Bible Believers' Newsletter 748
"We focus on the present Truth – what Jesus is doing now. . ."
ISSN 1442-8660
Christian greetings in the precious Name of our Lord Jesus Christ. An especial welcome to our new subscribers; we are so pleased you could join us in fellowship around God's unchanging Word. Your brother-in-Christ, Anthony Grigor-Scott
Visitors to our Church Website have the option of viewing "The Second Coming of Christ" online. It is not the physical return of the glorified Man from Galilee but His second or 'parousia' Coming; His precious feet will not touch this earth before the millennium. To view the presentation just click this image, and if you wish to receive a free PowerPoint production on CD which you can study and copy for Christian friends and loved ones we will send it in the mail if you advise your postal address.
All the tragedy of human failure results from the fact man has come to think of himself meanly, instead of magnificently. A man's worth is such that "God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son" for the redemption of Adam's children who will receive and crown Jesus Messiah Lord of their life. We are created in God's image for fellowship, being the only creature to whom He can reveal His secrets. When Christ's Bride recognizes her position and authority under preeminence to the Word, the Seventh Trumpet will signal the end of the Gentile dispensation.
I Peter 4:18, "If the righteous are scarcely saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to Him in well doing, as to a faithful Creator".
Our main Article will be a special blessing to you as it is based upon "The Ash Heap (Jesus answers Job)" by our Brother Morris Ungren who went to his reward last November aged 92—still pastoring Grace Church in Southaven, Mississippi, after 43 years. To be greatly encouraged, take time to meditate and absorb the Spirit of Christ distilled in the mature ministry of this true elder and saint of God.
Hebrews 12:11-13, "For the moment all chastening seems painful rather than pleasant: nevertheless afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore lift up the hands that hang down and the feeble knees; and make straight paths for your feet, so what is lame may not be dislocated but rather be healed".
Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani's trial is coming up on September 8, 2012 at 9:00am Iranian time. We know no more than the wording in the court document which states, "regarding the charges against you. . ." Please uphold him in prayer and also Pastor Behnam Irani who is expected to undergo a surgical procedure in the prison.
This Newsletter serves those of like precious faith. Whoever will receive the truth is welcome to feed their soul from the waters of the River of Life. Everything here presented should be confirmed personally in your own Bible.
Massacres in Aleppo by Western-armed 'Free Syrian Army'
August 4, 2012 — For the people of Aleppo, their only hope is Syria's security forces restoring order. In the pockets of Syria's largest city the so-called "Free Syrian Army" (FSA) has dug into, a campaign of systematic detention, torture, and mass murder has been carried out against "enemies of the revolution." Demonized as either "Shabiha" or "government supporters," men have been rounded up, lined up against walls, and gunned down en mass. Others await barbaric "drumhead trials" where FSA warlords deal out arbitrary justice under the guise of "Sharia law."
The Western media is covering—or more accurately, "spinning"—an unfolding sectarian genocide in Syria's largest city Aleppo. In the alleys of seized streets, FSA terrorists are detaining, torturing, and killing anyone suspected of supporting the government. Such suspicions coincidentally run along sectarian divisions. By using the label "Shabiha" for all of FSA's victims, the Western press has given a carte blanche to genocidal sectarian extremists and by doing so, has become complicit in war crimes themselves.
Worst of all, all of this is being reported by the Western media, but carefully downplayed, excused, spun, and otherwise sneaked through news cycles and headlines. . . Full story: landdestroyer.blogspot.com.au
The Neoconservative War Criminals in Our Midst
August 1, 2012 — The State Department has an office that hunts German war criminals. Bureaucracies being what they are, the office will exist into next century when any surviving German prison guards will be 200 years old [like 'witnesses' and 'victims' of the phony Batman shooting in Aurora, Colorado] . . . What the State Department needs is an office that rounds up American war criminals.
They are in abundance and not hard to find. Indeed, recently 56 made themselves public by signing a letter to President Obama demanding he send in the US Army to complete the destruction of Syria and its people begun by Washington.
At the Nuremberg Trials of the defeated Germans after World War II, the US government established the principle that naked aggression—the American way in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Pakistan, and Yemen—is war crime. Therefore, there is a very strong precedent for the State Department to round up those neoconservatives who are fomenting more war crimes. . . Today, war criminals run the State Department and the entire US Government. They are elected to the presidency, the House, and the Senate, and appointed to the federal courts as judges. . . Not a single sentence in the letter is correct. Listen to this one for example: "The Assad regime poses a grave threat to national security interests of the United States." What utter total absurdity, and the morons who signed the letter pretend to be "security experts."
This same neocon architects of Armageddon are also working against Iran, Russia, the former Soviet central Asian countries, Ukraine, Belarus, and China. It seems that they can't wait to start a nuclear war. Full story: paulcraigroberts (formerly Assistant Secretary of the US Treasury for Economic Policy); pragmaticwitness.com.
Police Radio Communications CONFIRM Batman Shooting STAGED, PHONY, A DRILL
July 24, 2012 — This MP3 has the Police communications in the left speaker, overlapped with the Fire Department communications in the right speaker. It's OBVIOUS what is going on here. Keep in mind, that because this is a drill, bodies and injured WILL be mentioned and played as real, but it's ALL FAKE as confirmed by recording 1, and the overall attitude in this MP3, where they are talking about WHERE TO PUT THE PRESS AND FAMILIES AND AMBULANCES FOR PHOTOS!
My original suspicions were confirmed by these tapes. The Batman shooting NEVER HAPPENED AT ALL! . . . Besides many 'witnesses' and 'victims' were born in the nineteenth century. Full story: archive.org ascendingstarseed.wordpress.com
The Sikh temple shooting really was done as punishment to the producer of an upcoming movie which will speak about cover ups and black ops. This topic actually made it to broadcast in the first hour after the shooting, but is now buried.
