Jesus Healed The Man Let Down Through The Roof Mark 2:1-12

After the shock of a man being lowered through the ceiling, every eye was on Jesus, the man the sick man was trying to get to, waiting to see what He would do. He spoke of the only thing that matters: Faith! Verse 4 says that Jesus “saw their faith.” (Oh, that we all had a faith that could be seen!) Because of this show of faith Jesus granted forgiveness immediately. 

The forgiveness that comes by faith is the thing we need above all else. Of all our problems spiritual ones are the most important and should be taken care of first. This is what the gospel is about. Not self-help, therapy, counseling, etc. but salvation. From the beginning of the gospel we are told of Jesus’ priority: “She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21). Sadly, all through theministry of Jesus, the scribes complained about how Jesus was forgiving sins, rather than celebrating that people were being forgiven. 

Jesus did also heal the man of his physical problems. This was necessary, but it was secondary. Jesus healed the man to prove that He had to power to forgive sins. The visible (healing) was the proof that the invisible (forgiveness) had actually happened. Isn’t that true today as well? How do we know one is saved today except that they act like it? The gospel solves so many of our personal and social problems, but that’s a secondary effect of it, not its purpose. The secondary benefits of the gospel are undeniable, but that is not its purpose. Forgiveness and salvation are the point and purpose.

The Hand Of God Was With Ezra

In Ezra 7 & 8, Ezra successfully a led great caravan of thousands of returnees and a vast treasure given by the king for the temple at Jerusalem on a dangerous four month journey across a wilderness to go home. He credited God for the achievement. He attributed God being with him to his conscious decision to know, follow and teach God’s law.  As he explained:

Ezra 7:9,10“For on the first of the first month he began to go up from Babylon; and on the first of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, because the good hand of his God was upon him.

10For Ezra had set [prepared – KJV, NKJV] his heart to study the law of the LORD, and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel.”

The safe passage of the caravan was far from the only success Ezra had. He was successful in accomplishing great and lasting things in every incident recorded of him, and in other tasks where his name is not directly mentioned. He always attributed his success to God, repeatedly saying that it was “because the good hand of his God was upon him.”  (Ezra 7:9,28, 8:18,22)

Ezra understood the basic principle that success and victory belong to the Lord. As the wisdom writer said, “The horse is prepared for the day of battle, But victory belongs to the LORD” (Prov. 21:31; Ref. 2 Sam. 23:10,12; 1 Chron. 29:11; 2 Kings 5:1; Ps 98:1).  God gives victory and success to those who are with Him.

Overtaken By God’s Word Zech. 1:6

Zechariah told those who returned from exile, “The LORD was very angry with your fathers.” (Zech. 1:2)  This was obvious in the ruined city and destroyed Temple. “Therefore say to them, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Return to Me," declares the LORD of hosts, "that I may return to you," says the LORD of hosts. Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets proclaimed, saying, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Return now from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.’”  But they did not listen or give heed to Me," declares the LORD.” (vs. 3,4) They had been told and told, yet they never did. They received the wrath of God instead of His welcome because they would not repent.  

Men think that there is “time, time enough yet.” But the longer we postpone repentance the more difficult it becomes, and finally we are out of time.  “Your fathers, where are they?  And the prophets, do they live forever?” (vs. 5)  Their fathers were gone, perished by the sword or gone to captivity. Also gone were great men like Jeremiah who had preached to them. 

The father’s time to repent and change was gone.  But God’s word still remained.  “But did not My words and My statutes, which I commanded My servants the prophets, overtake your fathers?  Then they repented and said, 'As the LORD of hosts purposed to do to us in accordance with our ways and our deeds, so He has dealt with us.” (vs. 6)  God told them what He would do then did it.  Later, when they repented, they acknowledged that it was just. There aretwo great truths in this verse: 1.) God’s word overtakes all men and 2.) God does as He purposed (and predicted) with sinful men.

We Remember The Ones Who Are Different: Daniel 1-3

The early chapter of the book of Daniel tell what happened when four of the Hebrews captured and exiled by Nebuchadnezzer are sent to Babylon. We don’t know how many other youths from the noble and priestly parts of Israel’s society were taken captive, but since 2 Kings 24:14 says 10,000 captives in all were taken, it must have a large number.

