Sabbath school lesson 7, 4th quarter of 2016

1. HUKUMAN PEMBALASAN
Lesson 7 for November 22, 2016
Adapted from www.fustero.es
www.gmahktanjungpinang.org

2.  Retributive punishment according to
Bildad. Job 8.
 Retributive punishment according to
Zophar. Job 11.
 Retributive punishment according to
ALLAH:
 The Flood. Genesis 6:5-8.
 Sodom and Gomorrah. Genesis
19:24-25.
 Korah, Dathan and Abiram. Numbers
16:1-33.
 The Second Death. 2 Peter 3:5-7.
Retributive punishment is a
proportionate punishment as
a response to an evil deed.
Job’s friends believed and
defended that God was
punishing Job because an
awful deed or a hidden sin.
God carried out retributive
punishment several times in
the Bible. Nevertheless, why
was Bildad and Zophar
reasoning wrong?

3. BILDAD’S SPEECH “When your children sinned against
him, he gave them over to the
penalty of their sin.” (Job 8:4 NIV)
Which were the main points of Bildad’s speech (Job 8)?
“When your children
sinned against him,
he gave them over to
the penalty of their
sin.” (v. 4)
“For the wages of sin
is death.”
(Romans 6:23)
“For we were born
yesterday, and know
nothing, because our
days on earth are a
shadow.” (v. 9)
“What is your life?
You are a mist that
appears for a little
while and then
vanishes.”
(James 4:14)
“What they trust in is
fragile; what they rely
on is a spider’s web.”
(v. 14)
“Cursed is the one
who trusts in man,
who draws strength
from mere flesh and
whose heart turns
away from the Lord.”
(Jeremiah 17:5)
All that Bildad said was based on the Bible. Then why was he wrong?

4. Bildad was right about
God’s character and how
He relate to us… but he
was missing a very
important point.
He talked about divine
justice but forgot about
mercy and grace
(Luke 11:42).
He was lacking compassion. He told a father
who had just lost his children, “They deserved
it”!
Even if Job’s children had sinned, their father
was interceding on their behalf and he
sanctified them (Job 1:5). Didn’t Job trust
divine mercy and forgiveness?
ZOFAR’S SPEECH “When your children sinned against
him, he gave them over to the
penalty of their sin.” (Job 8:4 NIV)

5. God should reveal His
wisdom to Job (v. 5-6)
“Where were you
when I laid the
earth’s foundation?
Tell me, if you
understand.”
(Job 38:4)
God has punished you
less than you deserve
(v. 6)
“The Lord has
chastened me
severely, but he has
not given me over to
death.”
(Psalm 118:18)
No one can know as
much as God does
(v. 7-9)
“Whom did the Lord
consult to enlighten him,
and who taught him the
right way? Who was it
that taught him
knowledge, or showed
him the path of
understanding?”
(Isaiah 40:14)
“Oh, how I wish that God would speak, that he would open
his lips against you and disclose to you the secrets of
wisdom, for true wisdom has two sides. Know this: God has
even forgotten some of your sin.” (Job 11:5-6 NIV)
BILDAD’S
SPEECH
Zophar was as based on the Bible as Bildad was.
Then why was Zophar wrong too?
Zophar got indignant about Job’s words, so he defended God:

6. The Flood is a clear example of retributive
punishment to sin, since “every intent of the
thoughts of his heart was only evil
continually.” (Genesis 6:5).
Both Job and his friends knew about the
Flood. Nevertheless, Job’s friends
overlooked that God saved Noah because he
“found grace in the eyes of the Lord.”
(Genesis 6:8).
Ezekiel compared
Job to Noah (Ezekiel
14:14). God has
mercy upon those
who come close to
Him even in the
midst of widespread
evil.
“So the Lord said, ‘I will destroy man whom I have
created from the face of the earth, both man and
beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am
sorry that I have made them.’” (Genesis 6:7)
THE FLOOD

7. Sodom and Gomorrah is another example of
divine retributive punishment Job and his friends
knew about.
God was willing to forgive those cities if He found
ten upright people in them (Genesis 18:23-32).
God didn’t find those ten people, but He saved
Lot and his family. Justice was tempered with
mercy again.
The two examples we studied prove that God
does justice and that He punishes sin.
Nevertheless, Job’s friends argued wrongly
because they were blaming God of a
punishment that was being inflicting by Satan.
“Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on
Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the
heavens.” (Genesis 19:24)
SODOM AND
GOMORRAH

8. KORAH, DATHAN
AND ABIRAM
“But if the Lord creates a new thing, and the
earth opens its mouth and swallows them up with
all that belongs to them, and they go down alive
into the pit, then you will understand that these
men have rejected the Lord.”(Numbers 16:30)
Job’s friends were right about God’s
promises. The Bible is full of promises
of blessing and prosperity for God’s
people if they obey Him.
There are also examples of
punishment that God inflicted to
specific people because of their
rebellion (Nadab and Abihu; Korah,
Dathan and Abiram; Uzzah; Gehazi;
Sennacherib’s army; Ananias and
Sapphira…).
There’s a common point in all those
cases: God is the one deciding who and
how He punishes. Unlike Job’s friends
tried to, we cannot judge who
deserves the blessings or the
punishments.

9. “But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word,
are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.”
(2 Peter 3:7)
The greatest example of retributive
punishment will take place at the End
Time, when the wicked will be
destroyed. The Bible calls that “the
second death” (Revelation 20:6).
Then, God will destroy EVERYONE who
didn’t want to repent from their sins.
Now we cannot judge every suffering as
a retributive punishment from God
(although it rarely happened that way).
We can be sure that no matter why we
are facing certain circumstances, God
loves us so much that He gave His Only
Son to destroy evil and to end with
suffering forever.

10. “Job’s professed friends were miserable comforters, making his
case more bitter and unbearable, and Job was not guilty as
they supposed…
Most pitiable is the condition of one who is suffering under
remorse; he is as one stunned, staggering, sinking into the dust.
And many who suppose themselves to be righteous, become
exasperating comforters; they deal harshly with these souls. In
manifesting this hardness of heart in offending and oppressing,
they are doing the very same work which Satan delights in
doing. The tried, tempted soul cannot see anything clearly. The
mind is confused; he knows not just what steps to take. Oh,
then, let no word be spoken to cause deeper pain!”
E.G.W. (Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, cp.14, p. 350)