The Call of Wisdom

This morning we will be finishing Proverbs 1 with verses 20-33. Before we start, though, let’s go to the Lord in prayer.

-PRAY, READ PROVERBS 1:20-33-

Wisdom and Christ

Our passage this morning introduces to us a major character in the first half of the book of Proverbs – the Lady Wisdom. Much, if not most, of the first nine chapters of Proverbs is either Lady Wisdom directly addressing the reader or the proverbist writing about Lady Wisdom. Lady Wisdom is a personification of wisdom – that is, the proverbist is giving human traits and actions to an inanimate object – wisdom. So, the proverbist acts as though wisdom itself could talk and now wisdom addresses us. Before we start looking at the passage this morning, though, I think we need to spend a few minutes deciding what, or who, the personification of Wisdom is – who is talking to us in this passage. Is the personification of wisdom simply personification or does the personification of wisdom lead us to something or someone else.

This question is, actually, not a simple question and there has been much disagreement over the answer to this question over the years. The first answer we could give is that it is simply a personification. The proverbist is simply talking about wisdom and using a literary device to help us understand the nature of wisdom. If this is true, we need to be careful not to read too much into the passage.

For the second possible answer, I will turn to John Gill:

Wisdom crieth without,.... Here the person instructing throughout this whole book is represented under the name of "Wisdom"; by which we are to understand not the attribute of divine wisdom displayed in the works of creation; nor the light of nature in man; nor the law of Moses given to the Israelites; nor the revelation of the divine will in general, as it is delivered out in the sacred Scriptures; nor the Gospel, and the ministry of it, in particular; but our Lord Jesus Christ; for the things spoken of Wisdom, and ascribed to it in this book, especially in the eighth and ninth chapters, show that a divine Person is intended, and most properly belong to Christ; who may be called

So, the question becomes, is personified wisdom simply personified wisdom or should we see the person of Christ in the personification of wisdom in Proverbs? To be honest, when I started to approach this passage last week, I leaned toward the first answer – personified wisdom is personified wisdom, just a literary device and we should be careful not to read too much into Proverbs. It is a worthy endeavor to look for Christ in the scriptures, but there is also a danger of over reading into the scriptures to see Christ more clearly where He is less clearly seen. There are some good reasons to conclude this, but I knew that I needed to firmly establish the answer to this question before I could go on and teach what wisdom is telling us in this passage. So, I started to explore and I found that two of the three men I usually consult both believed that wisdom in Proverbs is Christ. We have already heard from John Gill. Matthew Henry also said:

Christ himself is wisdom, is Wisdoms, for in him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and he is the centre of all divine revelation, not only the essential Wisdom, but the eternal word, by whom God speaks to us and to whom he has committed all judgment: he it is therefore who here both pleads with sinners and passes sentence on them. He calls himself Wisdom, Luke vii. 35.

The third man, John Calvin, seems not to have written on Proverbs, Ecclesiates or Song of Solomon – he must have run out of time.

Finding that I disagreed with both John Gill and Matthew Henry caused to me to look back to the scriptures to see whether Christ was portrayed as Lady Wisdom in Proverbs. As I studied I have totally changed my mind and am fully convinced that we ought to clearly see Christ in Lady Wisdom. So, as we start this morning, I want to give three reasons I think we ought to see Christ in Wisdom personified in Proverbs – the Lady Wisdom is a picture of Christ. Then I will discuss two of the most common objections and why I believe they don’t point away from the picture of Christ.

There are three reasons I believe we ought to see Christ in this passage. First, the teaching of the New Testament clearly associates wisdom with Christ, literally Christ is personified wisdom. Second, the parallels between Lady Wisdom in Proverbs 1-9 and the Lord Christ in the New Testament are strong, specific and without any serious disagreements. Finally, the church fathers were nearly unanimous in their understanding of Lady Wisdom in Proverbs as Christ.

So, we’ll start with the teaching of the New Testament. Many of these passages are passages I looked at two weeks ago when we examined Proverbs 1:7, showing that if the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom then Christ is the end of wisdom. The two clearest passages on this are I Corinthians 1 and Colossians 2:

24but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God…30And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31so that, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."

