Christian Philosophy: How Christ Fulfills Proverbs 10:25

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Proverbs 10:25 says: “As the whirlwind passeth, so is the wicked no more: but the righteous is an everlasting foundation” (KJV). So, as usual in this Proverbs series, what picture of the Lord Jesus Christ do we have here?

Since this is one of the proverbs that has a negative clause first, with the positive clause following, we’ll look at the second clause first, since the negative is clarified by the positive.

So, that said, the second clause declares that the righteous is an everlasting foundation. Christ is the Righteous (1 John 2:1). So, to say that the righteous is an everlasting foundation is to say that Christ is an everlasting foundation. Yes, He is AN everlasting foundation, but, more than that, He is THE everlasting foundation. As 1 Corinthians 3:11 says, no man can lay any other foundation than the one that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. But that begs the question: foundation for what? Since we know from the whole of Scripture that Christ is sufficient to meet a man’s EVERY need, we can safely say that Christ is the Foundation for all life. To be clearer, He is the Foundation for the life that is truly life, eternal life, which is (personally and relationally) knowing God (John 17:3). He is that Foundation for all who repent and trust in Him alone.

Now, onto the first clause, which says that the wicked is no more, as the whirlwind passes. Since wickedness is the opposite of righteousness, the wicked is the man whose character is the opposite of Christ’s. So, to say that the wicked is no more means that the christless man is no more. As quickly as a whirlwind passes, so the wicked man is reduced to nothing. His life is as brief, in the limitless context of eternity, as a vapor (James 4:14). Not that he is annihilated, as certain false teachers claim, but he is made no more by suffering eternal punishment and never-ending contempt after his death or Christ’s return (whichever occurs first) (Daniel 12:2; Matthew 25:46). While Christ is the Foundation that “shall forevermore endure,” [1] the wicked will be made no more by God casting them into eternal destruction, because of their sinful record, sinful nature, sinful thoughts, sinful words, and sinful actions.

So, to sum up the picture of Christ in this proverb: the Lord is the everlasting Foundation for life, and He is just that for those who turn away from all else and trust in Him alone, as the Holy Spirit has revealed Him in the Bible. The wicked, or christless, in contrast, will be made nothing as quick as a whirlwind blows. Who are you trusting, reader? Christ, or anything else?

[1] Line taken from the hymn “The Love of God” by Frederick M. Lehman-https://hymnary.org/text/the_love_of_god_is_greater_far