Reflecting on loss, Referring to the cross: the suffering of Job
A few days ago, I was doing an assignment for a class I'm taking in college. The assignment required me to read through the book of Job and create a theology of suffering according to Job's life and "circumstance" as most would call it. All that I could think of was Job's thoughts regarding the profit of the wicked in chapter 21.
"Why do the wicked live, reach old age, and grow mighty in power? Their offspring are established in their presence, their descendants before their eyes. Their houses are safe from fear, and no rod of God is upon them. Their bull breeds without fail; their cow calves do not miscarry. They send out their little boys like a flock, and their children dance. They sing to the tambourine and the lyre and rejoice to the sound of the pipe. They spend their days in prosperity, and in peace, they go down to Sheol." (21:7-13)
The intriguing thing here is that Job was considered righteous by God. However, Job considered prosperity for the wicked their physical possessions; family, fruitful livestock, and the general well being of the wicked that "[have] no rod of God upon them" (21:9b). Job was paying attention to the physical prosperity that the wicked possessed. Who could blame him? The most recent events of Job's life were those of significant loss: he lost his family, his livestock, and he lost all the precious ones of his life. Job lost everything that he described the wicked as having. At this stage in Job's life, all he could think about was the significant loss he had; and that God had done him wrong because Job, himself, was righteous (3:13-26). Yet, he lost every physical blessing he got because of it.
I believe that we, as believers, can sometimes think like this. The last few years haven't been the greatest for me, and my whole life has been developing a theology of suffering. For those that aren't aware, my dad passed away two years ago, and this past week my grandfather joined my dad in heaven. Before this, my parents started to go through a divorce, and before this, my brother developed a brain tumor. Even sooner than the former, I was a child that grew up with a mom that had anger issues (praise God that He has brought my mom through that), and my family struggled to make ends meet when I was a kid. The past twenty-three years have been a constant battle with the fear of pain around every corner with a few periods where I felt that everything calmed down.
I don't say these things because I want everyone to feel bad for feeling pain, I want to say these things because I have "survived" these awful things, and God has always been there for me. Providing food for my family, comfort for our distress, and grace for our transgression.
Most of us might look at Job in this chapter and think, "how can he say such a thing?" I want to say that obviously, God will give the wicked judgment and send them to hell for disobeying and running from God's gracious call of salvation for them. But, like Job, we can all forget that God isn't concerned for the refinement of children of this world, His concern is for the children that hear God's voice and continually turn to Him. (John 15)
The honest truth about the "wicked" that Job is talking about is that everything that treats them well in this life is the best they will ever have. The unrepentant sinners of this world place their value on pleasing themselves; all that they will receive is things that rot and pass away(Matthew 6:19-24)
All that I have talked about is to say this:
We have nothing in this world. The pain that we feel, every tragedy that life throws at us, even the sorrow of losing a family member; these things pale in comparison to the eternity we can receive from the Father and mediator that rose from the dead, Jesus Christ. Brothers and sisters, Christ has indeed risen again and will return. He endured far more pain than we ever could, even the abandonment of his Father (Matthew 27:46) while dying for the same people that caused him such pain, and we will one day be free of all the pain of this world when Christ returns, even if we first perish, we will never find pain again.
Hear this, if you have stumbled across this mediocre blog post on some mutual friends wonky Facebook page, even if you know me personally, answer this question for me:
What hope do you have when everything that you own passes away? What will you do when you discover that everything is worthless when we stand before the throne of the living God that you so vigorously suppress in your heart? The weeping that your heart will experience cannot be matched with any pain we experience in this life. Turn to Jesus, repent, weep over all the rebellion you have shown a holy God, and beg for His forgiveness. He will be faithful to forgive as he has faithfully forgiven me of my sins. The Arbiter that Job so desperately desired to stand witness for him has come. Jesus descended from heaven. Jesus lived among us. Jesus endured temptation that we never could. Jesus died a death that we never would, then rose again so that he could give account on our behalf to the Father saying, "this one is mine, I have covered their sins, and they are crying out for help, and I hear their pain."
Brothers and sisters in Christ, hear this. Unlike the immeasurable pain and weeping that the wicked will experience, it is like that of the joy we will feel in this life. The joy we will feel when we stand before God and are welcomed into the kingdom of heaven will be unmatched. We will hear a voice in the courtroom "this one I have given payment for their transgression, now let them come to me." Then we will turn and meet the man that endured the pain and punishment we deserved. The lion of Judah, the Lamb who was slain, the Son of God that stepped down into this temporary world that He created, the son of God that placed himself into the dirt that would contain his body in death. He will call us His own and bring us to live with Him forever.
Jesus Christ will then embrace us, and lead us to an eternity of joy unceasing, love everlasting; the pain that we endured in this world will cease, we will sing "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God almighty." (Revelation 4; Isaiah 6:3; Romans 8:18)
The joy that we will feel in this world will not be matched by the joy we experience when we finally meet our God and Savior face to face. And the pain felt by sinners in this life will be irrelevant in comparison to their eternity ahead.
