Do Not Have Any Misgivings About God’s Trial
After God tried Job and received the testimony from Job, he determined to gain a group of people or more people like Job. But he decided never again to allow satan to attack and afflict other people in the way of making a wager with God and thus tempting, attacking, and afflicting Job. God does not allow satan to do the same things on the weak, ignorant, and foolish men. The temptation upon Job is already enough. God does not allow satan to afflict men at will, and this is God’s mercy to men. In God’s eyes, it is enough that Job alone underwent satan’s temptation and affliction. God does not allow satan to do such things again, because the lives of those who follow God and their everything are in God’s sovereignty and manipulation and satan has no right to manipulate God’s chosen people at will. You should be clear about this. God is mindful of men’s weakness and knows their foolishness and ignorance. Although he has to deliver men to satan in order that they can be thoroughly saved, he does not want to see them always be fooled and afflicted by satan or see them always suffer. Men were created by God. It is perfectly justifiable for God to rule over and arrange men’s everything, and it is God’s responsibility and God’s authority of ruling over all things. God does not allow satan to afflict and mistreat men at will, nor does he allow it to induce men by all kinds of means, much less allow it to step in God’s sovereignty over mankind or tread and damage the laws by which God rules over all things. How much more so with such a great work that God manages and saves mankind! Those whom God wants to save and who can bear testimony for God are the kernel and crystallization of God’s work of the six-thousand-year management plan and are God’s painstaking effort and price in his six-thousand-year work. How could God deliver these people to satan lightly?
Men are often worried about and afraid of the coming of God’s trial, but they do not feel fearful or worried while often living in satan’s trap and in danger of being attacked and afflicted by satan. Why is it so? Men’s faith in God is only limited to the visible things and matters, and they do not comprehend at all God’s love and care for mankind and God’s tender compassion and consideration for mankind. Except for having some fright and fear of God’s trial, God’s judgment and chastisement, and God’s majesty and wrath, they do not understand God’s thoughtful kind intention in the slightest. At the mention of trial, they feel as if God has ulterior motives, and some people even think that God harbors evil intents and have no idea what God will do to them. So, while they shout the slogan “Obey God’s sovereignty and arrangement,” they do all they can to resist and oppose God’s sovereignty and arrangement over them, because they think that if they are careless, they will be “misled” by God, and if they do not control their destiny themselves, they will probably be deprived of everything by God and will even be in danger of being killed. Men are in satan’s camp, but they never worry that satan will afflict them; they are being afflicted by satan, but they never fear to be taken captive by satan. They repeatedly say that they will accept God’s salvation, but they never trust in God or believe that God is sincere in saving them out of satan’s talons. If men can obey God’s manipulation and arrangement and commit their whole being to God’s hand as Job did, won’t they have the same outcome of being blessed by God as Job? If men can accept and obey God’s sovereignty, what loss will they suffer? So, I advise you to be careful in doing things and cautious in treating everything that comes to you. Do not be rash or impulsive. Do not treat God and the people, matters, and things God arranges for you by flesh, by naturalness, or by imagination and notion. Do be careful in doing things, pray more, and seek more, lest you provoke God to anger. Do you remember?
Next, let’s see what Job was like after the trials.
5. The Job After the Trials
(Job 42:7-9) And it was so, that after the LORD had spoken these words to Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against you, and against your two friends: for you have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job has. Therefore take to you now seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you: for him will I accept: lest I deal with you after your folly, in that you have not spoken of me the thing which is right, like my servant Job. So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went, and did according as the LORD commanded them: the LORD also accepted Job.
(Job 42:10) And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.
(Job 42:12) So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses.
(Job 42:17) So Job died, being old and full of days.
