Sermon 30, Job 8:1-6
Bildad enters the conversation. Calvin argues that Bildad isn’t wrong in anything he says, rather Calvin makes the argument that Bildad’s words are misapplied to Job. As such, there is still plenty to learn from Bildad.
I think the major take home for me this morning is the lesson that God is righteous. God doesn’t choose to be righteous. It’s not an attribute that God can turn off or on. Again, God is righteous. “Here we are admonished to ascribe to God the honor of being the fountain of all equity and uprightness and of being incapable of doing anything that is not good and just.” And powerfully “…we must not toy with God or think the threats that issue from His mouth are like bogeymen used to frighten children. The effect accompanies the threat.”
This has many implications, but immediately I note that it’s pointless asking God to ignore something. It isn’t going to happen. Of greater implication is that God’s promises are clearly intimately linked to His attributes. I must learn and think more about His attributes. Related, Calvin says “It is as much an absurdity to say that God does something without a purpose as it is to say that he does not exist or that His being is diminished.”
So, I think that there are three things to link together. God’s 1. attributes, 2. purposes, 3. promises. And of great reassurance, whether we understand them or agree with them(!), is that these don’t change. Ever.
Now, related, is a repeated message in what seems to be the whole of scripture. “…when God enacts His judgement, he teaches men righteousness.” And further “He [God] never uses such severity that His mercy is not always mixed with it”. God punishes sin but there is always provided the path for reconciliation. Always.
I am starting to get a better picture of Heaven. The confusion that obscures clarity in my life is a constant source of frustration, sometimes I would go as far as to say misery. There will be no confusion in Heaven. Either 1. my historical perspective of events past will be shown to be aligned with God’s will which will lead to happiness, or 2. I will see fully and with clarity how my perspective was wrong and marvel at the wisdom demonstrated by God that exceeded my own, and this will also lead to happiness! I seek humility now to minimize the chances of my wrongness but, regardless, Heaven is a place of great clarity for justice and righteousness.