“My Redeemer Lives!” • 3.14.21 • Calvary Christian Fellowship, Sunday Morning Service
Intro.
- We are in the middle of the second round of dialogue between Job and his friends. Having just finished responding to Eliphaz, Bildad the Shuhite returns to add in his two cents. Verse 1.
Text
• Job 18:1-4 : "Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said: 'How long till you put an end to words? Gain understanding, and afterward we will speak. Why are we counted as beasts, and regarded as stupid in your sight? You who tear yourself in anger, shall the earth be forsaken for you? Or shall the rock be removed from its place?" : Bildad is about as subtle and gentle as a jagged rock! He is tired of Job's speeches. They are especially unwelcome as Job continues to disagree with their theology!
- If Job will finally understand what they are trying to explain to him and agree with them, there is a chance that they can return to their usual conversation together.
- "Once you get what we are saying, we can really resume our friendship!" They will be happy to bring Job back into the fold, once he has admitted his failure and adopted their world view.
- The problem, I remind you, is that their belief requires Job to admit that he has sinned and earned the response from God that he has received. Job cannot concede for two reasons.
- The first is that he has not sinned. He is not sinless, but has also not caused his situation. Second, to allow their theology to win the day would put his friends in grave spiritual danger!
- In a way, this is why this book continues as it has. Why doesn't Job just tell his friends to "take a hike?" I'm beginning to believe that his love for them made him continue in his way.
- This only added to the tension. The Shuhite is red with anger. He, Eliphaz and Zophar are smart men. They have experience and they have agreed together regarding Job's situation.
- Job, by his disagreement with their theology, was, in Bildad's mind, registering tremendous disrespect to their intellect. Job had cited that the animal kingdom could teach them a lesson.
- Bildad, still reeling from that perceived insult, asks, "Are we counted as beasts?"
- Bildad thinks that he has studied God's interaction with the wicked long enough to speak for Him authoritatively. He's not impious. In his mind, he is as committed to God as Job.
- This is the awful truth that Bildad doesn't want to hear. Job is telling them that they believe in God, but by defining Him by actions that don't define Him, they have a false conception of God!
- Eliphaz and Bildad don't feel that way. They think Job is seeking special exemption.
- Should all of what everyone knows about God be set aside for Job? Bildad wants to know if Job wants to be the exception to the well established "truth." Verse 5.
• Job 18:5-13 : "The light of the wicked indeed goes out, and the flame of his fire does not shine. The light is dark in his tent, and his lamp beside him is put out. The steps of his strength are shortened, and his own counsel casts him down. For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walks into a snare. The net takes him by the heel, and a snare lays hold of him. A noose is hidden for him on the ground, and a trap for him in the road. Terrors frighten him on every side, and drive him to his feet. His strength is starved, and destruction is ready at his side. It devours patches of his skin; The firstborn of death devours his limbs." : Even though the author and words are different, the same theme continues.
- The wicked are living on borrowed time! Their light will go out quickly, their steps are shortened and their counsel brings them down to humility.
- It is true that wicked men are brought low before God eventually. They will not live out half of their days, according to the Psalm 55:23.
- The wicked believe that they can rebel against the God of the Universe, but their plans often fail to make it out of the gate. They think they are free, but they are walking into a trap.
- Look at all of these ways that the Lord has to stop a wicked man in their tracks. There are trip wires that bring a net over him, a snare that catches his legs or a well hidden noose for their feet.
- The wicked are hunted by the Lord until they are finally finished off. Consequently, they are paranoid and ever on the run.
- As Bildad continues, he makes it a little more personal as he remarks that Job's life seems quite similar to the wicked man's life. His strength is famished.
- Who else has looked upon destruction like Job had? Who's skin was more devoured than his? Bildad is about ready to abandon all subtlety! Verse 14.
• Job 18:14-21 : "He is uprooted from the shelter of his tent, and they parade him before the king of terrors. They dwell in his tent who are none of his; Brimstone is scattered on his dwelling. His roots are dried out below, and his branch withers above. The memory of him perishes from the earth, and he has no name among the renowned. He is driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world. He has neither son nor posterity among his people, nor any remaining in his dwellings. Those in the west are astonished at his day, as those in the east are frightened. Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place of him who does not know God." : "Job, you do realize that you are not in your tent right!?" All that is left is to be paraded in front of the "king of terrors."