How many of them do we know about? Four. Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego. 

We know of them as youths at the special royal academy that Nebuchadnezzer had set up to train young men from all over the empire in service to his empire. When these four alone made it a point to keep the restrictionsthat the Law of Moses gave for eating foods. And we know of three of the four years later, when as Imperial officials, they alone would not worship the idol that Nebuchadnezzer had set up.

Had Daniel and his friends eaten pagan food there would have been nothing left to distinguish them from the rest. Had they bowed down to worship the idol, they would have just been part of the crowd. 

Modern thought says to go along, accommodate and convert by overtime by coexisting. But God wants us to be different in regard to the things that He commanded. This is not odd for the sake of being odd, but different in the things that God has decided. (Rf. 2 Cor. 6:17,18

Settled On Their Lees Zeph. 1:12

Zephaniah 1:7-11 describes the judgments that were going to come on the city of Jerusalem. Vs. 12 tells reason for its judgment.  

Zeph. 1:12 “And it will come about at that time That I will search Jerusalem with lamps, And I will punish the men Who are stagnant in spirit [that are settled on their lees - KJV], Who say in their hearts, 'The LORD will not do good or evil!'” 

They were in such a poor spiritual condition because they were “men that are settled on their lees” (in the King James and American Standard Versions).  The New Revised Standard Version updates the figure, giving it as “people who rest complacently on their dregs.” 

Pictured here is undisturbed wine. The dregs (lees) have precipitated out, and have not been disturbed for a very long time. When bottles of wine are not rotated in their racks or casks of wine that are not turned, the wine becomes thick and it’s flavor is unchanged.  For a cask of wine to sit for so long undisturbed implies prosperity and affluence. As a result, good wine becomes great and bad wine becomes worse.  

Some of the newer translations simply give the meaning of Zephaniah’s figure of speech. The New American Standard speaks of the people being “stagnant in spirit” and the New King James says that they “are settled in complacency.” Speaking either literally or figuratively, it is obvious that the conscience of these people has not been exercised for a long time.  They are wicked men long set in evil who forgot that God will examine everything. 

Destruction By False Prophets Lam. 2:14

In the second Lamentation of Jeremiah we find him in inconsolable anguish.  Jerusalem was under siege and the suffering of the people, for least to greatest, was profound.  Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, could hardly cry enough for the suffering of the people. The great city was being destroyed. Even the littlest children in the streets and at their mothers’ breasts were dying for lack of food.  Jeremiah cried for these helpless and innocent of victims of the great destruction. How did it come to this?  

14Your prophets have seen for you false and foolish visions; 

And they have not exposed your iniquity So as to restore you from captivity, 

But they have seen for you false and misleading oracles.

Most of the prophets of Jeremiah’s time (Jeremiah himself being almost a singular exception) refused to do their job. They would not expose sin.  This is the only work that would have saved the people from calamity, but they refused to live up to the demands of their profession. The Lord said, “[T]he prophets...prophesy falsely in My name...Is there anything in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy falsehood, even these prophets of the deception of their own heart?” (Jer. 23:25,26) And again, “Behold, I am against the prophets... [who] led My people astray by their falsehoods and reckless boasting; yet I did not send them or command them, nor do they furnish this people the slightest benefit,’ declares the LORD.” (Jer. 23:31,32)

So James warned, “Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we shall incur a stricter judgment.” (James 3:1)

Are You Living Up To The Vision?

Many of the Old Testament prophecies concerning the church are of the “all is right with the world” variety. Prophecies of “lions laying with lambs,” “the exile is set free” and “the sun will not beat down on them” are familiar and common.  

Zephaniah adds to this a wonderful vision describing the repentant and converted under the new system. The prophet does not see the establishment of a physical, conquering kingdom, as so many mistakenly read many prophecies. But He sees a grand vision of pure, moral and spiritually minded saints.

