The Book of Job (Part
-1)
Background
(Wikipedia
edited)
The
main key to Job’s identity comes in Job 1.3, where we are
told that he was “The greatest of all the men of the east.” Presumably that means that
he lived somewhere east of Canaan:
but what more can we conclude? (Job 1:1 Job
lived in the Kingdom of Uz -- Unto Shem also, the father of all the children
of Eber, the brother of Japheth
the elder, even to him were children born. The
children of Shem; Elam, and Asshur, and
Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram.
And the children of Aram; Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Mash." Genesis 10:21-23) To the Old Testament Jews, however, this would have been a very clear statement.
In Genesis 25:5-6 we are told that Abraham gave all that he
had to Isaac, but gave gifts to the sons of his concubines
and sent them away “eastward, unto the east country.” Isaac
was the child of promise and the chosen heir in the sight
of God. Therefore, Abraham’s son through Hagar (Ishmael) and
Abraham’s other six sons through Keturah
(Zimran, Jokshan,
Medan, Midian, Ishbak and Shuah) were sent away
to the east so that they did not seek to usurp the inheritance
of their brother. Thus
the “men of the east” were the descendants of these sons of
Abraham, and Job was the greatest of them all.
Job
dwelt in the land of Uz. This was
the ancestral home of the Edomites
(Lamentations 4:21 Rejoice and be glad, O
daughter of Edom,
that dwellest in the land
of Uz;
the cup also shall pass through unto thee: thou shalt be drunken,
and shalt make thyself naked. – Edom
was located in the mountainous region Southwest
of the dead sea. Edom was located in Uz,
rather than being identified as Uz.
Job had great heads of animals that required grazing land
so Job lived in the eastern region of Uz
placing Job along a tributary of the Arnon River in or on the border of what became the expanded
territory of the Midianites), which they shared with the sons of Abraham. One of Job’s companions
was called Eliphaz the Temanite.
He was an Edomite, Teman
having been himself the son of an earlier Eliphaz
and the grandson of Esau Genesis 36:11). Another of Job’s
friends was Bildad the Shuhite, a descendent
of Shuah, one of the sons of Abraham
by Keturah.
We
are told that Job lived for 140 years after the events recorded
in the book Job 42:16. Assuming him to be at least 40 to start with -- he had ten children
in chapter 1 then he must have lived to at least 180. (When we look at the Patriarchs in Genesis around the time
of Abraham we do not find one that had children at age 20,
Job’s Children were grown up and lived in their own houses
so that Job more likely lived to the age of 200-240) We know that the Patriarchs lived to a very
old age, but that the human lifespan began to progressively
decline after the flood. Isaac was 180 when he died Genesis
35:28. Several
hundred years later Moses being an old man and full of days
only reached 120.
Putting
all these facts together, the reference to Eliphaz
the Temanite and Bildad
the Shuhite puts Job several generations
after Jacob and Esau, whilst Job’s lifespan suggests that
he lived some time before the time of Moses. This assumption
is further supported by the fact that Job acted as a priest
for his family, (His offering of sacrifices for his children) a practice which clearly belongs to the
Patriarchal age, prior to the establishment of the Tabernacle
and the priesthood.
Job therefore lived east of the mountainous Edomite territory where the land could support great flocks
of sheep, cattle and camels, somewhere between the time of
Jacob and the Exodus from Egypt.
There
are six generations between Jacob and the Exodus. Teman,
after whom Eliphaz is named, came in the third generation. That would
place Job at earliest in the fourth generation after Jacob
and Esau. That could make Job perhaps the grandfather or great-grandfather
of Jethro. (The Author here is making Job a Midianite
which he was not. It is more likely that one or more of Job’s
three daughters married into the Midianites [Job’s daughters
are made much of as being three women of great renown – as
they must have come into a deep knowledge of God]) If
this hypothesis is correct, we see then how God preserved
this faithful line through the descendants of Midian and how,
possibly, the true faith (The author is forgetting that the true faith
was handed down by Melchizedek the priest of God, as well as Abraham’s children Isaac, Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak and Shuah as
well as Ishmael, and also by the children of Esau. So the
exclusivity of Jethro the priest of God for the Midianites is just not so
as demonstrated by Job’s friends who also knew God and were
from different cities in different territories if not different
countries. More than likely the copy of the book of Job possessed
by Jethro was not the only copy
of the book of Job, but it is the copy that has come to be
in the bible.)
was passed on directly from Job to Jethro,
for we are told that
Job lived to see his son’s sons (Job 42.16). And when Moses
comes out of Egypt, there is
Jethro, the servant of God, to succour
him, strengthen him, encourage him and instruct him (see Exodus
18). Perhaps also, via Jethro, the
story of Job is handed down to Moses and, under the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit, is incorporated into the Scriptures.
(End of Background information from Wikipedia)
The book of Job has been called one of the
“poetic books” of the bible, a designation which in itself separates
the book of Job from the “more”
weighty prophetic books in the bible, or the deep meditative
books like Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Psalms and even the Song
of Solomon, making the book of Job to appear at first glance
of little real import.
Traditionally the book of Job has been made
out to be the book of the sufferings of Job, containing a series of long winded
speeches of confusing accusations and counter accusations
and therefore being of little spiritual value. As a result
in this day and hour few study the book of Job as a whole.
And this is why there has been so little in the way of teaching
and preaching based
on any text from the book of Job with the exception of those
hyper-faith Evangelists and teachers that accuse Job of having
“Let the hedge down around him and his family so that the devil then was
able to come in and devour him and his household” a false
teaching and straw dog argument that when beaten upon has
made these false teachers and preachers millions.
So What Then is The Book of
Job?
Genesis 26:4-5 And
I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and
will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed
shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; Because
that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments,
my statutes, and my laws. (In Genesis some of these commandments and
statues are demonstrated by Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and his
sons – but where in the bible are these commandments and statutes
that God gave unto Abraham? The answer is: They are in the
book of Job)
The
Book of Job contains The Commandments, The Statues,
and The Laws that
God gave unto Abraham which that Abraham diligently taught
to his children, his grandchildren, all those that worked
in and outside of the household of Abraham, his servants as
well as to their children. So in part we could call the Book
of Job: The Gospel
of Abraham. (The good news that God gave unto Abraham and the people of the covenant;
which Abraham received from God)
Here
is a little tidbit concerning “The Gospel of Abraham” Paul declares to the Galatians the following:
Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew
nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither
male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
Where
is this found in Scripture? In Genesis after God spoke
and gave His commandments to Abraham, Abraham went and circumcised
“Jews” himself, Ishmael, Isaac, all of his “Greek” “Free”
employees, and all of his “Greek” “bond servants.”
(The nameless selfless servant that was led by the Spirit
to Rebekah) Abraham also taught Rebekah the wife
of Isaac of God, she was the ‘female” empowered by the Holy
Spirit to see to it that Jacob was blessed with the blessings
of Abraham and not Esau. (So here in Abraham we see Jews, Gentiles,
Slaves, Free, Male and Female all walking and operating under
the same Spirit.)
