Episodes

  • Job - Why God? - Part 8

    Job - Why God? - Part 8
    Mar 29 2026
    Study 8 : Study 8: Job 32-37 A young man sounds off. The next 5 chapters of the book of Job are rather strange. The discussion between Job and his 3 friends has come to its end. A young man called Elihu speaks up with a 5 chapter long speech, an uninterrupted harangue in fact. Unlike the 3 friends he is an Israelite and he is young. He is not mentioned anywhere else in the book as the others are. All of which makes many people think his contribution is a late addition to the book. Perhaps. But we have it as a part of scripture so we need to look at it and may expect to get something from it. Four main points arise from what he said, of which only one really contributes much to the argument of the book. 1. He is a brash and arrogant young fellow who says things that do not make him a very likeable character; 2. After announcing that he is going to tell the 3 friends what they should have said, he says a great deal that is not significantly very different; 3. His main new argument is that by what has happened God has been training Job, disciplining him to straighten him out – which we may well question given the harshness of what happened to Job; 4. In his last chapter he says things which do serve as a preparation for the following word from the Lord. I am not going to Job all these 5 chapters, you will be glad to hear, but pick out verses from various places to follow the scheme above. 1. Arrogant Elihu. Job 32: 6 – 12, 17 – 22; 33: 1 – 3; 34: 1 – 4; 7 – 10b; 36: 1 – 4. Oh dear! Not a nice lad, I think. Fortunately not all, or not many, young folk are like that. Not much to learn there except possibly what not to do and say! 2. Ideas repeated. After claiming to know better Elihu is unable to get away from the basic cause-effect principle that dominated the comments and advice of the 3 friends. Listen to this: JOB 34: 5 – 12, 21 – 28; 36: 5 – 12; 34: 11. They all take us right back to the CEP that we have seen has to be rejected. And now to point 3, which is much, the most important new idea Elihu advances. 3. The discipline of the Lord. We might accept what he says on this subject except we have to remember the appalling multiple disasters that Job has experienced. They make it very difficult to accept the validity of Elihu’s arguments. Here is what he said: JOB 33: 14 – 30; 36: 5 – 16. He thinks that Job is simply experiencing the discipline of the Lord, designed to aid his spiritual life by developing his wisdom. So he says Job 33: 29, 30. Half-truths are always dangerous and this is a half-truth. The writer to the Hebrews says in Hebrews 12: 5 - 11 “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son. God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it… have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement” Yes, but surely there are limits to what can be called discipline before it degenerates into abuse. Those who experience difficult childhoods: perhaps the early death of their mother or being sent back home at an early age for schooling and not seeing their parents who are working in another country for many years, being forced to toughen up and become self dependent at an early age, often rise to high positions in society. But would we consider such things desirable? Surely not. Somewhere we have to draw a line between what is a strengthening discipline and a result of the Normal Chaos of Life. And this must apply to the Lord and his people as well as families on this earth. What happened to Job must fall into the NCL category. So – sorry, Elihu – but I think you are entirely wrong and have overstepped the mark in telling Job he has been disciplined by the Lord. It is also hard to find NT examples of discipline at all. What Jesus did in delaying his journey to the house of Martha and Mary as their brother Lazarus lay dying might be said to have a disciplinary effect strengthening their faith, but I find it hard to think of any other examples where he acted like that. Question: do you agree? 4. Preparation for the word from the Lord. Living in UK we get plenty of poor weather but only very seldom is it really bad weather. Tornados, really heavy rain, extreme cold or dangerously hot ...
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    25 mins
  • Jesus - A Glimpse Of God Part 23

