Sat, 18 February, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

1 Corinthians 5:1-5

¹ It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife. ² And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.

³ For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. ⁴ When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, ⁵ you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

Paul doesn’t waste any time in getting down to the big problems in the Corinthian church. To this point he has been dealing with factions within the church. Now he turns to their tolerance of blatant and heinous sin. The sin is bad, but Paul’s bigger concern is how the church has failed to deal with it. In fact, the church is proud of the fact that they are tolerating what even the pagans from outside the church find shockingly immoral.

What do we learn from this?

Sin is bad, and open sin within a church is a terrible thing. But it is a much worse thing for the church leadership to know about the sin and to not act.

The church that doesn’t act to maintain discipline is saying that God’s commands do not matter. It is saying that our conduct isn’t important. Live how you want. Your vow of membership in which you state your intent to forsake sin doesn’t matter. Obedience to God’s word is optional. In a word, a church that fails to discipline its members despises God’s word.

More than that, such a church is declaring that it doesn’t care about the salvation of the offending member. Notice that Paul’s concern is for the salvation of the person who was involved in the sin. If we have a person in our church who is living in open, unrepentant sin, we should be deeply grieved for their soul. We should desire to call him back to repentance and restoration to full privileges within the church body. If we as a church refuse to discipline the member who is in open sin, we are declaring that we don’t care if they go to eternal punishment or to eternal bliss.

Where is Christ in this passage?

Paul tells us that when we gather to worship on Sunday, we are gathering in the power of Jesus Christ. Our worship is in the presence and power of Jesus Christ, and at such a time we must confront open, unrepentant sin in the congregation. We are preparing the sinner for the day of the Lord when Jesus Christ will judge everyone. Those who are in Him, are saved based upon His own work applied to them. Those who are not in Him will be judged according to their works, and damned accordingly. And so in confronting the sinner, we are calling him to repent and come to God by faith in Jesus Christ.

Fri, 17 February, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

Job 16:15-22

¹⁵ I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin
and have laid my strength in the dust.
¹⁶ My face is red with weeping,
and on my eyelids is deep darkness,
¹⁷ although there is no violence in my hands,
and my prayer is pure.

¹⁸ “O earth, cover not my blood,
and let my cry find no resting place.
¹⁹ Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven,
and he who testifies for me is on high.
²⁰ My friends scorn me;
my eye pours out tears to God,
²¹ that he would argue the case of a man with God,
as a son of man does with his neighbor.
²² For when a few years have come
I shall go the way from which I shall not return.

Job is wearied of his friends and their failed comfort. He calls them miserable comforters in verse 2, for they came with the intent of comforting him, but instead heaped abuse upon him. Eliphaz has said that Job’s words are folly and absurd, but Job retaliates by pointing out the friends are speaking vain words as they continue to bring unfounded charges, judging Job’s inner condition by the external circumstance.

Job’s only remaining comfort in all his suffering is that he knows there is no violence in my hands and my prayer is pure. And he knows that God is just (Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and he who testifies for me is on high).

What do we learn from this?

Job knows that he has sinned. He never claims to be perfect in his conduct. But he is being honest when he says that he knows of nothing to result in this extreme punishment. He has a clear conscience toward men (there is no violence in my hands) and toward God (my prayer is pure).

But Job also knows that God is just. His friends might mock him, but Job pleads with God for vindication. He knows that God is aware of the truth of what he says and the falsehood of his friends, and Job looks to God for his vindication.

This is good council for us as well. We should first of all look to ourselves to see if we have any sin of which we should repent. We should then throw ourselves upon God’s mercy, looking to Him for our vindication.

Where is Christ in this passage?

Job also has a great longing for an intercessor, one who will go between himself and God the Father. In verses 20-21, we see this plea for someone to mediate for him: [M]y eye pours out tears to God, that he would argue the case of a man with God, as a son of man does with his neighbor.

Jesus Christ is that intercessor and mediator who takes his case before God the Father. It is Jesus Christ who pleads our case and presents us before the Father, faultless. Jesus presents us dressed in His righteousness. He is the one who took all our sins upon Himself, paying the price for them, so that we can now be adopted into God’s family. He is the one who pleads the case of His people before the Father, and makes us acceptable in His sight.

Thu, 16 February, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

Luke 2:8-13

⁸ And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹ And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. ¹⁰ And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people. ¹¹ For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. ¹² And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” ¹³ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

Luke tells us about the shepherd’s role in the birth of Jesus. They were out in the fields when the angels came to call them to witness the newborn Messiah in the most unlikely of situations: lying in a stable manger. The shepherds themselves were a despised class in Israel, and they were not allowed to testify in court. This makes it even more amazing that they of all people would be called to witness the arrival of the Messiah.

