Isaiah 32:5-8 – True Character Shown
The scoundrel is mentioned in verses 5 and 7. What are they like? Often we think of a scoundrel as someone who is rather dishonest. But in the Scripture it’s stronger still. People think of him as bountiful, even though he is only interested in himself and in taking all to himself. And he does things in a sneaky way. He devises wicked plans. His plans are not to do good to people, though if he’s very clever about it, he will make his plans look as though they will do good to others. His plans are to destroy the poor with lying words. Things will come to an end for both him and the fool. Things come to an end because the King is ruling in Zion. He destroys the fool and the scoundrel.
Verse 8 describes the truly noble man as generous. He gives. That’s what a generous person does. He gives. First of all, by God’s grace, he has given his heart to Jehovah. God has graciously come and taken out that old, dead, cold, stony heart that Ezekiel speaks of in Ezekiel 11 and 36, and replaced it with that which is warm, living, and godly. The new heart, the new life in Jesus Christ always immediately gives itself to God. So the first thing that the truly noble man, remade by God’s grace, does is that he gives his all to God’s service. He plans out not wicked schemes, not foolish, stupid things. He plans out, according to God’s Word, what shall be done to glorify God and to benefit His people, and, in fact, to benefit all sorts of people. Then he goes out and works his plan. The process here is that the godly man, by God’s grace, knows Jesus, consecrates himself to Jesus’ plans, to God’s glory, works that plan with an eye to God’s glory, trusting in His promises, expecting His blessing. Then God does just that. The King makes sure that just as the fool is shown to be what he really is, and the scoundrel is shown to be what he really is, the godly man is shown not to be a pest to mankind, not some superstitious fool, but is shown to be what he really is, too, a glory to God, a blessing to mankind. This ought to be a huge encouragement to you who are in Jesus Christ.
Questions
- What is a scoundrel?
- Why should a godly man be generous?
Prayer Points
- Pray that we would give our all to the Lord.
- Use prayer points from your congregation.
- Pray for family matters.