    Jesus - A Glimpse Of God Part 23
    Mar 29 2026
    Jesus Prepares His Disciples Part 1 Welcome back to our series, AGOG – A Glimpse of God. We are on Day 23 of our adventure, looking together at the life of the most amazing person in human history - Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Today we look briefly at Jesus preparing His disciples for the coming few days when He will depart from them. John 15:1-16 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of mine that bears no fruit, he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already made clean by the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If a man does not abide in me, he is cast forth as a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide; so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. This I command you, to love one another. Jesus and His disciples are now in Jerusalem. They had a triumphant entry. Jesus is saying goodbye to His disciples and giving them some final teaching before He departs. Several times He has told them He is leaving them and going away (John 13:33; John 14:3-4, 19, 28). His departure from them involved him being arrested, betrayed, condemned and crucified. Jesus was going away to die, be raised to life and ascend back to the Father. As usual Jesus uses Old Testament language. In the Old Testament the nation of Israel is often described as a vine (Jeremiah 2:21; Psalm 80). However as a vine, Israel had not produced fruit that God had expected. With Jesus describing Himself as the true Vine, the implication is clear that the nation of Israel was but an imperfect precursor to His perfect self. With Jesus as the vine, his disciples are the branches, and will draw spiritual nourishment from Him. As part of this nourishment, sometimes pruning is required. Cleansing is also required in order that fruit be borne from the disciples. They were cleansed of sin through faith in Jesus and His teaching. The disciples are to remain in Jesus! How are they do that? They are to be obedient to Him. This included regularly confessing outstanding sins to God and participating in the Lord’s Supper. Jesus tells his disciples these things so His joy may live in them. Peace and joy would be twins within his disciples if they stayed faithful to Jesus. For when in the very near future, Jesus has departed back to God the Father, His disciples have to prove they really are His disciples. In order for this to happen, Jesus commands them they are to continue loving Him and also to sacrificially love others joyfully (John 15:12-14). Jesus would prove His love for His disciples by laying down his life for them when he goes to the cross. That is the greatest love. This is to be Jesus’ disciples’ mission statement, and if they live this out, they will bear much good fruit for God’s greater glory (John 15:8). Note that Jesus now calls them His friends. He calls them his friends because that is what they are. Jesus has made known to them all He has learned from the Father. There was more to teach them, but they would have to wait for the Holy Spirit in order to be able to bear that teaching. Jesus had chosen each of them to follow Him. Remember Matthew the tax collector? Jesus commanded him to follow – and Matthew did. That is one example. It is to the glory of God, that we in the 21st century if we are followers of Jesus, that Jesus’ disciples did as they were commanded to by Jesus. Come back tomorrow for Day 24 of our series AGOG, as we continue to look together at that extraordinary man, Jesus Christ, through the Gospel accounts! We shall see together Jesus continuing to prepare His disciples for when He leaves them! ...
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    7 mins
  • Job - Why God? - Part 7

