“Riches do not profit in the day of wrath,
but righteousness delivers from death.”
Some may too quickly read past the implications of this verse because riches are something we think of in the here and now. However, this verse is speaking of the life to come. In contrast to the Egyptian idea of burying the dead with all the items they will need to pass over to and survive in the next life, the writer says, “Riches do not profit in the day of wrath.” In other words, even if you could take it with you, it wouldn’t do you any good.
Rather than riches, the one thing that delivers us in the the next life is righteousness. This verse isn’t an argument against wealth, it’s an argument against the notion that anything but righteousness will be helpful when we depart this world. Second Corinthians 5:21 speaks to this topic: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” The him in this verse is Jesus Christ. Thus, Jesus Christ made it possible for me to have righteousness; not just to have righteousness, though. He made it possible for me to “become the righteousness of God.”
What are you trusting in when it comes to the certain day of judgement?
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