Wisdom and the Word: Proverbs 8:12-36
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Year of Prophecy – Episode 1: As we open another year of podcasting, we begin by looking at some parallels between wisdom, as poetically described by Solomon in the book of Proverbs, and Jesus, who came into this world sharing the Word of God.
Read the transcript:
As we begin our year focusing in on prophecies from the Old Testament that Jesus referenced or fulfilled while He was alive on earth, let’s start with a prophecy that focuses in on Jesus existing long before He was born. While some prophecies that we will cover this year are clear and very direct, others, such as this one, are a little more nuanced.
However, regardless of the directness of the prophecies that we cover this year, don’t be surprised when we uncover powerful insights that are relevant for our lives today.
For our first prophecy this year, let’s look at how Solomon poetically describes wisdom in the book of Proverbs, and see if we see any parallels with Jesus.
Our passage for this episode comes from Proverbs, chapter 8, and we will read it using the New American Standard Bible. Starting in verse 12, Solomon, writing from wisdom’s perspective, writes:
12 “I, wisdom, dwell with prudence,And I find knowledge and discretion.13 “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil;Pride and arrogance and the evil wayAnd the perverted mouth, I hate.14 “Counsel is mine and sound wisdom;I am understanding, power is mine.15 “By me kings reign,And rulers decree justice.16 “By me princes rule, and nobles,All who judge rightly.17 “I love those who love me;And those who diligently seek me will find me.18 “Riches and honor are with me,Enduring wealth and righteousness.19 “My fruit is better than gold, even pure gold,And my yield better than choicest silver.20 “I walk in the way of righteousness,In the midst of the paths of justice,21 To endow those who love me with wealth,That I may fill their treasuries.
22 “The Lord possessed me at the beginning of His way,Before His works of old.23 “From everlasting I was established,From the beginning, from the earliest times of the earth.24 “When there were no depths I was brought forth,When there were no springs abounding with water.25 “Before the mountains were settled,Before the hills I was brought forth;26 While He had not yet made the earth and the fields,Nor the first dust of the world.27 “When He established the heavens, I was there,When He inscribed a circle on the face of the deep,28 When He made firm the skies above,When the springs of the deep became fixed,29 When He set for the sea its boundarySo that the water would not transgress His command,When He marked out the foundations of the earth;30 Then I was beside Him, as a master workman;And I was daily His delight,Rejoicing always before Him,31 Rejoicing in the world, His earth,And having my delight in the sons of men.
32 “Now therefore, O sons, listen to me,For blessed are they who keep my ways.33 “Heed instruction and be wise,And do not neglect it.34 “Blessed is the man who listens to me,Watching daily at my gates,Waiting at my doorposts.35 “For he who finds me finds lifeAnd obtains favor from the Lord.36 “But he who sins against me injures himself;All those who hate me love death.”
In this proverb, Solomon draws our attention onto wisdom existing before the creation and the foundation of the world. Solomon describes how wisdom was involved in creation and how wisdom was with God when the earth was being formed.
Moving forward into Jesus’ ministry, and specifically into the gospel of John, we find Jesus draw attention to a very similar idea. In John, chapter 17, starting in verse 1, after Jesus had finished speaking to the crowd, John tells us:
1 Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, 2 even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life. 3 This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. 4 I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. 5 Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.
6 “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. 7 Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You; 8 for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me. 9 I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours; 10 and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them. 11 I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are. 12 While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.
In this prayer Jesus prayed, Jesus references the glory that He had with God prior to when the world began. Like wisdom in Solomon’s poetry, Jesus draws our attention onto His existence before the world began.
The parallels don’t stop there, because in both this proverb and prayer, we discover symbolism and significance in the idea of God’s word. John’s gospel even opens with the idea that God’s Word existed prior to the creation of this world, and that in a way that is challenging to understand fully, Jesus is God’s Word revealed to humanity. God makes His Word, His Will, and His Wisdom known to us through Jesus, and we can know what His character is like through how Jesus lived His life.
However, with Jesus’ ministry on earth seeming like so long ago, what can we take and apply into our lives today from this truth?
From the proverb we read, seeking wisdom is one of the most important things we can strive towards. Solomon describes wisdom as being aligned with prudence; as hating evil, pride, and arrogance; and as walking in the way of righteousness. Fear of God, which is one way of describing being respectful towards and in awe of God, is the first step towards acquiring God’s wisdom in your life.
From Jesus’ prayer, an amazing promise we can hold on to is that Jesus prayed for each of us that God the Father will keep us safe and preserved within the power of His holy name. While that doesn’t mean bad things will never come into our lives, it does mean that with whatever happens in this life, while we remain allied with Jesus and with God the Father, our eternity with God has been assured. God has enemies in the world today who are not happy with God’s people, but when we are allied with God, we know that with whatever happens in this life, we will outlive and outlast sin. When we are allied with God, we will exist past the end of sin, the end of death, and the end of the reign of evil.
While living for God in this sin-filled world is not easy or pleasant at times, God promises to send us help through His Holy Spirit and Jesus has promised through His prayer that God will keep His people safe for eternity.
As we come to the end of our first podcast this year, here are the challenges I will leave you with:
As I always open these challenges by saying, intentionally seek God first in your life and choose to ally and align your life with God, with Jesus, and with the wisdom that existed with God before the world began. If you feel as though you need more wisdom in your life, ask God to send you His Holy Spirit to help teach you His wisdom and how to apply it in your life today.
Also, as I regularly challenge you to do in each episode, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself, to learn and grow closer to God each and every day. Through personal prayer and study, don’t be surprised to discover that God will send His peace and His wisdom into your life in ways that may be hard to explain.
And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or fall away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!
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