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Well,
if you've been reading through the book of Job as we've gone through this
series, I wonder what you felt at the end. I was talking to Sue the other
day about what she'd found and her conclusion was that the end of the book
is a bit disappointing. It all ends too neatly. It's too much like a fairy
tale. And Job lived happily ever after! We're left asking "What about his
complaints? What about his struggle with God for an explanation?" We never
seem to get a proper explanation do we? And what about the fact that all
through the book Job is denying the popular understanding of blessing and
suffering, yet at the end it seems that the connection between righteousness
and blessing are established again and it's as though the struggle never
took place. It all seems too simple doesn't it? It's unsatisfying. It's
as though Hollywood took a great tragedy like Hamlet and added a happy ending
to it like a Gilbert & Sullivan operetta. It just doesn't seem right.
What's more, it's unsatisfactory from a pastoral viewpoint. Happy endings
rarely happen in this fallen world. This ending doesn't help us at all.
But especially we're disappointed because the central theological question
posed by the book of Job, 'Why?' is never answered. Simply giving Job back
what he's lost doesn't answer the question. Compensation is not an explanation.
As nice as it might appear that Job lived happily ever after it doesn't
solve the problem of suffering. |
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So
how do we understand this book which poses all the right questions, then
fails to deliver? Why is it here? Why does God give us this amazing picture
of his wisdom and majesty in chs 38-41, then let us down as we await the
definitive answer to the question of innocent suffering? |
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Well,
let me suggest that the reason the book ends like this is that it's the
only way the book could end. Why? Because this is only part of a much larger
picture. Whenever we read part of the Bible, you see, we have to think of
it in the context of the broader scope of God's word. So, for example, when
we read Proverbs we need to read them first as a whole, but then as part
of the wider canon of wisdom literature. So when we read proverbs that point
to the blessings that come to those who obey God and the punishment that
falls on the wicked, we also need to read them in a wider context which
includes the book of Job, with it's commentary on a simplistic application
of such proverbs. So too, when we read Job, we need to read it in the context
of the whole of Scripture. Job is part of the Bible, part of a collection
of books inspired by the Holy Spirit to tell a big story, not just the smaller
parts that we find in each book. So when we read Job we need to remember
that the story doesn't start with Job, nor does it end with him. We need
to ask ourselves what the purpose of the book of Job might be in the bigger
story of the Bible? How does Job fit in with the ongoing revelation of God
to us human beings, or with the ongoing history of salvation? One of the
things you soon realise as you begin to explore those sorts of questions
is that Job is very much an Old Testament book. So it has to be an incomplete
work. The dissatisfaction we feel at the ending of the book is an intended
dissatisfaction. God wants us to go away from this book wanting a better
answer, so we'll be motivated to look beyond the pages of Job and the Old
Testament to a greater revelation yet to come. To ask how does Job pave
the way for the New Testament, for the coming of Jesus Christ? |
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So
today we're going to look back at the book of Job, looking at what are some
of the loose threads, some of the untied ends of the book. Untied not because
the author hadn't noticed them hanging loose, but because the information
needed to tie them up wasn't his to access. There were things he couldn't
know, things that are discovered only with the coming of Jesus Christ. And
I want to look at 3 particular loose ends: 1. How Jesus completes Job's
partial victory over Satan. 2. How Jesus satisfies Job's inner longing for
the human face of God. 3. How Jesus fulfills Job's inspired insight into
life beyond the grave. |
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How
Jesus completes Job's partial victory over Satan. (1-2) |
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In
ch 1 we're given a glimpse of what happens in heaven. Now as I've said before,
one of the conclusions that we can draw from God's speech to Job is that
even the scenario of ch1 mustn't be taken too literally, but nevertheless,
there is this idea of a debate between God and Satan over whether it's possible
for a human being to serve God without any thought of reward other than
knowing that God is pleased with them. And at the end we find Job remaining
righteous, his integrity intact. His final state is indicative of the righteousness
that God has said he has. Satan has clearly lost. Yet it's interesting,
isn't it, that there's never any mention of God's victory over Satan. The
issue is never raised again after ch2. Why aren't we taken back to God's
throne room for God to express his victory over Satan. Why is this loose
thread left untied? Could it be because the author realised that Job's victory
is only partial and temporary. After all, the friends have pointed out that
everyone sins. Job has admitted it. No-one could actually meet the expectations
of God's claim for Job: "There is no-one like him." And in the end Job dies
just like any other fallen human being. Satan's cause isn't entirely lost
when it comes to Job, is it? In fact every one of us is in Satan's firing
line. He accuses everyone of us to the Father, day and night. |
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But
of course the point of the book isn't just how righteous Job is. It isn't
that Job can defeat Satan by his righteous life. There's more to it than
that. So what is the point? Well, there's a clue in the final chapter. Look
at what God says to the 3 friends: "Ask Job to pray for you. And I will
accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly." Interesting
isn't it? If the prayers of righteous Job could bring pardon to these 3,
what if one more righteous even than Job were to intercede for you and me? |
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Listen
to the words of Paul in Rom8:33f "Who will bring any charge against God's
elect? It is God who justifies. 34Who is to condemn? It is Christ
Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who
indeed intercedes for us." |
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Is
Paul perhaps thinking of the scenario of Job 1 as he writes those words?
