Job was an innocent man, a righteous man, and his friends
didn't just desert him in his hour of need, they became his accusers. What a misery when those who are supposed to
be your advocates become your prosecutor.
He cries out at the injustice done him by God and by these
associates. He knows, or believes at
least, that there is one who will plead his case, his redeemer, because he believes
in justice, that God will not allow him to be condemned without a fair
trial. He believes that ultimately this
will not stand, he takes the long view of justice. It is a hard thing to do but we need to
believe like Job. We know for a fact
that our redeemer lives but we know that we aren't innocent or righteous, our
redeemer doesn't plead our case but His own blood, not our righteousness but His
own, He already took the fall for us. We
don't cry out for justice, we can't bear justice, we need what Job cries out
for here, mercy.
There is no Gospel today, the light of the world was
extinguished yesterday, there is no good news.
We are invited to enter the rest God calls us to and promises. We are called to rest in Jesus and the
finished work of the cross. The only
thing we can do is believe that as He cried out, "It is
finished." Our "work" is
nothing more or less than belief that the work has been done by Him. We recognize that our sins caused His death
and His righteousness is credited to us.
We are to live in that alien righteousness and thereby to rest from our
labors because we do them not under compulsion or some vague hope that they
will merit eternal life but in the sure and certain hope of the
resurrection. Our great high priest does
not offer our sacrifices, He offered Himself and the resurrection is proof that
His sacrifice is acceptable to God.
The life in us is the life of the Spirit, otherwise we are
dead men walking. The life of the flesh,
that is, the gratification of our desires, life lived according to those
desires rather than the desire of the spirit, the glorification of God, is none
other than death. If we live at that
level, we will surely die. If, however,
we have accepted the grand bargain, our sins for His righteousness, then He
lives within us and we are able to live at a higher level. Do we see that in ourselves or are we anxious
about all the same things, seeking those things rather than the kingdom? We should be so much more than we are.
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