Job 3:1-26
Job yielded himself to great depression and despair. God often allowed His Word to record the deep feelings of humans because He wants us to know that He understands and has compassion for our emotional responses to all the vicissitudes of life. Many suppose that God endorses such deep feelings in His people as anger and hatred. God desires that His people hate evil, such as hatred, but not the people who have such feelings. God understands that hatred, and other deep feelings, can emerge from a natural response to oppressive situations. God wants us to know that He empathizes with our deep emotions. Hebrews 4:15. For example, critics of the Bible contend that God endorsed the feelings of the Psalmist about killing babies in Psalm 137:9. Actually, God only recorded the temporary, natural feelings that the Psalmist had about an enemy that had conquered and oppressed his people. In these kinds of verses, God simply wants people to know that He sympathizes with our warranted feelings. God condemns hatred for no good reason as a sin. One of the ways that God expresses His Love for us comes from His sympathy for our deep feelings. In the words of the proverbial statement, "God hates the sin but loves the sinner." Ephesians 6:12.
Job's deep despair caused him to wish he had never been born. But Job's despair did not cause him to lose his love for God and faith in Him. Job 1:21-22; Job 2:10. In his misery, Job did not feel the presence of God, but God was with him nevertheless, revealing truths to him that he, and we, need to know. Job imagined that if he had died as an infant, he would have found rest in a dark place. He imagined that the wicked rest there whether rich or poor, small or great. Job did not realize that God had revealed to him that such a dark place actually exists to which God consigns some of the wicked when they physically die. Hebrews 9:27. God calls this place Death in Revelation 20:13. This verse also reveals that God consigns some of the wicked dead to a place called the Sea and the worst of the wicked to a fiery Hell. These wicked dead are always unbelievers whom God punishes because He cannot accept the sin and evil that still soils the righteousness that he created them to be. Isaiah 64:6. God cleanses and saves believers from sin and evil so that He never allows them to have to go to one of these places. Isaiah 64:5. But Job happened to be wrong about Death being a place of rest. It is a place of great anguish and remorse. Jesus described it as a place of "weeping and gnashing of teeth." Matthew 8:12.
Job then began to question God about why God gives any light, which is truth, to humans at all since all they have to look forward to is death and darkness. God allowed Job, and any of His people, to question Him because that shows that they have faith enough to rely on God's revelations in order to find the truth. Job was actually praying, seeking answers from God. God honored Job's faith with more revelations of His truth. God's people have always found truth in the revelations of God's Word and in prayer.
Wednesday, January 16, 2019
Commentary on the Book of Job part seven
Job 2:11-13
Three friends of Job "come to mourn with him and comfort him." Their care for Job demonstrated that they had yielded themselves to practice the goodness that God had put into their lives. They also demonstrated that they were true friends of Job.
However, they proved to be incompetent comforters since they offered Job only speculation about the nature of God and Job's relationship to God. Because of their ignorance, they demonstrated that they had not worshipped God or prayed to God very much. They had not relied on revelation from God, which they would have received from prayer and worship, in order to learn more about Him. They merely indulged in guesswork about Him.
Three friends of Job "come to mourn with him and comfort him." Their care for Job demonstrated that they had yielded themselves to practice the goodness that God had put into their lives. They also demonstrated that they were true friends of Job.
However, they proved to be incompetent comforters since they offered Job only speculation about the nature of God and Job's relationship to God. Because of their ignorance, they demonstrated that they had not worshipped God or prayed to God very much. They had not relied on revelation from God, which they would have received from prayer and worship, in order to learn more about Him. They merely indulged in guesswork about Him.
Tuesday, January 15, 2019
The Consciousness of Ultimate Truth
Dostoevsky was right when he wrote that humans consider consciousness to be a curse. Most people have shallow minds which shows that they do not like to think or learn. Some like to attach their consciousnesses to pleasure by becoming addicted to alcohol, drugs, sex, or other toys. Some like to learn only enough so that they can come to a place where they do not have to learn anymore. Many of these are people who desire an earthy utopia where all people exist on the same level, and they can turn their minds over to their great leaders who will do their thinking for them so that they become relieved of the burden of consciousness. Many humans claim to seek the truth, but they really only seek to confirm that which they already believe.