2that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

The apostle Paul obviously understood a close unity between the person of Christ and wisdom and he had good reason to. Looking back to the gospels, we see the gospel writers being very intentional about underlining the association of wisdom with Christ. The strongest example comes in Luke 2, where we see Luke emphasizes the association of Wisdom with Christ from the very beginning. Right after Jesus is dedicated at the temple, Luke records:

40 And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him.

And then after Jesus taught in the temple as a young boy, astounding the teachers with His wisdom, Luke again records, as if to emphasize his point:

52And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.

One of the strongest arguments for the association of Christ and wisdom is that Christ refers to himself as wisdom as a proper name. Consider the following two parallel passages from Matthew and Luke. Matthew records Christ speaking, in Matthew 23, saying:

34 Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, 35so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of innocent Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. 36Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

Luke records the same situation this way in Luke 11:

9Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, 'I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute,' 50so that the blood of all the prophets, shed from the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation, 51from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation.

Notice Matthew records Christ as referring to Himself as the sender, He says, “Therefore I send you prophets.” Luke records Wisdom as the sender, saying, “Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets.” The only way, without saying either Matthew or Luke is wrong, to make sense of the passage is to understand the Christ referred to Himself as, quote, “the Wisdom of God.” Therefore, Luke records the actual words and Matthew records what those words meant. The Wisdom of God, personified wisdom is Christ.

Christ said similar things about Himself in other situations. In Matthew 11, responding to critics, Christ says:

19The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds."

Notice that, in justifying Himself, He says that wisdom is justified by her deeds. Again, referring to Himself in the third person by the name Wisdom. Again, in Matthew 12, Christ says, in judgment of the unbelieving Israelites:

42 The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.

In essence, Christ says, Solomon taught about Wisdom, I am Wisdom. The Queen of Sheba came to hear Solomon teach about Wisdom, but now Wisdom herself has come and you won’t give her the time of day.

So, my conclusion is that there is ample evidence in the New Testament teaching of Christ linking Christ to personified wisdom and thus to Proverbs 1-9.

The second reason I want to put forward for understanding personified Wisdom in Proverbs as Christ is the parallel between the Lady Wisdom and the Lord Christ. The parallels between Lady Wisdom in Proverbs chapters 1 through 9 and Christ are extensive, but since I actually want to preach on the passage and not just the background to the passage, I’ll only look at a couple. In my search through Proverbs 1-9, I found at least 21 specific parallels between Lady Wisdom and Christ which I split into six major categories which are parallels in the person of Christ, parallels in the creative work of Christ, parallels in the redemptive work of Christ, parallels in the regenerative work of Christ, parallels in the blessings of Christ and parallels in the worth of Christ. Again, in the interest of time, I’m only going to look at specific examples of a couple of the categories. First, the person of Christ – compare Proverbs 8:22-23 with John 1:1-2 and Colossians 1:15 and 17:

22 "The LORD possessed me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old.23Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth.

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God.

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation…17And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

Wisdom and Christ both are emphasized as existing before all other things, a trait that John and Paul emphasize as proving the deity of Christ.

Second, the creative work of Christ – compare Proverbs 8:27-30 with John 1:3 and Colossians 1:16-17:

27When he established the heavens, I was there; when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,28when he made firm the skies above, when he established the fountains of the deep,29when he assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters might not transgress his command,when he marked out the foundations of the earth, 30then I was beside him, like a master workman, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always,

3 All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.

16For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

Wisdom and Christ are assigned the same activity in creation, which again John and Paul both point to as evidences of the deity of Christ.

Third, the redemptive work of Christ – consider Proverbs 9:1-2:

 1 Wisdom has built her house; she has hewn her seven pillars.2She has slaughtered her beasts; she has mixed her wine; she has also set her table.