What do we learn from this?

Jesus Christ’s birth, life, death and resurrection are filled with the unexpected. He is born in humble obscurity. God sends those who could not testify in court to witness to His birth.

God’s ways are not our ways, and very often they are exactly the opposite of what we would expect. God born in human flesh is not born in a palace, like we would expect. The witnesses aren’t the highest ranking of society, but the lowest.

In His life, He associated with the lowest class of people. He spent time with sinners. And He was attacked by the religious leaders. He was executed by the government as a criminal and in His ignoble death, He won the salvation of His people.

Where is Christ in this passage?

The angels tell us right at the time of His birth what Jesus’ mission is: He is the Savior. He will live the perfect life, earning the righteousness we require. And He will die on the cross, paying the penalty for all the sins of all His people.

Wed, 15 February, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

Genesis 48:1-7

¹ After this, Joseph was told, “Behold, your father is ill.” So he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. ² And it was told to Jacob, “Your son Joseph has come to you.” Then Israel summoned his strength and sat up in bed. ³ And Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me, ⁴ and said to me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will make of you a company of peoples and will give this land to your offspring after you for an everlasting possession.’ ⁵ And now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, as Reuben and Simeon are. ⁶ And the children that you fathered after them shall be yours. They shall be called by the name of their brothers in their inheritance. ⁷ As for me, when I came from Paddan, to my sorrow Rachel died in the land of Canaan on the way, when there was still some distance to go to Ephrath, and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).”

We come to the end of Jacob’s life. In this passage, Jacob adopts Joseph’s sons born during his time in Egypt, effectively giving a double portion to Joseph. In doing this, Jacob is bypassing Reuben, his true firstborn (Reuben had violated Jacob’s bed).

What do we learn from this?

Joseph married an Egyptian woman, Asenath, daughter of Poti-Pherah priest of On. Would these children be considered pagan children? Would the other brothers shun them as outsiders? There has been hostility between Joseph and the other brothers in the past. What will happen once Jacob dies? We don’t know if Jacob was thinking these thoughts, for the text doesn’t tell us. It doesn’t explain Jacob’s motivations. But I suspect it was a combination of honoring Joseph and of explicitly including the sons born of the daughter of the priest of On.

And so Jacob intervenes, explicitly adopting Ephraim and Manasseh so they are counted among the twelve brothers. They too are sons of Israel. (It does make it interesting to see the lists of the twelve tribes of Israel in the rest of scripture as sometimes Levi and Joseph are excluded and Ephraim and Manasseh are included, or some other shuffling is done.)

Where is Christ in this passage?

Because of the work of Jesus Christ, all of God’s elect are adopted into His family. We are counted as brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ and children of the Father. Just as Ephraim and Manasseh were adopted and included with the sons of Israel, so too have all God’s elect been adopted, because of the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Tue, 14 February, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

1 Corinthians 1:1-9

¹ Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes,

² To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:

³ Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

⁴ I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, ⁵ that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge– ⁶ even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you– ⁷ so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, ⁸ who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Today we begin Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth. Paul begins in his standard way, by telling them who he is, who he is writing to, and then a prayer for the people to whom he is writing.

What do we learn from this?

Paul tells us that the church in Corinth is enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge, and that they are not lacking in any spiritual gift.

God works in and provides for His church. He is active in bringing His people into obedience to His word, and He is gives the church what they need. Paul will use the analogy of a body, where the different members of the church are different body parts. Each has a function and a purpose. The individuals of the church don’t all have the same roll, but instead each provides something necessary that would be lacking without them.

No matter what my part is to play in my local church, I am needed. And as I fail to be a part of my local church, I am denying them the skills and talents God has given me to be used in the local church. I have a responsibility before God to fill the roll God has for me in my church. God has given me the ability to fill this roll to meet the need. I owe it to God and to my fellow church members to do what God has given me to do within the church.

Where is Christ in this passage?

Paul tells us that as a member of His church, you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. As we serve God in His church, we grow in our sanctification (our obedience to Him), and we also grow in fellowship with Jesus Christ, who is the King and Head of His church.

Mon, 13 February, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

Job 12:1-12

¹ Then Job answered and said:

² “No doubt you are the people,
and wisdom will die with you.
³ But I have understanding as well as you;
I am not inferior to you.
Who does not know such things as these?
⁴ I am a laughingstock to my friends;
I, who called to God and he answered me,
a just and blameless man, am a laughingstock.
⁵ In the thought of one who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune;
it is ready for those whose feet slip.
⁶ The tents of robbers are at peace,
and those who provoke God are secure,
who bring their god in their hand.

