This God whom we serve.

(all quoted Scriptures are from NASB, unless otherwise noted. Many single verses are paraphrased by myself.)

This passage came up in one of my morning devotionals back in March, and I had circled the verse to come back to at some convenient point in my Romans studies. It just struck me with awe when I first saw it. I came back to it once, at a later point, but it didn't stand open to me as before. I came back again, in preparation for this study, and it flowered and bloomed. I've not put a lot of comments in this, but rather,have tried to allow Scripture to comment on itself, and remind us of the greatness of the One we serve.

Job 26:6-14

6
"Naked is Sheol before Him
And Abaddon has no covering.
7
"He stretches out the north over empty space,
And hangs the earth on nothing.
8
"He wraps up the waters in His clouds;
And the cloud does not burst under them.
9
He covers the face of His throne, (NKJV)
And spreads His cloud over it.
10
"He has inscribed a circle on the surface of the waters,
At the boundary of light and darkness.
11
"The pillars of heaven tremble,
And are amazed at His rebuke.
12
"He quieted the sea with His power,
And by His understanding He shattered Rahab.
13
"By His breath the heavens are cleared;
His hand has pierced the fleeing serpent.
14
"Behold, these are the fringes of His ways;
And how faint a word we hear of Him!
But His mighty thunder, who can understand?"

Redemption seen…

6
"Naked is Sheol before Him
And Abaddon has no covering.
 

SHEOL (Vine's)

"Sheol" is used of a place of conscious existence after death.
It is an undesirable place for the wicked and a refuge for the righteous

  
Job 24:19
heat consumes snow, as Sheol consumes the sinner.
  Job 14:13 Hide me in Sheol until your wrath is past.
 

SHEOL (ISBE)

The [OT] believer's hope for the future, so far as this had place, was not prolonged existence in Sheol, but deliverance from it and restoration to new life in God's presence

  Job 19:25-27I know my Redeemer lives, who will take His stand on the earth, and whom I will see with my flesh, even if my skin be destroyed. My heart faints to consider that I will behold Him.
  Ps 16:10-11You will not abandon my soul in Sheol, but will make me to know the path of life, filled with joy in Your presence.
  Ps 17:15 I will see Your face in righteousness, and awake to the satisfaction of Your likeness.
  Ps 49:15 God will redeem my soul from Sheol and receive me.
  Ps 73:24-26 You will guide me, and receive me into glory, for in heaven I have only You, and on earth nothing that I desire but You. Though flesh and heart may fail, You are the strength of my heart and my eternal portion.
 

ABADDON (ISBE)

Abaddon belongs to the realm of the mysterious. Only God understands it. The word occurs once in the NT, where it is no longer the world of the dead, but the angel who reigns over it.

  Rev 9:11 The angel who reigns over the abyss is known as Abaddon by the Jews, and as Apollyon by the Greeks.
  Pr 15:11If Sheol and Abaddon are understandable to God, how much moreso man's heart?
   

Eph 4:8-10 (quoting Ps 68:18)

   
8
Therefore it says,
"When He ascended on high,
He led captive a host of captives,
And He gave gifts to men."
   
9
(Now this expression, "He ascended," what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth?
   
10
He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)

Creation Remembered…

7
"He stretches out the north over empty space,
And hangs the earth on nothing.
 

 

Isa 40:12Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand,
And marked off the heavens by the span,
And calculated the dust of the earth by the measure,
And weighed the mountains in a balance,
And the hills in a pair of scales?
  Isa 40:26Lift up your eyes on high
And see who has created these stars,
The One who leads forth their host by number,
He calls them all by name;
Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power
Not one of them is missing.
  

Job 9:7-10
(NKJV)

7
He commands the sun, and it does not rise;
He seals off the stars;
[Joshua predicted or remembered.]
   
8
He alone spreads out the heavens,
And treads on the waves of the sea;
   
9
He made the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades,
And the chambers of the south;
   
10
He does great things past finding out,
Yes, wonders without number.
  Ps 89:11-12
11
The heavens are Thine, the earth also is Thine;
The world and all it contains, Thou hast founded them.
   
12
The north and the south, Thou hast created them;
Tabor and Hermon shout for joy at Thy name.

History played out…

8
"He wraps up the waters in His clouds;
And the cloud does not burst under them. [Elijah and Ahab]
9
He covers the face of His throne, (NKJV)
And spreads His cloud over it. [Israel at Mount Sinai]

  Ps 97:2-6
2

Clouds and thick darkness surround Him;
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne.

