Who Do You Say? Reading With the People of God #19নমুনা

The Mystery of Suffering

We watch the news, sometimes real-life crime shows, and are often astonished at the light sentence, or no sentence, for a terrible crime. The world is full of injustice. Why does God let this happen?! Surely these transgressions are not hidden from Him.

Job, an innocent man, and a lover of God, is suffering. He looks outward and sees criminals, both rich and poor, getting away with wrongdoing, and he’s confused. How does God tolerate injustice and yet let His faithful servant, Job, suffer? It is the same question the martyrs ask in Revelation 6:9-10; How long, oh God, until you avenge us? The innocent suffer and the wicked get away with murder.

From the oldest book in the Bible to the last book, the question is the same: why. We want to bring God down to our level of understanding of justice. We forget His ways are higher, broader, purposeful, and eternal. We walk the surface of the earth, and our understanding depends on what we are taught, what we think we know, our values, and our sense of right and wrong. The book of Job shows us that there is a realm beyond ours that we are not now privy to, a realm that God governs, whose purpose is to bring glory to Himself. Job brought glory to God in that, through all his suffering, he held tightly to God. He didn’t understand, he suffered greatly, lost everything, but he remained faithful to his God. Though Job’s sufferings were a mystery to him, they brought glory to God in that it proved, that brought to nothing, God remained everything to this man of faith.

That is the lesson of Job. "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him..."Job 13:15 KJV. God is not accountable to us, and our purpose is not to question Him, but as a mere mortal, to be used to bring Him glory, in whatever way He deems, that is our highest calling, our chief end.

A Message For the Ages

Ever since Hal Lindsey wrote "The Late Great Planet Earth" in 1970, Christians have had a riveted interest in end times. Those who like to study this subject know that there are four primary views of eschatology, and these are sometimes confusing and seem contradictory.

Our view, the Reformed view, looks at the book of Revelation as it might have been understood by those who first read it. From the time of Moses, Hebrew readers understood that God spoke of the future in symbolism; even their former worship and the priesthood were symbols of what was to come in Jesus Christ.

These passages use symbolic words that carry meaning and conjure up images with a message that God wants us to discern. The word “beast” evokes an image of evil power, something unstoppable and global. This evil political entity will share its power and authority with an equally sinister companion, religion. Politics and religion, together, will wage war against the kingdom of God on earth, the church.

Many will look at the power, perhaps even the magnificence, of these two mighty entities and cower or submit to their evil schemes. One of the offerings to control the masses, and further the power of a one-world government, will be to take the mark, to buy into, to join the ranks of the political machine forging ahead. We read in Revelation 13:16-18 that this submission will be one of intention; a person must submit and agree to the demands of this political machine.

Then, just beyond the passage for today’s reading, in Revelation 14:9, we are given a dire warning not to take the mark, not necessarily a real mark, but a spiritual mark, that aligns us with the beast, the evil authority, exerting its power against Christ and the church.

Those suffering will want to find a way out, a way to lessen the burden of misery. They will be tempted to turn away from God, to find a manageable way to live on this earth. It’s the story of Job. If you find yourself at the mercy of the evil one, will you use your suffering to bring glory to God? Will you have written on you His name and His Father’s name?

During this Advent season, we celebrate the birth of God, who came in human flesh, to claim His people and establish His kingdom. Jesus set aside His position in Heaven, His glory, His Omni’s, and came here to suffer and bear our sins in death. All to the glory of God. May our lives bring glory to Him, especially in suffering. Bringing glory to God is our chief end.

Primer contributed by Jinet Troost