He Who Fears God and Shuns Evil Is Precious in God’s Eyes, and He Who Is Foolish Is Low in God’s Eyes
In Job 42:7-9, God mentioned that Job was his servant. God’s calling Job by the address “servant” represented Job’s weight in God’s heart. Although God did not call him by a higher address, this address did not affect Job’s weight in God’s heart. Here “servant” was a “nickname” by which God called Job. From God’s many mentions of “my servant Job,” God’s joy over Job was manifested. Although God did not speak of the meaning of the word “servant,” God’s definition of the word “servant” could be seen from what God said in these verses. God first said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you, and against your two friends: for you have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job has.” This was the first time God openly told people that he accepted what Job did and said after he tried Job, and was the first time God openly affirmed the accuracy and correctness of what Job did and said before. God got angry with Eliphaz and the others for their incorrect and fallacious comments, because living under the same circumstance where man could not see God’s appearing or hear God’s word, Job could have such an accurate knowledge of God, yet they guessed God groundlessly and went against God’s will in every aspect, which aroused God’s loathing. So, while God accepted what Job did and said, he got angry with the others, because in them God not only could not see the reality of their fearing God, but could not hear their words of fearing God. So, God required of them like this then, “Therefore take to you now seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you: for him will I accept: lest I deal with you after your folly.” In this passage, God told Eliphaz and the others to do a thing to atone for their sin. As their folly offended Jehovah God, they must offer a burnt offering to redeem their offense. Generally, a burnt offering was offered to God, but the burnt offering here was offered to Job. This is the unusualness of this burnt offering. Job received God’s acceptance because he bore the testimony for God in the trials, and meanwhile Job’s several good friends were revealed during the period he was tried. They were condemned by God and incurred God’s anger for their folly and deserved to be punished by God. This “punishment” was that they offered a burnt offering before Job, and then let Job pray for them so that God could withdraw his punishment and anger for them. God’s intention in doing so was to shame them, because they were not ones who “feared God and shunned evil” and because they condemned Job’s integrity. On the one hand, God told them that he did not accept what they did but well accepted and was well pleased with Job. On the other hand, God told them that one would be exalted before God because of God’s acceptance of him, and one would be loathed by God because of his folly and would offend God and be considered low by God because of his folly. These two aspects are the definitions God gave of the two kinds of people, are God’s attitudes toward them, and are God’s statement about their status and position. Although God called Job servant, this “servant” was a man who was the delight of God’s eyes, a man whom God gave the authority to pray for others and forgive others’ offense, a man who could directly talk with God and come before God, and a man who had a higher and more dignified position than others. This was the true meaning of the “servant” God spoke of. Job received this “unusual honor” because he “feared God and shunned evil.” Other people were not addressed as “servant” by God, because they were not ones who “feared God and shunned evil.” God’s two totally different attitudes are God’s attitudes toward the two kinds of people: He who “fears God and shuns evil” is accepted by God and is precious in God’s eyes; the foolish, who do not fear God and cannot shun evil, cannot win God’s pleasure and are often loathed and condemned by God and are low in God’s eyes.
God Bestowed to Job Authority
Job prayed for his friends, and after that God did not deal with them according to their folly for the sake of Job’s prayer, that is, did not punish them or give them any retribution. Why? Because the prayer God’s servant Job made for them reached God’s ears and was accepted by God and thus God forgave them. What have you seen from this? When God blesses a man, he will reward him a lot. This reward will not only be material, and God will also bestow to him authority, making him qualified to pray for others. God, hearing his prayer, will not remember and will overlook their transgressions. This was the authority God gave to Job. By “sparing them from being condemned through Job’s prayer,” God put those foolish people to shame. Of course, this was Jehovah God’s special punishment to Eliphaz and the others.
Job Once Again Received God’s Blessing and Would No Longer Be Accused by Satan
The word of Jehovah God mentions that “you have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job has.” What did Job say? That was the words we have mentioned above, and the many words of Job recorded in the Book of Job. In all these many words, he did not have any complaints or suspicions about God but was just waiting for a result. His waiting was his obedient attitude. Due to his attitude and due to what he said to God, God accepted him. When he was tried and suffered, God was just by his side. Although his pain was not appeased in the least on that account, God saw what he wanted to see and heard what he wanted to hear. Every scene of what Job did and every word he said reached God’s eyes and ears, and God heard it and saw it. This was a fact. Actually, Job’s knowledge of God and his view of God in his heart at that time, in that age, were not as specific as those of people now. But according to the background at that time, God still approved what Job said, because his thoughts and actions and what he manifested and expressed already measured up to God’s requirement. During the time when Job was tried, what he thought and determined to do in his heart showed God a result, and the result was satisfactory to God. Later, God took away the trials, and then, Job went out of the painful situation. Thereafter, the trials upon Job disappeared and never came again. Because he had undergone the trials and had stood and thoroughly triumphed over satan in the trials, God blessed him justifiably. Just as what is recorded in Job 42:10 and 12, Job once again received God’s blessing and received more than he had before. At that time, satan retreated, and it said nothing more and did nothing more. From then on, Job was never again disturbed or attacked by satan, and God’s blessing to him was never again accused by satan.
Job Passed His Latter Life in God’s Blessing
Although the blessing at that time was only some cattle, sheep, camels, possessions, and so on, in God’s heart he wanted to bless Job with far more things than these. Was there any record about what eternal promise God wanted to give Job at that time? God’s blessing to Job did not mention or involve his outcome. No matter what weight and position Job had in God’s heart, God was well measured in his blessing. He did not declare Job’s outcome; what did it imply? At that time when God’s plan had not yet been advanced to the stage of declaring man’s outcome and to the phase of concluding the work, God did not speak about the outcome but merely bestowed to men some material blessings. That is to say, Job’s latter life was spent in God’s blessing. This is his difference from others. And the same thing is that he would grow old and would leave the world someday like any other normal man. The Bible records as follows: So Job died, being old and full of days. (Job 42:17) What does the word here “died full of days” mean? In the age when God did not declare the outcomes, God also set an age for Job. When his day came, he passed away in a natural way. During the period from his being blessed the second time to his death, God did not add any more suffering to him. In God’s eyes, his death was natural and inevitable, and was something very normal, not a sentence or condemnation. In his lifetime Job was one who worshiped God and feared God. As to what outcome he would have after death, God did not say anything or make any comment about it. God has proper limits in speaking and doing things. He bases the content and the principle of his speaking and doing things on the phase and the age of his work. What outcome would such a man as Job have in God’s heart? Did God have a conclusion about it in his heart? Absolutely he had! However, it was unknown to men. God did not want to tell men, nor did he intend to tell men. So, outwardly, Job died, being full of days. This was Job’s whole life.