As the Preacher wrote in Ecclesiastes 1:18, people do not like to use their consciousnesses to learn because they learn much grief and sorrow. They seek rather to attach their minds to pleasure or even vanity. Ecclesiastes 1:2. In educating themselves, people learn that men will readily exploit each other, will even commit horrible crimes against each other in their will to power. Many men learn that consciousness can be used not to gain wisdom but to gain power over others. Those who truly seek wisdom will find these evils within themselves. Ecclesiastes 3:18.
Many seek to find all truth in objective truth, but in their hearts they know that objective truth is severely limited. Even their science has brought them to the knowledge that reality can only be established by consciousness and the information contained therein, but their materialist philosophy compels them to refuse to accept this fact even though it has been repeatedly confirmed by experiments in quantum mechanics. Many of them believe that their philosophy will bring them to utopia on earth where their great leaders who are their gods will relieve them of their burden of consciousness by doing their thinking for them and telling them what to do. In this way, they will also be relieved of the burden of the choices that their consciousnesses condemn them to make.
Some claim that they believe ultimate truth does not exist, but they belie their own claims by the fact that the skeptics believe no truth exists beyond their skepticism, and the nihilists believe no truth exists beyond their nihilism, and the same for the realists and idealists. Every human acquires his own ultimate truth. Even the belief that no ultimate truth can exist becomes an ultimate truth.
Anyone who really thinks about it will come to understand that objective truth will never even come close to answering the ultimate questions of mankind. Who am I? How did I get here? Where did I come from, and where am I going? Since reality can only be established by consciousness and information, then it stands to reason that all ultimate truths can only be found by man's inner consciousness, that which Kierkegaard called man's "inwardness."
God's Word teaches us that man's consciousness has become so limited by sin, that he can never, by his own efforts, find the ultimate truth by the use of his own consciousness. A comparison of John 1:1-5 with Hebrews 11:3 demonstrates that reality came into being by the creative act of an Infinite Consciousness that is One with Infinite Information. Psalm 147:5; John 10:30. Humans can only find the ultimate truth by seeking revelations from God's Word. Psalm 119:105; Matthew 16:13-17. Jesus. the Living Word of God, claimed to be the ultimate Truth. John 14:6. One must make an inward choice as to whether to believe Him or not. One who attempts to ignore His claim simply rejects Him through one's determined ignorance. The Holy Spirit brings the Truth of Jesus' claim to the inwardness of all who hear the gospel that Christ can eliminate the limitations that sin causes, as well as sin itself, and bring one to a knowledge of ultimate Truth and the joy of an ultimate and unending reality. The choice is ours. John 3:16; Ephesians 2:1-9.
As the Preacher wrote in Ecclesiastes 1:18, people do not like to use their consciousnesses to learn because they learn much grief and sorrow. They seek rather to attach their minds to pleasure or even vanity. Ecclesiastes 1:2. In educating themselves, people learn that men will readily exploit each other, will even commit horrible crimes against each other in their will to power. Many men learn that consciousness can be used not to gain wisdom but to gain power over others. Those who truly seek wisdom will find these evils within themselves. Ecclesiastes 3:18.
Many seek to find all truth in objective truth, but in their hearts they know that objective truth is severely limited. Even their science has brought them to the knowledge that reality can only be established by consciousness and the information contained therein, but their materialist philosophy compels them to refuse to accept this fact even though it has been repeatedly confirmed by experiments in quantum mechanics. Many of them believe that their philosophy will bring them to utopia on earth where their great leaders who are their gods will relieve them of their burden of consciousness by doing their thinking for them and telling them what to do. In this way, they will also be relieved of the burden of the choices that their consciousnesses condemn them to make.
Some claim that they believe ultimate truth does not exist, but they belie their own claims by the fact that the skeptics believe no truth exists beyond their skepticism, and the nihilists believe no truth exists beyond their nihilism, and the same for the realists and idealists. Every human acquires his own ultimate truth. Even the belief that no ultimate truth can exist becomes an ultimate truth.
