My Name's Not Job! Or is it?

 

At this time, we are seeing hatred, and even persecution, directed towards Christians across the globe. America, as a perceived Christian nation, is along with Israel, one of the most hated nations. In America itself, Bible believing Christians are finding that they are hated for the truth for which they stand. Jesus told us that this would be so, and it is recorded in all four Gospels:

"...hated of all nations {hated of all men} for My name's sake," 

                                                                        Mt. 10, Mt. 24, Mk. 13, Lk. 21, Jn. 15

Jesus said there would be persecution (Mt. 10:23). This hatred and persecution would be because of His name, and because the world not only hated Him first, but also because they hate His Father, who sent Him. Jesus said that the world hates Him because He has removed the cloak with which they hide and cover their sin, so they now have no excuse. The world would hate His believers because those believers are not of the world, just as He is not of the world (Jn. 15:18-24). If they hate the Master, and call Him Beelzebub, how much more will they hate those of His household (Mt. 10:24-25).

Sometimes, because this place of hatred in the world becomes so uncomfortable, the church begins to compromise, and give the world back that cloak to cover and excuse sins, but Jesus came to remove the cloak.

Rather than make friends with the hatred, or compromise with it, Jesus instructs us to patiently endure it (Mt. 10:22, Mk. 13:13, Lk. 21:18-19). This very patience and endurance would save us. His use of the word "patience" means cheerful endurance. He prays the Father to equip us with the joy that He has (Jn. 17:13). It seems difficult to endure hatred and persecution with cheerfulness and joy, but Jesus has prayed the Father on our behalf.
 



As we consider patience in the face of adversity, we cannot help but be reminded of Job. It should not surprise us to find that Job's name means "hated, persecuted". Where did he receive the patience to endure? The Hebrew letters of his name, aleph, yod, beth, give us a hint. The meaning of these letters form a picture of dwelling in the tent/tabernacle of God's strength and powerful hand. As Job begins to falter in the presence and counsel of his "comforters", the LORD intervenes and brings Job back to that tent of His strength in no uncertain terms in chapters 38-41. Job's dwelling place, though he is in the world, is not of this world. It is in that tabernacle of God's strength and mighty power! This was the moment of Job's deliverance - when he was brought back to that tabernacle. Job said that previously he had known God by hearing of Him, but now Job knew God by seeing and experiencing for himself God's great power (Job 42:5). What is found in this tabernacle of God's strength and power that delivers us? Hope is found there.

David found this in Psalms 42 and 43:

"When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, and with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday. Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted in me? Hope thou in God:  for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance...for Thou art the God of my strength...why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?...let them bring me unto Thy holy hill, and to Thy tabernacles (tent). Then I will go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy...I praise Thee, O God my God...hope in God: for I shall yet praise Him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.

Consider God's strength and power, and stir up that hope and joy that can be found in His tent, even in the face of hatred and persecution. It is our deliverance. Look where this hope brings us:

"...we might have a strong consolation (comfort, encouragement, solace, refreshment, strengthening), who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the vail (veil); Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made a high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec."     Heb. 6:18-20

Into this tent of Job's, and David's, and Jesus, into this place within the veil, where hope brings us, there is not only comfort and consolation, but blessing and rewards as well. Jesus said, "Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for My sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven..."      Mt. 5:10-12 





Even as Job, hated and persecuted, received a double portion (Job 42:10, 12) as he entered back into those tent of God's strength and powerful hand, and prayed for those who had not been a comfort to him (Mt. 5:44), so the prophets promise a double portion:

"For your shame you shall have double; and for confusion, they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them."   Isa. 61:7   and

"Turn ye to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope: even today do I declare that I will render double unto thee."     Zech. 9:12

 



As we endure with patience by entering the tent of God's strength and powerful hand, following hope through the veil, Jesus promised:

"Because thou hast kept the word of My patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation which shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth...Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple (tent) of My God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from My God: and I will write upon him My new name."   Rev. 3:10-12

 

Why art thou cast down, O my soul? Hope in God.



Where There's Hope, There's Life

 

The usual expression used is, "Where there's life, there's hope". The expression has been turned around here for this entry title in order to express a truth in scripture, and to find out more about both hope and life.

We are looking at a familiar passage from Ezekiel 37 regarding the prophet's vision of the valley of dry bones. This vision sent by the LORD to Ezekiel can speak many things to us today. If we study the Hebrew word meanings within the verses, we can find needed truth for the Church.

