Fri.’s Devo - Death for the Wicked

Read Job 18 Bildad rebukes Job for his complaints against them. He asks Job if he thinks he is right and the whole earth wrong. Job had just asked whether his life is going to just be over and worthless. Bildad gives a whole speech about what happens to wicked people when they die, insinuating that if Job doesn’t repent, he will be with them. The wicked bring their own death upon themselves. When he dies the Devil will capture his feet with a net and drag him to hell. He will be so afraid that his strength will be totally be gone. Any hope of escaping the Devil’s hold will be gone. He will be brought before Death, the king of terrors and consumed. His body will be covered in sulfur and his life will be dried up in the underground. Above the ground his branch, his family line will be cut off or stopped. No one will remember him in the earth and he will be “driven” out of life into death - out of light into darkness. There will be no one to carry on his name but the ones left of his household will be afraid of what happened to him. This is what happens to those who don’t know God. This is probably a good description of what does happen to the wicked. Thank God for Jesus’ blood that covers us and delivers us from death.

Thurs.’s Devo - Job Fights Back

Read Job 16 and 17 Job cracks me up! He tells his friends that they are miserable comforters. He wants to know when they are going to give up. If the tables were turned and he was the counselor, he would try to actually comfort them and ease their pain instead of adding to it. Job accuses them of giving him wrinkles and causing him to loose too much weight. Then in verse 9 he begins to lash out at the Devil. He feels like he is the object of Satan’s anger. He thinks he has been marked by him and all the host of hell are against him which is the truth. Job has been humbled to grieve and sit defiled in the dust. Job holds to his confession that God is his Lord and he is faithful to him even though his friends disagree. In verse 21 he is crying out for a saviour - someone to be the mediator between God and man. But, since there seems no hope for Job’s life he prays for death to rescue him. Job mourns what he has become. Where he was once a blessing, now he has become an object of scorn. He is quickly dwindling away. What has happened to him will be a marvel to men who walk uprightly and will cause them to walk more uprightly and fear God even more. But, as for his 3 friends, they are all unwise. Job sees no hope left for him. His light has been turned to darkness and his days cut short. He will rest in Sheol - the place in hell where all men went until Jesus died. It is hard to relate to Job’s plight since we don’t know if we have ever been used as an example to the host of heaven of our righteousness, but I bet we have more than we know. There are many trials that we don’t understand why they came. Maybe we are the example to the spirit world and maybe we are an example to the seen world. Either way, all we go through reveals our true beliefs. Lord, may we be an example of faithfulness.

Wed.’s Devo - Eliphaz Describes the Wicked Man

Read Job 15:1-35 Eliphaz wants to know why Job thinks he is so much smarter than them. Has he been around since the earth began and knows all of God’s secrets? He believes that Job is blaspheming God by claiming to be innocent. No man is clean before God. Then Eliphaz describes the “wicked man” hoping that Job will see himself in the description. The wicked man is in pain all his life and when he prospers, then the destroyer (the Devil) comes and destroys what he has. He is reduced to a beggar and trouble and distress will follow him because he set himself against God. This will happen because he defied God and trusted in his riches. His riches will burn away and never return. He shall not be fruitful but end up with the hypocrites. The houses of those who receive bribes will be consumed with fire. The wicked are pregnant with worry and reap trouble and deceit. This is true of the wicked man, it just wasn’t true of Job. Job’s friends couldn’t understand how an innocent person could go through all that much trouble and it not be judgment. When we don’t understand what is happening it is best to just wait on the Lord to reveal it to us. Sometimes we need to just “count it all joy….” James 1:2 Lord, we trust that you know what is going on in the world and in our country and in our lives.

Tues.’s Devo - The Plight of Man

Read Job. 13:12-14:22 Job pleads with his friends to stop talking and to leave him alone in his misery. Though God has chosen to harm him, he is still going to trust him and keep walking as he has with God. Job is confident in the end that God will justify him. He does ask God for 2 things: for God to stop fighting against him and for God to take away the fear Job has of him. Job wants to have a conversation with God. He asks God to show him his sins instead of hiding them from him. Surely God won’t continue to crush him. He feels totally destroyed. Then in chapter 14, he starts talking about man in general. There days are numbered and short. How can man, born of dust, ever be clean. At least trees can sprout again, after being cut down, but not man. He dies, and then what? In Job’s understanding, when a man dies, he sleeps till the heavens are no more. So Job wants to be hid in the grave till the wrath of God is accomplished on the earth and at the set time God will remember him. In verse 14 he asks, “If a man die, shall he live again?” He believes he will because he says that while he is sleeping in the grave he is waiting for his change to come. God will call him and he will answer because God will have a purpose for him. But for now his steps are numbered and God sees his sin. One day God will seal up man’s transgression and iniquity. Sin will come to an end. God will wash man’s iniquity away and man’s plans will come to naught. Judgment day will come and man will be judged.

