Victory

The great victory of God that we read about in the New Testament is foreshadowed in the Old Testament. The ultimate victory of God came with the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus and the outpouring of his Spirit who gives you power to live a life of victory.

Victory of goodness

Proverbs 14:5-14

The ‘fool’ in the book of Proverbs does not mean someone lacking intelligence. Rather it means the rebel (especially against God and the laws of decency and justice): ‘the mocker… the foolish… the wicked… the faithless’ (v.6,7,9,11,14) come to a sticky end (v.11–14). Their path ends in death.

On the other hand, the book of Proverbs is full of teaching about the importance of righteousness and holiness. We read here about ‘a truthful witness… the upright… the good’ (v.5,9,11,14).

The implication is that the righteous will in some way outlast death and ‘will flourish’ and be ‘rewarded’ (v.11–14). In other words, they will ultimately be victorious: ‘a moral life is a favored life’ (v.9b, MSG).