Isa 13:3 I have commanded my sanctified ones, I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger, even them that rejoice in my highness.
There is a burden and it lies heavily upon the sanctified saints of the Lord. They see what is coming, as clearly as they see the sun setting, they know that the end is at hand. This burden of course causes the saint to finds rest in the Word. It may lay heavily upon them, but for those who ignore the burden of the Lord for what is to come it will crush them like a heavy load. The weapons God chooses to use are indignation. Much like David was indignant when he heard the giant mock the people of God, he chose a few smooth stones and ran towards the enemy. The saints of God are the smooth stones that bring down giants. Sanctified by the river, shaped only by the hand of God, they shall bring down all that exalts itself above God. The hearts of men shall fail them as they see the signs in the heavens of the Son of man approaching. The heavens shall be shaken and the earth will move out of her place as that terrible day approaches.
A banner is set up high on the mountain for all the world to see, it is the Lord’s standard. In the Old Testament God used the wicked as His “anointed ones.” This was a type. Now, when the Lord returns with His saints at His side and the dead in Christ shall rise and those who are still alive will join the heavenly hosts, the hearts of the whole world shall melt like wax in the presence of the Lord. God’s enemies shall be subdued and His peace shall break forth as the dawning of a brand new day. The lion shall lay down with the lamb. A child shall lead the lion and the leopard and the calf and the bear shall graze together. The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. And the saints shall dwell high on the mountain and exalt and praise the Lord and the whole earth will be filled with the praises of God.
The name Diotrephes means “nourished by Jupiter.” Jupiter was the Roman God, the most important of all their gods and was worshiped across the Roman empire. He symbolizes everything Rome was. And the Diotrephes that we meet in 3rd John is a man who loved to have the preeminence. Many believe that the dagger that was struck at the heart of the Church was Constantine, but in reality it was this man as early as the 80s ad. I discovered over my 20 years participation in the system, that fellowship with mere professors was harmful to my own walk and was met, for the most part, by indifference from those who at best, were perpetual babes as opposed to sons and daughters. This perpetual state of infancy( and I’m being generous) is perpetuated by the very system itself. Clergy/laity divide is the main symptom of the Diotrophes syndrome. Diotrophes replaced Jesus by putting himself in His place. This is why he was such an enemy to John. He would be upstaged by John and for men who love the preeminence, there is nothing worse than being upstaged.
There can be no spiritual progress in a system where Jesus has been usurped. We are called to be sons and daughters, not perpetual babes being taught the same rudimentary things week in and week out by a system that is, for the most part, devoid of the Holy Spirit. Who can grow unless they are led and guided by the Holy Spirit? Could Diotrephes replace Jesus? What would become of the people who sat under him? Would they not slowly die on the vine if they stayed there? I believe this situation is what kept Paul up at night. This was the reason for his prayers, tears and warnings, night and day for three years. Jesus addresses it through John in 3rd John and then again the first chapters of Revelations. So serious was the charge from Jesus that it came with a dire warning, the removal of the Lampstand. Jesus does not make idle threats. There is nothing to suggest that repentance came. So, a religion began to form without a Lampstand, and culminated in throwing in its lot in with Rome and Constantine.
Thankfully God always has a remnant and throughout all of those times they stood fast. Millions were killed as they were hunted down by the hordes of Diotrephes. Men, so loving and desirous of power and influence and authority and most of all the preeminence, that they were willing to hunt down every challenger to their position and kill them. And yet, of course, this only made the genuine Church all the more stronger as they stood against hell itself. In the end, the devil settled for clergy/laity divide. He knows this guts any gathering of its power because by its very system, Jesus is usurped. And when Jesus is usurped, nothing grows. And so we have fig tress that have no figs. From a distance it promises much but on closer inspection it has no fruit. How can it have fruit when it is overtaken by the Diotrephes syndrome?
