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Job 26:9
9 He holdeth back ['achaz] the face [paniym] of his throne [kicce'], and spreadeth [parshez] his cloud [`anan] upon it. KJV-Interlinear
9 'He obscures the face of the full moon, And spreads His cloud over it. NASB
The face of the moon is an expression used for the view of Gods throne.
Gods throne faces the earth. Yet we cannot see Him or His throne because it is behind a curtain or veil or thick cloud, as it were.
From our perspective, we reside on the planet earth. The earth is surrounded by a vast universe, and that universe is very similar to the heavy clouds which block out our view of the sun during the day, or the moon and stars during the night.
When the sky is overcast with thick dark clouds, then our view of the sky is limited to only the clouds. We cannot see beyond them.
And so Job gives us a symbolic example of the barrier which exists between God and man, between the spiritual and the temporal.
Man is incapable of understanding the spiritual realm. One has to first be born again, or have believed in Christ, and second, then man has to be in fellowship before anything of the spiritual realm can be understood.
And even then, remember that we live in a shadow state. The Bible refers to many things as being nothing more than shadows of the realities that exist in heaven.
So, even though you can see great sights, and hear great music, and taste great foods and so forth, our life here in this world is nothing more than a shadow experience. No one, none of us, have ever experienced the real life that will exist in eternity.
The sun by day and the moon and stars by night illustrate the magnificent glory of truth and of God. But when the clouds rise up and block it all out, then we cannot see any of them, yet we know that they exist.
Everyday, we can look about ourselves and discover something, which illustrates the spiritual side of life, or the divine side of reality. Whether driving past a cemetery, or watching a giant cloud drift by, it makes no difference what we look at. Even some of the nonsense we hear in the media can serve to illustrate the differences between the spiritual side of life verses the temporal side.
And here Job uses the cloud as the illustration of how mans view can be blocked, and there is nothing that man can do about it.
The universe is so vast, that we could never fly to its outer edges in order to see the face of God, but then, if we could accomplish that, then we might discover that Gods throne is in a different dimension. He is always a step or two ahead of us.
And, the humorous thing about all of this is, that God is right next to you all of the time, in His written Word. And yet most folks still miss seeing Him, because they are indifferent. And, they are indifferent because the shadows of this life interest them more, than the realities that are still to be experienced.
One presumes that when we do leave this life and enter into the realities of heaven, then those realities will overwhelm us with a massive emotional overload. And of course, those who go in the other direction, their emotional reactions will be phenomenal on the terror side of the emotional scale.
We at least have the present to get our priorities in order, and our life in compliance with Gods mandates. Do not get distracted away from your spiritual objectives, by the politics or society defined standards which are designed to lead you astray.
