The Pulpit Commentary — Job — Section 250

lncorruptlon to light through the goepel " (2 Tim. i. 10), 1. By Mll revelation of God. In Ohriat we see God as our Father. Such a God cannot mock us with a delusion cannot plant an instinct in us for which there is no satisfaction. All other instincts hav~ their objects providecl. A good Father will not let this starve and pine into disappoint- ment. 2. By his direct teaching. Christ said little about the future life, but that little was clear, unhesitating, emphatic. He made no mention of harps and palms, but he said, " I am the Resurrection, and tho Life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live" (John xi. 25). 3. By his own resurrection. He is" the Firstfruits from the dead" (1 Cor. xv. 20). One man bas risen. This is enough to show that death does not end all. 4. By his saving grace. He not only reveals the life beyond. He gives the life eternal. A mere shadowy existence in Hades would be no boon; an existence of torment in Gehenna would be a curse. We want a full and glorious life. That ia not ours by nature; it is the gift of God (Rom. vi. 23); and it is received through Christ (1 John v. 11, 12).-W. F. A. Ver. 11.-Bealed transgression. Job seems to think that God has sealed hie trans- gression up in a bag, keeping it in reserve to bring out against him at some future judgment, L WE CANNOT TAKE BAOE: OUR ems. They are ours before we have let them loose on the world. Then they pass out of our control. They may wander far in their mischievous effects, or they may be, checked by the providence of God. But, in any case, they have passed a.way from us beyond all chance of recovery. The bag in which God puts our siris is sealed, and it is impossible for us to break the seals. We may well be on our guard a.go.inst producing those evil things that we cannot hold in or suppress.· II. OUR BINS ABE WITH GoD. He has them in his bag. We may not have thought that he noticed our conduct, and we may not have considered that our wickedness was an offence against God. Yet God could not be indifferent to our violation of bis laws. Our first dealings with our sins was in the privacy of our own hearts. When we next meet them they will be in God's possession, thoroughly examined by him, and ready to be used as he thinks fit in his judgment of us. III. OuB BINS AllE BEBEBVED FOR THE FUTURE. we do not now see them ; they are sealed up in God's bag. The judgment is not yet. Because it is delayed many men refuse-to expect it, and grow indifferent to their guilt. But time will not alter it. ·We cannot expect future immunity because we enjoy present forbearance. Now is t!:J.e tiine for repentance. · If the opportunities the present affords are neglected, can they be pleaded in extenuation of our guilt when at last we are called up for judgment? IV. IT IS OUR IMPENITENCE, NOT GoD's WILL, THAT CAUSES OUR SINS TO llE SEALED UP IN GoD's BAG, In the dreadful anguish and perplexity of his soul, Job seemed driven to the conclusion that God was carefully treasuring up his sins out of a spirit of opposition to him. Suoh an idea. is quite impossible to one who knows God as be is revealed in Christ. God cannot delight himself in retaining our sins. They a.re no treasures for him. He would much rather be rid of them. The seal that holds them is our hard heart. V. THE GOSPEL OF CHBIBT BRE.AXe THE BEAL OF BINS. Those sine that a.re still retained can yet be cast away, and the offer of forgiveness means that the bag may be opened. The past is not irreparable. Although it cannot be reversed, it may be for- given and forgotten. Christ has taken the great bag of the world's sins as a heavy burden upon his own shoulders. He has cnrried it with him to the grave. He bas left it there, buried with the dark, bad past, and he has risen without it in a new life, triumphant and redemptive. Now, the preaching of his gospel is the declaration that for every sinner who repents and trusts Christ the bag of sins is gone; it will be remembered no more. Those who dread the reappearance of their sins as wit- nesses a.ge,inst them may have a s111re hope of escaping them in the a.toning work of Christ.-W. F .. A. Ver. 19.-11010 watfl'l'll wear the st01&es. I. THE PROCESS. Job compares the process of providence to th,e action of the winter torrents in the wadys of a desert region. Few phenomena in nature are more striking to those who examine them than those of  THE BOOK OF JOB.