That the wicked is reserved to the day of
destruction?
&c.] That is, that they are spared, withheld, restrained, as
the word F4 signifies, or kept and preserved
from many calamities and distresses, which others are exposed
unto; and so are reserved, either unto a time of greater
destruction in this life or rather to eternal destruction in the
world to come; which is the same with the day of judgment, and
perdition of ungodly men, when they will be destroyed soul and
body, in hell, with an everlasting destruction, as the just
demerit of sin; or of that sinful course of life they live, being
the broad way which leads to and issues in destruction, and for
which there is a day appointed, when it will take place; and unto
that day are the wicked reserved, in the purpose and decree of
God, by which they are righteously destined to this day of evil,
and by the power and providence of God, even the same chains of
darkness, in which the angels are reserved unto the same time,
being fitted and prepared for destruction by their own sins and
transgressions, ( 2 Peter 2:4 ) (
Jude 1:6 ) : and
unto which they are kept, as condemned malefactors are in their
cells, unto the day of execution, they being condemned already,
though the sentence is not yet executed; in order to which
they shall be brought forth to the day of
wrath;
the wrath of God, which is very terrible and dreadful, and is
revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness and ungodliness
of men, and is here expressed in the plural number, "wraths"
F5, either as denoting both present and
future wrath; or the vehemency of it, it being exceeding fierce
and vehement; and the continuance and duration of it, there will
be wrath upon wrath, even to the uttermost, and for ever; and for
this a day is fixed, against which day wicked men are treasuring
up wrath to themselves, and they shall be brought forth at the
day of judgment, to have it poured forth upon them. This is the
true state of the case with respect to them, that, though
sometimes they are involved in general calamities, as the old
world, and the men of Sodom and Gomorrah, ( Genesis 7:23
) ( 19:24
) ; and sometimes good men are delivered from them, as Noah and
Lot were, ( Genesis 7:23
) ( 19:29
) , or are taken away by death from the evil to come; yet for the
most part, generally speaking, wicked men escape present
calamities and distresses, and are not in trouble as other men,
but live in ease and pleasure all their days; nevertheless, wrath
and ruin, and everlasting destruction, will be their portion.