Anyone who really thinks about it will come to understand that objective truth will never even come close to answering the ultimate questions of mankind. Who am I? How did I get here? Where did I come from, and where am I going? Since reality can only be established by consciousness and information, then it stands to reason that all ultimate truths can only be found by man's inner consciousness, that which Kierkegaard called man's "inwardness."
God's Word teaches us that man's consciousness has become so limited by sin, that he can never, by his own efforts, find the ultimate truth by the use of his own consciousness. A comparison of John 1:1-5 with Hebrews 11:3 demonstrates that reality came into being by the creative act of an Infinite Consciousness that is One with Infinite Information. Psalm 147:5; John 10:30. Humans can only find the ultimate truth by seeking revelations from God's Word. Psalm 119:105; Matthew 16:13-17. Jesus. the Living Word of God, claimed to be the ultimate Truth. John 14:6. One must make an inward choice as to whether to believe Him or not. One who attempts to ignore His claim simply rejects Him through one's determined ignorance. The Holy Spirit brings the Truth of Jesus' claim to the inwardness of all who hear the gospel that Christ can eliminate the limitations that sin causes, as well as sin itself, and bring one to a knowledge of ultimate Truth and the joy of an ultimate and unending reality. The choice is ours. John 3:16; Ephesians 2:1-9.
Monday, January 7, 2019
Commentary on the Book of Job part six
Job 2:9-10
Although Satan completely ruined Job, including his health, Satan did not succeed in causing the good life that God had given Job to rebel against God and become totally evil. But the Devil still was not finished with Job. Satan turned Job's wife against him so that Job no longer felt the support that love supplies. Of all of Satan's attacks against Job, this was the cruelest of all. Job's wife no longer wanted a poor, sick old man. She wanted Job to die. Satan directed his desire to ruin forever the good life that God put into Job to the heart of his wife when she told Job, "...curse God and die." When she referred to Job's "integrity," she meant the good life that God had put into him. Job's wife's cruel statement to Job reveals in God's Word Satan's goal for the entire human race. Should the Devil ever succeed in wholly turning even one good life that God has put into every human to curse God and become totally evil, then he will have succeeded in annulling a part of God's creations, a part of God's Word, and proving that God's Love is not Almighty. But the Devil failed with Job and he will fail with the rest of humanity. Ecclesiastes 3:14; Numbers 23:19; Romans 11:29; Romans 11:36.
Many weak and evil men have cursed God, but they did not lose the good life that God put into them. Satan exerts his supernatural influence to cause weak men who have already turned to evil to curse God. But God counters Satan's attacks with His own supernatural influence to protect the good life that He put into them. Even Judas Iscariot displayed some goodness when he felt remorse and tired to reverse his betrayal of innocent Jesus although he did not repent to God for his evil sin. Satan knows that he must defeat God's best man because God has invested most of His goodness into the faith of that best man. For this reason, God did not send an angel to strengthen Jesus when He was tempted by the Devil in the desert until the temptation was over. God turned away from Jesus on the cross because Jesus' faith had to triumph over sin and spiritual death by means of its own strength.
Proof that God will rescue His good life that He has put into every man can be realized by a comparison of Revelation 4:11 with Revelation 21:5. Revelation 4:11 teaches us that God created all things for His pleasure. God created the good and living parts of all persons in His image. Should any of these living parts of men be tortured in the flames of hell forever, God could certainly get no pleasure from that. God has promised in Revelation 21:5 that He will recreate all things that He ever created, including all humans. In order for God to recover and recreate the living parts of all humans, He must devise a plan to thoroughly cleanse them of all sin and evil that has defiled them so that He can recover and recreate their cleansed and forgiven persons for His eternal pleasure.
God accomplished His plan through the sinless life, death, burial, descent into hell, and resurrection of His Son. In a general resurrection in the end of the world, God will recover all the living parts of all humans within the regions of the dead for Him to recreate to live on His recreated earth. Revelation 20:5; Revelation 21:1-5; John 5:28-29. God will also use His consuming fire to separate the total sin and evil within their lives from their living parts and cast their deadness into the lake of fire. Revelation 20:11-15. God will make all this possible by returning the living parts of all humans not already saved by grace to faith in God as Lord and Savior in a great worship service for Him of all God's creations as recorded in Revelation 5:11-14.