Rex 84: US Silently Positions for Martial Law as Financial Collapse Arrives
August 2, 2012 — The Readiness Exercise 1984 (Rex 84) outlines continuity of government wherein the US Constitution is suspended, martial law is declared and the US military command take over state and local governments in order to ensure stabilization of our nation at any cost. Any American who is deemed a "national security threat" would be detained in an interment or FEMA camp. . .
Twice before, Rex 84 was implemented . . . Back in 1986 . . . an unmarked refrigerated trailer driven by a civilian driver was used to transport chemical or conventional weapons to various strategic bases both above and underground. . . the use of foreign troops on US soil, as described in Rex 84 and other subsequent manuals, would have a two-fold purpose. Firstly, to provide extra security in designated areas, cities or highways; and secondly, as scapegoats were violent action used against American citizens should the US military be directed to attack civilians. . .
A source in the Deutsche Bank claims that in 2008 our financial and monetary system completely collapsed and since that time the banking cartels have been "propping up the system" to make it appear as if everything was fine. In reality our stock market and monetary systems are fake; meaning that there is nothing holding them in place except the illusion that they have stabilized since the Stock Market Crash nearly 5 years ago.
Since this time, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in conjunction with FEMA and other federal agencies have been quickly working to set in place their directives of control under a silent martial law. The Deutsche Bank informant says that the cause for the bailout of the banks was a large sum of cash needed quickly to repay China who had purchased large quantities of mortgage-backed securities that went belly-up when the global scam was realized . . . To further avert financial catastrophe, as well as more debt or property seizure threats by the Chinese, the Euro was imploded there by plunging most of the European countries into an insurmountable free-fall for which they were never intended to recover. . .
The war with Iran has to do with gold, its use as currency and its exposure of the central banking cartel's lack of gold which defines a fiat currency's worth. And right now, the US dollar is absolutely worthless. . . The Deutsche Bank informant says that the financial collapse that happened in 2008 will be realized here in America very soon. Once that happens, there must be full implementation of marital law to control the potential riots and control over citizens that will be desperate to feed their families.
The attacks of recent on the 2nd Amendment play a significant role in attempting “amicably” to remove the possibility of civilian retaliation against the US military’s presence throughout the nation. However, if they cannot remove the guns from our hands in time, they will continue on with the guidelines set out in Rex 84 with directives to kill any dissenters that refuse to obey.
Full story: globalresearch.ca
Comment: American Brethren, you are NOT party to the constitution, and you have NO "rights." The following incident took place in South Carolina:
The government was sending a shipment of highly toxic nuclear waste to the local nuclear depository in my county. As the shipment came into an adjoining county, the local law enforcement took upon itself the "duty for its citizens" to stop the truck, demand information and verification, and made plans to hold the truck until the feds produced the information. When the truck pulled over for the "blue light special," and the law enforcement officer made his demands clear . . .the security team (in front of and behind the truck) . . . handcuffed the officer to his vehicle . . . and drove on to their destination.
So, if you live in America, when government forces arrive in your town, and have orders . . . you will not have "rights" . . . your life will depend on your understanding of REALITY.
Billy Graham: 'My Heart Aches for America'
July 24, 2012 — A few weeks ago in a prominent city in the South, Christian chaplains who serve the police department were ordered to no longer mention the Name of Jesus in prayer. It was reported that during a recent police-sponsored event, the only person allowed to pray was someone who addressed "the being in the room." Similar scenarios are now commonplace in towns across America. Our society strives to avoid any possibility of offending anyone—except God.
Full story: billygraham.org
Comment: The misplaced optimism of forty days to save America is a call for Barabbas! Brother Branham said, "It's a million miles from being a Christian country. I don't even pray for it. How can I pray for it, and it won't repent under the mighty powers of God demonstrated before it, and denying, and closing the doors to it, and walking away? I commit it to God. And she's going further away, and now she's going to sink. Just watch what happens" (Trying to do God a Service without His Will, p. 23:136).
By the Treacherous Sea
National Geographic, February, 2012 — "Never turn your back to the sea," my mother used to tell me over the roar of the surf. She'd read about rogue waves coming in and sweeping children away, but I loved the magic I felt at the edge of the ocean and never gave her warning much thought as I ran up and down the beach exploring tide pools. That changed on Good Friday in 1964, when I was 12 years old. Just 25 miles south of my grandparents' beach cottage in Harbor, Oregon, a tsunami created by the largest recorded earthquake in North America swept down the Pacific Northwest coast with the speed of a jet and slammed into Crescent City, California. The photos of the carnage, so close to home, were staggering. Ten people from the community of 3,000 perished. "It was like a violent explosion," one witness reported. "The whole beach-front moved, changing before our very eyes."
Comment: Brother Branham "spoke" this earthquake three days beforehand.
The Truth about Imperial Russia
August 8, 2012 — In early 1815, Nathan Rothschild approached Czar Alexander I (1801-25) at the Congress of Vienna with a proposal that he set up a central bank in Russia. Whether it was because he distrusted this shady banker or was aware of the perils of central banking is not known, but he prudently declined. . . Not unexpectedly Russia had the smallest national debt in the world. . . Agricultural production soared so that by 1913, Russia had become the world’s bread basket . . . Russian agricultural production of cereals exceeded the combined production of Argentina, Canada and the United States by 25%. . . Mining and industrial output also expanded by huge margins. . .
With the Russian State bank creating the people’s money out of nothing at almost zero interest; as opposed to the rest of the world where central banks allowed parasitic private banks to create their nations’ money supply at usurious rates of interest, it comes as no surprise that in 1912 Russia had the lowest levels of taxation in the world. Furthermore there was hardly any inflation. . .
On November 7, 1917, the Rothschilds, fearful that replication of this extraordinary example of freedom and prosperity would destroy their evil banking empire, instigated a Judeo-Bolshevik revolution in Russia, which wrecked and ruined a wonderful country and resulted in the deaths by murder and starvation, according to Alexander Solzhenitsyn, of 66 million innocent people.
