What sin could Job possibly hang onto and claim it is not
sin in the face of all this tragedy and devastation of his life? I once knew some people who prayed regularly
with a man with lung cancer and they had read a book that said the words
"by his stripes we are healed" meant that no one suffered in this
life unless they had unconfessed sin in their lives. I don’t think I have ever been as angry with
anyone in my life as I was the day I heard them say this to me. That is the only argument Zohar makes here,
that if Job will give up his ridiculous claim to right doctrine and right life
he will prosper and learn the wisdom of God.
The only thing preventing health, wealth and wisdom is his folly of
clinging to his claims. Not only is
suffering connected with sin in this argument, these other things are the
promise of letting go. There have been
prosperity preachers around a long time.
I thought about simply commenting on this passage by saying,
Jesus isn't one of them. A prosperity
preacher that is. The Sermon on the
Mount, particularly the Beatitudes, makes a mockery of prosperity preaching. Jesus
speaks of those who are blessed being poor in spirit, mourners, the meek, those
who hunger and seek after righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, peacemakers,
and those who are persecuted. The key is
the one in the middle, those who hunger and seek after righteousness. That gives the lie to prosperity
preaching. He tells us to seek after the
kingdom and His righteousness and these other things will be added unto us and
they will, but not necessarily now. We have
to be single-minded and there are few who can be so with great wealth. Jesus was offered all the kingdoms of earth
and chose instead the kingdom of heaven, the path of semi-delayed
gratification. I say semi-delayed because
we can have it in part now via the Holy Spirit and communion with Him.
Jesus receives the kingdom.
Appearing like a lamb looking like it was slain, He appears before the
throne and receives first the scroll, recognition from the one seated on the
throne, and then recognition of heaven in ascribing the same worship that has
heretofore been reserved for the one on the throne. What were the keys to receiving the kingdom? A perfectly righteous life, unlike any before
or after Him, suffering and death. No one
was found anywhere in the universe who was worthy until the one who had
suffered in this life and renounced it all for love's sake appeared. Prosperity preaching is a lie from the pit of
hell.
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