Although Satan completely ruined Job, including his health, Satan did not succeed in causing the good life that God had given Job to rebel against God and become totally evil. But the Devil still was not finished with Job. Satan turned Job's wife against him so that Job no longer felt the support that love supplies. Of all of Satan's attacks against Job, this was the cruelest of all. Job's wife no longer wanted a poor, sick old man. She wanted Job to die. Satan directed his desire to ruin forever the good life that God put into Job to the heart of his wife when she told Job, "...curse God and die." When she referred to Job's "integrity," she meant the good life that God had put into him. Job's wife's cruel statement to Job reveals in God's Word Satan's goal for the entire human race. Should the Devil ever succeed in wholly turning even one good life that God has put into every human to curse God and become totally evil, then he will have succeeded in annulling a part of God's creations, a part of God's Word, and proving that God's Love is not Almighty. But the Devil failed with Job and he will fail with the rest of humanity. Ecclesiastes 3:14; Numbers 23:19; Romans 11:29; Romans 11:36.
Many weak and evil men have cursed God, but they did not lose the good life that God put into them. Satan exerts his supernatural influence to cause weak men who have already turned to evil to curse God. But God counters Satan's attacks with His own supernatural influence to protect the good life that He put into them. Even Judas Iscariot displayed some goodness when he felt remorse and tired to reverse his betrayal of innocent Jesus although he did not repent to God for his evil sin. Satan knows that he must defeat God's best man because God has invested most of His goodness into the faith of that best man. For this reason, God did not send an angel to strengthen Jesus when He was tempted by the Devil in the desert until the temptation was over. God turned away from Jesus on the cross because Jesus' faith had to triumph over sin and spiritual death by means of its own strength.
Proof that God will rescue His good life that He has put into every man can be realized by a comparison of Revelation 4:11 with Revelation 21:5. Revelation 4:11 teaches us that God created all things for His pleasure. God created the good and living parts of all persons in His image. Should any of these living parts of men be tortured in the flames of hell forever, God could certainly get no pleasure from that. God has promised in Revelation 21:5 that He will recreate all things that He ever created, including all humans. In order for God to recover and recreate the living parts of all humans, He must devise a plan to thoroughly cleanse them of all sin and evil that has defiled them so that He can recover and recreate their cleansed and forgiven persons for His eternal pleasure.
God accomplished His plan through the sinless life, death, burial, descent into hell, and resurrection of His Son. In a general resurrection in the end of the world, God will recover all the living parts of all humans within the regions of the dead for Him to recreate to live on His recreated earth. Revelation 20:5; Revelation 21:1-5; John 5:28-29. God will also use His consuming fire to separate the total sin and evil within their lives from their living parts and cast their deadness into the lake of fire. Revelation 20:11-15. God will make all this possible by returning the living parts of all humans not already saved by grace to faith in God as Lord and Savior in a great worship service for Him of all God's creations as recorded in Revelation 5:11-14.
Thursday, January 3, 2019
Commentary on the Book of Job part five
Job 2:1-8
Satan was not finished with Job. Satan challenged God to allow him to inflict a direct attack on the life that God had given Job from which all his goodness came. God allowed Satan to ruin Job's health but not to take his life which belonged solely to God. By his direct attack on Job's life, Satan aimed to force Job to give up the good life that God had given him, completely rebel against God, and become as totally evil as Satan was. If Satan could accomplish this, he would succeed in annulling a part of God's creations and thus prove that God's Love was not Almighty. God allowed Job's love for Him and faith in Him to be tested to prove His Love for His creations can never be abrogated. God's test of Job's love and faith was symbolic but limited since it applied only to Job's faith.
