You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source, of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth.
Job 26:9
9 He holdeth back ['achaz] the face [paniym] of his
throne [kicce'], and spreadeth [parshez] his cloud [`anan] upon it. KJV-Interlinear
9 'He obscures the face of the
full moon, And spreads His cloud over it.
NASB
The face of the moon is an expression used for the
view of Gods throne.
Gods throne faces the earth. Yet we cannot see Him or His throne because
it is behind a curtain or veil or thick cloud, as it were.
From our perspective, we reside on the planet
earth. The earth is surrounded by a vast
universe, and that universe is very similar to the heavy clouds which block out
our view of the sun during the day, or the moon and stars during the night.
When the sky is overcast with thick dark clouds, then our
view of the sky is limited to only the clouds.
We cannot see beyond them.
And so Job gives us a symbolic example of the barrier
which exists between God and man, between the spiritual and the temporal.
Man is incapable of understanding the spiritual realm. One has to first be born again, or have
believed in Christ, and second, then man has to be in fellowship before
anything of the spiritual realm can be understood.
And even then, remember that we live in a shadow
state. The Bible refers to many things
as being nothing more than shadows of the realities that exist in heaven.
So, even though you can see great sights, and hear
great music, and taste great foods and so forth, our life here in this world is
nothing more than a shadow experience.
No one, none of us, have ever experienced the real life that will exist
in eternity.
The sun by day and the moon and stars by night
illustrate the magnificent glory of truth and of God. But when the clouds rise up and block it all
out, then we cannot see any of them, yet we know that they exist.
Everyday, we can look about ourselves and discover
something, which illustrates the spiritual side of life, or the divine side of
reality. Whether driving past a
cemetery, or watching a giant cloud drift by, it makes no difference what we
look at. Even some of the nonsense we
hear in the media can serve to illustrate the differences between the spiritual
side of life verses the temporal side.
And here Job uses the cloud as the illustration of how
mans view can be blocked, and there is nothing that man can do about it.
The universe is so vast, that we could never fly to
its outer edges in order to see the face of God, but then, if we could
accomplish that, then we might discover that Gods throne is in a different
dimension. He is always a step or two
ahead of us.
And, the humorous thing about all of this is, that God
is right next to you all of the time, in His written Word. And yet most folks still miss seeing Him,
because they are indifferent. And, they
are indifferent because the shadows of this life interest them more, than the
realities that are still to be experienced.
One presumes that when we do leave this life and enter
into the realities of heaven, then those realities will overwhelm us with a
massive emotional overload. And of
course, those who go in the other direction, their emotional reactions will be
phenomenal on the terror side of the emotional scale.
We at least have the present to get our priorities in
order, and our life in compliance with Gods mandates. Do not get distracted away from your
spiritual objectives, by the politics or society defined standards which are
designed to lead you astray.
Now is the time to post a prayer.
End Of Lesson
Study to show thyself approved (mature) unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing (studying/discerning), the Word of truth.
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