10 ¶
But as for you all, do ye return, and come now: for I cannot find one
wise man among you. 11 My days are past,
my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart. 12 They change the night into day: the light is
short because of darkness. 13 If I wait,
the grave is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness. 14 I have said to corruption, Thou art my
father: to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister. 15 And where is now my hope? as for my hope, who
shall see it? 16 They shall go down to
the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust.
For some final
thoughts on this chapter, note that Job’s friends might as well go home. He
hasn’t found any wisdom in them. His days are over and his plans are at an end.
He can’t even think anymore. In this most poetic language Job references the
destructive agents that feed on death as his parents and siblings. He has no
hope and the grave is his destination. The worm is a reference to creatures
that devour decaying flesh. Notice the continuing destruction promised for
those in the Lake of Fire that extends out into endless eternity.
Isaiah 66:24
And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have
transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire
be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.
Three times at
the end of the Gospel According to Mark Jesus references this verse in Isaiah.
In Psalm 22, the Psalm Jesus began to recite from the Cross (Matthew 27:46),
showing us its prophetic importance, it says;
Psalm 22:6
But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the
people.
Jesus became
sin for us.
2Corinthians 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who
knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Perhaps one reason
for the metaphor of the worm that feeds on dead flesh is the fact that all
human religion feeds on dead flesh. We must repent, turn from what we have been
depending upon to justify us, get us to a version of heaven, if you will, and
turn to faith in God and what He did for us to get us to the real Heaven. The
Pharisees, the Jews, had created a large body of extra-Biblical rules they
demanded to be followed to be “good” Jews. These were not of God but were
called by Jesus, “your tradition.” We must repent of our wicked dependence upon
these traditions.
Matthew 15:1 ¶ Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees,
which were of Jerusalem, saying, 2 Why
do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not
their hands when they eat bread. 3 But
he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of
God by your tradition? 4 For God
commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or
mother, let him die the death. 5 But ye
say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by
whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; 6
And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye
made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. 7 Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of
you, saying, 8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their
mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. 9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching for
doctrines the commandments of men.
This is one of
the Biblical fundamentals for Christians.
Hebrews 6:1
Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on
unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works,
and of faith toward God,
We, too, if we
depend on our belief in what we consider proper behavior for a Christian that
is not found in the Bible to justify us, need to repent of our dead works and
turn to Christ to be saved. Whether you have a fetish about men not doing
housework or that women must have long hair and wear long dresses to be “good”
Christians or whether you believe, like a medieval Catholic, that the House of
God, the Church, is a building and not the people of God, and you depend on
beliefs such as that to justify you as a Christian you need to repent of your
dead works and turn to Christ. Your convictions are good and every person and every church must have convictions and standards, as long as you don’t
make them the standard by which you judge the value to God of other Christians
who don’t have those convictions.
The worm feeds
on dead flesh. The spiritual worm feeds on dead religion. Jesus took that away
from us by becoming sin for us. Why do we persist on such an unGodly spiritual
diet? Better to feed on the sweet and life-giving substance of God’s word than
a rotting corpse, wouldn’t you say, Pharisee?
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