He says, 'Satan's accusations will never hold when Jesus Christ is interceding
for us. Jesus Christ suffered far more than anything that Job suffered.
Now the one who accepted death on our behalf stands at God's right hand
praying for us. Not offering bulls and rams as Job did for his friends,
but offering his own life blood. And he stands praying not just for 3 friends
but for all his followers throughout the world. So if someone like him is
praying for us, if we have someone like him on our side who can stand against
us? If God was willing to accept Job's prayer, how much more do you think
he would accept the prayers of his only begotten Son for you and me?' |
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So
here is one untied end that can't be understood until the New Testament.
Here at last is an explanation: an explanation that entails a righteous
man suffering beyond anything he deserved in order to bring about the secret
purposes of God. And here is an explanation of how innocent suffering truly
could be the downfall of Satan. |
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Jesus'
victory over Satan is complete. That's why Paul can say there is now no
condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. |
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Job's
longing for the human face of God (Ch9) |
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In
9:32 Job complains, "God is not a mortal like me that I might answer him,
... If only there were an umpire between us." I wonder how you picture God?
What sort of mental image do you have in your mind as you think about him.
As the creator, as the king of the universe, majestic, sovereign, or as
the judge of the universe - awesome in holiness and righteousness? That's
how Job thought of God, but he didn't find it very helpful. God was so far
beyond him that it left him dispirited. He longed for a human face to God;
someone he could address directly and ask his questions of. But was Job
being presumptuous? Proud? Arrogant? |
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In
a sense he was. Before meeting God in the whirlwind, Job wasn't willing
to accept his limitations. He wanted a rational explanation of his suffering.
Not that he really believed that that was possible. He knew the difference
between God and human beings. And that's why he cries out in ch9, 'How can
a mortal dispute with God? God's wisdom is so far beyond anything we can
muster. God's justice is by definition unassailable.' There's no greater
court of appeal. He can do nothing about it. He certainly can't stand before
God and defend himself. And that's one reason it's so hard for him to accept
his condition. Not to mention how hard it makes it to love such a God. Or
even respect him. That of course is Elihu's problem with what Job says.
He thinks Job is showing no respect to God. But Job's question is "How can
we love a God who fails to give us justice?" |
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Nor
does the experience of God speaking to Job out of the whirlwind answer this.
Job is subdued and humbled, but at the end of the book we're as far from
seeing an approachable God as we are at the beginning. So Job says "He is
not a mortal like me." |
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But
we now know better don't we? Listen to the words of the apostle Paul in
Phil 2:5-8. "Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, 6who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality
with God as something to be exploited, 7but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found
in human form, 8he humbled himself and became obedient to the
point of death-- even death on a cross." Or John 1:14: "The Word became
flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a
father's only son, full of grace and truth." Imagine if Job had been there
on that first Christmas Day, looking into the manger, seeing God come among
us in a way that doesn't terrify. What could be less intimidating than a
baby, lying in a manger? What if Job had been there with the disciples hearing
his teaching, watching him put out his hand to touch the man suffering from
leprosy and heal him, or taking a little dead girl by the hand and saying
"My child, get up." What if Job had been there as Jesus hung on a cross
between 2 criminals, dying so that all who call on him can be forgiven,
can be reconciled with the Father in heaven. What a difference it would
have made to have encountered a suffering God? Jesus, you see, is the solution
to Job's longing for the human face of God. |
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Job's
friends thought he was presumptuous. But Job wasn't presumptuous in longing
for God to speak to him face to face. He was just premature. He was just
a few hundred years early. Jesus shows us the human face of God. We need
to hang on very tightly to this truth, because this human face of God may
be the only thing that will help some people in their struggle with the
difficulties of living in this fallen world. People today don't need to
yearn for a human face of God, because we have that human presence with
us described so clearly in the New Testament. "He who has seen me has seen
the Father." And when we look at him we see a face that's scarred with suffering,
scarred with temptation; a face streaked with tears, tears of innocence,
as he suffers far worse than anything we will ever experience and with far
less cause, except the love of the creator for his creation. |
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So
that's the second untied thread, Job's yearning for the face of God. The
book of Job never answers it. The vision of God coming in the whirlwind
provides no help. But the New Testament does. |
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How
Jesus fulfills Job's inspired insight into life beyond the grave. (Ch19) |
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These
are probably the best known verses in the book of Job. 19:23-27: "O that
my words were written down! O that they were inscribed in a book! 24O
that with an iron pen and with lead they were engraved on a rock forever!
25For I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last he
will stand upon the earth; 26and after my skin has been thus
destroyed, then in my flesh I shall see God, 27whom I shall see
on my side, and my eyes shall behold, and not another." |
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What
is the one subject that you would never raise in a dinner conversation?