The Value Job Lived Out in His Life
Is Job’s life valuable? Where does his value lie? Why do we say he lived with value? What’s his value in man’s eyes? From man’s angle, he bore a resounding testimony for God before satan and the world on behalf of the mankind God wanted to save, and he fulfilled the bounden duty of a created being and served as an exemplar and model for all those God wanted to save, so that mankind has seen that by relying on God, man absolutely can overcome satan. Where does his value lie in God’s eyes? In God’s eyes, the value of his living lies in that when he was living, he could fear God, worship God, testify God’s deeds, and praise God’s deeds, letting God get comfort from him and have the enjoyable thing. In God’s eyes, the value of his living also lies in that in the trial he experienced in his lifetime, he overcame satan, and bore a resounding testimony for God before satan and the world and gained glory for God among mankind, letting God’s heart be comforted and letting God’s anxious heart see the result and the hope. His testimony set a precedent in God’s work of managing mankind for standing testimony for God and shaming satan for God. These are the value of Job’s living, aren’t they? He let God’s heart be comforted, let God foretaste the pleasure of gaining glory, and let God’s management plan have a perfect beginning there. And Job’s name thereafter became the mark of God gaining glory and the sign of mankind overcoming satan. Job’s living out in his whole life and his great achievement of overcoming satan will forever be considered precious by God. His perfectness and uprightness and his fear of God will be venerated and imitated by later generations. He, like a flawless and brilliant pearl, will be forever loved by God and be worthy for men to treasure!
Next, let’s see God’s work in the Age of the Law.
IV The Decrees in the Age of the Law:
1. The Ten Commandments
2. The Principle for Building the Altar
3. The Decrees Concerning Treating Servants
4. The Decrees Concerning Stealing and Compensation
5. Observe Sabbath Year and the Three Feasts
6. The Decrees Concerning the Sabbath Day
7. The Decrees Concerning Offering Sacrifices
(1) Offering the Burnt Offering
(2) Offering the Meal Offering
(3) Offering the Peace Offering
(4) Offering the Sin Offering
(5) Offering the Trespass Offering
(6) The Decrees Concerning Priests Offering Sacrifices (for Aaron and his sons to observe)
1) Priests Offering the Burnt Offering
2) Priests Offering the Meal Offering
3) Priests Offering the Sin Offering
4) Priests Offering the Trespass Offering
5) Priests Offering the Peace Offering
8. The Decrees Concerning Priests Eating Sacrifices
9. The Clean and the Unclean Animals (edible and inedible)
10. The Decrees Concerning the Cleansing of Women After Childbirth
11. The Standard for Examining Leprosy
12. The Decrees Concerning the Healing of the Leper
13. The Decrees Concerning the Cleansing of an Infected House
14. The Decrees Concerning the Sicknesses Such as an Issue of Blood
15. The Day of Atonement Shall Be Kept Once Every Year
16. The Rules of Slaying Oxen and Sheep
17. Do Not Walk in the Gentiles’ Customs (do not have sexual relations with close relatives, and so on)
18. The Decrees for People to Observe (“You shall be holy: for I the LORD your God am holy.”)
19. He Who Offers His Children to Molech Shall Be Put to Death
20. The Decrees Concerning Punishment for Fornicators
21. The Rules for Priests to Observe (the rules for them to do things and conduct themselves in their daily life, the rules for eating sacred offerings, the rules for offering sacrifices, and so on)
22. The Feasts to Be Kept (the Sabbath, the Passover, the Pentecost, the Day of Atonement, and so on)
23. Other Decrees (the lighting of the lamps, the year of jubilee, the redeeming of the fields, the taking of a vow, the offering of a tenth, and so on)
The Decrees in the Age of the Law Are the Testament to God’s Guiding All Mankind
You have seen all these decrees and principles in the Age of the Law, haven’t you? The range of these decrees is wide, right? First, the Ten Commandments, then the decrees concerning how to build the altar and so on, then the sayings about keeping the Sabbath and the three feasts, and then the decrees concerning offering sacrifices. How many kinds of offerings can you find there are? There is the burnt offering, the meal offering, the peace offering, the sin offering, and so on. Next are the decrees regarding priests offering sacrifices, which include offering the burnt offering, the meal offering, and all the other kinds of offerings. The eighth item is the decrees concerning priests eating sacrifices. What follows are the decrees men should keep in their life. Here, there are regulations for many aspects of man’s life, such as, the decrees concerning what men can eat and what men cannot, the decrees concerning the cleansing of women after childbirth, and the decrees concerning the healing of the leper. In these decrees, God even spoke about such things as sickness and the rules concerning slaying oxen and sheep. Oxen and sheep were created by God, and you should slay them as God told you. God’s words are definitely reasonable, and it will surely not be wrong to act according to God’s regulations, which will surely be beneficial to man. Moreover, God gave sayings about feasts and rules that should be kept, such as the Sabbath, the Passover, and so on. Let’s look at the last item—Other Decrees: the lighting of the lamps, the year of jubilee, the redeeming of the fields, the taking of a vow, the offering of a tenth, and so on. The aspects of these decrees covered a wide range, didn’t they? First, they covered the matter of offering sacrifices, then stealing, compensation, keeping Sabbath, and all the other details in life. That is to say, when God began his management plan and formally did his work, he set many decrees for men to observe. These decrees were for men to have a normal human life on earth, which could not do without God or God’s leading. God first told men how to build God’s altar and set up his altar, then told them how to offer sacrifices, and made rules on how to live their life, what they should heed and keep in their life, and what they should do and what they should not do. God made rules for men in everything. He used these regulations, decrees, and principles to regulate men’s conduct and lead men’s life, leading men into God’s laws and to the presence of God’s altar, and leading them to live an orderly, regulated, and moderate life among all things God created for them. God first set some boundaries for men with these simple decrees and principles, so that men could have a normal life of worshiping God and a normal human life on earth. These were some specific contents in God’s beginning his six-thousand-year management plan. These decrees and regulations cover a wide range in content and are the specific items of God’s leading mankind in the Age of the Law. They are what the men early in the Age of the Law must accept and observe, are the record of the work God did in the Age of the Law, and are the testament to God’s leading and guiding all mankind.
