Job 42:1-17
Job 42:10-17 records that after Job had prayed for his friends, God healed Job of his suffering and restored more wealth to him than he had before. Job's prayer for his friends demonstrated that Job had forgiven them and had become reconciled with them. Job had become more like God.
God also gave Job seven children to replace those that had been killed. But Job did not lose his first seven children. Before God recreates the heaven and the earth, He will resurrect His living images within Job's first seven children from the regions of the dead and recreate them to live on His recreated earth. God will use His consuming fire to dissolve their systems in order to separate and recover His living images in them from their spiritual deaths, but they will not be exactly the same persons that they were as Job's children. They will lose their former lives as Jesus prophesied in John 12:25. But God will allow Job to descend from heaven from time to time to visit them on earth, and he will recognize enough of himself in them to know that they are his children. Revelation 21:1-5.
As an Old Testament patriarch, Job lived to be 140 years old and saw four generations of his children. When Job died, his spirit and soul descended into Paradise located at that time close to the region of death called hell. Luke 16:19-26. Job would wait there for his Redeemer to come to Paradise and preach the gospel to him and all the other Old Testament saints there saved by grace. Job and all the Old Testament saints would believe the gospel that Jesus preached, be washed in the blood of Christ and forgiven of all their sins, be bodily resurrected and translated to heaven along with Paradise itself. Ephesians 4:7-10; Luke 23:43; Matthew 27:52-53.
Saturday, December 7, 2019
Commentary on the Book of Job part one hundred nine
Job 42:1-17
In Job 42:7-10, God spoke to Eliphaz and his two friends through Job and informed them that He was angry with them because they had sought to know Him through their own feeble reasoning and had not sought His revelations as Job had. God then commanded Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar to go to Job and offer a burnt offering and God would accept them but not to the higher degree that He had accepted Job. The blood sacrifices of the Old Testament symbolize salvation by grace through faith, the sins of the believer having been washed away by the shed blood of Christ. But the burnt offering sacrifices symbolize the fact that God will use His consuming fire to provide a lesser form of salvation for the rest of humanity by separating and purifying His living image in them that He had created them to be from their total evil in them which He will cast into the lake of fire. God can never lose anything He has ever created. Ecclesiastes 3:14; Exodus 29:14; Matthew 3:11-12; I Corinthians 3:11-15; John 5:28-29; Revelation 20:5; Revelation 20:11-15; Revelation 21:5; Revelation 22:11-12.
Great significance attaches to the fact that God left Elihu out of the burnt offering that He had Job make for his three friends. Possibly, God meant for Elihu to be a symbol of the total evil in man which equates to an absolute rejection of God. Elihu had maintained that God was far away and not much interested in mankind. This belief amounted to a complete rejection of God's Love and a desire to get rid of God. Elihu had become religious but self-righteous. He felt no need to humble himself to God. He had become allied with Satan. Elihu had become symbolic of the total evil in man that Christ will cast into the lake of fire in the end of the world. Matthew 12:31-32; Revelation 20:11-15.
But apart from the fact that God used Elihu to be a symbol of spiritual death itself, Elihu was still a human being who possessed a living image of God within him created by God. In the end of the world, Christ will recover and recreate His good image in Elihu just as He will with every human He has ever created. Luke 20:38; Revelation 20:5; Genesis 1:31.
In Job 42:7-10, God spoke to Eliphaz and his two friends through Job and informed them that He was angry with them because they had sought to know Him through their own feeble reasoning and had not sought His revelations as Job had. God then commanded Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar to go to Job and offer a burnt offering and God would accept them but not to the higher degree that He had accepted Job. The blood sacrifices of the Old Testament symbolize salvation by grace through faith, the sins of the believer having been washed away by the shed blood of Christ. But the burnt offering sacrifices symbolize the fact that God will use His consuming fire to provide a lesser form of salvation for the rest of humanity by separating and purifying His living image in them that He had created them to be from their total evil in them which He will cast into the lake of fire. God can never lose anything He has ever created. Ecclesiastes 3:14; Exodus 29:14; Matthew 3:11-12; I Corinthians 3:11-15; John 5:28-29; Revelation 20:5; Revelation 20:11-15; Revelation 21:5; Revelation 22:11-12.
Great significance attaches to the fact that God left Elihu out of the burnt offering that He had Job make for his three friends. Possibly, God meant for Elihu to be a symbol of the total evil in man which equates to an absolute rejection of God. Elihu had maintained that God was far away and not much interested in mankind. This belief amounted to a complete rejection of God's Love and a desire to get rid of God. Elihu had become religious but self-righteous. He felt no need to humble himself to God. He had become allied with Satan. Elihu had become symbolic of the total evil in man that Christ will cast into the lake of fire in the end of the world. Matthew 12:31-32; Revelation 20:11-15.
But apart from the fact that God used Elihu to be a symbol of spiritual death itself, Elihu was still a human being who possessed a living image of God within him created by God. In the end of the world, Christ will recover and recreate His good image in Elihu just as He will with every human He has ever created. Luke 20:38; Revelation 20:5; Genesis 1:31.
Thursday, December 5, 2019
Commentary on the Book of Job part one hundred eight
Job 42:1-17
In Job 42:1-6, Job finally reached the absolute pinnacle of faith to which God had brought him. Job realized that God was absolutely Almighty and Omniscient, and that meant all of His judgments had to be right. God had given Job a Redeemer. God had given Job faith in his Redeemer. God had promised that He would purify Job like gold. God had promised Job that he would live with Him forever.
God's revelations to Job humbled him. Job realized that all of his negative judgments and feelings about God came from a lack of faith in Him. Job understood that God knew him better than he could know himself. Job became awestruck by his newfound comprehension of God. Job discovered that God was far more wonderful and beautiful than Job had ever imagined. Job found that God who created the universe could also have compassion on a little creature like Job.
Job also discovered that since God loved him as His child, then he could talk with God as one person to another. Job could ask God questions and expect answers, and God would not be angry with him. Job knew that he could never hope to fully understand an eternal God, but he could have confidence in the revelations that God had given to him. Job found that he could pray to God and be assured that God would answer his prayers.
Job further came to understand that before God had given him his Redeemer, Job had only heard about God as others had speculated about Him, but now Job could see God face to face, not with his physical eyes, but with his inner, spiritual eyes of faith. Job now knew God personally and far better than anyone around him.
But having now found himself in the presence of a Holy and Majestic God, Job could only become disgusted with himself and repent of his sins. But this was exactly the state of humility to which God desired to bring Job. No one can really know God as being loving and compassionate until one humbles oneself to Him and repents. Only when a person comes to a state of complete humility and dependence on God can God give that person assurance that only He can cleanse and forgive that person of his sins, only He can purify that person like gold, only He can adopt that person as His child and give him the very righteousness of his Savior so that that person can live with God in heaven forever. John 3:16; John 5:24; Luke 13:3; John 17:19; John 17:23-24; II Corinthians 5:21; Romans 8:14-17.
In Job 42:1-6, Job finally reached the absolute pinnacle of faith to which God had brought him. Job realized that God was absolutely Almighty and Omniscient, and that meant all of His judgments had to be right. God had given Job a Redeemer. God had given Job faith in his Redeemer. God had promised that He would purify Job like gold. God had promised Job that he would live with Him forever.
God's revelations to Job humbled him. Job realized that all of his negative judgments and feelings about God came from a lack of faith in Him. Job understood that God knew him better than he could know himself. Job became awestruck by his newfound comprehension of God. Job discovered that God was far more wonderful and beautiful than Job had ever imagined. Job found that God who created the universe could also have compassion on a little creature like Job.
Job also discovered that since God loved him as His child, then he could talk with God as one person to another. Job could ask God questions and expect answers, and God would not be angry with him. Job knew that he could never hope to fully understand an eternal God, but he could have confidence in the revelations that God had given to him. Job found that he could pray to God and be assured that God would answer his prayers.
Job further came to understand that before God had given him his Redeemer, Job had only heard about God as others had speculated about Him, but now Job could see God face to face, not with his physical eyes, but with his inner, spiritual eyes of faith. Job now knew God personally and far better than anyone around him.
But having now found himself in the presence of a Holy and Majestic God, Job could only become disgusted with himself and repent of his sins. But this was exactly the state of humility to which God desired to bring Job. No one can really know God as being loving and compassionate until one humbles oneself to Him and repents. Only when a person comes to a state of complete humility and dependence on God can God give that person assurance that only He can cleanse and forgive that person of his sins, only He can purify that person like gold, only He can adopt that person as His child and give him the very righteousness of his Savior so that that person can live with God in heaven forever. John 3:16; John 5:24; Luke 13:3; John 17:19; John 17:23-24; II Corinthians 5:21; Romans 8:14-17.
Monday, December 2, 2019
Commentary on the Book of Job part one hundred seven
Job 41:1-34
In Job 41:19-21, God described the sea dragon as being able to issue fire from its mouth. God wanted Job to know that He can use a consuming fire in wrath against His enemies. According to Hebrews 12:29, God exists as a consuming fire, and according to Deuteronomy 32:22, His fire consumes hell for Him to destroy and the earth for Him to recreate it. Revelation 20:14; II Peter 3:10. God exists as the lake of fire which will burn up all evil forever. Psalm 21:8-11.
God will separate all that He ever created from the influence of evil itself, cleanse it all, and recreate it. Revelation 21:5; Revelation 22:11-12. God will cast all forgiven sins into the sea of forgetfulness and in the end eliminate that sea by a means not specified. Micah 7:19; Revelation 21:1.
God is Infinite. Psalm 147:5. God exists as both an infinite destroyer of evil and as being infinite Love, grace, and mercy at the same time which is eternity. God exists as an infinite good system, and God can only create good systems. For God to exist as the lake of fire which forever destroys all evil makes Him a good and creative system just as His Love also does.
In verse 22, God revealed to Job that the fire of the sea dragon turns sorrow into joy. This symbolizes the fact that eventually God will use His consuming fire to eliminate all evil from His creations, save some humans by His grace, rescue all living humans within the regions of the dead by His mercy, and recreate the heaven and the earth to be permeated with pure bliss and joy. Revelation 21:1-5.
In Job 41:23-34, God assured Job that the sea dragon was so powerful and well armored that no attacks by his enemies could ever hurt him. God's description symbolizes the fact that God can never be permanently injured by any attacks of the Devil against Him. Jesus suffered deeply from being permeated by sin and evil as He hung on the cross, but He overcame all sin and evil when He rose from the dead. Psalm 22:6; II Corinthians 5:21; John 16:33; John 19:30; Revelation 1:18.
In Job 41:19-21, God described the sea dragon as being able to issue fire from its mouth. God wanted Job to know that He can use a consuming fire in wrath against His enemies. According to Hebrews 12:29, God exists as a consuming fire, and according to Deuteronomy 32:22, His fire consumes hell for Him to destroy and the earth for Him to recreate it. Revelation 20:14; II Peter 3:10. God exists as the lake of fire which will burn up all evil forever. Psalm 21:8-11.
God will separate all that He ever created from the influence of evil itself, cleanse it all, and recreate it. Revelation 21:5; Revelation 22:11-12. God will cast all forgiven sins into the sea of forgetfulness and in the end eliminate that sea by a means not specified. Micah 7:19; Revelation 21:1.
God is Infinite. Psalm 147:5. God exists as both an infinite destroyer of evil and as being infinite Love, grace, and mercy at the same time which is eternity. God exists as an infinite good system, and God can only create good systems. For God to exist as the lake of fire which forever destroys all evil makes Him a good and creative system just as His Love also does.
In verse 22, God revealed to Job that the fire of the sea dragon turns sorrow into joy. This symbolizes the fact that eventually God will use His consuming fire to eliminate all evil from His creations, save some humans by His grace, rescue all living humans within the regions of the dead by His mercy, and recreate the heaven and the earth to be permeated with pure bliss and joy. Revelation 21:1-5.
In Job 41:23-34, God assured Job that the sea dragon was so powerful and well armored that no attacks by his enemies could ever hurt him. God's description symbolizes the fact that God can never be permanently injured by any attacks of the Devil against Him. Jesus suffered deeply from being permeated by sin and evil as He hung on the cross, but He overcame all sin and evil when He rose from the dead. Psalm 22:6; II Corinthians 5:21; John 16:33; John 19:30; Revelation 1:18.
Commentary on the Book of Job part one hundred six
Job 41:1-34
In chapter 41, God described to Job a creature He called a "leviathan" which seemed to be a sea dragon. But according to verse 22, God used this creature to be a symbol of Himself since only God can turn sorrow into joy.
In Job 41:1-18, God described this creature as being one which no one can catch or control. God provided Job with a simple illustration of Himself that Job could understand. God wanted Job to know that He is so awesome that no one can stand up to Him. Everything that He created belongs to Him, and no one can take any of it from Him.
God also provided Job with an indirect rebuke of his four false comforters. All four of Job's false friends had described to Job a God as they wanted Him to be. Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar had concluded that Job had to be so wicked that he would find it extremely difficult to ever obtain mercy from God. To them, God was powerful but seldom merciful. They thought they had gotten control of God because they imagined that they completely understood Him. Elihu also thought he had control of God because he saw God as being far away and not really all that interested in mankind. But God revealed to Job the awesome Truth that He could not be Almighty and Omniscient if He were not also gracious and merciful.
In chapter 41, God described to Job a creature He called a "leviathan" which seemed to be a sea dragon. But according to verse 22, God used this creature to be a symbol of Himself since only God can turn sorrow into joy.
In Job 41:1-18, God described this creature as being one which no one can catch or control. God provided Job with a simple illustration of Himself that Job could understand. God wanted Job to know that He is so awesome that no one can stand up to Him. Everything that He created belongs to Him, and no one can take any of it from Him.
God also provided Job with an indirect rebuke of his four false comforters. All four of Job's false friends had described to Job a God as they wanted Him to be. Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar had concluded that Job had to be so wicked that he would find it extremely difficult to ever obtain mercy from God. To them, God was powerful but seldom merciful. They thought they had gotten control of God because they imagined that they completely understood Him. Elihu also thought he had control of God because he saw God as being far away and not really all that interested in mankind. But God revealed to Job the awesome Truth that He could not be Almighty and Omniscient if He were not also gracious and merciful.
Wednesday, November 27, 2019
Commentary on the Book of Job part one hundred five
Job 40:1-24
In verse 14, God seemed to contradict Himself. God had made Job realize that He had saved him by His grace, grace being wholly a gift of God which He bestows on those who repent and put their faith in Christ while still alive in the flesh. Ephesians 2:8-9. But God told Job in this verse that "thine own right hand can save thee." God seemed to be telling Job that even if He had not saved him by His grace, He would still have saved Job by the righteousness which He put into Job when He created him. The phrase "right hand" symbolized a righteousness which Job already possessed. God will save all of humanity within the regions of the dead with a lesser form of salvation by causing them to return of their own free will to faith in Christ as recorded in Revelation 5:11-14. God called Job a "perfect man" because he assiduously adhered to the righteousness that God had put into His image in him. God will resurrect all of His living images of Himself from the dead for Him to recreate to live on His recreated earth. Revelation 21:1-5.
Humans saved by grace will enjoy God's highest form of salvation which constitutes cleansing of all their sins by the blood of Jesus and the absolute righteousness of Christ given to their hearts by which God will accept them to live in heaven with Him forever. II Corinthians 5:21; Romans 8:14-17. The rest of humanity will enjoy a lesser form of salvation. God will raise all of His living images from the dead as recorded in Revelation 20:5 and recreate them to live on His recreated earth. Revelation 21:1-5. God can never lose anything He has ever created. Ecclesiastes 3:14; Romans 11:36.
Revelation 22:11-12 records that God will effect an absolute separation of all that is holy and good from all that is filthy and evil in the end of the world. Verse 12 teaches that God will provide a positive reward for the good works of every living human whom He raises from the dead. According to Romans 2:6-11, God can only give positive rewards for the good works of every living person, never negative ones. Negative rewards, such as a cooler place in hell, cannot be rewards at all. God will resurrect and recreate all living humans from the regions of the dead and provide them with positive rewards for their good works. In other words, their "own right hand" will save them. Job 40:14.
In the rest of this chapter, God described to Job a creature He called a "behemoth." God described this creature as being so big and powerful that it can do whatever it desires. God informed Job that He made this creature to be "the chief of the ways of God." Mankind happens to be God's greatest creation, but He used the behemoth to be a symbol of His own ways; that is, that God has all power to do whatever He wants at any time. God simply gave Job a simple illustration that Job could understand. God wanted Job to know that if the behemoth can do whatever it desires, then certainly God could save Job forever by any means He desired.
In verse 14, God seemed to contradict Himself. God had made Job realize that He had saved him by His grace, grace being wholly a gift of God which He bestows on those who repent and put their faith in Christ while still alive in the flesh. Ephesians 2:8-9. But God told Job in this verse that "thine own right hand can save thee." God seemed to be telling Job that even if He had not saved him by His grace, He would still have saved Job by the righteousness which He put into Job when He created him. The phrase "right hand" symbolized a righteousness which Job already possessed. God will save all of humanity within the regions of the dead with a lesser form of salvation by causing them to return of their own free will to faith in Christ as recorded in Revelation 5:11-14. God called Job a "perfect man" because he assiduously adhered to the righteousness that God had put into His image in him. God will resurrect all of His living images of Himself from the dead for Him to recreate to live on His recreated earth. Revelation 21:1-5.
Humans saved by grace will enjoy God's highest form of salvation which constitutes cleansing of all their sins by the blood of Jesus and the absolute righteousness of Christ given to their hearts by which God will accept them to live in heaven with Him forever. II Corinthians 5:21; Romans 8:14-17. The rest of humanity will enjoy a lesser form of salvation. God will raise all of His living images from the dead as recorded in Revelation 20:5 and recreate them to live on His recreated earth. Revelation 21:1-5. God can never lose anything He has ever created. Ecclesiastes 3:14; Romans 11:36.
