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In 2 Samuel we read of the Thirty Mighty men of King David of Israel. They were great warriors and had shed much blood in the defense of Israel. They are listed by name and therefore were memorialized forever.
In the New Testament we read of the Twelve disciples of Jesus Christ who might also be considered to be mighty men. They weren’t involved in physical warfare brandishing swords and shields and accompanied by the sounds of trumpets and battle cries vanquishing their enemies.
Rather they were spiritual heroes fighting a spiritual war against the enemies of Jesus Christ. They didn’t slaughter their enemies with the sword but rather allowed their own selves to be killed, tortured and slaughtered in the spreading of the good news of salvation offered by Jesus Christ.
Like the Thirty their names have been memorialized for eternity.
Who hasn’t heard the names of Peter, Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew the tax collector, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddeus, Simon the zealot and Matthias who replaced Judas.
The Thirty’s mission was to kill and conquer their enemies… the twelve’s mission was to convert and build their enemies into fellow spiritual soldiers.
The Thirty were memorialized for their mighty deeds of war and accrued great honor and glory but their honor and glory paled in comparison to the honor and glory of the Twelve mighty men of Jesus Christ.
Who could have predicted that?
During this time of the year (Christmas) I see TV commercials where the message to humanity is if you say the following prayer you will be saved…
“Dear God, I’m a sinner. I’m sorry for my sins. Forgive me. I believe that Jesus Christ is your Son. I believe that He took my sins to the cross, that He died in my place, and I believe that You raised Him to life, and I’d like to trust Him now as my Savior, and I want to follow Him as my Lord from this day forward forever. I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen".(Human reasoning)
I mean… it sounds good and it contains several valid biblical concepts. The only problem with it is that it is not biblical as far as leading to salvation. You might even say it is anti-biblical.
For comparisons sake please consider what the Apostle Peter had to say when he was asked what to do to be saved…
“Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38)
That’s a huge difference right? Why would a keen student of the Bible substitute “human reasoning” for “Acts 2:38”?
Here’s why… because proponents of the sinner’s prayer want to eliminate Baptism from any kind of role for salvation and they have to massage any scripture that couples baptism and salvation to make it mean something it doesn’t plainly mean.
Please, please, please search the scriptures and follow after God and not man. After all it could affect you eternally.
We’re introduced to Job in the same book that carries his name… Job. We find that he was “blameless, upright, fearing God, and turning away from all evil”.
He had been blessed with many children, livestock and servants and he was called “the greatest of all men in the east”.
Even Satan had heard of Job and accused God of “building a hedge (of protection) around him and blessed the work of his hands and his possessions have increased in the land”.
Let me point out that nothing is said about the righteousness of Job’s sons and daughters or even of his wife and yet they shared in Jobs blessings by being of his household. Let me suggest a concept here… it’s possible to piggyback on the righteousness of others and share in their blessings with out any effort on our own part.
Also notice this God gave Satan permission to do anything he wanted to except for the taking of Job’s life. So, Satan didn’t waste any time killing Job’s 10 children and only spared Job and his wife. I wonder why Mrs. Job wasn’t killed too? It might be because Job was “one flesh” with his wife and killing her would be as close as you could get to killing Job. My guess is that even though her righteousness is not mentioned she was bound to be a righteous person as well by virtue of her oneness with Job.
So what does this mean for all of us? We might look at our own blessings and assume those blessings are based on our own righteousness when they may not be at all… we may just be kind of tagging along spiritually. Maybe a little spiritually lazy… always content to live in the shadow of others.
Job was a mountain of a man spiritually and cast a huge spiritual shadow and many were blessed living in his shadow. That’s great… bully for Job, but let’s step out from whosever shadow we may be standing in and let the sun shine in our faces and make our own shadows.