The ultimate test of God's Love for His creations happened when His Son was nailed to a cruel cross. Jesus bore the sin and eternal spiritual deaths of all mankind on that cross to save all mankind from eternal spiritual death which power Satan held over them at that time. Hebrews 2:9. No agreement existed between God and the Devil about this. God simply knew that the Devil would have to use the full force of sin and evil against Christ in order to have any chance of defeating Him. Satan wagered that Christ would not be able to endure all the terrible filth of all the sins and evils of all mankind as He suffered for them. Satan wagered that Christ's terrible suffering would break His faith and cause Him to become permanently separated from His Father. Satan wagered that God would become permanently dead and he would win. Jesus died just as the sinner dies, separated from God because of filthy sin and evil. But Jesus' spiritual death was only temporary. Satan believed that hell belonged to him, but God created hell for the Devil and his angels, to be His consuming fire to permanently separate all total sin and evil from all mankind not already saved by grace. Matthew 25:41; I Corinthians 3:11-15. God casts only the cursed part of man which is his total evil into the lake of fire. Revelation 20:15. God never cursed the living part of man which He created and which Christ will rescue from spiritual death. Revelation 20:5. Christ left all the filth of sin and evil of all mankind not already saved by grace behind Him in hell, and rose immaculate and triumphant from the dead victorious over all the evil works of the Devil. I John 3:8.
The good life that God put into Job He has put into every person no matter how evil that person may become. God can never lose anything He loves and has created. Ecclesiastes 3:14; Romans 11:29. No person can ever cause himself to become totally evil. This fact has been proven by the reality that some good has been done by the worst of men. By His death, burial, and resurrection, Christ came to rescue the good life of every person from spiritual death which is permanent separation from God, some through His grace and the rest through His descent into hell. Christ saves by His grace all who put their faith in Him while still alive in the flesh. Christ has saved the good lives of the rest of mankind by the use of His consuming fire of hell when He left their sin and spiritual deaths behind when His Spirit descended into hell. But this rescue does not become actual until a general resurrection and judgment in the end of the world. John 5:28-29; Revelation 20:5; I Corinthians 15:22; Luke 20:38; Luke 23:34; I Timothy 4:10; Colossians 1:15-20.
Satan was not finished with Job. Satan challenged God to allow him to inflict a direct attack on the life that God had given Job from which all his goodness came. God allowed Satan to ruin Job's health but not to take his life which belonged solely to God. By his direct attack on Job's life, Satan aimed to force Job to give up the good life that God had given him, completely rebel against God, and become as totally evil as Satan was. If Satan could accomplish this, he would succeed in annulling a part of God's creations and thus prove that God's Love was not Almighty. God allowed Job's love for Him and faith in Him to be tested to prove His Love for His creations can never be abrogated. God's test of Job's love and faith was symbolic but limited since it applied only to Job's faith.
The ultimate test of God's Love for His creations happened when His Son was nailed to a cruel cross. Jesus bore the sin and eternal spiritual deaths of all mankind on that cross to save all mankind from eternal spiritual death which power Satan held over them at that time. Hebrews 2:9. No agreement existed between God and the Devil about this. God simply knew that the Devil would have to use the full force of sin and evil against Christ in order to have any chance of defeating Him. Satan wagered that Christ would not be able to endure all the terrible filth of all the sins and evils of all mankind as He suffered for them. Satan wagered that Christ's terrible suffering would break His faith and cause Him to become permanently separated from His Father. Satan wagered that God would become permanently dead and he would win. Jesus died just as the sinner dies, separated from God because of filthy sin and evil. But Jesus' spiritual death was only temporary. Satan believed that hell belonged to him, but God created hell for the Devil and his angels, to be His consuming fire to permanently separate all total sin and evil from all mankind not already saved by grace. Matthew 25:41; I Corinthians 3:11-15. God casts only the cursed part of man which is his total evil into the lake of fire. Revelation 20:15. God never cursed the living part of man which He created and which Christ will rescue from spiritual death. Revelation 20:5. Christ left all the filth of sin and evil of all mankind not already saved by grace behind Him in hell, and rose immaculate and triumphant from the dead victorious over all the evil works of the Devil. I John 3:8.
