Title: Praise the Eternal (Job 26:1-14)
Content Title: Praise the Eternal!
Bible: Job 26:1-14 Hymns: 419
In Chapter 25 of the preceding chapter, Bildad denounced Job by stating the omnipotence of God and the finiteness of man. In this regard, Job mentions God's almighty and vast power and disposition in the text in more detail and detail than Bildad (5-14). In doing so, Job rebukes Bildad for using God's holy attributes as a means of boasting in knowledge (v. 3), and further extols the mystical nature of God who permeates the universe (14).
How about the power and majesty of God revealed through Job's pleadings?
1. He is the ruler of hell and heaven (verses 5-7).
In particular, unlike Bildad, who spoke of the God of heaven, Job starts from the shadowy realm of the lower world and ascends to the higher world. 5In the previous article, it was said that 'spirits departed from the waters and feet,' and 'spirits' here refer to the dead and ghosts. However, Job is singing about the power of God who has power over the grave. The writer of Hebrews said that this is like being naked before the Lord God.
(Hebrews 4:12) “For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
Verse 7 says, “He stretches out the heavens over the empty space, and restores the earth to space.” 'Empty' means 'nothing', that is, 'emptiness'. The astonishing secret of creating something out of nothing and suspending the earth in the air is telling before the development of astronomy.
In front of this wonderful providence of God and its power and majesty, we only freely worship and praise.
(Rev 1:18) “I am a living being, I was dead before; behold, I am alive for ever and ever, and I have the keys of death and Hades.”
2. He is the ruler of the clouds and the natural world (vv. 8-10).
(Job 26:8) “He wraps the water in a dense cloud, but the cloud beneath it is not torn.”
It poetically expresses the God who dominates natural phenomena. In other words, it is said that the vapor and rain in the air are gathered together as if they were packed in a wide leather bag and then fall. It is a song about the mercy of God, who bestows grace with rain from time to time.
(Deuteronomy 32:2) “My teaching is the rain that falls, and my words are the dew that falls, the rain on soft grass, and the sweet rain on the greens.”
God also used heavenly bodies to separate light from darkness (verse 10).
(Job 26:10) “He has set boundaries on the waters, but he has set limits to the limits of light and darkness.” In other words, it refers to a phenomenon in which the eastern and western hemispheres of the earth change into day and night respectively. In God's providence, the earth, sun, moon, and stars are moving respectively. This vast stage is our God. That is where our comfort lies, and the basis on which we can be bold.
3. He is the ruler of mountains, seas and constellations (verses 11-13).
Verse 11 says, “The pillars of heaven tremble.” ‘Pillars of the sky’ is a word that embodies the great mountains that seem to support the sky. In other words, the shaking of the great mountains and earthquakes were regarded as phenomena caused by the wrath of God (Psalm 29). Also, with his wisdom he struck and destroyed Rahab (the sea)' (verse 12), which indicates the omnipotence of God, who raises the waves of the sea and rules over them calmly.
In the end, God is the One who overcomes all things in nature, heavenly things, and even the powers of the devil. Indeed, just as the wind blows, the clouds are lifted, and the sunlight shines in the clear sky, God is the One who has adorned the world he has created by defeating the forces that oppose God and threaten His people.
Therefore, we offer only reverence and praise before the power and majesty of God. This is what the saints have decided, and this is the holy purpose for which God created man.
In order to achieve God's holy purpose, we must now break down Satan's schemes that have broken that purpose and go to restore Satan's kingdom to God's. He has given us the weapons of the gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit and the privilege to bind Satan. Let's go and conquer the world with the gospel and work hard so that the kingdom of God can fill this earth!