    Job - Why God? - Part 7
    Mar 27 2026
    Study 7 : Job 29-31 Job’s self-assessment. We now come to two long speeches: the first by Job, summarizing his thinking, is 3 chapters long; the second by a new guy, Elihu, is 5 chapters long. Job cannot have been an old man when the disasters struck him. However long he lived (another 140 years according to the last chapter) he was only middle-aged for he had time to have another complete farming career and a considerable family. But much of what he describes in these chapters is remarkably similar to the common experience of an old person in western culture. Up to about 100 years ago most people in the world only lived in one or two or three places their whole lives long, often one as they grew up and just another subsequent to marriage. Consequently as they grew old they would be surrounded by people they had known for a very long time: family, friends and acquaintances. For many today things are very different. Education and job opportunities take us to live in many different places. Sometimes parents demand a weekly visit but that tends to be a disaster, as it leaves one not really belonging in either the place of residence or the parent’s home area. As a result of this mobility we will often enter old age and retirement surrounded mainly by strangers. The situation Job describes in a totally different culture and for very specific reasons is extraordinarily like that which may be your experience, as in part it is mine, or as it may be yours at some future date. JOB 29: 1 – 6. Assuming you are or have been married and had a family you will remember that it was great fun when you were in your prime and they were growing up. We then did all sorts of things: building sand castles, playing with toy trains etc. that we now have no excuse to do! JOB 29: 7 – 25. Our experience would have been, in detail, very different from Job’s yet it probably had much the same effect. We probably had a job, which gave us status. We mattered. We were somebody. Even if we had no very exalted role, not in charge of anybody else, we still had a position in some firm or organisation or in the family. We may not have realised it at the time but we drew strength from that sense of significance. But, if like me you are old, you will find it easy to relate to what Job says next. JOB 30: 1 – 15. What a magnificent phrase that is: “God has unstrung my bow”. Job no longer has the strength, or the will, to pull the bowstring back far enough to send an arrow far enough to matter. I used to pride myself on my ability to run upstairs two, or even three, steps at a time. No longer. Now an old man I go up sedately one step at a time. That is my equivalent to having my bow unstrung. Question: if you are getting older – what is your equivalent to the unstrung bow: loss of strength or beauty or what? More significantly, with retirement often comes a great loss of status. (More in Western societies than in those of the Third world where there is usually some role even the aged are expected to fulfil). No one now looks for your advice; no one looks up to you as someone that matters. Question: that is not true in all societies. How good is the one in which you live at using the advice and gifts of old folk? If circumstances mean that you, an older person, no longer live where you spent most of your working life then it may well feel as though you are being mocked by younger people as Job was, even when they are being polite to you. JOB 30: 16 – 41. Old age commonly brings aches and pains in joints and muscles! Job thinks of these as the work of God “tossing me about in the storm”. We think about such things in a very different way but the experience is just as real; my right ankle, left knee and left shoulder all ache! It is indeed like being tossed about in a storm. Unfortunately Job’s final chapter is a bad note to end on, here it is: JOB 31: 1 – 40. Each of us will have a different life story to tell. As we get older we tend to reminisce more and more, telling the old stories of what has happened to us and what we have done. Family and friends may get fed up with stories of the “good old days” if we tell them too often, and they may not have been all that good. It is easy to fail to realise how much the world, and probably our society has advanced during our lifetime. In our society, and many others, loneliness coming from the mobility of our lives or the smallness of our family can be the curse of old age for many. It probably was not Job’s problem although the depth of his grief will have tended to isolate him from other people. The element in the equation that is not considered in the book of Job is the role that the company of the Lord’s people should play in the life of those in distress or in old age. In Job’s day they were the people of Israel – but Job was probably not an Israelite – and in our day it is the local church. Sadly, because of the extreme individualism in modern Western ...
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    21 mins
  • Jesus - A Glimpse Of God Part 22

    Jesus - A Glimpse Of God Part 22
    Mar 27 2026

    Jesus Teaches About Himself 2

    Matthew 17:1-13 After six days Jesus took only Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain where they could be alone.Jesus’ appearance changed in front of them. His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone on earth could bleach them. Then Elijah and Moses appeared to them and were talking with Jesus. Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it’s good that we’re here. Let’s put up three tents—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” (Peter didn’t know how to respond. He and the others were terrified.) Then a cloud overshadowed them. A voice came out of the cloud and said, “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!” Suddenly, as they looked around, they saw no one with them but Jesus. On their way down the mountain, Jesus ordered them not to tell anyone what they had seen. They were to wait until the Son of Man had come back to life. They kept in mind what he said but argued among themselves what he meant by “come back to life.” So they asked him, “Don’t the experts in Moses’ Teachings say that Elijah must come first?” Jesus said to them, “Elijah is coming first and will put everything in order again. But in what sense was it written that the Son of Man must suffer a lot and be treated shamefully? Indeed, I can guarantee that Elijah has come. Yet, people treated him as they pleased, as Scripture says about him.”

    Jesus has now taken Peter, James and John with him on a trip up a high mountain. When they arrived there, as if to confirm their confession of Jesus as the Christ Messiah, Jesus transfigures into the glorified Son of God! Moses, the first great law-giver of Israel and Elijah the first great prophet of Israel also appear with Jesus! WOW that must have been an amazing moment! According to Luke’s account, they talk with Jesus about his coming death, resurrection and ascension into heaven.

    The yeast talked about by Jesus was their hypocrisy and evil. This was seen in evidence in our last study where they asked Jesus for a sign. Yeast in the New Testament is often used to illustrate evil. A little evil can spread a long way, much like yeast can in bread. Just as false teaching can decimate a church. Jesus was also warning his disciples to be convinced of the signs they had already seen, without coveting yet more signs!