[Ps 89:14]

   
3
Fire goes before Him,
And burns up His adversaries round about.
   
4
His lightnings lit up the world;
The earth saw and trembled.
  
5
The mountains melted like wax at the presence of the LORD,
At the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.
   
6
The heavens declare His righteousness,
And all the peoples have seen His glory.
  Jer 31:3(The same God tells us)
   
3
The LORD appeared to him from afar, saying,
"I have loved you with an everlasting love;
Therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness.
10
"He has inscribed a circle on the surface of the waters,
At the boundary of light and darkness. [Genesis]
  Jer 5:22'Do you not fear Me?' declares the LORD.
'Do you not tremble in My presence?
For I have placed the sand as a boundary for the sea,
An eternal decree, so it cannot cross over it.
Though the waves toss, yet they cannot prevail;
Though they roar, yet they cannot cross over it.'
11
"The pillars of heaven tremble, [mountains]
And are amazed at His rebuke.
  Job 9:5-6
(NKJV)
5
He removes the mountains, and they do not know
When He overturns them in His anger;
   
6
He shakes the earth out of its place,
[He who put it in place to begin with]
And its pillars tremble;
  He 12:25-26
25
See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less shall we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven.
   
26
And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, "Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven."
12
"He quieted the sea with His power,
  Mt 8:23-27
23
And when He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him.
   
24
And behold, there arose a great storm in the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves; but He Himself was asleep.
   
25
25 And they came to Him, and awoke Him, saying, "Save us, Lord; we are perishing!"
   
26
And He said to them, "Why are you timid, you men of little faith?" Then He arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and it became perfectly calm.
   
27
And the men marveled, saying, "What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?"
  And by His understanding He shattered Rahab.
  

RAHAB (Fausset's)

("insolence"). A name for Egypt, first of the great world powers that opposed God, and first to be reduced to helplessness: by God's stroke at the Red Sea, and at the slaying of the firstborn previously.

  Isa 51:9God is He who cut Rahab in pieces and pierced the dragon.
  Isa 30:7Egypt is a vain and empty helper, whom God has called Rahab who has been exterminated.
  Ps 89:10Thou Thyself didst crush Rahab like one who is slain;
Thou didst scatter Thine enemies with Thy mighty arm.
  Isa 40:15-17
15
Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,
And are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales;
Behold, He lifts up the islands like fine dust.
   
16
Even Lebanon is not enough to burn,
Nor its beasts enough for a burnt offering.
   
17
All the nations are as nothing before Him,
They are regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless.

Christ's Work Declared...

13
"By His breath the heavens are cleared;
His hand has pierced the fleeing serpent.
  Jn 19:28-30
28
After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, "I am thirsty."
   
29
A jar full of sour wine was standing there; so they put a sponge full of the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop, and brought it up to His mouth.
   
30
When Jesus therefore had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished!" And He bowed His head, and gave up His spirit.
  Jn 12:31
31
"Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world shall be cast out."
14
"Behold, these are the fringes of His ways;
And how faint a word we hear of Him!
But His mighty thunder, who can understand?"
  Jn 12:27:29
27
"Now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, 'Father, save Me from this hour'? But for this purpose I came to this hour.
   
28
"Father, glorify Thy name." There came therefore a voice out of heaven: "I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again."
   
29
The multitude therefore, who stood by and heard it, were saying that it had thundered; others were saying, "An angel has spoken to Him."
  Rev 19:6
6
And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude and as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying, "Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns."
  Heb 12:25
25
See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking.
     
   The remarkable thing about fearing God is that when you fear God you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God you fear everything else.
Oswald Chambers

     
   What we know of God is nothing in comparison with what is in God and what God is.
Matthew Henry
  Isa 40:22-26
22
It is He who sits above the vault of the earth,
And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers,
Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain
And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.
   
23
He it is who reduces rulers to nothing,
Who makes the judges of the earth meaningless.
   
24
Scarcely have they been planted,
Scarcely have they been sown,
Scarcely has their stock taken root in the earth,
But He merely blows on them, and they wither,
And the storm carries them away like stubble.
   
25
"To whom then will you liken Me
That I should be his equal?" says the Holy One.
  Eph 3:20-21
20
Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,
   
21
to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

  

©2001 - Jeffrey A. Wilcox