This is Spoken Gospel.

We are dedicated to seeing
Jesus in all of scripture.

In each episode, we see what’s
happening in a Biblical text

and how it sheds light
on Jesus and His Gospel.

Let’s jump in.

Proverbs is a book of wisdom.

It’s about how the world works, how to avoid
its evils, and how to experience God’s blessing.

In the opening verses Solomon tells
us the two purposes of his book:

the audience he’s writing to
and the heart of true wisdom.

Proverb’s first purpose is to make us recognize
and understand wisdom when we hear it.

Its second purpose is
to teach us what is wise.

The audience for Solomon’s
message is everyone,

but it’s particularly written
to young and immature people.

In fact, much of the book is framed as a
series of lectures given by a father to his son.

“Wisdom” in Scripture is
defined a few different ways.

Wisdom can be technical mastery--like the
kind exercised by the tailor who made the

priest’s clothes and the metal worker who
carved the decorations for the tabernacle.

Wisdom can also be the
ability to mete out just verdicts,

as Solomon did when he intervened
in a maternal custody battle.

Wisdom is even the
ability to lead a nation.

In a broader sense, wisdom is understanding how life
(or people, nations, or objects) work and then
using that knowledge to respond appropriately,
justly, or skillfully.

That is why Solomon’s first piece
of wisdom is not a wise saying;

it’s a statement about the nature
of the heart of true wisdom.

Solomon says, “The fear of the Lord is
the beginning of wisdom and knowledge”.

If wisdom is both understanding and responding
to the way the world works, you cannot be

truly wise without understanding and responding to the
one who created the world and designed how it works.

True wisdom must take into account the Creator and the
wisdom he used to form the world and its people.

Solomon warns that anyone who rejects
the wisdom built into this world is a fool.

Fools can expect death.

Being a fool carries steep consequences
because of its rejection of God.

The pursuit or rejection of wisdom is a moral
choice between good and evil.

The book of Proverbs invites us to choose
wisdom, gain understanding, and order our

lives in accordance with the Creator of life
by humbly accepting and fearing the Lord.

God made the world with perfect wisdom.

The Apostle John clarifies by saying that Jesus created
the world, and everything was made by His hand.

And the Apostle Paul says that in Christ “are
hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge”.

But the wisdom of God is not primarily seen in Jesus’ ability
to create the world. More so, it is seen in Jesus’
death and resurrection.

The Apostle Paul says, “we preach Christ crucified …
the power of God and the wisdom of God”.

The world works according to the dual principles
of God’s creative power and Jesus’ sacrificial death.

For many, the idea of obeying or fearing a
Creator God is foolishness; for others the

idea of a God who died and
rose from the dead is bizarre.

But to Christians, God is our fundamental reality;
resurrection is the organizing principle of our world.

We observe that in the way nature works.

Seeds must be buried and die
before the harvest is collected.

The Apostle Paul points out that the wisdom applied
to created seeds should also apply to our created bodies.

If seeds can be raised from the dead
by God’s wisdom, so can we!

Jesus’ death and resurrection should, in one way, be
expected as you look at the wise way the world works.

While death and foolishness follow all those
who reject the wisdom of Jesus, those who

fear the Lord are guaranteed
resurrection life and wisdom.

If you want resurrection
life, choose wisdom.

Choose Jesus.

May the Holy Spirit open your eyes to see
the God who orders the world with wisdom.

And may you see Jesus’ death and resurrection as the
place where God’s wisdom is demonstrated most clearly.