In
recent years as the Lord has spoken to me and illuminated
His word to me I have come to a completely different opinion
of the Book of Job than I was taught in my youth and even
in bible school.
I
now see that the book of Job is a book of great spiritual
depth. I see by the Spirit that book of Job is a greatly prophetic
book, so much so that entire portions of the book of Job are
contained in Jesus and the Apostles teachings on the end times
and His second coming and especially in the Book of Revelation.
Any
examination of the book of Job and the Book of Revelation
will be startling to the reader in light of the erroneous
preachings and teachings of the prosperity Gospel and the
faith healing movement and an assortment of other false doctrines
and erroneous teachings. Therefore we declare unto our readers
that the book of Job is a book of great importance, especially
to the end time people of God and what is to befall the evil
perverse and corrupt church of our day, out of which some
shall be made to shine forth as the sun, even as Job.
The
book of Job is the far most reaching book in the bible on
the devil, of the devil as the accuser of the brethren, of
the devil needing God’s permission to attack Job the true
believer and his household that were under divine protection,
on the multiple devious stratagems that the devil employed,
and on his power to blind and deceive and turn the hearts
of all that were not true believers against Job which in a
figure is the people of the world making war with the church
and Israel in the last days.
The
book of Job is about a man who after serving the Lord diligently
and walking in obedience of the commandments and statutes
given unto Abraham – goes through severe testing and in the
end enters into personal justification before the Lord. For I had before times heard there was a God
in the ear, but now I see Him face to face.
Simply
put the book of Job depicts in a figure the sifting, the separation,
the cleansing, and the purification of the apostles and true
believers in of Jesus Christ in the early church, as well
as the End Time people of God – and the conclusion
of the book of Job in a figure is the appearing of Jesus Christ
at the Second Coming and the ushering in of the millennial
kingdom.
The
book of Job is also a prophetic and spiritual book, where
men dream dreams and see visions and prophesy as well. Yet
these men rather than being great prophets of God instead
match up with the carnal and fleshly Corinthians that Paul
declares were babes because of their fighting,
and jealousy, their lack of discernment, and their not knowing
the Spirit of God. In this regard the book of Job above the
host of books in the Old Testament sets forth some of the
most stark teaching concerning true spirituality, hearing
from God, waiting on the word of The Lord, delivering the
word of The Lord and walking in the Spirit.
Other
things contained in The book of Job
teaches are: Adam mentioned by name, part of Adam’s sin is
specifically named. The book of Job mentions the flood. The
book of Job speaks of the last days, and of the final judgment.
The book of Job speaks of the resurrection from the dead.
The
book of Job is the most quoted book in the bible, quoted continually
by David, Solomon, the Prophets, Jesus, and the Apostles.
Demonstrating how important the teaching and doctrine are
in the much maligned and neglected book of Job.
This
is not meant to be an all conclusive study of the book of
Job as the words recorded in this book are so dense with meaning
and quoted and cited so much in both Hebrew and from the Greek
Septuagint it would take a five volume set to plumb the depths
of this book. So one should consider this as an introduction
or a taste of the hidden riches contained in the book of Job.
Job 1:1-3 There
was a man in the land
of Uz,
whose name was Job; (Heb 347 Iy –Yob
335 Iy
- Where is, or Which way. Yob Father.
Iy-Yob means: The way of
my Father [Abraham]. For Job among all men in his day
walked in the ways of his father Abraham before the Lord) and that man was perfect and upright, and one that
feared God, and eschewed (To
shun, To flee) evil. And there were born unto him seven sons and
three daughters. His substance also was seven thousand sheep,
and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen,
and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so
that this man was the greatest (Most famed, and wealthiest) of all the men of the east.
In Job 21:28 For ye say,
Where is the house of the prince? (Where now is the
household and the substance of the household of prince Job?
These men that came to Job were also princes but of smaller
houses, men that had formerly bowed down and submitted themselves
in rank to Job but here now, they have understood not only
Job’s grief and pain but also what his destruction meant for
them and their households. So that these men speak to Job
no longer as comforters, but filled with glee over the destruction
of the house of Job and Job now being at their mercy before
their feet.)
Job 15:9-10 What knowest thou, that we know not? what
understandest thou, which is not
in us? With us are both the
grayheaded and very aged men, much
elder than thy father. (Here it is declared that
Job’s father was alive when these events occurred – and yet
Job’s father came not out to comfort or care for his son.
Being that Job was a prince his father would have been the
ruler over a city or a territory.)
With
great glee Eliphaz the Temanite begins speaking
in chapter four.
Job 4:2
If we assay to commune with thee, (If we council and commune
with you)
wilt thou be grieved? (Without
waiting for Job’s response Eliphaz
smirks, seeing your destruction and how you have been brought
low) but who can withhold himself
from speaking? (Eliphaz can not resist wiping Job’s nose in the dirt. Eliphaz has allowed himself here to become an instrument of
the devil to prod and probe Job, to test and tempt Job to
sin against God with his lips.)
Job 4:3-5 Behold, thou hast instructed (Heb 3256 Yasar
means: To correct, To warn, To reprove,
To instruct and To strengthen. [Job is a preacher of righteousness]
Jesus, the Apostles and Disciples all were Yasar’s
is cited and demonstrated time and again in the New Testament
[Note also that the root word of Yasar is Yas which mean To found,
or To lay a foundation])
many, and thou
hast strengthened the weak hands. Thy words have upholden
him that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the feeble
knees. But now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest; it
toucheth thee, and thou art troubled.
(Greek for Instructed is: En-Ou-Thetn-Sas)
What
Eliphaz is saying here is: Am I
to believe my eyes, that here before us is the once great
Job. Job the once great, great councilor and instructor of
many. Job the once
great man who has strengthened the weak hands, the feeble
knees and those who have been brought low in God’s judgment.
So how is it then that when this has befallen the great
teacher Job that you of all people have withered and crumbled?
How is it that the
once great teacher Job is now before us curled up in a fetal
ball whimpering about wanting to die? Where
then is this well of moral fortitude you preached and taught
of? Where is this great confidence that you spoke to others
to have in God? How is it that your façade as the teacher
and instructor of many has been stripped away and you have
been found wanting, is it not that God is now judging you
by your own prideful teachings empty words? When we read this book we fail to read in Job’s comforters words
the biting sarcasm, their bitter accusations, and their mocking
Job and his condition. Yet as we read this book Job will testify that this is what is actually
occurring time and again.
Job
speaking of his past position in chapter 29 declares:
Job 29:7-11 When I went out to the gate through the city, when
I prepared my seat in the street! (Job was a Judge – [It was along these very lines that Jethro came and instructed Moses])The
young men saw me, and hid themselves: (For fear of Job seeing them and their sin being uncovered) and the aged arose, and stood up. (In acknowledgement of Job and his judgments)
The
princes refrained talking, and laid their hand on their mouth.
The nobles held their peace, and their tongue cleaved to the roof of their
mouth.
