This text is as old as the hills. It comes from what may be the very first written book of the Bible. Some think that Moses wrote this book while he was still a shepherd in Midian – prior to the exodus. Some think that Job himself wrote it, while others think that his good friend Elihu was the penman. Whoever the amanuenses, or penman, was it was the Holy Spirit who was the Author. And this scripture is about as old as any extant human writing – any writing left in the world today. It certainly talks about a man who comes to us from very early in human history. His age when he died provides a possible clue to when he lived. After all his trials; after his grown children died, he lived another 140 years. So Job lived to well over twice the average age of modern man with all his modern medicine. He was probably somewhere around 160 to 180 years old when he finally joined his Redeemer on the other side of death – perhaps even older. And that seems to put his life relatively close to the days of the flood. Prior to, and at the time of Noah, people lived much, much, much longer lives than they do today. But after the flood, each succeeding generation lived shorter and shorter lives. And then there are little clues in the Book of Job which suggest that he lived before the exodus. For example, he was not an Israelite and there are no references to the exodus or the Mosaic Law. The kinds and numbers of offerings which he made were not according to Leviticus or Moses. And there seemed to be a general knowledge of God, which has evaporated over the years. Many scholars suggest that Job lived in Uz at about the same time that Abraham lived in Ur. There are others who think that he was even before the time of Abraham. In other words, this text of scripture is as old as the hills.
But that the Book of Job belongs in our Scriptures there should be no doubt. The books of the Old Testament are accepted as Scripture, for one reason, because of their recognition in other books of the Bible. Three times as recorded in Ezekiel, the Lord warned Israel about where their sins were taking them. He said that they were so bad that even if the best men in Hebrew history still lived among them, those men’s combined righteousness could not stop the judgment of God on the nation. “Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and JOB, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord GOD.” In the New Testament, the Book of James refers to the character and patience of Job. Those two books suggest that we should study Job, and Job says “Here is what every man should know.” Perhaps our first point ought to be that there was a great saint of God deep in antiquity whose name was Job.
So as I have said, this text is as old as the hills. You may have heard a dozen messages preached from this scripture. I know that this is the second or third time that I have used these verses as the text for a sermon. And undoubtedly I have quoted these verses at least once a year for the last 26 years. But we haven’t used these words often enough to warrant groans and sneers. The more a scripture is studied, the more proof there is that it is one of the really important scriptures. Sure, you may think that you know all that there is to know about a verse, but that really isn’t so. We won’t really know the scriptures until we are in Heaven, glorified, sanctified and having had our minds cleansed and divinely stirred. You might not learn anything new today, but that doesn’t mean that your neighbor won’t.
What are some of the things from this scripture that every Christian should know? What are some of the things that every fallen son of Adam should know?
First, he should know that there is a REDEEMER.
Perhaps this scripture doesn’t reveal much about Him, but everyone needs to know that a Redeemer exists. And what a fascinating word Job used to describe his Lord and his God. Out of a hundred potential words, why did he chose this one? The Hebrew word is “gaal” (gaw-al). Sometimes it is translated “kinsman redeemer” but also “ransom” sometimes even “avenger” or “revenge.”
Job was telling his not-so-encouraging friends, that he had a God who would take all the disasters of his life and turn them around. He had Someone who would some day lift him up out of the mud and mire. He was telling his scoffing friends that he had a Saviour. I can’t say with assurance that Job understood this subject in same way that Paul did, but down in the depths of my heart I believe that he did. And I have no doubt that Paul spoke of this same Redeemer when he said in Galatians 4: “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to REDEEM them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.” When Paul wrote to Titus he was referring to the same Redeemer as Job. “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might REDEEM us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”
The first thing that every Christian knows is that there is a Redeemer. If the professing Christian didn’t know that then he wouldn’t be a Christian at all – he’d be a heathen. This is something that every Christian knows, and it is something which all the world needs to hear. There is a Redeemer, and the world desperately needs HIM.
But bear in mind that the word that Job used – “gaal” – has a negative aspect to it – “avenger.” Later in the Law of Moses, the kinsman redeemer had the right and responsibility to inflict judgment upon murderers, rapists and abusers of that man’s family. Numbers 35:19 and other scriptures say: “The revenger of blood himself shall slay the murderer: when he meeteth him, he shall slay him.” That “revenger” is the same word that Job used right here.
What all the world needs to know is that there is a divine Redeemer, Who saves His people, but Who also inflicts eternal death upon the wicked.
Second, Job tells us that we should know that such a Redeemer LIVES.
Is that a foolish statement? Isn’t it kind of redundant after our first point? Not when you consider what it took to accomplish the positive aspect of redemption. When Paul said that “the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” “gave himself for us,” he was talking about the sacrifice that Jesus made on Calvary. When he said that “God sent forth his Son to redeem them who were under the law,” he was talking about Jesus’ death on the cross. But both Job, and later Paul, said that their Redeemer, redeemed them, but He still lives.
As I have said, it is highly probable that Job lived in the days before the giving of the law to Moses. It might be proper to say that He lived before the “codifying” of the law. But that doesn’t mean that there was no law – or that there was no sin, because there was no law. For several thousand years the descendants of Adam had been living and dying. They had been dying because they were sinners, and death is the natural effect and conclusion of sin. Where there is no sin there will be no death – as in Heaven – throughout eternity. But in the mean time: “as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.”
