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Tag: job

Job is first of the books of wisdom in the Bible and thought to be the oldest text included in the Bible.

  • A River of Redemption Flowing from Eden – Redeemer

    A River of Redemption Flowing from Eden – Redeemer

    For I know that my Redeemer lives,
    and at the last he will stand upon the earth. – Job 19:25 ESV

    Redeemed from what?

    Scripture records that Job is a righteous man. Can you say that? Most assuredly, I cannot.

    A great and powerful leader loves God and does everything right, yet the Lord permits Satan to test him. He has everything a man could ever want, but then the Lord takes it away. Job loses everything except his life. 

    And how does he respond? 

    Job cries out to the Lord to be saved from miseries which have come to him in the flesh of this life (and his miseries are many). Yet hear Job’s assurance of judgement by a just God.

    19:25 וַאֲנִי יָדַעְתִּי גֹּאֲלִי חָי וְאַחֲרֹון עַל־עָפָר יָקֽוּם׃

    19:26 וְאַחַר עֹורִֽי נִקְּפוּ־זֹאת וּמִבְּשָׂרִי אֶֽחֱזֶה אֱלֹֽוהַּ׃

    And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: – Job 19:26 KJV

    Though he dies he will see God his Redeemer, face to face. In a word: resurrection. Judgment, face to face judgment by God!

    Our return to dust

    The Lord’s original curse against man does not dissuade Job from hope of seeing his Redeemer on the day of his judgment. Job repents before God acknowledging that he knows that he is dust. 

    Do you? Have you acknowledged before God that you are only dust?

    By the sweat of your face
    you shall eat bread,
    till you return to the ground,
    for out of it you were taken;
    for you are dust,
    and to dust you shall return.” – Genesis 3:19 

    Redeemers

    What is a Redeemer? (It’s certainly another important concept this world has relegated to triteness, as in ‘redeeming coupons.’)

    Redeem – to buy or pay off, buy back, recover, exchange or convert (as in the blood of an animal for sin or money for a sacrificial animal), to discharge or fulfill a promise or a debt, to make amends for (some wrong), obtain release by a payment, restoration; theology: to deliver from sin and its consequences by means of a sacrifice offered for the sinner.

    Job was a righteous man, yet he knew he would face his redeemer after his death. Have you had enough to have cried out to your Redeemer?

    Earlier in this series I referred to Joseph as a redeemer not only Israel, but also of Egypt by saving them from famine. Joseph was purchased and no ransom was paid for his release. With God’s help Joseph paid for his own redemption.

    Many look to Moses as a redeemer of the Hebrews, saving them from slavery. Moses had been born into slavery under imminent threat of death, but the Lord rescued the Hebrew boy into the household of Pharaoh. He escaped when discovered buy returned when called by the Lord. Moses freed the Hebrews from slavery under Pharaoh. The Lord used Moses to save His covenant people, but Moses did not pay a ransom for their return.

    The Lord saves David and other later kings of Israel and Judah. In fact, it is always the LORD who intervenes in these and other rescues of mankind. Even Noah had been rescued by God.

    From Noah, Abraham, Jacob and Joseph before the Law, to Moses, David and kings after the Law you will read of sacrifices made to the Lord. All of these faithful men recognized their own need for a Redeemer for their sins.

    If you have never considered your own need for a Redeemer, you may want to weigh the significance of its antonym as it could apply to your soul at the Judgment without a Redeemer: 

    Antonyms

    1. abandon.

    Strong currents of these last days

    Have you plead to the Lord for mercy? ‘Oh Lord, do not abandon me.’

    Though requirements of the Law placed severe penalties upon those disobedient to the Lord, Moses assured the faithful:

    “Be strong and courageous; don’t be terrified or afraid of them. For the LORD your God is the one who will go with you; he will not leave you or abandon you.” – Deuteronomy 31:6 

    In Psalm 16, David offers an assurance similar to to that of Job:

    10 For you will not abandon me to Sheol;
    you will not allow your faithful one to see decay.

    God warned Adam and Eve that on the day they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that they would surely die. Adam died. So did Eve and their sons, daughters and descendants, except the family of Noah.

