The
Second Sunday after The Epiphany.
The
Collect.
|
A
|
LMIGHTY
and everlasting God, who dost govern all things in heaven and earth; Mercifully
hear the supplications of thy people, and grant us thy peace all the days of
our life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Though the incorrigibly wicked go about their works of evil and ruin oblivious
to the righteous laws of God, they seem to be spared any measure of divine
retribution. Why is this the case? God is patient and all-wise in dispensing
justice to the wicked. Today's wicked may be tomorrow's righteous in the eyes
of God. Who among us would not relegate to Hell a man who goes about destroying
the Church of God - murdering men, women and children by stoning who fall into
his wicked snares? Perhaps we all, being human, would condemn such a man on the
spot. Thankfully, God does not "condemn on the spot." He rather gives
every opportunity for repentance of the wicked perchance after the eyes of
their heart have been opened to Him. The Lord is not slack concerning his
promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not
willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
(2 Peter 3:9) If their remains the spark and promise of salvation in a soul,
according to the predestined will of God, He will withhold His hand of
Judgment. So David, the King, did not suffer immediate destruction at God's
hand at the occasion of his committing adultery and murder. So God spared Saul
(Paul) who went about persecuting the Church of God and stoning its people
until he had experienced an encounter on the Road to Damascus with the blinding
Light of Christ! So God's thoughts are not our thoughts. He knows, not only the
instant present, but the eternity past and future. Though we may today ride the
express train to Hell, He knows that, at some future point, we may transfer
passage to the "Straight and Narrow" Highway of our God. Job responds
further today that God's judgment is not `if' but `when'. It is not the
certainty of God's judgment that Job questions, but His reluctance to act with
sudden dispatch at the transgressions of the wicked.
Today's chapter devotion may be divided into three headings:
1. The
wicked often seem to go unpunished during their `visible' existence. (24:1-12)
2. The
wicked, as the snail, despise the Light. (24:13-17)
3. The
wicked will endure a final and certain judgment. (24:18-25)
Job 24
King James
Version (KJV)
24 Why,
seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know him not see
his days?
2 Some remove the
landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed thereof.
3 They drive away the
ass of the fatherless, they take the widow's ox for a pledge.
4 They turn the needy
out of the way: the poor of the earth hide themselves together.
5 Behold, as wild asses
in the desert, go they forth to their work; rising betimes for a prey: the
wilderness yieldeth food for them and for their children.
6 They reap every one
his corn in the field: and they gather the vintage of the wicked.
7 They cause the naked
to lodge without clothing, that they have no covering in the cold.
8 They are wet with the
showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of a shelter.
9 They pluck the
fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor.
10 They
cause him to go naked without clothing, and they take away the sheaf from the
hungry;
11 Which
make oil within their walls, and tread their winepresses, and suffer thirst.
12 Men
groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out: yet God
layeth not folly to them.
13 They
are of those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor
abide in the paths thereof.
14 The
murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy, and in the night is
as a thief.
15 The
eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see
me: and disguiseth his face.
16 In
the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked for themselves in the
daytime: they know not the light.
17 For
the morning is to them even as the shadow of death: if one know them, they are
in the terrors of the shadow of death.
18 He
is swift as the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth: he beholdeth not
the way of the vineyards.
19 Drought
and heat consume the snow waters: so doth the grave those which have sinned.
20 The
womb shall forget him; the worm shall feed sweetly on him; he shall be no more
remembered; and wickedness shall be broken as a tree.
21 He
evil entreateth the barren that beareth not: and doeth not good to the widow.
22 He
draweth also the mighty with his power: he riseth up, and no man is sure of
life.
23 Though
it be given him to be in safety, whereon he resteth; yet his eyes are upon
their ways.
24 They
are exalted for a little while, but are gone and brought low; they are taken
out of the way as all other, and cut off as the tops of the ears of corn.
25 And
if it be not so now, who will make me a liar, and make my speech nothing worth?
Job first of all wonders at the
mindless logic of the wicked. If they know history, why do they believe a
disregard for God's Laws to be a better way? When a nation has known the joys
and securities of the Godly Way, why do they ultimately turn to the meaner and
lesser gods - power, money, bondage, promiscuous sex, poisons of body and soul
- of old time? Are they blind? Yes, certainly, they are more blind than blind
Bartemeus on the Jericho Road: 1 Why, seeing times are not hidden
from the Almighty, do they that know him not see his days?
Man cannot create himself. He cannot bring new life into being – even of a
lowly flea! Neither can he cause himself to be able to see absent the Holy
Ghost working in his heart to create a new man. The new birth, just like the
old, must come from the Creative nature of God. Yet men consciously oppose the
works of God at every turn. Even men who function under the pretense of the
ministry are often the greatest enemies of truth and Gospel promise. They do
attempt great damage to righteousness because they pose as its adherents. They
are traitors to the cause in every sense. The principle laid down by that great
proponent of republican government describes the rule that applies to
governments in this way: A nation can survive its
fools… …and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from
within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and he
carries his banners openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate
freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the galleys, heard in the very
halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in
the accents familiar to his victims, and wears their face and their garment,
and he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots
the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine
the pillars of a city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer
resist. A murderer is less to fear. Marcus Tullius Cicero Circa
42 B.C. The same principle holds true to the deceit of compromising and ungodly
ministers.
The traitors to the Gospel are far more plentiful than those without who oppose
it without knowledge. In what ways do they do damage?
