If you
haven't celebrated yet, you need to. You are beginning your 18th book in the
Old Testament, not to mention you are nearing the end of your 7th book in the
New Testament. The benefit of reading The One Year Bible will be evident
soon enough. In books like Job where there is little action and a lot of
talking, it is hard to stay interested (or awake). The New Testament will help,
but alas, it too is more declarative. Still, the variation will help. And also,
the Reading Notes are meant to help us do this together and keep our eyes on
loving the Lord, following Him and staying focused on making disciples in the
harvest.
So find
something that gets your endorphins going and let’s go.
Job 1-3
If you've
never read Job (the "o" is long), this will be fun and work rolled
into one. In Job, we gain insight into some behind-the-scenes spiritual
reality, and some deep teaching about God.
Here are
some things about Job that might help as we read.
First, Job
seems to have been written after the flood and before the time of Abraham. One
of the ways to get this is Job's age at death. Job lives 140 years after all of
this happens. Looking at his life at the beginning of the book, it seems that
to acquire this much wealth and stature as a wise man, Job might have been in
his 60s-80s. From the flood to Abraham, the ages of people continually
declined. If Job was 210-250 when he died, this would put him around the time
of Serug (Genesis 11:23), Abraham's great-grandfather. Also, it describes the
Chaldeans as a nomadic attacking band. By Abraham's time the Chaldeans were
building cities and settling down to become the Babylonians.
Second, we
are given an incredible glimpse into the problem that Job doesn't see. We get
to see God's interaction with an angelic order that patrols the earth and is
responsible for reporting to Him. Remember the prophet Micaiah in 1 Kings 22:19
and the angelic gathering? Satan appears among these angels, possibly as the
leader, given the responsibility to serve or oversee the dominion of man. That
God speaks to him suggests his leadership. In the NT we know that Satan is the
leader, but God's interaction with Satan also shows a conflict and contest
between them. God's righteousness in working with humanity and bringing us to
forgiveness and salvation is being deeply scrutinized. Ironically, Satan
(literally, accuser) shows the sin of men to God and demands justice. God is
showing Satan something about puny wrecked humans that will eventually fully
justify Satan being cast into the lake of fire.
And just to say, this conflict is still
ongoing and very real in our world today. The final strike in this conflict
will be in the Tribulation where it says in Revelation 12:11, And
they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their
testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. In Job we
see that what becomes loved more than life - is God Himself. That love, in the
final analysis, is the only reason Job hung on.
Third, who
wrote Job? Who knows, but it seems that the writer was pretty close to the
events. A good guess would be Job himself in those 140 years he lived after
this. Another good guess is Moses as he sat in the wilderness for 38 years
watching people die. In the final analysis, God wrote it.
Finally, to understand Job, you need to
understand at the beginning that Job was right, and his friends were wrong. At
the end of the book, we read, After the Lord had spoken these words to Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “My anger
burns against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me
what is right, as my servant Job has.”
(Job 42:7) These guys will say stuff that sounds good,
but it is wrong because of their insistence that Job was being punished for
sin. Job had not sinned. He never curses God, but he does step out of bounds
later in his misunderstanding of God. God corrects Job, but is mad at the other
guys.
Job 1
Vs. 1-5
Job was very rich, righteous and blessed. His adult kids even liked each other.
He wasn't just a legend among men, but he had a very serious love for God.
Interestingly, since Noah died near the time when Abraham was born, Noah and his
son Shem would also would have been alive during the lifetime of Job. What this
shows is that there was still a living testimony of the words and works of God on
the earth.
Vs. 6-12
Think about this stuff.
V. 6 Sons of God refers to angels. If you
want some stretching, look at the references in Genesis 6:2-4 and Deuteronomy
32:8. I think the ESV, RSV and the Septuagint have the correct rendering of
Deuteronomy 32:8, and it makes sense with the rest of the Word. Deuteronomy
32:8 is also referring, I think, to Satan's angelic principalities.