READ ZEPHANIAH 3:9-12 and see the what he saw as coming:

“Purified Lips” (vs. 9)  

“Serve Him Shoulder To Shoulder” (vs. 9) 

“Feel No Shame Because of Your Deeds” (vs. 11) 

“Never Again Be Haughty” (vs. 11) 

“They Will Take Refuge In The Name Of The Lord” (vs. 12) 

“Do No Wrong, Tell No Lies” (vs. 13)  

Result: “Secure and Well Pastured” (vs. 13) 

Does this wonderful vision describe you and the Christians you know? If not, why not? It is a predictive prophecy; does prophecy fail? Or are we failing prophecy? Are we really, fully living up to our calling?

Running From God Jer. 52:1-11

The end of the earthly reign of the house of David came when Jerusalem fellto Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C. The last descendant of David to rule as a king of a physical nation was Zedekiah. They fell because fellowship with God was lost. “For through the anger of the LORD this came about in Jerusalem and Judah until He cast them out from His presence.” (Jer. 52:3) 

As the Babylonian army closed in, he cut and ran.  “A]l the men of war fled and went forth from the city at night by way of the gate between the two walls which was by the king's garden...” (Jer. 52:7)  Ezekiel prophesied their escapee and their capture. “The prince who is among them will load his baggage on his shoulder in the dark and go out. They will dig a hole through the wall… I shall also spread My net over him, and he will be caught in My snare." (Ezk. 12:12,13) Jeremiah records, “The Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho…his army was scattered from him…they captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon.” (Jer. 52:8,9)  

His sons were killed before his eyes. And so that this calamity would be the last thing he ever saw, Nebuchadnezzar “blinded the eyes of Zedekiah.”  Then he “bound him with bronze fetters and brought him to Babylon, and put him in prison until the day of his death.” (Jer. 52:10, 11)

The rebellious life always ends disastrously. You can no more run from God’s punishment than Jonah could run from His presence – yet many try. Men try to sow the wind without reaping the whirlwind.  They try to sow to the flesh and not reap corruption. They keep on trying to live a life of sin without going to hell. None will succeed. Zedekiah couldn’t run that fast. I can’t run that fast. You can’t run that fast.

Ps. 80:8-13 A Parable Of A Vineyard, A Confession

This parable is a confession of the goodness of God and the sins of His people. Israel was like a vine. God drove out seven wicked nations to plant it.  The ground was prepared, and it was easy for it to grow. The vine grew to cover great trees and mountains. It grew from the sea to the river – the geographic area of the height of the united kingdom. This is reminiscent of the prophecy made to Jacob, “Joseph is a fruitful bough, A fruitful bough by a spring; Its branches run over a wall.” (Gen. 49:22)

But now the vine has lost its protection, the hedges that protected it have been broken down. Passers-by take its fruit and wild animals eat at its base.  This is same message as the prophets preached. The good vine God made corrupted itself and had to be pruned, and later removed. “Yet I planted you a choice vine, A completely faithful seed.  How then have you turned yourself before Me Into the degenerate shoots of a foreign vine?” (Jer. 2:21) “Your mother was like a vine in your vineyard, Planted by the waters; It was fruitful and full of branches Because of abundant waters… But it was plucked up in fury; It was cast down to the ground…” (Ezek. 19:10-14)

So the next section of this psalm (vss. 14-19) is aprayer for restoration. The nation God planted, but has now chastised, would be received back. Vs. 17 could first refer to the priests that their prayers might be heard again, to the king as God’s anointed, or even to the nation of Israel as the son of God.  But it is hard not to see this applying also to the Messiah, the ultimate “man of God’s right hand.”  That is when the full restoration came.

“Fired Up” Hos. 7:4-8

Hosea described those zealous for evil.  Their hearts were very passionate toward their idolatries.  They are as heated up and excited about these things as can be.  They are compared to bread in a baker’s oven.  They are burning to be involved. But what are they involved in? Anger, plotting, and consuming desires that destroy.    

Hosea’s indictment:  1.)  The used artificial devices to keep their passions up. (vs. 5)  Hosea speaks of those who fire themselves up with wine.  