Full story: rense.com
Jesus answers Job
By Morris R. Ungren
In the story of Job we witness the patience of God and the endurance of man. When these act in unity and fellowship the issue is a certain coming forth of character as gold tried in the fire proven worthy to receive the crown of Life. Now the writer speaks of mount Zion as being "The city of the Living God, the heavenly Jerusalem" (Hebrews 12:22-24). This means that through the Son we are brought into Divine order and government where every line of description is full of light and beauty. The central truth is the declaration that "[We] have come . . . to God the Judge of all . . . and in that Presence, Jesus the mediator" (Hebrews 12:22-24).
The Cry for a Daysman
Man's nature requires God for the realization of His purpose. He is the God in Whom "We live, and move, and have our being" (Acts 17:28). In the dark and disastrous night when Belshazzar and his lords were given over to drunkenness and obscenity, Daniel, before giving him an interpretation of the handwriting on the wall, said, "You have not honoured the God in whose hand is your breath, and to whom belong all your ways" (Daniel 5:23). This fact of contact with God, is not enough for the realization of life. The fact that God makes His sun to shine so as to heal and to bless, without reference to character, does not in itself ensure the full realization of life. Life only becomes complete when man has dealings with God directly and consciously. That is the true dignity of life. All the tragedy of human failure results from the fact that he has come to think of himself meanly, instead of magnificently. We also have to face a universal sense of distance, or of some discrepancy between God and man, so that men are not able to have conscious communion with Him. Prayer seems to be an utterance to the void, with no answering voice. Therefore, when by reason of strain or stress of any kind, man becomes conscious of his need for communion with God, at the same moment he is conscious of his need for some intermediary. This was the deepest meaning of the cry of Job:
"There is no daysman between us, that might lay his hand upon us both" (Job 9:33).
In leaving the cry of Job in the Old Testament, we consider the New
Testament Word concerning Jesus. . .
"There is . . . One Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (I Timothy 2:5).
That is the Gospel in short form. That is fundamental, evangelical, solid
Christianity. Paul said, "There is . . . one Mediator". Elemental humanity, that is aroused to a sense of the necessity for God, a consciousness that God
cannot be reached, cried out for someone to stand between them. At last, in
the clearest words, the answer is found in the statement "the Man Christ
Jesus". [He is, however, NOT now in the Office of Son of God as He was throughout the Church Ages, interceding for ignorance of the fullness of the Word, but for our needs, mistakes and the infirmity of our mortal life (Hebrews 2:17-18; 4:15)].
The word "mediator" conveys the exact meaning of "daysman." It is the same idea. Arbitrator, a middleman, someone standing between man and God. Someone who can put his hand on God with authority. William Branham, the Elijah of Malachi 4 and of Matthew 17:11, and the Messenger of Revelation 10:7, certainly had that authority. It was witnessed by multitudes of people over the earth [when in his ministry the Lord discerned the thoughts and intents of the heart, cast out demons and disease, gave sight to the blind, speech and hearing to deaf mutes, foretold things that are to come, and stood in the breach after the close of the Church Ages and revealed the Seven Seals that have enabled Christ's end-time Bride to enter the Capstone as shown on the accompanying diagram].
A true believer, who is an intercessor in prayer, has a believers' authority with God. It is the Christ in them. In a special way the Man Christ Jesus lays His Hand on God and man.
Of this one Mediator, "who gave Himself a ransom" (I Timothy 2:6), we are told that by Him something has been done which makes the way of approach to God possible. The implication of the statement becomes a revelation. What is it that separates man and God?
A Hebrew prophet once addressing the people of his own nationality, gave these significant words, "Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear." This is saying, "If it be that man is unable to reach God, God can reach man, and hear him." Then the prophet gave the reason for man's inability. "But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear" (Isaiah 59:1-2). That is the reason of man's failure to get to God, and to have dealings with Him.
A sinless man needed no arbitrator. That was true when, in the beginning, man walked with God and talked with God, according to the Biblical revelation. When we leap over the centuries, even the millenniums, we find a second Man. He needed no mediator between Himself and the Creator. He walked with God and talked with Him. Everywhere, He heard the beauty of God's Message in the song of birds and the Divine glory flaming in the flowers. But something has intervened, and man is conscious of his inability to commune with God. There has been a rupture. Their conversation has been lost. Man was made to walk and talk with God. In Eden God came down in the cool of the evening to talk with Adam. Adam could think the thoughts of God after Him. All human success along the lines of science comes from the fact that man is struggling after this very thing, yet there is a definite hiatus, a gap, between man and God.
Man fell from the spiritual to the psychical. This is not to say that psychical or mental is wrong, but it always fails when it is divorced from the spiritual. The powers of the mind have never been able to find Him. We hear Zophar speaking in the Book of Job when he said to Job (Job 11:7-8):
"Can you fathom God's secrets? Will long searching make them known to you, and are you qualified to discover the limits of the Almighty's Being? It is higher than the heights of heaven; what can you do? Deeper than sheol; what can you know?"
The struggle of man to make contact with the Supernatural God through searching by his mental abilities has always ended in failure and even disaster. It is at that point that Jesus comes in with His answer. "There is . . . One Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave Himself a ransom" (I Timothy 2:5-6). The Greek 'antilutron,' here is translated "ransom," and occurs only here in the New Testament. A study of this word shows that it refers to an activity wherein and whereby the sin that has shut us out from God is taken away; and is thus an activity wherein and whereby we are brought back, out of the realm of the merely mental into that of the Spiritual.
Thus the way to God is open. Therefore He is a Daysman. By that mediation He restores direct and immediate fellowship with God. As Paul says in another of his letters, "we have access" through Him to the Father (Ephesians 2:18). Such access means not merely knowing much about God, but knowing God Himself.
The Question as to Life
"If a man die, shall he live . . . " (Job 14:14).
"He who believes on Me, though he die, yet shall he live" (John 11:15).