Mon.’s Devo - Job Heats Up

Read Job 12-13:11 This always makes me laugh. Job’s answer to all his friends is that surely, without a doubt they are THE people and wisdom will die when they die. Then he tries to enlighten them to the fact that he also has a little understanding and is not below them. He tells them that it is easy for people not being attacked to mock and judge those that are. Even people who steal and hate God seem to prosper for a while. But ask the animals, the fish, the earth and the birds and they will attest that wisdom and understanding is found in the aged. If God chooses to shut something, it can’t be opened. (Rev. 3:8) God is in control and if he decides to do something; nothing can stop him. The deceived and the deceiver are his which means that the ungodly and the devil are under his control. He can shut the mouth of wrong council and bad judgement. He can set kings free or bind them up. He controls all government. He can take the voice away from a man the people trust and make an old man senile. He can cause rulers to lose favor and make strong nations weak. He can reveal secrets out of nothing and raise the dead. He can send the leader to wander in the wilderness like he did to Nebuchadnezzer in Daniel 4. All of this Job claims to have seen or heard God do. He claims to know the same things his buddies know. He would love to speak with God and ask him some questions. But as for his friends, he calls them liars and worthless doctors who should have opted to be quiet. At least then, they would have appeared to know something. Then he asks them a few questions. Are they speaking for God these lies, or will they fight against God Almighty? Do they have no fear of God, themselves? I have to agree with Job that his friends should have opted to keep quiet. Maybe instead they should have offered to help clean up after the fray and help Job get his life back together. In their service they might have gained God’s heart for Job. Lord, give us discernment to know what to do in every situation we face. When there seem to be no answers, let us not fabricate one.

Fri.’s Devo - Zophar Speaks Up

Read Job 11:1-20 Zophar decides to take the challenge. I think if I had been Zophar I would have lived up to my name and “departed early”….(that’s what his name means). But, he want his time in the sun, so he speaks up. He also wants Job to repent. He starts out asking Job who he things he is to think he is so faultless. If God was taking his try, he would show Job some things he doesn’t know because God is so much deeper. He asks Job if he thinks his wisdom is higher than God’s. For, he explains, only God’s thoughts are as high as heaven and as deep as hell. Ig God chooses to judge someone - who can stop him. Then he gives a comical adage: The day a brainless man is wise is the day a donkey will birth a man. He tells Job that if he will humble himself and repent and put away his sin that he will be clean, steadfast, with nothing to fear. Then God will turn everything around for him. But if he is wicked, then he will not be able to escape God’s hand and his only hope will be death. This seems to be the case to all watching but we know it isn’t. Lord, help us to be good counselors when we see people hurting around us. Let us be slow to speak, quick to hear and may we rely on the Holy Spirit’s answer - not our own.

Thurs.’s Devo - Job’s Plead With God

Read Job 10:1-22 Job loses all restraint. he tells God he hates, loathes his life. He asks God if he is enjoying oppressing him. Then he asks God questions about himself: What do you do all day? Is your day like min? Do you sit around waiting for me to mess up. He wants to know why God took the time to create him and fashion him into the person he is just to destroy him. He realizes that man is made of dust and that he will return to dust. God took all the time and are to put all his body parts together and clothe him in flesh and give him life, but Job can’t future out why. Why did God spend that much time and energy on a man he would destroy. He realizes God has a purpose for preserving his spirit even though everything else is seemingly gone. He realizes that being good is not good enough before a holy God so he wants to know why God created. What is Job here for? Haven’t we all asked these same questions at some time in our lives. I’m sure the people that lived before Jesus really did. Jesus brought us the answer. We are here to do the will of our father and share life with all who live in darkness. Lord, help us to do just that.

