Page 86 - THE REVELATION OF THE THIRD HEAVEN and THE MEAT OF THE WORD

consequence through choice being exercised in some way and this is indeed what
the Word teaches us is the case (1 Cor 10:13, Jam 4:8-10). God suffers in response
to our sin (Isaiah 63:7-10).

The body has flesh life due to the blood and not the indwelling spirit which can
leave the body, for a short while, without loss of flesh life (Lev 17:11, Josh 5:1,
Judg 15:19, 1 Sam 30:12, 1 Kings 10:5).

The soul knows more about us, as it is the spirit as well as the body together, than
our conscious minds (Psalm 139:6 vs. 139:14). The basic spirit of a Man is the
prime mover in this process and the person may ‘need’ to suffer as a result as part
of this interactive process with God in the furtherance of that soul’s salvation (Prov
20:27). The prime principle of Salvation cuts across and is superordinate (Prov
3:11, Rom 2:7, 8:28) to that secondary causal chain of experience formed by God’s
other blessings in a life or the results of evil choices (Job 1:9-12, Psalm 25:8,
Micah 7:9, Zech 5:3, Mat 10:28, 11:29-30, 16:24-26, Mark 8:34, 10:21, Luke 9:23,
14:27, John 14:6). Job’s sufferings was not for his sins as such (Job 1:8, 22, 2:3),
he had been rewarded by God for his goodness (Job 1:1, 10), but that he might be
saved (Job 19:25), that was how the mystery worked out for him (Job 19:25). For
this case the enabling agent in the process was his ungodly fear (Job 3:25) which is
sinful (Job 22:3-5, Rom 14:23, 1 John 4:18). The presence or absence of faith for
specific works is for the Spirit to control (1 Cor 12:7, 11) in such a way as to
maximise the chances of the person choosing Salvation or remianing saved (1 Cor
13:7) and is one way God can control the workings of this mystery of salvation
(Rom 12:3, 1 Cor 12:11). This process, when successful in that it leads someone
to be and remain saved is called ‘Charity’ (1 Cor 13:1-13). Note that salvation
involves faith but God never rations this particular faith, it is also always available
as a spring-board for appropriation (Acts 2:21, Rom 1:18-20).

'Innocent' suffering, which is not innocent to God, (Psalm 51:5, 58:3), along with
happiness appears as a mystery to man but is not a mystery to God, the purpose of
both being their necessity for eternal salvation (Rom 8:28, Phil 2:10, Jam 4:9). Job
was afraid for himself and his lifestyle. This was his basic spirit expressing its
deficiency thereby prompting the intervention of God (Job 3:25, 22:4-5) and this
process seems a mystery to the conscious mind (Job 3:3). Job did sin and was not
sinless in any one compartment of his life (Job 3:25, 19:25, 22:4). Job 1:8, 22 ‘all’,
and 2:10 are parables of expressions and exaggerations for emphasis stressing that
his life and subsequent reaction to disaster were much better than the human norm
(Job 3:25, 22:4). Partial, compartmental or component righteousness (as described