Revelation 22:11-12 records that God will effect an absolute separation of all that is holy and good from all that is filthy and evil in the end of the world. Verse 12 teaches that God will provide a positive reward for the good works of every living human whom He raises from the dead. According to Romans 2:6-11, God can only give positive rewards for the good works of every living person, never negative ones. Negative rewards, such as a cooler place in hell, cannot be rewards at all. God will resurrect and recreate all living humans from the regions of the dead and provide them with positive rewards for their good works. In other words, their "own right hand" will save them. Job 40:14.
In the rest of this chapter, God described to Job a creature He called a "behemoth." God described this creature as being so big and powerful that it can do whatever it desires. God informed Job that He made this creature to be "the chief of the ways of God." Mankind happens to be God's greatest creation, but He used the behemoth to be a symbol of His own ways; that is, that God has all power to do whatever He wants at any time. God simply gave Job a simple illustration that Job could understand. God wanted Job to know that if the behemoth can do whatever it desires, then certainly God could save Job forever by any means He desired.
Saturday, November 23, 2019
Commentary on the Book of Job part one hundred four
Job 40:1-24
In Job 40:1-2, God asked Job a question that He had designed to bring Job to the pinnacle of faith that God desired for him. God's question cornered Job. God's question caused Job to realize that he could not avoid the fact that his doubts about God's revelations and judgments to him had the effect of his having a lack of faith in an Almighty and Omniscient God. After all, God possessed the superior position and Job the inferior. God had the right to question Job, but Job had no right to question God's revelations and judgments.
Job's answer to God in verses three through five demonstrated that God's question had succeeded in bringing Job to the pinnacle of faith. Job realized that a Holy and Almighty God must be right in all of His revelations and judgments, and this knowledge caused Job to repent for being a vile sinner in God's Holy presence. All persons who become saved by God's grace will be brought by the Holy Spirit to this pinnacle of faith where they repent of their sins and put their faith in Christ alone who can cleanse them of their sins and reconcile them to the Father forever. John 16:7-11; I Corinthians 6:11. Job further realized that he could no longer doubt or question God's revelation to him that He had provided Job with a Redeemer who would save him forever, or God's judgment that He would sanctify Job and purify him like gold. Job 19:25-27; Job 23:10. Job could have confidence in God that should he doubt in the future, God would bring him to repentance again.
In Job 40:6-10, God again demanded that Job stand on his feet and look God in the eye and be proud of himself as a newfound child of God. God then asked Job questions that would make Job realize that God's judgments are absolute. No one can annul them or get around them. God had made Job His child forever, and Job must simply accept that fact.
In verse ten, God informed Job that as His child, Job now had the right to hold his head high and act like royalty. God had made Job an excellent and majestic human who could "array thyself with glory and beauty." God takes pride in His children, and He desires that His children take pride in being His children.
In Job 40:11-12, God taught Job the difference between the right kind of pride and the wrong kind. God created pride which means it can be used in a righteous way. God desires that His children be proud of their royalty but checked by their humility toward God and their fear of God. God's children must never be wrathful towards sinners because only God has the right to be wrathful. But God does give His children the right to be wrathful toward evil itself. Romans 13:1-4.
God also gives His children the right to abase the proud which means that God's children should preach to sinners that they must humble themselves to God and repent in order to be saved. Pride itself is not the problem. The problem is that sinners, like Lucifer did, often adopt a false system called "excessive pride." They come to believe that they no longer need God which causes them to refuse to repent and humble themselves to God. God can handle sin if the sinner repents. But excessive pride leads to total evil and spiritual death which Christ will cast into the lake of fire in the end of the world. Revelation 20:11-15.
In Job 40:1-2, God asked Job a question that He had designed to bring Job to the pinnacle of faith that God desired for him. God's question cornered Job. God's question caused Job to realize that he could not avoid the fact that his doubts about God's revelations and judgments to him had the effect of his having a lack of faith in an Almighty and Omniscient God. After all, God possessed the superior position and Job the inferior. God had the right to question Job, but Job had no right to question God's revelations and judgments.
Job's answer to God in verses three through five demonstrated that God's question had succeeded in bringing Job to the pinnacle of faith. Job realized that a Holy and Almighty God must be right in all of His revelations and judgments, and this knowledge caused Job to repent for being a vile sinner in God's Holy presence. All persons who become saved by God's grace will be brought by the Holy Spirit to this pinnacle of faith where they repent of their sins and put their faith in Christ alone who can cleanse them of their sins and reconcile them to the Father forever. John 16:7-11; I Corinthians 6:11. Job further realized that he could no longer doubt or question God's revelation to him that He had provided Job with a Redeemer who would save him forever, or God's judgment that He would sanctify Job and purify him like gold. Job 19:25-27; Job 23:10. Job could have confidence in God that should he doubt in the future, God would bring him to repentance again.
In Job 40:6-10, God again demanded that Job stand on his feet and look God in the eye and be proud of himself as a newfound child of God. God then asked Job questions that would make Job realize that God's judgments are absolute. No one can annul them or get around them. God had made Job His child forever, and Job must simply accept that fact.
In verse ten, God informed Job that as His child, Job now had the right to hold his head high and act like royalty. God had made Job an excellent and majestic human who could "array thyself with glory and beauty." God takes pride in His children, and He desires that His children take pride in being His children.
In Job 40:11-12, God taught Job the difference between the right kind of pride and the wrong kind. God created pride which means it can be used in a righteous way. God desires that His children be proud of their royalty but checked by their humility toward God and their fear of God. God's children must never be wrathful towards sinners because only God has the right to be wrathful. But God does give His children the right to be wrathful toward evil itself. Romans 13:1-4.
God also gives His children the right to abase the proud which means that God's children should preach to sinners that they must humble themselves to God and repent in order to be saved. Pride itself is not the problem. The problem is that sinners, like Lucifer did, often adopt a false system called "excessive pride." They come to believe that they no longer need God which causes them to refuse to repent and humble themselves to God. God can handle sin if the sinner repents. But excessive pride leads to total evil and spiritual death which Christ will cast into the lake of fire in the end of the world. Revelation 20:11-15.
Wednesday, November 20, 2019
Commentary on the Book of Job part one hundred three
Job 39:1-30
In this chapter, God continued to fire questions at Job, the answers of which would be obvious to Job. God meant to reassure Job that He is Almighty, that He is the creator and sustainer of all life. God wanted to bring Job to a pinnacle of faith in Him that not only did God create Job's life, but that He could sustain his life forever with Him. God seemed to feel that Job held back on coming to a state of complete trust in Him as his friend forever. God desired that Job would arrive at a state of absolute trust in Him as his forever friend and Savior.
In this chapter, God continued to fire questions at Job, the answers of which would be obvious to Job. God meant to reassure Job that He is Almighty, that He is the creator and sustainer of all life. God wanted to bring Job to a pinnacle of faith in Him that not only did God create Job's life, but that He could sustain his life forever with Him. God seemed to feel that Job held back on coming to a state of complete trust in Him as his friend forever. God desired that Job would arrive at a state of absolute trust in Him as his forever friend and Savior.
Monday, November 18, 2019
Commentary on the Book of Job part one hundred two
Job 38:1-41
In Job 38:12-13, God spoke of the "dayspring" as being a person. In the Hebrew, and in the Greek in Luke 1:78, this word means the rising of the sun. Zacharias prophesied that his son, John the Baptist, would reveal the "dayspring" who would be Jesus "the light of the world." Certainly, when Jesus was born in Bethlehem, God sent His Light into the world to save the world. John 1:6-10. John 1:9 teaches that this Light will provide light to every human who would ever be born. This revelation can only mean that God will provide some form of salvation for all living humans. The being of every human contains a living part created by God which He can never lose, and a evil and dead part injected into every human by the Devil. In the end of the world, God will use His consuming fire to separate and recover every living image of Himself within the regions of the dead to be recreated, and He will cast the evil and dead part of these humans into the everlasting lake of fire. Luke 20:38; Revelation 20:5; Revelation 20:11-15; Revelation 21:1-5.
In Job 38:12-13, God provided Job with a prophecy that this "dayspring," meaning the Messiah, would one day take complete control of the earth and shake all of the wicked out of it. The word "shaken" in the Hebrew, as well as in the Greek in Hebrews 12:25-27, means to agitate something, like flour in a sieve, to separate all that is good in it from all of its impurities. As verse 15 teaches, these wicked possess no light whatsoever. They can only be totally evil. Job's prophecy meant that one day in the future, the Messiah will absolutely and completely separate all the goodness that God has created, including His living images in every human, from all of the total evil within each one of their beings. Christ will one day fulfill this prophecy by raising all of His living images from the regions of the dead as recorded in Revelation 20:5, and casting all of the dead, who are totally evil, into the everlasting lake of fire as recorded in Revelation 20:11-15. Ecclesiastes 3:14; Genesis 3:20; Luke 20:38.
In Job 38:17, God answered Job's doubts and despair that he displayed in Job 7:20-21 and in Job 10:20-22. In those moments of doubt and despair, Job thought that when he died, he would be forever separated from God and go to a place of absolute darkness and nothingness which God calls the bottomless pit. But the answers to God's questions to Job in verse 17 were obvious to Job. God made Job know that God, his Savior and friend, would never allow him to even see the bottomless pit. Job realized within himself that God had saved him by His grace forever.
By God's question to Job in verse 36, He made Job understand that God had put some wisdom into Job's living image when He created him. But God also made Job realize that his Redeemer had given him additional wisdom and understanding about God when He saved Job by His grace.
In Job 38:12-13, God spoke of the "dayspring" as being a person. In the Hebrew, and in the Greek in Luke 1:78, this word means the rising of the sun. Zacharias prophesied that his son, John the Baptist, would reveal the "dayspring" who would be Jesus "the light of the world." Certainly, when Jesus was born in Bethlehem, God sent His Light into the world to save the world. John 1:6-10. John 1:9 teaches that this Light will provide light to every human who would ever be born. This revelation can only mean that God will provide some form of salvation for all living humans. The being of every human contains a living part created by God which He can never lose, and a evil and dead part injected into every human by the Devil. In the end of the world, God will use His consuming fire to separate and recover every living image of Himself within the regions of the dead to be recreated, and He will cast the evil and dead part of these humans into the everlasting lake of fire. Luke 20:38; Revelation 20:5; Revelation 20:11-15; Revelation 21:1-5.
In Job 38:12-13, God provided Job with a prophecy that this "dayspring," meaning the Messiah, would one day take complete control of the earth and shake all of the wicked out of it. The word "shaken" in the Hebrew, as well as in the Greek in Hebrews 12:25-27, means to agitate something, like flour in a sieve, to separate all that is good in it from all of its impurities. As verse 15 teaches, these wicked possess no light whatsoever. They can only be totally evil. Job's prophecy meant that one day in the future, the Messiah will absolutely and completely separate all the goodness that God has created, including His living images in every human, from all of the total evil within each one of their beings. Christ will one day fulfill this prophecy by raising all of His living images from the regions of the dead as recorded in Revelation 20:5, and casting all of the dead, who are totally evil, into the everlasting lake of fire as recorded in Revelation 20:11-15. Ecclesiastes 3:14; Genesis 3:20; Luke 20:38.
In Job 38:17, God answered Job's doubts and despair that he displayed in Job 7:20-21 and in Job 10:20-22. In those moments of doubt and despair, Job thought that when he died, he would be forever separated from God and go to a place of absolute darkness and nothingness which God calls the bottomless pit. But the answers to God's questions to Job in verse 17 were obvious to Job. God made Job know that God, his Savior and friend, would never allow him to even see the bottomless pit. Job realized within himself that God had saved him by His grace forever.
By God's question to Job in verse 36, He made Job understand that God had put some wisdom into Job's living image when He created him. But God also made Job realize that his Redeemer had given him additional wisdom and understanding about God when He saved Job by His grace.
Commentary on the Book of Job part one hundred one
Job 38:1-41
In Job 38:1, God suddenly showed up in a whirlwind, probably a tornado. God spoke to Job out of the whirlwind. The Hebrew of this verse can also mean that God also spoke for Job; that is, in defense of Job.
In Job 38:2, God rebuked Job's four false comforters for not praying and relying on God's guidance for how to comfort Job.
In Job 38:3, God rebuked Job for his despair and doubt about God's revelation to him that He had given him a Redeemer who possessed almighty power to forever save Job and bring him home to be with Him forever. When Jesus walked the earth, He often displayed great impatience, and even some anger, whenever His followers demonstrated a lack of faith in His great powers to heal and save. God wanted Job to know that he had found an everlasting friend in Him who would never forsake him. In effect, God said to Job that he should stand on his feet and look God in the eye. Job should have had greater faith in God and confidence in himself that he had found an absolutely faithful Redeemer and friend. God also demanded that Job answer a long series of questions that God would put to him in order to bolster Job's faith and confidence in His newfound friend and Savior.
In Job 38:4-41, God fired a rapid series of questions at Job which He expected Job to be able to answer for himself. God knew that as Job provided himself with the obvious answers to these questions that his faith in the absolute, eternal, and almighty power of God would grow, and Job would finally find his rest in God. Matthew 11:28-30.
In Job 38:1, God suddenly showed up in a whirlwind, probably a tornado. God spoke to Job out of the whirlwind. The Hebrew of this verse can also mean that God also spoke for Job; that is, in defense of Job.
In Job 38:2, God rebuked Job's four false comforters for not praying and relying on God's guidance for how to comfort Job.
In Job 38:3, God rebuked Job for his despair and doubt about God's revelation to him that He had given him a Redeemer who possessed almighty power to forever save Job and bring him home to be with Him forever. When Jesus walked the earth, He often displayed great impatience, and even some anger, whenever His followers demonstrated a lack of faith in His great powers to heal and save. God wanted Job to know that he had found an everlasting friend in Him who would never forsake him. In effect, God said to Job that he should stand on his feet and look God in the eye. Job should have had greater faith in God and confidence in himself that he had found an absolutely faithful Redeemer and friend. God also demanded that Job answer a long series of questions that God would put to him in order to bolster Job's faith and confidence in His newfound friend and Savior.
In Job 38:4-41, God fired a rapid series of questions at Job which He expected Job to be able to answer for himself. God knew that as Job provided himself with the obvious answers to these questions that his faith in the absolute, eternal, and almighty power of God would grow, and Job would finally find his rest in God. Matthew 11:28-30.
Tuesday, November 12, 2019
Commentary on the Book of Job part one hundred
Job 37:1-24
In verse 24, Elihu admitted that men fear God's terrible judgments, but Elihu also avowed that God cares nothing about any man's search for wisdom or truth. Elihu's conclusion was right in the first half of his sentence, but he was wrong in the second half. The Apostle James assures us in James 1:5-6 that God will give wisdom to any person who asks Him for it with faith. But in order to know wisdom, each person must first find out the truth. Christ assures us in John 14:6 that He is the Truth. When any person accepts Christ as their Savior by faith, they will acquire wisdom and truth. Those saved persons will acquire the Mind of Christ and by that connection to the Infinite Love of God, they will discover God to be a personal friend who has saved them forever by His grace, but if they listen closely to God's Word, they will also discover that God will save the rest of humanity with a lesser salvation through His mercy and forgiveness. I Corinthians 2:15-16; John 15:15; Matthew 26:50; II Peter 3:9; John 5:28-29.
God has revealed in His infallible Word that He desires personal fellowship with every human like He enjoyed with Adam and Eve before they sinned. God can never fail to attain whatever He desires. God intervened in human history to restore that fellowship by the self-sacrifice of His Son on a cruel cross. By His loving self-sacrifice, Christ took away every person's sin and eternal death that had entered into their beings through Adam's sin and rebellion which means God will restore all humans to eternal life. God will save some by His grace and give them a home in heaven with Him, but God will also save His created lives in the rest of mankind within the regions of the dead by His resurrection of them in Christ's final judgment in the end of the world. God will return every one of them of their own free will to repentance and faith in Christ their Savior as recorded in Revelation 5:11-14. John 5:24; II Timothy 4:1; Luke 19:10; Luke 20:38; Revelation 20:5.
But many humans exist who, like Elihu, see God as being far away because they push Him away. They may be very religious and profess great admiration for God's powers of creation, but they do not desire to know God as a merciful friend and Savior. Their condition emerges from the rebellious part of man's being that is wholly evil and dead. God never forgives this eternal death in man because it never repents and puts its faith in Christ. This eternal death is foreign to mankind because God created man in His own image, but it causes men to sin. God will cleanse and forgive all sin because all men will eventually repent and return to faith in Christ their Savior. But God will purge all total evil from His recreated earth when He casts the dead into the lake of fire. That part of Elihu that rejected fellowship with God by faith symbolizes all of the evil dead that God will forever purge from His new creations. Matthew 12:31-32; Revelation 20:11-15.
God can never lose anything He has ever created. Ecclesiastes 3:14. God created His good and living image that He put into every human, and God will recover and recreate that living image in every human by causing every living human to freely choose to return to fellowship with Him through repentance and faith in Christ their Savior. God will save some by His grace while they are still alive in the flesh, and God will save the lives of the rest of humanity through a great worship service as recorded in Revelation 5:11-14. God will effect an absolute and eternal separation and recovery of all His good creations from all taint of evil, all of the quick that He created from all of the evil dead that has soiled their goodness, and all that is filthy and unjust from all that is clean and righteous in His final judgment in the end of the world. John 5:28-29; Revelation 20:5; Revelation 20:11-15; Revelation 21:5; Revelation 22:11-12; I Timothy 4:1; Romans 11:36; Colossians 1:15-20; Matthew 13:47-50; Matthew 13:30.
In verse 24, Elihu admitted that men fear God's terrible judgments, but Elihu also avowed that God cares nothing about any man's search for wisdom or truth. Elihu's conclusion was right in the first half of his sentence, but he was wrong in the second half. The Apostle James assures us in James 1:5-6 that God will give wisdom to any person who asks Him for it with faith. But in order to know wisdom, each person must first find out the truth. Christ assures us in John 14:6 that He is the Truth. When any person accepts Christ as their Savior by faith, they will acquire wisdom and truth. Those saved persons will acquire the Mind of Christ and by that connection to the Infinite Love of God, they will discover God to be a personal friend who has saved them forever by His grace, but if they listen closely to God's Word, they will also discover that God will save the rest of humanity with a lesser salvation through His mercy and forgiveness. I Corinthians 2:15-16; John 15:15; Matthew 26:50; II Peter 3:9; John 5:28-29.