The good life that God put into Job He has put into every person no matter how evil that person may become. God can never lose anything He loves and has created. Ecclesiastes 3:14; Romans 11:29. No person can ever cause himself to become totally evil. This fact has been proven by the reality that some good has been done by the worst of men. By His death, burial, and resurrection, Christ came to rescue the good life of every person from spiritual death which is permanent separation from God, some through His grace and the rest through His descent into hell. Christ saves by His grace all who put their faith in Him while still alive in the flesh. Christ has saved the good lives of the rest of mankind by the use of His consuming fire of hell when He left their sin and spiritual deaths behind when His Spirit descended into hell. But this rescue does not become actual until a general resurrection and judgment in the end of the world. John 5:28-29; Revelation 20:5; I Corinthians 15:22; Luke 20:38; Luke 23:34; I Timothy 4:10; Colossians 1:15-20.
Wednesday, January 2, 2019
Commentary on the Book of Job part four
Job 1:6-22
Satan attacked God's best man at that time. Throughout the Bible, Satan usually reserved his severest attacks for God's best believer at the time. Satan knew that it would be useless to attack a weak believer because God would intervene and exert His supernatural power to defend His life and goodness that He put into that person. But if Satan attacked God's best man, then God would refrain from exerting any extra supernatural power to help that person since God had already invested most of His help in the superior faith of His best person. Satan could freely test the goodness and faith of God's best person knowing that God would exert no extra help for that person.
Jesus was God's absolutely perfect and sinless man when He was nailed to the cross. When Jesus cried out in the darkness that prevented Him from seeing His Father, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani," He knew from that moment on He was on His own until His resurrection. He would get no extra help from His Father. The Devil must have laughed with glee when he heard that cry because he thought it meant Jesus had been defeated. Satan thought that all the powers of filth and darkness that covered Jesus would surely put that Light out. When Jesus died in the darkness, God completely separated from Himself because of the filth of sin and evil that engulfed the Lord. Luke 23:46; II Corinthians 5:21; Psalm 22:6. In a sense, only one third of God's power hung on that cross, and that person was dead.
God is Infinite, and the power of infinity is that every part equals the whole. Jesus retained the infinite power of God even though He was dead on the cross.
God possessed infinite power and yet was dead at the same time. That fact constitutes a paradoxical mystery that no human can ever hope to understand. But Jesus bore all the sin and spiritual deaths of all humanity on that cross, washed away the sin and spiritual deaths of those He would save by His grace with the blood and water that flowed from His body, and when His Spirit descended into hell He left behind all of the sins and spiritual deaths of the rest of humanity when He rose immaculate from the grave. Revelation 1:5; Ephesians 5:26-27; Hebrews 2:9. By His own spiritual death, Jesus separated the eternal spiritual deaths of all living humans not already saved by grace for Him to cast into the second death and preserved their living parts for Him to recreate to live on His new earth. Jesus washed all of the sin and spiritual deaths of all those saved by grace into the sea of forgetfulness and in the end eliminates that sea by forgetting that it ever existed. Micah 7:18-19; Hebrews 9:14; Revelation 21:1. After Jesus had accomplished this task, He rose from the dead triumphant over all sin and eternal spiritual death. I Corinthians 15:22; John 1:29; I John 3:8.
Job's faith did not fail as God knew it would not. Job 1:21-22. In a sense, Job's suffering symbolized the faithfulness of Christ on the cross, that His almighty power could endure suffering for the sins of all mankind and that He could rise from the dead to save all mankind from eternal death. Hebrews 2:9; I Corinthians 15:26.
Satan attacked God's best man at that time. Throughout the Bible, Satan usually reserved his severest attacks for God's best believer at the time. Satan knew that it would be useless to attack a weak believer because God would intervene and exert His supernatural power to defend His life and goodness that He put into that person. But if Satan attacked God's best man, then God would refrain from exerting any extra supernatural power to help that person since God had already invested most of His help in the superior faith of His best person. Satan could freely test the goodness and faith of God's best person knowing that God would exert no extra help for that person.