    On the way back down the mountain to join the remaining disciples, conversation ensues. Again they were not to tell anybody else about what happened on the mountain top. If knowledge had become widespread, chaos would have ensued around Jesus. He would be surrounded by excitable crowds of people wanting to make Him their political King. All this happening, when He wanted to concentrate on his final preparation of his disciples. Jesus tells them again about his resurrection –his coming back to life after his death. Still Peter, James and John have difficulty grasping it and squabble amongst themselves.

    They go on to raise some of the teachings of the scribes about how Elijah would return before the Messiah Christ would come anoint the Messiah as King and then everything would be restored back to perfection. Jesus affirms what they are saying, but not that he agrees with it. Still the disciples don’t understand the correlation between suffering and glory. Jesus also affirms that the Elijah prophesied about was indeed John the Baptist! The religious teachers had missed this as had the disciples. Just as John the Baptist was rejected and killed by the religious authorities, so would the Christ. Jesus explains that the road to glory for the Messiah was through his death and suffering.

    Come back tomorrow for Day 23 of our series AGOG, as we continue to look together at that extraordinary man, Jesus Christ, through the Gospel accounts! We shall see together Jesus preparing His disciples for when He leaves them! See you soon at Partakers!

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    6 mins
  • Job - Why God? - Part 6

    Job - Why God? - Part 6
    Mar 26 2026
    Study 6 : Job 26-28 Glorious Wisdom. This study falls into 2 parts. First there are the chapters after number 23 and up to chapter 28. But I am going to skip over these. They do not add a great deal to what we have already thought about and, indeed, appear somewhat muddled. So much so that many scholars think they have got scrambled somewhere between Job and us. Two bits are worth reading. The first is as much for amusement as anything else! Job has already called his friends “miserable comforters” and he now unleashes a real blast of sarcasm against them in 26:1–4.. Much more positively Job once again states that nothing will make him give up his faith in the Lord and his righteousness. Theses are words worth hearing in these days when so many are prepared to give up their faith and thus their integrity for the thinnest of reasons. Hear that in 27: 1 – 6. But then the steady progression of argument between Job and his friends is suddenly interrupted by a beautiful poem in chapter 28. At first sight it seems to cut across the main argument of the book and not to be about the same sort of things at all, but in fact it takes us back to and reminds us what the whole book is really about. This is indicated by the last verse of this chapter repeating the main points of the very first chapter of the book. The argument in this chapter 28 is so subtle we reach v 12 before we are told what the subject of the poem, and therefore of the book really is. Though even before we learn that we can still understand the writing as an extended metaphor of all the to-ing and fro-ing that has occurred so far. Here are those first 11 verses of chapter 28. Isn’t that magnificent? Just like miners, Job and his friends have been hacking away in the dark hoping to find some precious idea that will light up the gloom that surrounds Job. Neither the lion nor the eagle can get anywhere near what the miners are after. It is only mankind that has any interest in things like this. We finally learn what it is all about in v12. And this is expanded on in the rest of the chapter: first with a great statement of praise of how important it is and then the statement that it is ultimately a spiritual attribute and can therefore only be obtained from the Lord. Here is the rest of this chapter. Wisdom is a very important Biblical concept that is much neglected so we will explore it in some detail. The word ‘wisdom’ is used in several different ways in the Bible of which we are interested in three: living well in the practical life of every day, equating to the Way of the NT,God’s knowledge and creative power,the personification of this second meaning of Wisdom, with the NT revealing Jesus is that personification. There are associated concepts of: the Sage, the Wise Man (or Woman), and the books of Wisdom (Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs and some Psalms; also Sirach and the Wisdom of Solomon in the Apocrypha). We, like Job, are most interested in the first of these: how can we live well in this difficult world. There is plenty of wisdom, knowledge and understanding all around us. We use it everyday when we watch the TV or go out in a car, but none of that sort of wisdom says anything about the meaning of life and how we can best navigate all the difficult situations, which are an inevitable part of living. In short, that sort of wisdom is not about what I have called living well. To reach that goal, i) in my list, will mean that we have to understand ii) God’s knowledge in Creation and iii) the role of Jesus in imparting wisdom to us. None of this is being wise in any sense of becoming a graduate, or getting a Master’s, let alone gaining a Doctorate, in either a secular field of study or even a Biblical one. No, it is something well within the reach of each and everyone of us. It may be a little old lady, like my lovely, long dead, grandmother, who is the wise person in this Biblical definition of Wisdom. It is all about something difficult to describe but easy to recognize when you meet a truly wise person. It is about living well, living contentedly, making good decisions, fitting into one’s world well, and relating well to other people. We can all do all those things but we can also all fail horribly to do them! Question: of the people you know well, who lives wisely? Try to work out what it is about those people that made them go to the top of your private list of wise people. We cannot live well by accident. Living well doesn’t just happen. We have to think out what our aims and objectives in life are before we will get anything right. It is really sad that so much of western culture refuses to do so. We are like Israel in the time of the Judges when ‘everyone did what was right in their own eyes’. In the ancient world Jewish scribes and Greek philosophers argued about what was the best way to live. We don’t. We just try to accumulate more and better material things, thinking, quite ...
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    19 mins
  • Jesus - A Glimpse Of God Part 21

