启二二1~2 天使又指给我看在城内街道当中一道生命水的河，明亮如水晶，从神和羔羊的宝座流出来。在河这边与那边有生命树……。

　　神生命之路的目的地乃是生命水的城，也就是新耶路撒冷，神永远的居所（启二一2、11、23，二二1~2、14），给所有照神心愿，并为着神的喜悦，而行在生命之路上的人，作为最好、最荣耀的目标，使他们能与神一同有分于神这永远生命的一切福分，直到永远。

　　死亡、善恶之路的目的地，乃是硫磺火湖，就是火坑（太五22下），撒但永远的监狱，给所有照撒但恶谋，而走死亡之路的人，作为最坏、最悲惨的结局，使他们与撒但一同有分于永远的审判和永远的沉沦（约十六11，太二五41，启二一8、27，二二15）（约伯记生命读经，二四○至二四一页）。

　　Rev. 22:1-2 And he showed me a river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb in the middle of its street. And on this side and on that side of the river was the tree of life…

　　The destination of God’s way of life is a city of water of life, the New Jerusalem, God’s eternal dwelling (Rev. 21:2, 11, 23; 22:1-2, 14), as the best and most glorious goal for all the men who walk in the way of life according to God’s desire and for God’s pleasure, that they may participate with God in all the blessings of God as the eternal life for eternity.

　　The destination of the way of death and of good and evil is a lake of fire of brimstone, the Gehenna of fire (Matt. 5:22), Satan’s eternal prison, as the worst and most miserable end for all the men who take the way of death according to Satan’s evil device, that they may share with Satan the eternal judgment and eternal perdition (John 16:11; Matt. 25:41; Rev. 21:8, 27; 22:15). (Life-study of Job, p. 197)

　　新耶路撒冷是神生命之路最好、最荣耀的结局，乃是极有力的奖励，叫我们寻求神，直到我们照着祂的爱和恩，得着祂到最完满的地步；火湖乃是撒但的死亡、善恶之路最坏、最悲惨的结局，这应当是给在撒但敌挡神经纶的路上跟随撒但之人严肃的警告，要他们从撒但的死亡之路转到神的生命之路，使他们得以逃脱撒但按照神的公义和公平所受永远的审判和永远的沉沦。

　　神在约伯身上的目的，是要销毁这个“完全且正直”的约伯，剥夺他在最高标准的道德上，所达到并成就的完全和正直

　　（伯一1）。……神的目的也是要拆毁那在自己的完全和正直里天然的约伯，使神能建立一个有神的性情和属性，得更新的约伯。……神的目的不是要得着一个在善恶知识树线上的约伯，乃是要得着一个在生命树（创二9）线上的约伯。

　　神严厉对付约伯的目的，乃是要将他对神与人关系的逻辑，从按照道德的善恶原则，调整到按照神的生命原则，使约伯能成为得着神并有分于神的人，使神永远的经纶得着完成。

　　约伯像他的朋友一样，也停留在是非的知识里，而不认识神的经纶，没有充分地看见神创造人的定旨。他和他的朋友都毫无神圣的启示，也无神圣生命的经历。他不知道神的目的不是要加增他的完全、正直、公义和纯全。相反的，神的目的是要剥夺他这些自以为满意的属人美德，好叫他只寻求神并得着神自己。他的朋友和他，都不在神所命定人该在的生命树线上。

　　神把约伯记摆在圣经中，当作一个黑暗的背景。约伯和他朋友的说话，指明他们外表虽是敬虔的人，却都缺少神，没有彰显神。约伯和他的朋友来在一起辩论，而不是交通。他们没有什么关于神的事可以彼此交通。

　　约伯和他三个朋友—以利法、比勒达和琐法—都在善恶知识树的范围里。……神要把他们从那个范围里拯救出来，摆到生命树的范围里。神必须作的头一件事，就是把约伯剥夺、销毁并拆毁，使他在受苦之下成为一无所是。这成为一个根据，使神能用神圣的三一重建约伯，使约伯能成为一个新人，神新造的一部分，以完成神永远的经纶，使神得着彰显（约伯记生命读经，二四一、三四至三五、二四○、四七、六八页）。

　　参读：约伯记生命读经，第四至五、九篇。

　　The New Jerusalem, as the best and most glorious end of God’s way of life, is a dynamic incentive for us to seek God until we gain Him to the fullest extent according to His love and grace; and the lake of fire, as the worst and most miserable end of Satan’s way of death and of good and evil, should be a solemn warning to the men who follow Satan in his way against God’s economy, to turn from his way of death to God’s way of life that they may escape Satan’s eternal judgment and eternal perdition, according to God’s righteousness and justice.

　　God’s intention with Job was to consume this “perfect and upright” person and to strip him of his attainments, his achievements, in the highest standard of ethics in perfection and uprightness (Job 1:1).

　　God’s intention was also to tear down the natural Job in his perfection and uprightness that He might build up a renewed Job in God’s nature and attributes. God’s intention was not to have a Job in the line of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil but a Job in the line of the tree of life (Gen. 2:9).

　　God’s purpose in dealing with Job severely was to adjust his logic concerning his relationship with God from the principle of good and evil according to ethics to the principle of life according to God, that he might be one who gained God and participated in God for the fulfillment of God’s eternal economy.

　　Job, like his friends, was halted in the knowledge of right and wrong, not knowing God’s economy, not realizing in an adequate way the purpose for which God created man. He and his friends were devoid of the divine revelation and of the experience of the divine life. He had no idea that God had no intention to increase his perfection, uprightness, righteousness, and integrity. Rather, God’s intention was to strip all these human virtues which he had as his contentment, so that he could seek and gain only God Himself. Neither his friends nor he were in the line of the tree of life as God ordained man to be.

　　God put the book of Job into the Bible as a black background. The speaking of Job and his friends indicated that although they apparently were godly men, they were short of God, and they did not express God. Job and his friends came together to debate, not to fellowship. They had nothing of God to fellowship with one another.

　　Job and his three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, were in the realm of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil…God was trying to rescue them from that realm and put them into the realm of the tree of life. The first thing God had to do was to strip Job, consume him, and tear him down so that he would become nothing as a person under suffering. This became the base for God to rebuild Job with the Divine Trinity, that Job could be a new man, a part of God’s new creation, to fulfill God’s eternal economy for God’s expression. (Life-study of Job, pp. 197, 29, 196, 39-40, 57)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Job, msgs. 4—5, 9