(The princes and
nobles stood in fear of Job and the words of his mouth)When the ear heard me, then it blessed me;
and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me:
With these words
we can begin now to understand the stratagems of satan and
how great here the fall and the destruction of the house of
Job was, beginning with the destruction of Job’s source of
his wealth in his flocks of sheep, in his camels for transportation
of goods, and in the oxen and asses used for plowing vast
fields belonging to Job and others. In the destruction of
his shepherds, his herdsmen, and his teamsters, and then the
devil hit Job on the deepest and most personal level that
is the destruction of his own children taking them all out
in a single blow.
In satan’s
warring against Job the serpent not only gives Job painful
boils from head to foot, but Job is cast out of his own house
and forced to live on an ash heap and using a filthy potshard
to lance his own boils and squeeze out the puss and the yellow
root of the infection himself and to then bind himself up
in filthy rags.
Job 19:13-19 (Job is speaking here his mistaken belief that it is God that
has set His face against Job) He hath
put my brethren far from me, (His relatives have kept their distance) and mine acquaintance are verily estranged from me.
(Those who he worked
with or did business with forsook him) My kinsfolk failed, (His father and his brothers and sisters cut
him off) and my familiar friends have forgotten me. (His best friends
turned their back on him)
They that dwell in mine house, and my maids, count me for
a stranger: (Job’s house was
untouched along with he and his wife’s servants and maids
– so that jobs own slaves and paid employees now ignore him) I am an alien in their sight. I called my servant,
and he gave me no answer; I intreated
(I begged) him with my mouth. (And still none would come. In part this would
be to assist him with his sickness, the lancing of Job’s boils
and wrapping him with bandages and putting salve on his wounds,
this is why Job ends up outside living on the ash heap using
a piece of broken pottery to lance his boils himself.)
My breath (Voice)
is strange to my wife, (His own wife has forsaken him as well even) though
I intreated (Her to care for me) for the children's sake of mine own body. Yea, young
children (Surviving
grand children)
despised me; I arose, and they spake
against me. (Cursed Job as the
cause of the death of their parents)
All my inward friends
abhorred me: and they whom I loved are turned against me.
The
power of deception that satan has garnered here, and casting
a cloud over the mind and soul of all of those that formerly
loved Job, admired Job, and looked up to Job is staggering
to consider. From this
we can begin to understand that after the great revival that
Hezekiah brought to Israel
that his perverse son Manasseh with the false prophet through
the power of the devil turned all of Israel against
the Lord and those that walked uprightly before God. From
this we can begin to understand how the devil entered the
hearts of ten of Jacob’s sons to kill Joseph, and have them
fake his death and sell him into slavery. From this we can
also begin to understand what is to come to pass as spoken
by Jesus Christ in Matthew 24 concerning the great shoa,
the great tribulation, and that Christians will hate Christians
and seek to kill them believing they are doing God a service. (We see in this light the fanatical demonic hatred that is
infamous in Westboro Baptist church,
and that is being stoked in the disciples of Joel’s army,
and by many false teachers and false prophets in the church)
And ye shall be hated of all
men. And in Revelation
we see under the antichrist and false prophet that a final
solution shall be ordered and carried out targeting all believers
in Jesus Christ and all Jews. (We see in this light
the fanatical demonic hatred that we see in Islam,
that is executed by Muslim terrorists and Muslim nations
against Jews and Christians alike) Such
is the power of the devil for those that walk in darkness,
and those believers that are filled with mixture of light
and darkness, so that darkness as Christ said becomes their
light – which such are unable to discern.
We are speaking
here of powerful truths. The power of light and the power
of darkness, the power of deception that works in so many
in this day and hour of those who declare themselves to be
true believers in Christ but
obey not Christ’s words and commandments.
John 14:14-15
If ye shall ask any thing
in my name I will do it, If ye love me keep my commandments.
(These ask amiss as they truly do not love
Jesus Christ. As evidenced by their not walking in obedience
to His words and His commandments)
John
14:21 He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth
Me: and he that loveth
Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him. (The manifestations
of Jesus and the Father come to those that love and obey Jesus’
words and commandments)
John
14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come
unto him, and make our abode with him. (Our entering into a deep abiding relationship
with Jesus and the Father and their taking up their personal
abode in us is dependant upon our love made manifest in our
obedience to Jesus words and commandments)
John
14:24 He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings:
Matthew 7:23 And
then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. (Teach disobedience)
John 9:31 --
If any man be a worshipper of God,
and doeth His will, him He heareth.
(Jesus here defines what To
worship in Spirit and in truth means – obedience)
Matthew
7:26 -- Everyone that heareth
these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, (Is disobedient to
My words and commandments)
shall be likened unto a foolish man,
(Fool of a man) which built his
house upon the sand: (And his coming doom and destruction as he is tested and found
wanting)
Ephesians
2:2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course
of this world, according to the prince of the power of the
air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: (Disobedience to the words and commandments
of Jesus Christ – The children of disobedience, so-called
Christians, so called believers do not love Jesus Christ as
defined by Christ, as they do not hear and obey His words His commandments, as they do not to keep or obey his Words, and as they do not keep or obey His commandments)
To
make oneself a disciple of anyone except Jesus Christ, and
to follow that man or ministries doctrines and traditions
of men is to walk in the spirit of the children of disobedience.
These walk in darkness,
as they follow the course of the prince and the power of the
air.
What we are saying here is that all
those that do not love and keep the words of Jesus Christ
are fodder for satan both here and now to do his bidding
and to preach and teach his doctrines and traditions by their
deeds of disobedience, much less the corruption that comes
forth from their mouth.
2 Thessalonians
2:9-11 Even
him, (The
antichrist and the false prophet) whose
coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs
and lying wonders, (As
prophesied of by Moses) And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness
in them that perish; (As recorded in the book of Job) because they received
not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall
send them (The
same rules as revealed in the book of Job, satan can not just
act against, even tepid believers in Christ)
strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: (So here we see God’s rejection of a people, of a church, of a denomination
comes with granting the serpent strong delusion to sweep them
away)
How much that we have dieted on over the
years regarding the workings of God and the workings of the
enemy of our souls has been founded in deception and error.
Has been founded in the lying doctrines and traditions of
men so that our understanding has been clouded, so that we
have been deluded into believing that God and Jesus Christ
in their so great a love would give us a pass on sin and corruption
in our lives. That God and Jesus Christ will blindly accept
the most half-hearted selfish motives and abject disobedience
of Christ’s words and commandments, and just wink all that
by.
The
blood guiltiness of the Christians of this generation before
God
Hebrews
10:26-29 For if we sin wilfully
after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there
remaineth no more sacrifice for sins. (A believer’s willful sin is NOT covered by
the death of Christ on the cross nor by His blood) But a certain fearful looking
for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour
the adversaries.
(God’s wrath and indignation is against Christians
who willfully commit sin) He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:
(These were
sins unto death) Of how much sorer punishment,
suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, (The writer of Hebrews defines the meaning
of willful sin here as to what it really means) who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted
the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an
unholy thing, (Making the blood of Christ unholy by his
willful sin)
and hath done (So) despite unto the Spirit of grace?
Matthew 19:25
When His disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed,
(They were
astonished. They were filled with the fear of God so much
so that they had a revelation of their sin and unrighteousness
before a Holy God) saying; Who then (Among
us) can be
saved?
