今天讓我們來思考神容許不敬虔的人興盛的另一個原因，那是為了要藉以顯示出沒有神的永恆是多麼的可怕。司布真說：「與以前的興盛相比，永恆的懲罰顯得更為可怕。」興盛而不敬虔的人那表面的快樂和風光，與他們最後被神拋棄的悲慘對照，更為可怖；正如明亮的閃電非但沒有照亮四周，反而增加了周圍的黑暗一樣。

我相信你可能記得哈曼的故事，他為末底改預備了一個木架，結果自己卻被掛在上面。木架的升起是刑罰最可怕的一幕：「把他掛在上面！」（帖七9）。就是這樣，邪惡的人被高掛，好讓所有的人都看到他們的衰敗。

有一次，有一位講員談到他如何向一群年青人講述路加福音十六章、富人和拉撒路的故事。他們是第一次聽到這個故事。這位講員讀到拉撒路躺在門外，有狗舔他的瘡，富人則在屋裡享用豐富的食物時，他停下來問：「你們情願做哪個人？富人還是拉撒路？」那些年青人異口同聲的回答：「富人。」講員繼續讀下去，講完兩個人死後富人如何受折磨，而拉撒路則被帶到亞伯拉罕那裡以後，他再問：「現在你們情願做哪個人呢？」這一次，年青人就都安靜和清醒地回應說：「拉撒路。」而這就是詩人安靜地坐在神的聖所時所領悟到的真理。

Today we look at another reason why God allows the ungodly to flourish to illustrate by contrast the horror of an eternity without God. Spurgeon commented: "Eternal punishment will be all the more terrible in contrast with the former prosperity of those who are ripening for it." The seeming joy and splendour of the prosperous ungodly actually renders the effect of being cast aside by God more awful, just as vivid lightning does not brighten but intensifies the thick darkness around.

You will no doubt remember the story of Haman, who prepared a gallows for Mordecai but finished up by being hanged upon it himself. The ascent to the gallows was an essential ingredient in the terror of the sentence: "Hang him on it!" (Esth. 7:9). The wicked are raised high so that all might see how great is their fall.

A preacher tells how he read the story of the rich man and Lazarus, in Luke 16, to a group of young people who were hearing it for the first time. He stopped at the part where Lazarus lay at the gate, the dogs licking his sores, while the rich man ate in splendour in his house, and said: "Which would you rather be, the rich man or Lazarus?" With one voice the young people shouted: "The rich man." He then read on, and after telling the story of how both died and the rich man was in torment while Lazarus was carried to Abraham's side, he asked: "Now which would you rather be?" This time they responded more quietly and soberly "Lazarus." That is the truth the psalmist saw as he sat quietly in the sanctuary of God.