- Destroy the Wicked
Psalm 101:8
I will early destroy all the wicked of the land;
That I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the Lord.
The promise to destroy and cut off all the wicked sounds negative, judgmental and harsh, but for the believer it is actually a positive, saving and life-giving promise. It is a warning and a threat if you are on the wrong side of God, but it is a blessing and a promise if you are a part of the kingdom (the true Church).
The church of believers in Christ, both as groups of believers and as individuals, are often tempted, threatened, harassed, attacked, mocked, injured, and sometimes killed by the wicked unbelievers who are used as instruments of the Devil. The promise is that the faithful will not long (“early”) have to endure the wicked for they will be destroyed and cut off.
It is not always persecutions that threaten us but just evildoers doing evil. During times of ill treatment and unjust accusations the believer can take heart in the promise that this time will not last long for “I will early destroy all the wicked in the land.”
Ultimately, all people are wicked until forgiven through the blood of Christ; all unbelievers will be separated from the believers, as goats from sheep. “The land” and “the city of the Lord” is the Kingdom of God, the Church, and the sinner who refuses to accept the forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life from Jesus Christ will be banned, separated, cut off from the invisible kingdom on earth and the visible and eternal kingdom of heaven. To the sheep on the right: “Come…inherit the kingdom prepared for you….” (Matthew 25:34); to the goats on the left: “Depart from me…into the eternal fire prepared….” (Matthew 25:41). Thus they will be destroyed and cut off.
The promise comes into effect before the “great white throne” judgment: evil is destroyed and cut off from the believer throughout his life. This kind of temporal deliverance from evil may not come when we would like, but the promise encourages us to be patient and faithful, for it will come about “early” according to God’s reckoning.