The forty-two chapters in the book of Job leave us with a great question of two parts: What is the purpose of God His creating of man, and what is the purpose of God in His dealing with His chosen people?
This is something that we all have to answer, and we praise the Lord for the ministry of the age which opens and unveils to us the great answer to this great question of two parts.
This week we start a new series in our Holy Word for Morning Revival, that is, Crystallization-Study of Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes, based on the ministry and on the 2020 winter training.
This week, in particular, we come to week 1, and the topic is, The Great Question in the Book of Job and the Great Answer. Believers and unbelievers alike, and deep thinkers and philosophers also, all have asked this one question of two parts, What is the purpose of God in creating man and what’s His purpose in His dealing with His chosen people? What is there so much suffering and what’s the purpose?
As we approach this essential matter, we want to be under the governing principle of the essence of the word of God, which is God’s eternal economy with His divine dispensing; everything relates to this, for God’s economy with His dispensing is the key to open up everything in the Bible according to God’s heart’s desire.
Job was a good person; he was perfect, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil. According to the eyes of men, according to man’s judgement, Job was perfect; in God’s eyes, no flesh is blameless, for no one can be justified by his works apart from Christ (Deut. 13:19).
What Job attained to in His perfection, uprightness and integrity, is altogether vanity; in man’s sight it was good, but in God’s sight it was all vanity, for it didn’t satisfy God’s desire.
Therefore, God was lovingly concerned for Job, so much so that He held two councils in heaven concerning him; the angels and God came together, and Satan also showed up.
Satan didn’t know this, and he doesn’t realize what God is doing, but God is using him as an ugly tool to accomplish His ultimate desire.
God does not want a good, upright, perfect, and moral man; He wants a God-man, a man who is filled, united, mingled, saturated, and soaked with God so that man would express God and minister God into people to build up the church and consummate the New Jerusalem.
God doesn’t want us to be perfect and upright in our natural man; He doesn’t want us merely to turn away from evil in our natural way – He wants man to depend on God, enjoy God, be filled with God, to express God!
So we need to guard against this, even as we see that we need to improve here and there; we need to reject developing our so-called good qualities apart from God, and we need to seek to be Christified so that the divine attributes would fill our human virtues and God would be expressed through us.
What is the Purpose of God in His Creating of Man and in His Dealing with His People? What’s the Purpose of Suffering?
The book of Job leaves us with a great question of two parts; the first part is, What is God’s purpose in His creating man? This is something we all consider, why are we here on earth, what’s our purpose, what is the meaning of our life, and why did God create us?
The second part of the great question is, Why do we need to suffer? We all ask ourselves, If we seek God and love Him, why does He deal with me in this way, and why do I have to suffer so much? Why do God’s people suffer, and what’s the purpose of suffering?
If we see what is God’s purpose in creating man and in dealing with His people, we will be revolutionised in our daily living, for we will realize that He is working to accomplish His ultimate purpose with us so that, in a deeper way, He would dispense Himself into us.
In Job 1:1 God had no way to dispense Himself into Job, for he was very self-righteous, holding up to his righteousness even to the end, boasting of his righteousness, and holding to his integrity and morality.
In the two councils held in heaven, we see that God used Satan as an ugly tool to cause Job to open completely to God so that God can dispense Himself into him and change him metabolically from a good man to a God-man.
The first thing that Satan did, with God’s permission, is to destroy all of his possessions, all that he had.
As believers in Christ, after being a Christian for a while, we may become contented and not be as seeking as we should be with God; so the Lord allows us to pass through some things that make us desperate for God.
Satan came in and destroyed all of Job’s possessions and even his children; he was very wealthy, but everything was taken away from him.
Then Satan even touched his body, and he had boils everywhere on his body, suffering immensely.
Job complained that God, knowing that he was not wicked and not acquitting him of his iniquity, treated him in such a bad way without any cause on his side, and He attacked him again and again according to what was hidden in God’s heart (Job 10:1-17).
The entire book of Job leaves us with a great question of two parts, What is the purpose of God in His creating of man, and what is the purpose of God in His dealing with His chosen people (Job 1:1; 10:2b, 12-13; cf. 11:12; 13:4).
Many believers, especially the fundamental Christians, when they read the book of Job, they don’t understand what is God’s purpose in His creating man and why does man have to suffer; however, they focus on some “golden verses” which seem to be in line with what the rest of the Bible speaks.
In spite of the golden verses in this book, we all need to answer this great question, What was God’s purpose in His creating man, and what is His purpose in His dealing with us, His chosen people?
Job wanted to know the answer to this question of two parts so much that he argued with God and even “litigated” with God in “court”; he was the plaintiff and God was the defendant.
Still, his questions remained unanswered, and especially the question regarding his sufferings did not receive an answer.
But praise the Lord, the New Testament is God’s answer to this great question of two parts, for God was not punishing or judging Job; rather, He was stripping and consuming him so that Job could be rebuilt with the Triune God.
If we read the New Testament and have the divine light on this matter, we will realize that God has an economy, a plan, and according to His economy, He created us in His image and likeness, and He is dealing with us in a certain way (which include sufferings) for the carrying out of His economy.
