God and His purposes are good, all the time
TLW 43
Scriptures to read in preparation for Sunday, October 28
Theme: God and His purposes are good, all the time
Job 42:1–6, 10–17 — Job’s encounter with God opens his eyes. He repents of his earlier poor understanding of God and His ways.
Jeremiah 31:7–9 — Distraught Israel is promised a new relationship with God. The remnant, exiled people without rights in a foreign land, will return rejoicing.
Mark 10:46–52 — Blind Bartimaeus implores Jesus to heal him. A man without physical sight sees Jesus and His kingdom purpose more clearly than the disciples.
Hebrews 7:23–28 — priests could sacrifice for sins, but only Jesus can save completely. Jewish Christians brought up under priesthood are taught about Jesus’ unique position as the only intermediary we ever need.
Also: Psalm 34:1–8, 19–22
Job 42:1–6, 10–17 — Job’s encounter with God opens his eyes
He repents of his earlier poor understanding of God and His ways
1–2 Then Job replied to the Lord: “I know that You can do all things; no purpose of Yours can be thwarted.
“I know…” Job has realised two things from what the Lord has said to all of them, in His summing-up speech: (1) how unlike God he is, and (2) the message that God is both loving and all-powerful.
For further study: read Gen. 18:14; Jer. 32:17; Matt. 19:26. Nothing can stop God’s plan, Job 23:13; Isa 14:27; 46:10.
3 “You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures My plans without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.
4 “You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer Me.’
“You asked…You said” — Job quotes, with humility, what God had said at the beginning of His first speech. He is seeing God in a new way.
“Things I did not understand” — Job has spoken about God with accuracy and integrity, even if his understanding was now shown to have been limited. His friends had not, and their spokesman Eliphaz, Job 4:12–16, 42:7, had implied that his advice came from prophetic insight. God affirmed Job but not Eliphaz and his friends in their superficial doctrine about God who they clearly did not know.
5 “My ears had heard of You but now my eyes have seen You.
“My eyes have seen you” — a deep encounter with God. Up until now, Job had not seen God, Job 23:8, but now, like Isaiah, He had known God’s close presence and holiness, a massive leap in his relationship with God
6 “Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.”
“I despise myself…I repent…” — Job is saying that he recognises the ignorance behind his words earlier and he repents of having such a weak understanding of God; not as his friends had urged, of moral issues.
10–11 After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before. All his brothers and sisters and everyone who had known him before came and ate with him in his house. They comforted and consoled him over all the trouble the Lord had brought on him, and each one gave him a piece of silver and a gold ring.
“The Lord restored… him” — The last words we heard from Job are repentance (v.6). Now we hear of Job’s restoration and the extent to which God blessed him. The two are linked.
12 The Lord blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the former part. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys.
13–15 And he also had seven sons and three daughters. The first daughter he named Jemimah, the second Keziah and the third Keren-Happuch. Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as Job’s daughters, and their father granted them an inheritance along with their brothers.
“He had…” — wealth was counted in head of livestock as much if not more than possession of silver. The tally is twice the number of animals, but not children — Job already had seven sons and three daughters waiting for him in heaven.
16–17 After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. And so Job died, an old man and full of years.
“Full of years” — ripe old age, like Abraham and Isaac, Gen. 25:8; 35:29, being a sign of God’s blessing.
Who was Job?
Job’s friends seem to have come from the Edom or south Euphrates region. If Job is an abbreviation of Jobab, he was son of Zerah and great-grandson on Esau, and second king of Edom, Genesis 36:33. He was a person of great influence, in his own words, Job 29:7–25 “When I went to the gate of the city, and took my seat in the public square, the young men saw me and stepped aside and the old men rose to their feet; the chief men refrained from talking… because I rescued the poor… and the fatherless… was a father to the needy… broke the fangs of the wicked…I thought…’My glory will not fade’…people listened…I chose the way for them and sat as their chief.” His long life was probably a generation or so before Moses’ encounter with God at the burning bush and his story would have told in Midian at that time, before the Israelites’ flight from Egypt.
Jeremiah 31:7–9 — Distraught Israel is promised a new relationship with God.
