The People of God in Travail. Job represents human suffering for all time. “The greatest of all the people of the east” lives a life of influence and luxury, but he loses everything, including the respect of his friends and of his wife, who advises him to “Curse God, and die” (Job 1:3; 2:9). But through his misfortune and grief, throughout his doubts and questions, through his pain and suffering, he perseveres and points us to the way of being faithful to God in spite of our circumstances.
Just as Job represents human suffering, so Israel becomes a type of the suffering servant. This, in time, evolves into a crucial part of the Jewish messianic expectation: “He was despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering. . . . He was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities. . . . He was oppressed, and he was afflicted , yet he did not open his mouth; . . . The righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. . . . He poured out himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors” (Isaiah 53:3, 5, 7, 11-12).
The People of God in Prayer and Worship. Worship of God was formalized during the exodus with the ark of the covenant and the tabernacle. However, with the emergence of the monarchy the king established Jerusalem as the center of worship. The Psalms establish a liturgical framework for public worship with all the accoutrements - festivals, pilgrimages, a sacrificial system, a priestly class, and musicians.
(From The Life With God Bible)
Related Post with Diagram: A Panoramic View of God's Purpose in History
No comments:
Post a Comment