Job’s three “friends” pounced on him once they came to the warped conclusion that all the catastrophic events surrounding his life lead them to believe there was undisclosed sin in Job’s life. All you had to do was look around for proof of that, but nowhere does it say Job suffered for sin; there was nothing for him to fess up. Their theology and logic were faulty to a sin:
1.
God punishes sin.
2.
God punished Job.
3.
Therefore, Job was guilty of sin.
It
probably followed along those lines; these guys were grossly insensitive and
careless in their assumptions about God and Job. They simply based it on the
surrounding situations and insensitivity of understanding the heart grappling with
personal tragedy. In short, “God would not allow such things to happen to Job if
he was not guilty of personal sin.” Prior to finding himself at ground zero,
this is what we know of Job,
There
was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was
blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil (Job 1:1).
Job had to have been the envy of the East anyway – … this man was the greatest of all the people of the East (Job 1:3). How rare is it to see someone who is wealthy and possess such a spiritual character! An envious heart is not known for its compassion. We rob ourselves of a blessing whenever we fail to praise God for blessing others. Would you want “friends” like that?
Job’s
buddies were absolutely convinced all that happened to their friend Job was due
to personal sin. To auto-connect sin to suffering from loss or to a health
condition is grossly irresponsible. There may be another reason; in this case,
there was – Have
you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth … (Job 1:8)?
Whenever
we find ourselves being at GZ and not a ground zero of someone else, it is to
the cross we must always run to, not from it out of anger! The evil one
feverishly whispers, “Keep telling yourself that God loves you, pal. If he
loved you, this wouldn’t have happened to you in the first place!”
It
is that gory-related, abhorrent, audaciously cruel symbol of terrible timber
configured only for a horrific death that we must pay a visit, not to torment
ourselves but to be comforted by the love of God shown toward us by the giving of
His Son in order to redeem us from the penalty of sin – eternal separation from
God in the lake of fire.
If
God was not judicially propitiated or satisfied, all humankind would have been
without hope. God demonstrated His love for us for all time by His death on the
cross (Rom 5:8). We show our love and gratitude for salvation through heartfelt
obedience to His Word (Jn 14:15). Satan doesn’t want for us to focus on that;
he may even come at us with a subverting idea like, “God may love you spiritually,
but physically, He could care less; if He did, this would not be happening to
you!”
Admittedly, it seems all so surreal when you discover you are at GZ! By going to the cross, we are reminded that Jesus willingly left the splendor and love of heaven to endure shame, suffering, and death for our sins against God. This clash between the Light and the darkness is not a game!
We are engaged, like it or not, in a tri-front war against the flesh, the
world-system, and the devil that continually stand in opposition to God and
anyone or anything related to Christ. The devil is an intensely cold and
malicious creature, and void of any sympathies, similar to an ISIS-mentality.
It’s creepy; Lucifer is creepy.
With
Jesus on the cross, the world saw defeat, death, and good riddance. God the
Father, however, saw it differently; He was propitiated by the death of His
only begotten Son for the penalty of man’s sin, our sin. How do we know that?
Well, we got His Word on it (1 Jn 2:2; 4:10), but on that third day, when Jesus
arose physically from the dead, it proved beyond a shadow of a doubt, from our
perspective, that Jesus satisfied the penalty of man’s sin to the judicial
satisfaction of God the Father!
We
couldn’t see the transaction of God the Father being propitiated or satisfied
with His Son’s sacrifice for man’s sin against Him, but we could see the visible
evidence of it with the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. To be clear, it
was Jesus’ death that propitiated the penalty of man’s sin before God the
Father, not the resurrection; the resurrection was not only the visible proof
of the efficacy of Jesus’ sacrifice for sin, but it energized hope that there truly
is life beyond the grave; Jesus was proof, Because I live, you will live also (Jn 14:19)! Glory!!
Recall
this pre-cross conversation of Jesus in Jn 14:3,
I
will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be
also.
The
cross was a means to an end, but not the end of Jesus. He was offering the
promise of His return and to take his disciples (representative of all believers)
to a heavenly home (Gk, monai,
translated only two places: mansions (Jn 14:2) and home (Jn 14:23) before He was crucified! Propitiation
was already a done deal in the mind of the Godhead, in spite of the horrendous
treatment He was yet to encounter before and during the crucifixion.
This
may come across as a duh-statement, but don’t allow a “duh” to cause you to
miss an incredible truth. For our Lord, there was already victory before,
during, and after the cross (GZ), and He went there and died for us and rose again
the third day! That is not to suggest His horrific suffering was not real; sweating
drops of blood in the garden, receiving a Roman scourging prior to the crucifixion,
being crucified, and pierced were not figurative descriptions. All of His
disciples experienced a GZ-moment; they were murdered, except for John. Jesus
made it clear to them in John 15,
Remember the word that I said to you, A servant is not
greater than his master. If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.
If they kept My word, they will keep yours also (v20).
Persecution for the faith can be included in
GZ-moments. We usually get hit hard at ground zero. It can be rapid, intense,
and violent. For believers, any personal GZ is not random chaos; they all originate
by sovereign decrees; Job is an illustration of that (cf. Rom 15:4). In glory,
there will be no more pain, suffering, separation, ground zeros, sin nature,
world system, or demons! That sounds so good to me.
By
the way, when God by divine decree allows a GZ-moment to enter into our lives,
He does not abdicate His sovereignty in the matter. Yahweh is not going to turn
His back, figuratively speaking, on Lucifer who betrayed Him. He will continue
to monitor and enforce the execution of His decrees. God never said anything about trusting your enemies.
It
is God’s omniscience and omnipotence that prevents the evil one from exceeding
the limits decreed in GZ-moments as He did with Job. One thing I have learned about
Satan; if he is allowed to go 50 miles in a matter, he will never stop at 49.9
miles. He will always go the maximum extent allowed by Yahweh, in this illustration,
50.0. Thank God for the truth of Rom 8:28! I think Job said it best about GZ-moments,
Though
He slays me, yet will I trust Him (Job 13:15a).
Yet will I trust Him is key here (cf. Prov 3:5-6)! This trust Job had in Yahweh was the result of an established relationship between them (Job 2:3). If we do not embrace a loving fellowship with Yahweh, GZ-moments will take us by storm (cf. 1 Cor 10:13). Finding ourselves at GZ is not a pleasant ordeal; Job’s story made that crystal clear.
There
is this one obvious truth that emerges during GZ-moments; spiritual warfare is
real and rough. We would be wise to never lose sight of that spiritual reality.
It is critical to follow Job’s lead in having a healthy relationship with
Yahweh before any GZ-moment hits our lives, and we accuse God foolishly!
In
all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong (Job 1:22).
In all this Job did not sin with his lips (Job 2:10c). <><
Nagasaki
Before
Nagasaki After
https://www.history.com/news/hiroshima-nagasaki-atomic-bomb-photos-before-after
