Alright, let's go back to Job
chapter 42. We've seen in this chapter Job
brought to repentance. And then we've seen Job as a
type of Christ. Now tonight we're going to conclude
our study of this book by speaking of Job restored to prosperity. Job restored to prosperity. Now
think about The whole context of the book of Job. And how God
has taught us so much. I know I've learned so much in
studying this book. I hope you have too. We're learners
together, aren't we? The Word of God. Disciples of
Christ. Think about it. Now Job has been
persecuted in a great way. Hard way. By Satan. but yet under the protection
and preservation of the sovereign grace and mercy and wisdom and
will of God. I mean, in everything we've seen
here that Job has gone through, it's God working all things after
the counsel of his own will. And I'll tell you, you know as
well as I do, there's a lot of people who don't want to hear
that. They want to talk about a world out of control or chaos
or God didn't intend this, God didn't intend that. And I know,
I know it's tough for old, old human beings like us to understand
and grasp these. It's not only tough, it's impossible.
You know what Job said? He said, I've uttered things
that I've been ignorant of. I can't explain. God's all wise. But Job's been persecuted under
the sovereign hand of God. Now it was Satan was the instrument.
Satan meant it for evil. But God meant it for good. If
you don't believe that, just close this book up. I'll tell
you, because you just can't get it without seeing that. Joseph
understood that. He's the one who uttered those
words. He said, I know you fellas, you meant it for evil, but God
meant it for good to save much people alive. You remember that?
Back in the book of Genesis. And so we see God's preserving
grace in Christ at work in the life of Job. And don't you see
that in your life too? I see it in my life. And I hope
if the Lord lets me live much longer, I hope I'll see it more
and more every day. But you know Job in a lot of
ways, now he saw, and I told you last time, I said I wouldn't
even begin to say that my troubles, my trials, My temptations are
even on the same scale as what Job went through. I've been so
blessed, and many of you have too. But in a way, Job is typical
of all true believers. He really is going through trial. Here's the way it normally works
when we go through a trial. Now, Job, it came real quick.
I mean, it just like hit him. One day, everything was there.
And then the next day, he'd lost everything. I've never experienced
anything like that. I've seen things kind of gradually
go downhill. But it kind of goes something
like this. We go to humility. We start out with humility. And
God-given faith, and we know that humility and faith is the
gift of God. It's not in us by nature. And
then pretty soon, and I know for me it doesn't take too long,
I go to complaining, murmuring, and then I go even to unbelief.
And we have to fight that battle continually. And that's why I
read those passages that we read. You know, Peter spoke of an inheritance
that's incorruptible. Don't you thank God that you
are one who has an inheritance that's incorruptible, that fades
not away, that you can't defile it? Even with our complaining,
we can't defile that inheritance. And Job is proof of that. Job was attacked by his friends
who had the well-intentioned but deadly arrows of false accusation
and legalism, false religion. And all this, God put Job in
his place. Now, God has done that. He put
Job in his place, his proper place. But he did not forsake
Job. God did not forsake Job. And
he dealt with Job in grace. And I thought about this, you
know. We think about God answering Job out of the whirlwind. And
when you read those words, it seems like, well, God's just
going to beat up on him, or God's real harsh to him. But that's
not the case at all. Now, God put him in his place.
God said, now, I'm going to get you to thinking here, Job, the
way you should be thinking. I'm God, and you're you. Now,
where were you when I hung the stars in space? He gives Job
his proper place in the universe, which is less than nothing. And
God's everything. But he still dealt with him in
grace and mercy. And so Job is now, he's been
brought to repentance. That's a constant need of God's
children. We always need to be brought
to repentance every day. And then Job prayed for his friends. God brought His friends to repentance
and His prayer was on the basis of sacrifice. Remember He told
them, bring seven bullocks and seven rams and bring an offering
before the Lord. Law and justice has to be satisfied.