- A few commentators have mentioned that the ancients called Death itself, the "king of terrors." Job has been captured and is presented as Death's latest trophy!
- From here, everything Bildad says is insulting and brutal. Brimstone is scattered on his dwelling. Some believe this to be a direct reference to the Lord's judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah.
- That event was still front page news at the time of Job's life. Bildad is telling Job that he is being treated like a person from those wicked towns.
- His roots below the surface have been desecated and his branches above are withered. He won't be remembered, an interesting comment seeing that we are talking about Job this very day!
- Job is assured that he wouldn't have anything good in this world. He could just look forward to being the poster child of God's judgment, from the East to the West!
- All of these blows lead to Bildad's final judgment: This is what happens with the wicked and the man that doesn't know God! Bildad's audacity is astounding!
- To proclaim a person wicked and godless, without a shred of enduring evidence, and to damn them to separation from God, is the exact kind of "judgment" Jesus forbids in Matthew 7!
- This will not sit well with Job, who is about to reach his lowest point! Chapter 19.
• Job 19:1-6 : "Then Job answered and said: 'How long will you torment my soul, and break me in pieces with words? These ten times you have reproached me; You are not ashamed that you have wronged me. And if indeed I have erred, my error remains with me. If indeed you exalt yourselves against me, and plead my disgrace against me, know then that God has wronged me, and has surrounded me with His net." : Bildad was worried about plentiful speeches. Job is wondering how many more grievous words he is going to have to endure! They were crushing him!
- Did they not see the harmful affect that their words were having? Could they be this dense?
- Whatever good that these men thought that they were accomplishing was being ruined by the impact of their words. "Death and life are in the power of the tongue." (Proverbs 18:21)
- This verse didn't exist in their time, but it serves as an illustration of how deadly our tongues can be! James will later tell the church that the tongue is fire that kindles a forest fire! (James 3:5ff)
- They have used their tongues to repeatedly insult Job, as many as "ten times." They have treated their friend like an enemy of God and they aren't even ashamed of themselves!
- Their behavior isn't justified against him, even if he had sinned. There are a few different thoughts about Job's meaning here. The word "erred" refers to sinning in ignorance.
- If Job had sinned in ignorance, what would that be to them? What business is it of theirs? On the other hand, he may be saying that his error had not spread beyond him to anyone else.
- Obviously, he doesn't believe this to be the case. They exalted themselves over him with this information, but the reality was that God had wronged him by catching him in His net!
- It's difficult to assess Job's words and cry "foul" each time he moves in this direction. It's honest. It's true to his feelings, but it is absolutely wrong. Who is the arbitor of right and wrong?
- Will we, with our limited understanding and vision, be able to discern that better than God? Even in our seasons of pain and suffering that He allows, we know that it's for His good purpose.
- We can feel and say that there are bad things that have happened from our point of view, but to malign God in the process is to put ourselves in harm's way!
- The longer that Job seeks to prove his innocence, the more that he will be guilty of seeking to put guilt upon the Lord. That is a very bad place to be in! He continues in verse 7.
• Job 19:7-12 : "If I cry out concerning wrong, I am not heard. If I cry aloud, there is no justice. He has fenced up my way, so that I cannot pass; And He has set darkness in my paths. He has stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head. He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone; My hope He has uprooted like a tree. He has also kindled His wrath against me, and He counts me as one of His enemies. His troops come together and build up their road against me; They encamp all around my tent." : Job feels justified in expressing his feelings. Whether he means to target God or men, either currently seems to be true: He has not been heard!
- When it came to his friends, they have definitely NOT heard him, but when it came to God, Job will discover soon that God has heard every word! However, it appears that there is no justice.
- There isn't a way out of this for him. He's boxed in on every side. His former privileges in society, as well as in his relationship to the Lord, have been revoked.
- He had been a prince among the people and a person with a close relationship to God. All of that is a distant memory as Job believes that God has demolished his life!
- God has beaten him from top to bottom and has surrounded his little tent with a full complement of angelic armies! Job is telling his friends that God is guilty of overkill! Verse 13.
• Job 19:13-20 : "He has removed my brothers far from me, and my acquaintances are completely estranged from me. My relatives have failed, and my close friends have forgotten me. Those who dwell in my house, and my maidservants, count me as a stranger; I am an alien in their sight. I call my servant, but he gives no answer; I beg him with my mouth. My breath is offensive to my wife, and I am repulsive to the children of my own body. Even young children despise me; I arise, and they speak against me. All my close friends abhor me, and those whom I love have turned against me. My bone clings to my skin and to my flesh, and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth." : In addition to losing his privilege and place in society, Job has also lost his support system.
