Bildad asks good questions, "How then
can man be in the right before God? How
can he who is born of woman be pure?"
In Jesus both those questions are answered. Job refuses to say that he has sinned, it is
a matter of integrity, he is not convicted of any sin whatever and we know that
the Lord has not accused him of anything.
Job's only real problem is what to do with suffering, he is making the
same mistake as his friends, equating suffering with sin, his argument is based
solely on righteousness. His expectation
is that so long as he lives as a righteous man he will enjoy the benefit of
God's protection.
When Jesus says that the standard is higher
than that of the scribes and Pharisees, he sets the bar high. In the rest of the Sermon on the Mount He
will set that bar out of sight, take away all hope of a do-it-yourself
salvation. The Law that Jesus lays out
isn't just what you do, it concerns what is in your heart, you have committed
murder by hating, adultery by lust, etc.
We prefer to define righteousness by what everyone can see about my life
rather than the messiness that is in my heart.
He says, however, he came to fulfill the Law, thereby validating the Law
itself as God's, but says our understanding of the Law is too limited. His words just before this are that we are
blessed when we are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, so He isn't
promising a righteous life will be blessed according to our standards, but
God's.
We see the 144,000 righteous who have been
redeemed from earth and are now followers of the Lamb wherever He goes. They are worshipping with a new song of
praise that only they know. The voice
from heaven, after the announcement of judgment, says, “Write this: Blessed are
the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit,
“that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!” We use the first part of that statement in
our burial office in the Anglican world but not the second. What does it mean that our deeds follow
us? Deeds matter, they reveal the
heart. Faith isn't intended to be only
private and personal devotion, but love in action.
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