God is never going to move off of that. When it comes to the
salvation and the preservation and the regeneration and the
glorification of His people, God will never move off of the
fact that He's holy. and he'll remain so. He'll never
give an inch on his holiness. He'll never give an inch on his
justice. Don't you ever have any notion,
if you're going to think biblically now, if you're going to have
the mind of Christ, don't ever have any notion that God shows
love and grace and mercy without his justice and his holiness
and his righteousness and truth 100% being honored. There's never a second where
God is not just and righteous and true. So Job's friends are
brought to repentance. And remember we saw Job as a
type of Christ there, interceding for his friends. We have a mediator,
an advocate, Jesus Christ the righteous. That's what that picture
is. And all of this shows that the
foundation of the gospel is still intact, even through all this,
that Job has gone through all the mess that his friends brought
in, all the mess that he made. God is both just and righteous
in his dealings with his creatures, despite all the plotting, all
the scheming by Satan to undermine that principle through his attack
upon God's righteous servant, Job. You see, Satan wanted to
prove God to be less than God. That's what he was after. I know
he went after Job, but his main target was to dishonor God. But you can't do it. God wins out. There's no such
thing as failure in God. And that includes the salvation
of his people. Christ died for his people and
he's going to bring all of them to himself. They're going to
have life and they're going to be preserved and they're going
to be brought to glory. He's not going to fail in any
one case. But now even Job has been vindicated by God as an
object of God's grace in Christ. Satan accused him, his friends
accused him, but who shall lay anything to the charge of God's
elect? It's God that justifies. Who can condemn us? It's Christ
that died. Job had been called a hypocrite.
He was no hypocrite. He was a sinner saved by grace.
He was a weak vessel. He was a man in a struggle with
himself. He was ignorant about many things,
but he was not a hypocrite. He looked to Christ. His hope
was in Christ. Where's your hope? Where's my
hope? You see, it's hypocrisy for sinners to look elsewhere
for salvation, for blessing. But to look to Christ, a sinner
seeking mercy, Satan, he's shown to be a liar. Satan hates all
righteous servants of the Lord. So now Job's trial is about to
come to an end here. And by the grace of God, and
through the assurance of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, Job
has been enabled to endure this trial. He's not always said the
right things, he's not always harbored the right attitude,
but he has never forsaken or cursed God to his face, and that's
what Satan wanted. Satan can do a lot of things,
even to God's people, as long as God allows it. But he cannot,
he cannot take us away from Christ. Now aren't you glad? He cannot
bring us to be forsaken by God. He doesn't have that kind of
power. So here's Joe. His good name is about to be
restored. His great wealth, His family,
they're about to be restored to Him. In fact, the Lord restores
all the things that Job has lost, and then some. Job restored to
prosperity. And what He shows through these
things is that God is faithful to His promise. He never fails. He never goes back on His word,
and His word alone is true wisdom to be found. Now I want you to
think about the prosperity of Job here. And I want to tell
you something. One thing I know that Job has
learned through all this. He's going to talk about this.
Look at verse 10. He says, And the Lord turned the captivity
of Job when he prayed for his friends. What he's talking about,
God's blessings are given here and restored to his children
on the basis of the mediatorial work of Christ. He mentions Job's
prayer. It's not that Job in praying
earned his blessings from God, but Job in praying cast himself
at the mercy of God. And that mercy is based upon
that sacrifice that his friends brought. There's the intercession.
What is the ground of blessing? What is the ground of salvation? It's not our prayers. But it's
the ground of our praying, which is the intercessory, mediatorial,
cross work, redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's
why he blessed him. And that's who Job typified here.
We lost everything. Like Job had everything at the
beginning, lost everything. Well, we had everything at the
beginning in Adam, and we lost everything. We fell in Adam.
