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed' (Job 4:7-9). They believed that all human sufferings are due to punishment of sin. Instead of comforting Job, they treated him with contempt and vexed him with their unfounded accusations and concluded that he was a hypocrite. Such wicked person could not prosper long in this world. Job's calamities were the results of his secret unconfessed sins, great wickedness, transgressions and enormous crimes (Job 15:11;22:5-9)

Job contradicted what they had said in this doctrinal controversy regarding the destruction of the wicked and prosperity of the righteous. He observed that the wicked do not always suffer, and God's judgment may fall upon the righteous as well (Job 9:22). Evil people often prosper long in this world and they possess most of the world's good and are in power and honour (Job 9:24). The wicked like the robbers who live by plunder of their neighbours are often found in a state of security and affluence (Job12:6).

The wicked and their deeds
The earth is full of violence and oppression in every place (Job 9:24). Job described the practices of one category of cruel bloody men who thrive in their iniquities by openly oppressing their poor neighbours, the weak, helpless and defenceless with their ruthless cruelty, violence, fraud, persecution and injustice. They remove the landmarks of their poor neighbours in order to increase the size of their own property, and take away the flocks, grains, olive and vines (Job 24:2,6).They plunder the poor, strip them naked and drive them from their homes with no clothing and shelters to protect them from the cold and wet environment (Job 24:7,8,10). These merciless oppressors have no pity on the fatherless and widows, and take away all that they have as a pledge for payment for some small debts (Job 24:3). They not only kill the father but also bring intense grief to the mother by snatching away her infant child to be starved to death or sold into slavery (24:9). They exploit the poor who work for them by not satisfying their hunger and thirst or compensating them for their labour (24:11). In the cities where there is apparent justice, social order and government, civil corruption and oppression of the poor also abound: 'Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded cried out' (Job 24:12). These wicked people even have the support of corrupt powerful rulers (Job 24:22).

Job described another group of evil people who choose the darkness of the night as the most appropriate time to perform their secret wicked deeds, and they are often not discovered (Job 24:13).These are the murderers who 'rising with the light killeth the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief' (Job 24:14), the adulterers (Job 24:15), and the burglars who conceal themselves in the day, and secretly enter into the house which they mark to steal, rob or plunder at night (Job 24:16).They are diligent in their lawless activities and take pains to rise up early to prey on others suddenly and unexpectedly (Job 24:5).

The prosperity of the wicked
These daring wicked bloody men, even the worst sinners who provoke and blaspheme God, are often happy and live all their days in peace, security and prosperity. They are mighty in power and honour with abundance of the good things of life (Job 21:7). They thrive in huge estates with large numbers of healthy and fertile flocks (Job 21:10). They are surrounded by everything that can contribute to their health, comfort and pleasure (Job 21:24). Their family members and those who live with them are also safe and secure (21:9). They spend their time merrily with their playful joyous children and grandchildren who grow up and prosper in their presence and become well-established in the land (Job 21:8,11,12). These oppressors and tyrants continue to sin and are apparently exempted from divine judgment (Job 24:12). Their innocent victims are terrified of them and do not dare to rise up and openly charge them with their wicked deeds (Job 21:31). God does not show His displeasure by overwhelming them with calamities proportionate to their crimes (Job 21:9) nor tormenting them with a long lingering sickness and great bodily pain. These evil-doers live to a ripe old age in the midst of comfort, peace, happiness and abundance all the days of their years without any visible sign of God's wrath upon them (Job 24:23). They are finally carried out of the world very silently and gently to the grave where they lie peacefully and sweetly free from all the cares, fears and troubles (Job 21:13;24:19,24). They are highly honoured with a splendid funeral and a stately monument erected over them (Job 21:32,33). Their wicked deeds are all forgotten (Job 24:20).

The wicked hardened their hearts
The wicked openly defy all the laws of justice in their evil practices, and very often their joy and prosperity continue on (Job 21:17). The greater the mischief they cause, the more they continue to prosper and flourish. It is this very prosperity that hardens their hearts and increases their sins. They mock, reject and rebel against God (Job 21:14).They have no pleasure of His ways, His laws and His will: 'What is the Almighty, that we should serve him?’ (Job 21:15). Having prospered for so long and so greatly without God, they see no reason to believe that they will prosper even more if they are to worship God: 'what profit should we have, if we pray unto him?' (Job 21:15).