“We can attach our name to a city, a tower, a temple, a religious movement, a ministry— to beautiful things we do in the name of the Lord and set upon a pedestal for all to admire. But we can attach no name to ashes on the altar.” (Kalli Womack Cook) When Jesus is preeminent there are no names. There is no posterity, there is no position. There is only Him and Him lifted up. This is the source of all spiritual power, it starts and ends with Jesus being elevated. When man elevates himself then God vanishes. “It’s not just the pastors on the stages of modern churches. It’s everyone involved: the worship leaders, the band members… all that goes into a “worship service” – everyone who has a title/position in these church systems. I would say even the congregation because they approve, affirm and encourage it. Actors on a stage. It’s all a show. They love the “preeminence “. I’ve been a part of that scene in the past. The feeling of preeminence is a real thing, a feeling of superiority. Our traditions are more comforting than a real relationship with the Living God. We continue to build our own kingdoms in this world. (Jennifer Dietrich Warren)
Actors on a stage. The Greek word for actor is “hypokrites,” where we get the English word hypocrite. Someone who pretends to have something they do not actually possess. The actual Greek word is a compound noun, its made up of two Greek words that literally translate “an interpreter from underneath.” Underneath what? Underneath the mask, as ancient Greek actors wore masks. In the case of clergy, what they are pretending to have, which they do not, is the preeminence. Unless Jesus has the preeminence, everything is just acting on a stage with a mask on. Diotrephes was deadly afraid of being exposed by John, so he banned him from coming to their gathering and expelled anyone who agreed with John. He knew he would be “upstaged,’ and this of course, lies at the very heart of the Diotrephes syndrome. Its about power and ego and prestige and authority and under no circumstances will the Diotrphes man ever allow himself to be usurped. He has already usurped Jesus in his desire to be preeminent. In effect he has sold his soul in a desire to be recognized and to be worshiped.
Brothers and sisters, this system is heading towards its zenith. The coming climax is the great whore church. This is where those who have sold their souls for preeminence will get everything their hearts have ever desired. They will take this new found authority as a sign from God of His pleasure and of course, will be merciless towards all who stand in their way. They will be given the authority to hunt down all those “who oppose God,” meaning those who oppose them. Authority. It is always what the devil has desired. He demanded that Jesus fall down and worship him. He would give Him all the kingdoms of the world if He would only bow down to him. The clergy system will be given all the power they ever desired by bowing down to the evil one. And every true and genuine saint will represent the Apostle John, rejected by the ones who seek the preeminence. And the Diotrephes syndrome will have its glorious moment, and then, of course, Christ the Lord, the preeminent one shall return in all His glory.
Isa 12:3 Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.
William Cowper, in his famous hymn “God moves in a mysterious way,” writes “Behind a frowning providence He hides a smiling face.” Even when God is angry with His people, His plan is moving forward. We can trust Him in all things. His ways are higher than our ways, He sees it all, we see a snapshot. And in that snapshot we often only see the dire circumstances that surround us, but of course there is an unfolding plan that will not change. “His purposes will ripen fast,unfolding every hour.The bud may have a bitter taste,but sweet will be the flow’r.” There is a bitter taste in the world today brothers and sisters, no doubt, but the sweet smelling aroma of His presence is with us still, in the hearts of His saints. No matter how bitter the hour, how pleasant is our Lord and God who holds us and sustains us in the midst of it all.
Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.(Rom 5:1-2) We rejoice in the hope and the glory of God. God is our salvation, God alone is our strength. His strength and power and and glory are without beginning and they have no end. They are inexhaustible. Therefore, brothers and sisters, because of this great truth we shall draw near to Him with great Joy and draw waters from these inexhaustible wells, the glorious wells of our salvation. As the land is ravaged by drought, we who are found in Him shall never thirst as we draw near to Him. “Deep in unfathomable mines of never failing skill He treasures up His bright designs and works His sov’reign will. Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take; the clouds ye so much dread are big with mercy and shall break In blessings on your head.” Thank you for the rain Lord, thank you for your refreshing waters that water the very depths of our souls.
Like the martyrs afterwards, at the stake and amid the flames, who it is testified that so deep was their inward joy that they were unconscious of the external agony. so He was transported above His anguish by the very joy of His Father’s presence and love. It was this that enabled Him to endure “For the joy set before Him He endured the cross, despising the shame.” He saw not the deep dark valley of humiliation, but the heights of resurrection-life and ascension glory just beyond. And He was lifted above the consciousness of the present by the vision and hope and the joy of the Lord. This is the joy He gives to us. It is nothing less than the fullness of His own heart throbbing in our breast and sharing with us His own immutable blessedness (A.B.Simpson)
Do you see what the brother is saying saints? He did not see the dark valley of humiliation rather He saw the heights of resurrection life and the glory “just beyond.” This is the power of the Holy Spirit working in us. The same Holy Spirit that was in the Lord Jesus Christ is in you and He gives you the same vision that the Lord had in this sense. Can you see what is just beyond? Just beyond your circumstances. Just beyond your trial. Just beyond your sickness. Just beyond your enemies. We have the power in us to see just beyond the horizon of this world and glimpse the ascension glory of eternity. The world to come, the world beyond this, the world that already exists in us, the world we actually walk in. The Kingdom. And we see the Kingdoms King and His name is Jesus.
And so as the days grow darker look up and see the light. As the enemy grows bolder know that you have the power to stand and fight. There are no mortal flames that can burn the glory down. It only intensifies the light above and gives us greater sight to see the one who wears the crown. What flood can overwhelm us when He raises us to higher ground? Shall we not count it all rather as rubbish so that in Him we shall be found? There is an eternal fountain of gladness and joy that we have access too. As we stand upon His holy Hill and be drenched by the morning dew that falls from heavens heights. And so we stay close to the one who leads us on and speaks to us in the still small voice. And to that voice we must respond. If we are to see the light of Christ and see what is just beyond. The glory of the risen King, the one to whom we all shall sing…….Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. Crown Him with many crowns.
Isa 8:6 Forasmuch as this people refuseth the waters of Shiloah that go softly………….Now therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many.
The still small voice of God that leads His people, whether through quiet times or tumultuous times, it leads them on. His people rejoice in it. They are comforted by it. Every word that proceeds forth from the mouth of God, whether written or softly spoken to the heart by the power of the Holy Spirit, is manna to the souls of His very own. Yet to those who claim to be His, this is not sufficient for them. They are discontented. They see the things of the world and they want them them and are jealous for them. They admire cultures and other countries and they despise their own, Whether in the natural or in the spiritual, the same disaster falls upon them in the end, they get what they want. And the tumultuous waters of their own desires rises up and shatters them.
The malcontent is left broken. The mighty waters of their own greed and lack of thankfulness has swept away everything. If any structure is left it is full of stinking mud and the stench is awful. This applies to individuals and nations. There is a mighty flood coming and it is coming because the people have rejected the still waters of Shiloah. It will reach up to the neck, bringing terror to those caught in its swift flowing power. Yet, there is a remnant who love to hear the still small voice of the Lord. Who love to dwell beside the still waters. The Lord Himself has led us there. He has planted us beside the waters and we are like evergreen trees which gives its fruit in season and whose leaves do not wither. Rejoice and be thankful brothers and sisters in the still small voice of the Lord that flows gently through the depths of who we are. It is the waters of life, the river of life, that flows from the throne of God.
Isaiah 6:7 ….Behold, this has touched your lips. Your iniquity is taken away and your sin is purged.
Will you run from the terror of the light? Or will you flee from the darkness of the night? Will you stand and cry out “oh wretched man that I am?” Stand and face the terror of the light which is the majesty of God Himself. The Glory of God, the Holiness of God which undoubtedly strikes terror into men. See Isaiah fall down as if dead and cry out that he is undone in the midst of the impenetrable light, yet it penetrates him to his very core. This is a salvation experience when a man meets God. This is why the cry is heard “what must we do to be saved….is there mercy for me?” They have encountered the terror of the light and they know that they have been found wanting, they are, indeed, undone.
And yet, in the midst of all of that spiritual turmoil and hanging between heaven and hell, they discover that there is mercy. Not a coal from the fires of heaven that will purge their sin, no, something much greater than that. The Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself that within it indwells justice and judgment and mercy all at once in a brilliant amalgam to those who flee the night and face the light. This encounter is salvation, forged in the burning roiling chaotic unsaved soul touched by the order of heaven. Listen to the chains fall as a man stands in the terror of the light and realizes that not only is he not undone as he knows he surely was, but He is being born again in the glory and being remade in the image of God’s own Son. He has traveled in a mere moment from rightful condemnation to knowing there is therefore now no more condemnation. Now, he runs to the light, no longer a terror to him, but a fulfillment of all things. He is whole and complete, here before the mercy seat.
Tomorrows rain shall never come
For this is the eve of the final setting sun
The filth has not, nor shall be washed away
And now the stench of a world that refuses to pray.
This was a vineyard on a very fruitful hill
There should have been good fruit but we took a bitter pill
And wild grapes came forth and refused to now the knee
We rejected the Creator for all that we could see.
And so we drew iniquity with the cords of our own vanity
And now the terror of the Lord and the glory of His Majesty
Causes men to run and hide from the horror of the light
For now they realize that they are creatures of the night.
The children of the day shall take their place atop the mountains
And from those lofty heights there shall flow eternal fountains
And all the nations of the earth shall flow towards these waters
And the praises of our God and King shall rise from sons and daughters.
Isa 4:4 When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion,
When the rain ceases to fall, the city becomes filthy. Without the presence of God, pride rises up. Yet, they are like shooting stars. Soon enough the haughty and the proud begin to fall. Their ascendancy seemed like it would never end. They soared high and then hit their apex because the power of their trajectory was by the strength of their own arm. God allows the proud to fall. He exposes what lies behind the “beauty.” The thin veneers of societies are ripped away and we get to see who people really are. Are we not there now brothers and sisters? Do we not see the monsters of iniquity now unashamed of their murderous desires to slaughter children and pervert and groom the ones who are left? This is not the exception, rather it is the rule. It is everyman’s neighbor. God is certainly at the door and who among His own would not rejoice in His coming?
We are told that the Lord will wash away the filth by the Spirit of judgement and the Spirit of burning. In that very day Christ shall be exalted and His beauty and His glory shall be clearly seen by all. He shall raise up His own out of this fire and they will have for a covering a cloud of smoke by day and a flaming fire by night. In other words they shall have the presence of God with them in the very midst of judgement. This is what the saints of God have brothers and sisters. We have the Holy Spirit now, He is a cloud by day and a fire by night. It is not visible because it dwells in us but those who are His can be clearly seen in an ever darkening world. Stand fast brothers and sisters, for the Lord is at the door, just like in the days of Noah. They mocked Noah, they will mock you, but you know the rain is coming, you know the fire is about to fall. Walk in the sure knowledge of what you know and let the mockers mock.
Isa 1:9 Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.
In verse five we see Isaiah’s description. The whole head is sick. The whole heart faints. From the sole of the foot to the head, there is no soundness. Wounds and bruises and putrefying sores, they are open wounds for all to see. This is our world today, there is no soundness in it. There is no nation that has distinguished itself, they are all alike. The only thing that has averted all out disaster and ruin raining down on us like fire from heaven is the very small remnant of God’s people around the world. They are a gift to the world. The only light that presently exists is the light of remnant saints.
Christendom is a forsaken people, such has been their fall. Their house has been left to them desolate. Shall they be forgiven? Shall they humble themselves in the sight of the Lord? Is their coffers not full of silver and gold? Do they not worship the works of their own hands, in fact is not the work of their own hand all that they have? Isaiah says to such a people “Enter into the rock, and hide in the dust from the terror of the Lord and the glory of His majesty.” (Isa 2:4) Proud men shall cry out in terror and flee from the Glory of His majesty. The “very small remnant,” shall not flee from the Glory of His majesty, but rather they shall run into it and they shall be safe. His glory is their high tower. His majesty is their very life blood. His presence is their very existence.
He has stretched out the heavens like a curtain. His ministers are a flaming fire. The clouds are His chariots and He walks upon the wings of the wind. He looks upon the earth and it trembles, He hides His face and the whole world is troubled. His glory shall endure forever. His hand, for a moment, is stretched out to a undeserving people. Shall the haughty humble themselves? Shall they give up the works of their own hands? Shall they abandon the many centuries of tradition that has caused them to wander so far from the source of all life? They only life that exists is in Him. When He arises to shake the earthy mightily, and He will do so very soon, will He be a terror to you and will you flee from the glory of His majesty? Fall down now and live, or, enter into the rock and see if you can hide from the terror of the Lord to come.
For the last six months, I have suffered, almost non stop, from two pinched nerves. I have lived with chronic pain, but this is something “special.” Please, and don’t be offended by this, but please do not comment on the pain, my condition or express sympathy or remedies. My interest is in an analogy. The moments when, for no particular reason, there is no pain. It is overwhelming and quite emotional as I revel in the short window. The heavens seem to open up and I am surrounded by such satisfaction and appreciation for “normal.”
It occurred to me how much this experience is like the presence of God. That moment when all of a sudden and entirely unexpectedly my Lord is with me in His manifest presence. How, all the noise of the world just seems to melt away and I am in my “normal,” place. A place of no pain, no sadness, a place of radiating overwhelming beauty. I know it won’t last but I only know that afterwards. For eternity is always eternity even if it’s only for a moment. One day, one day soon, eternity will be moments no more.
I will wait for Him.
If I had to wait a thousand years,I would wait for Him. He is my all in all and I am swallowed whole by wholeness and it changes me. The world grows ever dimmer and the bright impenetrable light of His soon coming, beckons me. It calls to the depths of my spirit. I learned a long time ago that even if all the heavens above me are covered by clouds, that above those clouds there lies an eternal blue sky. And every now and then, the clouds part and a shaft of light engulfs me and renews my spirit and warms my soul.
Pro 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Fearing God is the beginning of all things. Man can never find relationship with God outside of a healthy fear of the one who created him. A reverence for God draws you closer. No one skips into His presence. Isaiah falls down on his face, the prophets tremble at the presence of God. We have lost all fear of God in Christendom. The world has foolishly never feared God and they will go the way of fools. Yet, what happens when those who call themselves by His name have no actual fear of God? No reverence of God, no trembling at His touch, at His majesty. He is not your mate, your buddy or your pal. He is God and He is greatly to be praised. We praise Him by our lives, by our thoughts and our deeds. Worship is a way of life, not a 20 minute song service.
To worship God is to fear God, to fear God is to encounter God. To encounter God is to be drawn deeper into our Fathers heart. We do not fear God in the sense that a man fears a wild beast that can tear him to pieces. We fear God in the inner man. We know of His reverential beauty and glory. We understand just who we are in the presence of majesty. We know that without His covering we would be nothing more that wretched men who would cry out “who will deliver me from this body of death.” And we know our Saviour who has indeed delivered us from this death. We are no longer “undone,” and our lips are no longer unclean for we have been cleansed by something greater that a burning coal from the fires of heaven. We have been cleansed by the blood of the Lamb! We know the sacrifice that God the Father made in sending His only Son to die for us. We have been touched by the magnitude of this.
It has rocked our world greater than any earthquake could. The ground shifted from beneath our ungodly feet and He set our feet upon the solid Rock. We now stand, by His grace and Mercy, upon the finished work of our Lord on the cross. Who could measure the magnitude of this? There exists no such spiritual Richter scale. The Love of God cannot be quantified other than by the bloody cross of Calvary. The preaching of the cross is foolishness to those who perish, but unto those who are saved , it is the power of God (1 Cor 1:18) Fools despise this message and they know nothing of the fear of God. Those who know God and fear Him are on the path of knowledge. True knowledge and true wisdom. The ultimate irony for the foolish who fear not God, is that they will tremble and fall down with fear when it is too late. Better to learn the fear of God now and live, than to learn it before His seat and die eternally.
Mar 1:12 And immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness.
As soon as the Spirit descends upon Jesus, He is “driven,” into the wilderness. He is separated from everything He has known up to that point and He finds Himself in a desert. Paul, after his own encounter, did not go to Jerusalem, but rather he goes to Arabia. Paul too was separated, separated from the Pharisees of his former life, and also separated from the leadership of the saints in Jerusalem. Jesus would deal with His identity in the wilderness. The Devil will seek to cast doubt into His mind. He asks “if you are the Son of God,” he asks that twice. When Jesus stands His ground he is tempted with all the kingdoms of the world and all of their glory. Yet Jesus knew of a much greater glory, the glory He shared with His Father. He knew of the glory and the majesty of union with God.
Paul’s own identity would undoubtedly be challenged in Arabia. He was no longer a Pharisee. He no longer belonged to the religious order. He was stripped of his earthly titles and positions. Through all this he would discover exactly who he was in Christ. He would emerge from this “isolation,” with the confidence that can only truly come by encounter. Paul was not taught by men, He had revelations from God. He was taught by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. A very different man comes out of Arabia than had went in. He carried the authority of God because the encounter and the revelation changed him. Man did not promote Paul. He did not climb ecclesiastical ladders. His position was established by encounter. His identity was established.
What is your identity brothers and sisters? How were you established in your walk? Did you walk through barren landscapes away from the eyes of man? To be driven into the wilderness is to begin a journey of identity. To “know” who you are in Christ. To have stood your ground against the lying enemy. To be taught by God Himself. To be supernaturally ministered to by the hand of God. To know in the very depths of your being that you do not live by bread alone but by every word from your Fathers mouth. To find yourself, quite apart from men and their establishment and order. When God establishes a man, that man carries the authority of the very God who established him. He does not need titles. He does not have to curry favor from any groups. He or she simply are who God said they were and who God made them to be. Stand fast in your calling brothers and sisters, alumni of the wilderness.
1Ki 8:35 When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain,
Solomon prays to God for what is to come. He does not say “If the heavens are shut up.” He says “when heaven is shut up.” The inevitable nature of rebellious man is so predictable. Mankind, in its general state, does not change. Confessors of Jesus, in their general state, do not change. What do I mean by their general state? I mean when they forget God. When they forget where God took them from. When they forget that everything they have comes from the hand of God. When they forget that without God they are merely rebellious creatures. Drift away from God and see that the high tide of humanity comes roaring in and overwhelms you. I would argue, that this is the general state of Christendom today. Heaven is shut, there is no rain. There is a famine of the Word of God preached with power throughout the land. Men are dying of thirst and starving to death.
Solomon gives the remedy in verse 38-39 “when each one knows the plague of his own heart and spreads out his hands towards the temple, then hear in heaven, your dwelling place and forgive…” When each one knows the plague of his own heart. The definition of plague is “an epidemic disease that causes high mortality, pestilence.” If one has a plague in his heart, then you can be assured that the multitude are affected by this epidemic. We are in the midst of a plague, an epidemic. We are plagued by unbelief. We are plagued by lukewarmness. Much of those in Christendom are practical atheists. Practical adulterers. They say one thing, but they live as laws unto themselves. Solomon says “when each one knows.” One has to know their state in order to repent of it. There are no specific calls to repentance, for in doing that there would have to be an acknowledgement of sin and a heart riddled with plague. The pestilence of our age is worldliness.
Verse 47 “Yet when they come to themselves in the land where they were carried captive, and repent and make supplication to you in the land of those who took them captive…….and when they return to You with all of their hearts and with all of their souls in the land of their enemies……….forgive your people who have sinned against You.” Father in Heaven, hear the prayers of your saints in the land of their captivity, in the land where the heavens have been shut and famine and pestilence stalk the land and the hearts of those who profess your name are sickened. Hear from heaven Father and give us eyes to see the sickened and dying hearts that they may confess and repent to you and that you may heal them for your own names sake one last time. Glorify yourself Lord in all the earth. May Your glory cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.
Job 38:1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind.
God finally speaks to Job! Not in a still small voice, but out of a whirlwind. A tornado! Most people are absolutely terrified by tornadoes. Often when they glimpse it, they are mesmerized by it, so much so they cannot move. It comes down from the clouds and touches the ground. It moves and nothing stands it its way. Whatever it encounters is broken down and taken up. The sound, they say, is like a freight train. It commands the attention of all who see it. When God speaks, men take notice. When God speaks from the mountain to the children of Israel, they cry out for Him to stop as the thunder claps and the lightening fractures the skies above. God says to Job “Now, prepare yourself like a man.”
When men speak, it is all too often just noise, a light breeze on a summers day. Job’s friends have spoken much, and convinced no one of anything. Job has spoken much and has not convinced his friends that they are wrong.Elihu has silenced Job but not convinced him. Now God will speak and all men will be silent when God speaks. Brothers and sisters, do not argue your case before men, do not try and convince men of the rightness of your case. Let God justify you. Nothing that Job said or could have said would have convinced his so called friends. Nothing they could have said would change Jobs mind, so in the end its all just noise. Now God speaks and Job gets it. His response is, not unlike Isaiah’s “Behold I am vile, what shall I answer you, I lay my hand over my mouth.”
God continues to ask Job rhetorical questions. The majesty and glory of God pours forth from the “questions.” Job is being taught by God Himself and it lays him bare. Finally Job answers and says “I know that you can do everything and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from you……..I have uttered what I did not know………..I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes see you, therefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes!” What a transformation from a man God had already pronounced to be blameless. Before, he only knew of God, now he has seen Him high and lifted up and he is changed forever. And of course, the man of God is justified in the end, not by his own defense, but by God Himself. “God says to Jobs friends ” My wrath is aroused against you and your two friends for you have not spoken of me what is right as My servant Job has.”
In the end, God has justified His precious servant. Justice belongs to the Lord. And the Lord demands that the three friends offer burnt offerings for themselves and then go to Job and have him pray for them. They are humiliated but their humility and the prayers of Job save them. Now, Job must pray for them as commanded by the Lord, (pray for those who despitefuly use you) and when he does, Job’s losses are restored, and more. Remain silent brothers and sisters and do not try and justify yourself to others. Walk before the Lord in the sure knowledge that all these things are in hand. Pray for those who would condemn you. Lift your eyes to the heavens and consider who laid the foundations of the earth. Praise Him, for the Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord. Even if He kills us, yet shall we trust Him.
A Call To The Remnant 