All the blessings of a perfect world, All the blessings of human
righteousness, we had that. But all that was lost in Adam
when we fell. But just like Job is about to
be blessed, look at verse 10. It says, also the Lord gave Job,
and that is the right word for that. He gave it to him. Job
didn't earn it. This is the sovereign mercy of
God. The Lord, Jehovah there, gave Job twice as much as he
had before, double. And just like we lost all in
Adam, we gain it all back and much more in Christ. In fact,
the scripture says that we're blessed with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And as one old writer
said, that's what we are in Christ before we take the first step
towards God or towards obedience. We start out blessed with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Isn't
that something? And not one of those blessings
that we have in Christ Jesus can we stand up and boast that
we earned it or deserved it. Not one of them. Not one of them. Job could say the same thing.
So here we have Job being restored. Now, One thing, look at verse
11. He says, Then came there unto
him all his brethren, and all his sisters, and all they that
had been of his acquaintance before, all of his close family
and friends before he lost everything. And they did eat bread with him
in his house. Now that's a picture of fellowship
restored. They forsook him before, Job
out there on the dung heap, on the ash heap, and now they didn't
want anything to do with him when he lost everything. But
now it says, and they bemoaned him and comforted him. That is,
they entered into his sorrow and they comforted him over all
the evil that the Lord had brought upon him. Every man also gave
him a piece of money and everyone an earring of gold. And then
it says in verse 12, and I'm going to come back to that, but
look at verse 12. It says, So the Lord blessed the latter end of
Job more than his beginning. Now it says he had 14,000 sheep. That's double what he had before.
6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, 1,000 she-asses. Now that's all
double what he had before. Now that's his material goods.
Now let me say this. One thing that I guarantee you
Job had already learned is that these material blessings cannot
last. They're fleeting. They fade away. Think about it as he was in the
beginning. One day it's all his possession. One day he's enjoying
all of it. One day he's got it all and the
next day it's gone. Just like that. That's fleeting.
So the lesson here is that for Job and for us is to this. Is this. Consider and set your
heart upon and think on those blessings, that prosperity that
cannot be lost. That's what it's all about. The
Bible teaches us that the things of this world pass away. Christ
told His hearers in the Sermon on the Mount, He said, when you
strive for these things of the world and where thieves break
in, where moths thus come in and destroy, But he basically
said, strive for those things which cannot be lost, which cannot
fade away. And we're pointed here ahead
in the redemptive history to the coming of Christ. And God's
promised that his people will receive a double blessing. Let me show you this. Turn over
to Isaiah chapter 40. Now when it talks about a double
blessing, it's not talking about exact math. It's just a way of
symbolically expressing that what we have in Christ is infinitely
more than what we've ever had before. And you can see that
in several ways. Look at Isaiah 40 in verse 1.
He says, Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, sayeth your God.
speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her that her warfare
is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, for she hath received
of the Lord's hand double for all her sins." We receive double
for all our sins. We receive a complete pardon
of all our sins by the blood of Christ. Our sins cannot be
charged to us. We are not held accountable for
our sins in the law court of God's justice. Why? Because Christ took our place. Because Christ went under the
curse of the law in our stead and drank damnation dry. The
wrath of God could never abide upon his children. Why? Because
it abided on Christ. And he took the full measure
of God's wrath for all our sins. They're paid for. There's nothing
left to be done to put away sin. We have to fight the presence
of sin, the influence of sin, the contamination of sin, but
the condemning power of sin is totally 100% gone. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ. The debt to God's law and justice
is 100% paid. And then we receive double. We
have a righteousness that totally, completely, and forever answers
the demands of God's law and justice. The righteousness of
God. It's not, it's much more what
Adam had. Adam had the righteousness of
man. But that was fleeting. That was temporal. That was volatile. We have in Christ the righteousness
of God. The righteousness of Emmanuel. That's an everlasting righteousness
of infinite value which can never be taken away and which can never
be tainted. We stand in Him forever and ever. That's double for all our sins.