Before we look at the comparison verses, let’s list the four things. First, Wisdom has built her house. Second, she has slaughtered her beasts, or a better translation is she has slaughtered her sacrifice. Third, she has mixed her wine. Fourth she has set her table. We’ll look at how each of these is specifically paralleled in Christ. First, building a house – Matthew 16:18 and John 2:19:

18And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

19Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."

Christ built His house, firstly in the temple of His body and the second in the temple of His church. Then, Christ has sacrificed His sacrifice – Acts 8:32 and I Corinthians 5:7:

32Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this: "Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth.

7Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.

Christ sacrificed Himself. Third, Christ mixed His wine – Luke 22:20:

20And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

The wine that Christ prepared was His own blood. And finally, Christ has set His table – Revelation 19:9:

9And the angel said to me, "Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb." And he said to me, "These are the true words of God."

The table that Christ has set is the marriage feast of the Lamb. The parallels in the redemptive work of Christ are amazing in Proverbs 1-9. There are many, many more parallels between Lady Wisdom and the Lord Christ, but for time’s sake, I’ll stop here. Again, from the parallels between Lady Wisdom and the Lord Christ, I believe there is compelling evidence for seeing Christ in personified wisdom.

The third reason I want to give for understanding personified wisdom as Christ is the nearly unanimous consent of the early church. This is actually the weakest reason, it doesn’t matter what the early church believed if it wasn’t Biblical. But since I’ve already stated a Biblical case for Wisdom being Christ, the tradition of the church is a good teacher and should not be lightly dismissed. Searching through many of the church fathers from the first three centuries after Christ, nearly all of them who mentioned it at all associated it with Christ. For example, Ignatius, writing in the 1st century, in his epistle to the Philippians says:

For there is but One that became incarnate, and that neither the Father nor the Paraclete, but the Son only, [who became so] not in appearance or imagination, but in reality. For “the Word became flesh.” For “Wisdom builded for herself a house.”

Ignatius taught the same thing in many of his other epistles emphasizing the statement we looked at in Proverbs 9:1 is a reference to Christ. Justin Martyr, also writing in the 1st century, in his “Dialogue with Trypho a Jew”:

The Word of Wisdom, who is Himself this God begotten of the Father of all things, and Word, and Wisdom, and Power, and the Glory of the Begetter, will bear evidence to me, when He speaks by Solomon the following: ‘If I shall declare to you what happens daily, I shall call to mind events from everlasting, and review them. The Lord made me the beginning of His ways for His works. From everlasting He established me in the beginning, before He had made the earth, and before He had made the deeps, before the springs of the waters had issued forth, before the mountains had been established. Before all the hills He begets me. God made the country, and the desert, and the highest inhabited places under the sky. When He made ready the heavens, I was along with Him, and when He set up His throne on the winds: when He made the high clouds strong, and the springs of the deep safe, when He made the foundations of the earth, I was with Him arranging. I was that in which He rejoiced; daily and at all times I delighted in His countenance, because He delighted in the finishing of the habitable world, and delighted in the sons of men.

Justin Martyr quotes out of Proverbs 8 referencing Christ. Clement of Alexandria, writing in the 2nd century, in his “Stroma”, wrote:

And we also have already heard that angels learned the truth, and their rulers over them; for they had a beginning. It remains, then, for us, ascending to seek their teacher. And since the unoriginated Being is one, the Omnipotent God; one, too, is the First-begotten, “by whom all things were made, and without whom not one thing ever was made.” “For one, in truth, is God, who formed the beginning of all things;” pointing out “the first-begotten Son,” Peter writes, accurately comprehending the statement, “In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth.” And He is called Wisdom by all the prophets. This is He who is the Teacher of all created beings, the Fellow-counsellor of God, who foreknew all things; and He from above, from the first foundation of the world, “in many ways and many times,” trains and perfects; whence it is rightly said, “Call no man your teacher on earth.” 

If; then, we assert that Christ Himself is Wisdom, and that it was His working which showed itself in the prophets, by which the gnostic tradition may be learned, as He Himself taught the apostles during His presence; then it follows that the gnosis, which is the knowledge and apprehension of things present, future, and past, which is sure and reliable, as being imparted and revealed by the Son of God, is wisdom. 