The remnant, exiled people without rights in a foreign land, will return rejoicing
God promises Israel that “I will be … God … , and they shall be my people,” Jer. 31:1–14 and in a number of other places in Jeremiah,, with the additional promises that He will have mercy on weary Israel, Jer. 31:15–26, and will make Israel secure, Jer. 31:27–30.
7 This is what the Lord says: “Sing with joy for Jacob; shout for the foremost of the nations. Make your praises heard, and say, ‘Lord, save your people, the remnant of Israel.’
“The foremost” — because they are God’s elect. “Lord, save…” — the Hebrew for this word is the basis of Hosanna, the cries of people outside Jerusalem at the triumphal entry (Palm Sunday), Matt. 21:9.
“The remnant” — those who have survived exile, to be called back.
8 See, I will bring them from the land of the north and gather them from the ends of the earth. Among them will be the blind and the lame, expectant mothers and women in labour; a great throng will return.
“North… and from the ends of the earth” — Assyria and Babylon and the remoter parts of the then known world. A regathering with all included. About 50,000 returned between 538–536 BC.
9 They will come with weeping; they will pray as I bring them back. I will lead them beside streams of water on a level path where they will not stumble, because I am Israel’s father, and Ephraim is My firstborn son.
“Weeping… they will pray” — with joy and praise, verse 7 above
For further study, see Ps. 125:5–6, Isaiah 55:12, Psalm 23:1–3, Isaiah 49:10, Isaiah 40:3–4.
“Ephraim is My firstborn” — meaning first in rank and priority, Exod. 4:22. David, eighth son of Jesse, is referred to in this way, Psalm 89:27 and Jesus is called the firstborn over all creation, Col. 1:15; Rev. 1:5. The prophets referred to Ephraim and Judah as a shorthand for the nation of Israel.
IN PRACTICE Job made mistakes in his attitude to God whole he suffered, and the nation of Israel made mistakes in their attitude to God, rejecting the appeals of the prophets and suffering the calamities of two successive deportations, first the northern kingdom and then the fall of Judah and Jerusalem. However, Job was honest in his attempts to challenge God, while his counsellors gave him theological-sounding statements but without demonstrating that they actually knew God who they were claiming to honour. Job got right with God, admitting that his relationship was more knowledge than heart, and he was commended by God for this, while his opinionated counsellors were rebuked. There is a parallel with the Jews in exile, where a remnant survived, both as true worshippers and as those able to return, and God speaks through Jeremiah of leading them back with joy rather than difficulty. They had learned lessons, and come to know God in a far deeper way. God wants us to go deeper with Him. He wants our hearts, not our lip-service and sometimes he allows setbacks in which He gets our attention — and seeks to grow us through them.
QUESTION Are you giving God a faithful one morning a week but sensing that He wants something different — your heart? Who do you know who could help you in praying this kind of prayer?
Mark 10:46–52 — Blind Bartimaeus implores Jesus to heal him
A man without physical sight sees Jesus and His kingdom purpose more clearly than the disciples
46–47 Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and His disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (which means “son of Timaeus”), was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
“Jericho” — the new city built by Herod the Great, to the south of the site of the ancient and abandoned one.
“By the roadside begging” — on the pilgrim route to Jerusalem, where Jesus and those with Him were going.
“Bartimaeus” — Son of Impurity, a derisory name reflecting Jewish tradition that blindness resulted from sin, John 9:1–3.
“Jesus, Son of David” — prepares the hearer or reader for the “Hosanna” shouts of the crowd at Jerusalem, Jer. 31:7 and note, above.
“Mercy” — undeserved kindness, which Scripture repeatedly ascribes to God. Bartimaeus, blind in one sense, is seeing something clearly — Jesus is the Messiah but also personifies God’s merciful character in bringing the kingdom to poor, maimed and blind people like him. This was Jesus’ own understanding, Luke 4:18–19.
48 Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
“Many rebuked him” — regarding him of no status and no account, as they had earlier with children, and doing what He had taught was wrong then, Mark 10:13–14.
49 Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.”
50 Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.
51 “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him. The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.”
“What do you want…” — Jesus’ ‘unnecessary’ question drew out the blind man’s faith as he then spoke out his expectation. Jesus gives the blind man what he asks for in faith. There is a parallel with the spiritual blindness and slow learning of James and John earlier, to whom he put the same question — probably Mark’s intention.
