Proverbs 2:21-22: This land is your land!

“For the upright will inhabit the land, and those with integrity will remain in it, but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the treacherous will be rooted out of it.”
-Proverbs 2:21-22

Wow. We’re going to do two verses today. That is a first. I’m very excited.

I’m doing it because I want to give a good example of what Solomon is talking about. We learned last time that, in the Old Testament, God would sometimes bring a foreign army to take the land of Canaan away from the Jews when they had been disobedient.

One of my favorite books in the Bible is Nehemiah, which takes place at the end of one of these periods of exile. Jerusalem has been completely destroyed, and has been in ruins for decades. Nehemiah is a faithful man who works as the cupbearer the king. He basically drinks a sip of everything the king has to make sure it’s not poisoned. One day, Nehemiah hears from some other Jews, and he is suddenly struck with a profound need to see the city rebuilt. God softens the heart of the king to allow him to go, and so he goes to rebuild it.

This takes guts, my friends. There are enemies all over the place, and none of them want to see the Jewish people regain a little power by regaining their walled city. There is danger all over the place, and several people are trying to kill or discredit Nehemiah. But he, along with faithful people from all over, do the work. They rebuild the walls.

The town begins to flourish again, and one of the religious leaders, Ezra, holds a mass revival in the town where thousands come to God. The Jews have returned to their home.

After many years, Nehemiah returns to his post as the cupbearer for the king. But he learns some unrighteous people have come to Jerusalem and are messing everything up. So he goes back and runs them all out of town, beating up some as he goes.

Pretty cool.

This is exactly what Solomon is talking about. But this story also speaks of Jesus, and the “land” that is promised for us. You see, like Nehemiah, Jesus came to a broken land, a place ravished by sin and death, to rebuild. The walls He erected were not physical ones, but walls of a different kind. Was he not described as the cornerstone, after all?

He came in order to bring the faithful home, to protect them with the Spirit. To bring them together in Him.

And like Nehemiah left government and religious leaders in place when he left, Jesus sent to us His Spirit when He returned to heaven.

However, our cities, our homes, and even our churches have become infested with unrighteous men. There are pulpits all over filled by greedy men and blasphemers, leading people astray.

But like Nehemiah, Jesus will come again, and He will drive out the unrighteous.

This “land,” which is ultimately our adoption by God Himself, is for the faithful alone. Eternal life with Him is for the faithful. The others will be driven out.

So what makes a righteous person? Jesus. Only Jesus can make you righteous. See, we have all fallen into unrighteousness with greed, ambition, lust, and selfishness. We have all fallen short of God’s Glory. But like Nehemiah came to bring people into the city while they did not have the power to do it without him, so too did Jesus come to bring us into the kingdom, into the land, while we could not on our own.

Repent of the ways you have fallen short. Admit that you cannot make it on your own and believe that Jesus has done the work to make you righteous. Believe, and come inside.