They are boastful, self-dependent fools that depart from God, the Giver of their lives and possessions. It is by His will and forbearance that He does not take away their health and wealth and permits them to prosper without hindrance. It is not by their might, hard work and wisdom that enable them to acquire their possessions. It is also not in the power of their hands to keep or to carry the worldly goods with them when they die (Job 21:16).

God knows their wicked deeds. They are not out of reach of His eyes and hands. In fact, the lawless who operate in the dark are in continual terror for fear of being discovered: 'For the morning is to them even as the shadow of death' (Job 24:17).
God has not been unmindful of their evil and has marked it against them. Because their wickedness seems to be unpunished, they presume that it is forgotten. They infer from God's silence that He neither sees their evil deeds nor cares for the misery of the oppressed. Though God keeps silent, 'yet his eyes are upon their ways' (Job 24:23). The eyes of our omniscient God are in every place, beholding the evil and the good, but the wicked presume 'No eyes shall see me' (Job 24:15).

The sovereignty of God
Job observed that life is so incongruous, both good and evil are seen everywhere throughout this world. He noted a great variety of ways of God's providence towards men. Wicked men often prosper even in death. They die suddenly in their full strength, not weakened by age or sickness, 'being wholly at ease and quiet', under no apprehension at all of the approach of death, nor in any fear of it, like someone who dies in his sleep (Job 21:23).

Job and his friends acknowledged the supreme and absolute sovereignty of God over His creation, the excellency of His power, wisdom and knowledge (Job 11:6), especially in the dispensation of His providence. God is just (Job 8:3;9:2) and holy (Job 4:17), all wise and powerful with infinite knowledge (Job 9:4). He created and ordained everything in wisdom as well as in power: 'He is wise in heart and mighty in strength' (Job 9:4). All creatures are sustained, supported and provided for by our sovereign God who is in absolute control over their affairs: 'Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the LORD hath wrought this? In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind' (Job 12:9,10). Under the wise counsel of His own will, He gives life, health, happiness and prosperity when He pleases, and when He thinks fit, He takes them away (Job 9:12). It is God who exalts and abases the rulers and nations (Job 12:18, 19, 21,23 ). He overrules all things for His own glory and for the good of His creatures.

The working of God and His over-ruling providence transcend human understanding and knowledge. His judgments are unsearchable and the intricacies of His plan cannot be fully known: 'Which doeth great things and unsearchable; marvellous things without numbers' (Job 5:9). Our finite knowledge cannot fathom His unchangeable secret counsel (Job 5:9;9:10;10:13;23:13) nor the design of His providence (Job 12:13-25). It is a mystery, deep and incomprehensible in all His ways and in all His works (Job 11:7-10). He can do anything according to His own will. No one can tell Him how He ought to govern the world and the people, what sinner He should spare and whom He should punish (Job 21:22).None can resist His incontestable sovereignty and uncontrollable power. He is not obliged to give a reason for what He does (Job 9:12).

Job illustrated the sovereignty of God in the animal kingdom where the violent are prospered, and the gentle, tame and innocent are victims of prey: 'But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall teach thee..... and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee' (Job 12:7,8). The stronger and bigger in the land, air and sea prey upon the weaker and smaller. Yet God does not show His displeasure and come forth to punish the ferocious, the blood-thirsty and the cruel; and He provides safety and security to the weak and the meek. This is all in the providence of God in the administration of His justice and wisdom.

Judgment of the wicked
Job's friends insisted that the wicked are sure to fall into ruin in this life according to their deeds. While God seldom shows His displeasure and punishes or destroys the wicked in this world, Job foresaw their eventual ruin and future judgment by the just and holy God. Death is 'the king of terrors' for unbelievers (Job 18:14). The ungodly will end in pain (Job 14:22) in the 'land of darkness, as darkness itself; and the shadow of death, without any order, and where light is as darkness' (Job 10:22).