In I Timothy 6:16 Paul declared that "God alone has immortality," the Greek word is 'athanasia,' which means eternal deathlessness. In II Timothy 1:10, "Our Saviour Jesus Christ, who abolished death, has brought Life and immortality [Gk. 'aphtharsia'] to Light through the Gospel" . . . Here Paul declared that Jesus brought Life and 'aphtharsia' to Light, which refers to quality of life which lacks any element tending to decay or corruption. Paul does not say, "The Lord created life and incorruption through the Gospel," but that He brought them to Light, He brought into clear visibility these things that were in existence. He brought the final answer to Job's question, "If a man die, shall he live" (Job 14:14).
Jesus said, "Yes, he who believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live" (John 11:25).
The Witness in Heaven
"Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and He who vouches for me is on high" (Job 16:19).
"For Christ entered . . . into heaven itself, now to appear before . . . God for us" (Hebrews 9:25).
Another great cry of Job is heard in these scriptures, and the answer is found in Jesus. . . By "Witness" he meant a Watcher, Who knows. In the midst of his suffering his friends thought they knew his problem, but failed because they did not know all. But Job declared his conviction that there was One in heaven watching, understanding, knowing all. Then Job repeated the same truth in a slightly different form, "and He who vouches for me is on high." The King James version is entirely misleading when it says, "My record is on high." The Hebrew word does not mean a record. It could be rendered "my Recorder." That is One Who sees all and knows all. One Who can bear witness to the truth about him.
We see a man in the dust, a man in agony, surrounded by the clamor of friends who meant well, but did not understand him. Job's soul leapt suddenly beyond the bounds of time and space and the talk of ignorance. He said, "There is a Watcher Who knows. There is a 'Recorder' Whose findings are according to perfect knowledge." Job was aware of the final tribunal, "heaven," above the earth, "on high," beyond which there is no appeal. He spoke of his sorrow and anguish, and the sense that he could not reach this Watcher and One Who could vouch for him.
There are senses in which this cry revealed human consciousness of need at its deepest; which is that of an ultimate court of appeal and judgment, not influenced by incomplete knowledge and the deceits of appearance. Such a court is not found on the earthly level.
The cry of Job revealed a conviction that there is a court where knowledge is not incomplete, and where the appearances of the passing hour cannot deceive. His conviction was that the only hope of justice is that the Judge Himself should be the Advocate; and to this the deepest in human consciousness ever responds. There are times where we find ourselves in circumstances where we desire to escape from human judgments, based upon imperfect knowledge.
The background of Paul's letter to the Hebrews has to do with the Israelite system of nationality and religion, which was a theocracy. . . and in this all its religious ceremony was intended to bear a continued witness. The place of the tabernacle was at the center of its national life, and around it the various tribes encamped underneath their banners. At the center of the courts of worship was the Holy Place, and the Holy of Holies. The truth illustrated was that at the center of all life is God; and that human life itself and human conditions of life can only realize their meaning as they move around this center, under that government.
Paul was changing Law to grace, explaining that the symbolism had ceased and passed away, having had its fulfillment in Jesus Christ. Paul declared that "Christ is not entered into holy places made with hands" (Hebrews 9:24). The old economy has passed away, and the reason for its passing is that He has entered "into heaven itself, now to appear in the Presence of God for us".
The argument and thesis of Paul is that there is now One Who is God in His Own nature and yet He is actually a Man. He stands before God, vindicating the sinner. He has become the "Witness" by the mystery of His personality in human history and the work accomplished in that mystery. Jesus came supernaturally into human history, and lived on our earthly level. He triumphed over sin and earthly limitations. Then He passed beyond the sight of earth-bound vision. All that Job felt the need of, had come into visibility. Now we may say Christ has entered in, and there is our Witness, our Recorder. He is the One Who perfectly knows and prevails to mediate. He came there by the way of the cross. "By His own blood He entered" (Hebrews 9:12). He Who stands there in the Presence of God as my Witness, bears the scars that tell of suffering unto death, and testify that He is my Redeemer. To Him we may go at any time for judgment.
The Living Redeemer
"I know that my Redeemer lives" (Job 19:25).
"He ever lives to make intercession" (Hebrews 7:25).
Bildad, under different figures of speech, had described the sufferings of Job, and by describing them had added to them. . . Bildad had declared that such sufferings were found only in the dwellings of wickedness, meaning that this was somewhere in the life of Job. Angry and scornful, Job replied that he knew his afflictions were from God and that these men had no right to add to them. In the midst of that reply, and out of the deep darkness Job was in, there broke this cry. The shining of a gleam of light, but it was only for a moment.
Previously he had declared that his Witness was in heaven, and his Recorder was on high. But now he goes further and gives his Witness the name of "Redeemer." However, Job could not have realized the full value of these appellations because they were not brought to full light until the incarnation. But for a fleeting moment he caught the music of eternal things.
"I know that my Redeemer lives, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin is thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God: whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another" (Job 19:25-27).
The words "my Redeemer" have their meaning in the appearing of the Son of God. The Hebrew word is "Goel." To Israel it was the nearest and next of kin, whose duty was to undertake the cause of another in time of need.
It is in the Book of Ruth that we have the story of the "Goel" illustrated, where one stood for another to defend his cause and avenge the wrongs done to him. It is in that sense Job said, "I know that my Redeemer lives" This did not mean that his Redeemer merely existed. It is as though Job had said, "Even though I die, He lives." What he said proved that in the midst of his agony, for a moment at least, he was convinced that while there was no one to stand for him in life, all his friends having misunderstood him and left him, yet he had a Kinsman who was his Advocate, the One Who would acquit him. That his Redeemer would stand upon the earth, his dust; his "Goel" would stand as a witness to his integrity.
This is emphasized when he said. . . "yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another" (Job 19:26-27). He will see God for himself. Job was conscious of the continuing of his life beyond what is called death.
The incarnation gave the complete revelation. When God became flesh in Jesus He did not come nearer to human nature than He had ever been; but He came into visibility. By that coming, the fact of what Job said was true. "He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever lives to make intercession for them [for us]" (Hebrews 7:25). He is the "Goel," pleading our cause, and helping us in every way.