Jesus was God's absolutely perfect and sinless man when He was nailed to the cross. When Jesus cried out in the darkness that prevented Him from seeing His Father, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani," He knew from that moment on He was on His own until His resurrection. He would get no extra help from His Father. The Devil must have laughed with glee when he heard that cry because he thought it meant Jesus had been defeated. Satan thought that all the powers of filth and darkness that covered Jesus would surely put that Light out. When Jesus died in the darkness, God completely separated from Himself because of the filth of sin and evil that engulfed the Lord. Luke 23:46; II Corinthians 5:21; Psalm 22:6. In a sense, only one third of God's power hung on that cross, and that person was dead.
God is Infinite, and the power of infinity is that every part equals the whole. Jesus retained the infinite power of God even though He was dead on the cross.
God possessed infinite power and yet was dead at the same time. That fact constitutes a paradoxical mystery that no human can ever hope to understand. But Jesus bore all the sin and spiritual deaths of all humanity on that cross, washed away the sin and spiritual deaths of those He would save by His grace with the blood and water that flowed from His body, and when His Spirit descended into hell He left behind all of the sins and spiritual deaths of the rest of humanity when He rose immaculate from the grave. Revelation 1:5; Ephesians 5:26-27; Hebrews 2:9. By His own spiritual death, Jesus separated the eternal spiritual deaths of all living humans not already saved by grace for Him to cast into the second death and preserved their living parts for Him to recreate to live on His new earth. Jesus washed all of the sin and spiritual deaths of all those saved by grace into the sea of forgetfulness and in the end eliminates that sea by forgetting that it ever existed. Micah 7:18-19; Hebrews 9:14; Revelation 21:1. After Jesus had accomplished this task, He rose from the dead triumphant over all sin and eternal spiritual death. I Corinthians 15:22; John 1:29; I John 3:8.
Job's faith did not fail as God knew it would not. Job 1:21-22. In a sense, Job's suffering symbolized the faithfulness of Christ on the cross, that His almighty power could endure suffering for the sins of all mankind and that He could rise from the dead to save all mankind from eternal death. Hebrews 2:9; I Corinthians 15:26.
Tuesday, January 1, 2019
Commentary on the Book of Job part three
Job 1:6-22
God had a meeting with His sons, and He allowed Satan, as His former son Lucifer, to attend. God asked Satan what he had been doing. Satan bragged that being the god of the earth, he had the freedom to walk through the earth doing whatever he pleased. God countered Satan's claims by reminding him that God had a perfect servant named Job who lived as moral a life as possible, and who also offered burnt offering sacrifices for the forgiveness of his sins. Satan countered God's defense of Job by claiming that Job only served God because God had prospered and protected him. Satan argued that if God allowed him to remove Job's protection and prosperity and cause Job to suffer, then Job would curse God to His face, meaning Job would turn to total rebellion against God just as Lucifer had done. By allowing Satan to make this claim in God's Bible (KJB), God has revealed to the whole human race Satan's motive in his desire to destroy all of humanity.
Every human has two natures. God has created every human in His image which causes every person to desire to do some good. Genesis 1:27; Genesis 1:31. Man also has a sin nature because of the fall. This sin nature overpowers man and causes him inevitably to sin. Job possessed a finite perfection because, in accordance with God's image imprinted within him, he led as moral and as good a life as a sinful man can. Also, for his sin nature which caused him to sin, he offered burnt offering sacrifices to obtain God's forgiveness. Because of Job's faith and obedience, God judged him to be a finite perfect man. Even the image of God within Job caused him to do good by obeying God in offering burnt offering sacrifices.
Within the whole human race, some have yielded themselves to their dark and evil natures and have committed terrible crimes against God and others, but even the worst of them has done some good which stems from the image of God within them. This image of God within them cannot be erased. When Jesus told the wicked Pharisees in Luke 17:21 that "the kingdom of God is within you," He referred to the image of God that He had created in them. God can never lose anything He has ever created. Ecclesiastes 3:14; Romans 11:29.
Satan knows all this, and so his challenge to God about Job reveals his attitude not only toward mankind but also toward God Himself. Satan believes that if he can just burden mankind with enough darkness, suffering, and evil; then he can cause even the goodness and life that God has given man to rebel against God and curse Him. Satan desires to erase the goodness and life that God has put into every man. Should Satan succeed, he would nullify a part of God's creation, prove that God's Love cannot protect His image in man, and begin the downfall of God Himself. In his rebellion against God. Lucifer sought to murder God and replace Him as the god of His universe. Isaiah 14:12-15.