Mankind Can Never Leave God’s Teaching and Supply
In these decrees, it can be seen that God’s attitude toward his work, his management, and mankind was serious, conscientious, careful, and responsible. He did the work he wanted to do among mankind exactly according to his steps, and told men what he wanted to tell exactly and unreservedly, causing them to see that they could not leave God’s leading and that what God did and said was so important to them. No matter what men were like in the next age, in a word, God did these simple works in the Age of the Law in the beginning. In God’s eyes, men of that age had a very vague and obscure concept of God, the world, and mankind. Even if they had some thoughts and plans in their consciousness, they were not clear and not right. So, mankind could not leave God’s teaching and supply to them. Mankind in the beginning knew nothing, and God had to begin to teach them from the shallowest and most basic principles for their existence and the decrees they must have in their life and work these things into their heart little by little, and through these regulations of words and through these decrees, let them gradually know God, gradually comprehend and understand God’s leading, and have a basic concept of the relationship between God and man. Only after these results were achieved could God do the work little by little that he wanted to do in the future. So, these decrees and God’s work in the Age of the Law were the most basic things in God’s work of saving mankind and the initial work in God’s management plan. Although before the work of the Age of the Law, God had also said some words to Adam and Eve, or their sons, yet those commands and teachings were not issued to them item by item in such a systemic and specific way, and they were not recorded in words and did not form decrees. This was because at that time God’s plan had not yet been advanced to that stage. God had to lead them to that stage before he could begin to talk about these decrees of the Age of the Law and require them to carry out these decrees of the Age of the Law. This course was necessary, and this result was also certain. These simple regulations and decrees let men see the steps of God’s management work and see God’s wisdom expressed in his management plan. God knew with what content and by what means he should start his work, by what means he should continue it, and by what means he should conclude it, so that he could gain a group of people who can testify him and who can be of one heart and one mind with him. He knew what men had within and what men lacked within, knew what he should supply to them and how to lead them, and also knew what men should do and what they should not do. Men were just like a puppet. Although they did not understand God’s will, they, in spite of themselves, have still been led until now by the steps of God’s management work. In God’s heart, he is never unclear about anything he does, and there is a perfectly clear and explicit plan in his heart. He does the work he wants to do from the shallower to the deeper according to his steps and his plan. Although God did not foretell the next works to men, his works that followed still advanced and were carried out strictly according to his plan. This was the manifestation of what God has and is and was God’s authority. No matter what stage of work he does according to his management plan, his disposition and substance represent himself, which is absolutely true. No matter in what age and in which stage of work, there will never be any change in what kind of people he loves, what kind of people he hates, his disposition, and what he has and is. Although men see that the decrees and principles God made in the work of the Age of the Law are very shallow and simple today and are easy for men to understand and do, in them there is still contained God’s wisdom, God’s disposition, and what God has and is. This is because in these seemingly simple decrees, there are expressed God’s responsibility and concern for mankind and expressed God’s substance of being very delicate in his mind, so that men can truly realize the fact that God rules over all things and all things are governed in God’s hand. No matter how much knowledge mankind has grasped, and how many doctrines and mysteries mankind has understood, in God’s eyes none of them can substitute for his supply and leading for mankind. Mankind can never leave God’s guidance or God’s personal work. This is the inseparable relationship between God and mankind. No matter whether God gives you a commandment or a decree or whether God supplies you with the truth for you to understand his will, whatever God does, his purpose is to lead men to head for a beautiful tomorrow. All the words God expressed and the works God did are one aspect of the manifestation of God’s substance and one aspect of the manifestation of his disposition and wisdom, and are an indispensable step in his management plan. This cannot be neglected! Whatever God does, there is God’s will in it. God is not afraid that men may make this or that comment on him or have any notion or view of him. He only does his work and continues his management according to his management plan, without being restricted by any person, matter, or thing.
Well, that’s all for today. Goodbye!