It's probably death. You can talk about just about anything else these days
and no-one will blink an eyelid. But mention death and everyone will be
embarrassed. Why is it that of the 80 or so people in the congregation only
6 have filled out funeral request forms? Is it because we're embarrassed
to think that we might die. That this body we walk around in may not be
immortal. We have an entire industry that's designed to shield us from the
realities of death. Very few people have actually seen a dead body. Even
fewer have had to prepare a body for burial. And we certainly don't want
to. We don't want to be reminded of our mortality, or of the loss we experience
when someone dies. Someone once said "The midday sun and the grave have
one thing in common. Neither can be looked at with a steady eye." But Job
doesn't have that problem. I guess people those days were a bit closer to
the realities of life and death. They knew what a dead body was like. When
a loved one died they prepared the body for burial or cremation themselves.
Still, death was for them, as it is for us, the last frontier. And they
were worse off than us in that their understanding of the afterlife was
much less well developed. They had this picture of an afterlife in a dark
underworld called Hades or Sheol. It was a dark, gloomy place. Mind you,
when Job begins speaking he sees Sheol as an attractive alternative to what
he's experiencing. In fact, he says, it would have been better to have died
as an infant than to have lived to experience what he's experiencing. But
as he goes on he begins to realise that death may cheat him from ever being
vindicated. How terrible if he were to go down to Sheol without establishing
his innocence. Yet even as he begins to think like that, he has one of those
moments of inspiration we talked about a couple of weeks ago. A sudden flash
of insight that goes far beyond anything that might have come from the worldview
of his day, that in its originality leads us to conclude that it could only
have come from God himself, from the inspiration of the Holy Spirit as he
leads the author of Job to put these thoughts to paper. In fact we find
this first in 14:14. "If mortals die, will they live again?" Of course not.
Yet if only it could be true. What a difference that would make. What if
God were to hide me away in Sheol until God was ready to vindicate me? Then
I'd happily wait for God to act. Then as he thinks more about it he suddenly
has this flash of inspiration(19:23). In fact even as the thought comes
to him he realises just how important it is. So important that he wishes
it could be inscribed in lead or engraved on a piece of rock, perhaps as
the epitaph on his gravestone. "I know that my redeemer lives ... and in
my flesh I shall see God." Here in a moment of inspiration Job sees that
there is a vindication awaiting him, even if it's after his death. And he
expects that when that vindication takes place he'll be conscious: "I will
see it with my own eyes." And he expects that this vindication will come
about through some third party whom he calls his redeemer. |
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Now
it's unlikely that Job or the author of the book really understands what
he says here. I doubt that he understood the notion of physical resurrection
the way we do. It would be very strange if he did. But it's clear that the
thought of such a hope overwhelms him. He says "How my heart yearns within
me." Of course such a hope is a fleeting thing for Job given the theological
worldview out of which he comes. The only vindication available to the theology
of Job's day was the sort of thing we find in ch42, where family and property
are the signs of God's blessing. No, this is one of those places where the
Spirit inspires the prophets to speak things for our sake, that they don't
understand (1 Pet 1:10-12). Only with hindsight, only from the perspective
of the cross, can we understand how his hope can be answered. For Job the
end is like anyone else of his day. 42:16-17 "After this Job lived one hundred
and forty years, and saw his children, and his children's children, four
generations. 17And Job died, old and full of days." That's how
OT stories always have to end. "So he died." There can be no better end
than that within the OT world. Yet we're left with this question: who is
this redeemer who will not only vindicate Job, but summon him from the grave
itself to see the vindication that he brings? Listen to the Apostle John
again. Rev 1:10ff "I was in the spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard
behind me a loud voice like a trumpet 11saying, "Write in
a book what you see and send it to the seven churches,..." 12Then
I turned to see whose voice it was that spoke to me, and on turning I saw
seven golden lampstands, 13and in the midst of the lampstands
I saw one like the Son of Man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden
sash across his chest. 14His head and his hair were white as
white wool, white as snow; his eyes were like a flame of fire, 15his
feet were like burnished bronze, refined as in a furnace, and his voice
was like the sound of many waters. 16In his right hand he held
seven stars, and from his mouth came a sharp, two-edged sword, and his face
was like the sun shining with full force. 17When I saw him, I
fell at his feet as though dead. But he placed his right hand on me, saying,
"Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, 18and the
living one. I was dead, and see, I am alive forever and ever; and I have
the keys of Death and of Hades." |
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How
do you feel about dying? It's an uncomfortable question for many. But should
it be? Death is not the dark and unchartered frontier that it was for Job.
We live post Easter Sunday. We know, not only that our redeemer lives, but
that he promises to raise us to be with him in his heavenly glory for eternity.
We know because we have the evidence of the empty tomb, of the risen Christ,
the evidence of the apostles and a Church that's survived for 2000 years
despite all the attacks of the evil one. We know because of the testimony
of the Holy Spirit who lives within us. We now know that our vindication
is sealed, not by the blessings of children or wealth or human recognition,
but by the death and resurrection of God's only Son. If we suffer it doesn't
faze us. We know that any suffering we experience here is nothing compared
with the glory that God has stored up for us in heaven with his Son. Nothing
can take that away from us. We saw that when we looked at the end of Rom
8. Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. Nothing can daunt us
or put us off. |
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We
know that our redeemer lives. |