For He was the Wisdom “in which” the Sovereign God “delighted.” For the Son is the power of God, as being the Father’s most ancient Word before the production of all things, and His Wisdom. He is then properly called the Teacher of the beings formed by Him. Nor does He ever abandon care for men, by being drawn aside from pleasure, who, having assumed flesh, which by nature is susceptible of suffering, trained it to the condition of impassibility.

Clement also says that wisdom in Proverbs is Christ, quoting out of Proverbs 8 at one point. Origin, writing in the 3rd century, in his ‘Origen de Principiis’, wrote:

In the first place, we must note that the nature of that deity which is in Christ in respect of His being the only-begotten Son of God is one thing, and that human nature which He assumed in these last times for the purposes of the dispensation is another. And therefore we have first to ascertain what the only-begotten Son of God is, seeing He is called by many different names, according to the circumstances and views of individuals. For He is termed Wisdom, according to the expression of Solomon: “The Lord created me—the beginning of His ways, and among His works, before He made any other thing; He founded me before the ages. In the beginning, before He formed the earth, before He brought forth the fountains of waters, before the mountains were made strong, before all the hills, He brought me forth.”

In fact, I searched all of the church fathers I could find from the first three centuries and I only found one church father who disagreed that wisdom in Proverbs refers specifically to Christ. Iranaeas, writing in the 1st century, thought that wisdom in Proverbs referred to the Holy Spirit, not to Christ, because Christ was already the Word. But we see none of the church fathers teach that wisdom in Proverbs is only wisdom – they all saw a Divine being clearly implicated and all but one saw that person as Christ. So, having examined the Biblical evidence, the historical teaching of the Church lends great weight to understanding personified wisdom as Christ.

Common Objections

Before I move on, I want to respond to two common objections to personified wisdom being Christ. The first is that personified wisdom in Proverbs appears to have a beginning and to be created. In fact, this has been, historically, the biggest argument against this understanding, because Arius taught that Christ was not God and not eternal, primarily based out of Proverbs. He used the following passage – Proverbs 8:22-25:

22 "The LORD possessed me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old. 23Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth. 24When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no springs abounding with water. 25Before the mountains had been shaped, before the hills, I was brought forth,

Arius seized on two things, first that wisdom was set up “ages ago,” and second that wisdom was “brought forth,” taking these two things to mean that wisdom was not eternal, it was set up at some point in the past, and that wisdom was created, it was brought forth. Both of these assertions have translation and exegesis problems. First, the term ages ago is a Hebrew word used many times in the Old Testament and literally

means concealed or vanishing point. Thus, ages ago is a decent translation, but it must be understood rightly. It does not set up a time in the past that this happened, it sets up that it existed beyond our concept of time. Therefore the word is often translated everlasting. An excellent example of this word being used is Malachi 5:2:

2 But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.

A prophecy of Christ where the last three words, ‘from ancient days,’ are the same words in Proverbs 8 specifically referring to Christ. So, Proverbs 8 does not teach that Christ is not eternal anymore than Micah 5 does. Then the term ‘brought forth’ in Proverbs 8 is a Hebrew word literally meaning ‘to cause to calve’ or slightly less literally ‘to be born.’ We see similar terms applied to Christ throughout the New Testament. For example, Hebrews 1:5:

 5For to which of the angels did God ever say,    "You are my Son, today I have begotten you"?

Again, Proverbs 8 does not teach that Christ was created anymore than Hebrews 1 does. So, this objection does not prevent us from seeing Christ in the personification of Wisdom.

A second major objection is that wisdom in Proverbs is a ‘she’ while Christ is a ‘he.’ This could be a very serious objection especially in the light of efforts to neutralize or feminize the gender of God. The clear teaching of scripture where God refers to Himself as masculine is an important truth and should not be set aside – although to go into this would take several sermons, and unfortunately we can’t follow this rabbit trail right now. But, I think that the gender of wisdom in Proverbs is not a problem for understanding personified wisdom as Christ. I will give two reasons why I think this is not a problem.

