The hope of the righteous shall be gladness: but the expectation of the wicked shall perish.
The verse sets two opposite ends side by side, gladness for the hope of the righteous and nothingness for the expectation of the wicked. The hope held by the righteous ends in gladness, both in looking forward to it and in its fulfillment. That gladness gives joy and rejoicing even in the midst of the sorrows of earthly life.
The perishing of the expectation of the wicked means they shall ultimately be no more. They are cut off forever from God and from the society of the holy and pure. They have no ground for hope of life and immortality apart from God, so their desire for life will perish. The universal human longing for life does not prove that men possess immortality in themselves.
For this reason the wicked will not inhabit the new earth, for their expectation comes to nothing. The righteous shall remain there, inherit the land, and dwell therein forever. That promise to the righteous is fulfilled at the dawn of millennial glory. Then the coming of Christ ends the long night of suffering, and the renewed universe rejoices.
The verse sets two opposite ends side by side, gladness for the hope of the righteous and nothingness for the expectation of the wicked. The hope held by the righteous ends in gladness, both in looking forward to it and in its fulfillment. That gladness gives joy and rejoicing even in the midst of the sorrows of earthly life.
The perishing of the expectation of the wicked means they shall ultimately be no more. They are cut off forever from God and from the society of the holy and pure. They have no ground for hope of life and immortality apart from God, so their desire for life will perish. The universal human longing for life does not prove that men possess immortality in themselves.
For this reason the wicked will not inhabit the new earth, for their expectation comes to nothing. The righteous shall remain there, inherit the land, and dwell therein forever. That promise to the righteous is fulfilled at the dawn of millennial glory. Then the coming of Christ ends the long night of suffering, and the renewed universe rejoices.