That's what Job's prosperity return represents. And then look
over at Isaiah chapter 61. Here's another way that the prophet
states it in verse 7, talking about the coming of Christ to
save and to comfort his people. Verse 7 of Isaiah 61, you know
how that chapter starts out? The Spirit of the Lord God is
upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings.
And how Christ quoted, how he read this in the synagogue in
Nazareth and said to the hearers, he said, today this is fulfilled
before your very eyes. In other words, this is me. That's
what he was saying. You know what they did, you remember?
They took him outside and wanted to throw him off a cliff. Well
look at verse 7, it says, for your shame What is our shame? It's our sin. Your shame, you
shall have double. And for confusion they shall
rejoice in their portion, therefore in their land they shall possess
the double. everlasting joy shall be unto
them, for I, the Lord, love judgment." Now you see, you're not going
to receive double without God's justice being satisfied. There
it comes in again. You know, somebody said one time,
he said, well, you talk a lot about righteousness and justice.
I said, well, I do because I'm preaching the word of God and
God talks a lot about that. He sure does, doesn't he? He
said, I hate robbery for burnt offering. He said, I will direct
their work in truth and I will make an everlasting covenant
with them. You see, this is an everlasting
covenant. The covenant that God made with Adam in the garden
even before the fall was not an everlasting covenant. How
do you know that? Adam fell. It was conditioned
on Adam. The covenant that God made with
Israel on Mount Sinai was not an everlasting covenant. How
do you know? Because it didn't succeed. It
was conditioned on Israel. But the covenant that God makes
with His people, His elect in Christ, is permanent, everlasting,
and unbreakable. Why? Because it's not conditioned
on us, it's conditioned on Christ. The government shall be upon
His shoulders. What did it take to ratify that
covenant? The everlasting covenant that
he's talking about. What did it take? Well, somebody
says, well, it takes your belief. Because you see, Christ died
for us when we were yet enemies. Isn't that right? God chose us
in Christ. What ratifies this cut? The blood
of Christ. Now did it ratify it partly? Huh? No. 100%. And what do we get from the ratification
of this covenant through the blood of Christ? We get righteousness
and look at verse 9, he says in Isaiah 61, their seed shall
be known among the Gentiles and their offspring among the people.
In other words, God's going to bring all his people in. All
that see them shall acknowledge them, they that are the seed
which the Lord hath blessed. This refers to people who have
been born, people living in that day who believed in the Lord
Jesus Christ and people who have yet to be born. You see, it's not conditioned
on us. It's not founded on us. Verse 10, I will greatly rejoice
in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God, for he hath
clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered
me with the robe of righteousness, as a bride groomed decketh himself
with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels,
for as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth
the things that are sown in it to spring forth, so the Lord
God, now listen to it, The Lord God will cause righteousness
and praise to spring forth before all the nations. How's that going
to happen? He's going to send Christ into
the world to bring out of His redemptive glory, His redemptive
work and glory, double for all our sins. That's what Job's restoration,
even with all these material things, represents and typifies. Look back at 1 Peter chapter
1 that I read as our scripture reading. That's what he's talking
about here. Job knew that his eternal salvation
and acceptance before God was not marked by material blessings. You have them one day, the next
day you don't. He knew that His acceptance eternally
before a holy God and blessedness was the fact that I know my Redeemer
lives. And He'll stand in the latter
day. Look at it, verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy,
now there it is now. He says, hath begotten us again
into a lively, even the new birth, is not conditioned on us. That's
the mercy of God at work in Christ. A living hope by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead. Our spiritual life by the power
of the Spirit is from His death, burial, and resurrection. And
then to an inheritance incorruptible. Now Job, Job messed up a lot. You mess up a lot. I mess up
a lot. So if that inheritance could
be corrupted We would corrupt it. No doubt about that. I tell people all the time, I
say, if you, if you, uh, if you think that assurance of salvation
is gained by your works or your obedience, let me tell you something.