First, God does use feminine references to Himself, although rarely. For example, Isaiah 66:13:

13As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.

Or again, in Isaiah 42:14:

14For a long time I have held my peace; I have kept still and restrained myself; now I will cry out like a woman in labor; I will gasp and pant.

Christ also uses rare feminine references to Himself, for example Matthew 23:37:

37 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!

These metaphors do not cause 'most of' us to doubt the overwhelming masculine reference to God in the Bible. Adding one more feminine reference isn’t going to tip the scales. So, feminine references to God are rare but exist, so it is not antibiblical to see a feminine reference referring to Christ. Also, if we acknowledge

the feminine personification of wisdom as Christ this would no more cause us to wonder about the gender of Christ than any of the others.

Second, the gender of wisdom in Proverbs has to be feminine. In most languages words have gender associated with them a word is either feminine or masculine. English is actually the odd language out that doesn’t possess this feature. The word ‘wisdom’ in Hebrew is a feminine word, therefore to refer to wisdom as a ‘he’ would be grammatically incorrect. Therefore the gender of wisdom in Proverbs teaches us more about the Hebrew language than it does about Christ.

So, in conclusion, the two objections leveled against seeing Christ in personified wisdom are serious objections, but I think on closer examination they don’t actually apply to the passage. Thus, due to the teaching of the New Testament, the parallels between Lady Wisdom and the Lord Christ and the teaching of the church fathers, seeing Christ in personified wisdom is a good conclusion.

I feel like I ought to apologize for spending so long on what is simply an introduction to the passage, but I felt it was necessary to answer this question well before we embarked on the passages so that we could see the passage in the right light. Here, we ought to see Christ Himself crying out, Christ Himself has a message that we must listen to.

Who does Wisdom Cry Out To?

Now that I’ve already preached what could be a whole sermon, let’s return to Proverbs 1:20-33 and here what Christ, under the name Wisdom, has to say to us here.

-READ PROVERBS 1:20-33-

In this passage, we see Wisdom and thus Christ cry out. This morning I want to answer two questions about this passage. First, who does Wisdom cry out to and second, what is Wisdom’s message. The answer to the first question comes in verses 20-22:

20 Wisdom cries aloud in the street, in the markets she raises her voice; 21at the head of the noisy streets she cries out; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks: 22"How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge?

So there are two answers to whom Christ is calling out to. First, Christ is calling out to everyone. Wisdom cries out in the streets, in the markets, and at the gates of the city. This is a public message, anyone who wants to listen can. Anyone who passes by will hear it. We see Christ teach that the message is to everyone in Matthew 22:

1And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, 2 "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, 3and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. 4 Again he sent other servants, saying, 'Tell those who are invited, See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.' 5But they paid no

attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, 6while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. 7The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. 8Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. 9Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.' 10And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.

There are a lot of truths wrapped up in that parable, but for right now we’ll just focus on the fact that the king decided to invite anyone who His servants found. Everyone who listened to the message was welcome.

Wisdom, though, addresses specific people in her message. Wisdom cries out to the simple, to the scoffers and to the fools saying:

How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge?

The message is to everyone, but it is address specifically to the simple, the scoffer and the fool. Again, we see Christ Himself teach this in Matthew 19:

12But when he heard it, he said, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13Go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.' For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners."

Christ message was to those who needed a physician, those who had a problem. So, Wisdoms and thus Christ’s message is for everyone, but is addressed to those who are simple, scoffers and fools. We answered the question, ‘who is Wisdom’s message to?’ with two answers, but in fact this is one and the same answer. Everyone is the scoffer and the fool. So, the message is to everyone and everyone is the scoffer and the fool. We see in Romans 3:

"None is righteous, no, not one; 11no one understands; no one seeks for God. 12All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one."