And God sent – strong delusion that they (Tepid Christians, Christians that willfully sin, Christians
that love riches and the things of this world) would believe a lie – and be damned.
And much more so as the days of Matthew 24
come upon us, they shall be as Cain, they shall be as the
ten brothers of Joseph filled with betrayal and murder of
those that walk in the Spirit of obedience thinking they are
doing God a service.
What we see here
in the book of Job is the true warfare that occurs between
the Kingdom of Light
and the Kingdom of Darkness.
It is here that we see the onslaught of all that knew Job
being turning against him. Of their being deceived by the
serpent into making war with Job to cause him to sin against
God with his lips and fall. This is true meaning of spiritual
warfare that is spoken of by the prophets and by the Apostle
Paul.
First and foremost
the warfare that we fight is over our own souls and beings.
Second it is over
our own family and household.
Third it is over
our extended household which would include our friends, immediate
neighbors and those we work with us in one capacity or another.
And then we are
commanded to pray for our nation’s leaders and judges.
Most Christians
never win the warfare over their own heart and soul. Very
few win the warfare over their own household. And it is exceedingly
rare and almost unheard of that a Christian wins the warfare
over their extended household. Instead what we have is a generation
of deluded prayer warriors, and tens of thousands of people
trained in false spiritual warfare, that pray and yell and
scream at the devil and his minions, making themselves out
to be authorities over them. And making out that they can
push back this and they can push back that – Yet over the
past forty years what has truly been the combined efforts
millions of all these so called spiritual warfare sessions
all around the world? What needs to be asked is; where is the fruit
of all of this warfare?
Is the US better than it was forty years
ago before this and other false doctrines were taught? Is
Europe better now than it
was forty years ago? Where is the fruit of all this great
prayer, intercession and spiritual warfare?
Things in the church
and the world are far worse now than they were forty years
ago. For example: Divorce, fornication, adultery, are through
the roof in all spirit-filled and bible believing denominations.
Sex scandals in Spirit-filled and bible believing churches
are on a steep rise uncovering great sin and corruption among
those that are considered the most spiritual people in the
church.
The truth as painful
as it may be to hear and consider is that all of this warfare
and intercession is null and void before God. Because
ye ask amiss! It is null
and void because regardless of how much prayer and intercession
and spiritual warfare is done, because these things
are not done in obedience to the words and commandments of
Jesus Christ, these things are instead being done on the basis of the
doctrines and traditions of men that men and ministries who
have woven that which sound oh so good to the ear of men.
Therefore if there
is any success to these prayers, these intercessions, these
spiritual warfare session, if there is any victory, if there
is any glory in these actions the glory would not go to God
no matter how much He might be praised with peoples lips,
for God is not glorified
by disobedience, God is not honored by false teachings, false
doctrine, and the traditions of men.
It is men and ministries
are exalted and lifted up by these things precisely because
what is being done is their invention
and not the words and commandments of Jesus Christ. It is
these self-appointed prayer warriors that are lifted up and
exalted. It is the people that do these spiritual warfare
sessions that are lifted up and exalted.
What actually is
being done here is spoken of in the book of Acts about some
Jewish exorcists the seven sons of Sceva (Acts 19:14) These seven Jewish sons were presumptively seeking to cast
out demons in the name
of Jesus whom Paul preacheth.
These people are
beating the air. (I Corinthians 9:26)
These walk after their own lusts (Yes there are “spiritual”
lusts) and out of their mouth come great swelling words of
their great teaching, of their great power, causing those
that are weak minded to look up to them in admiration and
their self proclaimed great advantage over others (Jude 1:16)
But there is more
revealed in the book of Job concerning the stratagems of satan
and his desire to bring about the utter destruction of Job.
After all these things befell Job and he was forsaken and
betrayed by all; two more things happened first Job’s wife
came by to encourage Job to sin against God with his lips
to curse God for all that had happened and have God strike
him dead.
When that failed
the serpent then sent along to Job one of the greatest weapons
in his arsenal three greatest bible teachers that were probably
the three greatest preachers of renown of Job’s day to set
the record straight and reeducate Job. These came unto Job
as angels of light but what each of them came
bearing was their own special blend of light and darkness
(Delusion) to tempt and
test Job with.
The sufferings
of Job here and the pressure brought to bear by satan
can only be compared to the sufferings and temptations of
the Lord Jesus Christ. We are by no means making out Job to
be on par with Jesus Christ, we are simply stating that in
the record of the word of God we have no other man that suffered
so and was tried so except for Jesus Christ. Therefore those
modern teachers and preachers who would find fault with Job
even as Job’s three preacher friends found fault and became
(Agents
working for the serpent)
Job’s accusers will in like manner find themselves facing
the wrath of God and many stripes over their foolish doctrines
and teachings.
In preaching and
teaching I have heard about
one having a Job experience
and I have to say that such talk cheapens what occurred here
in the life of Job. The idea that a preacher could flippantly suggest
that what occurred in the life of Job is common place and
something that just about everybody experiences is vile and
contemptible.
Who among us is
as righteous and just before God as Job? Who among us does
God showcase before satan as being
the embodiment of what it means to be a Christian? Who among
us has the grasp of the words and commandments of God as Job
did? Who among us has God lifted up and exalted and made a
judge over His heritage? So how then can we have a Job experience
when we walk nothing like Job before the Lord?
This whole thing came about only because Job was so pure, so holy,
and so upright before God.
John
14:21 He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth
Me: and he that loveth
Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him. (As God so manifested
Himself to Job)
Job 1:1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name
was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that
feared God, and eschewed evil. (That
fled even the sight of evil)
Job 1:2-3 And there
were born unto him seven sons and three daughters. His substance
also was seven thousand sheep, (For wool and meat)
and
three thousand camels, (These camels would have been used for the transportation of
goods) and five hundred yoke of oxen, (With 500 yoke of
oxen Job servants could have plow 500 fields all at the same
time, so that Job’s farmland would have encompassed thousands
of acres) and five hundred she asses, (Females for giving
birth so he sold hundreds of donkeys every year) and a very great household; (With all Job’s shepherds,
his husbandmen, his plowmen, his farm servants, his camel
train servants, his teamsters, his overseers over all his
holdings, and then all his household servants) so
that this man was the greatest (Wealthiest) of all
the men of the east.
Job 28:28 And unto
man He said, (Job
is quoting something here that God said before scripture was
recorded) Behold, the fear of the LORD, that is wisdom;
and to depart from evil is understanding.
(Job eschewed evil – Job not only heard but
obeyed the words and commandments of God)
The book of Job has a lot to say
about wisdom. But the wisdom in the book of Job does not come
from age, from being learned, from the sum of one’s experience,
or from one being a judge or a ruler.
In the book of Job true wisdom is revealed as
coming by revelation, as one hears the word that proceedeth from the mouth of
the Father.