    Jesus - A Glimpse Of God Part 21
    Mar 26 2026

    Jesus Teaches About Himself 1

    Welcome back to our series, AGOG – A Glimpse of God. We are on Day 21 of our adventure, looking together at the life of the most amazing person in human history - Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

    Mark 8:31-33 Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man would have to suffer a lot. He taught them that he would be rejected by the leaders, the chief priests, and the experts in Moses’ Teachings. He would be killed, but after three days he would come back to life. He told them very clearly what he meant. Peter took him aside and objected to this. Jesus turned, looked at his disciples, and objected to what Peter said. Jesus said, “Get out of my way, Satan! You aren’t thinking the way God thinks but the way humans think.”

    We recently saw that Peter confessed who the disciples think Jesus is – the long awaited for Messiah! Jesus is now starting to tell his disciples more about his role as Messiah. Jesus starts elaborating on previous teaching and includes what suffering he must undergo as part of his mission to earth. He is teaching them that his mission would include rejection by both the religious and secular leaders. The Jewish religious leaders would scrutinize Jesus’ claims to be the Messiah, then reject Him deliberately. However, the real danger was failing to pass the scrutiny of God!

    That this mission will include Him being killed. But… But… Jesus says that death will not get victory over him! No! Jesus said that He shall come back to life! Just as He had told the religious leaders when he cleared the Temple courtyard of the traders and money exchangers. Jesus was very clear in this teaching to them, so the disciples could be in no doubt what he meant! They could not make any mistakes regarding this part of Jesus teaching. Yet…

    Peter, who we saw earlier coming along as the spokesperson for the disciples, took Jesus aside to rebuke him. Peter had great zeal obviously but didn’t want to rebuke His master Jesus in front of the others. Peter’s view was that it was absurd the Messiah should be crucified and die! Peter was holding Jesus and telling Jesus “Get a grip, man! Why on earth are you talking like this?” He tries to restrain Jesus from exposing Himself to death.

    Yet Jesus censures of Peter. It may appear at first to be very harsh. Peter was using human wisdom but Jesus was urging his disciples to use wisdom from the Father, just as they had done when they confessed that He was the Messiah. Peter’s actions were an offense to Jesus. But Jesus sees who is really behind this – satan. It was satan that had prompted Peter to try to talk Jesus out of dying on the cross and following God’s will and intention. The suggestion was not blasphemous or crude but a smooth temptation.

    As we saw yesterday, it was a hard concept for the Jewish people to believe that their Messiah would suffer and die. For Israel, the coming of the Messiah would be the climax of their development as a nation and the fulfilment of their history! All this is seen in the Old Testament scriptures. It is equally true that these same Scriptures show that the Messiah would also suffer and die. We saw glimpses of that at Jesus’ baptism, in the Messiah being the Suffering Servant. Through His suffering, Jesus would be able to fully empathise and identify with humanity. Without this identity, He would be no Saviour Messiah and not able to overcome the root of evil in the world. It was only by taking on death, and overcoming it, that Jesus as the Messiah would usher in the new kingdom. Not a temporary physical kingdom that was expected by people, but a spiritual kingdom that would be everlasting!

