Resource Manager Posted December 26, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 26, 2011 26 December 2011 Job 35; 36Zechariah 11Revelation 12; 13 "GOD IS GREAT, AND WE KNOW HIM NOT" Elihu is one of the uncommon characters in Scripture and we have heard some totally contrasting assessments of his character and role over the years. The fact is that when God condemns the three “friends” of Job [Job 42:7] he says nothing about Elihu. The speeches by Elihu take up 5 whole chapters as he addresses Job with his perceptions on the ways of God. He tells the friends that none of them “answered his (Job’s) words” [Job 33:12] of frustration as to why these distressing events, apparently from God, have come upon him. In the chapters we read today, Elihu says, “I have yet something to say on God’s behalf. I will get my knowledge from afar and ascribe righteousness to my Maker … one who is perfect in knowledge is with you.” [Job 36:3,4] He states, “Behold, God is exalted in his power; who is a teacher like him?” [Job 36:22] “Behold God is great, and we know him not” [Job 36:26] Looking on into tomorrow’s chapter we read, “At this also my heart trembles and leaps out of its place … he does great things that we cannot comprehend.” [Job 37:1,5] How true this is, we cannot comprehend the absolute wonders of what God must be; our incomprehension grows the more we know the intricate details of life that scientists continue to discover and the infiniteness of space beyond; the groping of their minds becomes so disappointing when most of them leave God out of account. Then Elihu makes an intriguing point as he meditates on God’s reasons for doing things, observing, “Whether for correction or for his land or for love, he causes it to happen.” [Job 37:13] God has many different purposes in mind as watches over events in all that he has set in motion: then comes a most meaningful conclusion to Elihu’s speech. “God is clothed with awesome majesty. The almighty – we cannot find him; he is great in power; justice and abundant righteousness he will not violate. Therefore men fear him; he does not regard any who are wise in their own conceit.” [Job 37:22-24] If we wish to see Elihu as a type of anyone surely he is a type of John the Baptist or even of Christ. Truly “God is great, and we know him not” but the Lord Jesus Christ opened up our minds, as much as is humanly possible, depending on how much we read and meditate on the divine word. Ponder what Jesus said, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” [John 14:9] But he was not the Father was he; he represented the Father! And true believers must try to represent Jesus Christ. Let us improve our efforts to represent him in 2012. -------- DC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Resource Manager Posted December 27, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 27, 2011 27 December 2011 Job 37Zechariah 12Revelation 14 "HERE IS A CALL FOR THE ENDURANCE ... " We read yesterday in Revelation 13 [Revelation 13:10] and again today in Revelation 14 “here is a call for the endurance of the saints” [Revelation 14:12] describing the saints as “those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.” Older versions use the word “patience” instead of “endurance” – it means that their faith creates in them an enduring attitude of mind. As the climax of human rule on earth is reached so the testing of faith will grow greater. This is the last of 7 significant references in Revelation to refer to the need for an enduring patience. In contrast to this today’s chapter contains the first of 7 references to “the wrath of God.” It is also the first time the word “Babylon” is used. This word in Hebrew is “Babel” – the tower that men built after the flood saying “let us make a name for ourselves” [Genesis 11:4], turning their backs on the name of God. “So the LORD dispersed them from there” by confusing their language, otherwise “nothing that they propose to do will be impossible for them.” [Genesis 11:8,6] In our 21st Century the language barrier has been greatly overcome with automatic translation methods via Computers so it appears to be now true - from God’s perspective - that “nothing … will be impossible” for humans to achieve! We therefore expect God to show his power to humble humans, at the same time testing the “endurance” of those who put their faith in Jesus. In the next verse [Revelation 14:13] John is told, “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on, Blessed indeed … that they may rest from their labours, for their deeds follow them.” These are spared from what is described in the following verses when the angel is told “Put in your sickle and reap for the hour has come, for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe.” [Revelation 14:15] “So the angel swung his sickle … and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God” [Revelation 14:19] Revelation 15:1 tells us that “the wrath of God is finished” by 7 last plagues and “those who had conquered … sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, ‘Great and amazing are your deeds … O king of the nations … Who will not fear O Lord … For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.” [Revelation 15:3,4] Let strive, through the strength of our endurance and with our Lord’s help, to be among those who conquer - and sing that song.