Why the righteous must repent

The Word for today: Job 18:1 -- 19:29

mark this: Job 19:25-27



Q. Job is righteous, but he must repent. How’s that work?

A. We say to the unbeliever, “Believe in Jesus Christ, and you will be saved (1). Have faith.”

Well, Job already has faith: I know that my Redeemer lives (2). He has faith like Abraham, whose faith was accounted to him as righteousness (3). Thereby, Abraham is accredited with the righteousness of Christ; and so is Job--and so are you, if you have the faith that proclaims: "I know that my Redeemer, Jesus, lives."

So, why does Job need to repent?

'Repent' means to turn--from your own way to God’s way. So when Job sees God, he says, I’d heard of you, but now I see you. Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes (4).

The more we learn about God, the more we learn about ourselves as well. The believer will see in himself attitudes and actions that are not in accordance with the attitudes and actions of Jesus. When we fall short of His standards, we repent--we re-align our lives.

Repentance--turning from our way to God's way--is how the redeemed child of God becomes more and more like his Redeemer every day.

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(1) Acts 16:31; (2) Job 19:25; (3) Genesis 15:6; (4) Job 42:5-6