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Job
38:1-11, 42:1-5 Job’s answer
Revelation 19:4-16 The Word of God
John 1:29-34 Baptizer with
the Holy Spirit
Throughout his ordeal, Job had asked why misfortune had been allowed to
happen to him. Now the Lord appears to Job out of a whirlwind. The Lord
whose motives Job has questioned is the Creator of Heaven (Job 38:9-10,
19, 22, 24-25) and Earth (Job 38:4). Job has considered the works of
God and the divine purpose behind them. “I know that thou canst do all things, and that no purpose of thine can be thwarted” (Job 42:2).
Having
therefore come to understand his own human limitations of knowledge and
power, Job repeats the Lord’s question, and then gives his response: “I
had heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees thee”
(Job 42:5). Formerly, Job had only known *about* God, but had no
“first-hand” knowledge of God through personal relationship with God.
Now that Job sees himself in true perspective in relationship to God,
Job repents of his former attitude and recognizes his own unworthiness.
John (probably the disciple and evangelist) foresees the victory
celebration in Heaven on the day when God’s ultimate purpose is
fulfilled at the Marriage of the Lamb, which is the union of the Church
with Christ in the eternal kingdom of Heaven.
“Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb”
(Revelation 19:9). John was told not to worship the angel who gave him
the revelation, since the angel was a fellow servant holding “the
testimony of Jesus which is the spirit of prophecy” (Revelation 19:10).
We are to worship God only. Then John saw Christ revealed in glory as
the victorious warrior, honored and glorified with many titles: the one
who is Faithful and True, the righteous judge. His greatness is beyond
human knowledge (Revelation 19:12b). He is The Word of God (the
personification and fulfillment of God’s word; see John 1:1, 14). He
will have authority to rule, judge, and execute judgment on all the
people of the earth. He is King of kings, and Lord of lords.
John the Baptist bore witness that Jesus is the Messiah (Christ), the
Lamb of God, the one sent by God to be the perfect sacrificial lamb to
be slain as an offering to God for the forgiveness of our sins. John’s
ministry was to baptize with water to prepare Israel for the coming Messiah (John
1:30), so that the Messiah would be revealed to Israel
(John 1:31). John did not know beforehand who the Messiah was, but the
Lord, who had sent him to baptize, had told John that the one on whom
John saw the Spirit descend and remain was the Messiah, who would
baptize with the Holy Spirit. John testified that he had witnessed the
Spirit descend upon Jesus as a dove from heaven at Jesus’ baptism with
water by John.
Job had thought he knew God because he knew about God from human
perspective and human understanding. Job had thought that he was
righteous and worthy of God’s favor. God reached out to Job and allowed
Job to question God. God offered Job fellowship even though Job was
unworthy on his own merits. Knowing about God is no substitute for
knowing God personally. God initiates and offers the restoration of
personal fellowship with him by his grace (unmerited favor), which we
receive by faith; not because we are worthy.
“…God, the Father
Almighty, the creator of Heaven and Earth”, is the “first person” of
the Trinity (one God in three “persons”), which we confess in the first
article of the Apostle’s Creed, the historic doctrine of the Church
based on the Apostolic Gospel (the basic teachings of the Apostles) as
recorded in the Scriptures. (We don't have to "understand," from our
human perspective, the mystery of the Trinity, but it is a scriptural
and spiritual reality.)
John, the author of Revelation, describes his vision of Jesus’
Coronation as the King of kings, and the inauguration of the eternal kingdom of God in Heaven. It is the
culmination of God’s eternal purpose to restore his people to
fellowship with him. Jesus is Emmanuel (God with us; Matthew 1:23);
Jesus is God in human flesh (Colossians 2:8-9; John 20:28); the “second
person” of the Trinity. He is “Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of
God, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit” (Luke 1:35), “born of the
virgin Mary” (Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 1:31-35), “suffered under Pontius
Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried” (Matthew 27:24-60); “the third
day he rose from the dead” (Matthew 28:1-10); “he ascended into heaven”
(Acts 1:9-10); he will come again to judge the living and the dead”
(Acts 1:11; John 5:28-29; Matthew 25:31-46), whom we confess in the
second article of the Apostles’ Creed.
John the Baptist was the “Elijah” (the great prophet) who was to
precede the coming of the Messiah (Matthew 17:10-13). God commissioned
John the Baptist to prepare the people for the coming of the Messiah,
and God revealed the Messiah to John. John faithfully testified that
Jesus was the Messiah. John baptized with water for repentance, but
Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit (John 1:33; see Matthew 3:11).
Jesus is God’s only provision for the forgiveness of our sins and our
restoration to fellowship with God (Acts 4:12; John 14:6). The Holy
Spirit is the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of God dwelling within
believers, through whom we have personal fellowship with our Lord
(Romans 8:9). The Holy Spirit is the “third person” of the Trinity,
confessed in the words of the third article of the Apostles’ Creed.
From the beginning of Creation, Jesus has been God’s plan to gather his
people to personal fellowship with him (John 1:1; 14). Have you come to
a personal fellowship with God your creator, through faith in his Son
Jesus Christ, by the indwelling of his Holy Spirit?
Today
is the day the Church celebrates the doctrine of the Holy
Trinity.
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