My dear readers,

Proverbs 11:11 “By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted: but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked.”

Of all the parts of our body, the mouth is the organ we use most throughout our lives. It is said that we speak an average of 16,000 words a day. That comes to 480,000 words a month, 5,760,000 words a year and 345,600,000 words in 60 years. At the end of all these many words, have the people who heard us or read what we wrote been better off or have their lives been worse off? In this internet age, our words and writings reach across the globe at breakneck speed, in double-quick time that was impossible before the invention of the computer; the blessings and curses our words can bring were much slower. But they did not have the same global impact as today, when almost everything can be found online. Therefore, it is incumbent upon all believers to take extra care in what we write and what we say. The Holy Name and honour of Christ depend on how we represent Him by our words. The lives of the people around us who read and hear our words can be built up or destroyed by our words. The decision lies with every believer!

Proverbs 11:11 warns us of such a consequence. Will you take heed of God’s warning?

The literal translation, “By the blessing of the straight, the building of a city is exalted, but by the mouth of the wicked, it is overthrown.”

• God’s Words as Building Blocks – The upright were children of God who lived in Israel. They understood that God ordained everything in Israel and that nothing originated with man, not even a great servant of God like Moses. No one knows God the Son better than God the Father. Therefore, in order for Israel to reflect the holy image of Christ by the manner in which they lived daily, God had to ordain everything – from how they spent their week, the food they could and could not eat, the garments they wore, how they were to till their land for farming, what their holy days were and what their spiritual significance were, to how and what their sacrifices meant and who alone could approach Him to present the offerings to God. All of them were to reflect the holy image of Christ. When God’s children, born again in Christ, lived in Israel in obedience to God’s laws, their words and lives built a holy city before God. When outsiders like the Moabites, Ammonites, and Edomites looked at how Israel conducted herself daily and on the special holy days, they could see the holy image of Christ.

Blessings were for the upright, i.e. Israelites who were “straight” in their manner of life and words. They meant what they said and said what they meant. They lived in holiness and righteousness, according to the Holy Bible, in both private and public settings. They served the LORD faithfully in all they did. They repented of their sins whenever they sinned or hurt someone. They did not justify their sin and make excuses to diminish their culpability. They bore the consequences of their sin before God and before man as evidence of the sincerity of their repentance. They knew that this was the only way they could restore the holy image of Christ that they bore in the eyes of the ones against whom they sinned. They did not care about losing face, but they must not cause the “face” of Christ to be lost in the eyes of all whom God sent into their lives, to whom they were to bear a holy witness. When God’s people, from the leaders to the general public, lived in holiness, God would pour down His blessings on the city where they lived.

They would have good crops, and all their animals would be fruitful; this included the wives of these godly men in Israel. Their blessings from God are found in Leviticus 26:1-13 “Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the LORD your God. 2 Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the LORD. 3 If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them; 4 Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. 5 And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and ye shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely. 6 And I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid: and I will rid evil beasts out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land. 7 And ye shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. 8 And five of you shall chase an hundred, and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight: and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. 9 For I will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and establish my covenant with you. 10 And ye shall eat old store, and bring forth the old because of the new. 11 And I will set my tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not abhor you. 12 And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people. 13 I am the LORD your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that ye should not be their bondmen; and I have broken the bands of your yoke, and made you go upright.”

The cities in Israel where God’s people were blessed because they were upright would be exalted. God would exalt them for His glory and give salvation to all who lived in these cities, where sinners would see Christ. God intended that all cities in Israel would be exalted so that many sinners might repent and be saved.

• Wicked Words as the Wrecking Ball – However, when the wicked took over the city and lived in sin, God’s blessings would be turned into curses. First, the blessings would stop when the wicked began to sin and refused to repent, especially after God sent His prophets to rebuke them. The curses of God would fall upon the city that is in sin. God’s curses on that city will progress from minor, such as rebuke, to severe, such as exile from the Promised Land. It takes years to build up a city through the blessings of God on the righteous, but it takes very little effort to destroy a city’s godly witness from holiness to sinful carnality. For example, when wicked kings passed laws and edicts that were man-centred, idolatrous, and unjust, based on the faces of man or relationships, the strangers, widows and orphans suffered under their injustices. There were priests and Levites who functioned primarily for monetary incentives rather than to teach God’s Word faithfully and fearing no man but God. Their words were tainted by their greedy hearts for filthy lucre. The priests and Levites abused worshippers. Those who brought their offerings to the Lord were disgusted by them, while others remained in sin and uncleanness because they stopped bringing their sacrifices to the Lord. These wicked ones would teach whatever they wanted, as their hearers did not have any recourse to check whether the teaching was God’s Word.

The cities of God were not supposed to be cities of wealth and peace at the expense of their spiritual health. They were to shine forth the light of Christ to a world dying in sin. When the “light” they shone was spiritual death masquerading as the light of Christ, all the nations that looked at them would either reject or accept the false Christ. Either way, they would die in their sins and find themselves in torment in hell for eternity. The mouths of the wicked destroy lives and the holy witness of Christ.

Application – Christ’s witnesses today are Christian churches. Most of Christianity today has fallen by the wayside which God had prophesied would happen in the last days before the return of Jesus Christ to judge this sin-filled world. 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3 “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, 2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. 3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.” [Emphasis added]

The mouth of the wicked continues to destroy man in these churches (not cities in the time of the national witness). Thank God there are believers and some churches who remain faithful to the Lord. God will continue to bless them and exalt these churches by His continual presence. Sinners who come to these churches will be saved when the gospel is preached. God's children will continue to grow in grace and in the knowledge of God as they listen to the faithful preaching and teaching of God’s Word, and the Holy Spirit will convict and convert.

Yours faithfully in the Saviour’s Service

Rev Dr Quek Suan Yew, Pastor