Lesson 9

INTIMATIONS OF HOPE

Key Text

“ ‘He also shall be my

salvation, for a hypocrite could not

come before Him’ ” Job 13:16

Man’s hope in God. Protecting oneself from falsehood. Clinging to hope. The hope is fulfilled.

Divine hope for us. The plan of salvation begins. The plan of salvation is carried out.

Job didn’t have the Bible as we know it today. Nevertheless, he knew enough about the plan of salvation to cling to the hope of a Savior to come.

PROTECTING ONESELF FROM FALSEHOOD“But you forgers of lies, you are all worthless physicians. Oh, that you would be silent, and it would be your wisdom!” (Job 13:4-5)

After listening to his friends, Job concluded that they were lying about two important points:

1. They lied about Job. They maintained that Job was suffering because a hidden sin. Job already knows that that’s not true in his case (Job 13:2)

Job’s friends thought they were defending God, but they should’ve kept quiet instead of saying wrong things (Proverbs 17:28)

2. They lied about God. “Will you speak wickedly for God, and talk deceitfully for Him?” (Job 13:7). God confirmed that: “you have not spoken of Me what is right.” (Job 42:7)

CLINGING TO HOPE“Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. Even so, I

will defend my own ways before Him.” (Job 13:15)Job thought God was treating him unfairly, but he still clung to his faith in Him. Even if God might have allowed or caused the circumstances that would carry him off, he would’ve still waited on Him.What did Job expect? What was he hoping?He was waiting for encountering God beyond the grave, not in this Earth (Job 19:26).After studying how Job behave in good and bad moments, we can apply James’ words about Abraham to him too: “Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, ‘Abraham [Job] believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.’ And he was called the friend of God.” (James 2:22-23).

THE HOPE IS FULFILLED“He also shall be my salvation, for a

hypocrite could not come before Him.” (Job 13:16)

We can understand from Job’s speech that his hope was focused on God’s salvation for him. That hope will be fulfilled once he enters God’s presence.

Centuries later, Paul explained that our assurance of that hope was based on Christ’s being resurrected (1Co. 15:12-22)

Jesus’ resurrection guarantees our own resurrection. In the Second Coming, all who have put their hope in Christ will see the Savior face to face, from Adam to Job and to those who will be alive then. “And thus we shall always be with the Lord.” (1Ts. 4:17)

“A life in Christ is a life of restfulness. There may be no ecstasy of feeling, but there should be an abiding, peaceful trust. Your hope is not in yourself; it is in Christ. Your weakness is united to His strength, your ignorance to His wisdom, your frailty to His enduring might. So you are not to look to yourself, not to let the mind dwell upon self, but look to Christ. Let the mind dwell upon His love, upon the beauty, the perfection, of His character. Christ in His self-denial, Christ in His humiliation, Christ in His purity and holiness, Christ in His matchless love—this is the subject for the soul’s contemplation. It is by loving Him, copying Him, depending wholly upon Him, that you are to be transformed into His likeness.”

E.G.W. (Steps to Christ, cp. 8, pg. 70)

HOW TO LIVE IN HOPE?

THE PLAN OF SALVATION BEGINS“This truth also gives hope of life that lasts forever. God

promised this before the world began. He cannot lie.” (Titus 1:2 NLV)

“If anyone sins, I’ll save him.” That’s God’s commitment to Himself. That’s our hope.That happened even before man was created! Our salvation was conceived even before we existed, when the fall was only a remote possibility.God knew before the creation of the world that human beings would fall in sin, so He already conceived a plan of salvation. A hope for the fallen human race.

THE PLAN OF SALVATION IS CARRIED OUT

THE PROMISE

• Genesis 3:15

THE PLAN IN IMAGES

• Leviticus 17:11

The plan started when Adam and Eve sinned. God revealed His plan gradually in the Bible. We are those “upon whom the ends of the ages have come” (1Co. 10:11); we can see how that plan of salvation was carried out from the first promise to the final fulfillment.

THE PLAN OF SALVATION IS CARRIED OUT

THE LAMB OF GOD

• John 1:29SANCTIFICATION• Filipenses 1:16

THE PLAN OF SALVATION IS CARRIED OUT

THE FIGHT OF THE CHRISTIAN

• 1 Corinthians 10:13

THE TIME OF TROUBLE

• Daniel 12:1-2

THE PLAN OF SALVATION IS CARRIED OUT

THE SECOND COMING• Matthew 24:27

“Take time to study the Bible, the Book of books. There never was a time when it was so important that the followers of Christ should study the Bible as now. Deceptive influences are upon all sides, and it is essential that you counsel with Jesus, your best friend. The wayfaring man may find the way of life through faith and obedience, through abiding in the sunshine of Christ’s righteousness. But how shall we understand what is meant by these terms, if we do not understand the Bible? In the Word of God duty is made plain, and everything relating to the religious life is presented in a definite way. The whole plan of salvation is delineated, and the helps to the soul are pointed out. The way in which the believer may be complete in Christ is unfolded.”

E.G.W. (Daughters of God, cp. 4, pg. 78)

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