[Third.] In the third place, as the wicked has his fears, so the righteous has his desires. 'The desire of the righteous shall be granted'; but this must not be taken exclusively, as if the wicked had nothing but fears, and the righteous nothing but desires. For both by Scripture and experience also, we find that the wicked has his desires, and the righteous man his fears.
1. For the wicked, they are not without their desires. 'Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his,' was the desire of wicked Balaam (Num 23:10), and another place saith, 'the wicked boasteth of his heart's desire'; that he is for heaven as well as the best of you all, but yet, even then, 'he blesseth the covetous, whom the Lord abhorreth' (Psa 10:3). Wicked men have their desires and their hopes too, but the hope and desire of unjust men perisheth (Prov 11:7, 14:32). Yea, and though they look and long, too, all the day long, with desires of life and glory, yet their fears, and them only, shall come upon them; for they are the desires of the righteous that shall be granted (Psa 112:10).
The desires of the wicked want a good bottom; they flow not from a sanctified mind, nor of love to the God, or the heaven now desired; but only from such a sense as devils have of torments, and so, as they, they cry out, 'I beseech thee torment me not' (Luke 8:28, 16:24). But their fears have a substantial foundation, for they are grounded upon the view of an ill-spent life, the due reward of which is hell-fire; 'the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God,' their place is without; 'for without are dogs and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie' (1 Cor 6:9,10; Rev 22:15).
Their fears, therefore, have a strong foundation; they have also matter to work upon, which is guilt and justice, the which they shall never be able to escape, without a miracle of grace and mercy (Heb 2:3). Therefore it saith, and that with emphasis, 'The fear of the wicked it shall come upon him'; wherefore his desires must die with him: for the promise of a grant of that which is desired is only entailed to righteousness. 'The desire of the righteous shall be granted,' but 'grant not, O Lord, the desires of the wicked,' saith David (Psa 140:8).
2. Nor are the righteous without their fears, and that even all their life long. Through fear of death, they, some of them, are all their life time subject to bondage (Heb 2:15). But as the desires of the wicked shall be frustrate, so shall also the fears of the godly; hence you have them admonished, yea commanded, not to be afraid neither of devils, death, nor hell; for the fear of the righteous shall not come upon them to eternal damnation (Isa 35:4, 41:10-14, 43:1, 44:28; Luke 8:50, 12:32; Rev 1:17).
'The desire of the righteous shall be granted.' No, they are not to fear what sin can do unto them, nor what all their sins can do unto them; I do not say they should not be afraid of sinning, nor of those temporal judgments that sin shall bring upon them, for of such things they ought to be afraid, as saith the Psalmist, 'My flesh trembleth for fear of thee, and I am afraid of thy judgments' (Psa 119:120). But of eternal ruin, of that, they ought not to be afraid with slavish fear. 'Wherefore should I fear,' said the prophet, 'in the days of evil, when the iniquity of my heels shall compass me about?' (Psa 49:5). And again, 'Ye have done all this wickedness, yet turn not aside from following the Lord;—for the Lord will not forsake his people, for his great name's sake' (1 Sam 12:20-22).
The reason is, because the righteous are secured by their faith in Christ Jesus; also their fears stand upon a mistake of the nature of the covenant, in which they are wrapped up, which is ordered for them in all things, and sure (2 Sam 23:5; Isa 55:3). Besides, God has purposed to magnify the riches of his grace in their salvation; therefore goodness and mercy shall, to that end, follow them all the days of their life, that they may 'dwell in the house of the Lord for ever' (Psa 23:6; Eph 1:3-7). They have also their intercessor and advocate ready with God, to take up matters for them in such a way as may maintain true peace betwixt their God and them; and as may encourage them to be sober, and hope to the end, for the grace that is to be brought unto them at the revelation of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:13; 1 John 2:1,2). Wherefore, though the godly have their fears, yea, sometimes dreadful fears, and that of perishing forever and ever; yet the day is coming, when their fears and tears shall be done away, and when their desires only shall be granted. 'The fear of the wicked, it shall come upon them; but the desire of the righteous shall be granted.'
The words, then, are a prediction or prophecy, and that both concerning the wicked and the righteous, with reference to time and things to come, and shall certainly be fulfilled in their season. Hence, it is said concerning the wicked that their triumphing is short, and that the joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment (Job 20:5). Oh, their end will be bitter as wormwood, and will cut like a two-edged sword! Of this Solomon admonishes youth, when he saith. 'Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes; but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment' (Eccl 11:9).
This, therefore, showeth the desperate spirit that possesses the children of men, who, though they hear and read all this, yet cannot be reclaimed from courses that are wicked, and that lead to such a condition (Prov 5:7-14). I say they will not be reclaimed from such courses as lead to ways that go down to hell, where their soul must mourn, even then when their flesh and their body are consumed. O! how dear bought are their pleasures, and how will their laughter be turned into tears and anguish unutterable! and that presently, for it is coming! Their 'judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not' (2 Peter 2:3). But what good will their covenant of death then do them? And will their agreement of hell yield them comfort? Is not God as well mighty to punish as to save? (Isa 28:18). Or can these sinners believe God out of the world, or cause that he should not pay them home for their sins, and recompense them for all the evil they have loved, and continued in the commission of? (Job 21:29-31). 'Can thy heart endure, or can thy hands be strong in the days that God shall deal with thee?' (Eze 22:14). Thou art bold now, I mean bold in a wicked way; thou sayest now thou wilt keep thy sweet morsels of sin under thy tongue, thou wilt keep them still within thy mouth. Poor wretch! Thy sins shall lie down in the dust with thee (Job 20:11). Thou hast sucked the poison of asps, and the viper's tongue shall slay thee (Job 20:16). 'Thou shalt not see the rivers, the streaming floods, the brooks of butter and honey' (Job 20:17). 'All darkness shall be hid in thy secret places, a fire not blown shall consume thee.' 'This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed to him by God' (Job 20:26-29).
And as they [the Scriptures] predict or prophesy what shall become of the wicked; so also they plentifully foretell what shall happen to the righteous, when he saith their desire shall be granted: of which more anon. Only here I will drop this short hint, that the righteous have great cause to rejoice; for what more pleasing, what more comfortable to a man, than to be assured, and that from the Spirit of truth, that what he desireth shall be granted? And this the righteous are assured of here; for he saith it in words at length, 'The desire of the righteous shall be granted.' This, then, should comfort them against their fears and the sense of their unworthiness; it should also make them hold up their heads under all their temptations and the affronts that are usual for them to meet with in the world. The righteous! Who so vilified as the righteous? He, by the wise men of the world, is counted a very Abraham, a fool; like to him who is the father of us all. But as he left all for the desire that he had of a better country, and at last obtained his desire; for after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise; so those that walk in the steps of that faith which our father Abraham had, even those also in the end shall find place in Abraham's bosom; wherefore it is meet that we should cheer up and be glad, because what we desire shall be granted unto us (Heb 6).
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