After God tried Job and received the testimony from Job, he determined to gain a group of people or more people like Job. But he decided never again to allow satan to attack and afflict other people in the way of making a wager with God and thus tempting, attacking, and afflicting Job. God does not allow satan to do the same things on the weak, ignorant, and foolish men. The temptation upon Job is already enough. God does not allow satan to afflict men at will, and this is God’s mercy to men. In God’s eyes, it is enough that Job alone underwent satan’s temptation and affliction. God does not allow satan to do such things again, because the lives of those who follow God and their everything are in God’s sovereignty and manipulation and satan has no right to manipulate God’s chosen people at will. You should be clear about this. God is mindful of men’s weakness and knows their foolishness and ignorance. Although he has to deliver men to satan in order that they can be thoroughly saved, he does not want to see them always be fooled and afflicted by satan or see them always suffer. Men were created by God. It is perfectly justifiable for God to rule over and arrange men’s everything, and it is God’s responsibility and God’s authority of ruling over all things. God does not allow satan to afflict and mistreat men at will, nor does he allow it to induce men by all kinds of means, much less allow it to step in God’s sovereignty over mankind or tread and damage the laws by which God rules over all things. How much more so with such a great work that God manages and saves mankind! Those whom God wants to save and who can bear testimony for God are the kernel and crystallization of God’s work of the six-thousand-year management plan and are God’s painstaking effort and price in his six-thousand-year work. How could God deliver these people to satan lightly?
Men are often worried about and afraid of the coming of God’s trial, but they do not feel fearful or worried while often living in satan’s trap and in danger of being attacked and afflicted by satan. Why is it so? Men’s faith in God is only limited to the visible things and matters, and they do not comprehend at all God’s love and care for mankind and God’s tender compassion and consideration for mankind. Except for having some fright and fear of God’s trial, God’s judgment and chastisement, and God’s majesty and wrath, they do not understand God’s thoughtful kind intention in the slightest. At the mention of trial, they feel as if God has ulterior motives, and some people even think that God harbors evil intents and have no idea what God will do to them. So, while they shout the slogan “Obey God’s sovereignty and arrangement,” they do all they can to resist and oppose God’s sovereignty and arrangement over them, because they think that if they are careless, they will be “misled” by God, and if they do not control their destiny themselves, they will probably be deprived of everything by God and will even be in danger of being killed. Men are in satan’s camp, but they never worry that satan will afflict them; they are being afflicted by satan, but they never fear to be taken captive by satan. They repeatedly say that they will accept God’s salvation, but they never trust in God or believe that God is sincere in saving them out of satan’s talons. If men can obey God’s manipulation and arrangement and commit their whole being to God’s hand as Job did, won’t they have the same outcome of being blessed by God as Job? If men can accept and obey God’s sovereignty, what loss will they suffer? So, I advise you to be careful in doing things and cautious in treating everything that comes to you. Do not be rash or impulsive. Do not treat God and the people, matters, and things God arranges for you by flesh, by naturalness, or by imagination and notion. Do be careful in doing things, pray more, and seek more, lest you provoke God to anger. Do you remember?
Next, let’s see what Job was like after the trials.
5. The Job After the Trials
(Job 42:7-9) And it was so, that after the LORD had spoken these words to Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against you, and against your two friends: for you have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job has. Therefore take to you now seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you: for him will I accept: lest I deal with you after your folly, in that you have not spoken of me the thing which is right, like my servant Job. So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went, and did according as the LORD commanded them: the LORD also accepted Job.
(Job 42:10) And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.
(Job 42:12) So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses.
(Job 42:17) So Job died, being old and full of days.