-------- DC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Resource Manager Posted December 28, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 28, 2011 28 December 2011 Job 38Zechariah 13; 14Revelation 15; 16 "ON THAT DAY" Today we read the final 2 chapters of Zechariah and noted the constant occurrence of “on that day.” Zechariah 13 begins with, “On that day there shall be a fountain opened for … the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness.” Fountains can be literal; essential for bodily cleanliness. Like a spring, the water is constantly gushing forth, clean and fresh. Cleanliness of mind is even more important and God’s word, in it’s purity, is “living water …a spring of water welling up to eternal life,” said Jesus [John 4:10,14]. It never becomes stagnant for those who use it constantly. The church of true believers, Paul told the Ephesians, is “cleansed … by the washing of water by the word … that she might be holy and without blemish.” [Ephesians 5:26,27] A day of cleansing is coming for Jerusalem but before that day comes, as we read in Zechariah 12 yesterday, a remarkable verse tells us, “On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples. All who lift it will surely hurt themselves. And all the nations of the earth will gather against it.” [Zechariah 12:3]. But before then, God makes “Jerusalem a cup of staggering to all the surrounding peoples” [Zechariah 12:2] and so it has been in our lifetime. Ever since Jerusalem was captured by the Romans and the Temple destroyed in AD 70, this city has been forgotten, a “nothing” in world affairs – except briefly in the crusades of the 12th Century. How different today! In Zechariah 14 we have another perspective on the events described at the start of Zechariah 13 - here we read of the remarkable climax: God “ will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle,” the nations will have some success, but “then the LORD will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives …and the Mount … shall be split in two” [Zechariah 14:2-4] When that happens it will be the mightiest earthquake ever – and our Revelation 16 reading today told us of this - for after “the kings of the whole world … assemble … for battle on the great day of God Almighty … at the place … called Armageddon” [Revelation 16:14,16] there is “a great earthquake … and the cities of the nations fell” [Revelation 16:18,19]. This fits in with Zechariah 14. Finally we are told the sequel to these utterly awesome events - “and the LORD will be king over all the earth. On that day the LORD will be one and his name one.” [Zechariah 14:9] Finally, note a special verse in Revelation 16, “Behold I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake …” [Revelation 16:15] Are you awake? Are you living as though you are?-------- DC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Resource Manager Posted December 29, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 29, 2011 29 December 2011 Job 39Malachi 1Revelation 17; 18 "'I HAVE LOVED YOU' SAYS THE LORD" Today we started reading the last book of the Old Testament, by the prophet Malachi. This was the final message of God; he sent no more prophets until John the Baptist and Jesus Christ came. It was a time of divine silence similar to today, but they did have the writings of the prophets and patriarchs and we also have God’s word. His message begins, “The oracle of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi. ‘I have loved you,’ says the LORD, But you say, ‘How have you loved us?’” God’s answer to their question is just as relevant today. There is a lot of talk in Church circles that ‘God is love.’ – is that talk meaningless? Why did the people of Malachi’s day ask this question? It was because they expected the LORD to endlessly show his love regardless of how they behaved. Their lives had become full of problems; as a result, they cannot see any evidence of God’s love. God causes Malachi to respond, “the LORD of hosts says to you, O priests, who despise my name. But you say , ‘How have we despised your name?’ By offering polluted food upon my altar … when you offer those that are lame, or sick, is that not evil?” [Malachi 1:7,8] They offered to God the things that were no longer of value to them. What is the equivalent today? One answer is – our time! Are we too busy to make the time to read God’s word? When we do read it, does it stir us into action to use our particular talents in some area of service? Malachi’s message is very relevant to many attitudes today; note Malachi 1:13 “… you say, ‘What a weariness this is’” . Today, much more than then, there are interesting and humanly exciting things to do than to give more than a passing thought to God – at the very best to find a couple of hours to spare from the 168 hours in the week to offer a form of “worship” – and maybe the main interest then is in “fraternization”? Some may see participation in Christmas time activities as showing ‘love’ to God? Singing carols perhaps? The words of one popular carol particularly struck us, we chanced to hear it sung by a popular entertainer, “Man will live for evermore because of Christmas Day!” What nonsense. Disasters followed Malachi’s time and the message at the start of Malachi 4 is even more relevant today: “For behold, the day is coming … when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble … but for you who fear my name …” Let us fear God’s name and use our time in 2012 in ways that show we do.