Job's reply is that God is sovereign and too big for anyone
to truly question. He recognizes what
folly it is to attempt to reason and argue with the One who not only created it
all but who still commands it all. Job
asks, "How can a man be in the right before God?" He knows that the idea of a man standing
before God pleading his case is one of the silliest ideas anyone ever
conceived. When we consider it, a
conversation with the Almighty creator of all that is, was, or ever will be,
who brought all things into being simply by thinking and speaking, is a
ridiculous thought. Job, however, will
continue to plead his case but, at this point, not for acquittal but for
mercy. The thing he gets wrong, however,
is that he says this appeal for mercy is made to his accuser. God is not Job's accuser, He is and was Job's
champion. This all began when God asked
satan if he had considered His blameless and upright servant Job.
Jesus' first words here, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to
me and drink", recall the words He spoke to the Samaritan woman at the
well in John 4 but more than that, in this context, a Jewish setting, they
recall Isaiah 55. In that passage God is
speaking to Israel, and says, “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the
waters…" Jesus is offering the
fulfillment of this prophetic word here at the feast He had earlier said He
would not attend. Some believed He was
the fulfillment of the prophecy of Moses that another prophet, like Moses,
would arise. The offer of water meant
that Jesus was offering that water that Israel found in the wilderness to
sustain them, here and now. The problem
was, as always, what they thought they knew got in the way of the truth. They assumed Jesus came from Galilee and the
Messiah was to come from Bethlehem. Can't
you just see Jesus' head drop on hearing this?
Peter shares the Gospel with the household of Cornelius just
as he had shared with his fellow Jews.
He tailors his message somewhat to the Gentiles in that he refers only
to the fulfillment of prophecy in a
generic way and omits the Davidic references.
He has realized that the Gentiles are to receive Jesus on their
terms. He is a Jewish savior and Messiah
by origin but Jesus' effectiveness as Messiah is not limited to the Jews. As Peter is preaching, the Holy Spirit falls
on the Gentiles in such a way that there is a visible effect. They begin
speaking in tongues and extolling God.
At this point, Peter decides, well, let's baptize them, Jesus told us to
do that too. In all things, God is
sovereign, over all people.
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