When the Righteous Ride into the Sunset

The righteous one perishes, and no one takes it to heart; faithful men are swept away, with no one realizing that the righteous one is swept away from the presence of evil. He will enter into peace – they will rest on their beds – everyone who lives uprightly. – Isaiah 57:1,2

Good and evil are not in balance. The system is not dualistic. The outcome is not in doubt.

The nature of good is absolute, and good exists on its own. It does not need evil to create or define it. Evil, on the other hand, is derived. It is a deviation, a perversion of good. Sin is sometimes defined as achieving a legitimate end by illegitimate means. Evil seeks to achieve some good, but does so in a way that is damaging or negative. Even in an action as repugnant as child molestation, the twisted mind of the perpetrator does not seek the destruction of an innocent life for its own sake but for the sick pleasure the molester derives from it.

Men may come to call what is evil good and call good evil, as is often the case today. Still, evil cannot triumph in an ultimate sense, for it carries within itself the seeds of its own destruction. It must always war with good or it ceases to exist. The more it conquers good, the more certain and swift its defeat. Sometimes, as Isaiah tells us, the righteous fail and are swept away, but they are swept away to peace and rest, leaving the wicked to reap the harvest of their own unintended consequences.

God indeed uses the wickedness of man, at times. As Romans 8:28 assures us that He is able to make all things work together for good, while acknowledging that not all things are good. God absorbs and assimilates evil into His overall plan. The devil builds a wall, and God uses it as a steppingstone. The devil sends a storm, and God uses the tempest to climb higher like an eagle soaring on the winds. The devil makes waves, and God walks on the water. Though disaster and tragedy may assail my life, such things will not defeat me unless I surrender to them. I am so touched and inspired by Ben’s remarkable stories of overcoming by faith at One Cosmos at Sea. I cannot imagine how anyone could read Ben’s testimonies and not see the hand of God at work.

I was in a bookstore in Iowa the other day and in the course of paying for some gifts, the cashier discovered that we were from near the city where her son is attending college. My wife asked what year the young man was in at school. The woman replied, “He’s a junior. He would have been a senior.” She then went on to explain that their daughter, a few years younger than their son, had fallen ill at seventeen and died within a few months. The boy had dropped out of college and returned home to support his sister and his parents. There was a picture of the girl on the counter. As the mother told how she looked forward to seeing her daughter again, this big old hillbilly began to cry. There was no bitterness, no resentment, no hatred of God or protest of unfairness. “The righteous one is swept away from the presence of evil.” The mother understood and respected the reality. She missed her child, longed to see her again, but she knew where she was.

It’s also important to realize that some things which are tragic are not evil. Suppose I choose to visit some remote wilderness area. In the course of my exploration, I encounter a hungry grizzly bear that kills and devours me. You cannot say that anything evil has occurred. Though it is the consequence of living in a fallen world where life is sustained by bloodshed, the bear did no wrong, any more than I do wrong by having a steak for supper. My personal feelings about the matter aside, I can’t accuse the bear of evil intent.

When our purpose here is fulfilled, we will depart. Sometimes our departure is part of our purpose. We can trust God that He knows how to separate the wheat from the tares. Wickedness will run on until it comes to the abyss from which it cannot return. There is no need to fear the triumph of evil, but there is reason to strive against it. I say again, “Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good” (Romans 12:21).