This statement in Hebrews is found in close connection with Paul's reference to the Person of Melchisedec, Who is mentioned twice in Old Testament history. Once in the history of Abraham and in the great Hebrew song.
In the Book of Hebrews Paul declares that Jesus is a Priest after that order, and that He "ever lives to make intercession." This One who ever lives came into our earthly life, stood upon the dust for us, and vouched for our case on the earth level. By that unveiling we are brought to an understanding of how He, Melchisedec, forever represents our case in the High Court of heaven. Was Job right? Or was that which he saw a mirage of the desert, having no substance whatever? The answer was in Jesus.
When Job said that he had a "Goel," he was expressing a profound and glorious truth: the truth that in God, man has his Redeemer in the fullest sense of that word.
The Quest for God
"Oh that I knew where I might find Him!" (Job 23:3).
"He who has seen Me has seen the Father" (John 14:9).
These words of Job are found in the third and final cycle of his controversy with his friends. Eliphaz had given his last speech. Eliphaz was blunt and even brutal in his accusation, maintaining his position that Job's suffering was the result of Job's sins. He even described the kind of sins which would produce such sufferings; and by implication attributed them to Job, even though he had no evidence. It was all an assumption and entirely false. Eliphaz' speech ended with advice to Job in a passage of wonderment. . . "Acquaint now yourself with Him" (Job 22:21).
In Job's reply, he ignored the charges against him, and replied to the advice given him. He admitted to the excellence of the advice, but his words revealed the difficulty of which he was conscious. Bluntly, Eliphaz had told him, "Get to know God and you will be at peace." In effect, Job replied, "That is the problem, the difficulty. How am I going to acquaint myself with God?" "Oh that I knew where I might find Him!"
It is one thing to tell a man to acquaint himself with God, but quite another to show him how he is going to do it. "Oh that I knew where I might find Him!"
This was the language of a man who had convictions about God. The context shows how conscious Job was of the fact and Presence of God. He knew that God was at work, but that He was hiding Himself. Job was convinced that if he could find Him, "He would give heed" unto him: and that "the Upright might reason with him" (Job 23:6-7).
Job's difficulty was that he could not reach Him. In language of strange poetical beauty, Job says, "I go forward, but He is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive Him. I am conscious that He is at work, and I turn to the left, but cannot behold Him. He is on the right hand; I know that He is there, but He is in hiding and I cannot see Him" (Job 23:8-9). On the earthly level Job turned in every direction, forward and backward, to the left and to the right, to no avail.
When men seek God on an earthly level, they may be sincere in their search; as it was with Job it could be the result of pressure and tribulation and suffering, or it could be the search of the intellect for the solution of the cosmos, the universe. God is not denied. There is a conviction that He is, but He cannot be found. Man cannot make contact with God by any action on his own that is earthly. There are those who tell us that they find God in nature, and have no need for the ritual of worship. They may see evidences of God in nature, for all creation is the clothing of Deity, expressing beauty with glory, but God is never found in nature in such a way that satisfies the deeper needs of human life.
The cry, "Oh that I knew where I might find Him!" is a revelation of the need for a special revealing of God to satisfy the spiritual nature of man. Zophar had earlier asked Job. . . "Can you by searching find out God" (Job 11:7). Now when his friend Eliphaz advises Job to acquaint himself with God, Job in his answer is but confirming the difficulty as expressed in the question of Zophar. From this revelation of human need as expressed in the cry of Job, we find the answer in Jesus.
Many centuries have passed by and run their course, and we find ourselves in an upper room with men like ourselves. They also know this desire for this Spiritual Life for God. In their midst was One, a Man like them, looking with human eyes at them, as they were looking at Him. He is the One in Whom all the treasures and wisdom of the Eternal exists, Who came into visibility. This is the meaning of the Incarnation. In the midst of this company of men, there sat one with a Greek name, "Philip", and he says what Job said in other words . . . "Show us the Father, and we will be satisfied".
Was Philip asking for some such out-shining of the Pillar of Fire as it was with Moses? Was he requesting a Supernatural manifestation? One thing for sure, Philip was seeking some vision that would show God to his soul. To that desire the answer of Jesus was given as a direct and clear declaration. . . "he who has seen Me has seen the Father" (John 14:9).
When Jesus said to Philip. . . "Have I been so long time with you, and yet have you not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father" (John 14:9). Jesus was asking Philip to look back over the time in which he had been with Him. Philip was one of Jesus' first disciples and he had been with Him through the whole period of His public ministry.
On an earlier occasion He had said, "All things have been delivered to Me by My Father: and no man knows the Son except the Father, and no man knows the Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him" (Matthew 11:27). In connection with that word Jesus gave His Gospel call, "Come to Me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). It was on this same occasion He said, "No man comes to the Father, but by Me" (John 14:6).
Some souls may ask, "How shall we know that what Jesus has said is true?" Earlier in His ministry He had said these revealing words, "If any man wills do His will, he will understand the teaching, whether it is from God, or whether I speak on my own authority" (John 7:17). The man who wants to do the Will of God is the one whose moral intention is what it ought to be, for the Will of God is always that of Holiness. Mere intellectual interest will never find God. Job and Philip were seeking God because they were convinced of His Government and His Justice. Revelation did not come fully to Job, but to Philip it was given in all of its fullness in the Person of our Lord.
The way in which a human soul can find the answer to his search for God is revealed. When spiritual intentions harmonize with the law of righteousness, spiritual intelligence will discover that God was in Christ. "He who has seen Me has seen the Father".
The Challenge to God
"Oh that I had one to hear me . . . and that I had the indictment which my adversary had written" (Job 31:35)!
"You have come . . . to God the Judge of all . . . and to Jesus the mediator" (Hebrews 12:22-24).
We have Job's last appeal in these words, which is in the nature of a challenge to God. Eliphaz and Bildad continued to hold their contention that Job's suffering was the evidence of sin. Job again replied, maintaining his innocence, and in these words spoke this challenge. Through it all he had been misunderstood by these men. He felt that he could not make contact with his God. There is neither rhyme nor reason when in experience the soul is overwhelmed with sorrow.
