Thoughts on the Bible Readings December 23rd (Job 31, 32; Zechariah 8; Revelation 5, 6)

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=""]Job 31 contains Job's final appeal to his 3 friends and Elihu witnessing the entire proceedings from the beginning without participating in the exchanges. The chapter begins with Job speaking of his moral uprightness with respect to not being led astray by his eyes in relation to young women. This has always been a problem for men. Men of rectitude try to follow our Lord Jesus Christ's advice in Matthew 5verses27-30. This is not so for the greater part of the world, which thrives on pornography. Job, like Joseph in Egypt, understood that everything we do is seen by the Almighty. Job declares that if he is speaking falsely of this matter then his wife ought to be looked upon and inappropriately seduced by other men. Job declares that any wrong he could be accused of should be a matter to be considered by the judges. Job was always just and fair with his servants. At all times he recognised and responded to the plight of the needy. The accused servant of the LORD particularly mentions his care for the fatherless and the widows (see James 1verses27). Job coveted no material goods; nor was he deluded by any vanity, or sense of self-worth. Job never gloated, nor rejoiced, when calamity overtook his foes. At all times he was hospitable. This wise upright man never cheated anyone and always paid in full what was owed. In chapter 32 Elihu finally speaks. He has been an observer for the entire time. Elihu didn't enter the contest because of his youth. I would suggest that Elihu may have been Moses, who had fled from Egypt to escape the anger of Pharaoh; and he is at the youngest and at least 40 years of age; and possibly, and depending on the timing of the book, as much as 80 years old. He starts with a scathing rebuke on the 3 older friends of Job. Although aged people are often presumed wise Elihu says that the friends have spoken unwisely, and have not at all listened to Job's defence. I have waited for my turn patiently and can wait no longer, he says. My judgment will, unlike that of you his 3 friends, be totally impartial. Zechariah 8 gives us a beautiful picture of a Jerusalem - whose name means "frame, or city of peace". The chapter portrays a Jerusalem at rest, and blessed by Messiah's tranquil rule. What a contrast to the city we now see. Zion will be the head, as the metropolis, of the Lord Jesus Christ's kingdom embracing all nations in the rejuvenated and new earth, as fulfilling the terms of the promise made to Abraham (Genesis 12verses1-3; Romans 4verses13; Jeremiah 3verses15-17). The chastisement of the LORD has passed and Zion's time to be favoured is in its ascendancy (Psalm 102verses13). No longer is the city the scene of war and hostility; it is rather a haven for children and elderly citizens. And the city which had so often been the place of treachery and falsity toward its God, will be become a haven for justice, mercy and truth. The economic hardships of the present citizens would be reversed on their returning to their LORD. This prosperity would be magnified in Messiah's kingdom. The way to blessings is revealed in verse 16 - i.e. to speak truth to one another (Paul says the same in Ephesians 4verses25). To behave uprightly towards each other; hating everything that is false in word and deed, as verse 17 declares. Read verses 20-23 aloud slowly, and pause and ponder. These verses speak of the elevated status of the Jew in Messiah's kingdom. What a contrast to the current despised position of Jews. As a result of the door being opened in the new political heavens at the end of Revelation 4 John sees the Lamb enthroned in chapter 5. John sees in heaven the Lamb seated with a scroll in his hands and John wept because none could be found to open the seven sealed scroll. An angel instructs him to weep not for the Lamb has overcome, and the Lamb alone, from among the inhabitants of earth and heaven, can open that scroll. The scroll is the Word of God, one of the Lamb's titles as Revelation 19verses13 tells us. The book i.e. the Revelation centres on the Lamb; but, in fact the whole Bible revolves around the Lord Jesus Christ and without him is meaningless, as Psalm 40 and Hebrews 10 tell us. Jesus Christ alone is righteous and without him salvation is impossible. The seals will, as the remainder of Revelation indicates, be revealed sequentially - the 7 seals will progress to 7 trumpets, and the 7 trumpets to the 7 vials (or bowls) of judgment; these to the 7 thunders, whose details remain secret. But the once slain Lamb of chapter 5 becomes a mighty conquering lion from the tribe of Judah from whose origins our Lord came (Micah 5verses1-2). Seated with the Lamb are his saints, the 24 elders. These elders praise, extol and worship the Lamb for his vanquishing of sin and death - firstly in himself and as a result of that, for them. In chapter 6 the seals are open one by one. Six seals are opened in chapter 6. The book is to be understood as a continuous historical account of the events that occurred in the lives of the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ from the time of the book's writing, 96 AD, until the end of Christ's kingdom, which will come soon. We are told in Revelation 1verses1 that this is the basis of the book's interpretation. Seal 1 deals with the victory gained by the gospel message of Christ over paganism in the Roman world. The period of the first seal is between AD 96-183 during the Pax Romanus, or Rome's peace. Then comes the second seal - the second horse being red speaks of blood shedding, the end of peace in the Empire and was from AD 183, when Commodus rose to Emperor, until AD 211. This time is described in verses 3-4. In the third seal - i.e. the third horse - was from 212 AD until 235 AD when great famine spread through the Empire. This famine is described in the third seal of verses 5-6. From AD 235-313 widespread violence and disorder was the lot of the Empire - revealed in the fourth deathly coloured horse. The fifth seal was from 303 AD until 311 AD when the followers of Jesus experienced intense physical persecution under the Emperor Diocletian Jupiter. That evil man destroyed as many Christians as he could, attempting to eradicate Christianity. This seal occupies verses 9-12. From 312 AD until 324 the Empire convulsed in self-destruction and civil war until the accession of the first "Christian" Emperor, Constantine. But despite all of these trying times the believers in the Lord Jesus were being led by their Shepherd King towards the blessed Zion that we considered in our Zechariah 8 vision. Thanks for joining us - we pray you found these comments helpful in your appreciation of God's words, join again tomorrow Penned by Warwick Rosser and his team, produced by Christadelphianvideo.org See more Thoughts from the Christadelphian Dialy Bible Reading Planner (By R.Roberts) here... [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row] https://christadelphianvideo.org/thoughts-on-the-bible-readings-december-23rd-job-31-32-zechariah-8-revelation-5-6/?feed_id=107879&_unique_id=6948fcc727ede