TODAY’S BIBLE READING CHALLENGE:
Job 31:1-33:33
2 Corinthians 3:1-18
Psalm 43:1-5
Proverbs 22:8-9
Job 31:1 — Job outlines the disciplines of a godly man. While we may want to dismiss it as just the posturing of a hurting individual, we must remember that this is the testimony of one who is perfect and upright, fearing God and eschewing evil. He’s worth imitating in my humble opinion.
Personal Purity —
- Guarding the eyes (Job 31:1)
- Guarding the heart (Job 31:9)
- Guarding the feet (Job 31:9)
Relational Responsibility —
- Relationship with employees (Job 31:13)
- Relationship with the poor (Job 31:16)
- Relationship with the widows (Job 31:16)
- Relationship with the fatherless (Job 31:17)
- Relationship with the wanters-of-clothing (Job 31:19)
- Relationship with enemies (Job 31:29-30)
- Relationship with strangers (Job 31:32)
Spiritual Fidelity —
- Trusting not in wealth (Job 31:24-25)
- Following no other gods (Job 31:26-28)
- Hiding not sin from God (Job 31:33)
Job 31:15 — Slavery and abortion are both addressed with one verse. God made both master and slave (or employer and employee) – so how can one of God’s creation mistreat another of God’s creation?
Job 31:26 — Is Job saying we can’t enjoy a sunrise? No. Job is addressing those who worship the sun (Ezekiel 8:16).
Job 32:1 — The Great Debate is over … but not yet. Elihu enters the ring taking on all four debaters (Job 32:2-3)!
Job 32:19 — Many a talkative man has felt like Elihu, but unfortunately few have the wisdom of Elihu.
Job 33:8 — Having begged for the right to be heard, Elihu now seeks to confirm that he heard Job right. He will then go to the cross-examination of Job.
Job 33:12 — Job is not just, not because he has sinned and is being punished, but because he is becoming bitter against God. But God is greater than man and does not need to give account of Himself (Job 33:13)!
There is always a reason for every act of grace which God performs for man. He acts sovereignly, and therefore he is not bound to give any reason for his actions; but he always acts wisely, and therefore he has a reason for so acting. Writing to the Ephesians, the apostle Paul says that God “worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.”
Job 33:23-24 — The preacher steps forth, not spouting the conventional wisdom, but as one of a thousand. He is charged with a command from the gracious Lord, “Deliver the sinner from the pit – there is a ransom!” Like the ram in the thicket that was to be offered in the place of Isaac (Genesis 22:13), God has provided a ransom!
This is the only reason why any man shall be delivered from going clown to the pit, because God has found a ransom, There is no way of salvation but by the ransom; all who ever are saved are saved by the ransom; and if you, dear friend, would be saved, it must be by the ransom; and there is but one.
Observe that the text says, “I have found a ransom.” This ransom is an invention of divine wisdom. I do not think it would ever have occurred to any mind but the mind of God himself to save sinners by the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ. The most astonishing novelty under heaven is the old, old story of the cross of Christ. That ever God should take upon himself the sin of his own creatures, that, in order to be able justly to forgive, God himself should bear the punishment which he must inflict for the creatures’ sin, this is something marvelous to the last degree. The rebel sins, and the King himself suffers the penalty for the rebellion. The offender commits the trespass, and the Judge bears the punishment. Such a plan was never heard of in human courts of law; or if it has ever been spoken of there, it was because, first of all, both the ears of him who heard it had been made to tingle while God revealed it out of his own heart. “I have found a ransom.” Nobody would have thought of that way of the deliverance of a sinner from the pit of hell through a ransom if God had not thought of it.
Job 33:25 — Salvation transforms the life of a person about to perish (Job 33:18). Job is no longer in pain (Job 33:19), unable to enjoy life (Job 33:20), wasting away (Job 33:21), drawing near the grave (Job 33:22). Now his flesh is fresher than a child’s (Job 33:25) which sounds a lot like Naaman (2 Kings 5:14)! God’s favor is upon him (Job 33:26), and He has given man His righteousness! (Job 33:26).
Job 33:27 — The three friends thought Job wasn’t trying hard enough to be righteous. Job thought he had been trying hard enough to be righteous. Elihu thinks
Job is being reminded of his conversion. Why was Job righteous in the sight of the LORD? Not because he was perfect, but because he admitted he was a sinner. God delivered Job (Job 33:28) because he trusted the Ransom (Job 33:24).
2 Corinthians 3:1 — Like Elihu, Paul begs for a hearing from his audience. But unlike Elihu, Paul is not the younger man here.
2 Corinthians 3:6 — What is the New Testament? The declaration of the ransom! Isn’t it glorious (2 Corinthians 3:8)!
2 Corinthians 3:14 — Yes, it is sad that our dear Jewish friends can read the Old Testament (this is the only place in the Bible where this phrase occurs) and not see Jesus. It is amazing that we can see Jesus even in Job!
2 Corinthians 3:18 — Speaking of glory, we are being changed into the glory of the LORD by His Spirit!
Psalm 43:3 — May we be led by His truth and light unto His Holy Hill!
Proverbs 22:9 — God blesses those who give to the poor. Note that he didn’t give his stale bread to the poor. Today we often believe, “Give of your worst to the Master.” Reminds me of a song by Patch the Pirate – Any Ol’ Thing!
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