    So did Eve and their sons, daughters and descendants, except the family of Noah. And all mankind from Adam until now has sinned, every one of us.

    Surely we will also die; then as Job said, we will be resurrected to the Judgment.

    LORD, the hope of Israel,
    all who abandon you
    will be put to shame.
    All who turn away from me
    will be written in the dirt,
    for they have abandoned
    the LORD, the fountain of living water. – Jeremiah 17:13

    A Redeemer and Judge

    Our Redeemer was before Eden and was in Eden. He IS a river of righteousness, pure waters springing forth which refresh the soul and give life to dust.

    John 1:2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 All things were created through him… 3:5 Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit.

    John 4:13 Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks from this water will get thirsty again. 14 But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again. In fact, the water I will give him will become a well of water springing up in him for eternal life.”

    John 5:24 “Truly I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not come under judgment but has passed from death to life.

    25 “Truly I tell you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live… a time is coming when all who are in the graves will hear his voice 29 and come out—those who have done good things, to the resurrection of life, but those who have done wicked things, to the resurrection of condemnation.

    Christ Jesus! He IS our Redemption, for He has sacrificed His own blood as payment for our sins. Jesus the Son of Man sacrificed His life as payment for mine. He IS the river of life, springing forth from before Eden and cleansing our sins.

    Beloved brother of dust and sister of sin, will you plea to our Redeemer for His great mercy?

    Then he showed me the river of the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the city’s main street. The tree of life was on each side of the river…

    Revelation 22: 

  • Disaster From Disobedience, A Savior From Before Eden – 7

    By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. – Hebrews 11:7 KJV

    Godly Fear

    Most of us have a challenge to our faith in God from one of two extremes. Some fear God so much that they cannot relate to the Lord’s Fatherly love for those who love Him.

    Other believers assume an automatic entry into heaven because, they say, “I am a Christian,” or I was born into a godly family. They assume a personal acceptance by a loving God they do not know and fail to follow. May God have mercy on their souls.

    And of course in addition to believers in between these two extremes are those who have no fear of the Lord. These are godless fools turned toward evil with no desire for the wisdom of God or desire to do good in place of their evil.

    He said to mankind, “The fear of the Lord is this: wisdom. And to turn from evil is understanding.” – Job 28:8

    Adam and Eve and their early descendants had a personal relationship with the Living God even after the fall. They could ask God personally for the wisdom to do good rather than turning toward evil. Yet through the generations refusal of the Lord’s advice to choose good over evil has fallen on more and more deaf ears.

    Genesis 5:

    4 Adam lived 800 years after the birth of Seth, and he fathered other sons and daughters. 5 So Adam’s life lasted 930 years; then he died…

    23 So Enoch’s life lasted 365 years. 24 Enoch walked with God; then he was not there because God took him…

    32 Noah was 500 years old, and he fathered Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

    Time passes (hard to know how many score of generations by today’s lifetimes) and man forgets God. Almighty God our Creator becomes as irrelevant to their sin-filled lives as the Lord is to many in these last days.

    And the Lord said, “My Spirit will not remain with mankind forever, because they are corrupt. Their days will be 120 years.” – Genesis 6:3

    Apocalypse of Impending Disaster

    If you do not have a relationship with the all-knowing God, who will tell you with accuracy the disaster which draws near? And now that man has the discernment to judge between good and evil, how can you know what is good without listening to God?

    In fact, as it was in the later days of God’s true Prophets, no man listened to the Living God except one.

    Judgment Decreed

    5 When the Lord saw that man’s wickedness was widespread on the earth and that every scheme his mind thought of was nothing but evil all the time, 6 the Lord regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 Then the Lord said, “I will wipe off from the face of the earth mankind, whom I created, together with the animals, creatures that crawl, and birds of the sky—for I regret that I made them.” 8 Noah, however, found favor in the sight of the Lord.

