For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

Proverbs 21:28-29

    These two parables are more closely linked than they at first appear. Those who rely on the word of the wicked will believe and testify to things which are not true, but those who listen carefully will be able to distinguish between the bravado of the wicked and the confidence of the righteous. The wicked will put up a false front while the righteous will think carefully before assessing a problem.

Psalm 38:1-22

    The psalmist recognizes that he is suffering because he sinned against God, but has turned back to God and begged His forgiveness. The wicked will seize upon our every misstep and attempt to use it against us in order to discredit whatever good we have done. If we confess our sins and turn to God, He will come to our rescue and aid us in accomplishing His will.

1 Corinthians 15:1-28

    In this passage Paul gives us the core of the Gospel message, without which everything else is worthless. Jesus died, was buried, and rose from the dead on the third day. If there is no resurrection from the dead than the Gospel message is null and void. If no one rises from the dead, than Jesus did not rise from the dead. If those who preached the Gospel from the beginning were lying about the resurrection, than they are liars, not teachers of a great moral philosophy. Moreover, while the message being taught by Paul and the Christian Church today has value to us in this life, if this life is all there is, it is a terrible tragedy to accept suffering in order to be faithful to the message.
    However, Jesus did indeed rise from the dead. As a result, all of those who worship and follow Him will be raised from the dead when He returns. When the time is fulfilled and everything has been made subject to Christ, He will make entropy (which is, in a way, another word for death) no more.

Job 8-11:20

    The book of Job is a great example of the importance of reading the Bible through regularly. Job’s friends say some things which have the ring of truth. Job’s friends repeatedly tell him that if only he would confess his sins and get right with God, all would be well. Certainly, it is good advice to tell someone to confess their sins and get right with God. However, Job repeatedly asks them to point out what sins he had committed. Job goes further and tells us that it is not possible for anyone to be truly righteous before God. Job asks the question that we all ask at some point, to one degree or another, wouldn’t we be better off if we were never born if we are going to suffer this much? This part of Job is the perfect counterpoint to the point which Paul was making about resurrection in today’s passage. Life is truly not worth living if this life is all that there is.

     I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have found that by writing this daily blog of what I see when I read these scriptures, I get more out of them. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them.

Job 8-11:20

     Bildad is the next of Job’s friends to reply to him. Bildad starts by saying that Job’s children must have sinned and thus deserved to die. He then goes on to state some truths about this life. He says that those who forget God are like marsh grass without water, they quickly wither. In addition, he tells Job that the hopes of the godless soon evaporate. They cling to things which will not last for security, but those things will not hold. Finally, he tells Job that God will not reject a person of integrity.
     Job responds that he accepts what Bildad has said is true, but how does that help him? Job complains that he has no way to make his case before God. Job says that God is so much greater than any human that we cannot help but be in terror of God when we come into His presence. He wishes for a mediator between God and man, so that we would not need to speak before God in our own strength. The message of the Gospel is that there is such a mediator, Jesus Christ. Job then accuses God of creating him in order to find him guilty of some sin. Job begins to complain against God.
     It is now Zophar’s turn to answer Job. Zophar begins by telling Job that God is surely punishing him less than he deserves. Zophar tells Job that he must surely be guilty of some great sin to be suffering as he is. He then goes on to make a good point. God is so much greater than we are that it is impossible for us to ever fully comprehend why God is doing the things that He does. Our finite minds do not have the capacity to understand the reasons that motivate an infinite God. There comes a point where we must take it on faith that what God does is good.

1 Corinthians 15:1-28

     Paul now moves on to his next topic. He starts the topic by reminding them what he taught them as the Gospel from the beginning. That Gospel was that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and was raised from the dead. Included in that was a list of people who had seen Him after He had had risen. At the end of that list was Paul himself,. Paul stated that he was not worthy of such an honor because of the way he had persecuted the Church. Despite the fact that he was unworthy, he preached the same message as the other apostles and that was the message which the Corinthian Church had believed.
     Paul now asks, since a basic element of the Gospel itself is that Jesus rose from the dead, how can some be teaching that there is no resurrection from the dead? If there is no resurrection from the dead, than Christ Himself could not have risen. If Christ has not risen from the dead, then those who have been preaching the Gospel are liars. If they are liars then nothing they have preached is of any value. If Christ was not raised, then the faith which the Corinthian Church had was useless. If our hope in Christ is only for this life, then those who rely on it are to be pitied more than any others.

***
     Every now and again I come upon someone who that if it was proved to them that Jesus never rose from the dead, it would not effect their faith. They always phrase it in such a manner as to imply that their faith is strong enough to withstand even such a challenge. However, if you probe a bit, carefully so as to not reveal that you completely agree with Paul, what you discover is that they do not really believe in anything miraculous, let alone resurrection from the dead.
     The point Paul makes here is that if Christ did not rise from the dead, then those who originally preached the Gospel were either liars, frauds, and con-men, or they were delusional. In either case, there is no way that the message they preached was of any value, since the heart of their message was that Jesus had risen from the dead. Everything else hung on that one fact. That was not the whole of the Gospel, but without it, none of the rest fits together.

Psalm 38:1-22

     The psalmist admits that he is suffering because of the wrong he has done. He calls out to God for redemption. God knows what he desires. His enemies are attempting to use his failings to undo all of the good he has done, but he will not give in to their desires. He has confessed his sin before God and regrets doing wrong. He will wait for the Lord to answer his cries and follow the instructions he receives from the Lord.

Proverbs 21:28-29

     A false witness will soon be found out, but those who listen to the truth a relay it to others will always be able to gain a hearing. The wicked attempt to make things up as they go along, but the virtuous are careful to plan to do what is right.