God has revealed in His infallible Word that He desires personal fellowship with every human like He enjoyed with Adam and Eve before they sinned. God can never fail to attain whatever He desires. God intervened in human history to restore that fellowship by the self-sacrifice of His Son on a cruel cross. By His loving self-sacrifice, Christ took away every person's sin and eternal death that had entered into their beings through Adam's sin and rebellion which means God will restore all humans to eternal life. God will save some by His grace and give them a home in heaven with Him, but God will also save His created lives in the rest of mankind within the regions of the dead by His resurrection of them in Christ's final judgment in the end of the world. God will return every one of them of their own free will to repentance and faith in Christ their Savior as recorded in Revelation 5:11-14. John 5:24; II Timothy 4:1; Luke 19:10; Luke 20:38; Revelation 20:5.
But many humans exist who, like Elihu, see God as being far away because they push Him away. They may be very religious and profess great admiration for God's powers of creation, but they do not desire to know God as a merciful friend and Savior. Their condition emerges from the rebellious part of man's being that is wholly evil and dead. God never forgives this eternal death in man because it never repents and puts its faith in Christ. This eternal death is foreign to mankind because God created man in His own image, but it causes men to sin. God will cleanse and forgive all sin because all men will eventually repent and return to faith in Christ their Savior. But God will purge all total evil from His recreated earth when He casts the dead into the lake of fire. That part of Elihu that rejected fellowship with God by faith symbolizes all of the evil dead that God will forever purge from His new creations. Matthew 12:31-32; Revelation 20:11-15.
God can never lose anything He has ever created. Ecclesiastes 3:14. God created His good and living image that He put into every human, and God will recover and recreate that living image in every human by causing every living human to freely choose to return to fellowship with Him through repentance and faith in Christ their Savior. God will save some by His grace while they are still alive in the flesh, and God will save the lives of the rest of humanity through a great worship service as recorded in Revelation 5:11-14. God will effect an absolute and eternal separation and recovery of all His good creations from all taint of evil, all of the quick that He created from all of the evil dead that has soiled their goodness, and all that is filthy and unjust from all that is clean and righteous in His final judgment in the end of the world. John 5:28-29; Revelation 20:5; Revelation 20:11-15; Revelation 21:5; Revelation 22:11-12; I Timothy 4:1; Romans 11:36; Colossians 1:15-20; Matthew 13:47-50; Matthew 13:30.
Commentary on the Book of Job part ninety nine
Job 37:1-24
In this chapter, Elihu greatly praised God's "terrible majesty" and His Almighty power in His creations, but as he implied to Job in verse seven, men can only know God by His creative works and never know Him in any personal way.
Elihu contended in verse 13-14 that God uses His correction and His mercy only for the purpose of keeping His creations in order. God never uses His correction and His mercy to show love for any person.
In verse 19, Elihu informed Job that no man can pray directly to God because darkness comes between man and God. The Bible (KJB) often uses the word "darkness" to indicate the evil that lies hidden in the hearts of men. In verse 20, Elihu admonished Job that if he even tried to pray to God he would be "swallowed up," meaning that his sin and evil would prevent God from hearing him.
In verse 23, Elihu summed up his general message to Job. Almighty God possesses excellent creative power, but no one can "find Him out," meaning no one can know much more than that about God. God has the absolute right to do whatever He desires to Job or any other man. God possesses excellent judgment simply because He is Almighty. God can afflict Job with terrible suffering or withhold His affliction as He wills and be just in doing so, and Job will just have to accept that fact.
In this chapter, Elihu greatly praised God's "terrible majesty" and His Almighty power in His creations, but as he implied to Job in verse seven, men can only know God by His creative works and never know Him in any personal way.
Elihu contended in verse 13-14 that God uses His correction and His mercy only for the purpose of keeping His creations in order. God never uses His correction and His mercy to show love for any person.
In verse 19, Elihu informed Job that no man can pray directly to God because darkness comes between man and God. The Bible (KJB) often uses the word "darkness" to indicate the evil that lies hidden in the hearts of men. In verse 20, Elihu admonished Job that if he even tried to pray to God he would be "swallowed up," meaning that his sin and evil would prevent God from hearing him.
In verse 23, Elihu summed up his general message to Job. Almighty God possesses excellent creative power, but no one can "find Him out," meaning no one can know much more than that about God. God has the absolute right to do whatever He desires to Job or any other man. God possesses excellent judgment simply because He is Almighty. God can afflict Job with terrible suffering or withhold His affliction as He wills and be just in doing so, and Job will just have to accept that fact.
Thursday, November 7, 2019
Commentary on the Book of Job part ninety eight
Job 36:1-33
In Job 36:1-4, Elihu confirmed his supreme confidence in himself that he could speak for God and that the truth he spoke was perfect.
In verse 5, Elihu affirmed his belief that although God is Almighty, He holds no personal animosity toward any human.
In Job 36:6-24, Elihu conceded that God may reward the righteous and punish the wicked at times, but only in their worldly lives and only to protect His creations from chaos. In verses 24-25, Elihu reiterates his belief that man exists only to magnify God's greatness, and man can only see God from far away which means that God does not get close to any individual human. Elihu's beliefs were close to those of the Sadducees in that he believed in the greatness of God, but he denied life after death and any form of resurrection.
In verses 26-33, Elihu extols God for the greatness of His creations, but again he reaffirms his belief that no man can know God on a personal basis. To Elihu, God judges people only for the purpose of keeping His creations in order and not because He has any love or hatred for any individual human.
In Job 36:1-4, Elihu confirmed his supreme confidence in himself that he could speak for God and that the truth he spoke was perfect.
In verse 5, Elihu affirmed his belief that although God is Almighty, He holds no personal animosity toward any human.
In Job 36:6-24, Elihu conceded that God may reward the righteous and punish the wicked at times, but only in their worldly lives and only to protect His creations from chaos. In verses 24-25, Elihu reiterates his belief that man exists only to magnify God's greatness, and man can only see God from far away which means that God does not get close to any individual human. Elihu's beliefs were close to those of the Sadducees in that he believed in the greatness of God, but he denied life after death and any form of resurrection.
In verses 26-33, Elihu extols God for the greatness of His creations, but again he reaffirms his belief that no man can know God on a personal basis. To Elihu, God judges people only for the purpose of keeping His creations in order and not because He has any love or hatred for any individual human.
Tuesday, November 5, 2019
Commentary on the Book of Job part ninety seven
Job 35:1-16
In Job 35:1-3, Elihu concluded that Job had adopted a false theory about God. Elihu could not believe that God personally cared about any human. Elihu believed in a God of righteousness and wrath, but not a God of Love and compassion. For these reasons, Elihu became very angry with Job because Job had claimed that God had given him a Redeemer who had brought him into a state of grace with a loving God. Elihu blasted what he thought to be Job's false theory, and he determined that Job must have come to believe that he was more righteous than God.
In verse three, Elihu demonstrated that he completely misunderstood Job's search for the truth about God. God had put into Job's mind the idea that he should search for a personal relationship with a loving God as Job displayed in Job 21:15. But Elihu thought that the searching questions that God had given Job were empty because Elihu thought that Job could gain no advantage by imagining himself to be cleansed of his sins by God. In Elihu's mind, God did not care about a personal relationship with any human.
In Job 35:4-14, Elihu provided Job with his own description of the nature of God. Elihu rebuked Job's claim that God had brought Job into a personal relationship with Him. Elihu contended that God cares nothing about the individual wickedness or righteousness of any individual. Although individual wickedness hurts others, and their righteousness helps others; God does not give "songs in the night" which means He does not care about fellowship with individual humans. According to verses 11-13, God has given man intelligence, but He does not care about man's pride and vanity which are common Biblical words for evil.
In verse 14, Elihu deliberately mocked Job's claim that he would see God by saying that Job claimed he would not see God. Elihu admitted that he believed God makes judgments and that Job should trust in His judgments, but Elihu wanted Job to understand that God would never pardon him.
In verse 15, Elihu described the kind of judgments he believed God makes. In Elihu's mind, God does get angry with evil, but He does not go to extremes in His judgments which means He judges in a very dispassionate way. To Elihu, God judges like a very disinterested judge who does not particularly care about the grievances of the criminal's victims or the evil within the criminal, but he sentences the criminal to prison only because he cares about the chaos that crime causes in civilization. In a similar way, Elihu believed God punished evil in order to protect His creations from chaos, not because He cared about any person.
In Job 35:1-3, Elihu concluded that Job had adopted a false theory about God. Elihu could not believe that God personally cared about any human. Elihu believed in a God of righteousness and wrath, but not a God of Love and compassion. For these reasons, Elihu became very angry with Job because Job had claimed that God had given him a Redeemer who had brought him into a state of grace with a loving God. Elihu blasted what he thought to be Job's false theory, and he determined that Job must have come to believe that he was more righteous than God.
In verse three, Elihu demonstrated that he completely misunderstood Job's search for the truth about God. God had put into Job's mind the idea that he should search for a personal relationship with a loving God as Job displayed in Job 21:15. But Elihu thought that the searching questions that God had given Job were empty because Elihu thought that Job could gain no advantage by imagining himself to be cleansed of his sins by God. In Elihu's mind, God did not care about a personal relationship with any human.
In Job 35:4-14, Elihu provided Job with his own description of the nature of God. Elihu rebuked Job's claim that God had brought Job into a personal relationship with Him. Elihu contended that God cares nothing about the individual wickedness or righteousness of any individual. Although individual wickedness hurts others, and their righteousness helps others; God does not give "songs in the night" which means He does not care about fellowship with individual humans. According to verses 11-13, God has given man intelligence, but He does not care about man's pride and vanity which are common Biblical words for evil.
In verse 14, Elihu deliberately mocked Job's claim that he would see God by saying that Job claimed he would not see God. Elihu admitted that he believed God makes judgments and that Job should trust in His judgments, but Elihu wanted Job to understand that God would never pardon him.
In verse 15, Elihu described the kind of judgments he believed God makes. In Elihu's mind, God does get angry with evil, but He does not go to extremes in His judgments which means He judges in a very dispassionate way. To Elihu, God judges like a very disinterested judge who does not particularly care about the grievances of the criminal's victims or the evil within the criminal, but he sentences the criminal to prison only because he cares about the chaos that crime causes in civilization. In a similar way, Elihu believed God punished evil in order to protect His creations from chaos, not because He cared about any person.
Thursday, October 31, 2019
Commentary on the Book of Job part ninety six
Job 34:1-37
In verses 16-22, Elihu used princes and kings as symbolic of God Himself. If no one would dare to accuse a prince or a king of being ungodly, then no one should certainly accuse God of that. In verse 20, Elihu used the phrase "pass away" to indicate physical death. Even today, many people use the phrase, "He or she passed away." Believers should actually never use this phrase because it suggests no life after death. A better phrase would be, "He or she passed over." In verse 22, Elihu again affirmed his unbelief in life after death when he stated that the wicked cannot hide themselves in a "shadow of death." In scripture, God often uses the phrase "shadow of death" to indicate a specific region of the dead also called "outer darkness" or "the bottomless pit." Job 10:21-22; Matthew 25:30; Revelation 20:3; Revelation 20:13.
In Job 34:23-34, Elihu confirms his belief that God rewards or punishes humans in their earthly lives only. God punishes men to correct them and to warn others. God rewards the poor when they cry out to Him. In verse 33, Elihu affirmed his belief that God gave free will to man so that every person can choose for himself whether to do right or wrong. Elihu consistently arrived at both right and wrong ideas about the nature of God.
In Job 34:35-37, Elihu lost patience with Job and condemned him even though he had said he would not. Elihu actually accused Job of being wicked and rebellious against God because Job claimed that through his faith in his Redeemer he had found grace with God. Elihu believed that God dealt with man only in this life, and that God would never simply cleanse a man of his sins, forgive him, and allow him to live in His presence forever. In Elihu's mind, God's grace would be tantamount to believing that God excuses and justifies man's sins.
In verses 16-22, Elihu used princes and kings as symbolic of God Himself. If no one would dare to accuse a prince or a king of being ungodly, then no one should certainly accuse God of that. In verse 20, Elihu used the phrase "pass away" to indicate physical death. Even today, many people use the phrase, "He or she passed away." Believers should actually never use this phrase because it suggests no life after death. A better phrase would be, "He or she passed over." In verse 22, Elihu again affirmed his unbelief in life after death when he stated that the wicked cannot hide themselves in a "shadow of death." In scripture, God often uses the phrase "shadow of death" to indicate a specific region of the dead also called "outer darkness" or "the bottomless pit." Job 10:21-22; Matthew 25:30; Revelation 20:3; Revelation 20:13.
In Job 34:23-34, Elihu confirms his belief that God rewards or punishes humans in their earthly lives only. God punishes men to correct them and to warn others. God rewards the poor when they cry out to Him. In verse 33, Elihu affirmed his belief that God gave free will to man so that every person can choose for himself whether to do right or wrong. Elihu consistently arrived at both right and wrong ideas about the nature of God.
In Job 34:35-37, Elihu lost patience with Job and condemned him even though he had said he would not. Elihu actually accused Job of being wicked and rebellious against God because Job claimed that through his faith in his Redeemer he had found grace with God. Elihu believed that God dealt with man only in this life, and that God would never simply cleanse a man of his sins, forgive him, and allow him to live in His presence forever. In Elihu's mind, God's grace would be tantamount to believing that God excuses and justifies man's sins.
Commentary on the Book of Job part ninety five
Job 34:1-37
In Job 34:1-4, Elihu revealed that a part of his philosophy was that if enough words are said in debate, then somewhere within the bulk of those words, the truth can be discerned. Just as a mouth can taste food, so the ears can test words to discern between truth and falsity. Courts of law use a similar method to attempt to discover the truth in matters of law and judgment.
In Job 34:5-12, Elihu proclaimed that he could not believe in a God of love and grace. Elihu believed Job lied when he said that God had cleansed him of his sins and had made him righteous and accepted with God. Elihu believed Job had adopted a self-righteous attitude of scorn for his fellow man by making such a claim. Elihu believed in a God of judgment, never mercy. Elihu claimed that Job had become self-righteous and wicked by believing that his Redeemer had given him grace. In verse nine, Elihu claimed that Job had contradicted himself when he asserted that Job had said that man gains nothing from his faith in God, but Job had never said that. In verse ten, Elihu asserted that if God actually ever provided grace to believers in a Redeemer, then God Himself would be wicked because, in Elihu's way of thinking, that would mean that God would excuse man's sins. In verses 11-12, Elihu declared his belief that God judges humans' lives on earth only, and for God to do otherwise would pervert judgment. Elihu simply could not believe in the self-sacrificial Love of God.
In Job 34:13-15, Elihu stated his belief that God alone rules the earth and that no one could be greater than God. In verses 14 and 15 taken together, Elihu did not avow that he believed that the spirit and breath of man were individual consciousnesses that survived physical death. Rather, he demonstrated that he believed that the spirit and breath of man were but ideas in God's Mind that He used to give life to man on the earth only. Elihu betrayed his true belief that the whole man returns to dust, including his consciousness. Elihu did not believe in life after death.
In Job 34:1-4, Elihu revealed that a part of his philosophy was that if enough words are said in debate, then somewhere within the bulk of those words, the truth can be discerned. Just as a mouth can taste food, so the ears can test words to discern between truth and falsity. Courts of law use a similar method to attempt to discover the truth in matters of law and judgment.
In Job 34:5-12, Elihu proclaimed that he could not believe in a God of love and grace. Elihu believed Job lied when he said that God had cleansed him of his sins and had made him righteous and accepted with God. Elihu believed Job had adopted a self-righteous attitude of scorn for his fellow man by making such a claim. Elihu believed in a God of judgment, never mercy. Elihu claimed that Job had become self-righteous and wicked by believing that his Redeemer had given him grace. In verse nine, Elihu claimed that Job had contradicted himself when he asserted that Job had said that man gains nothing from his faith in God, but Job had never said that. In verse ten, Elihu asserted that if God actually ever provided grace to believers in a Redeemer, then God Himself would be wicked because, in Elihu's way of thinking, that would mean that God would excuse man's sins. In verses 11-12, Elihu declared his belief that God judges humans' lives on earth only, and for God to do otherwise would pervert judgment. Elihu simply could not believe in the self-sacrificial Love of God.
In Job 34:13-15, Elihu stated his belief that God alone rules the earth and that no one could be greater than God. In verses 14 and 15 taken together, Elihu did not avow that he believed that the spirit and breath of man were individual consciousnesses that survived physical death. Rather, he demonstrated that he believed that the spirit and breath of man were but ideas in God's Mind that He used to give life to man on the earth only. Elihu betrayed his true belief that the whole man returns to dust, including his consciousness. Elihu did not believe in life after death.
Tuesday, October 29, 2019
Commentary on the Book of Job part ninety four
Job 33:1-33
In Job 33:18-24, Elihu described Job's terrible condition in detail and concluded that Job was close to death. The messenger of verse 23 was Elihu himself who had come to comfort Job by showing him how he could become upright with God. In verse 24, Elihu expected Job to be grateful to him because Elihu thought he had found a way to keep Job from going to the grave. But the "ransom" that Elihu spoke about was not a Redeemer, but it was merely a method by which Job could keep himself alive in the flesh.
In verses 25-33, Elihu explained to Job the method that he thought he had discovered which would return Job to the good health of a child and keep him from the grave. Elihu informed Job that if he would adhere to the righteousness that God had put into his living image and admit that he had also sinned at times, then God would keep Job from the grave and provide him with a long and healthy life on the earth. Unlike Job, Elihu would not open his heart to receive new revelations from God. Elihu could not believe that a man could never make himself right with God through his own efforts. Elihu could not believe that every human needs a Redeemer to cleanse him of sin and evil and bring him alive into the presence of God forever. Romans 6:23.