- He is rejected on every side. Family, acquaintances, close friends and even employees turn aside from him. He has to beg for his servant's help and even they won't answer his call!
- His wife can barely stand to be near him and his children are repulsed by him. "Wait, I thought that he lost all of his children?" This may refer to "grandchildren."
- The ancients didn't have a word for "grandchildren." It may refer to people that Job discipled.
- It may also be that as he spoke to his wife about their children, that she was repulsed even further by his explanations.
- Whichever you choose, understand that from little children to close friends, the story remains that they have all turned aside! Physically, he is just skin and bones. Emotionally, he barely hangs on!
- This leads him to plead with the few friends that he has in front of him. Verse 21.
• Job 19:21,22 : "Have pity on me, have pity on me, O you my friends, for the hand of God has struck me! Why do you persecute me as God does, and are not satisfied with my flesh?" : Job can't believe that he has to ask this of them. "Don't you see what is happening?" God has struck him without cause and they are joining in with him!
- Their brand of comfort has been identified by Job as persecution! In Job's mind, it has been as relentless as the actions that have been taken by God Himself!
- Job is telling them that they are hounding him. They are acting like a pack of ravenous dogs who are not satisfied with his flesh. They won't be happy until they have reached his bones!
- When we are sharing the true wisdom of God, there are definitive signs that what has been said has emanated from God Himself. Turn with me to James 3.
- I don't believe it to be a coincidence that James adds this in after speaking about the unruly nature of the tongue. There is correlation!
• James 3:13-18 : "Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace." : Look at this list and compare it to Eliphaz and company. Has there been good conduct performed in a meek manner? Has there not rather been endless self-seeking?
- Their doctrine hasn't brought any comfort to Job. It has not been attended by God's peace. It has not been a source of joy or refreshment. It has not issued in a willingness to yield.
- That alone should be read and re-read! Is the person who is comforting willing to yield their own position? Does the comforted feel as though they should yield theirs?
- Job has accused these men, rightly, of their partiality. There is no fruit of righteousness in any of their argumentation. Verse 23.
• Job 19:23-27 : "Oh, that my words were written! Oh, that they were inscribed in a book! That they were engraved on a rock with an iron pen and lead, forever! For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth; And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!" : This is a classic interchange! None of us would be here right now if Job's words were not written! Here it is Job! We are 19 chapters into your book!
- Job is calling for a permanent record to stand, one that won't be washed away in time. He wants it engraved in stone as a memorial for all generations to see.
- What does he want to be inscribed there? Does he want to register his complaint? Does he want to let the world know of his dissatisfaction? I don't think so.
- I believe that he wants this momument to spell out his clear belief in the midst of his trying circumstance: "I know that my Redeemer lives!"
- The way that this is written is quite instructive. The original would read something like this: "I, even I know that my Redeemer is living!"
- Despite what it looks like currently. Despite what his friends believe about him spiritually, even in the throes of torture mentally, Job can clearly see the truth. "Even I see this!"
- James, the Pastor of Jerusalem Christian Fellowship, equated Job among the prophets in James 5:10,11. This man, in the midst of his greatest suffering, is given a seer's perspective!
- It is not that Job "hopes" or "thinks" or wishes" that His own Redeemer is living. He knows it!
- He is certain of this truth and it brings great comfort to him, though it gives a great many a great headache! If this is such an old story, how did the word "Redeemer" get in here?
- The law won't be written for a few hundred years, but the concept is alive in Job's heart. He has been working up to this, asking for a "Mediator" or one that could reason with God.
- Now, it comes into greater focus. He knows that His Redeemer lives! The word "Redeemer" comes from the Hebrew word "ga'al." It is also translated "kinsman" and "avenger of blood."
- This privilege fell to a near relative who had the capability of carrying out certain duties. He was given the responsibilty to act in difficult circumstances.
- To be a redeemer, he must have the means to assume financial responsibility for family property. (Leviticus 25:25) This is a major part of the book of Ruth.
- Boaz was Naomi's kinsman, who assumed control over Elimelech, Mahlon and Chilion's property in Bethlehem.