Christ
cited the book of Job when He said:
Luke 17:20-21 And
when He was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of
God should come, He answered them and said, The
kingdom of God cometh not with observation: (It is invisible) Neither shall they say, Lo here! or,
lo there! For, behold, the kingdom
of God
is within (Among) you. (And
is even right in front of your faces but you can not discern
even one of its children or households)
Job
1:5 And it was
so, when the days of
their feasting were gone about, that Job
sent and sanctified them, (Job
here acted as the high priest of his household)
and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings
according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may
be that my sons (And daughters while being drunk) have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually. (Job prayed, interceded, and sanctified, his
household daily – Just as Christ prayed for His disciples
daily early in the morning as was His custom.)
Job
later testifies:
Job 3:26 I
was not in safety, (I rested not in the safety
of my own walk with God) neither had I rest, (I was vigilant over those in my household) neither was I quiet; (I continuously made prayers
and supplications over my household) yet trouble came.
Job 1:6-7 Now there
was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves
before the LORD, and Satan came also among them. and
the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest
thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going
to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down (Septuagint: Em-Peri-Pate-Sas Em My or Mine
[Possessive adjective] Peri About
or around Pate To tread down To trample or To oppress, Sas
Eagerly [I eagerly go out and about seeking who is mine to
oppress and tread them down])
in it.
1 Peter 5:8 Be sober,
be vigilant;(Job
was sober and vigilant) because
your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh
about, (Peri-Patei,
Peri About or around, Patei
To tread down To trample or To oppress) seeking whom he may devour: (Peter here is citing Job 1:7 Telling us that this “Going to and fro
and up and down” of satan is as a predator seeking out among
men prey that he might devour.)
This oppression,
this trampling down, this breaking in pieces this grinding
to powder is the attributes prophesied of the fourth beast
of Daniel.
Daniel 7:23 Thus he
said, The
fourth beast shall be
the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from
all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall
tread it down, and break it in pieces.
Oppression and trampling
down is the spirit of antichrist, think of this also in Christ’s
command that his disciples were not to rule as the gentiles.
Matthew 20:25-26 But Jesus
called them unto him, and said, Ye
know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over
them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them.
But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great
among you, let him be your minister;
When the above passage
in Matthew is linked with Job 1:7 In which the spirit of darkness,
the rule of darkness, and the spirit of antichrist is defined
– The passage should read different as our understanding is
opened, so that we can see that Christ here is
speaking of far more here than just how the Roman Empire ruled
over the Jews. He is speaking to the children of light that
they are not to use the tools and tactics of the children
of darkness. (How much does the church seek to do this very thing in this
day and hour?)
In another article
we have discussed a populist church movement that seeks to
exert dominion over the unsaved, to take the reigns of government
and force the ungodly to act as if they have found religion.
Doing so for their own personal vanity, and so they will no
longer have to see sin and moral corruption before their sainted
eyes. Creating a Christianized Hollywood world; where they
can live their empty hollow walks of disobedience, and feel
really good about it. God’s answer is to introduce the homosexual
and lesbian to Jesus Christ, where they can get saved, delivered
and set free. Gods answer is to introduce the drunkard and
the drug user to Jesus Christ where they can get saved, delivered
and set free, God’s answer is to introduce those that despise
us and treat us with contempt to Christ where they can get
saved delivered and transformed into new creations. The goals
between Christians seeking authority and exerting over other,
and preaching the gospel and bringing people to the feet of
Jesus Christ may appear to some to be the same, but these
two ways, these two paths could not be more different, for
one is the ways of darkness and the other is the way of life.
Many
read Paul not comprehending that Paul in many passages is
citing Jesus Christ’s words and commandments. In the passage
below Paul is citing Matthew 20:25-26 (See also Luke 22:25-26) Where Christ was speaking to His apostles and disciples about exercising
earthly authority and rulership. In so doing Jesus is speaking
of soldiers, weapons, police, spies and betrayal, oppressive
laws, burdensome taxes, and an oppressive legal system. Paul
here picks up Christ’s words that his disciples were not to exercise dominion
and authority of the gentile rulers using their carnal weapons
to create and enforce their rule. And Paul also cites a second passage
about believers instead bringing liberty and freeing those
from the oppression of satan’s
rulership.
2 Corinthians
10:3-4 For though
we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: For the
weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through
God to the pulling down of strong holds; (Liberating those that were bound and prisoners
within)
See
now how the meaning of this passage is altered when it is
rightly divided with the word of truth. This is passage is not eluding to a confrontational in your face Gospel
with bullhorns and protest placards uttering curses and condemnations,
nor is it eluding to people screaming and shouting against
principalities and powers and pushing and pulling them here
and there.
Instead Paul is speaking here of the rulership of the lamb. Nowhere in the
Book of Acts is there a single passage that indicates that
the Apostles had to fight battles of spiritual warfare as
taught in this day and hour so that they could go and preach
or teach somewhere. Nowhere in the Gospels is it even hinted
at that Jesus instructed any such teaching or doctrine. Instead
we read that both Jesus Christ and His disciples had to pray
and continually seek God that so that He would lead and guide
and that He would open effectual doors of ministry for them.
The book of Acts faithfully records the warfare of Paul the apostle, where
he was threatened, beaten, stoned, arrested, ship wreaked,
put in chains, held in prison and executed – as Paul walked
in obedience He did not pull back because of the cost.
This is the Spiritual warfare that Paul conducted.
This is how Paul warred
not after the flesh but in the Spirit as recorded in the word
of God. This is having boots
in the field. This is being laborers for Christ. The other
is a doctrine and tradition of men that is beset with vain
imaginations, and causing a confused people to beat the air.
If the children of
light are to liberate, if the children of light are to set
free those that are bound and oppressed, and are to have a
flock to protect from the devourer. There
must needs be boots in the field laboring for Christ,
warring for Christ in the same manner as is testified of in the Gospels.
As Christ himself warred a good warfare
Christ cursed not, Christ did not call fire down from heaven
on cities towns and hamlets, Christ did not hire mercenaries
to protect Himself and His disciples.
Christ was threatened,
beaten, arrested, jailed, judged unjustly, had false witnesses
speak against Him, slandered, spit upon, had His beard torn
from his face, was scourged, forced to carry His own cross
to His own death, where He was executed by crucifixion. (This was Jesus Christ’s spiritual warfare)
Nowhere in the Gospels do we see Jesus Christ or the Apostles
conducting the spiritual warfare sessions we have been taught.
Nowhere did they need to do so that they might be able to
preach here or go there, or that they might have a good meeting
to heal the sick and perform miracles.
So much of what is
taught today is polluted with the cunningly crafted fables
of men. Is there any doubt why the Glory hath departed from
this evil and gainsaying generation? We have to return to
the solid rock of Jesus Christ’s words and commandments. His complete unadulterated
teachings. We have to hear His voice, fear Him, love
Him and keep His words and commandments. This is the way,
this is the true path. Any other way is the way of thieves
and robbers.
Psalm 40:6-8 Sacrifice and offering
thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering
and sin offering hast thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of
me, I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within
my heart.
Job 1:8 And The
Lord said unto satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job,
that there is none like him in the earth,
(We
can consider this to also help us date the time that Job lived
– He lived not in the days of Abraham, nor in the days of
Isaac and Rebekah, nor in the days of Jacob, nor in the days
of Joseph for when Job lived there was not one single person
that walked with God as Job did)
A
perfect and an upright man, one that feareth
God, and escheweth evil? (To flee from evil)
God Himself testifies here before satan
that Job was perfect before Him, that Job was righteous before Him, that Job walked in the fear of God, and that Job
was one that fled the very
sight of evil and corruption.
