Good vs. Evil

I found a good verse on the subject of the good vs. the evil today listening to my audio Bible on the iPod driving into Couer d'Alene.

Jeremiah chapter 24:1-3 The LORD shewed me, and, behold, two baskets of figs were set before the temple of the LORD... One basket had very good figs, even like the figs that are first ripe: and the other basket had very naughty figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad. Then said the LORD unto me, what seest thou, Jeremiah? And I said, Figs; the good figs, very good; and the evil figs, very evil, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil.

What this chapter is saying is that Jeremiah was walking by the temple one day, and saw two baskets of figs. God showed him that one of these baskets of figs represented the good people of Judah who still believed in God, and the other basket of figs represented the evil people of Judah, who chose not to believe in the living God, but rather put their faith in false idols.

Reading further in this chapter we discover that God makes certain promises to the good and to the evil; He promised good things to the good figs, that he would set his eyes on them for good, and give them a heart to know him; but to the evil figs, he would make them a "reproach, and a proverb, a taunt and a curse," to them he promised only death.

Consider the following found in Proverbs:
Proverbs 10:17 "He is in the way of life that keepeth instruction: but he that refuseth reproof erreth."

Proverbs 10:28 "The hope of the righteous shall be gladness: but the expectation of the wicked shall perish."

Proverbs 28:5 "Evil men understand not judgment: but they that seek the LORD understand all things."

Proverbs 28:6 "Better is the poor that walketh in his uprightness, than he that is perverse in his ways, though he be rich."

Proverbs 28:13 "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy."

Proverbs 28:18 "Whoso walketh uprightly shall be saved: but he that is perverse in his ways shall fall at once."


God has promised mercy, and grace to those who will love him keep his commandments, but utter destruction to the foolish one who trusts in his own ways for salvation.

Amos 5:14 "Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live; and so the LORD, the God of hosts shall be with you as ye have spoken."

1 John 2:4 "He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar and the truth is not in him."

Ouch! The Bible truly is a two-edged sword. Is there any hope? Yes, of course there is hope! God would never leave us without hope, He has made a new promise, fresh and available today. God sent His only Son Jesus to be the salvation of the world, and in Him we can have eternal life.

John 14:21 "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me, shall be loved of my father, and I will love him and will manifest myself to him."