The position of Job, as revealed in this exclamation, was that he had never had the case against him stated by his Adversary, but that he had prepared his defence. God had made no charge against him. Job felt that there must be such a charge against him to account for his experiences, and therefore his last challenge was against God.
All of this reveals Job's consciousness that God was acting as an Adversary or Prosecutor, but that he did not know the charge against. Job had been listening to the talk of his friends, and there was more, for Elihu has something to say.
Job realized that these men were really not his judges and had no right to bring any charge against him. He knew that the only One Who had such a right was God Himself. We have an example of it in the fifty-first Psalm, the penitential Psalm of David, in which he said. . . "Against You, You only have I sinned" (Psalm 51:4). Job knew there was the ultimate Tribunal, a Court to which every man has a right to make an appeal. At that moment it seemed to Job that he was not getting a hearing in that Court.
In the affairs of the human soul it is so that final judgment must be found by one whose knowledge is perfect, and whose decisions will be impartial and just. There is no court that fulfills this until he stands face-to-face with God. This is what Job is asking for in his appeal. The cry of Job was the language of a man who believed in a moral universe over which God reigns, and in which He governs. Job, conscious of his innocence, appeals to God. David, conscious of his guilt, said. . . "Against You, You only have I sinned." Whether in the sense of innocence or guilt, the man, believing in a moral universe, makes his final appeal to this ultimate Court, wanting to be judged there, and to accept the verdict given there.
Listening to Job, the question is whether we can have access to this Court and stand and have a hearing before this Judge. In Job's words we hear the cry, the sigh, the sob, the revelation of necessity. Was there an answer to that cry? God did reveal Himself to Job, but we see the answer that came after centuries had run their course. There came into human history the Son of Man, and through Him we find the complete answer to Job. That answer vindicates the cry he made and says, in effect, that it is possible to find a way to reach God and have dealings with Him.
Out of the Book of Hebrews we read. "You have come . . . to God the Judge of all" and then other words, revealing what we find in our coming: "and to Jesus the mediator of the New Covenant" (Hebrews 12:22-24).
To appreciate and understand the value of these statements, the whole paragraph must be observed.
"But you have come to Mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly and Church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that tells of better things than that of Abel" (Hebrews 12:22-24).
This passage is an epitome of the new economy created by Jesus Christ. The
word "economy" is used here because it refers to the whole system of
government, for in the beginning of Paul's letter to the Hebrews we read: "When He introduces the firstbegotten into the world" (Hebrews 1:6).
The word translated "world" is the Greek word 'oikoumene,' from which the word 'economy' is derived. It was the word that was used at the time in reference to the whole Roman Empire. The Book of Hebrews is concerned with the new economy resulting from the speech of the Son. It is fully described in this paragraph, which stands as a description in contrast to the description of the world economy under Moses. That economy was represented by "a mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, and blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard entreated that no Word more should be spoken to them: for they could not endure that which was enjoined. If even a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned; and so fearful was the appearance, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake" (Hebrews 12:22-24).
That was the old economy, a Divine economy of God. The writer now says. "[We] have NOT come" to that. That is not where we stand today. "[We] have come to Mount Zion," the [new] economy he has just described.
The language used of the economy takes up the symbol of the old in some ways. The new economy is that of Mount Zion. Looking back on Hebrew poetry there are interpretations of Mount Zion.
Psalm 2 states that Mount Zion is the place of the King.
Psalm 48 declares that Mount Zion is the joy of the whole earth.
Psalm 78 announces that Mount Zion is loved by Jehovah.
Psalm 125 declares Mount Zion to be immovable, abiding forever.
In the dispensation of the mount that burned with fire, God was the Judge of all. With that principle in mind the writer goes back to Abel, the shedding of whose blood was due to rebellion against God, which called for vengeance. In the new dispensation there is no shedding of blood, nor calling for vengeance, but rather for mercy and pardon. In the new we come to the Judgment Seat of God. We do so through the mediation of His Son, in and through the shedding of His Blood. 
In this way the cry of the soul for access to God as the ultimate Judge is answered. To that Throne we may now come for immediate Judgment. Revelation has revealed that there will be a great White Throne Day of Judgment. But we do not have to wait for that Day, for the prophet of Revelation 10:7 has told us that the White Throne is now. It is because Jesus Christ has descended with His white wig of jurisprudence upon His Head on Mount Sunset in March of 1963. This is the full and final answer to the challenge of the human soul, as confessed by Job in his agony. It reaches out to the Only One Who knows perfectly, and Who will give the true verdict, and pronounce the sentence which is one of strict justice. The soul has found that Jesus is the Mediator of a New Covenant, Whose Blood made possible His Mercy upon the basis of the strictest justice through His Mediation. Justice and mercy meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other.
The Discovery of Self
"Behold, I am of small account" (Job 40:4).
"What shall a man give in exchange for his life" (Matthew 16:26)?
"God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son" (John 3:16).
At this point in the Book of Job we find ourselves beyond the controversy between himself and his friends. Their voices are silent. The voice of Elihu, the last speaker, is silent, even though his address was more profound and understanding than the other three. His speech was cut short as the Voice of God was heard speaking out of the whirlwind. "Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge" (Job 38:2)?
This was what Job had been waiting for, the Voice out of the whirlwind. It silenced Elihu and addressed Itself directly to Job. "Gird up now your loins like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me" (Job 38:3).
God addressed Job as an intelligent human being and in so doing ignored all of his circumstances. We see Job sitting on the ash heap in his agony, stripped of everything. His health gone, rubbing the sores on his body with shards of broken clay pots. His wealth is gone; his children swept away; the partnership of his wife in faith gone; his acquaintances absent and his group of friends have misunderstood him. He possesses nothing. But the first Words of God to him remind him that he still had his own personality. . . "Gird up yourself like a man".