    Such was Peter’s haste to rebuke Jesus that he along with the other disciples seem to have missed that last part of teaching. That yes, the Messiah would die but also be raised back to life 3 days later! Peter and the other disciples had not fully understood what Jesus was talking about. The idea of a resurrection, being bought back to life after death, was a concept that they would be familiar with. Only the Sadducees rejected a resurrection. But the disciples were discounting a resurrection that would happen in the present, because they accepted the resurrection was for a time in the distant future in the “last day”.

    Come back tomorrow for Day 22 of our series AGOG, as we continue to look together at that extraordinary man, Jesus Christ, through the Gospel accounts! We shall see together another example of Jesus teaching about Himself! See you soon at Partakers!

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    6 mins
  • Job - Why God? - Part 5

    Job - Why God? - Part 5
    Mar 25 2026
    Study 5 : Job 20-23 Job begins to see his way forward. In chapter 20 Zophar is clearly convinced that Job is a sinner and is suffering as a direct consequence. He doesn’t say so directly but it is the obvious implication of what he says. In the Bible sin is almost always a result of how somebody has failed to live well in relationship to other people. It is seldom about a failure to live well directly towards God by failing to worship correctly or failing to follow the correct prescribed religious observances. So Zophar criticizes Job in his actions towards other people. Zophar raises another and more difficult question. He seems to suggest that there is a major difference between good and evil in how long they last. He says that evil is inherently short lived, unlike good that lasts. Well, he doesn’t actually say that good lasts longer but that, again, would seem to be strongly implied by what he says. Listen out for those two implications as I read the chapter. Question: what do you think? Is it true that those who delight in evil things know that they do not last? Are they always looking over their shoulders wondering whether they will be found out? Are good things always more enjoyable than those that are not good? Answer: that is a really difficult one, but it is worth thinking about. Think of the things that you do. Is it true that the enjoyment of the good lasts longer than the enjoyment of the not so good? I think it is because I am happy to remember the good things I have done but always try to forget the bad things. But that is a personal opinion with which not everone would agree. Have you got a friend you could argue it out with? In the next chapter, 21, Job vigorously repudiates the implied accusation against him. He points out that some people behave very badly but God does not punish them. He reckons that we all, good and bad alike, have to live in the middle of the NCL, the Normal Chaos of Life. Here is chapter 21. I introduced the idea of the NCL early in these studies, which may have surprised or even shocked you! My justification for doing so is here in this chapter and will be confirmed in chapter 23. Very often preachers and teachers will take a very simplistic line: good things happen to good people, bad things to bad people. This may be very subtly done. When we were teaching in a school in Pakistan many of the staff would tell the kids: your parents are doing good things so no harm will come to them. They had a difficult time explaining what had happened when one of the parents was killed by a falling rock on a straightforward local walk. The NCL exists, as Job says. In the next chapter Eliphaz accuses Job of wrongdoing, particularly to the defenceless – widows and orphans. I will read that now. READ. I find that accusation interesting because we have been watching a TV drama series, Downton Abbey. It tells the story of a large household belonging to a senior nobleman, the Earl of Grantham. He is portrayed as having to take the decisions for a great many people, family, friends and servants. It is apparent that in many things, because he is the controlling boss man, he takes views that are strikingly different from those of just about everybody else around him. Perhaps this is what Eliphaz is highlighting here. Job had a huge household, before the disasters hit him, and had to make many decisions, being the controlling boss to an even greater extent than the Earl of Grantham. So, for instance, we read in v6 that he took clothes from the poor to guarantee payment of a debt. Faced with conflicting demands on his resources Job has opted for the rich man’s solution. He has been taking a rich man’s view of what is right and what is wrong and needs to revise his thinking. So we read in v13 – 14, “Do you think the deep darkness hides you from God? / Do thick clouds cover his eyes , as he walks around heaven’s dome high above the earth.” And in 23 – 26 “If you return to God and turn from sin, all will go well for you. / So get rid of your finest gold, as though it were sand. / Let God all powerful be your silver and gold, and you will find happiness by worshipping him.” That all makes good sense. The trouble is that it is all wrong; it is not a true picture of Job. Job’s self portrait in chapters 29 and 32 is very different and fits much better the view we get from all the rest of the story. He was an essentially good and righteous man. To return to what Eliphaz said: the NT equivalent is when Jesus said to the rich young man “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” Are you rich? Am I rich? Our probable reaction is to say – of course not! But by the standards of the ages we are rich. You are using a computer or a tablet to hear or read this. That is an item of enormously ...
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    23 mins
  • Jesus - A Glimpse Of God Part 20