"Why do the wicked live, reach old age, and grow mighty in power? Their offspring are established in their presence, their descendants before their eyes. Their houses are safe from fear, and no rod of God is upon them. Their bull breeds without fail; their cow calves do not miscarry. They send out their little boys like a flock, and their children dance. They sing to the tambourine and the lyre and rejoice to the sound of the pipe. They spend their days in prosperity, and in peace, they go down to Sheol." (21:7-13)
The intriguing thing here is that Job was considered righteous by God. However, Job considered prosperity for the wicked their physical possessions; family, fruitful livestock, and the general well being of the wicked that "[have] no rod of God upon them" (21:9b). Job was paying attention to the physical prosperity that the wicked possessed. Who could blame him? The most recent events of Job's life were those of significant loss: he lost his family, his livestock, and he lost all the precious ones of his life. Job lost everything that he described the wicked as having. At this stage in Job's life, all he could think about was the significant loss he had; and that God had done him wrong because Job, himself, was righteous (3:13-26). Yet, he lost every physical blessing he got because of it.
I believe that we, as believers, can sometimes think like this. The last few years haven't been the greatest for me, and my whole life has been developing a theology of suffering. For those that aren't aware, my dad passed away two years ago, and this past week my grandfather joined my dad in heaven. Before this, my parents started to go through a divorce, and before this, my brother developed a brain tumor. Even sooner than the former, I was a child that grew up with a mom that had anger issues (praise God that He has brought my mom through that), and my family struggled to make ends meet when I was a kid. The past twenty-three years have been a constant battle with the fear of pain around every corner with a few periods where I felt that everything calmed down.
I don't say these things because I want everyone to feel bad for feeling pain, I want to say these things because I have "survived" these awful things, and God has always been there for me. Providing food for my family, comfort for our distress, and grace for our transgression.
Most of us might look at Job in this chapter and think, "how can he say such a thing?" I want to say that obviously, God will give the wicked judgment and send them to hell for disobeying and running from God's gracious call of salvation for them. But, like Job, we can all forget that God isn't concerned for the refinement of children of this world, His concern is for the children that hear God's voice and continually turn to Him. (John 15)
The honest truth about the "wicked" that Job is talking about is that everything that treats them well in this life is the best they will ever have. The unrepentant sinners of this world place their value on pleasing themselves; all that they will receive is things that rot and pass away(Matthew 6:19-24)
All that I have talked about is to say this:
We have nothing in this world. The pain that we feel, every tragedy that life throws at us, even the sorrow of losing a family member; these things pale in comparison to the eternity we can receive from the Father and mediator that rose from the dead, Jesus Christ. Brothers and sisters, Christ has indeed risen again and will return. He endured far more pain than we ever could, even the abandonment of his Father (Matthew 27:46) while dying for the same people that caused him such pain, and we will one day be free of all the pain of this world when Christ returns, even if we first perish, we will never find pain again.
Hear this, if you have stumbled across this mediocre blog post on some mutual friends wonky Facebook page, even if you know me personally, answer this question for me:
What hope do you have when everything that you own passes away? What will you do when you discover that everything is worthless when we stand before the throne of the living God that you so vigorously suppress in your heart? The weeping that your heart will experience cannot be matched with any pain we experience in this life. Turn to Jesus, repent, weep over all the rebellion you have shown a holy God, and beg for His forgiveness. He will be faithful to forgive as he has faithfully forgiven me of my sins. The Arbiter that Job so desperately desired to stand witness for him has come. Jesus descended from heaven. Jesus lived among us. Jesus endured temptation that we never could. Jesus died a death that we never would, then rose again so that he could give account on our behalf to the Father saying, "this one is mine, I have covered their sins, and they are crying out for help, and I hear their pain."
Brothers and sisters in Christ, hear this. Unlike the immeasurable pain and weeping that the wicked will experience, it is like that of the joy we will feel in this life. The joy we will feel when we stand before God and are welcomed into the kingdom of heaven will be unmatched. We will hear a voice in the courtroom "this one I have given payment for their transgression, now let them come to me." Then we will turn and meet the man that endured the pain and punishment we deserved. The lion of Judah, the Lamb who was slain, the Son of God that stepped down into this temporary world that He created, the son of God that placed himself into the dirt that would contain his body in death. He will call us His own and bring us to live with Him forever.
Jesus Christ will then embrace us, and lead us to an eternity of joy unceasing, love everlasting; the pain that we endured in this world will cease, we will sing "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God almighty." (Revelation 4; Isaiah 6:3; Romans 8:18)
The joy that we will feel in this world will not be matched by the joy we experience when we finally meet our God and Savior face to face. And the pain felt by sinners in this life will be irrelevant in comparison to their eternity ahead.
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