    Man has not only disobeyed the Creator, but grieves the most loving heart of the Father of man created in His own image.

    Now a different relationship with the Living God will begin, one of fear.

    Genesis 6:17 “Understand that I am bringing a flood—floodwaters on the earth to destroy every creature under heaven with the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will die. 

    Of course for those who disdained God lost in the flood, fear was short-lived until their terrible deaths. But for all who would witness the great power of the LORD in the days since Noah, the Lord God Almighty evokes fear.

    Genesis 7:

    Then the Lord said to Noah, “Enter the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you alone are righteous before Me in this generation.

    You know the rest, or at least you think that you know the rest.

    6 Noah was 600 years old when the flood came and water covered the earth.

    It seems like a fearful children’s story. All the men and women and children of the earth were destroyed in the Lord’s cleansing flood. The potter has begun again with one man, Noah, from which He will reform the clay of His own creation.

    Are you like those who perished having no fear of the Lord or respect for the only man to hear God’s heart? (Read above of the potter and the clay, heading the fear of righteous men.)

    24 And the waters surged on the earth 150 days.

    Genesis 8:

    5 The waters continued to recede until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were visible.

    The Lord’s Promise
    15 Then God spoke to Noah, 16 “Come out of the ark, you, your wife, your sons, and your sons’ wives with you. 17 Bring out all the living creatures that are with you—

    20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord. He took some of every kind of clean animal and every kind of clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

    You and your family are the only living survivors of the earth’s worst disaster. And the Lord had warned the the evil of mankind had brought man to our own destruction. What does Noah then do? Worship! Noah thanks God for His great mercy.

    21 When the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, He said to Himself,

    “I will never again curse the ground because of man, even though man’s inclination is evil from his youth. And I will never again strike down every living thing as I have done…

    Thank God, I say; thank the Lord, re-formed clay of our Creator.

    To be continued…

  • Disaster From Disobedience, A Savior From Before Eden – 3

    The Fall before the Fall

    … so also the Messiah, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him.

    Hebrews 9:28 HCSB

    In ‘Disaster From Disobedience 2’  we considered the ‘In the beginning’ creation narrative. Genesis continues with the creation of man. We know that the fall of mankind and our expulsion from Eden will follow, but consider first an earlier significant event, the fall of angels.

    The Fall Of The Rebel Angels Painting by Gustave Dore

    Luke 10:

    … “Lord, even the demons submit to us in Your name.”

    18 He said to them, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a lightning flash.

    19 Look, I have given you the authority … over all the power of the enemy; nothing will ever harm you. 20 However, don’t rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

    Christ Jesus instructs followers of what only the Son of Man from before creation can know. Angels disobeyed God, Creator and Master of all He Created.

    Yet witness here Christ’s authority over fallen angels. Demons submit to God by the Apostle.s command in Christ’s authoritative Name.

    Angels – Other Beings who Serve

    Angels were created also to serve God. When? We can’t be certain, but we do know that it was prior to the fall of man. And like us, they were also given freedom for obedience. 

    I suppose it is possible that angels and man were created at the same time, since Adam and Eve may have lived many years in Eden until the fall. Yet the presence of the serpent in Eden would seem to indicate an earlier creation of angels.

    Like mankind, some angels rebelled against the purpose for which the Lord God created them. God created angels as several, specific types of spirit-creatures. Angels are not the spirits of those who have died, but were created as beings in heaven. And like the creatures of earth, not all angels are alike. 

    Picture angels as many individual and diverse spirit-beings just as the creatures of this Earth vary.  Visualize their lives in a real and existing, unseen dimension, separate of this visible place.

    Unlike the Lord, no spirit rules over the day or fills flesh with the power of life! Angels are messengers for good or for evil, depending on who they serve.

    The Fallen Star 

    Satan is just one of the disobedient angels of darkness, posing falsely as hope for mankind.