2.)  They consumed others in their excited state. (vs. 7)  Here were people that plotted against, mulled over, and then burst out like flames against their rulers. They nursed their grudges until their anger overcame their fear of acting (vs. 6).  Its a dangerous thing to be to hot for too long. Paul said, “let not the sun go down upon your wrath,” (Eph. 4:26). The wrath of these never stopped. 

3.)  They ended up half baked. (vs. 8)  They were “a cake not turned.”  They were raw on one side and burned on the other.  There is a time and place for all parts of life (Eccl. 3). There is both weeping and rejoicing, joy and gladness, and repentance and lamenting.  The sinful life is an extremely unbalanced life.

In vs. 7 God lamented,  “None of them calls on Me.”  Those who get to fired up about their own feelings and desires and wants don’t care to much about God.  You can put God first, or you can put yourself first.  You can fire up your faith or your lusts.  It all depends on where you put your emphasis.

Hypocrites in Your Hearts

“Hypocrites in Your Hearts” is how the NKJV translates Jeremiah’s charge against the people in Jer. 42:20. The KJV says that they were “dissembling in your hearts.” The NASB says that they had “deceived yourselves,” and the ASV says that they were acting “deceitfully against your own souls” Additionally, the NIV calls it a “fatal mistake.” All of these carry the idea of a people who are lying hypocrites - not just in their dealings with others and God - but even with themselves.  What occasion brought such a charge?  

It was aimed at the remnant of God’s people who had come to ask Jeremiah to pray for them in a time of great difficulty. They had a perfectly worded expression of devotion to do whatever God revealed. “...Please let our petition come before you, and pray for us to the LORD your God, that is for all this remnant; because we are left but a few out of many, as your own eyes now see us, that the LORD your God may tell us the way in which we should walk and the thing that we should do.” (Jer. 42:2,3)  Should they stay or should they go? They submissively replied, “We’ll do what God says!” 

The problem they had already made up their mind as not only what they wanted to do, but had actually begun to do it. Before they ever thought to seek the Lord’s counsel they had already started heading to Egypt! “And they went and stayed in Geruth Chimham, which is beside Bethlehem, in order to proceed into Egypt.” (Jer. 41:17)

This attitude (of doing first and asking God later) is wicked, open, knowledgeable, purposeful, rebellion to God. They only pretend to consider God’s will. Only pray after they’ve already decided.

The Everlasting Father Of Isaiah 9:6

Isa. 9:6,7  “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given;

    and the government shall be upon his shoulder,

        and his name shall be called

    Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

        Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

    Of the increase of his government and of peace

        there will be no end,

    on the throne of David and over his kingdom,

        to establish it and to uphold it

    with justice and with righteousness

        from this time forth and forevermore.

    The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.”

We often think of Jesus as a son to the Father and as a brother to us, and these are His primary relationships. But these are not the only relationships that Jesus has with us. He is our Lord (1 Pet. 1:3), our priest (Heb. 7:26), our mediator (1 Tim. 2:5), a mediator (Heb. 9:15), an advocate (1 Jn. 2:1), and many other things to us. In Isaiah 9, He is also the “Everlasting Father.” We with absolute certainty that Jesus is the subject of this prophecy since He is the one who sits on the throne of David in the kingdom of God.

While a son to the Heavenly Father, He is a father to us. Jesus. A fatherever there, ever living, ever hearing, ever helping, every meditating, every lasting.

A Wonderful Story Of God’s People Doing As They Should 2 Chron. 20

In the days of Jehoshaphat, Judah was throated by a great horde of three countries from the east combining to invade. Jehoshaphat was afraid. Fear in similar situations has caused many godly people to do evil.  His father Asa turned to a foreign alliance when he faced less of a threat that this. (2 Chron. 16)  But Jehoshaphat sought the Lord. (16 times “seek, seeking or sought the LORD (Jehovah)” appears in 1 & 2 Chron.) He called the people of Judah to fast as they sought the Lord. They assembled in the Temple courtyard and the king led in prayer.

Jehoshaphat’s prayer acknowledged the sovereignty of God, His help in making them a nation, and that trouble should not come upon God’s people so long as they humbled themselves before God. So in faith, they asked for God’s help. A prophet stood up and said that God would fight their enemies for them. They were to go out as to battle on a mountain overlooking a plain and wait there to see the victory of the Lord. The people bowed in worship and loudly praised God.  