Apparently, Elihu did not believe in life after physical death. Elihu did not know that God's Redeemer would eventually save His living image in all humans, some by His grace through the shed blood and water of Christ from the cross and all others from the regions of the dead by the use of His consuming fire. John 5:24; I Corinthians 3:11-15.
In Job 33:18-24, Elihu described Job's terrible condition in detail and concluded that Job was close to death. The messenger of verse 23 was Elihu himself who had come to comfort Job by showing him how he could become upright with God. In verse 24, Elihu expected Job to be grateful to him because Elihu thought he had found a way to keep Job from going to the grave. But the "ransom" that Elihu spoke about was not a Redeemer, but it was merely a method by which Job could keep himself alive in the flesh.
In verses 25-33, Elihu explained to Job the method that he thought he had discovered which would return Job to the good health of a child and keep him from the grave. Elihu informed Job that if he would adhere to the righteousness that God had put into his living image and admit that he had also sinned at times, then God would keep Job from the grave and provide him with a long and healthy life on the earth. Unlike Job, Elihu would not open his heart to receive new revelations from God. Elihu could not believe that a man could never make himself right with God through his own efforts. Elihu could not believe that every human needs a Redeemer to cleanse him of sin and evil and bring him alive into the presence of God forever. Romans 6:23.
Apparently, Elihu did not believe in life after physical death. Elihu did not know that God's Redeemer would eventually save His living image in all humans, some by His grace through the shed blood and water of Christ from the cross and all others from the regions of the dead by the use of His consuming fire. John 5:24; I Corinthians 3:11-15.
Commentary on the Book of Job part ninety three
Job 33:1-33
In Job 33:1-4, Elihu assured Job that he would sincerely search for true answers from God about Job's terrible suffering. Elihu told Job that he would not summarily condemn him, but he would try to find answers that would comfort Job. In verse 4, Elihu assured Job that he knew that God had given him life and that he would form his answers according to the living image of God within him. According to Genesis 3:20, Ecclesiastes 3:14, and Luke 20:38; God can never lose, or ever allow to be destroyed, His living image in every human. God can dissolve His created systems stained by sin, remove the sin and evil, and recreate His living human systems, but He will never allow any of His living human systems to ever be annulled. Romans 8:18-25; Romans 11:36; Revelation 21:1-5. In Job 33:6-12, Elihu again assured Job that he would try to speak from God's point of view, and he would strive to find the right answers as to why Job had to suffer and without condemning Job.
But in verses 8-12, Elihu accused Job of being wrong when Elihu claimed to have heard Job say that he was clean and innocent of all iniquity, even though Job had never directly said that. But Elihu did hear Job say that he had a Redeemer who could make him right with God and bring him alive into God's presence, and Job's witness caused Elihu to wrongly conclude that Job had claimed that he could make himself righteous enough to be accepted by God. Elihu could not comprehend that Job's Redeemer would cleanse Job and make him right with God. Elihu could not bring himself to believe that a Redeemer even existed.
In Job 33:13-17, Elihu concluded that Job must not even try to gain answers from God. Elihu thought that Job must simply accept the fact that God does what He wants, and Job can do nothing about it. Elihu thought that perhaps God caused a man to suffer simply in order to eliminate pride from his life.
In Job 33:1-4, Elihu assured Job that he would sincerely search for true answers from God about Job's terrible suffering. Elihu told Job that he would not summarily condemn him, but he would try to find answers that would comfort Job. In verse 4, Elihu assured Job that he knew that God had given him life and that he would form his answers according to the living image of God within him. According to Genesis 3:20, Ecclesiastes 3:14, and Luke 20:38; God can never lose, or ever allow to be destroyed, His living image in every human. God can dissolve His created systems stained by sin, remove the sin and evil, and recreate His living human systems, but He will never allow any of His living human systems to ever be annulled. Romans 8:18-25; Romans 11:36; Revelation 21:1-5. In Job 33:6-12, Elihu again assured Job that he would try to speak from God's point of view, and he would strive to find the right answers as to why Job had to suffer and without condemning Job.
But in verses 8-12, Elihu accused Job of being wrong when Elihu claimed to have heard Job say that he was clean and innocent of all iniquity, even though Job had never directly said that. But Elihu did hear Job say that he had a Redeemer who could make him right with God and bring him alive into God's presence, and Job's witness caused Elihu to wrongly conclude that Job had claimed that he could make himself righteous enough to be accepted by God. Elihu could not comprehend that Job's Redeemer would cleanse Job and make him right with God. Elihu could not bring himself to believe that a Redeemer even existed.
In Job 33:13-17, Elihu concluded that Job must not even try to gain answers from God. Elihu thought that Job must simply accept the fact that God does what He wants, and Job can do nothing about it. Elihu thought that perhaps God caused a man to suffer simply in order to eliminate pride from his life.
Saturday, October 26, 2019
Commentary on the Book of Job part ninety two
Job 32:1-22
For these very reasons, Acts 17:30 does not mean that God has ever excused man's sin. This verse simply teaches that God understands that humans are condemned to sin. Avoidance of sin is impossible. God's Love extends His compassion toward man's hopeless condition which caused Him to break that hopeless condition Himself. If Christ had not broken that hopeless condition, then all of humanity would have been lost forever in the horrors of the lake of fire. Christ came to revert a hopelessly lost humanity to a sinful condition caused by his weakness. Christ can have compassion on the hopeless weakness of man and can cleanse his sin when he cries out to God for mercy and grace. Luke 18:9-14. But God hates those who hate Him and will never forgive their total evil. Matthew 12:31-32. God extends His grace to all who will repent and believe in His Son while still alive in the flesh. John 5:24. God extends His mercy to all other humans because He can and He will renew their faith in His Son as recorded in Revelation 5:11-14; II Peter 3:9. Who can thwart God's will?
Man cannot avoid sin, but man can avoid becoming evil. Evil results from man's willful and deliberate choice to rebel against God. These humans become demonic, and demons never repent. Evil humans possess only a very small image of God within their beings, but God will recover and recreate even that small image of Himself. The evil in man is that part of man's being that is dead. In the final judgment in the end of the world, Christ will use His consuming fire to permanently separate the evil deaths of all humans within the regions of the dead from their living images of Him, and He will cast their evil deaths into the lake of fire to purge all evil from His creations forever. Revelation 20:11-15; I Corinthians 3:11-15; I Corinthians 15:26; II Timothy 4:1; Luke 20:38.
Job 32:8 teaches that every human possesses a spirit which is the living image of God within him, and God can use the inspiration of His Word to cause man's spirit to gain understanding and wisdom if they listen to him. Job's spirit heard God's revelations to him, and he became righteous by obeying them, but he was still a sinner. God allowed evil to cause Job to suffer greatly in order to test his faith that still remained in his spirit. Job passed his test by refusing to give up his faith that was still in his spirit. Job passed his test although he became fearful that his sin would cause his permanent separation from God. Job 13:14-15; Job 7:21. God gave deeper revelations to Job because he searched for a daysman who could make him absolutely right with God. God revealed to Job that he had a Redeemer who could bring him alive to God, and Job accepted God's revelation by faith and became saved by grace. Job 19:25-27; Job 23:10.
Like Job, Elihu was also a sincere searcher for the truth about God. But Elihu depended solely on God's revelations to his inner spirit to gain knowledge about God, and he failed to take into account that man's sin and evil had completely separated man from God. Elihu's condition caused him to come to right and wrong conclusions about the nature of God. Elihu's faith failed to search for a Redeemer who could make him absolutely right with God. Elihu believed he could somehow make himself right with God. Elihu could not believe Job when he claimed that he had found a Redeemer who could bring him alive to be with God. Job 34:4-7.
For these very reasons, Acts 17:30 does not mean that God has ever excused man's sin. This verse simply teaches that God understands that humans are condemned to sin. Avoidance of sin is impossible. God's Love extends His compassion toward man's hopeless condition which caused Him to break that hopeless condition Himself. If Christ had not broken that hopeless condition, then all of humanity would have been lost forever in the horrors of the lake of fire. Christ came to revert a hopelessly lost humanity to a sinful condition caused by his weakness. Christ can have compassion on the hopeless weakness of man and can cleanse his sin when he cries out to God for mercy and grace. Luke 18:9-14. But God hates those who hate Him and will never forgive their total evil. Matthew 12:31-32. God extends His grace to all who will repent and believe in His Son while still alive in the flesh. John 5:24. God extends His mercy to all other humans because He can and He will renew their faith in His Son as recorded in Revelation 5:11-14; II Peter 3:9. Who can thwart God's will?
Man cannot avoid sin, but man can avoid becoming evil. Evil results from man's willful and deliberate choice to rebel against God. These humans become demonic, and demons never repent. Evil humans possess only a very small image of God within their beings, but God will recover and recreate even that small image of Himself. The evil in man is that part of man's being that is dead. In the final judgment in the end of the world, Christ will use His consuming fire to permanently separate the evil deaths of all humans within the regions of the dead from their living images of Him, and He will cast their evil deaths into the lake of fire to purge all evil from His creations forever. Revelation 20:11-15; I Corinthians 3:11-15; I Corinthians 15:26; II Timothy 4:1; Luke 20:38.
Job 32:8 teaches that every human possesses a spirit which is the living image of God within him, and God can use the inspiration of His Word to cause man's spirit to gain understanding and wisdom if they listen to him. Job's spirit heard God's revelations to him, and he became righteous by obeying them, but he was still a sinner. God allowed evil to cause Job to suffer greatly in order to test his faith that still remained in his spirit. Job passed his test by refusing to give up his faith that was still in his spirit. Job passed his test although he became fearful that his sin would cause his permanent separation from God. Job 13:14-15; Job 7:21. God gave deeper revelations to Job because he searched for a daysman who could make him absolutely right with God. God revealed to Job that he had a Redeemer who could bring him alive to God, and Job accepted God's revelation by faith and became saved by grace. Job 19:25-27; Job 23:10.
Like Job, Elihu was also a sincere searcher for the truth about God. But Elihu depended solely on God's revelations to his inner spirit to gain knowledge about God, and he failed to take into account that man's sin and evil had completely separated man from God. Elihu's condition caused him to come to right and wrong conclusions about the nature of God. Elihu's faith failed to search for a Redeemer who could make him absolutely right with God. Elihu believed he could somehow make himself right with God. Elihu could not believe Job when he claimed that he had found a Redeemer who could bring him alive to be with God. Job 34:4-7.
Commentary on the Book of Job part ninety one
Job 32:1-22
Except for the ten commandments, Moses wrote all of the intricate laws that he gave to the Israelites. The fallen nature of man causes humans to attempt to create perfect societies that they think will no longer need God. Moses loved God but his fallen nature caused him to try to create a perfect society through a set of complex laws. Some of Moses' laws were good, some were bad, some were silly, and some made no sense at all. All sets of modern laws do the same. God allowed Moses to write his laws into His Holy Word in order to teach man the infallible truth that the fallen nature of man does not allow him to create perfect societies.
For a similar reason, in Acts 4:32-37, God allowed the early Church to practice communism in order to teach them that this form of economy only works when a group of people experience great peril. The early Church existed in a state of persecution which made an equal sharing of goods necessary for the Church to stick together and survive. During WWII, America came very close to practicing communism because free people had to share with each other in order to keep everyone strong in the war against those evil forces that would enslave them. But in many of His parables, Jesus taught the infallible truth that in times of peace, free enterprise has proven to be the best economic system.
God sometimes allowed fallible humans to express their feelings and thoughts in His infallible Word in order to teach the infallible truth that humans are fallible. One such example occurs in Psalm 137:9. Being in a state of extreme anguish and grief because of the Babylonian conquest and oppression of his people, the writer felt that any Jew would be happy to kill Babylonian babies by bashing them against rocks. This verse does not mean that God would ever approve of the murder of babies. This verse only expresses the fact that feelings of hatred can arise in oppressed people that lead to sinful thoughts. Similarly, the statement of the Preacher in Ecclesiastes 1:2 that "all is vanity" cannot possibly be true. This is a wholly nihilistic and atheistic statement. God allowed Solomon to write this to show that the fallen nature of even a man of God can cause him to make false statements. The Word of God consistently demonstrates that God completely understands humanity, which is an infallible truth. John 2:24-25.
Except for the ten commandments, Moses wrote all of the intricate laws that he gave to the Israelites. The fallen nature of man causes humans to attempt to create perfect societies that they think will no longer need God. Moses loved God but his fallen nature caused him to try to create a perfect society through a set of complex laws. Some of Moses' laws were good, some were bad, some were silly, and some made no sense at all. All sets of modern laws do the same. God allowed Moses to write his laws into His Holy Word in order to teach man the infallible truth that the fallen nature of man does not allow him to create perfect societies.
For a similar reason, in Acts 4:32-37, God allowed the early Church to practice communism in order to teach them that this form of economy only works when a group of people experience great peril. The early Church existed in a state of persecution which made an equal sharing of goods necessary for the Church to stick together and survive. During WWII, America came very close to practicing communism because free people had to share with each other in order to keep everyone strong in the war against those evil forces that would enslave them. But in many of His parables, Jesus taught the infallible truth that in times of peace, free enterprise has proven to be the best economic system.
God sometimes allowed fallible humans to express their feelings and thoughts in His infallible Word in order to teach the infallible truth that humans are fallible. One such example occurs in Psalm 137:9. Being in a state of extreme anguish and grief because of the Babylonian conquest and oppression of his people, the writer felt that any Jew would be happy to kill Babylonian babies by bashing them against rocks. This verse does not mean that God would ever approve of the murder of babies. This verse only expresses the fact that feelings of hatred can arise in oppressed people that lead to sinful thoughts. Similarly, the statement of the Preacher in Ecclesiastes 1:2 that "all is vanity" cannot possibly be true. This is a wholly nihilistic and atheistic statement. God allowed Solomon to write this to show that the fallen nature of even a man of God can cause him to make false statements. The Word of God consistently demonstrates that God completely understands humanity, which is an infallible truth. John 2:24-25.
Thursday, October 24, 2019
Commentary on the Book of Job part ninety
Job 32:1-22
Many interpret II Timothy 3:16 to relate that God directly inspired every word in His Bible, but this verse does not teach that. This verse teaches that "all scripture is given by inspiration of God," and further states the reasons why God gave it. The key word in this verse is the word "given." God could not have directly inspired a pagan Roman soldier to write a letter to his governor Felix in Acts 23:25-30. God could not have directly inspired two pagan poets that Paul quotes in Acts 17:28. God could not have directly inspired letters written by the enemies of the Jews in Nehemiah. But God did allow those words of mere humans to be given to His Holy Word for the purpose of making His stories more understandable and to help teach the basic doctrine of the Bible that all humans are fallen sinners in need of God's salvation. If Bible readers cannot understand this basic doctrine, then they cannot hope to understand the rest of God's Word. By this method, God has made His entire Word infallible and inerrant in its teachings.
Many humans cannot understand even this basic teaching of the Bible. Many humans exist who cannot admit that they can make even the slightest mistake, even in arithmetic. Many humans exist who stubbornly cling to false religions or political ideologies even after they learn that they are wrong. God allowed man's fallible words to be added to His infallible Word to emphasize the fallen condition of man which is an infallible doctrine.
No doubt God gave the ten commandments to Moses by direct inspiration. But in Mark 10:5, Jesus admitted that Moses gave the law of divorce to the Israelites and not by direct inspiration from God. Jesus contradicted Moses. In order to teach God's true Word about marriage, Jesus reminded His listeners of God's creation. God made male and female, and God puts a particular male and female together in marriage which means any divorce involving God's marriage has to be sinful. Nevertheless, God allowed Moses to put a law of divorce into His Holy and infallible Word. God allowed Moses to do this in order to teach His infallible truth that every Godly man and woman should diligently pray that God will give them the mate that He has selected for them, and that divorce and remarriage seldom causes greater happiness and always hurts someone even if God did not give the man and woman to each other.
Many interpret II Timothy 3:16 to relate that God directly inspired every word in His Bible, but this verse does not teach that. This verse teaches that "all scripture is given by inspiration of God," and further states the reasons why God gave it. The key word in this verse is the word "given." God could not have directly inspired a pagan Roman soldier to write a letter to his governor Felix in Acts 23:25-30. God could not have directly inspired two pagan poets that Paul quotes in Acts 17:28. God could not have directly inspired letters written by the enemies of the Jews in Nehemiah. But God did allow those words of mere humans to be given to His Holy Word for the purpose of making His stories more understandable and to help teach the basic doctrine of the Bible that all humans are fallen sinners in need of God's salvation. If Bible readers cannot understand this basic doctrine, then they cannot hope to understand the rest of God's Word. By this method, God has made His entire Word infallible and inerrant in its teachings.
Many humans cannot understand even this basic teaching of the Bible. Many humans exist who cannot admit that they can make even the slightest mistake, even in arithmetic. Many humans exist who stubbornly cling to false religions or political ideologies even after they learn that they are wrong. God allowed man's fallible words to be added to His infallible Word to emphasize the fallen condition of man which is an infallible doctrine.
No doubt God gave the ten commandments to Moses by direct inspiration. But in Mark 10:5, Jesus admitted that Moses gave the law of divorce to the Israelites and not by direct inspiration from God. Jesus contradicted Moses. In order to teach God's true Word about marriage, Jesus reminded His listeners of God's creation. God made male and female, and God puts a particular male and female together in marriage which means any divorce involving God's marriage has to be sinful. Nevertheless, God allowed Moses to put a law of divorce into His Holy and infallible Word. God allowed Moses to do this in order to teach His infallible truth that every Godly man and woman should diligently pray that God will give them the mate that He has selected for them, and that divorce and remarriage seldom causes greater happiness and always hurts someone even if God did not give the man and woman to each other.