-------- DC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Resource Manager Posted December 30, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 30, 2011 30 December 2011 Job 40Malachi 2Revelation 19; 20 "FOR THE FINE LINEN IS ... " Although the book of Revelation contains much symbolic language we can build up a framework of understanding from the definitions it provides. We have now reached the climax, the description of the vindication of those who faithfully serve him in spite of all the opposition and challenges to faith they have variously encountered. The Lamb of God, our Saviour and Lord appears. His dramatic return is described in several parts of the New Testament, what fear many experience, but what rejoicing by the faithful remnant. John tells us he hears “what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, ‘Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure’ – for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.” [Revelation 19:6-8] Paul had told believers that they were espoused to Christ to become his bride [Romans 7:4; 2 Corinthians 11:2]. John, in his Gospel tells us that John the Baptist, when he met Jesus, said he “rejoices greatly at the bridegrooms voice” [John 3:29]. The bride is made up of all the truly committed believers and, as Jesus said in a parable [Matthew 25:6], those with their lamps (and garments) ready go out to met their returning bridegroom. Revelation 19 goes on to describe the other role of Christ at his return; “in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire … from his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God …” [Revelation 19:11,12,15] Revelation 20 describes how the bride “will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years” [Revelation 20:6]. The end of this chapter makes the sobering statement that “if anyone’s name is not found written in the book of life, he was thrown in the lake of fire” and that “this is the second death” – so we are in no doubt as to what that lake symbolises. Revelation 19:20 told us that all the evil powers and those who had “received the mark of the beast” were also thrown in the lake of fire. In contrast, those “who have not soiled their garments … will be clothed … and I will never blot his name out of the book of life.” [Revelation 3:4,6] Let us keep our “linen” fine and unsoiled as a bride ready for her husband.-------- DC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Resource Manager Posted December 31, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 31, 2011 31 December 2011 Job 41; 42Malachi 3; 4Revelation 21; 22 "BUT FOR YOU WHO FEAR MY NAME... " If you believe in God, are you in awe of him? This is the underlying sense of the word ‘fear.’ God does not want us to be scared of him as we might be scared of a bully or an evil person. The closing words of the Old Testament we have just read show how God will deal with evil, “Behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evil doers will be stubble.” [Malachi 4:1] These are words which compare with thoughts the Revelation chapters provoked in us yesterday. Then God reveals to Malachi a vision of the opposite. “But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the LORD of hosts.” [Malachi 4:2-4] Again, Revelation helps us to ‘see’ the meaning of the imagery of this wording. There are comparisons here with the words of the LORD to Job in his final chapter which we also read today. First we noted what Job acknowledged concerning God; “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.” [Job 42:2]. This is Job’s response to God’s question, “Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?” Job says “I have uttered what I did not understand … I had heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself and repent …” [Job 42:3,5,6] It was Job’s lack of “knowledge” in the sense of knowing, of having a relationship – and for us, a ‘real’ prayer life is an essential step toward achieving this. Job had known God in theory and, in that sense, had spoken “what is right” about him [Job 42:7] but has now ‘seen’ the awesome reality of what he was talking about. It is the same with us, but if we can develop Job’s attitude we will say to God and his Son one day, “now my eye sees you.” However, let us realize that the more we read God’s word, the more we see the meaning of the point Paul made when he wrote to the Ephesians - that God “may give you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe.” [Ephesians 1:17-19] May all who read this grow in this kind of knowledge during 2012-------- DC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts