Who Shall Separate Us From God's Love?

Job's friends offer little comfort. They say, "If you lived a righteous life all would be well. As it is, you must acknowledge your sin and change. Then God will bless you."

But this advice seems foolish to Job, for he struggles with the God who remains hidden and far beyond him. He cannot contend with God,

"For he is not a man, as I am, that I might answer him, that we should come to trial together. There is no arbiter between us, who might lay his hand on us both."Job 9:32-35

So many questions. So much confusion. And amidst it all how helpless is Job. God does indeed demand a righteous life.

"Truly I know that it is so: But how can a man be in the right before God? If one wished to contend with him, one could not answer him once in a thousand times. - Job 9:2-3 

How puny and helpless is Job before God, the Creator of earth and sky.

He is wise in heart and mighty in strength --who has hardened himself against him, and succeeded?-- he who removes mountains, and they know it not, when he overturns them in his anger, who shakes the earth out of its place, and its pillars tremble; who commands the sun, and it does not rise; who seals up the stars; who alone stretched out the heavens and trampled the waves of the sea; who made the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades and the chambers of the south; who does great things beyond searching out, and marvelous things beyond number. Behold, he passes by me, and I see him not; he moves on, but I do not perceive him. Behold, he snatches away; who can turn him back? Who will say to him, 'What are you doing?' - Job 9:4-12 ESV 

Turning to his friends, Job continues, imagining himself in a court room with God. Before Him Job admits his own mouth would condemn him.

How then can I answer him, choosing my words with him? Though I am in the right, I cannot answer him; I must appeal for mercy to my accuser. If I summoned him and he answered me, I would not believe that he was listening to my voice. For he crushes me with a tempest and multiplies my wounds without cause; he will not let me get my breath, but fills me with bitterness. If it is a contest of strength, behold, he is mighty! If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him? Though I am in the right, my own mouth would condemn me; though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse. - Job 9:14-20 ESV 

He has no way to justify himself. Turning back to God, he says,

If I wash myself with snow and cleanse my hands with lye, yet you will plunge me into a pit, and my own clothes will abhor me. - Job 9:30-31 ESV 

What is left for this poor sinner? Back and forth, round and around go his thoughts. God is completely in charge. Job is His puppet, yet Job cries out that he is innocent.

Does it seem good to you to oppress, to despise the work of your hands and favor the designs of the wicked? Have you eyes of flesh? Do you see as man sees? Are your days as the days of man, or your years as a man's years, that you seek out my iniquity and search for my sin, although you know that I am not guilty, and there is none to deliver out of your hand? 

Your hands fashioned and made me, and now you have destroyed me altogether. Remember that you have made me like clay; and will you return me to the dust? Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese? You clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews. You have granted me life and steadfast love, and your care has preserved my spirit. Yet these things you hid in your heart; I know that this was your purpose. 

If I sin, you watch me and do not acquit me of my iniquity. If I am guilty, woe to me! If I am in the right, I cannot lift up my head, for I am filled with disgrace and look on my affliction. And were my head lifted up, you would hunt me like a lion and again work wonders against me. You renew your witnesses against me and increase your vexation toward me; you bring fresh troops against me. - Job 10:3-17 ESV 

Finally this confused, suffering man cries out in despair. Death, doom, gloom and darkness is all that awaits him.

"Why did you bring me out from the womb? Would that I had died before any eye had seen me and were as though I had not been, carried from the womb to the grave. Are not my days few? Then cease, and leave me alone, that I may find a little cheer before I go--and I shall not return-- to the land of darkness and deep shadow, the land of gloom like thick darkness, like deep shadow without any order, where light is as thick darkness." - Job 10:18-22 ESV

 Are you familiar with Job's struggle? Can anyone understand God's ways? Why suffering, sickness, sadness, sorrow and finally death? Only by gazing upon the cross is there an answer. The apostle Paul

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urges us to consider Abraham, that great man of faith. Everything depends upon our believing in the undeserved mercy of God. So old man Abraham clung to the promise that he was to become the father of many nations and that through his seed all nations of the earth would be blessed.

He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. - Rom 4:18-21 ESV 

In the days ahead we will continue to walk with Job and hear his pitiless friends. Perhaps in all these words we will find our own answers, answers from the God who forces us to struggle that we may grow in our trust in His promise that in all things He is at work for our good, the promise that began to be worked out in the manger of Bethlehem. So the Apostle teaches,

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. - Rom 8:28 ESV 

Christ's Personal, Experiential Knowledge

How did he do it? How did Jesus live with the knowledge that his entire life was to lead up to the horrific agony of he cross? How did he endure, knowing that this was the reason for his entering this world? How was he able to go on, knowing that he was to carry the burden of ALL mankind's sins? How did he do it?

Jesus knew the Scriptures that described in vivid detail what was to happen to the Messiah, the promised Anointed One, the King. He had memorized those Scriptures. Read yourself these example listed below and ask yourself how he could persist, knowing that this was his destiny.

• Psalm 22:1-21 - My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 
• Psalm 41:5-9 - Even my close friend has lifted his heel against me
• Psalm 69:1-36 - More in number than the hairs of my head are those who hate me without cause
• Isaiah 53:1-12 - He was pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities

Now put yourself in his place. Consider what it would do to you if you knew that hundreds, no thousands upon thousands, hated you. Think about being forsaken and betrayed by your closest friends. Think not merely upon the physical pain of death upon a Roman cross after being beat within a half-inch of your life. That is bad enough, but it is hardly worth mentioning compared to the torture, the spiritual, heart-felt soul-agony of all that pain even while you know with absolute certainty that you are unjustly abhorred, hated, rejected and beaten in anger and outrage—all of it, not because you deserve it, but because you have chosen to put yourself there in place of others. They deserve this. You do not. They ought to be rejected and forsaken both by men and by God Himself, not you. 

This is the unthinkable agony of the Christ, the Messiah. He was tortured beyond any man's ability to describe. Yet this was the path Jesus freely chose because he revered and loved his Father in heaven. The Father said there was no other way for men to be saved.  From birth men disobey, they disobey in the same way that the first man and woman disobeyed. They are born in sin. And they keep on disobeying every day afterwards. They cannot possibly keep God's commands. Even as Adam's disobedience in the Garden made all men sinners, so now the second Adam's obedience makes many righteous, writes the Apostle Paul. 

For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. - Rom 5:17-19 ESV

This is the obedience that the Hebrews letter describes as it points to all that Jesus endured throughout his life and ultimately upon the cross of Calvary.

In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. - Hebrews 5:7-10 ESV

 Jesus' learning was not mere information learning. It was experiential learning. He knew from his study of Scripture what was to happen to him. He had that information. But then he did what the prophecies foretold. He went to the cross and through the agony of it all. It became his experience. It happened to him. It became personal. It now belonged to him and to no other. It was like a woman bearing a child. Only she who has gone through it truly knows what that means (John 16:21-22). So Jesus learned obedience through what he suffered.

And he did it all the way! My son became like Jesus when he learned to ride his bike. "I did it, Dad," he said. "I learned how to balance and pedal. I rode my bike all by myself." So Jesus completed our salvation. He finished it. He completed it. He did the deed. It is done, over, and now fully available for all. So he cried out upon the cross in victory, "It is finished!" (John 19:30). That's what Hebrews points to.

Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. - Hebrews 5:8-10 ESV

I know. If you have read this far it may be most difficult to understand. But pray about it, because this is the most important thing you will ever know. Your eternal life depends upon this good news. More about this next time.