“The LORD preserves all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy.” (Psalm 145:20 ESV)
Since the fall of mankind, God’s people have always faced the assaults of the wicked. The world, the flesh, and the devil continually distress and beset those whom the Lord has called out of the world and into his kingdom.
This often leaves believers confused and discouraged, wondering why the wicked prosper and the righteous suffer. Asaph wrestled with this exact question in the first half of Psalm 73 and concludes,
When I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end. Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin. How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors! (vv. 16-19)
When Asaph’s eyes were set on the present, he found no answer to his quandary. It was only by looking to the end of the story that he found peace.
Similarly, David affirms that there is a great divide between the destinies of “those who love [the LORD]” and “the wicked.” The former are preserved by the sovereign hand of God unto the day of eternity, while the latter await judgement. The “light momentary affliction” (2 Corinthians 4:17) of the believer will fade into eternal bliss, while the light momentary pleasure of the wicked will give way to eternal condemnation.
This is also a stark reminder that universalism is directly contrary to biblical doctrine. The Lord does not simply ignore sin, nor is the blood of Christ effectual for every human being. Sonship comes by faith (John 1:12), and those who reject Christ face destruction. The Lord is gracious and merciful and ready to receive even the vilest sinner who repents (John 6:37), but that grace and mercy comes at the expense of Christ’s substitutionary atonement (Galatians 3:13). The Lord hates not only the sin, but the sinner (Psalm 11:5), and that hatred is only removed when our sinful account is imputed to Christ, and his righteous account is imputed to us.
Though David wrote these words a millennium before the promised Messiah came, it is only through the work of that Messiah that David’s words are ultimately true.
The condition for the Lord’s preserving work in our lives is that we “love him,” and we only come to love him through the regenerating work of the Spirit, and the regenerating work of the Spirit is only applied to us because of what Christ accomplished on our behalf.
The Lord preserves us as surely as he accepted the sufficient sacrifice of his Son, and the Lord will destroy the wicked as surely as he poured out his wrath on his Son. While we may rest our hope on this verse as a stand-alone promise, the outworking of that promise is deeply rooted in the overall work of redemption planned by the Father, accomplished by the Son, and applied by the Spirit.
If we need assurance that this promise is true, look first to eternity past when the triune God covenanted to save the elect, and then look to the cross where Christ carried out the work of that covenant. In other words, when we need assurance of the Lord’s future preservation, we may draw confidence from his past promises and faithfulness. As theologian Geerhardus Vos said, “The best proof that God will never cease to love us lies in that He never began.”
If you are struggling with doubt or lack of assurance of your salvation, don’t look for the remedy in the pages of a spiritualized self-help book that tells you how great you are. Rather, look for it in the eternal love of God for all who trust in Christ. The God whose love for you has no beginning will not fail to preserve you to the end. We who belong to Christ can be confident that he will “lose nothing of all that [the Father] has given [him]” (John 6:39).
When the Westminster Divines considered the question, “How doth Christ execute the office of a king?” they answered it in this way:
Christ executeth the office of a king, in subduing us to Himself, in ruling and defending us, and in restraining and conquering all His and our enemies.
Both elements of Psalm 145:20 can be found in these words. As king, Christ defends those who are his and restrains and conquers all of his—and our—enemies.
As surely as Christ fulfills his office as king, we know that “The LORD preserves all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy.”
Prayer:
Heavenly Father,
You have promised to preserve all your elect. In the face of suffering, confusion, and discouragement, may that truth bolster our faith and point us to Christ. Thank you that you have poured out your just wrath on Christ, that we may be saved from the eternal destruction that awaits the wicked.
In your Son’s name, amen.
Prayer Requests:
- Tuesday: Pray for missionaries serving with the Center for Youth Ministry in Ukraine.
- Wednesday: Pray for the Impacto Bíblico church in Santa Marta, Colombia and the missionaries who serve there.
- Thursday: Pray for missionaries serving in local church ministry in South Africa.
- Friday: Pray for single women serving on the mission field.
- Saturday: Pray for missionaries serving North American churches.
- Sunday: Pray for missionaries on furlough from the field.
- Monday: Pray for wisdom and patience for missionaries parenting young children.