⁷ “But ask the beasts, and they will teach you;
the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you;
⁸ or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you;
and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
⁹ Who among all these does not know
that the hand of the LORD has done this?
¹⁰ In his hand is the life of every living thing
and the breath of all mankind.
¹¹ Does not the ear test words
as the palate tastes food?
¹² Wisdom is with the aged,
and understanding in length of days.

The first round of discourses is complete as Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar have now all spoken. Job begins his reply, with the sarcastic remark: No doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you. (I think the sarcasm in the book is one of the reasons I love Job so much.)

Job then tells his friends to just look around themselves and they will see the fallacy of their argument. All the created order can testify that at times the wicked prosper and the righteous suffer. To claim otherwise is to ignore what even the beasts of the field can plainly see.

What do we learn from this?

Everything comes to us from God’s hand. Job correctly sees that God is sovereign in everything. Job is greatly suffering, and he is upset that he can’t take his complaint to God. But Job acknowledges that God cares about what is happening in this world and He is in complete control. Some might say that God doesn’t have the power to control everything. Others might say that God doesn’t care what happens in this world. But to them both, Job proclaims that all comes from God’s hand.

The suffering that we endure comes to us from God’s hand. It does not come to us by chance. It does not come to us because of God’s neglect. It does not come to us from an evil power that opposes the will of God. No. Everything that comes to us, including the suffering and hardships we face, come to us from God and it serves a purpose. Sometimes this means that the wicked will apparently flourish, and sometimes it means that the righteous will suffer. But it all comes from God’s hand and serves His righteous purpose.

Where is Christ in this passage?

Learn the wisdom that should be with the aged. God is in control. Everything will work to the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose. God’s intent for His people is only for their good, even in the suffering they might have to endure. Because Jesus Christ has purchased a people, God will not let them come to ultimate harm. His people might endure much pain and suffering here and now, but it will be the last they will ever suffer, as He is fitting them to be with Him for eternity.

Sun, 12 February, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

Mark 15:1-15

¹ And as soon as it was morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole Council. And they bound Jesus and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate. ² And Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” And he answered him, “You have said so.” ³ And the chief priests accused him of many things. ⁴ And Pilate again asked him, “Have you no answer to make? See how many charges they bring against you.” ⁵ But Jesus made no further answer, so that Pilate was amazed.

⁶ Now at the feast he used to release for them one prisoner for whom they asked. ⁷ And among the rebels in prison, who had committed murder in the insurrection, there was a man called Barabbas. ⁸ And the crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to do as he usually did for them. ⁹ And he answered them, saying, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” ¹⁰ For he perceived that it was out of envy that the chief priests had delivered him up. ¹¹ But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release for them Barabbas instead. ¹² And Pilate again said to them, “Then what shall I do with the man you call the King of the Jews?” ¹³ And they cried out again, “Crucify him.” ¹⁴ And Pilate said to them, “Why, what evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him.” ¹⁵ So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.

The religious leaders of the day have finally accomplished their goal. They have arrested Jesus, and they have tried and convicted Him for the crime of blasphemy. There is only one problem. They don’t have the authority to execute Jesus. For this, they must take him to Pilate, the local Roman magistrate, and get Pilate to declare sentence upon Jesus.

Pilate doesn’t like being put in this position. He knows Jesus is innocent of any capital crime, but he must keep the local Jewish leaders happy as well. After a number of attempts to get out of condemning Jesus, Pilate finally acquiesces and delivers Jesus to be executed.

What do we learn from this?

Again we see God’s hand in all of this. The religious leaders could have flown into a rage, dragged Jesus out to the streets and stoned Him to death. That’s how they will kill Stephen later in the book of Acts. But the scriptures must be fulfilled, and Jesus is to be raised up and hung on a tree to bear the curse of sin for His people. He must die, and He must die this way. Crucifixion is a Roman execution method, and so Jesus must be condemned to death in a Roman court.

Where is Christ in this passage?

Jesus is here standing before the bar of justice, on trial for His life. He has done no wrong, and yet, for the sake of His people, He must be killed on the cross. He is completely innocent of any wrongdoing, and so He has nothing to say to Pilate except to acknowledge that He is the King of the Jews. He doesn’t plead for His life. He doesn’t denounce the wrong being perpetrated against Him. No, He quietly accepts what is coming and remains silent as the false charges are made against Him. He takes it all without complaint, so that He can bear the sins of all who will come to Him in faith.

