You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source, of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth.
35 I have seen [ra'ah] the
wicked [rasha`] in great power [`ariyts], and
spreading [`arah] himself like a green [ra`anan] bay
tree ['ezrach]. KJV-Interlinear
35 I have seen a wicked, ruthless man, spreading himself like a
green laurel tree. ESV
There are two types of people, the wicked, and the spiritual. Everyone who lives their life out of fellowship with God, is in the wicked category. Everyone who lives their life in fellowship with God, is in the spiritual category. Fellowship is a condition that can be obtained only by Christians, and is obtained by means of the confession process.
All unbelievers live their life in the wicked category. All believers in Christ, can live their life either in fellowship or out of fellowship, making them either spiritual or wicked.
We have already seen in the previous verse, that those who live their life in the spirit, namely in fellowship, possess a wonderful destiny, and an inheritance for all of eternity.
Likewise, we have already seen that the wicked, with reference to unbelievers, will inherit nothing, and they will disappear from history and become forgotten.
Christians, who live their life in the wicked category, and simply do not grow up or advance in their spiritual life, will have an inheritance of sorts, in that they will be in heaven and they will have resurrection bodies, but they will lose their reward, or have it greatly reduced depending on the status of their spiritual life.
Before we can get into eternity, we all have to live our life here in this world.
Believers in Christ, have the opportunity to develop and complete themselves through the spiritual process, and that is all they need in order to advance to a phenomenal status that will carry them into eternity.
Unbelievers, and or wicked believers, disregard this opportunity by rejecting salvation or by rejecting their spiritual life, and instead they pursue life in this world, as though that is all there is, and there is nothing more to strive for.
And that is a huge mistake, and certainly shortsighted.
This verse describes the wicked, regardless of who they are, as a person who ruthlessly gathers to himself anything and everything around him.
A tree is used to describe how they grow up within their own soil, never leaving that soil, and spreading out farther and farther and farther, trying to capture anything and everything within the reach of the branches.
They start in the same place, they grow in the same place, they reach and reach but cannot reach beyond that same place. In other words, in their own minds, they are gaining and gaining because their branches are spreading and spreading, but in reality they are stuck in the same place, and going nowhere.
And as we will soon see, eventually the lifespan completes itself, and they die, and they are still in the same place.
These studies are a part of the massive daily study web site at DailyBibeStudy.Org, and are written, so that you can come to Christ if you have not done so already, and therefore not be lost forever.
And if you have already believed in Christ, then these studies are written so you can learn and understand and grow in your spiritual life, so that you can come to the full knowledge of Christ, so that you can fulfill your meaning and purpose in life as God intended for you, and so you can qualify for a phenomenal eternal reward which you will have forever. To ignore this opportunity to pursue a daily study means you will be incomplete, unfulfilled and you will lose out, big time.
The Daily Bible Study is online, making it possible as never before in all of human history, to advance in ones relationship with God, through Christ, and to complete yourself beyond your imagination.
But you have to decide to make that commitment. No one else can study for you. You have to do that yourself.
To receive notice of each days Bible Study, please go to my twitter page and sign up.