Commentary on the Book of Job part eighty nine
Job 32:1-22
In chapter 32, a young man named Elihu voices his opinion. Unlike Job's false comforters who dogmatically assumed that Job had to suffer because he was guilty of doing something wrong, Elihu was an honest searcher for truth. The key to understanding the method Elihu used in his search for the truth can be found in Job 32:8. Elihu rightly believed that God had created a good spirit for man, and that by hearing the inspiration that God gives through His image in man, man can gain a better understanding about the nature of God. But where Elihu went wrong was that he failed to take into account the fact that Satan had injected evil into man's being which caused his good spirit to sin which, in turn, clouded man's conscience and caused him to come to false conclusions about God's nature. Elihu's failure caused him, like all other searchers for truth who ignore God's complete revelations, to come to both true and false conclusions about God's nature. Elihu depended to much on his feelings about God instead of simply opening his heart for greater revelations from God, as Job had done.
Job 32:1 provides a perfect example of how God sometimes allows His Word to report how people feel or think about particular conditions or situations instead of the actual facts about them. Job's three friends accused Job of being righteous in his own eyes; that is, self-righteous. But they misunderstood that which Job spoke about his righteousness. Job freely admitted that he was a sinner in Job 7:20 and 9:20. Furthermore, whenever Job spoke about his own righteousness, as in Job 6:29, he always meant the righteousness that God had put into his image when He created him. God called Job a perfect man because he assiduously practiced the righteousness that God had put into his living image. But Job knew that his righteousness, which had been stained by sin, was not good enough to be accepted by God as he admitted in Job 9:20-21. For this very reason, Job looked for a daysman; that is, a mediator who could bridge the gap that his sin had caused between him and God and make him absolutely right with God. Job 9:30-33. God revealed to Job in Job 19:25-27 that He had such a Redeemer for him who could absolutely perfect him and someday bring him into the very presence of God. Job accepted his Redeemer by faith knowing that He would absolutely perfect him and make him acceptable with God. Job 23:10.
In chapter 32, a young man named Elihu voices his opinion. Unlike Job's false comforters who dogmatically assumed that Job had to suffer because he was guilty of doing something wrong, Elihu was an honest searcher for truth. The key to understanding the method Elihu used in his search for the truth can be found in Job 32:8. Elihu rightly believed that God had created a good spirit for man, and that by hearing the inspiration that God gives through His image in man, man can gain a better understanding about the nature of God. But where Elihu went wrong was that he failed to take into account the fact that Satan had injected evil into man's being which caused his good spirit to sin which, in turn, clouded man's conscience and caused him to come to false conclusions about God's nature. Elihu's failure caused him, like all other searchers for truth who ignore God's complete revelations, to come to both true and false conclusions about God's nature. Elihu depended to much on his feelings about God instead of simply opening his heart for greater revelations from God, as Job had done.
Job 32:1 provides a perfect example of how God sometimes allows His Word to report how people feel or think about particular conditions or situations instead of the actual facts about them. Job's three friends accused Job of being righteous in his own eyes; that is, self-righteous. But they misunderstood that which Job spoke about his righteousness. Job freely admitted that he was a sinner in Job 7:20 and 9:20. Furthermore, whenever Job spoke about his own righteousness, as in Job 6:29, he always meant the righteousness that God had put into his image when He created him. God called Job a perfect man because he assiduously practiced the righteousness that God had put into his living image. But Job knew that his righteousness, which had been stained by sin, was not good enough to be accepted by God as he admitted in Job 9:20-21. For this very reason, Job looked for a daysman; that is, a mediator who could bridge the gap that his sin had caused between him and God and make him absolutely right with God. Job 9:30-33. God revealed to Job in Job 19:25-27 that He had such a Redeemer for him who could absolutely perfect him and someday bring him into the very presence of God. Job accepted his Redeemer by faith knowing that He would absolutely perfect him and make him acceptable with God. Job 23:10.
Wednesday, October 16, 2019
Commentary on the Book of Job part eighty eight
Job 31:1-40
In Job 31:4, Job asks a question of God of which the answer is obvious. God had made Job a righteous man and had guided his steps throughout his life. Job does not deny that he has sinned against God because of his weakness, but he does deny that he has ever deliberately rebelled against God's guidance for his life.
From Job 3:5 to verse 40, Job confessed that if he had ever deliberately practiced evil, then he would have deserved God's severest punishment. In Job 3:6, Job desired that God would test his integrity because he knew that he had always avoided evil and obeyed God. God revealed to Job in verse twelve that if Job had ever practiced evil, then God would someday dissolve his being by the use of His consuming fire and separate his "increase," from him, which meant God's valuable image that God had created and put into Job from the evil within Job. God's revelation to Job constitutes a prophecy that in the end of the world, God will use His consuming fire to separate His good image in every human within the regions of the dead from their evil deaths that He will cast into the lake of fire. I Corinthians 3:11-15; Revelation 20:5; Revelation 20:11-15; John 5:28-29; Matthew 3:11-12.
In verse 33, Job declared that he had always been honest with God and had never tried to hide his sin and evil as Adam had done. Job's attitude reveals God's desire for all humanity. God simply wants all humans to confess that they have committed sin and evil, repent, and call on God's Son to save them from eternal spiritual death from which they cannot save themselves. God has made provision through His Son to save His good image in every human from eternal spiritual death, some by His grace and all others by the use of His consuming fire. By these two methods, God will return the entire human race to repentance and faith in Christ their Savior. John 5:24; Revelation 5:11-14.
In Job 31:35, Job expressed his desire that God would reveal His entire truth to him, and by extension to the whole human race. Job referred to God as his "adversary," and he hoped that God would write a book. By his use of the word "adversary," Job meant that he hoped that God would write a book in which He would contend and strive with man to get him to repent of his sin and evil and turn in faith to Christ for his salvation. God gave Job a prophecy that He would write such a book that would be the infallible and inerrant Word of God. (KJB)
In Job 31:4, Job asks a question of God of which the answer is obvious. God had made Job a righteous man and had guided his steps throughout his life. Job does not deny that he has sinned against God because of his weakness, but he does deny that he has ever deliberately rebelled against God's guidance for his life.
From Job 3:5 to verse 40, Job confessed that if he had ever deliberately practiced evil, then he would have deserved God's severest punishment. In Job 3:6, Job desired that God would test his integrity because he knew that he had always avoided evil and obeyed God. God revealed to Job in verse twelve that if Job had ever practiced evil, then God would someday dissolve his being by the use of His consuming fire and separate his "increase," from him, which meant God's valuable image that God had created and put into Job from the evil within Job. God's revelation to Job constitutes a prophecy that in the end of the world, God will use His consuming fire to separate His good image in every human within the regions of the dead from their evil deaths that He will cast into the lake of fire. I Corinthians 3:11-15; Revelation 20:5; Revelation 20:11-15; John 5:28-29; Matthew 3:11-12.
In verse 33, Job declared that he had always been honest with God and had never tried to hide his sin and evil as Adam had done. Job's attitude reveals God's desire for all humanity. God simply wants all humans to confess that they have committed sin and evil, repent, and call on God's Son to save them from eternal spiritual death from which they cannot save themselves. God has made provision through His Son to save His good image in every human from eternal spiritual death, some by His grace and all others by the use of His consuming fire. By these two methods, God will return the entire human race to repentance and faith in Christ their Savior. John 5:24; Revelation 5:11-14.
In Job 31:35, Job expressed his desire that God would reveal His entire truth to him, and by extension to the whole human race. Job referred to God as his "adversary," and he hoped that God would write a book. By his use of the word "adversary," Job meant that he hoped that God would write a book in which He would contend and strive with man to get him to repent of his sin and evil and turn in faith to Christ for his salvation. God gave Job a prophecy that He would write such a book that would be the infallible and inerrant Word of God. (KJB)
Tuesday, October 15, 2019
Commentary on the Book of Job part eighty seven
Job 31:1-40
God derives His infinite power from faith. God possesses infinite faith in His own power. Hebrews 11:1-3. God made the worlds from things which do not appear. What does not appear? The contents of His Infinite Consciousness does not appear. God's Ideas do not appear. God's Word did not appear until He put it into written form. Although God's written Word connects to the Infinite, it has to be limited to the finite mind of man. The believer may possess the Mind of Christ, but he still cannot think in infinite ways. I Corinthians 2:16. The believer has the Mind of Christ because his faith connects him to the Infinite and infallible Word of God. Objective truth is always limited. Subjective Truth connects directly to Infinite and Almighty Truth. John 14:6.
This truth means that in order for God to be able to save every living person within the regions of the dead, they all must repent and return to faith in Christ their Savior and of their own free will. God has given a measure of faith to all living humans, and God knows exactly how to return every living human to faith in Christ of their own free will. Romans 12:3. As God prophesied in Isaiah 45:21-24 and in Philippians 2:9-11 and as will be fulfilled in Revelation 5:11-14, God will effect a great worship service in which all living humans within the regions of the dead will repent and return to faith in Christ their Savior of their own free will.
Every sin which a person commits becomes evil if he refuses to repent of it precisely because of his lack of faith in God's forgiveness and mercy. Every evil act of which a person repents becomes cleansed and forgiven by God's grace or His consuming fire because his repentance and faith triggers God's compassion for him. Every sin and evil act of which a person refuses to repent adheres to spiritual death which is totally evil and which God will separate from all humans and cast into the lake of fire. Revelation 20:11-15. But God will restore the repentance and faith of all living humans because He can never lose anything He has ever created. Ecclesiastes 3:14; Revelation 21:5; Romans 11:36.
God knows exactly how to return every living human to faith in His Son of their own free will in order to prove that His loving gift of free will to Lucifer and to the human race was not a mistake. Satan counted on using the free will of man to inject an evil into the being of man so powerful that it would eventually annul the living image of God in man and cause man's eternal separation from God. In this way, the Devil thought he could prove that God made a mistake, and therefore, His Love could not be Almighty. The Devil believed that if he could prove that God is not Almighty, he could get an advantage over Him, eventually murder Him and assume control of His universe. But Satan did not count on the Love of God being so powerful that He would allow the Devil to attempt to murder Him by taking all of the evil, sin, and spiritual deaths of all mankind on Himself on a cross, gain victory over it all by His resurrection from the dead, and thereby display the Almighty power of His Love to cleanse and separate all living humans from all their sin and evil, save them all from spiritual death, restore them all to fellowship with Him, and consign the total evil in every one of them to the lake of fire forever. John 5:24; Revelation 20:5; Revelation 20:11-15; John 5:28-29; I Corinthians 15:22; I Corinthians 15:26; John 12:47.
Job considered God's separation of the totally wicked from Himself to be a "strange punishment" probably because he could not comprehend what a lake of fire could be. No one really can. But since Christ took the eternal spiritual deaths of all humans on Himself, then the lake of fire can only be a part of the consuming fire that is God Himself. Hebrews 2:9; Hebrews 12:29. Deuteronomy 32:22; Deuteronomy 4:24.
God derives His infinite power from faith. God possesses infinite faith in His own power. Hebrews 11:1-3. God made the worlds from things which do not appear. What does not appear? The contents of His Infinite Consciousness does not appear. God's Ideas do not appear. God's Word did not appear until He put it into written form. Although God's written Word connects to the Infinite, it has to be limited to the finite mind of man. The believer may possess the Mind of Christ, but he still cannot think in infinite ways. I Corinthians 2:16. The believer has the Mind of Christ because his faith connects him to the Infinite and infallible Word of God. Objective truth is always limited. Subjective Truth connects directly to Infinite and Almighty Truth. John 14:6.
This truth means that in order for God to be able to save every living person within the regions of the dead, they all must repent and return to faith in Christ their Savior and of their own free will. God has given a measure of faith to all living humans, and God knows exactly how to return every living human to faith in Christ of their own free will. Romans 12:3. As God prophesied in Isaiah 45:21-24 and in Philippians 2:9-11 and as will be fulfilled in Revelation 5:11-14, God will effect a great worship service in which all living humans within the regions of the dead will repent and return to faith in Christ their Savior of their own free will.
Every sin which a person commits becomes evil if he refuses to repent of it precisely because of his lack of faith in God's forgiveness and mercy. Every evil act of which a person repents becomes cleansed and forgiven by God's grace or His consuming fire because his repentance and faith triggers God's compassion for him. Every sin and evil act of which a person refuses to repent adheres to spiritual death which is totally evil and which God will separate from all humans and cast into the lake of fire. Revelation 20:11-15. But God will restore the repentance and faith of all living humans because He can never lose anything He has ever created. Ecclesiastes 3:14; Revelation 21:5; Romans 11:36.
God knows exactly how to return every living human to faith in His Son of their own free will in order to prove that His loving gift of free will to Lucifer and to the human race was not a mistake. Satan counted on using the free will of man to inject an evil into the being of man so powerful that it would eventually annul the living image of God in man and cause man's eternal separation from God. In this way, the Devil thought he could prove that God made a mistake, and therefore, His Love could not be Almighty. The Devil believed that if he could prove that God is not Almighty, he could get an advantage over Him, eventually murder Him and assume control of His universe. But Satan did not count on the Love of God being so powerful that He would allow the Devil to attempt to murder Him by taking all of the evil, sin, and spiritual deaths of all mankind on Himself on a cross, gain victory over it all by His resurrection from the dead, and thereby display the Almighty power of His Love to cleanse and separate all living humans from all their sin and evil, save them all from spiritual death, restore them all to fellowship with Him, and consign the total evil in every one of them to the lake of fire forever. John 5:24; Revelation 20:5; Revelation 20:11-15; John 5:28-29; I Corinthians 15:22; I Corinthians 15:26; John 12:47.
Job considered God's separation of the totally wicked from Himself to be a "strange punishment" probably because he could not comprehend what a lake of fire could be. No one really can. But since Christ took the eternal spiritual deaths of all humans on Himself, then the lake of fire can only be a part of the consuming fire that is God Himself. Hebrews 2:9; Hebrews 12:29. Deuteronomy 32:22; Deuteronomy 4:24.
Monday, October 14, 2019
Commentary on the Book of Job part eighty six
Job 31:1-40
In Job 31:1-3, Job began to rise somewhat above his confusion when he called to remembrance all that God had done for him. Job remembered that God had caused him to be a loving and moral person. In verse two, Job asked two questions of God. What does God give the believer? And what does the believer inherit from God? God provided Job with His answer to the first question in the rest of the chapter by reminding Job that He had caused him to become a believer who happened to be good and loving and moral. God did not provide Job with an answer to the second question perhaps because God did not want to reveal in the Old Testament that a believer in the Redeemer receives heaven as his inheritance. Perhaps God desired to reserve that revelation for the New Testament.
In verse three, God gave Job a prophecy about that which He will do with the wicked who happen to be the same as the evil dead in Revelation 20:11-15. Those who deliberately give themselves to practice evil become dead within themselves. They reflect this fact in their belief in nihilism. Proverbs 8:36. They almost always believe that physical death annuls their souls and spirits which is exactly that which the forces of evil want them to believe.
But even the evil dead still possess a living soul and spirit that God created and put into them. Genesis 1:27. God can never lose anything He has ever created. Ecclesiastes 3:14; Luke 20:38. Every sinner still retains the living image of God within their beings even though they all have become stained by the influence of evil that the Devil has injected into the being of every human. Isaiah 64:6. Nowhere does the Bible declare that God will cast sinners into the lake of fire, only the unclean, evil dead. Revelation 20:11-15; Revelation 22:11-12. But God will cleanse all sinners in order to rescue their living souls and spirits from spiritual death, some by His grace and all others by the use of His consuming fire. John 5:24; John 1:29; I Corinthians 3:11-15; Matthew 3:11-12; John 5:28-29.
God knows exactly how to cleanse and preserve the souls and spirits and bodies of every sinner, protect them from eternal spiritual death, and restore them all to reconciliation with Him. Colossians 1:15-23; Revelation 21:5. God accomplished this monumental task through the death, burial, and resurrection of His Son. John 12:47; Hebrews 2:8-9; I Timothy 4:10. God reserves His highest form of salvation for those who repent and believe in Christ while still alive in the flesh. John 5:24. But God will also provide a lesser form of salvation for the souls, spirits, and bodies of all humans who died in their sins, whom He had to consign to one of the regions of the dead. God will use His consuming fire to cleanse His living images within them and raise them all from the dead for Him to recreate to live on His recreated earth. I Corinthians 3:11-15; Revelation 20:5.
In Job 31:1-3, Job began to rise somewhat above his confusion when he called to remembrance all that God had done for him. Job remembered that God had caused him to be a loving and moral person. In verse two, Job asked two questions of God. What does God give the believer? And what does the believer inherit from God? God provided Job with His answer to the first question in the rest of the chapter by reminding Job that He had caused him to become a believer who happened to be good and loving and moral. God did not provide Job with an answer to the second question perhaps because God did not want to reveal in the Old Testament that a believer in the Redeemer receives heaven as his inheritance. Perhaps God desired to reserve that revelation for the New Testament.
In verse three, God gave Job a prophecy about that which He will do with the wicked who happen to be the same as the evil dead in Revelation 20:11-15. Those who deliberately give themselves to practice evil become dead within themselves. They reflect this fact in their belief in nihilism. Proverbs 8:36. They almost always believe that physical death annuls their souls and spirits which is exactly that which the forces of evil want them to believe.
But even the evil dead still possess a living soul and spirit that God created and put into them. Genesis 1:27. God can never lose anything He has ever created. Ecclesiastes 3:14; Luke 20:38. Every sinner still retains the living image of God within their beings even though they all have become stained by the influence of evil that the Devil has injected into the being of every human. Isaiah 64:6. Nowhere does the Bible declare that God will cast sinners into the lake of fire, only the unclean, evil dead. Revelation 20:11-15; Revelation 22:11-12. But God will cleanse all sinners in order to rescue their living souls and spirits from spiritual death, some by His grace and all others by the use of His consuming fire. John 5:24; John 1:29; I Corinthians 3:11-15; Matthew 3:11-12; John 5:28-29.