Many bible teachers, preachers and
theologians expressly disagree with the words of God and the
bible here; declaring that Job was not perfect before God
nor was Job righteous, that it was Job not God that lifted
the hedge about Job and his household, that the devil is all
powerful and is subject to no one not even God, making God out to
be a liar,
and making the written
word of God to be tales and legends.
In the place of God word, these preachers teachers
and evangelists offer their evil and perverse teaching and
manufactured doctrine with tortured explanations and logic,
while undulating backing and forth with their words being
like a plastic baggy filled with writhing worms, so that they
can not be pinned down and made to answer the accusations
that they have leveled against God and Job.
We believe what is written here in the bible, and we know without a
doubt that God says what He means. If there is anything faulty here it is us, it
is our corrupt understanding of these things and our being
unable to rightly divide the word of truth. It is our being
blind, deaf, and unable to hear the voice of the Lord so that
we are not being rightly taught of Him. If there is any incongruity
in God’s testimony here or anywhere else in the bible it is
us, leaning upon our own understanding, our being polluted
with the doctrines and traditions of men and then peering
through our corrupt and distorted lens seeking to make the
bible agree with the rag tag patch work of the doctrines and
traditions of men that we have gathered from a hundred different
theologians all of which knew not God, and distorted His word
for their own gain. We have much we need to cleansed
of, and much we need to unlearn IF we are ever to become effectual
ministers of the kingdom of Jesus Christ
and to trod the ground where the Apostles, the Disciples and
men and women of the Spirit of old trod.
Job 1:9-11 Then Satan
answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?
Hast
not thou made an hedge about him, (Getting the story straight here it was not Job that built
or controlled the hedge about him it was God) and about his house, (God hedged about not only Job but the whole of Job’s household
as recorded elsewhere in the word of God) and about all that he hath on every side? (And God also hedged
about all of Job’s lands and possessions and those under job’s
employ as part of his greater household – God created and
controls this hedge or these hedges that satan is complaining
about) thou hast
blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased
in the land. (Satan
is now complaining about the blessings of Abraham being at
work in Job) But
put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and
he will curse thee to thy face.
In my own personal life as recorded in a
number of articles we have written with the Lord, under God’s
guidance we chose a path contrary to much of the teachings
and doctrine concerning sickness, and so called “Divine health” as taught by Kenneth Hagan, Kenneth Copeland, along
with all their clones. When congestive heart failure came,
when lethal sleep apnea came, when crushing depression became
manifest, when diabetes came, surgeries, heavy medications,
living more or less in a hospital bed, being unable to work,
unable to support my household, having no friends or family
to be able to turn to for help what was our approach?
It
was from the beginning to trust in the Lord, and to lay ourselves
in God’s hands. It was to let go and fall backwards, (We
had determined by the Spirit that we had nothing to lose in
acting as others so determined “recklessly”) knowing
that if God caught us and we did not perish we would be safe
in His beloved hands come what may. (And
so we did against the advise of every teacher preacher and Christian that we personal
knew who personally sought to advise us in this)
People called to pray for our healing and
deliverance, we decidedly responded for these to not do so,
as we wanted to go through this for all it was worth, for
our own personal spiritual growth, and our being able to enter
into a deeper more abiding personal relationship with Jesus
Christ. And we were concerned that the prayers of others
might actually impede what God was seeking to bring us to.
For the last three and a half years we have
‘foolishly” and “recklessly” NOT prayed
for healing or deliverance, we have not confessed or professed
anything that others have deemed that God owes us. Instead
we have studied God’s word as we were able, we have prayed
as we were able for others, and for the church at large, we
have interceded for others as we have been able, and for the
church at large. We have cared for the poor, clothed the poor,
feed the poor, opened our house to lodge strangers that God
sent and we shared what we had and saw even to their financial
needs as God so blessed us.
We have been told by countless Christians
that what we have been doing is irrational, that we have been
somehow deceived into the path we have taken. We have been
told that we have let down the hedge and allowed the devil
to come into our life to do what he wills. In our decided
stand to lean on the Lord alone we have offended some believers,
and we have been disfellowshipped by others for this reason
alone. But God! But the Lord has been with us in a marked
way that is apparent not only to my children but even to the
unsaved that know us.
As we have fully submitted ourselves unto
the Lord Jesus Christ in this matter, and the Lord has seen
fit to made us into a witness against many populist teachings
concerning divine healing, faith, tithing, prayer, fasting,
repentance, deep cleansing, and conversion.
So as to expose
for those that have an ear to hear that all to many things
we have been so freely taught and accepted as truth are instead
tainted and perverted doctrines and traditions of men that
can in their form not be found expressed as such or even implied
to be so in the written word of God.
2 Thessalonians 2:9-11 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with
all power and signs and lying wonders,
(As well as those
that walk today in the spirit of antichrist among us)
And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish;
because they received not the love of the truth, that they
might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong
delusion, that they should believe a lie:
Christians have
long been deceived by these lying preachers, teachers and
evangelists -- because they do not love Jesus Christ with
all their heart, all their mind,
all their soul, and all their strength. –
One can not love Jesus Christ with all their heart with all
their soul with all their mind and
with all their strength and have never read the word of God
cover to cover even once. One can not be so in love with God
and have never meditated upon the word of God day and night.
One can not be so taken with God and never come to know
the word that proceedeth out of
the mouth of the Father, or being taught of God.
Of those that do
not love God with all their heart with all their soul with
all their mind and all their strength -- Their life is a witness
against them before God, their spiritual lack is a witness
against them before God. We are in the day when all manner
of deception has been released in virtually every preacher
or ministry we can look to and in everything preacher and
teacher we can listen to. These have been anointed to deceive
with strong delusion to swallow up as it were all tepid Christians,
to devour the hearts and souls of all Christians that have
motives in their hearts other than love devotion and the fear
of God, to render fruitless all Christians by bringing them
into a state of disobedience and chronic dysfunction.
The evidence of
this is in the state of the church in England,
the state of the church in the EU and the state of the church
here in the US. The devourer
has been devouring the church right under our noses for the
last 40 years. During which not ONE preacher not ONE ministry
has sounded the alarm of the churches overthrown, of the bible
believing and Spirit-filled church being made small in number,
ineffective, and powerless, and now in the last five years
being given into the hand of our enemies (Muslims, Homosexuals, Liberals, Socialists and
Atheists) to be put under
their tyrannical rule.
Job
1:12
And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that
he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine
hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD. (And the Lord said
unto satan, behold all that the church
hath is in thy power, only upon the very elect among their
number thou shalt not put forth thy hand)
This is a very hard point for Christians to understand.
Many books and tracts have been written on this
subject. God judiciously
allowed this to occur in the life of Job and in the church
in the UK and EU in this hour. God out of
His righteousness has let these things be so. Satan on
his own can not act.