Wed.'s Devo - Job Continues

Read Job. 9:23-35 By now Job has gotten a little bitter towards God. Job claims God destroys the wicked right along with the innocent. When widespread disaster hits, it is no respecter of persons. Job claims that God takes pleasure in watching the innocent suffer. The wicked take over and justice is distorted and God is in control. Job is watching his life slip away. He argues that if he tries to put on a happy face, he feels like his fate is sealed. There is no way to change his life. Soap won't cleanse his soul. Job fells powerless. Job finds no way to relate to God. God is not a man and there is no mediator to bridge the gap. Job absolutely fears god. This was the plight of man before Jesus came. They were afraid of God. and his power. They didn't see him as a loving father but a powerful being that was impossible to please. David in the Old Testament and Jesus in the New showed us the loving kindness of the Lord. Lord, thank you for your goodness and your love for fragile man. Thank you for Jesus, our mediator. I thank you for opening our hearts and minds to know you.

Tues.’s Devo - Job’s Answer to Bildad

Read Job 9:1-22 Job answers Bildad’s reasoning that Job is not righteous. He wants to know how man can be righteous compared to God, but he golds to the fact that he is innocent. He understands that no one can oppose God and win. God has sovereign rule over the earth. He can level a mountain with an earthquake, make the sun stop from rising, (which he did in Exodus as one of the plagues and when Jesus hung on the cross. In Is. 38:8 he actually made the sundial go back 10 degrees.) expand the heavens and send storms to the seas. He created the constellations and Hell. God is invisible and all powerful - no one can stand against him. So who am I - Job wants to know - to be able to reason with God and present his case. God crushes him without a reason he says, He won’t let up on him or give Job a break. When he stands before God to be judged, there is nothing Job can say that will impress him. But, in Job’s heart he knows that he is innocent so he now understands that God destroys innocent people along with the wicked. Being righteous and being innocent are two different things. Righteous means that there is no sin and innocent means that as far as one knows he is doing what it right. Job is not claiming to be righteous, but innocent. His friends are accusing him of thinking he is righteous. Lord, I pray that we walk innocently before you and that your righteousness would be our guide.

Mon.’s Devo - Bildad's Wisdom

Read Job 8:1-22 Today we hear from Bildad the Shuhite. Bildad rebukes Job for thinking that God doesn’t know what he’s doing. He asks: does God judge wrong. He believes that if Job would seek God and if Job was pure and upright, then surely God would have done something to help him. A man who walks with God should start small and should increase as he matures. Ask anyone who has lived a long time: there is no way to go through life and not get a little “dirty”. A man who forgets God or “pretend” to know God, is like marshy grass that grows along the Nile, if denied water it dies while it is still green and withers quicker than other plants. The things he trusts in will be a snare and unable to hold him up when he needs them to. He is uncovered (green before the sun) in the heat of adversity and even though he was prosperous like weeds. Once ripped up, he is quickly forgotten and replaced. But God will not do that to a man that walks before him in righteousness, not will he help a sinner. Bilhad believes Job has some hidden sin also. One thing he knows for sure, the people who hate Job will be clothed with shame. Too bad Bildad did not have the book of James then he could have read that we are to rejoice when trials come our what because they produce patience and is the way to becoming the “perfect man”. The bottom line in anything that comes our way is to trust in God. Suffering is part of the world we live in because the devil has been unleashed on the earth. But, what we need to remind ourselves is that the one inside of us is greater and has more power. Lord, teach us to know how and when to fight.

Fri.’s Devo - God is Sovereign

Read Job 7:1-21 Yesterday Job gave his request for God to take his life. Today he is musing about life. Everyone spends their life thinking of themselves. The slave desires the day to be over so he can go home and rest. The hired man desires his pay, and Job desires it all to be over because his life is miserable - day and night. He sees no hope ahead for himself. Man’s life is like a cloud that vanishes away and no one remembers him. Job feels God’s oppression. When he sleeps, God scares him with nightmares. Job hates his life and is begging to die. He feels like God’s heavy hand is on him and won’t let up. He thinks that God is against him and will not forgive his sins. We know the truth. God has set a mark upon him. God singled him out - but not because of his sin - because of his righteousness. He is on display for all heaven and hell to watch. What he does and what he says is important. Little does he know all this, but God has chosen him - not rejected him. I wonder how many times we feel, like Job, that God is visiting and blessing everyone but us, when in truth, we might be being set on high as an example. We’ll never know on this side, but we will in eternity. So, let’s use Job as our reminder that God does everything for a purpose and maybe it is not ours to know. One thing is for certain: God never leaves us or forsakes us, He is working all things for our good, and God loves us with pure love. Lord, help us not to question your working in our lives, but help us to trust your faithfulness and your love.