- He married Ruth and had a child in her deceased husband Mahlon's name, a practice referred to as "Levirate Marriage." This would ensure that his deceased family's name was carried on.
• Ruth 4:9,10 : "And Boaz said to the elders and all the people, 'You are witnesses this day that I have bought all that was Elimelech’s, and all that was Chilion’s and Mahlon’s, from the hand of Naomi. Moreover, Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of Mahlon, I have acquired as my wife, to perpetuate the name of the dead through his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brethren and from his position at the gate. You are witnesses this day." - Those are two functions that the Redeemer, the "ga'al" performed. The third related to avenging loss. Listen to the description of the action in Numbers 35.
- If a man accidentally kills another man, manslaughter, the guilty party must run to the nearest "city of refuge," lest the "avenger of blood" catch up to him and slay him before he is tried.
- If the man is tried and found guilty of murder, it is the avenger's duty to put the murderer to death, (Numbers 35:19, 21) to ensure that justice had taken place according to the law.
- Job's appeals for justice have come to this point. He has been wronged and only His Redeemer can make things right! At the very least, one could say that Job saw Jesus in this type.
- Jesus is His near relative by virtue of His humanity. He is wealthy beyond imagination and strong to deliver justice! Did Job actually see Jesus? We don't know that he did or didn't.
- What we know is that he is confident that He was living and that He would one day stand upon the Earth! Once again, this might better be translated "And He will be the last one to stand."
- Job is looking at His Redeemer after the Great White Throne Judgment of Revelation 20!
- Job's friends are trying to have the last word on Earth. Job's Redeemer won't let them have the last word! He will stand and none will be left to oppose Him!
- Job doesn't expect that he will see this soon. His skin is on it's way out, but in his flesh, he will see Him with his own eyes! Others will argue that Job is speaking of something else.
- I will pose to you that as he assumes the office of a prophet, that he is speaking of the believer's resurrection and glorified body! He'll have a new form and new eyes to see Him!
- Job won't have to listen to another's experience of God. He will see Him! Our resurrected, glorified bodies will be able to look upon the God of the Universe!
- Job knows that this life cannot be all that there is. There must be a resolve! There must be purpose and because He actually knows God, he truly believes in this moment, that it must be good!
- Can you not say these same words: "How my heart yearns within me!" Most of us will never suffer to the degree that Job did, but all of us will suffer enough to wish we were glorified!
- With every passing year and every new societal low, our yearning grows ever greater for our redemption to be fully recognized and our Redeemer to be seen! Verse 28.
• Job 19:23-29 : "If you should say, ‘How shall we persecute him?’— Since the root of the matter is found in me, be afraid of the sword for yourselves; For wrath brings the punishment of the sword, that you may know there is a judgment." : The promise of a Redeemer brings such comfort to Job, but it also brings a great warning to his friends.
- They have concluded that Job is at fault. He is a wicked man that does not know God. He is the cause of his own problem. That is their assessment and their argument is made on behalf of God!
- Job warns them not to take this attitude further because the sword swings both ways! They had better be concerned about their own place before the Lord.
- God does not take speaking falsely on His behalf in stride! There is a reckoning that every man must face and their blasphemy won't outlast this book!
- In essence, Job says, "If you think that I'm being judged harshly and I've done nothing wrong, how much worse will your punishment be, who haven't said anything right!?"
Conclusion
- What has this section taught us? We have watched Job come to one of
his lowest points as he reports his rejection. He is low enough to have come
dangerously close to blasphemy!
- When we are in pain, obsessed with who is right and wrong, we are susceptible to making such rash statements.
- In God's grace, as Job descended toward blasphemy, God lifted his eyes to see a prophecy!
- When Job was unable to see hope, all of a sudden, all Job could see was hope! "I, even I know that my Redeemer is living!"
- Jesus, the near relative by virtue of His incarnation, the rich relative by virtue of His position in the Godhead and the strong relative by virtue of His defeat of sin and Satan, is that Redeemer!
- Our view of the Redeemer is even greater! Job is just asking that his redeemer take his case. Our Redeemer took our place!
- Job's Redeemer was alive, but our Redeemer has passed through death, never to die again!
- Our Redeemer knows our weakness, has shared our suffering and is sympathetic as He serves as our Great High Priest. He is alive we will see Him with our eyes!
- Whatever happens today, whoever hates me now, I too know that my Redeemer lives!
No comments:
Post a Comment