Satan is not the god of evil and God is the God of
good. Though it is taught in all quarters
that God is good and can not allow or do evil. (Evil here not being
sin evil being punishment, judgment, chastisement, scourging,
and to slay sinful and corrupt people and nations)
Many are supposedly stumbled about why there is evil
in the world, floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, volcanic
eruptions, drought, floods, disease, epidemics, wars, financial
depressions and the like. God is God, God is Holy, God is
Pure, and Righteous, men through the sins of Adam and Eve
are not. And the greatest majority of those who call themselves
Christians are evil sinful and corrupt.
The untold thousands if not
millions that were destroyed in the flood of Noah speak volumes
about God’s Holiness and Righteousness and His demands upon
men both saved and unsaved. God having the Israelites come
into the land of
Canaan and slaughter
the Canaanites, God raining down fire and brimstone upon the
cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. These things are the severity of God
to a wayward and disobedient people that would not hear Him,
and would not repent of their wicked ways. (Even as the Church is wayward disobedience and will not repent
of its wicked ways today)
God does not just deal with
individuals, those individual’s acts bring down death and
destruction upon them and their entire households. This is
the severity of God to disobedient individuals who will not
hear Him, and refuse to repent from their wicked ways. Corrupt
judges, corrupt preachers and teachers, and corrupt rulers
bring down death and destruction not only upon themselves
but upon their hearers as well. As they teach deception and
perversion to their hearers and turn their hearer’s hearts
away from the Lord. So the judgment of God comes upon hamlets,
towns, cities, and nations, all of which is well recorded
in scripture.
We have addressed
God’s judgment upon the unrighteous, the sinful and the corrupt
in the household of the Lord, but Job was PERFECT, and UPRIGHT and Job FEARED
the Lord.
If
Job was so holy and righteous how, how could a righteous God
bring something like this upon such a man and his household?
Isaiah 53:10 Yet it pleased the LORD
to bruise Him; (His
only begotten Son Jesus Christ) He hath put Him to grief: when Thou shalt make
His soul (Jesus) an offering
for sin. (If
God out of His Holiness, His Righteousness, and Love did so
to His own Son to seek redemption for us, what then would
His demands be upon His people, and those who call upon His
name?)
Job 5:17-19 Behold,
happy (Heb
835 Aser: Blessed, Happy, Great happiness and Joy. 837 Oser: Blessedness, Happiness. 833 Aser: To walk straight, To
be led, To be Guided, To be reproved, To be called blessed,
Blessed. Greek Makarios Blessed, Happy, Blissful, The word Makarios in Greek is also used of the upper classes: {Denoting
the state of those who God continually corrects, chastises,
reproves, corrects that these walk in closer proximity to
God, these are under God’s eye, these are in God’s hand, these
are members of His household indeed} [Behold, blessed with
great happiness and joyousness]) is the man whom God correcteth: therefore
despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty: For He maketh sore,
and bindeth up: He woundeth,
and His hands make whole.
Hebrews 12:5-7 And ye have forgotten
the exhortation which speaketh unto
you as unto children, My
son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint
when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth
he chasteneth, and scourgeth
every son (As part of His household) whom He receiveth.
If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you
as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth
not?
First
off the righteousness of God is not the righteousness of men.
What men call righteous and justice all to
many times is evil and corrupt. This can be seen all to plainly
now in US law, in British law, and in European law, as it
lifts up and exalts the vilest of sinners Homosexuals and
Lesbians, it lifts up and exalts murderous and hate filled
Muslims and convicts any who would dare speak such things
publicly or privately to a select group as in a church, or
in ones own household.
Much
of the most odious law has been written under the banner of
Fairness, or Equality,
feminism as super citizenship, gay rights as
super citizenship, Muslim rights as super citizenship Minorities
given work place super citizenship is not equity or fairness
it is the preferential treatment of one group over all the
rest of the legal citizens of that nation.
Man
and even Christian men through the corrupt lens that they
peer through to measure and quantify good and evil – lean
heavily upon their own natural unregenerate understanding
that was founded upon their experiences and what they were
taught since they were a young child, which if the truth be
known is hardly impartial and based upon the word of God,
much less revelation and understanding from the Lord.
So that we see in part and we know in part and therefore
our greatest judgment is in part.
God
testifies of this very thing.
Isaiah 55:8-9 For my thoughts are not
your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than
your thoughts.
Job 9:10 (God) Which doeth great things past finding out; yea, and
wonders without number.
Paul
here quotes Job that the wisdom and knowledge of God is deep
and unsearchable by not only men but by the devil as in demonstrated
in the book of Job over and over again.
Romans 11:33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom
and knowledge of God! How
unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
The
book of Job begins with a single man in all the earth that
walks in the ways and precepts that God gave unto Abraham.
God purposely flaunts
Job before the devil so that the devil seeks to destroy Job
and fails time after time.
The
result of the hidden ways of God in the life of Job was to
demonstrate before all that knew Job and before the three
most influential preachers and judges in all of the land in
Job’s day, not only that Job was righteous and blameless before
God, but that all of these might be brought into the same
relationship and knowledge of God that Job had.
In
other words through the suffering and bruising of Job, the
book of Job ends with many sons being brought into glory.
The
book of Job ends with Job and these other men hearing for
themselves the audible voice of God
testifying in behalf of Job. In like manner
to the audible voice of God testifying of Christ on the mount
of transfiguration to Peter James and John.
Therefore
it pleased God to bruise Job, to test Job and to try Job that
through Jobs pain and suffering others might be brought into
the salvation that was preached unto Abraham. So God in this made Job a light and a testimony
unto thousands in that day. And as part of that no doubt the nation of the
Midianites were turned unto the Lord with prophets and priests
unto the Lord until the time of Moses.
Luke 6:22-23 Blessed
(Greek
Makarios Blessed, Happy, Blissful, The word Makarios in Greek is also used of the upper classes: {Denoting
the state of those who God continually corrects, chastises,
reproves, corrects that these walk in closer proximity to
God, these are under God’s eye, these are in God’s hand, these
are members of His household indeed} [Behold, blessed with
great happiness and joyousness]) are ye, when men shall
hate you, (Without
cause) and when they shall separate you from their company,
and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for
the Son of man's sake. Rejoice
ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your
reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their
fathers unto the prophets. (Even as Job was so treated) But God! But God has a higher purpose. IF -- If -- If -- we can so submit ourselves,
and so lean upon the Lord alone in the face of such hardship
and such an onslaught as Job did blessing the Lord and exalting
the Lord throughout these three temptations.
Note:
Last night as I slept I was dreaming about this article and
saw things I was to write, and additions like Luke 6 above.
(This has become very normal in my life in
recent years) The Lord then began to speak with me of my trial and
condition and how even though I have told people for a number
of years that I am happy and content – my happiness and contentment
is not on the level of the meaning of the word blessed in
the Hebrew and Greek, I have not been joyous, I have not been
blissful, I have not leaped for joy. As the Lord spoke in the night I saw that I
have a disagreement of soul and spirit over this matter, so
in my sleep I began to say to the Lord I am happy for what
you are doing for me in sickness and weakness. I thank you
and worship you for giving me this sickness weakness and the
related financial pressures. I saw that this is what the Lord
desires to see in His people joyfulness, and delight in Him
in all things.