God knows exactly how to cleanse and preserve the souls and spirits and bodies of every sinner, protect them from eternal spiritual death, and restore them all to reconciliation with Him. Colossians 1:15-23; Revelation 21:5. God accomplished this monumental task through the death, burial, and resurrection of His Son. John 12:47; Hebrews 2:8-9; I Timothy 4:10. God reserves His highest form of salvation for those who repent and believe in Christ while still alive in the flesh. John 5:24. But God will also provide a lesser form of salvation for the souls, spirits, and bodies of all humans who died in their sins, whom He had to consign to one of the regions of the dead. God will use His consuming fire to cleanse His living images within them and raise them all from the dead for Him to recreate to live on His recreated earth. I Corinthians 3:11-15; Revelation 20:5.
Thursday, October 3, 2019
Commentary on the Book of Job part eighty five
Job 30:1-31
God had to test His Love in order to overcome doubt about it in His creations caused by Lucifer's rebellion. If God did not test His Love, then evil would remain forever within His creations causing permanent suffering. God could not ban evil by a summary command because that would leave His Love untested. Satan thought that by injecting evil into living humans, he would be able to hold them in hell forever and cause a failure of God's Love. An Almighty Love cannot fail to save everything that it loves.
God allowed temporary suffering for sin and evil in man's life so that, regardless of whether each human failed or passed the tests of his faith, God could still exert His Almighty Love to suffer man's sin and evil in his place in order to save his life from permanent separation from Him. In this way, God would pass the test of His own Love. When a person passed a test of his faith, then God would be pleased with him and spare him the suffering that that sin would cause, but it would not save him forever. Every person sins and fails a test of his faith and suffers for it, but that does not cause God to lose His Love for him manifested in His suffering his permanent death and the sin and evil that would cause that eternal separation from Him in his place. John 12:47; Hebrews 2:9.
God also knew exactly how to use the faith that He had put into His living image in every person to cause every person to freely choose to return to love for Him as their Savior, some by His grace and all others within the regions of the dead by a great worship service as recorded in Revelation 5:11-14. Revelation 4:11 reveals that God created everything for His own pleasure. That statement can only mean His eternal pleasure. God could not possibly enjoy any eternal pleasure should His living image that He created and put into man suffer forever in an eternal hell. God must save all of humanity, but at different levels of salvation.
Job suffered confusion about why God had made him suffer in Job 30:25-31. Job could not understand that God had a good reason for his suffering. God had to prove that Job's temporary suffering for his sin and evil could never cause a permanent separation from Him because God's Love would suffer that permanent separation for Job and for all mankind. Job could not understand that God had already rescued Job forever when Job confessed his faith in His coming Redeemer in Job 19:25.
God had to test His Love in order to overcome doubt about it in His creations caused by Lucifer's rebellion. If God did not test His Love, then evil would remain forever within His creations causing permanent suffering. God could not ban evil by a summary command because that would leave His Love untested. Satan thought that by injecting evil into living humans, he would be able to hold them in hell forever and cause a failure of God's Love. An Almighty Love cannot fail to save everything that it loves.
God allowed temporary suffering for sin and evil in man's life so that, regardless of whether each human failed or passed the tests of his faith, God could still exert His Almighty Love to suffer man's sin and evil in his place in order to save his life from permanent separation from Him. In this way, God would pass the test of His own Love. When a person passed a test of his faith, then God would be pleased with him and spare him the suffering that that sin would cause, but it would not save him forever. Every person sins and fails a test of his faith and suffers for it, but that does not cause God to lose His Love for him manifested in His suffering his permanent death and the sin and evil that would cause that eternal separation from Him in his place. John 12:47; Hebrews 2:9.
God also knew exactly how to use the faith that He had put into His living image in every person to cause every person to freely choose to return to love for Him as their Savior, some by His grace and all others within the regions of the dead by a great worship service as recorded in Revelation 5:11-14. Revelation 4:11 reveals that God created everything for His own pleasure. That statement can only mean His eternal pleasure. God could not possibly enjoy any eternal pleasure should His living image that He created and put into man suffer forever in an eternal hell. God must save all of humanity, but at different levels of salvation.
Job suffered confusion about why God had made him suffer in Job 30:25-31. Job could not understand that God had a good reason for his suffering. God had to prove that Job's temporary suffering for his sin and evil could never cause a permanent separation from Him because God's Love would suffer that permanent separation for Job and for all mankind. Job could not understand that God had already rescued Job forever when Job confessed his faith in His coming Redeemer in Job 19:25.
Wednesday, October 2, 2019
Commentary on the Book of Job part eighty four
Job 30:1-31
Satan knew that once he had injected evil into man's being that man would then be helpless to ever overcome that evil and make himself clean again. Satan counted on the overwhelming power of evil to eventually cause a permanent separation of God's image in man from God's Love for man. In other words, Satan desired to cause permanent spiritual death of God's image in man. God allows mankind to temporarily suffer for their sins, but God will never allow the Devil to cause living humans to become totally evil and separated from Him in hell forever. God hates evil. Living humans have become stained by sin, but God will always cleanse and forgive those sins when every living human eventually repents and puts their faith in Christ to save them. Sins of which a human never repents becomes a part of his spiritual death that God will cast into the lake of fire. John 5:24; Revelation 5:11-14; Matthew 12:31-32.
But that which Satan did not count on and that which he could not comprehend was that God would become a man Himself, and because of His Almighty Love, would suffer man's eternal separation from God in man's place. God's Son suffered on a cross and shed His blood and water to cleanse and forgive all living humans who would repent and believe in Him from all their sins and evil and recreate them while they are still alive in the flesh. I Corinthians 6:11. God's Son also descended into hell to leave behind the sins and evil of the rest of humanity so that He could use His consuming fire in the end of the world to permanently separate the living part of every human there from their spiritual deaths which are totally evil because they never repent. God designed every living human to be capable of repentance and faith in His Son who alone can save them from eternal spiritual death, but evil is foreign to man's being even though Satan injected it into man's being. I Peter 3:18; I Corinthians 3:11-15.
Every temptation that every human faces in life happens to be a test of the faith that God put into him when He created him. Romans 12:3. If a person passes his test, he will earn God's approval and reward, but he cannot earn his own salvation. Only Christ can save every human from their sins and eternal deaths. If a person fails his test, then his sin will cause him temporary suffering in life, but never eternal separation from God. Evil causes temporary suffering in all humans regardless of whether they sin or not.
Satan thought that he could use the weakness in man's free will that God had given him to inject evil into his being which would permanently ruin him and from which he could never recover. In this way, Satan thought he could prove that God makes mistakes, and therefore, something would be wrong with God's Love. But God knew exactly how to cause His living image in every person to freely choose to return to repentance and faith in Him as their Savior, some by His grace and all others in a tremendous worship service as recorded in Revelation 5:11-14.
Satan knew that once he had injected evil into man's being that man would then be helpless to ever overcome that evil and make himself clean again. Satan counted on the overwhelming power of evil to eventually cause a permanent separation of God's image in man from God's Love for man. In other words, Satan desired to cause permanent spiritual death of God's image in man. God allows mankind to temporarily suffer for their sins, but God will never allow the Devil to cause living humans to become totally evil and separated from Him in hell forever. God hates evil. Living humans have become stained by sin, but God will always cleanse and forgive those sins when every living human eventually repents and puts their faith in Christ to save them. Sins of which a human never repents becomes a part of his spiritual death that God will cast into the lake of fire. John 5:24; Revelation 5:11-14; Matthew 12:31-32.
But that which Satan did not count on and that which he could not comprehend was that God would become a man Himself, and because of His Almighty Love, would suffer man's eternal separation from God in man's place. God's Son suffered on a cross and shed His blood and water to cleanse and forgive all living humans who would repent and believe in Him from all their sins and evil and recreate them while they are still alive in the flesh. I Corinthians 6:11. God's Son also descended into hell to leave behind the sins and evil of the rest of humanity so that He could use His consuming fire in the end of the world to permanently separate the living part of every human there from their spiritual deaths which are totally evil because they never repent. God designed every living human to be capable of repentance and faith in His Son who alone can save them from eternal spiritual death, but evil is foreign to man's being even though Satan injected it into man's being. I Peter 3:18; I Corinthians 3:11-15.
Every temptation that every human faces in life happens to be a test of the faith that God put into him when He created him. Romans 12:3. If a person passes his test, he will earn God's approval and reward, but he cannot earn his own salvation. Only Christ can save every human from their sins and eternal deaths. If a person fails his test, then his sin will cause him temporary suffering in life, but never eternal separation from God. Evil causes temporary suffering in all humans regardless of whether they sin or not.
Satan thought that he could use the weakness in man's free will that God had given him to inject evil into his being which would permanently ruin him and from which he could never recover. In this way, Satan thought he could prove that God makes mistakes, and therefore, something would be wrong with God's Love. But God knew exactly how to cause His living image in every person to freely choose to return to repentance and faith in Him as their Savior, some by His grace and all others in a tremendous worship service as recorded in Revelation 5:11-14.
Tuesday, October 1, 2019
Commentary on the Book of Job part eighty three
Job 30:1-31
No matter how good or evil any human may be within the regions of the dead, each one still retains a measure of faith that God has supplied to every living image of God that He put into every one of them. Romans 12:3. One day in the future, God will reactivate that faith still within their living images to worship Him in a great worship service as recorded in Revelation 5:11-14. Their living images will all freely choose to recognize Christ as the Lamb of God who has the power to rescue their living images from all of the regions of the dead. Christ will use His consuming fire to cleanse them of all sin and separate their totally evil deaths from them. I Corinthians 3:11-15. In Revelation 20:5, Christ will resurrect their cleansed living images from the dead for Him to recreate to live on His recreated earth. Revelation 21:1-5. Christ will cast their separated, totally evil deaths into the lake of fire. Revelation 20:11-15.
God will completely cleanse and recreate all that He originally created, some by His grace and all others in a general resurrection in the end of the world. John 5:28-29; John 5:24; Revelation 22:11-12; Acts 24:15; Romans 11:36; Romans 8:18-23; Colossians 1:15-23; I Timothy 4:10; Matthew 3:11-12 and many other scriptures.
In Job 30:25-31, Job displayed confusion. He wondered why he had been made to suffer so much when he had tried to do good works and be faithful to the Lord. Satan caused his suffering, but the Lord allowed it. Why?
Satan has wagered that he can use evil, over which he has partially gained control, to so horribly cause the human race to suffer that that evil will eventually annul some of God's good images that God created and put into every person. Satan believes that if he can cause genocide, war, famine, slavery, and all other forms of horrible acts of inhumanity, then he can absolutely destroy and annul the good image of God in at least one person, causing God's Love to fail and man's faith that God put into man to also fail. Should Satan succeed in his evil plan, he would prove that God's Love is not Almighty, get an advantage over God that he can use to eventually find a way to murder Him, and invent his own evil universe. Satan revealed his plan for the human race in Job 2:9, and his plan for God in Matthew 4:1-11.
No matter how good or evil any human may be within the regions of the dead, each one still retains a measure of faith that God has supplied to every living image of God that He put into every one of them. Romans 12:3. One day in the future, God will reactivate that faith still within their living images to worship Him in a great worship service as recorded in Revelation 5:11-14. Their living images will all freely choose to recognize Christ as the Lamb of God who has the power to rescue their living images from all of the regions of the dead. Christ will use His consuming fire to cleanse them of all sin and separate their totally evil deaths from them. I Corinthians 3:11-15. In Revelation 20:5, Christ will resurrect their cleansed living images from the dead for Him to recreate to live on His recreated earth. Revelation 21:1-5. Christ will cast their separated, totally evil deaths into the lake of fire. Revelation 20:11-15.
God will completely cleanse and recreate all that He originally created, some by His grace and all others in a general resurrection in the end of the world. John 5:28-29; John 5:24; Revelation 22:11-12; Acts 24:15; Romans 11:36; Romans 8:18-23; Colossians 1:15-23; I Timothy 4:10; Matthew 3:11-12 and many other scriptures.
In Job 30:25-31, Job displayed confusion. He wondered why he had been made to suffer so much when he had tried to do good works and be faithful to the Lord. Satan caused his suffering, but the Lord allowed it. Why?
Satan has wagered that he can use evil, over which he has partially gained control, to so horribly cause the human race to suffer that that evil will eventually annul some of God's good images that God created and put into every person. Satan believes that if he can cause genocide, war, famine, slavery, and all other forms of horrible acts of inhumanity, then he can absolutely destroy and annul the good image of God in at least one person, causing God's Love to fail and man's faith that God put into man to also fail. Should Satan succeed in his evil plan, he would prove that God's Love is not Almighty, get an advantage over God that he can use to eventually find a way to murder Him, and invent his own evil universe. Satan revealed his plan for the human race in Job 2:9, and his plan for God in Matthew 4:1-11.
Monday, September 30, 2019
Commentary on the Book of Job part eighty two
Job 30:1-31
Satan has gained some control over evil and its annulment powers. Satan seeks to use evil to annul God and become the god of his own universe. Satan has no desire to annul himself.
Satan caused evil to become a part of every humans' being which influenced the good and living image of God in them to become filthy with sin. Isaiah 64:6. But God devised a plan whereby He would be able to cleanse every living human from their sin and separate them from their total evil and by the use of their own free will. God can never lose anything He has ever created. Genesis 1:31; Genesis 2:7; Genesis 3:20; Ecclesiastes 3:14; Luke 20:38.
In their sinful condition, every living human being became doomed to be separated from God forever in eternal spiritual death. When God came looking for Adam and Eve after they hid themselves because of their sins, they were already spiritually dead. But God came to earth in Love to suffer man's sin and eternal spiritual death in the place of every human. Since Christ was sinless and perfect, spiritual death could not hold Him within the regions of the dead, so He rose from the dead to give spiritual life back to every human. A strict reading of John 12:47 can only mean that Christ cannot fail to do exactly that which He said He would do; that is, save the world, meaning all humanity. Hebrews 2:9.
God gives back His spiritual life to every human in different ways. Some humans who read or hear the gospel choose to repent and believe in Christ while still alive in the flesh. These believers receive God's highest form of salvation which is salvation by grace. God cleanses and recreates their souls and spirits while they are still alive in the flesh and gives them the very righteousness of Christ Himself which makes them perfect and fit for God to accept them into heaven to live with Him there forever. I Corinthians 6:11; II Corinthians 5:17; II Corinthians 5:21; Romans 8:14-17.
Following their physical deaths, Christ will consign all humans not saved by grace to one of the three regions of the dead because their living souls and spirits will still be filthy with sin. Revelation 20:13 informs us that three different regions of the dead exist which are the sea, death, and hell. All three are hellish places, but Christ will probably consign those who led moral lives, but were not saved by grace, to the lesser place of punishment called the sea. Christ will probably consign those who led immoral lives to the greater hellish place called death or the bottomless pit. Christ will also consign those who led evil lives to the worst place that He created for the Devil and his angels called hell. Matthew 26:41. In the end of the world, Christ will cast both death and hell into the lake of fire which will merge them and cause them to become the everlasting abode of all separated total evil which is the same as spiritual death. Revelation 20:14; I Corinthians 15:26. Christ will recover and recreate His living images from all humans within all three of the regions of death. I Corinthians 15:22; Revelation 20:5; Revelation 21:1-5.
Humans who deliberately choose to lead evil lives always know that they are evil. By their words and actions, they always betray the fact that they know they are evil. But even the worst evil humans still retain some goodness and faith within their living souls that God created. Genesis 1:31. God will not fail to cause even these small living souls and spirits to repent of their own free will so that He can recover their lives for Him to recreate to live on His recreated earth. Philippians 2:9-11; Revelation 5:11-14; Revelation 21:1-5. God created all things. Revelation 4:11. Therefore, the "all things" that God "makes new" in Revelation 21:5 can only be the same things He created in Genesis 1:31 and which He can never lose according to Ecclesiastes 3:14 and Romans 11:36. Colossians 1:15-20.
Satan has gained some control over evil and its annulment powers. Satan seeks to use evil to annul God and become the god of his own universe. Satan has no desire to annul himself.
Satan caused evil to become a part of every humans' being which influenced the good and living image of God in them to become filthy with sin. Isaiah 64:6. But God devised a plan whereby He would be able to cleanse every living human from their sin and separate them from their total evil and by the use of their own free will. God can never lose anything He has ever created. Genesis 1:31; Genesis 2:7; Genesis 3:20; Ecclesiastes 3:14; Luke 20:38.
In their sinful condition, every living human being became doomed to be separated from God forever in eternal spiritual death. When God came looking for Adam and Eve after they hid themselves because of their sins, they were already spiritually dead. But God came to earth in Love to suffer man's sin and eternal spiritual death in the place of every human. Since Christ was sinless and perfect, spiritual death could not hold Him within the regions of the dead, so He rose from the dead to give spiritual life back to every human. A strict reading of John 12:47 can only mean that Christ cannot fail to do exactly that which He said He would do; that is, save the world, meaning all humanity. Hebrews 2:9.
God gives back His spiritual life to every human in different ways. Some humans who read or hear the gospel choose to repent and believe in Christ while still alive in the flesh. These believers receive God's highest form of salvation which is salvation by grace. God cleanses and recreates their souls and spirits while they are still alive in the flesh and gives them the very righteousness of Christ Himself which makes them perfect and fit for God to accept them into heaven to live with Him there forever. I Corinthians 6:11; II Corinthians 5:17; II Corinthians 5:21; Romans 8:14-17.
Following their physical deaths, Christ will consign all humans not saved by grace to one of the three regions of the dead because their living souls and spirits will still be filthy with sin. Revelation 20:13 informs us that three different regions of the dead exist which are the sea, death, and hell. All three are hellish places, but Christ will probably consign those who led moral lives, but were not saved by grace, to the lesser place of punishment called the sea. Christ will probably consign those who led immoral lives to the greater hellish place called death or the bottomless pit. Christ will also consign those who led evil lives to the worst place that He created for the Devil and his angels called hell. Matthew 26:41. In the end of the world, Christ will cast both death and hell into the lake of fire which will merge them and cause them to become the everlasting abode of all separated total evil which is the same as spiritual death. Revelation 20:14; I Corinthians 15:26. Christ will recover and recreate His living images from all humans within all three of the regions of death. I Corinthians 15:22; Revelation 20:5; Revelation 21:1-5.
