OT Promise 324: Deliver from death

Proverbs 11:4 Riches profit not in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivereth from death.

The “day of wrath” is the Judgment Day, when the holy justice of God makes everything square ours all to rights. In that day, wealth and riches will not do anybody any good. Money won’t last forever and it won’t buy a place in the eternal heaven with God. Seeking riches, or just desiring enough money to buy things, will do you no good in the end. It all goes “poof.” There is no profit in profit.

But there is a promise for the righteous: they will be delivered from death. All the money in the world won’t stave off death, and it will not keep us from the eternal death of wrath and punishment that our sins have deserved. Eternal death is a total separation from God and all that is good forever. From this kind of death God will deliver us with His righteousness. The physical death we are certain of becomes a transition from death to life, life that never ends, unconditional love, abounding joy, and abiding peace. “Father, deliver us from evil. Take us to yourself.” He will.

The righteousness that delivers from eternal death is the righteousness of God freely granted to those for whom Jesus died. Believers have received the “alien” gift of righteousness. That righteousness delivers from death, and we come through the “day of wrath” into the glorious riches of God’s Kingdom.