He Who Fears God and Shuns Evil Is Precious in God’s Eyes, and He Who Is Foolish Is Low in God’s Eyes
In Job 42:7-9, God mentioned that Job was his servant. God’s calling Job by the address “servant” represented Job’s weight in God’s heart. Although God did not call him by a higher address, this address did not affect Job’s weight in God’s heart. Here “servant” was a “nickname” by which God called Job. From God’s many mentions of “my servant Job,” God’s joy over Job was manifested. Although God did not speak of the meaning of the word “servant,” God’s definition of the word “servant” could be seen from what God said in these verses. God first said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you, and against your two friends: for you have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job has.” This was the first time God openly told people that he accepted what Job did and said after he tried Job, and was the first time God openly affirmed the accuracy and correctness of what Job did and said before. God got angry with Eliphaz and the others for their incorrect and fallacious comments, because living under the same circumstance where man could not see God’s appearing or hear God’s word, Job could have such an accurate knowledge of God, yet they guessed God groundlessly and went against God’s will in every aspect, which aroused God’s loathing. So, while God accepted what Job did and said, he got angry with the others, because in them God not only could not see the reality of their fearing God, but could not hear their words of fearing God. So, God required of them like this then, “Therefore take to you now seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you: for him will I accept: lest I deal with you after your folly.” In this passage, God told Eliphaz and the others to do a thing to atone for their sin. As their folly offended Jehovah God, they must offer a burnt offering to redeem their offense. Generally, a burnt offering was offered to God, but the burnt offering here was offered to Job. This is the unusualness of this burnt offering. Job received God’s acceptance because he bore the testimony for God in the trials, and meanwhile Job’s several good friends were revealed during the period he was tried. They were condemned by God and incurred God’s anger for their folly and deserved to be punished by God. This “punishment” was that they offered a burnt offering before Job, and then let Job pray for them so that God could withdraw his punishment and anger for them. God’s intention in doing so was to shame them, because they were not ones who “feared God and shunned evil” and because they condemned Job’s integrity. On the one hand, God told them that he did not accept what they did but well accepted and was well pleased with Job. On the other hand, God told them that one would be exalted before God because of God’s acceptance of him, and one would be loathed by God because of his folly and would offend God and be considered low by God because of his folly. These two aspects are the definitions God gave of the two kinds of people, are God’s attitudes toward them, and are God’s statement about their status and position. Although God called Job servant, this “servant” was a man who was the delight of God’s eyes, a man whom God gave the authority to pray for others and forgive others’ offense, a man who could directly talk with God and come before God, and a man who had a higher and more dignified position than others. This was the true meaning of the “servant” God spoke of. Job received this “unusual honor” because he “feared God and shunned evil.” Other people were not addressed as “servant” by God, because they were not ones who “feared God and shunned evil.” God’s two totally different attitudes are God’s attitudes toward the two kinds of people: He who “fears God and shuns evil” is accepted by God and is precious in God’s eyes; the foolish, who do not fear God and cannot shun evil, cannot win God’s pleasure and are often loathed and condemned by God and are low in God’s eyes.
God Bestowed to Job Authority
Job prayed for his friends, and after that God did not deal with them according to their folly for the sake of Job’s prayer, that is, did not punish them or give them any retribution. Why? Because the prayer God’s servant Job made for them reached God’s ears and was accepted by God and thus God forgave them. What have you seen from this? When God blesses a man, he will reward him a lot. This reward will not only be material, and God will also bestow to him authority, making him qualified to pray for others. God, hearing his prayer, will not remember and will overlook their transgressions. This was the authority God gave to Job. By “sparing them from being condemned through Job’s prayer,” God put those foolish people to shame. Of course, this was Jehovah God’s special punishment to Eliphaz and the others.
Job Once Again Received God’s Blessing and Would No Longer Be Accused by Satan
The word of Jehovah God mentions that “you have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job has.” What did Job say? That was the words we have mentioned above, and the many words of Job recorded in the Book of Job. In all these many words, he did not have any complaints or suspicions about God but was just waiting for a result. His waiting was his obedient attitude. Due to his attitude and due to what he said to God, God accepted him. When he was tried and suffered, God was just by his side. Although his pain was not appeased in the least on that account, God saw what he wanted to see and heard what he wanted to hear. Every scene of what Job did and every word he said reached God’s eyes and ears, and God heard it and saw it. This was a fact. Actually, Job’s knowledge of God and his view of God in his heart at that time, in that age, were not as specific as those of people now. But according to the background at that time, God still approved what Job said, because his thoughts and actions and what he manifested and expressed already measured up to God’s requirement. During the time when Job was tried, what he thought and determined to do in his heart showed God a result, and the result was satisfactory to God. Later, God took away the trials, and then, Job went out of the painful situation. Thereafter, the trials upon Job disappeared and never came again. Because he had undergone the trials and had stood and thoroughly triumphed over satan in the trials, God blessed him justifiably. Just as what is recorded in Job 42:10 and 12, Job once again received God’s blessing and received more than he had before. At that time, satan retreated, and it said nothing more and did nothing more. From then on, Job was never again disturbed or attacked by satan, and God’s blessing to him was never again accused by satan.
Job Passed His Latter Life in God’s Blessing
Although the blessing at that time was only some cattle, sheep, camels, possessions, and so on, in God’s heart he wanted to bless Job with far more things than these. Was there any record about what eternal promise God wanted to give Job at that time? God’s blessing to Job did not mention or involve his outcome. No matter what weight and position Job had in God’s heart, God was well measured in his blessing. He did not declare Job’s outcome; what did it imply? At that time when God’s plan had not yet been advanced to the stage of declaring man’s outcome and to the phase of concluding the work, God did not speak about the outcome but merely bestowed to men some material blessings. That is to say, Job’s latter life was spent in God’s blessing. This is his difference from others. And the same thing is that he would grow old and would leave the world someday like any other normal man. The Bible records as follows: So Job died, being old and full of days. (Job 42:17) What does the word here “died full of days” mean? In the age when God did not declare the outcomes, God also set an age for Job. When his day came, he passed away in a natural way. During the period from his being blessed the second time to his death, God did not add any more suffering to him. In God’s eyes, his death was natural and inevitable, and was something very normal, not a sentence or condemnation. In his lifetime Job was one who worshiped God and feared God. As to what outcome he would have after death, God did not say anything or make any comment about it. God has proper limits in speaking and doing things. He bases the content and the principle of his speaking and doing things on the phase and the age of his work. What outcome would such a man as Job have in God’s heart? Did God have a conclusion about it in his heart? Absolutely he had! However, it was unknown to men. God did not want to tell men, nor did he intend to tell men. So, outwardly, Job died, being full of days. This was Job’s whole life.