V. 8 Just
for trivia, there are four times God says my
servant Job. Also, for future reference, look at what God says about Job,
that there is no one like him on the
earth. This will help us understand a couple of verses in Ezekiel. Why is
God pointing out Job to Satan?
So, what
would you say Satan is saying to God? It looks like, "Job worships You
because You bless him." The test would be to see if Job still worships God
when everything is taken away. How many people do you know who stop going to
church and stop reading their Bibles when things go bad? I know of pastors who
have done this.
God raised Job up for this event. Job had
been especially prepared. Satan points to God's blessing on Job, but God had
also built deeply into Job. In a way, Job is the same, yet the opposite of
Pharaoh. Look at what Paul says in Romans
9:17, For the scripture says to Pharaoh,
"For this very purpose I have raised you up that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed
in all the earth." God had raised Job up for this hour, as a
lesson to us and to the principalities and powers. Yet, unlike Pharaoh who
resisted God, Job will fight for what he knows to be true of God and then
humble his heart.
Notice
that God had to give Satan permission. That is a very deep and important point.
Notice that God is allowing this to happen to
show something to Satan. So that
through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the
rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 3:10) By the way, those rulers
and authorities in Ephesians are also the bad guys.
So, God
has given us a view behind the scenes of what is to become a tragic earthly
drama. As we enter into this, it is good to remember that God has more than one
or two things going on in His created order. On the angelic side of things,
there is a drama being played out. God challenged Satan and Satan made an
accusation. God had no hesitation bringing this disaster on Job because it
worked for good. In the end, we'll see that this was also for Job's good. The
point is to trust in God. Job will ask a great question in a few verses,
"Why doesn't He kill me?" Whether it's suicide, "mercy
killings," or any other question about life, the answer is the same: Trust
that God is good and wait on His will. God works all things for good with those
who love Him, who are called according to His purpose. God has the right and
the freedom to use us for many things in His purpose, even to be, as Paul said,
a spectacle to the world, to angels and
to men. We are fools for Christ's sake.
Not all
can wrap their heads around this, but disciples must be able to submit to God
using us for His purpose. Our love for Christ and our following of Him in the
harvest can't be dependent on His earthly blessing to us. We love because He
loved us, and He opened our eyes as sons and daughters to see the spiritual
reality around us. Paul said, For I
consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with
the glory that is to be revealed to us. Our treasure is in heaven. This is
where we work. But God remains the same loving Father.
Vs. 13-19
The worst day ever. Notice the alternation of causes, human and natural
(actually, supernatural). What effect do you think this had on Job emotionally?
What did it show? Notice all the people who had to die for this drama to be
played out. Remember, dying is how we are ushered into God's presence. God's
presence is the place of ultimate blessing. His presence is only a bad place to
be if you're not ready to be there.
Vs. 20-22
Job passed the test; he worshiped. Notice that Job says the Lord has taken away. That's good theology, and we see how deep
it is because we know what's happening behind the scenes.
V. 22 What
an amazing verse.
Job 2
Vs. 1-3
What incredible verses. God again directs Satan's attention to Job, and He even
says that He was incited against Job without a cause. Among other things, God
claims responsibility for Job's calamities. It is not just that God isn't done with
Job; it is more like He isn't done with Satan. And of course, humiliating,
mutilating and destroying humanity is right up Satan's alley.
Vs. 4-6
Think of this challenge in terms of Revelation 12:11 cited above.
Vs. 7-8
And of course, the real challenge here is that Job didn't die. He lingered on
and suffered, and the good times and the hardest challenge from Satan were yet
to come.
Vs. 9-10
Isn't it funny (scary) that Satan's words to God that Job would curse Him (1:11
& 2:5) would come out of his wife's mouth in the form of a suggestion to
Job? Job's friends will also become messengers for Satan. We surely need to be
careful with our mouths.
Note again
that Job saw the "evil" as coming from God. Thankfully, we understand
something deeper, but Job didn't have the benefit of reading what we just read.
Job passed
again, but the worst was yet to come. A person can bear a lot of weight and
stress and despair, and sometimes you can even throw more on top with little
effect; but if the right people come and begin to "kick him in the
shins" (emotionally or otherwise), he often can't bear that.
