2025 Bible Study Group

[GodfatherPartTwo]

Job 28

Job compares the search for wisdom to miners searching for gold and precious gems. The poetry here is really quite beautiful. Men will go to great lengths, they'll dig underground, they'll risk death, to search for precious gems. And yet God's wisdom is far more valuable than all the precious gems put together, and even more unsearchable. Indeed, it cannot be found and dug up, but it must be given, and God is happy to give it to those who ask Him free of charge. Consider the Scriptures to be your mine, and the truths of God to be your precious gems. You could have all the wealth in the world but it is meaningless if you do not have the capacity to enjoy it. The Word of God is able to give you the capacity for joy in all things, even if you have nothing.

His wisdom here also parallels Proverbs:

28 So He said to man, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; And to turn away from evil is understanding.’ ”

 

[GodfatherPartTwo]

Job 29 & 30

These chapters make for a better pairing than 28 and 29. In 29, Job longs for the "good old days." Before he had to go through his ordeal, when he still had everything. But now, in 30, he is in "the bad time." He is not the one laughing, but the one being laughed at.

In this life, you will experience a reversal of fortune, many times over. If you are laughing now, you will cry later. And if you are crying now, you will laugh later. The only question is which side your story will ultimately land on.

We've all been where Job is at, when we felt that things couldn't be any worse than they are now. The truth is things can always get worse. For those who hate God, they may be laughing now, but they will cry later. They exhibit the Tragedy. But God loves His saints too much to leave them there, they are destined for the happy ending, they take part in God's divine comedy.

 

[GodfatherPartTwo]

Job 31

Some of the language used by Job in 31 is intense, especially by modern "polite society" standards. But we should be accursed if we censor the Word of God to suit our own idolatrous sensibilities.

Job willingly invokes God's curses on himself if he is indeed guilty of sin. If he has committed adultery, even in his heart, then let his wife sleep with other men. Job takes God's holiness seriously and so should we. Every saint knows that he is guilty before God and that he has no hope save in Christ alone. Anyone who confesses that is an honest man. Anyone who denies that is a hypocrite and a liar.

33 If I have covered my transgressions like Adam, By hiding my iniquity in my bosom...

Love this line. Remember that Justification = Covering. But it is only true Justification if God is the one who covers. We cannot justify/cover ourselves in His sight. We cannot be self-righteous because we are not the Judge. Every hypocrite is justified in his own eyes and none considers themselves to be the villain in their own story. For Job to say this is very telling, that he does not consider himself to be self-covered, but he is trusting that his covering is from someone else.

35 Oh that I had one to hear me! Behold, here is my signature; Let the Almighty answer me! And the indictment which my accuser has written, 36 Surely I would carry it on my shoulder; I would bind it to myself like a crown.

Job feels that God cannot hear him. And if Job were truly guilty, he would happily wear Satan's indictment like a crown. I'm sure you can see the prophecy in this, for Christ was crowned with death in order to make innocent those who believe in Him. He wore the guilty charge so that you may be cleared in His name.

If we are guilty, then is Satan wrong to accuse us? Yes, because he calls us guilty when God has called us innocent, and he calls us innocent when God has called us guilty. He is not only the drug dealer who sells you the drug for a good time, he is the crooked cop who sells you the drug in order to entrap you. Both licentious and legalistic, always falling short of both God's Law and God's Grace.

 

[Gazza]

Job 31

Some of the language used by Job in 31 is intense, especially by modern "polite society" standards. But we should be accursed if we censor the Word of God to suit our own idolatrous sensibilities.

Job willingly invokes God's curses on himself if he is indeed guilty of sin. If he has committed adultery, even in his heart, then let his wife sleep with other men. Job takes God's holiness seriously and so should we. Every saint knows that he is guilty before God and that he has no hope save in Christ alone. Anyone who confesses that is an honest man. Anyone who denies that is a hypocrite and a liar.


Love this line. Remember that Justification = Covering. But it is only true Justification if God is the one who covers. We cannot justify/cover ourselves in His sight. We cannot be self-righteous because we are not the Judge. Every hypocrite is justified in his own eyes and none considers themselves to be the villain in their own story. For Job to say this is very telling, that he does not consider himself to be self-covered, but he is trusting that his covering is from someone else.


Job feels that God cannot hear him. And if Job were truly guilty, he would happily wear Satan's indictment like a crown. I'm sure you can see the prophecy in this, for Christ was crowned with death in order to make innocent those who believe in Him. He wore the guilty charge so that you may be cleared in His name.

If we are guilty, then is Satan wrong to accuse us? Yes, because he calls us guilty when God has called us innocent, and he calls us innocent when God has called us guilty. He is not only the drug dealer who sells you the drug for a good time, he is the crooked cop who sells you the drug in order to entrap you. Both licentious and legalistic, always falling short of both God's Law and God's Grace.

This was a great chapter, probably the best so far IMO.