Happy Birthday

Job 1:5
5 “When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would send and have them purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, ‘Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.’ This was Job's regular custom.”

Job was a man of God. The Bible says he was “blameless” before the Lord. Job was a family man. He had a wife, seven sons, and three daughters. Job was a rich man. The Bible tells us he had thousands of animals and servants. It is believed that Job’s family started the tradition of celebrating birthdays. Each year his sons would get together and take turns holding feasts in their homes. They would invite the entire family over to have a great celebration. They would eat and drink, celebrating life together as a family.

I’m sure that Job was proud of his family, but he knew that like him, they were only human. He realized that for all of the good that they had done throughout the year, somewhere along the way they had probably sinned. Job, the loving father, didn’t assume they had done this with a malicious spirit, but that they had just done it. So each time they gathered together as a family, Job planned to sanctify them. He rose early in the morning, probably before everyone else, and went out to make a sacrifice to God on their behalf. This was a regular custom for him.

Oh, how we have a Father in Heaven who is just like Job! Our Father, God, is the richest in all the universe! He loves us and is concerned for us. He knows that we have sinned, perhaps unintentionally, and He wanted to sanctify us through His sacrifice. Just like Job, God doesn’t need to go to each one of us and ask what we have done. He doesn’t need to rub it in our faces that we have fallen short. He just took it upon Himself to rise and say, “My children have sinned, I will be the sacrifice for them.”

On the night Jesus was betrayed, He sat with His disciples for the Passover Feast. This was an annual celebration of the liberation of God’s people from the clutches of Pharaoh. On that night however, Jesus knew that there would be a different kind of liberation to come. A freedom from the oppression of Satan and the disease of sin! Jesus knew in taking the cross that, “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23) but maybe He was thinking, “all have sinned and will sin and fall short of the glory of God.” Jesus sacrificed Himself to sanctify those who came before Him, those who were there with Him, and those who had not even been born yet.

Happy Birthday!