So the message to the scoffer and the fool is a message to everyone. But, to hear the message, we must understand that we are the scoffer and the fool. Wisdom cries out in the streets and everyone hears her, but only those who believe they are being addressed will listen. We must realize that we are the sinner, we are the scoffer, we are the fool to hear Wisdoms address rightly. So, Wisdom is crying out to everyone and everyone is a scoffer and a fool, but only those who acknowledge and recognize that they are the scoffer and the fool will hear the message correctly.

So, before we look at the message I want to emphasize, the message is to everyone here, all of us are sinners, all of us are the scoffer and the fool, all of us have fallen short of God’s righteous requirements and foolishly chased our own desires. You must recognize that fact before you hear what Wisdom has to say to you.

The Message of Wisdom

Including verse 22, the rest of Proverbs 1 is the message that Wisdom cries out. I want to break this message down into four parts. First, Wisdom’s message is Reproof. Second, Wisdom’s message is Repentance. Third, Wisdom’s message is Restoration. And fourth, Wisdom’s message is Resolve.

The first part of Wisdom’s message is Reproof. Looking again at versus 22 and 23:

22"How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge?

Here I want to note that Wisdom calls sin what it is. Wisdom calls the simple ‘simple’, calls the scoffer a ‘scoffer’, and calls the fool a ‘fool’. Christ first message is that we are, in fact, sinners. He does not hesitate to clearly state that sin is sin. We see Him doing this often during his time on earth. One of the strongest examples of Christ calling sin ‘sin’ is in Matthew 23:

13"But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. 15Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.

 16"Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.' 17You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? 18And you say, 'If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.' 19You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. 21And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it. 22And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it.

 23 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. 24You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!

 25 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.

 27 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. 28So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

 29 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, 30saying, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.' 31Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. 33You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? 34 Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, 35so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of innocent Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. 36Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

Christ does not shrink from confronting sin. Christ addresses sin as sin and calls His hearers to understand sin and understand it rightly. So, the first message is an extension of who the message is to. Wisdom’s message is that we must understand that sin is sin, that we are sinners, and that sin is hateful to God.

The second message of Wisdom is repentance. In verse 23:

23If you turn at my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit to you; I will make my words known to you.

Wisdom tells her hearers to turn, to turn at her reproof. Having called sin ‘sin’ and calling her hearers to recognize their sin, wisdom tells them to turn away from it. Wisdom tells her hearers to repent and to cease being simple, scoffers and fools. Christ emphatically preached the same message. In Matthew 4, it says:

17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

And in Mark 1, it says:

14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel."

And in Luke 13, it says:

1There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2And he answered them, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? 3No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. 4Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? 5No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish."

The message of Wisdom is to repent. If you see that you are sinful, turn from it. Don’t continue being simple; don’t continue being a scoffer and a fool. Turn away from sin and, as we saw in Mark 1, turn towards Christ and the gospel. Embrace Christ as the only way to receive righteous standing before God. As it says in Romans 3:

21But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.

If you are a sinner, if you are the fool and the scoffer you can have righteousness before God through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ. Paul tells us that this is to be received by faith, or as Christ said, “repent and believe in the gospel.” This is Wisdom’s second message.

The third message of wisdom is Restoration. Again, we see in verse 23:

23If you turn at my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit to you;   I will make my words known to you.

The second message of wisdom is a conditional statement, “If you turn…” Wisdom promises two blessings if her hearers turn from their sin. First, wisdom promises to, “pour out my spirit to you.” This is another one of the strong parallels between Lady Wisdom and the Lord Christ. We see almost this exact same phrase in Acts 2:

 14But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: "Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. 15For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 16But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: 17 "'And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,   and your young men shall see visions,   and your old men shall dream dreams;18even on my male servants and female servants   in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.19And I will show wonders in the heavens above   and signs on the earth below,   blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke;20 the sun shall be turned to darkness   and the moon to blood,   before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day.21And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.'