Thurs.’s Devo - Job’s First Response

Read Job 6:1-30 This is Job’s first reply. He is weighed down with grief that is greater than words can express. He feels that the Lord is fighting against him. He talks of animals that are only noisy when they are being denied their substance. People are not like animals. They need more than substance like egg whites need salt. Job has kept himself from anything unclean and now he is covered with boils that make him unclean. If only God would grant him one request - death. Job knows better than to take his own life. He wants God to take it. Why should he live since everything he lived for is gone. He has no wisdom left. Job rebukes Eliphaz for not having compassion on him instead of his accusation that he must have some sin in his life. He compares his friends that think wrong of him to be like a brook that has turned to ice. When the heat is turned on they melt and flow away. Right now Job’s heat is on and all his friends have evaporated. (Remember, Job was one of the most influential men of his time. Where are all the men who were his friend when he was blessed?) These friends disappointed him like the desert disappointed the troops of Tema and of Sheba. They were desert dwellers always looking for water and many times not finding it. He asks them if he has ever asked them to help him with money, protection, or anything. If they can think of anything he might owe them, then they need to show him. If they can point to something he has done wrong, then he will listen. But he tells Eliphaz: your words are not true and are like the wind. They only overwhelm me and put me down even more. But…”How forcible are right words!” I think those last few words are the best thing Job said. Our words can be so powerful when they are God’s words. God will stand behind his words and make sure they accomplish what they are suppose to. Lord, let our words be from you only and powerfully perform their purpose.

Wed.’s Devo.- Great Promises

Read Job 5:1-27 Eliphaz continues. He asks Job that if he calls out to the angels, which one does he think will answer him? Being mad or envious of others will only get him death. It is the foolish man whose children are not safe, whose harvest is eaten by the poor, and whose livelihood is stolen. Trouble and affliction don’t just happen without a reason. So if Eliphaz was Job, he would seek God’s counsel. God can do great and marvelous things. He never fails. He sends the rain to water the fields and he lifts up those that mourn and are downcast. He makes them dwell in safely. He can stop the plans of the wicked and turn them back on them. He causes their vision to be cloudy so that they can’t see the obvious. But, God saves the poor from being harmed or spoken against or mistreated. So they have hope as do all who God corrects. We should always be thankful when God corrects us. God will bring affliction to correct us but he will never leave us that way. He will always heal our wounds and make us better. He can deliver us no matter how man finds to get in trouble and in the end, no evil will touch us. He will preserve us in times of lack and protect us when being attacked. We will be hidden from verbal abuse and will have no fear of the future. We will stand on all the promises God has given in the past. These promises he refers to as the “stones of the field”. (They would place stones to remember the covenants God made with them.) Even wild animals will not harm us. We will live in peace and in righteousness. Our seed will be powerful and plentiful. We will live a long full life bringing forth fruit in the right season. Then he tells Job, he is only telling this for his own good. What Eliphaz says is true and an awesome promise, it just didn’t apply to Job’s situation. He wasn’t the foolish man that Eliphaz was referring to but it doesn’t negate the truth of Eliphaz’s words. He just were saying them to the wrong situation. Lord, help us to apply the promises we read today to our own situations and see how wonderfully powerful you want to be in our lives.

Tues.’s Devo. - Eliphaz Speaks FIrst

Read Job 4:1-21 Today we will hear from Eliphaz. He starts with asking Job if it would be ok if he said something. They have sat there in silence for seven days and he has stored up a wealth of knowledge he is dying to spill. He admonishes Job’s accomplishments: he has taught many and given many hope but now he is the one in need of help. He explains that the people who sow righteousness, reap righteousness and those who sow iniquity, will reap iniquity. Then he goes into the telling of a dream he had during their mourning. In his dream he was filled with fear which caused him to physically shake. A spirit passed in front of him which was very scary. He couldn’t make out what it was but he heard God’s voice say, “Is man more just or pure than God?” Even God didn’t trust his own servants and some of his angels rebelled and were kicked out of heaven.” (2 Pet. 2:4) So how much less trust is God going to put in man who is a house of clay, who came from dust, and will die like a moth. Men are born and die everyday without knowing the wisdom of God. Eliphaz is trying to insinuate that Job must have some hidden sin that has caused this to happen to him. His response is a popular and common response we have when things don’t go right. We tend to immediately think we have done something to deserve it. Sometimes we have. Prov. 26:2 says that a curse won’t stick to a person without a cause, but that doesn’t mean that every time something doesn’t go our way, it’s because of what we have done. That is why we have the Holy Spirit: to lead us into all truth. Lord, when it seems we are under a curse; show us the truth and what to do about it.

