Job X

 In His grace, God directed the author of Job to describe the majesty of God’s habitation in terms we could understand. He begins by telling us that there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord. Are there days in heaven? Is there time? Does God, who is eternal, without beginning or end, measure existence in days as we, who are temporal, do? I don’t believe this to be the case, but for the sake of our understanding, we are told that there was a day when the instigating incident that turned Job’s life on a dime took place.

As I said at the beginning of this study, this isn’t a book one breezes through or reads superficially. There are depths upon depths that require thought, and although there aren’t answers to every question that presents itself, the journey itself is spiritually profitable. How so? Most importantly, it’s humbling. If you ever thought that you’d attained or that you knew all the intricacies of the mysteries of the majesty of the spiritual realm, God, and His habitation, you’ll walk away from the first few verses of the Book of Job, realizing just how little you knew. Being humble is a noble virtue; it’s the alternative that’s corrosive to the soul of man.

God speaks to men on their level that man might perceive and understand. This does not mean God lowers Himself to man’s level, for while He speaks to us in terms that bring about understanding, His ways are still not our ways, and His thoughts are still not ours. Just because we can visualize the interaction between God and Satan and the sons of God coming to present themselves before the Lord, it does not mean we come anywhere to imagining the majesty of the heavenly realm.

2 Corinthians 12:1-4, “It is doubtless not profitable for me to boast. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord: I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago – whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows – such a one was caught up in the third heaven. And I know such a man – whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows – how he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.”

Juxtapose the utter awe and reverence with which Paul describes being caught up with the way some today so haphazardly speak of sitting on God’s lap, taking the throne for a spin, or braiding God’s beard to make Him look more a Norseman than a graying old man, and you get the sense something isn’t kosher. Their descriptions don’t pass the smell test when compared with the descriptions we find in the Bible.

Every time a biblical author wrote of heaven, the presence of God, or the heavenly habitation, it was with a sense of awe and wonder. They beheld something the human mind could not process or rightly retell and heard inexpressible words that were not lawful for a man to utter. You cannot be in the presence of God and not be in awe of Him. You cannot be in the presence of the divine and not fall on your face in worship at the unfathomable majesty and glory of the God we serve.

It’s because they speak of such things so flippantly that I know most of those who insist they’ve walked the halls of heaven are putting on airs and lying through their veneered teeth. I don’t have to dig any deeper than that. Their attitude tells me they’ve never had a genuine encounter with God, for if they had, their reverence for the glory of God would show.

Steer clear of people trying to impress you with their experiences rather than their obedience. Those walking in obedience will never try to impress you with either, but it seems the claims these individuals need to make in order to make others believe they have been sent, chosen, and equipped keep getting more and more fantastical. I’m waiting for one of these people to insist that God let them be Him for a day just to see what it’s like. You think I’m joking; give it time. It’s inevitable.

There once was a man named Moses who had found grace in God's sight and whom God knew by name. No small feat that, but when Moses asked God to show him His glory, his request was denied for one incontrovertible reason: no man shall see Him and live!

Exodus 33:20-23, “But He said, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.” And the Lord said, “Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with My hand while I pass by. Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen.’”

So what you’re telling me is that Moses, the Moses, didn’t get to see the face of God, but you’re claiming that He bounced you on His knee and let you play with His beard? Not angels, not messengers, not visions, dreams, or visitations, but literal translation into the holy of holies where you beheld God Himself! Just so we’re clear, that is what certain individuals are claiming, and the church, by and large, is so Scripturally illiterate that they shudder with excitement at the prospect that they, too, will one day sit on God’s lap and stare dreamily into His eyes.

Why do I keep harping on such individuals? Is it jealousy? Is it envy? Do I feel left out of the club because I can’t claim to have sat on God’s lap? No, it’s none of those things. The reason for my continued insistence that these individuals should not be believed is simple: Either they are lying, or God was when He said no man could see His glory and live. Pick one! Who do you suppose is the odds in favor of being proven a liar? God, or the spiky-haired loudmouths who base their entire so-called ministries and ability to generate legal tender on the insistence that they went to heaven?

Reverence and awe of God are implicit and inherent when someone still tethered to this mortal coil has an experience with the divine. When they are absent and fail to materialize as someone discusses the prospect of having seen God with their eyes of flesh, whether they are lying is a foregone conclusion. Because God said no man could see Him and live, whenever such claims are made, it is a lie ten times out of ten.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.