The eyes of the wicked which are wilfully shut against the grace of God, 'shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty' (Job 21:20). The impenitent sinner will certainly be punished in future in the other world, even though they live in prosperity with a long comfortable life, and spared of calamities: 'That the wicked is deserved to the day of destruction? they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath' (Job 21:30).

Conclusion
It is sad that Job's three friends turned out to be 'mockers', 'miserable comforters', 'forgers of lies', and 'physicians of no value' (Job 13:4; 16:2; 17:2). They added more agony to his afflictions by their false accusations and asserted that the wicked are miserable and will meet with calamities in this life for their great crimes (Job 15:20-24,32), but not so for the righteous (Job 4:7-9). In fact, they gave elegant description of the miserable state, terrible death and ruin of the wicked and their posterity, implying that Job typified such a person (Job 18:5-21; 20:5-29).

Job's friends were wrong in believing that those who are in trouble are wicked, and certainly, not all who are in prosperity are righteous. To them, outward prosperity in this life is a mark of the righteous, while the destruction of a man's earthly possessions indicates that he is a hypocrite. God does not often deal with people in accordance to their character in this life. We should not judge a man's character either by his prosperity or adversity. It is not right to draw an inference regarding a person's heart, piety or spiritual condition based on God's dealing with him. It is not a divine rule that the wicked are certainly subjected to calamities in this world (Job 9:22-24). God does not hastily punish every wicked deed, nor reward every good one.

How could the prosperity of the wicked be harmonised with a righteous God? If God is holy and pure and cannot tolerate the iniquities of the wicked, why then does He not take action against the ruthless oppressors for their treacherous deeds? Instead, He allows them to be happy and prosperous and enjoy themselves with the comfort and pleasures of life.

Job reconciled this incomprehensible incongruity of life to the sovereign providence of the holy and just God. He brings prosperity or adversity into our lives in accordance to His sovereign purposes, but without revealing the key to His plan. No man can question or change His purpose or course (Job 23:13) which is formed in His infinite wisdom: 'O the depth the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?' (Rom 11:33,34). We cannot comprehend the secret of His counsel and the unsearchable, infinite wisdom of the justice of God (Job 12:13).

Although God does not seem to interfere to punish the wicked with His judgment, yet He marks all their transgressions and will in due time judge them according to their deeds. He reserves the exact distribution of rewards and punishment in the future state. Job was right in stating that though the wicked are rarely punished and may live long and prosper and escape judgment in this world, they will definitely not escape the judgment reserved for them in the other world (Rom 2:5, 6). Our omniscient and omnipresent God maintains well-kept records of our works on earth (Dan 7:10). He knows every sin and every evil work of man. The time will dawn when sentence will definitely be executed against all evil workers and their wicked deeds: 'For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul?' (Job 27:8).

Death is no respecter of persons (Job 3:14,15,19). The wicked , including kings and great men, who prosper and evade the justice of the world, will not escape the judgment of the righteous Judge when they die (Heb 9:27; Eccl 12:14:2; 1Cor 5:10). The grave shall be the land of darkness for all that love darkness rather than light. They shall be most miserable. The greatest calamity which can overtake a human soul is the wrath of God: 'It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God' (Heb 10:31).The spirit which God gives will return to the Creator for judgment (Job 14:10), that of a believer to heaven while that of an unbeliever to hell where there shall be 'weeping and gnashing of teeth' (Mt 8:12; Lk 16:22-24). At the end of Christ's millennial rule on earth, these evil-doers in hell will be resurrected to give an account at the Great White Throne Judgment and to receive their just sentence passed against all their wicked deeds, and thereafter cast into the lake of fire where they will be tormented forever and ever (Dan 12:2; Jn 5:29; Rev 20:11-15).

We should not be envious or angry or indignant at the prosperity of the wicked in this world and lose our faith in the Lord (Ps 37:1;73:3). Rather, we should have pity and compassion on them and have the passion for these lost souls perishing to a Christ-less eternity, doing our part in witnessing to these people the glorious gospel of salvation by our own personal testimony as we see the day of the Lord fast approaching. Our Almighty God is longsuffering and forbearing. He does not immediately judge the wicked, but waits patiently for them to come to repentance, and they would have no excuse when condemned before Him: 'the riches of his goodness, and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God'. (Rom 2:4,5). Amen.