That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever!
Job's cry is a wish that his words be kept permanently for all coming generations, as an inscription cut into rock with an iron tool and filled with lead so as to last forever. The figure shows that words and deeds can be set down with that kind of endurance, like writing cut into rock with an iron pen and filled with lead, and it holds true of the record kept in heaven. Willful sins committed with knowledge stay in that record and are not wiped out by a few later resolves or tears. Present choices fix eternal destiny, so character must be formed in this life, before death or the coming of Christ.
Right and wrong must be fixed upon the conscience as durably as cutting into rock with iron, with the law of God written on the heart by the Spirit of God. Truth merely agreed to by the understanding does not profit or sanctify, just as the Ten Commandments written only on tables of stone could not guide the Hebrews. What must stand engraved in that lasting way is that true success in this life and the next comes only through faithful adherence to what is right and to the eternal principles of right and wrong, and no one can gain it by breaking them in order to carry out selfish plans for self-uplifting. It must be engraved indelibly on the conscience that neglecting mercy, compassion, righteousness, and the needs of the poor dishonors God and shuts out His cooperation in the building of character. The one who tries to succeed by such violation is entered in the books of heaven as foolish and wicked, for God looks upon the heart and reads the purpose of the mind.
Job's cry is a wish that his words be kept permanently for all coming generations, as an inscription cut into rock with an iron tool and filled with lead so as to last forever. The figure shows that words and deeds can be set down with that kind of endurance, like writing cut into rock with an iron pen and filled with lead, and it holds true of the record kept in heaven. Willful sins committed with knowledge stay in that record and are not wiped out by a few later resolves or tears. Present choices fix eternal destiny, so character must be formed in this life, before death or the coming of Christ.
Right and wrong must be fixed upon the conscience as durably as cutting into rock with iron, with the law of God written on the heart by the Spirit of God. Truth merely agreed to by the understanding does not profit or sanctify, just as the Ten Commandments written only on tables of stone could not guide the Hebrews. What must stand engraved in that lasting way is that true success in this life and the next comes only through faithful adherence to what is right and to the eternal principles of right and wrong, and no one can gain it by breaking them in order to carry out selfish plans for self-uplifting. It must be engraved indelibly on the conscience that neglecting mercy, compassion, righteousness, and the needs of the poor dishonors God and shuts out His cooperation in the building of character. The one who tries to succeed by such violation is entered in the books of heaven as foolish and wicked, for God looks upon the heart and reads the purpose of the mind.