Humans who deliberately choose to lead evil lives always know that they are evil. By their words and actions, they always betray the fact that they know they are evil. But even the worst evil humans still retain some goodness and faith within their living souls that God created. Genesis 1:31. God will not fail to cause even these small living souls and spirits to repent of their own free will so that He can recover their lives for Him to recreate to live on His recreated earth. Philippians 2:9-11; Revelation 5:11-14; Revelation 21:1-5. God created all things. Revelation 4:11. Therefore, the "all things" that God "makes new" in Revelation 21:5 can only be the same things He created in Genesis 1:31 and which He can never lose according to Ecclesiastes 3:14 and Romans 11:36. Colossians 1:15-20.
Thursday, September 26, 2019
Commentary on the Book of Job part eighty one
Job 30:1-31
Evil entered into God's creations with the rebellion of Lucifer. Such a condition would cause suffering and doubt about God's Love forever if God did nothing about it. Such a condition would also call God's Love for His creations into question because all those who remained loyal to God would continue forever to wonder why God did not do something to get rid of evil. God also could not ban evil from His creations with a summary command because, in His innocence, He did not know how it got into His universe, and also such a summary command would leave His Love untested. Those who contend that if God is Almighty, then He should be able to ban evil from His universe without the need for suffering or the test of His Love, forget that God is also Holy. God's Holiness constrains Him to be creative in everything He does. In other words, God must be careful to get what He does right. If there were any chance that that which God does would make conditions worse instead of better, then God cannot do it.
God discovered that evil came from the bottomless pit, but He did not know how it wormed its way into His creations using the cloak of darkness which He had created in innocence. God had to devise a plan whereby He could use His Love to completely defeat evil, but also He could ban its subtle entrance into His created systems forever.
God is omniscient, but He only possesses an infinite knowledge of all that is good and creative. God knew nothing about evil until after Lucifer had rebelled. God discovered that evil emanates from negative consciousnesses within the bottomless pit which His Word calls devils. God's positive consciousness came to understand that chaotic, negative consciousnesses would have to be the opposite of creative consciousness; that is, it would seek only to destroy by annihilation all creative systems that it may touch. Even though negative consciousness cannot be creative, even its very existence would continuously seek to annul itself since existence itself has to be somewhat positive. This condition means that in some mysterious way which no positive consciousness can ever hope to understand, not even God's, negative consciousness both exists and nonexists at the same time. II Thessalonians 2:7; Revelation 17:8. Science has discovered that the universe holds a mathematical principle that both exists and nonexists at the same time that it calls virtual particles. This principle proves that such a condition is possible even though no one can understand it.
God gave the gift of free will to Lucifer so that he would have the liberty to create whatever good systems he desired. True love seeks to liberate, not control. God had no idea that Lucifer could misuse God's gift to choose to introduce evil into God's creations. One aspect of the criminal mind is that it often most harms those who try to be good to it.
God knew that He had to devise a plan to permanently defeat and ban all evil from all of His creations. By the use of His Omnipotent Love, He had to prove that the weakness in free will that allowed evil to come into His creations would never be able to annul His Love. God created a good system called the human race and deliberately gave it free will. Satan thought that God had made a huge mistake in doing this. Satan thought he could use that mistake to introduce an evil into man's being that would eventually become so vile in man that it would annul man's faith that God had put into His image in man, and thereby annul God's Love for man since God hates evil. Romans 12:3. In such a case, should Satan prove that God's Love can fail, he would thereby gain an advantage over God which would allow him to eventually murder God and gain control of God's good ideas so that he could misuse them to invent a universe based on evil systems of excessive pride and pleasure. Satan revealed his vile plans in his temptation of Christ as recorded in Matthew 4:1-11.
Evil entered into God's creations with the rebellion of Lucifer. Such a condition would cause suffering and doubt about God's Love forever if God did nothing about it. Such a condition would also call God's Love for His creations into question because all those who remained loyal to God would continue forever to wonder why God did not do something to get rid of evil. God also could not ban evil from His creations with a summary command because, in His innocence, He did not know how it got into His universe, and also such a summary command would leave His Love untested. Those who contend that if God is Almighty, then He should be able to ban evil from His universe without the need for suffering or the test of His Love, forget that God is also Holy. God's Holiness constrains Him to be creative in everything He does. In other words, God must be careful to get what He does right. If there were any chance that that which God does would make conditions worse instead of better, then God cannot do it.
God discovered that evil came from the bottomless pit, but He did not know how it wormed its way into His creations using the cloak of darkness which He had created in innocence. God had to devise a plan whereby He could use His Love to completely defeat evil, but also He could ban its subtle entrance into His created systems forever.
God is omniscient, but He only possesses an infinite knowledge of all that is good and creative. God knew nothing about evil until after Lucifer had rebelled. God discovered that evil emanates from negative consciousnesses within the bottomless pit which His Word calls devils. God's positive consciousness came to understand that chaotic, negative consciousnesses would have to be the opposite of creative consciousness; that is, it would seek only to destroy by annihilation all creative systems that it may touch. Even though negative consciousness cannot be creative, even its very existence would continuously seek to annul itself since existence itself has to be somewhat positive. This condition means that in some mysterious way which no positive consciousness can ever hope to understand, not even God's, negative consciousness both exists and nonexists at the same time. II Thessalonians 2:7; Revelation 17:8. Science has discovered that the universe holds a mathematical principle that both exists and nonexists at the same time that it calls virtual particles. This principle proves that such a condition is possible even though no one can understand it.
God gave the gift of free will to Lucifer so that he would have the liberty to create whatever good systems he desired. True love seeks to liberate, not control. God had no idea that Lucifer could misuse God's gift to choose to introduce evil into God's creations. One aspect of the criminal mind is that it often most harms those who try to be good to it.
God knew that He had to devise a plan to permanently defeat and ban all evil from all of His creations. By the use of His Omnipotent Love, He had to prove that the weakness in free will that allowed evil to come into His creations would never be able to annul His Love. God created a good system called the human race and deliberately gave it free will. Satan thought that God had made a huge mistake in doing this. Satan thought he could use that mistake to introduce an evil into man's being that would eventually become so vile in man that it would annul man's faith that God had put into His image in man, and thereby annul God's Love for man since God hates evil. Romans 12:3. In such a case, should Satan prove that God's Love can fail, he would thereby gain an advantage over God which would allow him to eventually murder God and gain control of God's good ideas so that he could misuse them to invent a universe based on evil systems of excessive pride and pleasure. Satan revealed his vile plans in his temptation of Christ as recorded in Matthew 4:1-11.
Wednesday, September 25, 2019
Commentary on the Book of Job part eighty
Job 30:1-31
Only the Church will become the Bride of Christ. All of the Old Testament and Tribulation saints saved by grace will have different roles to play in their eternal futures in heaven.
God cannot accept the souls and spirits of living humans not saved by grace into heaven because when they physically die they will still be stained by the filthiness of sin and evil. God will be able to accept the souls and spirits of all spiritual believers into heaven following their physical deaths because He will have already thoroughly cleansed them of all sin and evil by the shed blood of Christ, will have forgiven them, and will have given them the perfect righteousness of Christ by which God can accept them to live with Him in heaven forever. II Corinthians 5:21; Romans 8:14-17.
God will dissolve the systems of spiritual believers in such a way as to allow them to retain their identities and most of their personalities forever. God will dissolve the systems of all living humans within the regions of the dead by the use of His consuming fire which will also contain the shed blood and water of Christ. But God will not recreate their same identities and personalities because they will have become excessively marred by sin and evil. God will use the goodness still left in their living souls and spirits to recreate different individual humans to live on His recreated earth. But some of these living humans who led good lives but did not get saved by grace may retain some of their former identities and personalities. John 12:25.
In Job 30:25-31, Job grieved for his suffering, and he could not understand why God had reduced him to such misery when he had only tried to do good in his life. Job's condition symbolizes the fact that God has caused the entire human race to suffer to some extent but for a good reason. God had to allow even the most horrible and cruel suffering of humanity in order to prove that His Love for His living image that He created and put into man can never fail. I Corinthians 13:8. Satan discovered that he could exploit the free will that God had given man to cause his downfall into evil which would also cause humans to sin. This downfall caused man to be in danger of eternal spiritual separation from God. But God had created man to be good and faith was a part of that goodness. Romans 12:3. God devised a plan whereby the faith that He had put into every human would someday cause every human to freely choose to repent and cry out for reconciliation with God because of the sacrificial suffering of His Son in their place to remove their sin and evil which would cause their eternal spiritual deaths, some saved by grace through faith, and all others in a great worship service as recorded in Revelation 5:11-14. In this way, God will prove that His Love can never lose anything He has ever created. Ecclesiastes 3:14; Revelation 21:5.
Only the Church will become the Bride of Christ. All of the Old Testament and Tribulation saints saved by grace will have different roles to play in their eternal futures in heaven.
God cannot accept the souls and spirits of living humans not saved by grace into heaven because when they physically die they will still be stained by the filthiness of sin and evil. God will be able to accept the souls and spirits of all spiritual believers into heaven following their physical deaths because He will have already thoroughly cleansed them of all sin and evil by the shed blood of Christ, will have forgiven them, and will have given them the perfect righteousness of Christ by which God can accept them to live with Him in heaven forever. II Corinthians 5:21; Romans 8:14-17.
God will dissolve the systems of spiritual believers in such a way as to allow them to retain their identities and most of their personalities forever. God will dissolve the systems of all living humans within the regions of the dead by the use of His consuming fire which will also contain the shed blood and water of Christ. But God will not recreate their same identities and personalities because they will have become excessively marred by sin and evil. God will use the goodness still left in their living souls and spirits to recreate different individual humans to live on His recreated earth. But some of these living humans who led good lives but did not get saved by grace may retain some of their former identities and personalities. John 12:25.
In Job 30:25-31, Job grieved for his suffering, and he could not understand why God had reduced him to such misery when he had only tried to do good in his life. Job's condition symbolizes the fact that God has caused the entire human race to suffer to some extent but for a good reason. God had to allow even the most horrible and cruel suffering of humanity in order to prove that His Love for His living image that He created and put into man can never fail. I Corinthians 13:8. Satan discovered that he could exploit the free will that God had given man to cause his downfall into evil which would also cause humans to sin. This downfall caused man to be in danger of eternal spiritual separation from God. But God had created man to be good and faith was a part of that goodness. Romans 12:3. God devised a plan whereby the faith that He had put into every human would someday cause every human to freely choose to repent and cry out for reconciliation with God because of the sacrificial suffering of His Son in their place to remove their sin and evil which would cause their eternal spiritual deaths, some saved by grace through faith, and all others in a great worship service as recorded in Revelation 5:11-14. In this way, God will prove that His Love can never lose anything He has ever created. Ecclesiastes 3:14; Revelation 21:5.
Tuesday, September 24, 2019
Commentary on the Book of Job part seventy nine
Job 30:1-31
In Job 30:22, God revealed to Job that He will also dissolve his system but in a much different way than how He will dissolve the systems of those within the regions of the dead. Job lauded God for lifting him up and causing him to ride on the wind. Job's words constitute an apt, symbolic description of how God dissolves the systems of those who become saved by grace. The "wind" symbolizes the Holy Spirit who saves the believers in Christ while they are still in the flesh by washing their souls and spirits clean of all sin and evil with the blood of Christ and recreating them. In this way, God separates the sin and evil within their inner beings from them so that He can recreate their souls and spirits while they are still alive in the flesh. In Job's case, God gave him the Holy Spirit when he believed in Christ, but Christ did not wash him inside with His blood and water until He visited him in Paradise and preached the gospel to him, and all the Old Testament saints, following His death on the cross. God also recreated Job's body to be fit for heaven, and translated him to heaven following Jesus' resurrection. Ephesians 4:8-10; Matthew 27:52-53. In the case of Church Age saints, the Holy Spirit immediately washes their souls and spirits clean the moment they repent and believe in Christ. The believer who experiences this spiritual rebirth will immediately know that God has cleansed his inner being and changed him, and he will know the joy and peace that the Holy Spirit gives. But God allows Church Age believers to retain their fleshly sinful nature so that they can remain in the world, but He will recreate their bodies to be fit for heaven at the Rapture of the Church. I Corinthians 6:11; Ephesians 2:4-6.
Spiritual believers will not be able to sin in their recreated souls and spirits while still alive in the flesh, but their fleshly natures will still be able to sin, or even commit evil acts, while still in the flesh in the world. I John 1:7-8; I John 3:9. But God will cleanse and forgive the fleshly sins of spiritual believers with the water that Jesus shed on the cross as they daily confess and repent of them. I John 1:9. Believers saved by grace can never lose their heavenly salvation because God never rescinds His promises. But at the Rapture of the Church, God will cast spiritual believers who have refused to daily repent into the bottomless pit until their anguish and remorse cause them to repent of all their fleshly sins, and even evil acts. After they have fully repented, God will forgive them and bring them out of that region of death to restore them to His cleansed Church in heaven. Matthew 18:32-35; Matthew 24:48-51; Ephesians 5:26-27. God will also severely punish spiritual believers who commit evil acts even after they repent of them. Hebrews 12:5-8.
All spiritual believers constitute the Body of Christ in the Church Age which is His universal Church. God has promised that He will thoroughly cleanse His entire Church by washing it in the water of His Word to make it fit to be His Bride in heaven. Only the Church will be the Bride of Christ. Christ can never lose a single member of His Church. Ephesians 4:4-6; Ephesians 5:25-27; John 10:27-30.
Christ will perfect His Church at the Rapture. Christ will eventually recreate His entire Church in body, soul, and spirit to be fit to live with Him in heaven forever. I Thessalonians 4:13-18. However, at the Rapture, Christ will have to cast backsliders into the bottomless pit until their remorse and anguish cause them to repent of all their fleshly sins and evil acts. Matthew 24:48-51; Matthew 18:34. God never fails to complete whatever He creates. Philippians 1:6. Eventually, all backsliders will repent, and Christ will thoroughly cleanse them, forgive them, and restore them fit to be members of His Bride at the marriage supper of the Lamb. Revelation 19:7-9.
In Job 30:22, God revealed to Job that He will also dissolve his system but in a much different way than how He will dissolve the systems of those within the regions of the dead. Job lauded God for lifting him up and causing him to ride on the wind. Job's words constitute an apt, symbolic description of how God dissolves the systems of those who become saved by grace. The "wind" symbolizes the Holy Spirit who saves the believers in Christ while they are still in the flesh by washing their souls and spirits clean of all sin and evil with the blood of Christ and recreating them. In this way, God separates the sin and evil within their inner beings from them so that He can recreate their souls and spirits while they are still alive in the flesh. In Job's case, God gave him the Holy Spirit when he believed in Christ, but Christ did not wash him inside with His blood and water until He visited him in Paradise and preached the gospel to him, and all the Old Testament saints, following His death on the cross. God also recreated Job's body to be fit for heaven, and translated him to heaven following Jesus' resurrection. Ephesians 4:8-10; Matthew 27:52-53. In the case of Church Age saints, the Holy Spirit immediately washes their souls and spirits clean the moment they repent and believe in Christ. The believer who experiences this spiritual rebirth will immediately know that God has cleansed his inner being and changed him, and he will know the joy and peace that the Holy Spirit gives. But God allows Church Age believers to retain their fleshly sinful nature so that they can remain in the world, but He will recreate their bodies to be fit for heaven at the Rapture of the Church. I Corinthians 6:11; Ephesians 2:4-6.
Spiritual believers will not be able to sin in their recreated souls and spirits while still alive in the flesh, but their fleshly natures will still be able to sin, or even commit evil acts, while still in the flesh in the world. I John 1:7-8; I John 3:9. But God will cleanse and forgive the fleshly sins of spiritual believers with the water that Jesus shed on the cross as they daily confess and repent of them. I John 1:9. Believers saved by grace can never lose their heavenly salvation because God never rescinds His promises. But at the Rapture of the Church, God will cast spiritual believers who have refused to daily repent into the bottomless pit until their anguish and remorse cause them to repent of all their fleshly sins, and even evil acts. After they have fully repented, God will forgive them and bring them out of that region of death to restore them to His cleansed Church in heaven. Matthew 18:32-35; Matthew 24:48-51; Ephesians 5:26-27. God will also severely punish spiritual believers who commit evil acts even after they repent of them. Hebrews 12:5-8.
All spiritual believers constitute the Body of Christ in the Church Age which is His universal Church. God has promised that He will thoroughly cleanse His entire Church by washing it in the water of His Word to make it fit to be His Bride in heaven. Only the Church will be the Bride of Christ. Christ can never lose a single member of His Church. Ephesians 4:4-6; Ephesians 5:25-27; John 10:27-30.
Christ will perfect His Church at the Rapture. Christ will eventually recreate His entire Church in body, soul, and spirit to be fit to live with Him in heaven forever. I Thessalonians 4:13-18. However, at the Rapture, Christ will have to cast backsliders into the bottomless pit until their remorse and anguish cause them to repent of all their fleshly sins and evil acts. Matthew 24:48-51; Matthew 18:34. God never fails to complete whatever He creates. Philippians 1:6. Eventually, all backsliders will repent, and Christ will thoroughly cleanse them, forgive them, and restore them fit to be members of His Bride at the marriage supper of the Lamb. Revelation 19:7-9.
Monday, September 23, 2019
A Scientific Unrealized Admission
Scientists state that before the big bang that started the universe, time and space did not exist. Time and space only began with the big bang. But the only way they could know that time and space began with the big bang is by the use of their consciousnesses. This fact makes consciousness absolutely necessary for the establishment of reality.
Scientists also cannot say that before the big bang only nothing existed because the idea of nothing is necessary as an idea to consciousness so that consciousness can tell the difference between something and nothing. The opposites of something and nothing form the basis of all reality. Without the idea of nothing and the appearance of something, space and time cannot exist.
All this means that no difference between something and nothing could have existed before the big bang because the idea of nothing could not have existed.