1) 2 Some
remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed thereof. What
is a landmark? It is a true starting point from which all property lines are
drawn. Move the landmark and all property lines will be in question. What is
the Landmark of the believing Christian? It is the sure Word that has been
preserved incorruptible from ancient time until now. Men claiming to be more
enlightened and knowledgeable than the men who copied the ancient manuscripts;
who profess a greater devotion than those reformers who laid down their lives
at the stake for truth; who insist on a greater knowledge of ancient language
though far removed from the source – these are those who corrupt the truth and
attempt to remove the Landmark of truth. Thou shalt not remove thy
neighbour's landmark, which they of old time have set in thine inheritance,
which thou shalt inherit in the land that the Lord thy God giveth thee to
possess it. (Deut 19:14) Moses refers to landmarks in general here.
This they attempt to move by theft of their neighbor. But the greater and
enduring Landmark is that Landmark of truth mentioned earlier: Remove not
the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set. (Prov 22:28) This is
the Landmark of our Fathers set in the Rock of our Salvation from time immemorial.
As men tamper with question of the Canon of Scripture, and even the very words
and content of Scripture itself, they are attempting to move the Ancient
Landmark of Truth.
2) They
do damage by making the Temple of God a house of commerce and not a House of
Prayer: 3 They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take
the widow's ox for a pledge. 4 They turn the needy out of the way:
the poor of the earth hide themselves together. The birds nesting
in the branches of the Mustard Tree have come, as demons, to corrupt the Word
and to steal from the people. One of the Bible verses that the modern revisers
are adamant to remove is Matthew 23:14 which reads: Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for
ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye
shall receive the greater damnation. Do you wonder why this
particular verse would offend the greedy sellers in the House of God (Church)?
3) They
are tireless, more so than the righteous, in doing their works of robbery and
deceit: 5 Behold, as wild asses in the desert, go they forth to
their work; rising betimes for a prey: the wilderness yieldeth food for them
and for their children. 6 They reap every one his corn in the
field: and they gather the vintage of the wicked. 7 They cause the
naked to lodge without clothing, that they have no covering in the cold. 8 They
are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of a
shelter. 9 They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a
pledge of the poor. 10 They cause him to go naked without clothing,
and they take away the sheaf from the hungry; 11 Which make oil
within their walls, and tread their winepresses, and suffer thirst. 12 Men
groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out: yet God
layeth not folly to them. Contrary to the popular little ditty, the
"lion does NOT sleep tonight." The hours of darkness are his choice
time of seeking out victims to devour them. It is a well-known fact that,
unlike ministers, "the devil never takes a holiday."
4) Just
as the lion hates the Light for his hunting, so does the sinner, as a snail,
hate the Light for exposure. 13 They are of those that rebel
against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths
thereof. 14 The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and
needy, and in the night is as a thief. The wicked sinner LOVES
darkness. He cannot abide the Light for his evil deeds. He hides the rocks and
caverns in the day, and rises at night to offend the innocent. He is as the
snail: As a snail which melteth, let every one of them pass away: like
the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun. (Psalms
58:8) When the Sun of Righteousness arises, the snail will scurry for the
shelter of darkness beneath the nearest stone. So do the wicked hide
their guilt and run from the Light of Truth. 15 The eye also of
the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me: and
disguiseth his face. 16 In the dark they dig through houses, which
they had marked for themselves in the daytime: they know not the light. 17 For
the morning is to them even as the shadow of death: if one know them, they are
in the terrors of the shadow of death.
But do the wicked, at last, escape any judgment for their deeds? Certainly, they
do NOT! The Prodigal Son had a gay old time as long as his ill-gotten wealth
remain (more ill-spent than ill-gotten), but when his treasure was gone, he at
last came to be a tender in the pig sty. 18 He is swift as the
waters; their portion is cursed in the earth: he beholdeth not the way of the
vineyards. 19 Drought and heat consume the snow waters: so doth the
grave those which have sinned. 20 The womb shall forget him; the
worm shall feed sweetly on him; he shall be no more remembered; and wickedness
shall be broken as a tree. 21 He evil entreateth the barren that
beareth not: and doeth not good to the widow. 22 He draweth also
the mighty with his power: he riseth up, and no man is sure of life. 23 Though
it be given him to be in safety, whereon he resteth; yet his eyes are upon
their ways. 24 They are exalted for a little while, but are gone
and brought low; they are taken out of the way as all other, and cut off as the
tops of the ears of corn. 25 And if it be not so now, who will make
me a liar, and make my speech nothing worth? The ultimate judgment
against the wicked is a sorrowful and final judgment. Hope being past for
salvation, they are left only a barren estate of nakedness in the fires of
Hell. Having led a life of compromising appeasement and ingratiation to the
political powers of society and government, he no longer has ability to bride
and influence. His co-conspirators share the bed of flames with him. There is
no one to bribe or to seduce in Hell, and the Father will no longer hear their
prayers. They are "in outer darkness". Verse 19 makes the
summary complete: 19 Drought and heat consume the snow waters: so
doth the grave those which have sinned. The languishing in the
grave without power even to resist the relentless worm that devours the
greatest worth of the sinner – his physical heritage, is his demise. There is
no escort of his soul to the "bosom of Abraham" as poor Lazarus
enjoyed. The snows of Kilimanjaro cannot resist the heat of the African
sun no more than the darkness can abide the power of light, but must disperse a
far distance from it. Let me ask a personal question, friend: Do you love light
greater than darkness?