    Returning briefly to a time after the fall of Jerusalem, the Prophet Isaiah had predicted Israel’s return after seventy years of captivity. Isaiah also interestingly described hell and the fall of Satan.

    Isaiah 14:

    12 “How you are fallen from heaven,
    O Lucifer, son of the morning!
    How you are cut down to the ground,
    You who weakened the nations!
    13 For you have said in your heart:
    ‘I will ascend into heaven,
    I will exalt my throne above the stars of God…
    14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,
    I will be like the Most High.’
    15 Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol,
    To the lowest depths of the Pit…

    Disaster is not punishment for sin, but consequence of the fall.

    Job chronicles several conversations between the Lord and Satan. Here Satan comes before the Lord asking for permission to inflict evil upon Job, even though God sites Job as blameless. The common scene is Satan as prosecutor, accusing and condemning the criminal to death for some sin; even tempting man to turn again God and follow his own demise into eternal punishment.

    Job 1

    6 One day the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them. 7 The Lord asked Satan, “Where have you come from?”

    “From roaming through the earth,” Satan answered Him, “and walking around on it.”

    Beware of the tempter

    Beware of what you cannot see, for Satan roams the earth for the prize of sinners tempted into disobedience against God.

    Satan rules unseen spirits and principalities of darkness. Whether original sin, where the tempter is mentioned as the serpent or in Isaiah, where Lucifer appears as false light, Satan seeks disobedient sinners.

    Even now that prince of devils opposes righteous men and women who seek to serve God and Christ faithfully.

    8 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? No one else on earth is like him, a man of perfect integrity, who fears God and turns away from evil.”

    9 Satan answered the Lord, “Does Job fear God for nothing? 10 Haven’t you placed a hedge around him, his household, and everything he owns? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 But stretch out your hand and strike everything he owns, and he will surely curse you to your face.”

    The entire saga of Job begs the question from his wife, his friends and the reader, “Why would God allow this to happen to ‘a man of perfect integrity, who fears God and turns away from evil?’” 

    The Lord even permits Job to question the intentions of the Almighty! However the LORD answers Job and the readers at length.

    HE IS THE LORD! … and man is not. 

    Nor is Satan, or angels; kings or idols. God IS God and we are not. Yet we would do well to remember the tempter’s appeal to our own desires, even as in Eden and since the inherited evil of ‘adam.

    Angels who serve God

    Much more is written of angels serving the fallen prince of the darkness and angels who remain messengers and worshipers of the Lord God.

    Though our series addresses our disobedience, let’s close with a brief description by a Prophet of spirits near to the Living God. And like other descriptions of heaven, our mortal minds can barely take-in the immense glory of the scene.

    Ezekiel 1

    4 I looked, and there was a whirlwind coming from the north, a huge cloud with fire flashing back and forth and brilliant light all around it. In the center of the fire, there was a gleam like amber. 5 The likeness of four living creatures came from it, and this was their appearance:

    They looked something like a human, 6 but each of them had four faces and four wings. 7 Their legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the hooves of a calf, sparkling like the gleam of polished bronze. 8 They had human hands under their wings on their four sides. All four of them had faces and wings. 9 Their wings were touching. The creatures did not turn as they moved; each one went straight ahead.

    10 Their faces looked something like the face of a human, and each of the four had the face of a lion on the right, the face of an ox on the left, and the face of an eagle. 11 That is what their faces were like. 

    Their wings were spread upward; each had two wings touching that of another and two wings covering its body. 12 Each creature went straight ahead. Wherever the Spirit wanted to go, they went without turning as they moved…

    Throne of the LORD

    lapis lazuli

    25 A voice came from above the expanse over their heads; when they stopped, they lowered their wings. 26 Something like a throne with the appearance of lapis lazuli was above the expanse over their heads.

    On the throne, high above, was someone who looked like a human…

    Read on if you like, or read other descriptions of the awe of the Lord and of the heavenly servants which include angels. 

    Man is fallen and sin has consequence. Next, we will return to the fall of man.

    To be continued…