52 “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.
“Your faith has healed you” — this time without touch unlike the previous occasion when a blind man was healed, Mark 8:22–26.
For further study on faith and healing (sozo, literally ‘saved’) see Mark 5:23, 28, 34; Mark 6:56, Matt. 9:22, Luke 8:48.
IN PRACTICE God’s higher purpose becomes, with Jesus, the realisation of His kingdom purpose and order. True personal faith in Jesus, who he is and what He stands for, is a connection with His rule and order which overturns the devil’s predatory activities. In this case the blind man’s humble acclamation of who Jesus is — Son of David, the embodiment of God’s mercy without condition — leads to an astounding healing miracle. At the same time the disciples, who in another way were somewhat blind to who Jesus was and what his earthly life was about, start to see their world through God’s eyes.
We, too, are short-sighted, seeing our world with us at the centre and a lack of distant perspective. God has a higher purpose and an eternal timescale and wants us to join Him in it, even if it continually challenges our limited understanding.
QUESTION Does God do these kinds of signs and wonders today? How could we put aside doubts to reach higher in asking Jesus to heal, deliver or save — all the same thing to Him?
Hebrews 7:23–28 — priests could sacrifice for sins, but only Jesus can save completely
Jewish Christians brought up under priesthood are taught about Jesus’ unique position as the only intermediary we ever need
23–25 Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; but because Jesus lives forever, He has a permanent priesthood. Therefore He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them.
“Permanent priesthood” — the language is that of something which cannot be changed. Now people will (1) never be without a priest to represent them to God, and (2) one who lives forever and therefore saves forever, (3) in a way which is now fully effective, unlike the old order of priests, expanded in Heb. 10:1–4;10–14.
26 Such a high priest truly meets our need — one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.
“Holy, blameless, pure, set apart” — contrasting the high priesthood of Jesus, who had no sin nature, with the morality of the Levitical priesthood which by comparison was weak, earthly and with the flaws of unredeemed human nature.
27 Unlike the other high priests, He does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when He offered himself.
“He does not need to offer sacrifices” — from a different starting point, Jesus represents a completely different order of priesthood “unlike the other high priests” who sacrificed only animals, an imperfect substitute. Our high priest offered Himself.
28 For the law appoints as high priests men in all their weakness; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever.
“The oath… after the law” — a verse which echoes Heb. 5:1–3 and sums up the whole discussion of Heb. 5:1–10; 7:1–28 of Christ’s appointment from perfect (complete) qualification, to a far superior high priesthood that the Levitical priesthood could never achieve. The oath refers to Psalm 110:4, a declaration of God’s promise of an eternal priest, over and above the earlier giving of the law and establishment of temporal priests and high priests.
IN PRACTICE Jews who were now part of the Christian church, worshipping God through their own relationship with Him enabled both by Jesus and the Holy Spirit, thought they had a problem. For some years after the Resurrection, in fact up to the sacking of Jerusalem in 70 AD, the Levitical priesthood and temple sacrifice system continued. This is what they had been brought up with. It was important to them. But now they have become aware, as 1 Peter 2:9, Rev 1:6 teaches, that believers are their own priesthood with royal privileges, as sons and daughters of the king! The writer of Hebrews seeks to explain this transition in terms these Jewish believers could relate to. But there’s a message for all of us. The only priestly intermediary any of us need, is Jesus Christ. He has identified totally with our world and our sin, before paying the price for it and ascending to take up a role for which He has uniquely qualified. We are not perfect; He is, and He is poised to take our intercession and pray it with us. This is an important part of the Good News, and it enables us to pray bold prayers by understanding His position and the relationship we have with Him.
QUESTION If you know Jesus, and are part of this new royal priesthood, how confident are you about representing before God someone with a need who has asked you to pray for them?
PRAYER Father God, so many things that we think we see clearly have a greater purpose or different timescale or way of working out than we are aware of at first. Help us to be of “earthly use by being heavenly minded” as we grow in faith from Your word in these passages where the story starts one way and ends — Your way!
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Originally published at The Living Word.