The only assurance, the only sure thing that'll come from
that is failure. That's why Christ is called the
surety of the covenant. You're not the surety of it.
I'm not the surety. Can you guarantee anything in
this life or the next? You say, well, I'll guarantee
this. You don't know what you're capable of. You don't know what
circumstances you may be in. Christ is the guarantee and the
Holy Spirit in the new birth is the down payment. So that's
what he's talking. It cannot be corrupted. Look,
verse 4, and undefiled. It cannot be defiled. Now if
it could be defiled, we would do it. And that fadeth not away,
not like these earthly things that we hold on to. And he said
it's reserved in heaven for you. It's a reservation made by Christ. And it says, we're kept by the
power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed
in the last time. And then he says, wherein you
greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, you're
in heaviness through manifold temptations. Now think about
Job. Job had this inheritance. that could not be corrupted,
could not be defiled, could not be fated, could not be fated,
and it's reserved in heaven for him. But now he's going through
heaviness, manifold temptations, you will too, I will too. Why
is that? Verse 7, look at it. That the
trial of your faith being much more precious than of gold that
perisheth, though it be tried with fire, Job was tried with
fire, wasn't he? might be found under the praise
and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. In other words,
go back to Job 42, that's what it's all about. These tests of
faith are simply tests to prove our faith to be genuine. And
here's what it comes through. It's not, do you believe hard
enough, or do you believe enough, or how much do you believe? No,
it's in whom you believe. Who are you looking to for salvation,
period. When you come out on the other
end, what Paul wrote in Hebrews 12, that peaceable fruit of righteousness,
when it's all over, when that trial's done, who are you looking
to for peace and for comfort and for salvation, for rest,
for reward? Who are you looking to for reward?
Huh? Is it you're looking in the mirror
or you're looking to Christ? That's the case. And that's what
that's all about. Job's restoration here cannot,
you know, when we talk about what he got, look back here in
Job 42. 14,000 sheep. You can have 14,000 today and
zero tomorrow, right? 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen,
1,000 she-asses. i'll tell you that we can all
we we don't have any problem i think i think about this with
ourselves we don't have any problem in seeing the value of a lot
of land a lot of animals a little big bank account we don't have
any problem seeing the value of that do we? that's why we
walk by faith and not by sight We have to be brought by the
power of God to see the value of these incorruptible spiritual
things that we have in Christ. You see, Job's restoration here
cannot match the heavenly inheritance that every one of God's people
have and will receive in Christ. But Job's restoration is important
in its own right. And that's what he's describing
here. All these material blessings given to Job are but a type and
a shadow of the eternal. heavenly blessings that we have
in Christ which is so much greater that we have it's so much greater
that we we have difficulty even in conceiving of what we can't
really conceive of what it all is material blessings in this
life are intended by God for his people to illustrate blessings
which we cannot see and ensure us of things better to come.
Paul said it this way in Romans chapter 8 and verse 18. Let me
just read it to you. For I reckon that the sufferings
of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the
glory which shall be revealed in us. Our restoration to glory
and blessedness in Christ is not a return of what we had in
Adam. Believe me, it's much, much more. Much, much more. Well, look here
at verse 13. Now, well, let me say this about
verse 11. You know, he mentions there about
how his friends, his family, came back. They comforted him.
They ate bread with him. And it says there that every
man also gave him a piece of money and everyone an earring
of gold. Now, what I believe that represents
is fellowship restored based on redemption which leads to
sonship. Fellowship restored based on
redemption that leads to sonship. Now, what do I mean by that?
Well, this piece of money here in the original is said to be
a silver coin. Now, there is a tradition. I
don't normally bring out traditions because you can take them or
leave them, but this may be true, it may not be true. Tradition
says that it was a silver coin with the figure of a lamb stamped
on it. And that was common in that day.