Peter tells us that anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved – the outcome of Wisdom’s second message. And he ties that message to the promise that God will pour out His Spirit on all flesh. Christ does pour out His Spirit to those who turn. This is what He came to do. We see in Matthew 3, John the Baptist prophecies concerning Christ:

 11 "I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

Christ Himself emphasized this during His earthly ministry. In John 7, it says:

37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'" 39Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Christ promised to pour out the Spirit to those who would come to Him. In fact it contains all of the message so far. Christ says, “if anyone thirsts...” He is talking to those in need – the same that are the scoffers and the fools from Proverbs. He is also talking to those who recognize their need – they must recognize that they thirst to respond. He tells them to come to Him – that is to repent and believe in the Gospel. And having believed, He promises to pour out the Spirit on them. Of the many things the Spirit is for the believer, one is that the Spirit is a seal, a guarantee of the Christians status before God. In Ephesians 1, Paul tells us:

13In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

So, the message of Wisdom is restoration to those who repent. If you repent, you will receive the righteousness of Christ promised in Romans 3 and, as a seal of that righteousness, the Holy Spirit will be poured out upon you.

Finally, the fourth message of Wisdom is resolve. In fact, this is the majority of Wisdom’s message. We have only gone through the first four verses of our passage, the rest of the passage is this last message. By resolve, I mean resolve to punish sin. We see in verses 24-33:

24 Because I have called and you refused to listen, have stretched out my hand and no one has heeded, 25because you have ignored all my counsel and would have none of my reproof, 26I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when terror strikes you, 27when terror strikes you like a storm and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you. 28 Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently but will not find me. 29Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the LORD, 30 would have none of my counsel and despised all my reproof, 31therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way, and have their fill of their own devices. 32For the simple are killed by their turning away, and the complacency of fools destroys them; 33but whoever listens to me will dwell secure and will be at ease, without dread of disaster."

I want to look at five parts to this last message. First, we see what brings the resolve to punish sin – it is the refusal to repent. If you do not turn from your sin and seek Christ, then judgment will fall upon you. If you fail to heed the warning of Wisdom, the judgment of Wisdom will come.

Second, we see what the punishment of sin is. Wisdom calls it calamity, terror, distress and anguish. Wisdom tells us that the punishment of sin is, in effect, total destruction. Christ describes the final judgment in these terms in Mark 9:

47 And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, 48'where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.'

Christ says that the punishment for sin is incredibly terrible. Which brings up why Wisdom dwells so long on the punishment for sin here in this passage. In fact, the proclamation of sin’s punishment is graceful to sinners because it should cause them to run to Christ. This isn’t just a proclamation of terrible punishment, it is tied to the first four verses – if you turn you won’t face the punishment.

Third, we see that punishment will come. Wisdom does not say, ‘if terror strikes you,’ but rather, ‘when terror strikes you.’ The punishment is unavoidable, if you refuse to repent. There is no hope of escape. Christ said, in Matthew 11:

20 Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent. 21 "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22 But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. 23And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. 24 But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you."

And returning to Luke 13:

1There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2And he answered them, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? 3No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. 4Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? 5No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish."

In both cases, Christ says that, unless you repent, punishment is sure to take place.

Fourth, we see that Wisdom will rejoice in the destruction of the wicked. Verse 26 tells us that Wisdom will laugh at the calamity of those who do not repent and mock at their terror. We see the same thing said about God in Psalm 2:

4He who sits in the heavens laughs;   the Lord holds them in derision.5Then he will speak to them in his wrath,   and terrify them in his fury, saying,6"As for me, I have set my King   on Zion, my holy hill."

And, in a similar vein, the same thing is said about the righteous in Psalm 58:

10 The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance;   he will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked.11Mankind will say, "Surely there is a reward for the righteous;   surely there is a God who judges on earth."

God, and thus Christ also, will rejoice in the final destruction of the wicked. In fact, He must rejoice in their ultimate destruction, for He has chosen all that has and will transpire on this earth and, as Psalm 115 tells us, He does all that He pleases. If He has chosen to exact punishment on sin, it is pleasing to Him. And, we see a hint of why it is pleasing to Him in Psalm 58, when mankind says, “Surely there is a reward for the righteous, surely there is a God who judges on earth.” God is glorified by His righteous judgment which includes the just punishment of sinners.