Having gotten the attention of Job, God continued His talk; and in it there is no reference to his sufferings. God gave him no reason to account for his position. What He did was to bring Job face-to-face with the universe in which he lived, and ask him if he found himself able to govern that universe. Facing the cosmos, the universe, Job was brought to thinking and consideration of animate and inanimate life and to the observation of the movement of seasons, currents of wind, snow and storm. Then he was asked if he was equal to the creation of what he saw, or its government. Job could not do these things; how could he be equal to perfect understanding of God?
In the light of that unveiling there came to Job a discovery of himself by comparison, causing him to say. . . "Behold, I am of small account" (Job 40:4). In other words, "I am nothing." By comparison Job had a true vision of himself. The King James version says. . . "Behold, I am vile." The Hebrew word has no suggestion of moral failure. It means "of no weight."
David in one of his great songs, expressed the same sense of littleness. . .
"When I consider Your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained; What is man, that You are mindful of him? and the son of man, that You visited him" (Psalm 8:3-4)?
In this Psalm David revealed, in the question he asked, his sense of the dignity of man; that he was one of whom God was mindful, and one whom God has visited. What glorious thing for us today! We can truly say with David, "We are ones whom God has visited!"
God had called Job to gird up his loins as a man, which he did. His blessing is
seen in the fact that he was able to grasp in thought the greatness of God, and
make his comparison. When we say that we are unable to grasp the universe, the infinite, we are really showing we have already done it. We cannot interpret all that lies within it, but man's greatness lies in the fact that he can conceive the universe. The man that can say, "I am of small account" is proving that intellectually he grasps the idea of a universe. . . and of the Divine relation to it. It was the astronomer Keplar, who said that all scientific investigation was proof of man's ability to think the thoughts of God after Him. No animal can grasp the idea of a universe.
Jesus has something to say to the consciousness in man. He never, by any Word He said, agreed that this word of Job is the final truth about man. Jesus met men as He found them, with degraded conceptions of themselves. He required that they deny, not the essential fact of their personality, but the sum-total of their thinking about themselves, resulting from their sin and rebellion against God. He did this that they might discover the true dignity of life according to the Divine purpose.
From Jesus' teaching there are two statements, separated by the time of their being said. . . "What shall a man give in exchange for his life" (Matthew 16:26)? The other from the Gospel, "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son" (John 3:16). In that Word there is a revelation of the value of a man in the Thought of God.
"What shall a man give in exchange for his life?" That question followed another, "What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and forfeit his life?" (Matthew 16:26). In this question Jesus employed the terms of the market-place. Put it on the balance-scales; place the world on one side with its riches and glamour, then set a man on the other side. In the Thought of our Lord, the weight of the man is far more than that of the world.
"Behold, I am of small account" Job said. The answer of Jesus is that taking a man and placing him on the balances, he is worth more, and is weightier than the whole world. The next question of our Lord, in this connection, emphasizes the truth. . . "What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" The question presumes that a man has sold himself, and so has lost his personality, his life, his identification, and eventually his very existence. He is no more.
The Lord did not answer this question. He left it as an inquiry. It is interesting to note and remind ourselves that, before the controversy between Job and his friends, Satan gave his opinion of a man. "All that a man has he will give for his life" (Job 2:4). What will he give? "I am of small account" said the man in the long ago, as he gazed on the Majesty and the Glory of God. Now the Voice of God, speaking through His Son, says in effect, it is not all the truth.
God's value of the worth of a man is "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son." That is God's value that He places on the worth of a man. Standing in the Presence of the Son of God and listening to His teaching, I find that I am of more value than the whole world; that in order for my recovery, my redemption, He gave His only begotten Son.
We stand in the beauty of a world and the glory of the heavens and the majesty of the universe, and realize that by comparison, we are of small account. But David saw that God is mindful of us, and visits us, and when He came, He came to reveal the fact to us that each one of us is worth more than the whole world, that for our deliverance He gave His Only begotten Son.
The Discovery of God
"I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear: but now my eye sees You. therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes" (Job 42:5-6).
"From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matthew 4:17).
Job now has a fuller discovery of God. In our last meditation his discovery of himself was revealed, after Job had come to a consciousness of himself, by comparison with the universe and then comparison with the God of this universe, and that he was of small account. Jehovah continued; He had more to say to His servant. In this speech God told Job the same thing He said at the first: "Gird up now your loins like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me" (Job 40:7).
God was reminding Job that he was a man, and asking him to behave like a man. Every man is driven to say, "I am of small account" (Job 40:4), when he stands in the Presence of God and His universe. It is then that God would remind him of the truth given in the story of creation: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness" (Genesis 1:26).
God would or could say to him: "There is no other of the earthly order to whom I can talk with and reveal My secrets." We are looking at a stripped being who, in God's estimate, is greater than all the creation. The argument and appeal of this second address of God dealt with the one thing in which Job had been foolish. This emerges in God's Word: "Will You even disannul My judgment? will you condemn Me, that you may be justified" (Job 40:8)?
It is true that Job had done no wrong and said no wrong. He had not charged God foolishly, but he had questioned the justice and government of God, the wisdom of God. These questions came time after time, in the magnificent honesty in the things he had said in his agony.
In the stately beauty of the following address, God is heard calling upon Job to assume the government. He did this with a satire as gentile as the kiss of a mother, when she laughs at a child. It is impossible to read this without that kind of tender laughter with which fathers and mothers often laugh at their children. With all the vision of the rhythmic order of the universe before Job, he was asked if he was prepared to assume the government of the universe. . . and the government of the moral realm.
"Deck Yourself now with majesty and excellency; and array yourself with glory and beauty. Pour forth the overflowings of your anger: and look upon everyone that is proud, and abase him. Look on every one that is proud, and bring him low; and tread down the wicked where they stand. Hide them in the dust together; and bind their faces in the secret place. Then I will also confess of you that your own right hand can save you" (Job 40:10-14).
The reading of this is sufficient to reveal the fact that God was calling Job to face the moral problem which had bothered him, and to consider whether he would be able to deal with such a problem.
