Although I had read the verse well over a hundred times, I had always missed itis relevance for today and in particular, our anticipation of Jesus’ imminent appearing. Perhaps it was because the words don’t directly relate to Bible prophecy that I overlooked their relevance to it.
However, as the new year dawned, I saw in the verse below an understanding of why so many people today cling to their hope of a return to normality rather than what Jesus says about their only sure hope for the perilous days in which we live.
For the simple are killed by their turning away,
and the complacency of fools destroys them. (Proverbs 1:32, emphasis added)
It was the word “complacency” that leaped from the page on January 1. The Hebrew word is shalvah, which also denotes a sense of ease and prosperity. The online Merriam-Webster dictionary defines complacency word as “self-satisfaction especially when accompanied by unawareness of actual dangers or deficiencies.”
It’s understandable why many English versions of the Bible translate shalvah in Proverbs 1:32 as “complacency;” its definition fits perfectly with the Hebrew word’s connotation of self-absorption that leads to a dismissal of dangers until it is too late.
Today’s Church
Unfortunately, today’s prosperity leads many to a state of complacency regarding the Lord’s return, one that causes them to ignore the multitude of signs pointing to the rapidly approaching start of the Tribulation. Like the church in Laodicea, arrogant “self-satisfaction” is prevalent among many gatherings of the faithful, particularly in America.
False teaching and/or quietness form the pulpit directs most church attenders away from the awareness that we live in the last days of human history as we know it. Their shepherds fail to teach them how to discern the times in which we live. Their messages might contain fleeting mentions of eternal life, but there’s no meaningful teaching about what it means for New Testament saints. Teachings about the believers’ resurrection and receipt of an immortal body have become relics of the past in most churches that claim to be “Bible-believing.”
The resulting complacency among many of today’s church-goers doesn’t mean that those who are truly born again will lose their salvation, no, not at all. But why should believers continue with such an earth-based outlook on life, shalvah, which for those outside of Christ will result in ruin? Why should they plan for their future with no consideration that the Lord might intervene in the weeks, months, or years that lie ahead? Is that not what the world does?
The World
Those who spurn the words of Scripture scoff at any warning concerning God’s judgment of sin in real time. Not only is the idea of Jesus’ return laughable to them, but they also readily reject any notion of the Lords intervention in the affairs of mankind, now or any time in the future.
Peter A. Steveson, in A Commentary on Proverbs, put it this way in his insights into Proverbs 1:32:
Filled with the carelessness of self-confidence, these fools show no concern over divine judgment.
We see this same worldly recklessness in the words of Ezekiel as he used the word shalvah to describe the people of Sodom before they experienced the Lord’s sudden destruction (compare 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3).
Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. (Ezekiel 16:49, emphasis added)
The problem with such self-satisfaction, or “prosperous ease,” is not with what one possesses, but rather with the fact it breeds complacency regarding the warnings of God’s Word along with a failure to recognize that the Lord’s promise of eternal life is vastly superior to anything the world offers.
Those Who Listen
I know the majority of my readers fall into the category described in Proverbs 1:33:
But whoever listens to me will dwell secure
and will be at ease, without dread of disaster.
Those who hope in Jesus’ imminent appearing possess an unexplainable peace amid all the unwelcome news that continually comes our way. We pray for the Lord to keep resisting the wickedness and violence of our day, but at the same time, we rest in the confidence that Jesus is coming for us before the terrors of the Day of the Lord suddenly strike the earth.
Is it too much of a leap to say that the wise believers of our day discern the times in which we live and thus recognize the imminency of Jesus’ appearing? Please note the reassuring words that the Lord gave to Daniel, and to us, regarding the end times:
Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand. (Daniel 12:10, KJV)
In today’s world, it’s the discerning saints who avoid the complacency that characterizes many Christians. Those who are truly born again will enjoy the many glories of eternity, but they will miss out on the crown that the Lord, through Paul, promises to all those who love Jesus’ appearing (2 Timothy 4:8).
If you look for and long for the Rapture, thank the Lord for the insight He has given you into Scripture. In 1 Corinthians 1:18-31, Paul contrasts the wisdom of God with that of the world and ends with these words:
And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
We must always give the Lord all the credit for who we are in Him as well as for our understanding of what the Bible says about our “blessed hope.” I know many sincere New Testament saints remain complacent regarding the signs of the times and Jesus’ imminent appearing. I don’t fully understand why this is the case or why it’s so clear to us and not to them.
What I do know is this: if there ever was a time for complacency in the body of Christ, this most assuredly is not it.
My book, The Triumph of the Redeemed-An eternal Perspective that Calms Our Fears in Perilous Times, is available on Amazon. In it, I lay a firm biblical foundation for our hope in Jesus’ soon appearing to take us home and explain why it must happen before the start of the seven-year Tribulation, Daniel’s seventieth week.
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