I need to be careful here in what I say. God does rejoice in the destruction of the wicked, but we need to take a few other references into account here. First, Ezekiel 18:

23 Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord GOD, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?

And again, Proverbs 24:

17 Do not rejoice when your enemy falls,   and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles,18lest the LORD see it and be displeased,   and turn away his anger from him.

Ezekiel tells us that God does not have pleasure in the death of the wicked and Proverbs tells us that the righteous should not rejoice when their enemy falls. But let’s examine Ezekiel 18 closer:

23 Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord GOD, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?

What God is saying is that He doesn’t take such pleasure in the death of the wicked that He would refuse restoration to the one who repents. It does not say that God never takes pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that He doesn’t take such pleasure in their death that He would refuse salvation to one who repented. Thus, while someone may repent, God has not ultimately doomed them to judgment and thus does not take pleasure in their death now. This is a great promise because it is the only way that any of us have a

chance to repent. If God took such pleasure in the death of the wicked that He would refuse one who repented, we would have no hope, but He spares all of us because He is willing for those who repent to be saved. But, if someone refuses the chance to repent, then God will take pleasure in their death.

So, this doesn’t deny the compassion of Christ. Many people could read these verses and say that Wisdom could not be Christ because Christ has compassion for sinners and could not laugh at their destruction. But these verses, applied to Christ, do not deny the compassion of Christ for sinners. In fact it emphasizes His compassion for sinners. Wisdom tells us that she will laugh at those who refuse to repent in order to encourage us to repent. It is a gracious, compassionate statement. It only appears to be heartless. Christ does have compassion on sinners. We see in Luke 19:

41 And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, 42saying, "Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side 44 and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation."

Christ had such compassion that He wept for those doomed to destruction. But, just as above when we saw that now God does not desire the death of the wicked, but after they have refused their chance to repent God will delight in their destruction, Christ also has compassion on sinners while they may repent. But after they have refused every chance to repent He will likewise rejoice in their destruction as a testimony to the glory of His justice. Christ told us that His two comings would be different. In John 12, we see Christ say:

44And Jesus cried out and said, "Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. 45And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. 46 I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. 47If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. 48 The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. 49For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak. 50And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me."

Christ said that His first coming was a coming for mercy, for salvation – a coming that would include compassion for sinners. But, he does say that the one who rejects Him has a judge on the last day. And Christ Himself is that judge. Christ says that He will be the judge in Matthew 25:

 31 "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.

And Paul confirms that Christ Himself will judge those who reject Him in Acts 17:

30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead."

Christ has compassion on sinners and that compassion will continue until the last day. But on the last day, Christ will become the righteous judge and will rejoice in His righteousness being displayed through His just punishment of sinners.

Fifthly, here we see that the punishment that Wisdom proclaims is a natural result of the sinner’s way. Wisdom says:

31therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way,   and have their fill of their own devices.32For the simple are killed by their turning away,   and the complacency of fools destroys them;

The absolute destruction that wisdom proclaims and even rejoices in is no more than the proper result of the scoffer and the fools actions – “they shall eat the fruit of their way.” Eternal punishment is the proper end of sin, it is not outlandish or excessive – it is right. Paul tells us in Romans 6:

23 For the wages of sin is death,

With death being the ultimate destruction of the wicked. Those are the wages, the right payment of sin. Wisdom is not being sadistic, Wisdom is merely being just in proclaiming and rejoicing at the destruction of the wicked.

So, we come to the last verse of Proverbs 1:

33but whoever listens to me will dwell secure   and will be at ease, without dread of disaster."

It sounds amazingly similar to Romans 6 again:

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Having proclaimed that fruit of the wicked is destruction, Wisdom again emphasizes that if one turns from wickedness to follow Christ, they will be saved from the dread of disaster.

This is the whole of Wisdom’s message: acknowledge and turn from your sinfulness, your rebellion against God. Seek Christ and His righteousness through faith in the Gospel and receive the blessing of the Holy Spirit. Do this and live, but if you don’t judgment will fall. For:

The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.