The Value Job Lived Out in His Life
Is Job’s life valuable? Where does his value lie? Why do we say he lived with value? What’s his value in man’s eyes? From man’s angle, he bore a resounding testimony for God before satan and the world on behalf of the mankind God wanted to save, and he fulfilled the bounden duty of a created being and served as an exemplar and model for all those God wanted to save, so that mankind has seen that by relying on God, man absolutely can overcome satan. Where does his value lie in God’s eyes? In God’s eyes, the value of his living lies in that when he was living, he could fear God, worship God, testify God’s deeds, and praise God’s deeds, letting God get comfort from him and have the enjoyable thing. In God’s eyes, the value of his living also lies in that in the trial he experienced in his lifetime, he overcame satan, and bore a resounding testimony for God before satan and the world and gained glory for God among mankind, letting God’s heart be comforted and letting God’s anxious heart see the result and the hope. His testimony set a precedent in God’s work of managing mankind for standing testimony for God and shaming satan for God. These are the value of Job’s living, aren’t they? He let God’s heart be comforted, let God foretaste the pleasure of gaining glory, and let God’s management plan have a perfect beginning there. And Job’s name thereafter became the mark of God gaining glory and the sign of mankind overcoming satan. Job’s living out in his whole life and his great achievement of overcoming satan will forever be considered precious by God. His perfectness and uprightness and his fear of God will be venerated and imitated by later generations. He, like a flawless and brilliant pearl, will be forever loved by God and be worthy for men to treasure!
Next, let’s see God’s work in the Age of the Law.
IV The Decrees in the Age of the Law:
1. The Ten Commandments
2. The Principle for Building the Altar
3. The Decrees Concerning Treating Servants
4. The Decrees Concerning Stealing and Compensation
5. Observe Sabbath Year and the Three Feasts
6. The Decrees Concerning the Sabbath Day
7. The Decrees Concerning Offering Sacrifices
(1) Offering the Burnt Offering
(2) Offering the Meal Offering
(3) Offering the Peace Offering
(4) Offering the Sin Offering
(5) Offering the Trespass Offering
(6) The Decrees Concerning Priests Offering Sacrifices (for Aaron and his sons to observe)
1) Priests Offering the Burnt Offering
2) Priests Offering the Meal Offering
3) Priests Offering the Sin Offering
4) Priests Offering the Trespass Offering
5) Priests Offering the Peace Offering
8. The Decrees Concerning Priests Eating Sacrifices
9. The Clean and the Unclean Animals (edible and inedible)
10. The Decrees Concerning the Cleansing of Women After Childbirth
11. The Standard for Examining Leprosy
12. The Decrees Concerning the Healing of the Leper
13. The Decrees Concerning the Cleansing of an Infected House
14. The Decrees Concerning the Sicknesses Such as an Issue of Blood
15. The Day of Atonement Shall Be Kept Once Every Year
16. The Rules of Slaying Oxen and Sheep
17. Do Not Walk in the Gentiles’ Customs (do not have sexual relations with close relatives, and so on)
18. The Decrees for People to Observe (“You shall be holy: for I the LORD your God am holy.”)
19. He Who Offers His Children to Molech Shall Be Put to Death
20. The Decrees Concerning Punishment for Fornicators
21. The Rules for Priests to Observe (the rules for them to do things and conduct themselves in their daily life, the rules for eating sacred offerings, the rules for offering sacrifices, and so on)
22. The Feasts to Be Kept (the Sabbath, the Passover, the Pentecost, the Day of Atonement, and so on)
23. Other Decrees (the lighting of the lamps, the year of jubilee, the redeeming of the fields, the taking of a vow, the offering of a tenth, and so on)
The Decrees in the Age of the Law Are the Testament to God’s Guiding All Mankind
You have seen all these decrees and principles in the Age of the Law, haven’t you? The range of these decrees is wide, right? First, the Ten Commandments, then the decrees concerning how to build the altar and so on, then the sayings about keeping the Sabbath and the three feasts, and then the decrees concerning offering sacrifices. How many kinds of offerings can you find there are? There is the burnt offering, the meal offering, the peace offering, the sin offering, and so on. Next are the decrees regarding priests offering sacrifices, which include offering the burnt offering, the meal offering, and all the other kinds of offerings. The eighth item is the decrees concerning priests eating sacrifices. What follows are the decrees men should keep in their life. Here, there are regulations for many aspects of man’s life, such as, the decrees concerning what men can eat and what men cannot, the decrees concerning the cleansing of women after childbirth, and the decrees concerning the healing of the leper. In these decrees, God even spoke about such things as sickness and the rules concerning slaying oxen and sheep. Oxen and sheep were created by God, and you should slay them as God told you. God’s words are definitely reasonable, and it will surely not be wrong to act according to God’s regulations, which will surely be beneficial to man. Moreover, God gave sayings about feasts and rules that should be kept, such as the Sabbath, the Passover, and so on. Let’s look at the last item—Other Decrees: the lighting of the lamps, the year of jubilee, the redeeming of the fields, the taking of a vow, the offering of a tenth, and so on. The aspects of these decrees covered a wide range, didn’t they? First, they covered the matter of offering sacrifices, then stealing, compensation, keeping Sabbath, and all the other details in life. That is to say, when God began his management plan and formally did his work, he set many decrees for men to observe. These decrees were for men to have a normal human life on earth, which could not do without God or God’s leading. God first told men how to build God’s altar and set up his altar, then told them how to offer sacrifices, and made rules on how to live their life, what they should heed and keep in their life, and what they should do and what they should not do. God made rules for men in everything. He used these regulations, decrees, and principles to regulate men’s conduct and lead men’s life, leading men into God’s laws and to the presence of God’s altar, and leading them to live an orderly, regulated, and moderate life among all things God created for them. God first set some boundaries for men with these simple decrees and principles, so that men could have a normal life of worshiping God and a normal human life on earth. These were some specific contents in God’s beginning his six-thousand-year management plan. These decrees and regulations cover a wide range in content and are the specific items of God’s leading mankind in the Age of the Law. They are what the men early in the Age of the Law must accept and observe, are the record of the work God did in the Age of the Law, and are the testament to God’s leading and guiding all mankind.