Pilate, knowing He is innocent of any capitol crime, offers to free Jesus. But the crowd, egged on by the religious leaders, cry for Barabbas to be freed and Jesus to be killed. And so Barabbas is released and Jesus is executed. Barabbas, who led an insurrection against Rome, is freed, and Jesus, who must die to free His people, is held. The guilty one is released, and the Innocent one is lead to the cross.

Sat, 11 February, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

Genesis 44:18-34

¹⁸ Then Judah went up to him and said, “O my lord, please let your servant speak a word in my lord’s ears, and let not your anger burn against your servant, for you are like Pharaoh himself. ¹⁹ My lord asked his servants, saying, ‘Have you a father, or a brother?’ ²⁰ And we said to my lord, ‘We have a father, an old man, and a young brother, the child of his old age. His brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother’s children, and his father loves him.’ ²¹ Then you said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me, that I may set my eyes on him.’ ²² We said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would die.’ ²³ Then you said to your servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you shall not see my face again.’

²⁴ “When we went back to your servant my father, we told him the words of my lord. ²⁵ And when our father said, ‘Go again, buy us a little food,’ ²⁶ we said, ‘We cannot go down. If our youngest brother goes with us, then we will go down. For we cannot see the man’s face unless our youngest brother is with us.’ ²⁷ Then your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons. ²⁸ One left me, and I said, Surely he has been torn to pieces, and I have never seen him since. ²⁹ If you take this one also from me, and harm happens to him, you will bring down my gray hairs in evil to Sheol.’

³⁰ “Now therefore, as soon as I come to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us, then, as his life is bound up in the boy’s life, ³¹ as soon as he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die, and your servants will bring down the gray hairs of your servant our father with sorrow to Sheol. ³² For your servant became a pledge of safety for the boy to my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, then I shall bear the blame before my father all my life.’ ³³ Now therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the boy as a servant to my lord, and let the boy go back with his brothers. ³⁴ For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I fear to see the evil that would find my father.”

In the last couple chapters, Joseph has been arranging things to find out if his brothers have changed any since they sold him into slavery. They were so jealous of Joseph, they had determined to kill him, and only decided to sell him into slavery at Judah’s suggestion.

Joseph has now worked it out so that Jacob’s youngest (and favored) son is also marked for slavery in Egypt. What will the brothers do? Will they gladly leave Benjamin to slavery also? Or have they repented of what they did to Joseph, and will they try to win his freedom? Will they mourn the turn of events, or will they rejoice that they are free from the son who steals their father’s affection and attention? How will they handle it?

What do we learn from this?

Clearly, the brothers have changed. Faced with Benjamin being taken back to the Egypt for enslavement, they return, tearing their clothes and mourning.

Judah speaks for the brothers, pleading for Benjamin’s freedom. He even goes so far as to offer to serve as slave in place of the boy. Note: It was Judah’s idea that Joseph be sold as a slave to rid the family of the favored one. Now, faced with the same opportunity, Judah, instead of willingly giving up the troublesome brother, is willing to go into slavery in his place.

In this testing, Joseph has learned something about his brothers, perhaps something that they didn’t realize themselves. They are different. They have seen the consequences of their terrible act of selling Joseph into slavery, and clearly they now regret it. They have no desire to repeat the act, and Judah at least is willing to go into slavery himself to spare his father and the favorite of his father.

Where is Christ in this passage?

Judah here gives us a picture of Jesus’ substitutionary atonement. Judah offered to take Benjamin’s place, going into slavery instead of him. Jesus Christ has taken the place of everyone who comes to Him in faith, trusting in Him for salvation. For all those people, Jesus went to the cross, bearing their sins upon Himself. He took our place, bearing the punishment for our sins, and freeing us from our guilt.

Fri, 10 February, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

Romans 13:1-7

¹ Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. ² Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. ³ For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, ⁴ for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. ⁵ Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. ⁶ For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. ⁷ Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

I’ve been working on paying the taxes for last year. This is a good passage to keep in mind to help you from losing your temper while filling out those convoluted forms that seem to be designed for the express purpose of making everything more difficult. The system seems purposefully designed so that no matter how careful you are, you will inadvertently violate some obscure tax statute somewhere. Well, as we consider how difficult paying taxes is, keep in mind that Paul tells us to obey our government and to pay our taxes.

What do we learn from this?

We might not agree with the laws our government makes. We might see them as intrusive, stupid, and unnecessary. But Paul reminds us that God has instituted the government, and therefore we should submit to those intrusive, stupid and unnecessary laws.

