Wisdom In The Word Bible Studies

This lesson is part two of our study of the main portion of this book as God sets His countenance directly against Job's. 

We are taking our time walking through one of the most powerful sections in all of Scripture! Here, we are given the wonderful opportunity to learn deeply what God is laying open about Himself to us. 

After all of Job’s friends give their opinions and make their respective cases, and after Elihu reminds all of them of the sovereignty of God, God Himself now directly addressed Job, placing him on trial.

Let’s begin our study of the main portion of this book as God sets His countenance directly against Job's. 

This is one of the most powerful sections in all of Scripture! And as such, we are given the wonderful opportunity to learn deeply what God is laying open about Himself to us. 

As you study this part of the book of Job with us, you will do very well to concentrate and think hard, and pray for the fullest impact God intends to convey to you about Himself.

Join us now as we begin... God now to take Job to task and in a most profound and pointed way. God is not allowing for a “pity party” at all here as He addresses Job (and, by extension his friends).

This is indeed one of the few places in the Bible where God comes and presents Himself before a human being and directly chides, saying “who do you think you are?!”. Do you dare to assume you know me and my thoughts?!

Don't miss any of this these lessons! -THIS truly is the “meat” of the book of Job!

We have studied Job's three friends and each of their thoughts as they each rationalized what was happening to Job. Unfortunately, Job still remained inconsolable as he endures his most painful affliction; None of what his friends said was of true value to him.

Finally, a fourth man who had been quietly listening to the exchanges between Job and the other three steps in and boldly offer his opinions on the matter. This man is Elihu, and is the youngest in this group of men.

Listen-in and learn of the wisdom offered by this younger man. The Biblical account shows that Elihu takes a somewhat different tack, and chides Job for being self righteous in all of this, stating that Job needs to turn his focus to God as the source and conclusion of all things rather than on himself and his situation and his suffering through it. Great advice for us today, too!

God shares so much about His heart, mind character and His point of view from the exchanges between these men and later, between Himself and them. We do particularly well when we study the entire book of Job deeply and cross-reference what is given throughout the rest of the Bible.

In the last lesson we concluded with this passage: JOB 19:26~27: And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes--I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!

We easily see from what Job wrote that he already knew about and believed in God's plan of salvation. Most importantly, he was convinced of the key part of that Plan - the bodily resurrection of all believers at the end of the age. He somehow knew that the promised Messiah, God sojourning with human beings in the flesh, would be both the redeemer and the first fruits of this resurrection to come. As the Lamb of God, God with us would be the only acceptable sacrifice to purchase complete salvation - which includes individual resurrection into a gloried body as Messiah would have - for all who would believe in Him throughout history.

How is it possible Job knew of these truths before Abraham, Isaac or Jacob, or any other prominent people such as Moses came on the scene? No one had yet written the Torah or any part of the Bible. 

Continue with us as we learn how the Holy Spirit teaches even those who didn't yet have the Scriptures.

 As we continue our study of the book of Job, we'll see even more how Job suffers miserably and conveys his feeling that God has unfairly marked him out for suffering and that, in all of this, God won’t even hear his desperation and cries for relief.

The Scriptures make it clear that Job will find (as must we, as well) that God will makes Himself better known and draws closest to His own through suffering and personal tribulation – many times in a much deeper and more meaningful way - than through seasons of joy and delight. Although, make no mistake, God does also work through joy and the delight of His people when it best suits the overall good for us and His glory in it.

We will see much of this dichotomy exhibited in the wonderfully revealing account about God's heart, mind, character and point-of-view toward the human beings he has called into his Love forever as He fulfill His purposes, and takes His place in the midst of their suffering.

 In this lesson, we start to dig into our study of the book of Job. The book hinges not only on Job's experience, but also the three friends who came to sympathize and assist him.

JOB 2:11 When Job's three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him. 12 When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. 13 Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was.

Let's continue our study by first examining Job's own, heart-wrenching description of his desperation and introducing his friends, Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar.

Join us as we allow the Scriptures to deeply teach us, in one of the most detailed case studies ever, about the very real and tangible aspects of spiritual warfare. 

As you listen, please consider: Do you think that what God allowed and accomplished through Job happened only once in all history? Are you and I sure that God as never, ever instigated this more than once? Could it be that there are many, many times God allowed others of His people - even now - in the church age - to be directly thrashed by the hands Satan and his spiritual forces?

JOB 1:13 One day when Job's sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother's house, 14 a messenger came to Job and said, "The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby, 15 and the Sabeans attacked and carried them off. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!"

JOB 1:16 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, "The fire of God fell from the sky and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!"

JOB 1:17 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, "The Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and carried them off. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!"

JOB 1:18 While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, "Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother's house, 19 when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!"

In this lesson, we continue our detailed study of the book and the man it is named for, Job. Many people know of Job and his severe trials at the Hand of God, but unfortunately, most do not study to the level necessary that allows this book's greatest intent to come shining through.

The book of Job is intended to reveal to His people - both the Jew and, especially the Christian - the deeper parts of the heart and the character of God. Truly, God offers this to us in this book: To know the book of Job well, is to know God well. 

Even Job stated that what God allowed Him to go through accomplished this very thing in him. As God began to allow Satan to buffet him, Job said of His relationship with Him: JOB 3:25 What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me.

At he end of the most severe trials that could ever allowed to befall a human being, Job admitted: JOB 42:5 My ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you. What a meaningful testimony to God best revealing Himself to those He loves through planned, targeted and well controlled trials. This works in the lives of all of God's people. We each have them. This is one of the key results God want to achieve in us through them!

Study with us, and please don't miss a lesson, as we allow this book to deepen our relationship with God we've heard about -  We want our eyes to see him, too!

In this lesson we summarize II Kings, which describes the final outcome of the kingdom becoming divided. We then move forward into an overview of the books of I and II Chronicles. These books mainly emphasize the life and times of the southern kingdom of Judah and the preservation of the Davidic line throughout it’s timeline. 

The first nine chapters of I Chronicles lists a genealogy from Adam to Jacob, Jacob to David, and David to Zedekiah. The last twenty chapters add more detail surrounding David’s reign in Jerusalem.

The book of II Chronicles includes a look-back into Solomon's time as king over the united kingdom, with more detail about his reign, building the Temple and his magnificence during his tenure. It also reviews the division of the nation, anticipates  Judah's exile, and the twenty kings of Judah and their deportation to Babylon.

After this, we begin our study in the deeply meaningful and revelatory book of Job.

As we move into the book of II Kings, this lesson continues as part two of the "I Kings: Examining The Fullness of Elijah's Ministry in God's Plan Throughout The Age" teaching.