“The Righteous One takes note of the

              house of the wicked

     and brings the wicked to ruin.”

 

At the outset of our dive into the depths of this proverb, we sat for a spell in the heritage and traditional teaching of the ‘Righteous One’.  No, I didn’t give an exhaustive account filled with Old Testament Scriptures, no, but I said as a culture, their expectation was of a deliverer who will ‘make things right’.  Return Israel to its political position of favor, not conquered, oppressed, and scattered.  The focus was still on an earthly kingdom.  A Righteous One who will restore God’s justice by destroying the wicked, or as the proverb states, “brings the wicked to ruin.”  Here we see the ‘plan’ explained of the expectation, the ‘hope’, of a people lost from their position.  He would “take note,”  “bring to ruin”, and return to Wisdom’s house its preeminence among the houses.

 

When I asked my kids, “Where is Jesus?  How did He fulfill this one?”  The bottom dropped out beneath us and we were cast into the mysteries of Christ.  “Surely He is the Righteous One, Dad.  That’s easy!” my kids declared.  “Yes, He is.  I agree.  But look closer, and stop calling me Surely.  When we read of Jesus and His mission, did He take note like Santa and keep a list?  Did He bring the wicked to ruin?”  This was the ‘true’ depth of the wisdom of God.  Here we witnessed the fulfillment of His plan, the Kingdom of God.  The writer of Proverbs only saw in part, as we do, but not the whole.  

 

Jesus was and is ‘the Righteous One’ so that part is fulfilled, but what did He ruin?  He ruined the entire matrix of the houses!  We’ve already seen how Jesus ‘stole’ from the Imposter’s House to fill His roster of disciples.  And we witnessed how quickly and immediately the process of becoming a new creation took as Jesus’ neighbor on the cross found mercy.  

 

Jesus is the Wisdom of God fulfilled.  The veil was torn, that separation paid for in His death, the hope of a new creation raised in His resurrection.  Jesus brought ruin to the House of the Wicked not by their blood, but by His.  The old way was made new.  Now we are brought in beyond our ability to obey.  We get His righteousness and our salvation brought ruin to everything.

 

Merry Christmas!  He is born!