Mankind Can Never Leave God’s Teaching and Supply
In these decrees, it can be seen that God’s attitude toward his work, his management, and mankind was serious, conscientious, careful, and responsible. He did the work he wanted to do among mankind exactly according to his steps, and told men what he wanted to tell exactly and unreservedly, causing them to see that they could not leave God’s leading and that what God did and said was so important to them. No matter what men were like in the next age, in a word, God did these simple works in the Age of the Law in the beginning. In God’s eyes, men of that age had a very vague and obscure concept of God, the world, and mankind. Even if they had some thoughts and plans in their consciousness, they were not clear and not right. So, mankind could not leave God’s teaching and supply to them. Mankind in the beginning knew nothing, and God had to begin to teach them from the shallowest and most basic principles for their existence and the decrees they must have in their life and work these things into their heart little by little, and through these regulations of words and through these decrees, let them gradually know God, gradually comprehend and understand God’s leading, and have a basic concept of the relationship between God and man. Only after these results were achieved could God do the work little by little that he wanted to do in the future. So, these decrees and God’s work in the Age of the Law were the most basic things in God’s work of saving mankind and the initial work in God’s management plan. Although before the work of the Age of the Law, God had also said some words to Adam and Eve, or their sons, yet those commands and teachings were not issued to them item by item in such a systemic and specific way, and they were not recorded in words and did not form decrees. This was because at that time God’s plan had not yet been advanced to that stage. God had to lead them to that stage before he could begin to talk about these decrees of the Age of the Law and require them to carry out these decrees of the Age of the Law. This course was necessary, and this result was also certain. These simple regulations and decrees let men see the steps of God’s management work and see God’s wisdom expressed in his management plan. God knew with what content and by what means he should start his work, by what means he should continue it, and by what means he should conclude it, so that he could gain a group of people who can testify him and who can be of one heart and one mind with him. He knew what men had within and what men lacked within, knew what he should supply to them and how to lead them, and also knew what men should do and what they should not do. Men were just like a puppet. Although they did not understand God’s will, they, in spite of themselves, have still been led until now by the steps of God’s management work. In God’s heart, he is never unclear about anything he does, and there is a perfectly clear and explicit plan in his heart. He does the work he wants to do from the shallower to the deeper according to his steps and his plan. Although God did not foretell the next works to men, his works that followed still advanced and were carried out strictly according to his plan. This was the manifestation of what God has and is and was God’s authority. No matter what stage of work he does according to his management plan, his disposition and substance represent himself, which is absolutely true. No matter in what age and in which stage of work, there will never be any change in what kind of people he loves, what kind of people he hates, his disposition, and what he has and is. Although men see that the decrees and principles God made in the work of the Age of the Law are very shallow and simple today and are easy for men to understand and do, in them there is still contained God’s wisdom, God’s disposition, and what God has and is. This is because in these seemingly simple decrees, there are expressed God’s responsibility and concern for mankind and expressed God’s substance of being very delicate in his mind, so that men can truly realize the fact that God rules over all things and all things are governed in God’s hand. No matter how much knowledge mankind has grasped, and how many doctrines and mysteries mankind has understood, in God’s eyes none of them can substitute for his supply and leading for mankind. Mankind can never leave God’s guidance or God’s personal work. This is the inseparable relationship between God and mankind. No matter whether God gives you a commandment or a decree or whether God supplies you with the truth for you to understand his will, whatever God does, his purpose is to lead men to head for a beautiful tomorrow. All the words God expressed and the works God did are one aspect of the manifestation of God’s substance and one aspect of the manifestation of his disposition and wisdom, and are an indispensable step in his management plan. This cannot be neglected! Whatever God does, there is God’s will in it. God is not afraid that men may make this or that comment on him or have any notion or view of him. He only does his work and continues his management according to his management plan, without being restricted by any person, matter, or thing.
Well, that’s all for today. Goodbye!
June 13, 2014