And
now as I write these things the Lord now is confirming His
word as the bible passages come rolling in one after another.
2 Corinthians 6:6-10 By pureness,
by knowledge, by long suffering, by kindness, by the Holy
Ghost, by love unfeigned, By the word of truth, by the power
of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left,
By honour and dishonour,
by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true;
As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we
live; as chastened, and not killed; As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich;
as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.
2 Corinthians
12:7-10 And lest
I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of
the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh,
the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted
above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice,
that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My
grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect
in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in
my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches,
in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's
sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.
Romans 5:3 And not
only so, but
we glory (Glorify
God) in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh
patience;
Philippians
4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.
Job it seems had some understanding
of the Spirit in which these verses were later written. So
when disaster struck and the Sabeans took all of Job’s oxen and asses by sword and slaughtered
all of Jobs servants, plowmen, husbandmen, and teamsters that
were present, when fire came out of heaven and burned to death
all of Job’s sheep and shepherds, when the Chaldeans took
all of Job’s camels by sword and slaughtered all of Jobs servants,
husbandmen, when a great wind came and caved in the house
of Job’s eldest son, killing him and all of Job’s children
as well as the servants that served and waited on them. The
meaning of all of this was not the death of Job’s ten children.
It was the slaughter of hundreds of Job’s servants that were
all part of His household, it was the destruction of Job’s
entire financial empire within a single hour, it
was the death of His ten children that were the legacy of
his name and teaching. It is hard to comprehend the gravity
of this event. The level of destruction of people, and ruination
to all that Job had worked so hard
for over his life.
When this severe test fell upon Job, how did he respond?
Job 1:20 Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved
his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, (Job fell down upon the ground worshipped the Lord) And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and
naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the
name of the LORD. In all this Job sinned not (With his lips), nor charged God foolishly.
How
different is Job’s response here than Israel’s and the Church’s
worship of God
Isaiah 29:13 Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their
mouth, and with their lips do honour
me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their
fear toward me is taught by the precept of men: (Job
here is one of the few in the Old Testament that is recorded
to have worshipped God in Spirit and in truth. In Job having
done so in the course of such a fiery trial, the Lord was
well pleased with Job.)
So many Christians complain and
wail of their trials, testing, and tribulations in the God,
which in all reality much of these are the result of their
own sinful and corrupt doings. As they speak to others in
anger and hatred, as they thrust others with their horns into
their side, as they lift up and exalt themselves, as they
belittle and mock others, as they defraud respectively their
husbands wives and others their due, as they forgive not one
another’s sins but rather count and make a tally of them.
These grievous sins committed daily
against the saved and unsaved rather than building one’s integrity
before God and men cause these believers to reap the evil
and divisiveness which they have so freely sown. One might
say that they have received a payday of retribution from the
Lord for the oppression
and hate which they have freely dished out to those in their
own household, those they work with, those they fellowship
with, and to those who they otherwise come into casual contact
with.
These are not trials unto honor
and the glory of God but rather these are the stripes of the
Lord unto a disobedient and wayward people.
Luke 12:47-48
And that servant, which knew his Lord's
will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to His
will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that
knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be
beaten with few stripes. For
unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required:
and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask
the more.
No, the trials and testings of God
are not the just recompense for the evil deeds that you have
done and do, the testings and trials of the Lord made manifest
in Job, in the life of the prophets and holy men in scripture,
in the life of Jesus and in the life of Paul came with false
accusations, they came to strip, they came to cut off, they
came to separate, they came to cast in the darkness of doubt,
so as to test, so as to examine, so as to prove, so as to
purify, their personal relationship with God, and their personal
standing before the Lord.
We have read of the trails and testing
of Christ, and the trials and testing
of Paul. In westernized society for the past one hundred and
fifty years these kind of trials have been largely nonexistent, while in many
other parts of the world today Christians are beaten daily,
arrested, stoned, tortured, and slain for no other reason
than they are followers of Jesus Christ.
Within the hyper-faith movement
their has arisen a corrupt belief that when such things occur
in the lives of Christians in other nations that it is the
result of their lack of belief, it is the result of these
peoples lack of faith, it is a result of these people having
let their hedges down, it is a result of these men and women’s
improper confession, and improper profession and laying hold
of the “Promises of God.” What will these evil and perverse hyper-faith
preachers and teachers say in the day and hour of their trouble
when they are faced with persecution?
Will these same false teachers dare
accuse Christ of a lack of belief, a lack of faith, of letting
His hedge down over Him and His disciples, of Jesus Christ
not confessing and professing and rightly laying hold of the
promises of God? No, these dare not. And by these false teachings
and false accusations from the devil do not these false teachers
and preachers make a mockery of Christ’s death on the cross?
Yes, and they bring fiery judgment down upon their heads and
upon the heads of their hearers as well.
Will these same false teachers dare
accuse the Apostle Paul in like manner of faith failure, of
letting down his hedge, of not professing confessing and laying
hold of “His Standing before God” and the “Promises of God”
in his arrest, imprisonment, and death for the sake of Christ?
No, these dare not.
So then how so do these false teachers
and preachers and prophets lay accusation and blame at the
feet of Job? It is that these preachers and teachers know
not God. It is that these preachers and teachers do not believe
the written word of God but have gone on to teach and preach
fables, and preach their own carnal wishes and wants as what
they want God to be and to do for them, otherwise known as
the doctrines and traditions of men.
The
trials and testings of the Lord came unto Job who was perfect
in his ways before the Lord, an upright man, a man that feared
God, and that fled the sight of evil.
Those Christians in westernized society are
shortly to receive many stripes unto their shame. For despite
all that God has poured out unto these peoples and nations,
they have lifted up
their heel in rebellion against God, (Psalm 41:9) by treating the words and
commandments of Jesus Christ with great disrespect, contempt,
and disobedience, and instead following after men and the
doctrines and traditions of men. Unto those that much has been given much is required. (Luke 12:48) And dare we say that no
nation has been so blessed as the United States of America. Unto those that much has been given much is required.
The Spirit of the Lord has opened my understanding
and has caused me to see here that Job
completed his first temptation honoring and glorifying
God. Yes this was a great temptation from the tempter to
see if Job would curse God when all that he had was violently
taken and stripped away from him. As Jesus had three temptations
from the devil so Job here has three temptations from the
devil. We are not saying here that there is any correlation
between the temptations of Jesus Christ and Job other than
there number here which we find of interest.
And Scripture records here to the consternation
of the devil Job did not curse God, nor did he sin with his
lips nor did he falsely accuse God over what fell upon him
but Job instead fell on the earth and worshipped God.
Job 1:20-22 Then
Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell
down upon the ground, and
worshipped, And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked
shall I return thither: the
LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name
of the LORD. In all this Job sinned not, nor charged
God foolishly.
Matthew 12:34 O generation
of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of
the heart the mouth speaketh.
And thus the
first temptation of Job ended.
And Part One
of this bible study will end here also.