Now, from
this point on, there is no further mention of Satan, except that we know he's
at work behind the scenes. It appears that the point has been made to Satan,
and now God will be correcting Job, his friends and us.
Vs. 11-13
Enter the friends. You won't see the impact of these guys until tomorrow and
then it will make your jaw drop.
Eliphaz
seems to be the oldest and the leader, not only because he is named first and
makes the first answer in every round, but when God gets mad, He gets mad at
Eliphaz.
Seven days
of mourning must have meant that Job looked pretty bad to them, like death
warmed over.
Job 3
From now
to the very end of Job, this is all written as poetry.
Vs. 1-10
Notice the uses of the word let. It
seems that Job might be cursing the day of his birth and the night of his
conception.
Vs. 11-26
Guess what word organizes Job's thoughts here. What interrogative does Job keep
using in this section? I think there is a progression from wondering why he
didn't die in the womb to why he was still alive suffering. Living in suffering
is apparently what Job feared would happen.
Many
people live in suffering in all sorts of different circumstances. Sometimes you
might see the good of it, but often you don't. A person suffering with a
terminal illness or in a nursing home, day after day, year after year, doesn't
see much purpose or hope in their suffering. Why not just end it? This is why
the book of Job is so important. God will not point to His love in correcting
Job. He will overwhelm Job with His wisdom. What Job will learn is that the
wisdom of God is true, mighty, and loving; and therefore, it shouldn't be
criticized or doubted. That kind of absolute trust has to be our foundation
too, and yet we have so much more than Job did. We know Christ; we have the
Spirit, and we have the Word.
1 Corinthians 14:1-17
So now
Paul is finally getting to what he has been building toward in chapters 12 and
13. Chapter 14 is the only chapter in the NT that is expressly written about
the purpose and organization of a "worship service." But notice in
the entire chapter the word "worship" is only used one time and it
will surprise you who worships.
Vs. 1-5 It
should be obvious that the gift of tongues was being misused and Paul was
trying to correct not only this use, but their understanding of gifts in their
public meetings. In Acts when tongues was used, there were unbelieving Jews
present who understood that God was being praised in human languages they
understood, but that should have been impossible for the speakers to have
known. Those who spoke in tongues in Acts, where the gift was being used for
its intended purpose, were speaking to God, praising Him. In those situations
in Acts, God used the gift to show the stubborn that He was doing something new
and going to the Gentiles with the gospel. Now in Corinth, people were speaking
in tongues and no one understood them at all.
Notice the
expression builds up, which is one
word in Greek. In other translations it is the word edify. That will be a key word, expression and concept in this
chapter.
Vs. 6-12
Verse 12 is the point. This is an interesting way to think of the service and defining
what it means to build up or to edify. It is building up the people in the
church.
Vs. 13-17
And read vs. 18-25 to get Paul's conclusion of this portion and to get another
view of the service and the range of meaning for building up. Tomorrow Paul
will show the purpose of the gift of tongues from the Old Testament.
As we work
in the harvest making disciples, one of the important things we do in serving
Christ is serving one another to build each other up for the work in the
harvest. Working in the harvest is never easy. If we don't hold up and encourage
one another, who will? Sometimes we come out of the fields broken and beaten.
Sometimes we walk into the clearing on Sunday, tired, discouraged and feeling
hopeless. Sometimes we gather together, but we are getting lost or feeling like
giving up. We are given to each other as the church in the harvest to edify or
build up one another, to cheer, to encourage, to strengthen, and to motivate
one another, and to remember and sing about the love that saved us.
Psalm 37:12-29
Just for
fun, underline the word wicked when
you find it. Underline other words that repeat or stand out to you. It is
probably best to think of this as the ultimate victory of justice and God's
ultimate vindication of the righteous.
In Esther, we got to see the good guys win, and Haman and the bad guys lose.
God's victory and promises are not dependent on us seeing them fulfilled. God
is Himself, His promise.
Vs. 12-13
This is the plotting of the evil. God already knows their thoughts and knows
how He will punish them.