No solution was offered. In effect God was saying to His servant that there are things which must be allowed to work themselves out. Still these matters are under Divine control, moving towards the fulfillment of purpose, in a process meeting the necessities of the case.
When Job exclaimed, "Now my eye sees You" (Job 42:5), it seems he has seen a vision, in the light of this moral problem, of God as a God of Might and Holiness. The speech of God moved out of the moral issue into the non-moral, to that of the beasts and the animals. He called upon Job to look at two unusual beasts, one was the "behemoth" (Job 40:15-24), some believe this to be the hippopotamus, and the other was the "leviathan" (Job 40:15-24), possibly the crocodile or alligator. These beasts could be pictorial or parabolic references to Satan and the underworld.
God then asks Job if he is able to capture them, and to bring them under control. Of "leviathan" God says. . . "Lay your hand upon him, remember the battle, do no more" (Job 41:8). Job was compelled to face his incompetence in the moral realm and is asked to face the fact also in the realm of non-moral force. After this word of God to Job, he uttered the great cry. . .
"I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear: but now my eye sees you. Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes" (Job 42:5,6).
A new consciousness of God had come to Job, revealing to him his own impotence. All the knowledge he had of God, which had been revealed in his arguments with his friends, Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar, fell short of true understanding. But now he had seen Him. The vision of God had brought Job to two conclusions, expressed in the words. . . "You can do all things," and "no purpose of Yours can be restrained" (Job 42:2).
There came to Job in the midst of his desolation, when all the props upon which he had leaned were gone and when the voices of his friends were silenced, a vision of God, which brought a conviction of power, that at length no purpose of God could be negated.
This new vision of God brought a new vision of himself. This is expressed in the statement which the translators have rendered, "I abhor myself" (Job 42:6). The revisers have in the margin substituted, "I loathe my words." Actually the word "myself" is not in the Hebrew text, neither is the expression "my words." The Hebrew word does not signify a state of mind which can be described by the word "abhor" or "loathe." From the standpoint of etymology the Hebrew word literally means to disappear, to retract, to repudiate.
Then restoring the sense of personality, he responded: "[I] repent in dust and ashes" (Job 42:6). The word "repent" does not suggest a change of mind, but one that indicates sorrow. The language of Job was that of full submission to God. In that submission Job's greatness is revealed.
In going back we recall Eliphaz' advice to him. . . "Acquaint now yourself with Him, and be at peace" (Job 22:21). The reply of Job to that revealed his difficulty at that moment. . . "Oh that I knew where I might find Him!" (Job 23:3). Eliphaz, continuing to emphasize his advice, had urged him. . . "Lay your treasure in the dust, and the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks" (Job 22:24).
Job said, not as a result of the appeal of Eliphaz, but as a result of the unveiling of God, "I cancel myself, I am filled with sorrow. I lay all my treasure in the dust." In that moment Job rose to the ultimate dignity of his manhood. Man rises to the ultimate dignity and splendor of his own life when he
recognizes that, and yields himself in complete submission to that Will.
Turning to ask what Jesus has to say to the cry of Job, we find the answer in the Gospel, in the keynote of His ministry, as declared in the words that He "began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matthew 4:17).
Mark's Gospel uses slightly different language, saying that "Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel" (Mark 1:14-15). The "time is fulfilled" is a reference to Daniel's Seventy Weeks in Daniel 9:24-27. By this prophecy Israel could have known to the very day when Messiah would stand in their midst, but they miserably failed.
There are two phrases in these two accounts. Matthew using "the kingdom of heaven, and Mark, "the kingdom of God." Matthew's words suggest an order of life, while Mark's indicate the authority producing the order. The basic fact of the Message of Jesus was the recognition of Divine Authority, and the order resulting from submission to It.
The way of entrance to experience the Kingdom of Heaven is that of repentance, which includes all Job said and the canceling of self. But there is more today, for the dispensation of the Church Ages has ended in which the true Kingdom was not entered. It was introduced again, by the ministry of the prophet William Branham in a John the Baptist ministry, with the appearing of Jesus Christ in the Cloud on Sunset Mountain in Arizona.
In our entering the Kingdom, God lifts us from the dust to the place of fullness of life and experience, filling the soul with Himself, the very Presence of God in Logos form. We are brought by God into the understanding of ourselves.
The Sense of Solution
"He knows the way that I take: when He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold" (Job 23:10).
"Blessed is the man who endures temptation: for when he has been approved, he shall receive the crown of Life" (James 1:12).
When Eliphaz had given his word of advice. . . "Acquaint now yourself with Him, and be at peace" (Job 22:21), Job had replied. . . "Oh that I knew where I might find Him" (Job 23:3). The supreme thing in his anguish was his inability to make contact with God. The thing Job said was an exclamation welling up from the depth of his being.
"He knows the way that I take: when He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold" (Job 23:10). This cry revolves around two beings, God and Job, two
distinct personalities referred to by the pronouns and "He" and "me".
Malachi 3:3, "He shall sit as a refiner . . . of silver" by the hot furnace, tempering its fires in the interest of the refining process. Job, in the passing moment, saw the experience he was passing through as flames of fire testing gold. He saw God sitting as the Refiner presiding over the processes which would finally bring him forth as fine gold. The fires do not destroy the metal, only the impurities and the alloy.
All the teaching of Jesus and the apostles, as found in the New Testament, confirms the convictions of Job. "Blessed is the man who endures temptation: for when he has been approved, he shall receive the crown of Life" (James 1:12). These words find their full interpretation in his book. It presents God presiding over all the strange and often baffling experiences of suffering and testing, even as by fire. This was all with a purpose; that purpose being as James says, that all who pass through the testing for Jesus' sake shall receive the crown of life. nl748.htm
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Brother Grigor-Scott is a
non-denominational minister who has ministered full-time since 1981, primarily
to other ministers and their congregations in other countries. He pastors
Bible Believers' tiny congregation, and is available to teach in your church.
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