Led the priests and singers, they went out where God had told them. They watched as the combined armies broke into its separate parts and fought one another to the point of total annihilation.  

The victory for God’s people was so complete that all they had to do was go down and take the spoils of war.  It took three days to carry all of it off.  On the fourth day, they had a great service of thanks to God. Faith and trust worked a greater victory than the army of Judah could have,

Destroyed By The Old Prophet

1 Kings 13 contains a story of great grief. It tells of an unnamed “man of God,” a prophet from Judah, who acted with courage and boldness in carrying God’s message to the sinful, but who was destroyed by the deception of an older prophet, a man whom he thought he could trust. 

The first part of the story records the work and fidelity of a prophet from Judah sent north.  At God’s command, he went to the very alter of false religion and spoke God’s judgment against it and the king leading the sacrifices during their very first worship service.  

But in the second part, we are told that there was another prophet, an old man, whose sons were at that worship service and saw the courageous young man. The old man and his sons didn’t speak out against the evil in their midst, but they did want to visit with the man who had the courage to do so. So they lied to him and said that God said he should stay and eat with them when He clearly had not. The young man fell for the old man’s deception and was destroyed for disobeying God’s clear instruction.

The old man mourned greatly at the destruction of the young that he himself had brought. Had he destroyed a man just because of his curiosity and desire to meet him? We don’t know. But he honored him in death who he had destroyed in life. Not that helped the young man who had been destroyed.

Ps. 148 Let All Creation Praise Him

We do not know the background or authorship of the psalm.  It is a song of pure, exalted praise.  The only instruction is that all His creation, a number of parts of which are detailed, are told to praise God.  

This psalm is all about giving praise to God. Starting from the top down, let everything in Heaven praise Him (vss. 1-6), then in a long list of things on earth, concluding with young and old, men and women alike are to praise God. (vss. 7-12). 

All of the things detailed in the Psalm, from highest to lowest are made by Him. The heavens, the angels, the clouds, the snow, the wind, the mountains and hills, the treats, the beasts, all cattle and all kings and all people, old young, great and small are made by God.  It is only right that they all praise their creator. 

13     Let them praise the name of the LORD, 

    For His name alone is exalted; His glory is above earth and heaven.

14     And He has lifted up a horn for His people, 

    Praise for all His godly ones; 

    Even for the sons of Israel, a people near to Him. 

    Praise the LORD!

The angels and inanimate objects of creation praise Him. Sadly, we often fail to as we should.

Ps. 136: “The Lovingkindness Is Everlasting”

1     Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; 

    For His lovingkindness is everlasting.

2     Give thanks to the God of gods, 

    For His lovingkindness is everlasting.

3     Give thanks to the Lord of lords, 

    For His lovingkindness is everlasting.

Following a call to praise (vss. 1-3), Ps. 136 gives us 22 reasons to offer thanksgiving to God. This is one of the great history lesson psalms, but the notable the refrying “For His lovingkindness is everlasting.”

This is also variously translated as:

His love is eternal (HCSB)

His lovingkindness is everlasting. (NASB)

His steadfast love endures forever. (ESV)

His faithful love endures forever (NLT)

His mercy endureth for ever (KJV)

Repeated often, it is not a throw away line. It is the very heart of the psalm. We often tend to gloss over something repeated so much since we’ve already read it and its coming is predictable being every other line. 

Charles Spurgeon said, “We shall have this repeated in every verse of this song, but not once too often.  It is the sweetest stanza that man can sing. What joy that there is mercy, mercy with Jehovah, enduring mercy, mercy enduring for ever. We are ever needing it, trying it, praying for it, receiving it: therefore let us for ever sing of it.”  (Treasury of David, Ps. 136, vs. 1)

Psalm 94 Accepting God’s Discipline

12     Blessed is the man whom Thou dost chasten, 

    O LORD, And dost teach out of Thy law;

13     That Thou mayest grant him relief from the days of adversity, 

    Until a pit is dug for the wicked.

14     For the LORD will not abandon His people, 

    Nor will He forsake His inheritance.

