Read 2 Corinthians 5:7 and 2 Corinthians 4:18. What crucial truths are revealed in these texts? How can these truths help us as we seek to be faithful followers of the Lord? The immediate context of 2 Corinthians 4:18 is eschatological, talking about the end times, when we are clothed in immortality, a great promise … Continue reading –>
Read for This Week’s Study: 2 Cor. 5:7, Job 1-2:8, Matt. 4:10, Matt. 13:39, John 8:1–11, Heb. 11:10, Heb. 4:15. Memory Text: “Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful” (James 5:11, NKJV). … Continue reading –>
Further Thought: The Protestant Reformation reclaimed the great truth of salvation by faith alone. This truth was first intimated in the Word back in Eden itself (see Gen. 3:15) and then given fuller expression in the life of Abraham (see Gen. 15:6, Rom. 4:3) before being successively revealed in Scripture up through Paul. Yet, the … Continue reading –>
Earlier in the book of Job, amid the back and forth between the characters, Eliphaz the Temanite said to Job: “ ‘Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that you are righteous? Or is it gain to Him that you make your ways blameless?’ ” (Job 22:3, NKJV). That’s a very ironic question, given what … Continue reading –>
Read Job 31:24-34. What else can we learn about Job? No wonder the Lord said what He did about the life and character of Job. This is a man who clearly lived out his faith, a man whose works revealed the reality of his relationship with God. This, of course, made his complaint all the … Continue reading –>
At first glance, in the texts below, it could sound as if Job were bragging, as if Job were parading his holiness and virtue and good conduct before others. This attitude, of course, is precisely the kind that the Bible condemns (see Matthew 23). But that’s not what was happening here with Job. Again, it … Continue reading –>
As Job struggled to come to terms with the calamity that befell him, he did think about his past life and how good it had been for him and how he had lived. Talking about the earlier days, Job said that in this time “ ‘my steps were bathed with cream’ ” (Job 29:6, NKJV). … Continue reading –>
Read Job 1:1 and Job 1:8. What does this tell us about the character of Job? Though Job had been told all through the dialogues that he must have done something wrong in order for all this evil to come upon him, the opposite appears to be the case. It was his goodness, his faithfulness, … Continue reading –>
Read for This Week’s Study: Job 1:1, Job 1:8; Job 29:8–17; Job 31:1–23; Exod. 20:17; Matt. 7:22–27; Matt. 5:16; Eph. 3:10. Memory Text: “Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect?” (James 2:22, NKJV). In the midst of all the major issues touched on in … Continue reading –>
Further Thought: “‘Now is the judgment of this world,’ Christ continued; ‘now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all unto Me. This He said, signifying what death He should die.’ This is the crisis of the world. If I become … Continue reading –>