But it was a silver coin. That's what it is. And silver
is the symbol of redemption. The redemption price paid. And
what it's showing here is that our fellowship is based on the
redemptive work of Christ. Now, what does that mean? Well,
in our Sunday school, after the first of the year, we're going
to start studying the book of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John. And those
three little books are really about the fellowship of believers.
What is that fellowship all about? Well, our fellowship is not founded
upon mutual likes and dislikes. It's not founded upon common
interest in the things of this world. It's not founded upon
socializing or socialization. It's not founded upon personal
prejudices or personal preferences. Our fellowship is founded upon
the redemption price paid at the cross of Calvary. That's it. That's what holds
us together. Now, if there are other things
that bring us together, that's fine. But those things are not
going to keep us together. It's the redemptive work of Christ. Who are you? You're a sinner
saved by grace. Well, that's who I am too. And
then this earring of gold is symbolic of one who's in the
family of the king. Gold being the symbol of divinity. And that earring, you think about
the bond slave. Now, the law of bond slavery
hadn't been instituted yet. But there it is, a person who's
identified with the king as a child of the king or a servant of the
king. So it's the fellowship of redemption that leads to sonship. And that's what holds us together
in the same family. We're locked in by the electing
grace of God, by the redeeming grace of God, and by the regenerating
grace of God. I didn't choose you, you didn't
choose me, God chose us all in Christ. And that's the way it
is. That's His sovereign mercy. Now
we're to be together in the faith. That's what that's all about.
We receive the adoption of sons and because we are sons, He sends
forth His Spirit into our hearts. to bring us to conviction of
sin and bring us to Christ. Now, in verse 12, when he talks
about these material blessings that Job gained, there's that
double portion. Notice there it says in verse
12, so the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning. And what a picture of us. We
think about our beginning going all the way back to Adam in our
fall, our ruination. But even before that, what we
had in Adam. But think about our beginning in this life. We're
born dead in trespasses and sins with no thoughts and no heart
for God. And when He brings us to a saving
knowledge of Christ, He gives us the blessings of life and
glory, eyes to see, ears to hear. And even then, the glory of our
latter end, which is our final glory in Christ, is going to
be so much more than what we have now. John says, for we'll
see him as he is. And then look at verse 13. It
says, he had also seven sons and three daughters. Now, somebody
said, well, he didn't double them. Yes, he did. He had seven
before and three before. He was double. Now, some commentators
say that indicates that his first sons and daughters were God's
elect and in glory. I don't know that I could say
that, but I do know this. He doubled his sons and his daughters.
And here they are. But look here in verse 14, something
interesting. He says in verse 14, and he called
the name of the first Jemima, that's first daughter. He's talking
about his three daughters here. And the name of the second, Keziah,
and the name of the third, Karen Hopic. Karen Hopic. That was
the names of the daughters. Now why did he name the daughters
and not the sons? There's some speculation on that.
I suspect the main reason here is because of what these names
mean. And you've got to be careful even with that because Hebrew
scholars, they'll differ on what names mean. It depends on where
you put the comma or the accent or whatever, you know. But I
know this, the name Jemima basically means dove. And dove is a symbol
of peace. And what she represents in that
capacity is peace with God. Peace between God and sinners
through the cross. the blood of Christ. Also, the
name cassia, that is a word that means cassia. Some people interpret
it as cinnamon. What it was, it was a very sweet
smelling substance. And it represents the sweet smelling
savor. of Christ for His people as our
intercessor, as our mediator, as our great high priest, as
our sin offering. That sweet smelling savor that
goes up to God and He's pleased. This is my beloved Son in whom
I'm well pleased. Peace with God based upon that
sacrifice which is a pleasing odor to God. Not a stench in
His nostrils like the works and the self-righteousness and the
pride of man. but that which comes through
Christ, that odor, that incense that goes up to God. Karen hapik. It's an interesting word. I'm
not going to go into all of it. I don't have time. But what it
was, it was actually a substance that women used back then as
makeup. They made eye shadow and mascara
out of it. And what it represents here is
beauty. And that's really what it means. And obviously, it's
talking about our beauty, which is Christ. He's given us beauty
for ashes. Here's Job sitting out on the
ash heap. That's us by nature in our sins.