Mon.’s Devo - Job’s Greatest Fear

Read Job 3:1-26 After 7 days of silence, Job breaks it with cursing the day he was born. How do you try to change something that has already happened? He wishes that he had been born dead. Then he would be at rest now. He speaks of kings and counsellors who built coffins to lay their bodies in, and princes who filled their tombs with gold and silver. He would like to be with them where there is rest from troubles. In the place of the dead there are the rich, the wicked, the prisoners, the great and the small - the servant and the master. Job wonders why life was given to the miserable, and bitter which wish they were dead. Why was life given to him, whose ways are hid and whom God has hedged in? Job feels locked in life and no way to escape. Then Job says something very important in verst 25. “For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.” If Job is guilty of one thing it is this. Fear. He feared his children would sin, so he went to their house every time they got together and cleansed them and gave sacrifices on their behalf. All his “deeds” could not save them. He thought that his righteousness would get his children favor with God. This was Job’s one fault: he couldn’t trust God with his family. This was Job’s greatest fear and it came. But, Job is going to find out that God is bigger than his fear. Sometimes God will allow your biggest fear to happen just to show you that you can endure it and God can help you. Our greatest fear should be God. We should fear him enough to trust him for everything. He is a loving God worthy of our lives. Lord, we trust you with our biggest fears. May we fear you above all.

Fri.’s Devo - Job’s Friends Arrive

Read Job 2:11-13 The rest of Job has to do with the conversations he has with his three friends, and eventually a forth, that come to comfort him and give their opinion about what has happened to Job, God, and the universe. The first friend was Eliphaz the Temanite. Eliphaz means God of fine gold: my God has refined. That tells us that he had much wisdom that had to be refined since the Bible compares gold to wisdom. Job’s dilemma was part of his refining. Temanite means southern so he came from the south which usually has to do with the underground where hell is. (I’m sure he had a twang!) Bildad, the second friend means confusing (by mingling) love. He is from Bildad which means a pit or a jackal which also has to do with hell. The third friend was Zophar the Naamathite. Zophar means departing early: a climber. He is from Naamathite which means pleasant. (Now that’s a pleasant change.) These three friends were of equal social status as Job: wealthy, leaders, and considered wise. They traveled to come and sit and mourn with Job for 7 days!!! When they saw him a distance away they wailed and cried, rent their garments and sprinkled dust on their heads because of the horrible state Job was in. The whole time they sat with Job, they never said a word. They just consoled him with their presence. I have to say that I am impressed. Who in our days would leave their busy lives and take a weeks vacation to just come and sit in the dust with a friend. That is true intercession. Lord, that we would learn to be friends that know how to comfort those who mourn like Job’s friend did.

Thurs.’s Devo - Satan’s Next Blow

Read Job 2:1-10 It is meeting day again in heaven and all the hosts: good and evil, were there. The first verse reminds me of how subject Satan is to God. He comes to present himself before the Lord. Once again God asks Satan what he has been doing and Satan answers once again “going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.” I think the “to and fro” is walking parallel like we walk, but the “up and down” is moving through spiritual roads that run perpendicular. The scientists call these worm holes. I call them spiritual highways. And, once again God brings Job to Satan’s attention. He praises Job’s integrity to honor God even though everything he had has been destroyed without a cause. Satan challenges God to destroy his own body and then see how faithful Job is to God. God had a lot of faith in Job and told Satan to do whatever he wanted to do just not to kill him. Satan left and went to Job and put boils all over his body. These boils burned and itched so Job had to take pieces of broken pots to scratch with to try to relieve the irritation. Even his wife was used against him. She tried to turn Job’s heart from God and encouraged Job to blame God. She told him to curse God and die. (Crazy woman.) Job called her foolish. Then Job asked a very profound question. “Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” It is true that we only want good and not evil. Job resigned himself to take whatever God brought his way. There was no entitlement in Job; he just stayed faithful to God. Lord, may we be faithful to you as Job was and not question what you do in our lives; maybe we are being used as a weapon of warfare against the enemy like Job was.