God created His image in man to be good. Genesis 1:31. Because it is good, it can only do good, Every human who has ever lived has done some good which stems from God's image within them. Even the most coldblooded and cruel atheist has done some good. Hitler was good to his mistress and his dog even though he murdered millions of people. Stalin was good to one of his daughters even though he also murdered millions of people. Even Judas Iscariot suffered remorse for his betrayal of Jesus although he refused to repent to God for it. Jesus could not have called Judas "friend" in Matthew 26:50 if He did not see the image of God within him that He still loved. God hates evil. He loves only the good. God has determined that He will preserve forever the life and goodness that He has put into every person because that which God loves can never be destroyed. Ecclesiastes 3:14; Romans 11:29; Romans 11:36; I Corinthians 13:8.
God had a meeting with His sons, and He allowed Satan, as His former son Lucifer, to attend. God asked Satan what he had been doing. Satan bragged that being the god of the earth, he had the freedom to walk through the earth doing whatever he pleased. God countered Satan's claims by reminding him that God had a perfect servant named Job who lived as moral a life as possible, and who also offered burnt offering sacrifices for the forgiveness of his sins. Satan countered God's defense of Job by claiming that Job only served God because God had prospered and protected him. Satan argued that if God allowed him to remove Job's protection and prosperity and cause Job to suffer, then Job would curse God to His face, meaning Job would turn to total rebellion against God just as Lucifer had done. By allowing Satan to make this claim in God's Bible (KJB), God has revealed to the whole human race Satan's motive in his desire to destroy all of humanity.
Every human has two natures. God has created every human in His image which causes every person to desire to do some good. Genesis 1:27; Genesis 1:31. Man also has a sin nature because of the fall. This sin nature overpowers man and causes him inevitably to sin. Job possessed a finite perfection because, in accordance with God's image imprinted within him, he led as moral and as good a life as a sinful man can. Also, for his sin nature which caused him to sin, he offered burnt offering sacrifices to obtain God's forgiveness. Because of Job's faith and obedience, God judged him to be a finite perfect man. Even the image of God within Job caused him to do good by obeying God in offering burnt offering sacrifices.
Within the whole human race, some have yielded themselves to their dark and evil natures and have committed terrible crimes against God and others, but even the worst of them has done some good which stems from the image of God within them. This image of God within them cannot be erased. When Jesus told the wicked Pharisees in Luke 17:21 that "the kingdom of God is within you," He referred to the image of God that He had created in them. God can never lose anything He has ever created. Ecclesiastes 3:14; Romans 11:29.
Satan knows all this, and so his challenge to God about Job reveals his attitude not only toward mankind but also toward God Himself. Satan believes that if he can just burden mankind with enough darkness, suffering, and evil; then he can cause even the goodness and life that God has given man to rebel against God and curse Him. Satan desires to erase the goodness and life that God has put into every man. Should Satan succeed, he would nullify a part of God's creation, prove that God's Love cannot protect His image in man, and begin the downfall of God Himself. In his rebellion against God. Lucifer sought to murder God and replace Him as the god of His universe. Isaiah 14:12-15.
God created His image in man to be good. Genesis 1:31. Because it is good, it can only do good, Every human who has ever lived has done some good which stems from God's image within them. Even the most coldblooded and cruel atheist has done some good. Hitler was good to his mistress and his dog even though he murdered millions of people. Stalin was good to one of his daughters even though he also murdered millions of people. Even Judas Iscariot suffered remorse for his betrayal of Jesus although he refused to repent to God for it. Jesus could not have called Judas "friend" in Matthew 26:50 if He did not see the image of God within him that He still loved. God hates evil. He loves only the good. God has determined that He will preserve forever the life and goodness that He has put into every person because that which God loves can never be destroyed. Ecclesiastes 3:14; Romans 11:29; Romans 11:36; I Corinthians 13:8.
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