And when God saves us, what does He do? He gives us beauty for
ashes, the beauty of His grace, the beauty of His mercy, the
beauty of Christ. We stand washed clean in our
white robes of righteousness in the beauty of our Lord and
Savior. But let me give you one other
idea about this. In Galatians chapter 3, turn
to Galatians chapter 3, about why He may name the daughters
but not the men now ladies you know that back then women in
this ancient culture women were considered second-class citizens
to the max I mean if you that's why I've always said that the
gospel is the most if you want to talk about women's liberation
preach the gospel that's the most liberating message for you
ladies that you'll ever hear Because man's culture put women
down. In fact, they wouldn't even name
them. You look at the genealogies. You don't see any names of the
women there. It's always the men. The only genealogy you see
names of women is in the genealogy of Christ and Matthew. And he's
making a real point there. Coming through Bathsheba and
Rahab and all that. So that's the point. But listen
to what he says. Now hold your finger there at
Galatians 3 and look back at Job 42. And listen to what he
says here. He talks about his seven sons
and three daughters as a complete family. He names the daughters
and look at verse 15. And it says, In all the land
were no women found so fair as the daughters of Job, and their
father gave them inheritance among their brethren. Now do
you see that? Their father gave them inheritance
among their brethren. Now what's different about that?
That didn't happen. The sons got the inheritance,
not the daughters. That's right, in that culture.
What will happen to the daughters? They married off, and whoever
they married, he got the inheritance from his father. But these three
daughters received an inheritance from their father, just like
the sons. Equal with the sons. Well, what does that teach him?
Well, look at Galatians chapter 3. Look at verse 26. He says, for you are all the
children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many as you have
been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Those of you who
have been united to Christ, you've put Him on by faith. And there
is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither bond nor free.
There is neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ
Jesus. And if you belong to Christ,
then are you Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise.
Ladies, you're not a second class citizen in the kingdom of God.
You're a co-equal inheritor of the promise of God's grace in
Christ. Now God has a particular order
of things in his church, in his kingdom. The authority is given
to the man. That doesn't make you a second-class
citizen who doesn't get any part of the inheritance. You are equally
saved, equally justified, equally blessed with all the children
of God in the kingdom of God because of Christ. And that's
something, isn't it? I thought that was something.
Look back here at the last two verses. Verse 16 of Job 42. It says, And after this lived
Job an hundred and forty years, and saw his sons and his sons'
sons even four generations. So Job died being old and full
of days. A lot of different speculation
on exactly how old Job was. I told you some people believe
that Job lived during the time of Abraham. Some people believe
because of this he lived before the flood because that was when
the age of people, physical age, was progressed. But, you know,
he could have been 40 years old when it all began. I don't know. But it really doesn't matter.
I know he was before the Old Covenant. I know that. He lived
during the time of the patriarchs. I know that. But the key to this
is this, Job died being old and full of days. Now, to be full
of days simply means that he was satisfied and he was ready
to die. That's what that means. That's
my prayer for me and for you, that when the time comes that
the Lord is going to call us home, that we're satisfied and
ready to die. David said, I'll be satisfied
when I awake with thy likeness. Are we satisfied with Christ?
That's the key. If we're satisfied with Christ,
what does that mean? It means we're ready to die.
We're ready to die. That doesn't mean, when I say
that, I'm not saying it means we want to die right now or that
we don't have some misgivings about death and things like that.
It just means this. In God's sight, you're ready.
If you have Christ, you're qualified. If you die in the faith, you'll
appear before God. in a righteousness that you didn't
produce, just like Job, you'll be full of days, satisfied and
ready to die.