For a full description of the (Y4) reading plan, see the “About” page.
Ex. 24
It’s impossible not to notice the repetition of certain numbers in the Bible. Six, seven, twelve, seventy, and forty are a few big ones that we see in this passage. I wonder at the true message in these numbers. There are lots of articles with varying ideas on the topic, but there is no doubt of the significance in it. Most ascribe a general meaning or concept to each number, which I think has some basis.
I also wonder, though, if the numbers are there to connect certain groups and events in the Bible. For example, “forty days and forty nights” is a period of time associated with Noah, Moses, Elijah, and Jesus. There are also some “forty days” references to the likes of David, Jonah, and Ezekiel. All of these characters are specifically connected to Jesus and His ministry and purpose here on earth. I suspect that most, if not all, of these oft’ repeated numbers in the Bible point directly to Jesus. Thus, their use in other passages gives us clues as to how those passages foreshadow Him as God’s promised Messiah. It’s an interesting thought that I think also has some basis and is worth further pursuit.
John 3
Jesus said to Nicodemus, “He who believes in [the Son of God] is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (Jn. 3:18). John the Baptist said to his disciples, “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” (Jn. 3:36). Jesus and John spoke the same message; both testified about Jesus. When taken together, their statements tell me a few things.
- Judgment, death, and the wrath of God are all the same thing. They are the result of our sinful human nature.
- Jesus did not need to judge us. We are all born of the flesh and, thus, born into death. The wrath of God is our default.
- Jesus’ purpose, then, was to offer us a way out from under that default state. He didn’t come to judge, but, rather, to save the judged.
- Though the work of salvation is His, it still requires something from us. We have to believe in Jesus, God’s Son.
- Belief is not just head knowledge or an admission of truth. It is the start of something new; a new birth that replaces defiance with obedience. It changes us from the inside out.
Job 42
What exactly did Job confess? What was his mistake? God clearly stated that Job spoke what is right of Him, but at the same time said that Job spoke without knowledge. It’s difficult for me to parse out, because all of the men declared God’s sovereignty and justice. And it seems to me that they all declared what they didn’t understand.
The most obvious thing to me, then, is that the friends insisted that God punishes the wicked and blesses the righteous. Though that is ultimately true, they mistakenly applied that truth to life on earth. As a result, they judged Job based on their mistaken beliefs about how God does things. Job, on the other hand, had very personal insight into the fact that sometimes the righteous suffer while the wicked prosper. Of course, Job got some things wrong about God as well. What I see that he did was to judge God’s character and love based on his circumstances and God’s lack of action on his behalf in them. He believed God abandoned, or worse, intentionally attacked him for no reason.
The only difference I can find in all of that is that Job’s friends gave preference to their beliefs even in the face of contradicting evidence. Job, on the other hand, made assumptions about the unknown. Thus, his two admissions to God, based on God’s statements of him. The first was that he spoke without understanding or knowledge. The second was that he placed far too much weight in his own limited knowledge, pitting it against God. Misunderstanding, it seems, is different than ignoring truth.
Because of Job, we now know that God is bigger than anything we can comprehend, has His hand and eye on everything, that His ways are beyond our understanding, and that we are but dust before Him, yet He never ceases to care for us. Now that we know, we shouldn’t ignore truth as Job’s friends did. Let us instead wait patiently for God, trusting in His good character despite our circumstances.