But then what did exist before the big bang? The answer can only be absolute nothingness; that is, no difference whatsoever between something and nothing. Whatever existed both existed and nonexisted at the same time. Scientists have discovered a particle that both exists and nonexists at the same time called a virtual particle. All of this can only mean that the only entity that can separate the awareness of something from the useful idea of nothing is consciousness.
Experiments in quantum mechanics have demonstrated that at the edge of consciousness particles exist as a wave function; that is, they ride the line between existence and nonexistence. Such experiments have further shown that only consciousness can collapse the wave function to a particle that is real in time and space. Since there could have been no difference between existence and nonexistence before the big bang, then a Consciousness had to exist to collapse its wave function to matter and expand the universe into time and space.
Therefore, a Consciousness had to exist at the start of the big bang to establish reality and the existence of time and space. Such a Consciousness would have to possess infinite knowledge and power in order to be able to establish universal reality. That part of Isaiah 40:22 that states "...that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain...," can only refer to the expansion of the universe.
The Bible consistently refers to evil as being equal to vanity which means both emptiness and excessive pride. Excessive pride is the source of all sin. Therefore, evil had to have existed and nonexisted before the big bang and somehow gained entrance into God's good creations from the chaos called absolute nothingness. For this reason, reality contains elements of chaos and evil.
Scientists also cannot say that before the big bang only nothing existed because the idea of nothing is necessary as an idea to consciousness so that consciousness can tell the difference between something and nothing. The opposites of something and nothing form the basis of all reality. Without the idea of nothing and the appearance of something, space and time cannot exist.
All this means that no difference between something and nothing could have existed before the big bang because the idea of nothing could not have existed.
But then what did exist before the big bang? The answer can only be absolute nothingness; that is, no difference whatsoever between something and nothing. Whatever existed both existed and nonexisted at the same time. Scientists have discovered a particle that both exists and nonexists at the same time called a virtual particle. All of this can only mean that the only entity that can separate the awareness of something from the useful idea of nothing is consciousness.
Experiments in quantum mechanics have demonstrated that at the edge of consciousness particles exist as a wave function; that is, they ride the line between existence and nonexistence. Such experiments have further shown that only consciousness can collapse the wave function to a particle that is real in time and space. Since there could have been no difference between existence and nonexistence before the big bang, then a Consciousness had to exist to collapse its wave function to matter and expand the universe into time and space.
Therefore, a Consciousness had to exist at the start of the big bang to establish reality and the existence of time and space. Such a Consciousness would have to possess infinite knowledge and power in order to be able to establish universal reality. That part of Isaiah 40:22 that states "...that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain...," can only refer to the expansion of the universe.
The Bible consistently refers to evil as being equal to vanity which means both emptiness and excessive pride. Excessive pride is the source of all sin. Therefore, evil had to have existed and nonexisted before the big bang and somehow gained entrance into God's good creations from the chaos called absolute nothingness. For this reason, reality contains elements of chaos and evil.
Thursday, September 19, 2019
Commentary on the Book of Job part seventy eight
Job 30:1-31
In Job 30:1-18, Job complained that even the evil criminals that the good people of his community had driven into the wilderness now held him in derision. Job felt despair because he had become humiliated by the sons of these vile criminals who openly mocked him and bullied him. But these verses constitute a prophecy that even though evil has caused mankind to suffer, one day God will completely separate all evil from all the goodness He has put into man. God will cast all evil into the lake of fire and preserve all of the good systems that He created forever. John 5:28-29; Revelation 21:1-5; Revelation 20:11-15; Revelation 22:11-12.
In Job 30:19-22, Job allowed his despair and dismay to cause him to become angry with God. Job accused God of abandoning him and refusing to hear his prayers. God did not become angry with Job. God understands that humans display a wide range of emotions especially when in states of suffering and despair. God displayed compassion toward Job and patience with him and supplied Job with an answer for his anger and despair.
According to Job 19:25-27, Job knew that he had a Redeemer who had saved him by grace, and who would bring his soul, after his physical death, to stand alive in God's presence. But God had not revealed to Job that he would have a home with Him in heaven forever. But according to Job 30:22-24, God revealed to Job that following his physical death, God would bring him "to the house appointed for all living." In Job's case, "this house;" that is, his eternal place would be with God in heaven, but God did not make that clear to Job. But God's prophecy given to Job also had a deeper meaning which is that "all living" have a "house," or eternal place, for them following their physical deaths. God's revelation confirms God's Word in Genesis 3:20 and in Luke 20:38 that God will preserve forever His living image that He has put into every human even though He must consign all humans not saved by grace to one of the regions of the dead following their physical deaths. Revelation 20:13.
In Job 30:24, God revealed to Job that even though humans cry out to Him from the regions of the dead, God will not pull them out of their graves to restore them to their former lives, but He will destroy them. But God's destruction means that He will dissolve their systems so that He can separate and recover His living images in them from their evil deaths also within them. God's destruction of their systems will mean that they will lose their former identities and personalities, but God will cleanse and preserve their living images for Him to use to recreate a righteous people to live forever on His recreated earth. John 12:25; Revelation 21:1-5.
In Job 30:1-18, Job complained that even the evil criminals that the good people of his community had driven into the wilderness now held him in derision. Job felt despair because he had become humiliated by the sons of these vile criminals who openly mocked him and bullied him. But these verses constitute a prophecy that even though evil has caused mankind to suffer, one day God will completely separate all evil from all the goodness He has put into man. God will cast all evil into the lake of fire and preserve all of the good systems that He created forever. John 5:28-29; Revelation 21:1-5; Revelation 20:11-15; Revelation 22:11-12.
In Job 30:19-22, Job allowed his despair and dismay to cause him to become angry with God. Job accused God of abandoning him and refusing to hear his prayers. God did not become angry with Job. God understands that humans display a wide range of emotions especially when in states of suffering and despair. God displayed compassion toward Job and patience with him and supplied Job with an answer for his anger and despair.
According to Job 19:25-27, Job knew that he had a Redeemer who had saved him by grace, and who would bring his soul, after his physical death, to stand alive in God's presence. But God had not revealed to Job that he would have a home with Him in heaven forever. But according to Job 30:22-24, God revealed to Job that following his physical death, God would bring him "to the house appointed for all living." In Job's case, "this house;" that is, his eternal place would be with God in heaven, but God did not make that clear to Job. But God's prophecy given to Job also had a deeper meaning which is that "all living" have a "house," or eternal place, for them following their physical deaths. God's revelation confirms God's Word in Genesis 3:20 and in Luke 20:38 that God will preserve forever His living image that He has put into every human even though He must consign all humans not saved by grace to one of the regions of the dead following their physical deaths. Revelation 20:13.
In Job 30:24, God revealed to Job that even though humans cry out to Him from the regions of the dead, God will not pull them out of their graves to restore them to their former lives, but He will destroy them. But God's destruction means that He will dissolve their systems so that He can separate and recover His living images in them from their evil deaths also within them. God's destruction of their systems will mean that they will lose their former identities and personalities, but God will cleanse and preserve their living images for Him to use to recreate a righteous people to live forever on His recreated earth. John 12:25; Revelation 21:1-5.
Thursday, September 5, 2019
Commentary on the Book of Job part seventy seven
Job 29:1-25
God also put into His plan a means whereby the weakness in the free will of man can never cause his eternal, spiritual death. Man can sin and deny his faith which can only temporarily thwart the will of God, but man's sin can never thwart the eternal will of God which is to save all mankind from eternal separation from Him. Revelation 5:11-14 prophesies that one day God will effect a tremendous worship service in which all that He ever created will worship Him. All living humans that God consigned to the regions of the dead because they failed to receive Christ as their Savior while alive in the flesh will return of their own free will to repentance and faith in Christ as their Savior. God will resurrect these living humans in Revelation 20:5 for Him to recreate to live on His recreated earth. Revelation 21:1-5; John 5:28-29.
Man sins because of the influence of evil that Satan put into his being. The difference between sin and evil is that God will always cleanse and forgive sin in man when he repents and returns to faith in God his Savior, but God will never forgive evil because it will never repent. Matthew 12:31-32; Revelation 9:20-21. While evil causes the living image of God in man to sin, nevertheless, evil is foreign to the being of man. God has compassion for fallen man because He recognizes that the weakness in man's free will causes the image of God in him to become tainted by sin caused, in turn, by the influence of evil within his being. Isaiah 1:18 means that the good life from God in man has become stained by sin. God will always cleanse and forgive sins upon repentance and faith in Christ to which all men will return. God will also cleanse all evil from humans and His universe by His use of His consuming fire, but He will never forgive it because it will never repent. In the end of the world, God will cast all total evil into the lake of fire. Revelation 20:11-15.
In the book of Job, God used Job to symbolize the history and the fate of all mankind.
God also put into His plan a means whereby the weakness in the free will of man can never cause his eternal, spiritual death. Man can sin and deny his faith which can only temporarily thwart the will of God, but man's sin can never thwart the eternal will of God which is to save all mankind from eternal separation from Him. Revelation 5:11-14 prophesies that one day God will effect a tremendous worship service in which all that He ever created will worship Him. All living humans that God consigned to the regions of the dead because they failed to receive Christ as their Savior while alive in the flesh will return of their own free will to repentance and faith in Christ as their Savior. God will resurrect these living humans in Revelation 20:5 for Him to recreate to live on His recreated earth. Revelation 21:1-5; John 5:28-29.
Man sins because of the influence of evil that Satan put into his being. The difference between sin and evil is that God will always cleanse and forgive sin in man when he repents and returns to faith in God his Savior, but God will never forgive evil because it will never repent. Matthew 12:31-32; Revelation 9:20-21. While evil causes the living image of God in man to sin, nevertheless, evil is foreign to the being of man. God has compassion for fallen man because He recognizes that the weakness in man's free will causes the image of God in him to become tainted by sin caused, in turn, by the influence of evil within his being. Isaiah 1:18 means that the good life from God in man has become stained by sin. God will always cleanse and forgive sins upon repentance and faith in Christ to which all men will return. God will also cleanse all evil from humans and His universe by His use of His consuming fire, but He will never forgive it because it will never repent. In the end of the world, God will cast all total evil into the lake of fire. Revelation 20:11-15.
In the book of Job, God used Job to symbolize the history and the fate of all mankind.
Commentary on the Book of Job part seventy six
Job 29:1-25
God gives free will to every human, but no human can use that free will to thwart the will of God forever. God knows exactly how to return the lives of every human to renewed faith in Him of their own free will. II Peter 3:9.
Evil emerged from the chaos that still remained in darkness, of which God knew nothing, to touch the free will that God had given Lucifer and make him realize that he could choose to disobey God by inventing false systems of excessive pride and pleasure. Lucifer refused to repent which caused God to have to strip him of all the goodness He had put into him and exile him to earth as a totally evil negative consciousness called Satan. Ezekiel 28:13-19.
Satan believed God had made a mistake when He gave free will to mankind. Satan thought he could use God's supposed mistake to get an advantage over God. Satan knew that he could use the weakness in man's free will to cause him to disobey God which would put evil into man's being. Satan expected that evil in man to become so foul that it would eventually annul the image of God in man and thereby prove that God's protective Love cannot be Almighty. Satan further believed that he could use this supposed weakness in God's Love to obtain an advantage over God so that he could one day murder Him and take control of His universe as he had already partly taken control of the earth. John 8:44; John 12:31.
But Satan did not know that God had given free will to man in order to test His Love to prove that His Love can never fail. God possesses Infinite Wisdom, and therefore, He certainly possesses the capability to devise a plan whereby He can rescue His image in every human by causing them to return to repentance and faith in Him of their own free will. God saves some humans by His grace while they are still alive in the flesh and all others in a great worship service as recorded in Revelation 5:11-14. I Corinthians 13:8; Ecclesiastes 3:14.
Doubt about God's Love had entered God's creations because of Lucifer's rebellion. Because of this doubt, Lucifer had been able to persuade one third of God's angels to follow him. As long as doubt remained in God's universe, evil would also remain. But God devised a plan to dispel all doubt from His universe and all the evil that results from it. John 20:24-29; Revelation 5:11-14.
God had allowed the Devil to put the image of God in man in danger of eternal separation from Him in spiritual death. But God outwitted the Devil by devising a plan to rescue the lives of all humans by His loving sacrifice of Himself on a cross and His descent into hell followed by His resurrection. God suffered the eternal spiritual deaths of every human in their place in order to liberate all of them from that horrible fate and return them to fellowship with Him. Hebrews 2:9; John 12:47; Colossians 1:15-20.
God gives free will to every human, but no human can use that free will to thwart the will of God forever. God knows exactly how to return the lives of every human to renewed faith in Him of their own free will. II Peter 3:9.
Evil emerged from the chaos that still remained in darkness, of which God knew nothing, to touch the free will that God had given Lucifer and make him realize that he could choose to disobey God by inventing false systems of excessive pride and pleasure. Lucifer refused to repent which caused God to have to strip him of all the goodness He had put into him and exile him to earth as a totally evil negative consciousness called Satan. Ezekiel 28:13-19.
Satan believed God had made a mistake when He gave free will to mankind. Satan thought he could use God's supposed mistake to get an advantage over God. Satan knew that he could use the weakness in man's free will to cause him to disobey God which would put evil into man's being. Satan expected that evil in man to become so foul that it would eventually annul the image of God in man and thereby prove that God's protective Love cannot be Almighty. Satan further believed that he could use this supposed weakness in God's Love to obtain an advantage over God so that he could one day murder Him and take control of His universe as he had already partly taken control of the earth. John 8:44; John 12:31.
But Satan did not know that God had given free will to man in order to test His Love to prove that His Love can never fail. God possesses Infinite Wisdom, and therefore, He certainly possesses the capability to devise a plan whereby He can rescue His image in every human by causing them to return to repentance and faith in Him of their own free will. God saves some humans by His grace while they are still alive in the flesh and all others in a great worship service as recorded in Revelation 5:11-14. I Corinthians 13:8; Ecclesiastes 3:14.
Doubt about God's Love had entered God's creations because of Lucifer's rebellion. Because of this doubt, Lucifer had been able to persuade one third of God's angels to follow him. As long as doubt remained in God's universe, evil would also remain. But God devised a plan to dispel all doubt from His universe and all the evil that results from it. John 20:24-29; Revelation 5:11-14.
God had allowed the Devil to put the image of God in man in danger of eternal separation from Him in spiritual death. But God outwitted the Devil by devising a plan to rescue the lives of all humans by His loving sacrifice of Himself on a cross and His descent into hell followed by His resurrection. God suffered the eternal spiritual deaths of every human in their place in order to liberate all of them from that horrible fate and return them to fellowship with Him. Hebrews 2:9; John 12:47; Colossians 1:15-20.
Wednesday, September 4, 2019
Commentary on the Book of Job part seventy five
Job 29:1-25
Someday, God will learn exactly how evil emerges from the darkness of the bottomless pit to infect His creations. At that time, God will use His consuming fire to absolutely separate and recover all of the goodness that He created, cleanse it of all of the taint of sin and the corruption of evil, and recreate a righteous heaven and earth. God will also cast separated death, which is totally evil, into the lake of fire forever. Revelation 20:7-9; Revelation 20:14-15; Revelation 22:11-12.
But the mystery which the positive Consciousness of God will never be able to understand is exactly how any form of consciousness, even if negative, could form within chaos. One can speculate that negative consciousness would have to be the opposite of positive consciousness; that is, destructive instead of creative. But that would mean that negative consciousness would seek to annul itself. In some mysterious way that positive consciousness cannot hope to understand, negative consciousness both exists and nonexists at the same time. II Thessalonians 2:7; Revelation 17:8-9.
Job yearned for his former days of joyful fellowship with God, prosperity, and the respect of others. Yet, God allowed the Devil to take it all from him except his life. Why? Job 2:6.
Job happens to be symbolic of the fate of the entire human race. Few humans have ever suffered the loss of everything they love, and yet all humans must suffer to some extent because of their sins and the attacks of the Devil. But the one thing that God will never allow the Devil to take is the life of any person. God created that life in His image and put it into every person. God can never lose anything He has ever created. Ecclesiastes 3:14. Because God created man's life to be good, then a measure of faith still resides within the life of every human. Romans 12:3; Luke 20:38; Genesis 3:20.
Many humans claim to be atheists, but a spark of God's faith still resides within the image of God still within the inner being of every one of them. God knows exactly how to reawaken that faith in every human, some by His grace and all others in a great worship service as recorded in Revelation 5:11-14.
Someday, God will learn exactly how evil emerges from the darkness of the bottomless pit to infect His creations. At that time, God will use His consuming fire to absolutely separate and recover all of the goodness that He created, cleanse it of all of the taint of sin and the corruption of evil, and recreate a righteous heaven and earth. God will also cast separated death, which is totally evil, into the lake of fire forever. Revelation 20:7-9; Revelation 20:14-15; Revelation 22:11-12.
But the mystery which the positive Consciousness of God will never be able to understand is exactly how any form of consciousness, even if negative, could form within chaos. One can speculate that negative consciousness would have to be the opposite of positive consciousness; that is, destructive instead of creative. But that would mean that negative consciousness would seek to annul itself. In some mysterious way that positive consciousness cannot hope to understand, negative consciousness both exists and nonexists at the same time. II Thessalonians 2:7; Revelation 17:8-9.
Job yearned for his former days of joyful fellowship with God, prosperity, and the respect of others. Yet, God allowed the Devil to take it all from him except his life. Why? Job 2:6.
Job happens to be symbolic of the fate of the entire human race. Few humans have ever suffered the loss of everything they love, and yet all humans must suffer to some extent because of their sins and the attacks of the Devil. But the one thing that God will never allow the Devil to take is the life of any person. God created that life in His image and put it into every person. God can never lose anything He has ever created. Ecclesiastes 3:14. Because God created man's life to be good, then a measure of faith still resides within the life of every human. Romans 12:3; Luke 20:38; Genesis 3:20.
Many humans claim to be atheists, but a spark of God's faith still resides within the image of God still within the inner being of every one of them. God knows exactly how to reawaken that faith in every human, some by His grace and all others in a great worship service as recorded in Revelation 5:11-14.
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