15     For judgment will again be righteous; 

    And all the upright in heart will follow it.

This psalmist takes the same view of Godly discipline as the Hebrew writer. The chastened one is not hated, but he is loved and corrected so that he better follows God’s law.  This is the one who is cared for and protected. 

Heb. 12:5“and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, “MY SON, DO NOT REGARD LIGHTLY THE DISCIPLINE OF THE LORD, NOR FAINT WHEN YOU ARE REPROVED BY HIM;

6FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES, AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES.”

7It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?”

It is the unchastened who are unloved (in the peculiar sense of loved as children, since are are under the love of God generally for all mankind, Jn. 3:16), and who uncorrected go to destruction.

Psalm 5 Refuge Found In Worship And Prayer

In the fifth Psalm we find David again beset by many enemies. We often have the false notion that if we strive to be good and do what is right that most people will like us, or that at a minimum we will mostly be left alone.  But David’s experience does not bear this out. Certainly he was opposed because he was the king and all who have power will have opposition. But his troubles were more than simply political opposition. 

As the “anointed of God,” (2 Sam. 23:1) he was a constant public example and the living embodiment of service to God.  He was fiercely opposed for being a light in a dark world. Many have lost their faith because of this type of continual antagonism. Others have fallen into the temptation to sink to the ungodly tactics of their opponents once hostilities have begun.  But David shows the true way - reliance on God through prayer. 

David knew that these blessings were not for him alone. All who have the same faith can take refuge, be glad, sing for joy, find shelter and exalt in the Lord. Where did David find Him? In prayer and in worship. Love and fidelity to the great Creator are the right response when we consider His love toward us. But we are influenced daily by the evil world that surrounds us so that we don’t realize that the Invisible God is also present. The difference between David and his enemies – between the faithful and the unfaithful – came down to one walking by faith and the other walking by sight according the course of this world.  

How do you walk? Or maybe we should rather ask, how do you worship?And how do you pray?

Psalm 3 I Cried, He Answered

Christian have the monumental admonition to “pray without ceasing.”  Over a thousand years before this, under the lesser light of revelation of the Old Testament, there was a man who lived the same teaching, King David.

3:1    O LORD, how my adversaries have increased! 

    Many are rising up against me.

2     Many are saying of my soul, 

    "There is no deliverance for him in God." Selah.

3     But Thou, O LORD, art a shield about me, 

    My glory, and the One who lifts my head.

4    I was crying to the LORD with my voice, 

    And He answered me from His holy mountain. Selah.

David was surrounded by an ever increasing number of enemies. They mock, they ridicule, and the specifically attack him for his faith in God. God is still the shield, glory, and power of David. These attacks did not drive David from God, but closer to Him.

David was not disappointed in his hope in God, but He was answered and could go in peace because of it. Selah — stop and think about God answering prayer. 

God is approachable in prayer. He answers prayer, He delivers the oppressed. Thus, as Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.”  (Jn. 14:27)

Ps. 1 How To Begin A Godly Life

As the psalms begins we are told that there are two types of men: 1.) those who delight in the law of the Lord and 2.) the ungodly.  

Notice that the godly man is describe in 3 way.  FIRST - What he does not do: He doesn’t walk, stand or sit with the ungodly, the sinners or the scornful. These corrupt good morals rather than promote them.  

SECOND - In order to build good qualities the godly man is described as delighting in and meditating on God’s law. He does this day and night.

THIRD - This man is secure and fruitful. The tree planted be the water never lacks for sustenance and has shelter. In much of Palestine (like the western parts of this country) the land is arid and rough. But down by the streams and water courses there are massive stands of trees. This is where the biggest and most fruitful trees are because of the abundance of water, and since water runs to low places, the trees down in the river bottoms are sheltered from the wind. So in the deserts of life, the godly man is a massive, well watered and sheltered tree. Truly he will “prosper in whatever he does.”

But what of the ungodly man, the sinner? He has no stability or fruitfulness at all. He is chaff - the dry, useless husk driven by the parching winds. He cannot last, the cannot stand. He cannot have his works judged, for then nothing would be left.  

So one will stand mightily, another fall completely.