    Jesus - A Glimpse Of God Part 20
    Mar 25 2026
    Teaching the disciples 2 Welcome back to our series, AGOG - A Glimpse of God. We are on Day 20 of our adventure, looking together at the life of the most amazing person in human history - Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Today we look briefly again at Jesus teaching his disciples! Matthew 16:13-20 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will have been and will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will have been and will be loosed in heaven.” Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah. Here we have a climax of the Gospels! Jesus has asked his disciples who they think he is. The disciples start out by saying who others thought he was. John the Baptist some say, yet others say Elijah or one of the prophets. In Matthew's account of this conversation, they also say Jesus was Jeremiah! So let us have a look at a couple of those. Firstly, John the Baptist! Some people were saying that Jesus was John the Baptist risen from the dead. Or perhaps he is Jeremiah raised from the dead! Of course, there is some similarity between the two men. Jeremiah was the 'weeping prophet', and Jesus was the 'man of sorrows'. Jeremiah called the people to true repentance from the heart, and as we know Jesus did. Both men were misunderstood and rejected by their own people. Both Jeremiah and Jesus condemned the false religious leaders and the hypocritical worship in the temple and were persecuted by those in authority. But that's where the similarity ends! Now we come to a climax of the Gospels. Confession of who Jesus is Jesus asks His disciples: "That's who others say that I am. But what about you? You have been with me for a while now, who do you say that I am?" Peter rushed to answer "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God!" Peter is emerging as a spokesperson for the disciples. Finally the eyes of the disciples are beginning to open to who Jesus truly is! Unlike a few days ago while crossing the Sea of Galilee, when they were whinging about a lack of bread while forgetting that Jesus had twice created bread out of nothing! Jesus then imparts a blessing on Peter! "You are Peter, and I can guarantee that on this rock I will build my church." It was revealed to Peter by God the Father. It is a play on words as the name of Peter means 'rock'! Peter is not the rock on which the church will be built but rather what he confessed when he said Jesus was the Christ Messiah! On this confession by Peter about who Jesus really is, the disciples or apostles would be the foundation of the church! Death or satan would not be able to stop and overcome the Church - the Church would be living and dynamic! Jesus then goes further and says to all the disciples, not just Peter, that the keys to the kingdom will be given. Here Jesus is giving authority to all the disciples to establish His church and be its leaders! Jesus who holds the keys of David (Isaiah 22:22 & Revelation 3:7) gives his own key to the disciples. Binding means to legislate and demonstrate. Loosing means to reprimand and excommunicate where necessary. The disciples have received from Jesus the authority to determine true doctrine, punish false teachers and unrepentant sinners! They were to exercise complete authority in the church. They were also to go about and tell people the good news of Jesus and what that means for people! Why did Jesus tell the disciples to keep quiet about Him? Now Jesus warns the disciples to keep quiet about him for now. Why did Jesus do that? There are various reasons. These disciples still had much to learn about him and what it meant to follow him. Additionally, the Jewish people were expecting a victorious Messiah who would free them from their slavery under the Romans (Isaiah 11v1-5). However, they had forgotten that their Messiah must suffer and die (Isaiah 53:1-12; Luke 24:26). The Jewish people also thought that the Messiah would set up an earthly kingdom, but Jesus came to set up an everlasting spiritual kingdom (Isaiah 9:7; Daniel 7:13-14; Luke 1:33; Revelation 11:15). If the disciples had gone from this place immediately proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah, people would have tried to force Jesus to be the Messiah they wanted him to be and make him their king. Rather than letting Jesus be the Messiah he was to be, who the Servant ...
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