Lord Jesus, we open to You; reveal to us what is the purpose of God in His creating of man and in His dealing with man! Oh Lord, why are we made in the image and likeness of God? Why are we here on earth as men? And why do we need to suffer so much? Amen, Lord, we come to You in Your word; reveal to us what is hidden in Your heart concerning the purpose of our human existence and the reason for our suffering. Make known to us Your economy, Lord. May it dawn on us that You want to work Yourself into us and make us not good men but God-men, those filled and saturated with God to be part of the corporate expression of God! Amen, Lord Jesus, we are here on earth for Your economy, for You made us in Your image and according to Your likeness and You allow sufferings to happen to us for the carrying out of Your economy!
The Reason for Sufferings is Hidden in God’s Heart: it is the Mystery of the Ages, the Eternal Economy of God!
In Job 10:2 he asked God why is He contending with him, and in v. 13 he said, “You have hidden these things in Your heart; / I know that this is with You.”
Job could not understand why would God take away all his possessions and children, and why would God give him this sickness and this terrible suffering; he wanted to take God to court and litigate with Him, for he considered himself as being upright and righteous, so in his eyes, he didn’t’ deserve anything of this.
Job could not find the reason for God’s treatment of him, yet he believed that there must be a reason hidden in God’s heart.
Job was right: something was hidden in the heart of God in His dealing with His chosen one Job, and Paul calls it “the mystery of the ages”, “the mystery hidden in God” (Eph. 3:9), which is the eternal economy of God.
What was hidden in God’s heart in His dealing with Job? What is hidden in the heart of God in His dealing with us, His chosen people?
The answer to Job 10:13 is in Eph. 3:9; this verse in the New Testament opens not only the book of Job but also the entire Bible, for we all pass through suffering, and we all need to know what is hidden in the heart of God concerning us.
Paul said that he was commissioned by God to enlighten everyone that they may see what the economy of the mystery is, which throughout the ages has been hidden in God.
What was hidden in God in His dealing with Job and in dealing with all His chosen people is this one thing: the eternal economy of God.
This is not something doctrinal, something that we understand with our mind and, once we memorise it, we get it; this is related to our Christian experience.
What is hidden in the heart of God concerning us is God’s economy, which includes His dispensing; it is by means of His dispensing that He carries out His economy.
The economy of God is His household administration and plan to dispense Himself into us, so that we may be filled with Him and express Him in His fullness as the Body of Christ in this age, the bride of Christ in the next age, and the New Jerusalem in eternity.
The eternal economy of God, which is His eternal intention with His heart’s desire, is to dispense Himself in His Divine Trinity – as the Father in the Son by the Spirit – into us, His chosen and redeemed people, to be our life and nature so that we may be the same as He is as His duplication (Rom. 8:29; 1 John 3:2) for His corporate expression.
This duplication of God is the organism of God, the Body of Christ as the one new man (Eph. 2:15-16; Col. 3:10-11) for God’s fullness and expression (Eph. 1:22-23; 3:19), and it consummates in the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:2-22:5) for His corporate expression and manifestation for eternity.
If we don’t see the eternal economy of God, it is easy to misunderstand God and even be angry at Him, “taking Him to court” when sufferings come our way and we are “righteous” in our own eyes.
Job thought God was angry with him, He judged him, and He punished him, but God’s purpose in dealing with Job in this way was not to punish him or judge him but to tear him down and rebuild him with Himself!
This is God’s purpose in His creating man and in His dealing with man; He wants us to be filled with Him to be His expression, and for this He uses the matter of sufferings and difficulties to tear us down and rebuild us with Himself, making us a new man in God’s creation (2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15).
Thank You, Lord, for revealing to us the mystery hidden in Your heart, the eternal economy of God, the reason for which all things exist and the answer to all the questions. Hallelujah, God’s eternal intention with His heart’s desire is to dispense Himself in His Divine Trinity into us, His chosen people, to be our life and nature so that we may be the same as He is as His duplication to become an organism, the Body of Christ as the one new man, for God’s fullness, His expression, consummating in the New Jerusalem! Amen, Lord, may we realize that the economy of God is the answer to everything we pass through and the reason for our sufferings. We open to You, dear Lord, to see what is in Your heart and to allow You to tear us down and strip us so that You may rebuild us with Yourself to obtain Your corporate expression, the Body of Christ as the one new man consummating in the New Jerusalem!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ed Marks for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Job, msgs. 8, 10 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes (2020 winter training), week 1, The Great Question in the Book of Job and the Great Answer.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Shining One—how clear the sky above me! / Son of Man, I see Thee on the throne! / Holy One, the flames of God consume me, / Till my being glows with Thee alone. (Hymns #1159)
– God’s eternal economy / Is to make man the same as He is / In life and nature, / But not in the Godhead / And to make Himself one with man / And man one with Him / Thus to be enlarged and expanded in His expression / That all His divine, that all His divine / Attributes may be expressed in human virtues. (Song on, God’s eternal economy)
– If I’d know Christ’s risen power. / I must ever love the Cross; / Life from death alone arises; / There’s no gain except by loss. (Hymns #631)
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