The condition that Ezekiel is shown by the Spirit of the LORD in the valley, is of a great many bones laying about on the ground. These bones were so dry, that they had separated one from another. No flesh or sinew was left to hold them together. One could not tell what bone had been joined to another.

The LORD asks Ezekiel if these bones of the valley can live again. Ezekiel could not see life anywhere. In order to answer the LORD, he said, "O LORD God, You know." (v. 2)

The LORD God begins to speak to the bones, and He instructs Ezekiel to also prophesy to the bones.

As the prophet began to obey and speak to the bones, they began to come together bone to bone (v. 7). Flesh and sinews began to form to cover, join and hold the bones together. The LORD then told the prophet to prophesy the winds of breath to come and breathe upon the bones to give them life. The rejoined bones then stood, alive, to become a great army. The LORD identifies this army as the whole house of Israel.
However, after this great army is given the breath that makes them live again, the LORD tells the prophet that this army is saying something to Him:
"...behold they say, "Our bones are dry and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts."
                                                                                   Ez. 37:11b
Although the bones are re-joined and living again miraculously, their cry is one of being without hope, and they still feel that their condition is like dry bones missing parts.
If we look at the Hebrew meaning of the words used in this verse above, it is telling us something very deep, and it explains why the LORD promised them two things in the verses that follow.
According to the Hebrew meanings of the key words of the verse above, this mighty bone army is saying to the LORD that though they are numerous and vast, they are without vital strength. They are ashamed and confused. They still feel like the disjointed bones they were, because there is no cord of hope that binds them together and gives them strength. (The Hebrew meaning for the word "hope" includes the idea of a cord that ties member parts together to make them stronger than they were as separate units). The bone army still feels divided and separated one from another. Needed parts are missing or still separated one from another. This was the Hebrew meaning of their cry to the LORD. There was yet a greater work that needed to be done to strengthen, unify, and make them whole again.
Having heard the bone army's cry, the first promise the LORD made to them was the unifying cord of hope that they lacked. It is the hope of resurrection:
"...Thus says the LORD God, "Behold, O My people (to overshadow and darken because of a huddling together, to collect together, to join together) I will open your graves, and cause you to come up from your graves and bring you into the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I AM the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O My people and brought you up from your graves."                                          Ez. 37:12-13

The New Testament tells us that we have that hope that the dry bones were looking for, that same unifying hope that binds us together with one another like a cord, so we can stand stronger together than if we were just a single individual. That essential, life-giving and unifying hope is found in the resurrection of Jesus Christ:
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again into a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead."                                                             1 Peter 1:3
Titus 1:2 tells us that this hope of eternal life was promised by God before the world began. Is it possible that the prophet Ezekiel was taken by the Spirit of the LORD, back to a time before time, and to a place before places were formed, where this promise by the Father was first made, even before the world began? That would be an awesome thing!
This same prophetic promise of resurrection means that even the Church, though seemingly divided into many separate parts, is united by that cord of hope created through the resurrection of Christ from the dead unto eternal life. This is the hope that defines us and holds us together. It is this hope that, though we see the sometimes frightening events of this age, we can "Look up, lift our heads, and see our Redemption drawing nigh" (Lk. 21:28). We can give an answer to others in every circumstance for the hope of the resurrection that is within us (1 Pet. 3:15). It is by this sure and steady promise of hope, that we have the assurance and confidence that we can enter behind the veil into His holy presence (Heb. 6:9). It is this uniting cord of hope that changes us from corruptible into incorruptible (1 Cor. 15:53).
The second promise made at that time by the LORD God in answer to the cry of this revived bone army is a promise of uniting Judah, Israel, and Joseph/Ephraim (added to, doubly fruitful). This is in answer to the statement made by the bones that they are still "cut off (divided, separated) for our parts."
The LORD God promises through the spoken word and action of His prophet to unify two sticks as one (Ez. 37:15-20), to bring back together, to restore, the missing parts that had been cut off. According to the LORD's instructions to Ezekiel, one of the sticks represents Judah and Israel, and the second stick represents Joseph and his son, Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel that are half Gentile.
Again, this concerns the Church, as well as Israel. We are both missing essential parts, those missing parts being each other, that have been cut off and separated from us. We, like the army of living bones, are incomplete without each other.The promise of God is for our unity. By His prophetic Word He has commanded the promise that the two sticks will become one in His hand through the hope found in the resurrection of our Savior and Messiah, Jesus.
This cord of hope in the resurrection of Christ making us a vast, numerous people of God will not, and cannot be broken.

 

 

Ezek. 37- Two sticks become one in His hand