Job’s Redeemer, my Redeemer, the Redeemer of every Christian child of Adam, went to the cross according to the foreordained plan of God. And there were laid on him the sins of all of the Lord’s elect – every single one of them. The sins of Job, and Daniel, and Noah, and David, and Paul, and Stephen and Peter and thousands of others, were all taken up by Christ Jesus – and to cover those sins, He died. He gave His life for His sheep. “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.” “He died for our sins according to the scriptures.” And apparently Job even knew that – long before the scriptures were penned.
But he also knew the glorious fact his Redeemer was alive. Now, it might be argued that in Job’s day the Redeemer had not yet died. That is certainly true. Once again this sounds like a silly or a redundant statement. And yet it still declares that Job knew he had a Redeemer. Then he went on to say that some future day, after his own death – long after his death he would see his then still-living Redeemer. Job mentioned something which he called the “latter day.” Throughout the scriptures that is a designation of the end – when time morphs into eternity. That is when the world will be renovated by fire, and when the wicked will hear of their condemnation. That is when the rest of the redeemed will be glorified. If Job understood the theology, and I have no doubt but that he did, the only way that he could see his Redeemer at that point would for him to have been redeemed. And the only way he or any of us can ever be redeemed, is for the purchase price to have been made. Whether or not Christ had died prior to the days of Job, for that man to see his Saviour later would have necessitated Jesus’ death, burial, resurrection, glorification and ascension into Heaven. Beloved, there is a Redeemer, and He lives.
Something else every man should know is that AS the Redeemer LIVES so shall ALL OF US.
Is there any way to be confused about what Job says? He states, “There is a good likelihood that some day I shall die, just as all my children have done. If my wife is still living she will have my body buried, but if she is gone, then my neighbors will do it. And then quite quickly by body will decay; this corruptible will corrupt; and worms will devour this body. But I know and I am sure, based on the revelation of God that even after that, in my flesh, I shall see God.” Job believed, as all Godly souls have believed – there will be a reconstitution of bodies and a reunion of those bodies with their souls in something we call “resurrection.”
This is a doctrine which is denied by many & hated by some; but denials & hatred can’t do away with the fact. Paul went into the pseudo-intellectual city of Athens, and its residents laughed at his Biblical theology of resurrection. But scoffing at the resurrection was nothing new to the Bible believer. The Sadducees mocked, and yet feared, the idea that Jesus might emerge from the grave. But their unbelief and their attempts to keep Him confined to his grave were futile.
Jesus said to Mary, “I am the resurrection and the life.” How much of that did Job know about that, and how did he know it? He knew, as every man should know, that he would live again to stand before his Redeemer.
But as I’ve already suggested, this scripture also implies JUDGMENT.
Job knew, as every man should know, there is a day of reckoning coming. “For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.” What will be the Redeemer’s purpose at that time? It will be to make all things right. But “be ye afraid of the sword: for wrath bringeth the punishments of the sword, that ye may know there is a judgment.”
Do you honor Christ Jesus as if He were God? I hope and trust that YOU do, but I know that most of the world does not. I ask that question because of an interesting event that took place in the life of Christ. It might be even more interesting if Job had been able to make comments on it. Earlier we read from John 5. Jesus had gone to the pool of Bethesda in the city of Jerusalem, where a great number of sick people lay. Even though it was the Jewish sabbath, He graciously, and miraculously, did something that only the power of God could do: A man who had been sick for 38 years was instantly cured. That initiated a conversation with some of the Jews who had never been as sick as that man had been, and they had never been blessed with the grace of God either.
“Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God. Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel. For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.”
These things which the Saviour told the Jews, repeat what Job said about Him nearly two millennia earlier. Job had learned the lesson that God had taught him, but two thousand years later, the Jews had not. “The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.” This is why I asked that earlier question: Do you honor Christ as if He were God? It is a matter for debate whether Job’s three friends did or did not. They had a very Pharisaical attitude, judging everything, and basing everything, on their incorrect personal perceptions. And when friend Zophar responded to Job in the next chapter, he didn’t say a word about a Redeemer or about future judgment.
Job said, “Because my Redeemer lives, I know that I shall stand with Him and before Him.” HE will not be the only one, because Eliphas, Bildad, Zophar and every other child of Adam will stand before Him as well. Unfortunately they will not all enjoy the Lord as their personal and friendly Redeemer. What will the Lord do when all the children of Adam are all gathered there? “When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.”
Listen to II Peter 3:10-14 – “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.”
Job was able to take comfort from the fact that he had a Redeemer and that he would one day stand before his Redeemer. For that righteous man, Christ will not be the Judge of Heaven and Earth. For Job, Christ will have been judged on Job’s behalf, having paid the price for that man’s sins against God. But for billions of other people, the Redeemer will be God’s avenger. They will have sinned against and rejected infinite love, and they will be punished with infinite judgment. Job knew these things, but I am not exactly sure that his first three friends knew them.
More important than that question about those people, is this: do YOU know these things? Are YOU absolutely sure that you are a child of God as Job was? Is the Lord as pleased with you, in Christ, as He was with Job? Have you, in repentance and faith, ever fallen before the Saviour at the foot of His cross?