Wed.’s Devo - Job’s Response

Read Job 1:12-22 God gave Satan the power to attack everything Job owned but he could not touch Job himself. Satan is merciless. He can do nothing the Lord doesn’t allow him to do but if you give him an inch, he will take a mile. The next day Job got the message from one of his servants that while his kids were feasting, the Sabeans attacked and killed the servants and took all the oxen and donkeys and he was the only one who escaped. Before he could finish his story, another servant arrived with news that fire fell from heaven and burned up his sheep and servants and he is the lone survivor. Before he could finish, another servant arrived with news that the Chaldeans had stolen all his camels and killed all the servants except him. Then a fourth servant came in with news that a great wind from the wilderness came and destroyed the house where his children were feasting, killing all of them with their servants and he was the only one that survived. Jobs response: he got up, rent his mantle, shaved his head, and fell down on the ground and worshipped God. He acknowledged before God that he had nothing when he came into this world and everything he had obtained had come from God. Now God had taken everything away and he would still bless his name. What a response! After losing everything, Job did not sin or blame God foolishly. Job lost his livelihood and his family and was left with four servants he could no longer pay and a wife. The Chaldeans mean “clod-breakers” so Job was attacked by earth, wind and fire…. and the Sabeans which means “busybodies”. I guess they stood for the demons sent from hell. And in all this he did not blame God foolishly. No doubt he was devastated by the fact that he rent his mantle and shaved his head. It is mind-boggling to me how God allowed this and how Job passed the test. God knew he would. Lord, help me to remember Job’s response when things don’t go my way and I feel attacked. Remind me that we are in a battle against good and evil, God and Satan and You will always win.

Tues.’s Devo - Job’s Abundant Beginning

Read Job 1:1-11 I know that Job is a book many skip because they think it is too hard to understand and they don’t see the significance of it, but that is not true. Job is the oldest manuscript in the Bible. The author is unknown and it deals with the problem of affliction which our world can surely relate to. It gives us fundamental doctrines that we need to know and secrets into many mysteries of God, so I felt it would be a good place to study next. I’ll have to admit I am a little, no a lot, intimidated to blog about it myself , so let’s just rely on the Holy Spirit to lead us to truth. Job is from the land of Uz which means “counsel” which is why Job was so deep. He was like the philosophers or physiologists of today. Job’s name means “cry of woe”, so this book is his cry of woe. He was a very rich man who feared God, lived righteously, and hated sin. The Bible says he was perfect! The only other person the Bible says is perfect is Jesus. He had 7 sons; 3 daughters; 7,000 sheep; 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen; 500 she asses, and many servants. (I wrote these all out so we could see the numbers: 3- the trinity; 7 - complete; 5- grace.) He was so rich he was considered the wealthiest and most powerful man in the east. His sons had lots of parties where there was eating and drinking. When they would finish their season of partying, Job would come to their house and sanctify them and offer sacrifices in their behalf just in case they sinned and cursed God while they were drinking. It said Job had to do this continually which tells me they did a lot of partying. Verse 6 makes it sound like there is a day in heaven when the hosts of heaven have to come before God. Satan and his demons were part of this meeting. God addressed Satan and asked him where he had be hanging out. He told him he had been walking up and down the earth; to and fro. So God asked him if he had run across his servant, Job, who was perfect, unlike all other men because he hated evil and feared God. Satan had considered Job and knew all about him. He accused God of making his life so abundant that it was easy for him to trust. He challenged God to take away all his blessings and see the real Job. Lord, we want you to say of us what you said of Job that we were perfect, hating evil and loving you.

Mon.’s Devo - Jesus Last Words

Read Luke 24:33-53 The two men who walked with Jesus to Emmaus and saw him disappear before their very eyes, got right back on that same road and probably ran back to Jerusalem. They found the disciples and told them what had happened to them. When they got to the part where Jesus broke the bread and disappeared, Jesus appeared in the room. He asked them why they were troubled and why they had thoughts arising in their hearts. (I thought that thoughts came from our heads, but these came from their fearful hearts.) He told them to look at his hands and feet and to touch him to make sure he was not a ghost. While they were trying to process what they were looking at, Jesus asked for something to eat. A spirit would not eat people food. He ate the fish and honey so they could watch. Jesus told them that what they were experiencing was what he and the prophets had prophecied about. Jesus explained that it was necessary that he suffer, die, and be raised up the 3rd day. He also opened up scripture to them like Hosea 6 which says: “1 Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. 2 After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. 3 Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.” Jesus came to heal and bind up their wombs but he sent them on to Jerusalem to wait for the power God was going to send like the latter rain. The Holy Spirit would help them to live in the light. Jesus led them to Bethany then blessed them and was carried up to heaven. The disciples worshipped the Lord, and then returned to Jerusalem with great joy and went to the temple praising and blessing God. I can only imagine what it was like to see Jesus risen from the grave and have him explain scripture. We now have the Holy Spirit who never leaves us who can do that if we allow him to. Holy Spirit, open our eyes to your Word. Let your latter rain fall on us.