In 1962, C.S. Lewis wrote in Screwtape Proposes a Toast:

I heard the other day that in [England] a man could not, without a permit, cut down his own tree with his own axe, make it into planks with his own saw, and use the planks to build a toolshed in his own garden.

But as obviously invasive to personal liberty as such a law is, we are compelled to to obey, because the government is instituted by God. If we choose to disobey the laws of our rightly constituted government, then we are in rebellion against God.

Obviously, God’s commands come first and if the government is commanding us to violate God’s law, we must disobey the government and accept the consequences. But as long as the government doesn’t contradict God’s commands, we must obey, no matter how foolish or unwarranted the law is.

Where is Christ in this passage?

Why do we obey the government? Because God has appointed the government, and so in obeying the God’s appointed representatives, we are obeying God. As we consider who our ultimate ruler is, we realize that Jesus Christ is our King of kings. He is over our government, and so in our obeying the speed limit, we are obeying Christ. In our paying our taxes, we are obeying Christ. When we get the permit to build the toolshed in our back yard, we are obeying Christ.

Thu, 9 February, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

Job 8:1-7

¹ Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:

² “How long will you say these things,
and the words of your mouth be a great wind?
³ Does God pervert justice?
Or does the Almighty pervert the right?
⁴ If your children have sinned against him,
he has delivered them into the hand of their transgression.
⁵ If you will seek God
and plead with the Almighty for mercy,
⁶ if you are pure and upright,
surely then he will rouse himself for you
and restore your rightful habitation.
⁷ And though your beginning was small,
your latter days will be very great.

Today we come to Bildad’s first discourse. Eliphaz has made the false assertion that that no one who is innocent has ever suffered, and Job has replied that his friends should be comforting him rather than heaping up abuse.

Now Bildad responds. But instead of trying to comfort Job, Bildad ups the ante. Job’s seven sons and three daughters have just been killed, so what does Bildad say? If your children have sinned against him, he has delivered them into the hand of their transgression. Wow! Talk about insensitive. I don’t think anyone has accused Bildad of having a tender, pastoral heart. Thus we now have the phrase “Job’s councilor” to describe someone who says hurtful things to one who is grieving.

What do we learn from this?

Bildad has a very mechanical view of God’s justice. If you do good, God will bless you in this life. If you do bad, you will suffer in this life. Anything else would be, according to Bildad, a perversion of justice. It is as simple as that. Put in your coin, turn the handle and out falls the gumball. Do good things and God rains down the blessings on your head. Do wrong and calamity falls. Everyone gets what they deserve in the here and now. There is no wait. In go your actions and out comes God’s response. Good in, good out. Bad in, bad out.

We see calamity in your life, Job. This proves you and your children have been bad. You’re guilty. Case closed.

Now, Bildad does have an idea of God’s mercy. He urges Job to plead with God for mercy, which is a good thing to do. But in Bildad’s mind, if Job repents and starts doing good, God will automatically reverse Job’s earthly fortunes, restoring all that Job had before and even grant him an increase. And, in Bildad’s mind, that would only be right because Job would have earned it. That is what is just.

Bildad’s view of justice is wrong because he doesn’t consider the true depths of sin. We never should want from God what we deserve. If God were to give us what we deserve, He would have to give us eternity in hell, for that is what we have earned from God. Our good works and our repentance don’t earn God’s blessing. We can’t demand that God forgive us our previous sins because we have repented and we started doing good. That isn’t justice. Justice demands that the sin be punished, and that we be perfectly righteous in God’s sight, without any spot or blemish. “I’m sorry and I’ll try to do better in the future,” doesn’t cut it if we try to stand before God seeking His justice. No, we don’t seek God’s justice. Instead we seek God’s mercy.

And thankfully, God has promised to have mercy upon all those who come to Him in faith. His mercy is grounded wholly in His love and not in His justice. It is not something that we have earned by our actions. It is not something that God owes us. God gives His mercy out of His love for His people, not based upon their goodness but in spite of what passes for their goodness.

Where is Christ in this passage?

We must come to God trusting in His mercy and love, rather than trusting in our own works. If we come to Him as He has commanded, trusting in His provision for our salvation, He has promised to save us. Not because of what we have done, but because of what Jesus Christ has done for us. It is Jesus Christ who has merited our salvation. It is through faith in Jesus Christ that we find God’s mercy. Justice is fulfilled as our sins are punished upon Jesus Christ on the cross and we are then clothed in the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ. All of this doesn’t come about because we have manipulated God as Bildad suggests. It isn’t the natural outflow of God’s justice. No. It is all from God’s mercy, based upon the Person and work of Jesus Christ.