Vs. 14-15
This is the action of the wicked. We saw this in Esther. What the wicked
planned fell back on them.
Vs. 16-17
It is better to live contentedly with what the Lord gives us, with our hope set
on Him. This reminds me of 1 Timothy 6.
Vs. 18-20
We know, of course, that this heritage may be future and our abundance may be what the Spirit creates
in our hearts as we suffer for Christ, but God doesn't fail. I was reading this
morning, Then the king will say to those
on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world.’ (Matt. 25:34) That is
absolutely unshakable, but everything on earth is very shakable.
Vs. 21-22
Jesus also said that because wickedness would multiply, most men's love will
grow cold. Who is it who can afford to be generous and secure as the world is
going to hell? Only those who know the love of Christ and serve Him in the
harvest. Verse 22 sounds like Matthew 25:34-46.
Vs. 23-24
What an amazing promise, but notice there is a condition. Many believers fall
and stay hurt. Jesus said, the one who
endures to the end will be saved. I think the salvation mentioned is
salvation from the damage that comes from giving up and straying from the Lord.
Vs. 25-26
While this is a general promise, we are seeing Job go through a season where
this doesn't seem to apply to him. There are also exceptions now on the earth
as we speak. There are believers suffering who, like Job, do not know why, but
there is a reason in God's wisdom why this must be. God is still true to His
Word.
Vs. 27-29
This is David's conclusion and word of edification to those he was giving
testimony to.
V. 29 I'll
bet Jesus knew this verse and this psalm.
Proverbs 21:25-26
It's interesting that the sluggard craves, but doesn't work. Yet, while it
doesn't say the righteous are rich and are working from the crack of dawn until
midnight, they are content and able to give to those in need. Do you get the
difference? It is more about the true desires of the heart and where a person
finds completeness. Completeness in God makes a person whole and gives them
what they need to share with others in the harvest. See Psalm 37:21 above. Isn’t
it interesting that we are reading both of these passages on the same day? You
just gotta love The One Year Bible!
If you’re reading along and don’t have a One Year
Bible, click on this link http://www.esvbible.org/devotions/every-day-in-the-word/. If that doesn't
work, go to http://www.esvbible.org/devotions/
and click on “Every
Day in the Word.”
I'm writing these comments to and for those who are
following a One Year Bible and interested in growing deeper as a disciple,
following Jesus in the harvest. My hope is to see the growth of a discipleship
culture in the church. Groups of 3-4 disciples, meeting weekly, encouraging
each other to follow Christ and work to reach out and make disciples who make
disciples. The Bible itself is the most universal manual we have and key to our
growth and service in Christ. Nothing keeps us more focused on why we are here
or what we are to be doing. My comments are only meant to provide some
explanation of the events or to show the flow of God's plan of redemption. My
comments are in no way exhaustive, but are designed to keep us focused on
Christ and our role in His harvest. My hope is that the people in these groups
will grow in Christ and be willing, after a year, to find 3 others to meet with
and encourage in their growth as disciples, disciples making disciples in the
harvest.
If you would like a complete description of this model
of being and making disciples you can find it in my book: Simply
Disciples*Making Disciples. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B011WJIDQA?*Version*=1&*entries*=0
If you would like a more descriptive commentary that is
still readable and concise, I'd recommend the Bible Knowledge Commentary. It's
keyed to the NIV, so the result is the commentators are constantly telling you
what the Greek or Hebrew is. That never hurts.
I am not endorsing any particular One Year Bible; in
fact, I read something you don't, die revidierte Lutherbibel 1984.
Anyone reading along with us is welcome to do so and is
encouraged to take their own notes and make their own observations. If the
comments made do not agree with your particular tradition or understanding,
that's OK. Nothing I've written is meant to criticize any point of view, but
only to express the truth of what God has written to us, as I understand it.
Send comments or feedback to dgkachikis@gmail.com.
If you would like documents containing an entire month
of the Reading Notes, go to https://sites.google.com/site/dlkachikis/reading-notes. You can download
these to use on your computer or to print.
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