Dear Doves, 

What if you were tested today as Job was tested? 

Inventory list of Job's initial earthly belongings:

-              A healthy, vibrant body

-              A (loving?) wife

-              Admiration (envy?) from friends

-              7 sons and 3 daughters

-              Many Servants

-              7000 Sheep

-              3000 Camels

-              500 female Donkeys

-              500 yoke of Oxen

 

Here is the order and manner in which Job was tested and reconciled:

 

1)           500 yoke of Oxen, 500 female donkeys, many servants less the 1 reporting: Wiped out by man - the Sabeans

2)           7000 Sheep, many servants less the 1 reporting: Wiped out by nature - "Fire of God"

3)           3000 Camels, many servants less the 1 reporting: Wiped out by man - the Chaldeans

4)           7 sons & 3 daughters, many servants less the 1 reporting: Wiped out by nature - a tornado

5)           Loathsome sores from head to toe

6)           Mocking from wife: "Enough with integrity, just curse God and die already"

7)           Mocking from friends: "The Innocent prosper, so you must be anything but", "You need to repent for something", "Not only that, but you deserve worse", "God punishes the wicked, so you must be wicked", "The wicked will suffer", "Your wickedness is great", "Man cannot be righteous"

 

Inventory list of Job's interim earthly belongings:

 

-              A body covered in sores

-              A mocking wife

-              3 mocking friends

-              4 remaining servants, but who probably promptly left as there would be no money to pay them

 

Then God enters back in in Job 38 to 42:

 

1)   God convicts Job and his friends

2)   Job confesses and repents

3)   Job prays for his friends to be forgiven

4)   Job's friends give a burnt offering

5)   Job is restored

 

Inventory list of Job's restored earthly belongings:

 

-              A healthy, vibrant body

-              A wife (not quite sure how this relationship was after the mocking?)

-              Guilty restored admiration from friends (fear?)

-              New 7 sons and 3 daughters (the same # / sex of children as before.  IMO, it was not double the children on earth as the other half would still be alive in Heaven waiting for him)

-              Many Servants

-              14000 Sheep (7000 x 2)

-              6000 Camels (3000 x 2)

-              1000 female Donkeys (500 x 2)

-              1000 yoke of Oxen (500 x 2)

 

Modern application:

 

1)   Loss of livestock = loss of employment

2)   Loss of house / possessions = result of loss of employment

3)   Loathsome sores can still be loathsome sores

4)   Mocking from wife due to downturn in status

5)   Mocking from "so-called" friends, if not to your face then behind your back

 

CONCLUSION:  What I find interesting is that the above matches the order of what will occur to those left behind after the Rapture. Economy collapsing and everyone turning on each other. In other words, will the world be tested as if Job, but wherein very few, if any, left behind, at least immediately after the Rapture, will be favored and / or righteous like Job. Just another of a billion reasons to be thankful to the mercy of Jesus and His Rapture of us, His Bride!!

 

*             *                  *                  *                    *                *

 

Brothers and sisters, are you ready to meet the Lord in the sky?  Repent and believe that grace is by faith alone and can ONLY be attained through Jesus Christ.  Get ready and leave the temptations of this world behind and ready yourself as a Bride.

 

Surely, time is almost up.

 

YbiC, MathMan