The Book of Job- Christ Through the Bible

The Books of Poetry

Introduction

As we begin the third division of the Old Testament most of the writings in these five books are in the form of poetry, not prose. In terms of purpose:

1.      Psalms is the hymnal (psalter) of ancient Israel;

2.      Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes are wisdom writings;

3.      and the Song of Solomon exemplifies beautiful love poetry.

More than anything else, these books speak to the human experience of life and the human yearning to understand the “mysteries” of life.

Together the mysteries of life are found in the:

·         commentary,

·         praise,

·         questions,

·         despair,

·         anger,

·         joy,

·         thanksgiving,

·         insights,

·        and wisdom regarding God.

The Book of Job

 The Book of Job probes humanity’s struggle with the problems of evil and suffering. As we follow how the good and faithful Job is made to suffer, we join with Job and others in questioning God’s role in his suffering, asking in particular “Why?” At issue are God’s ways and humanity’s inability to understand those ways. While the question “Why?” remains primarily a mystery, what we learn is how sincerely God desires and is willing to be with us in our suffering and to actively care for us even as we question and express outrage at what we cannot understand. Often the question is asked, Why, did God allow this to happen?  Why are good people punished and the wicked and evil seem to prosper?  These are the questions of life that each of us have asked sometime in our lives.  My answer is I don’t know.  Whatever God’s plan for this event, that brought suffering and pain into the lives of people, I have not been privileged to know.  All I know is that God is in control and has an expressed reason for the events that come into our lives.

In the end, Job is rewarded by God for his faithfulness with twice what he has lost. In the end, we also will be rewarded by God, with life in the world to come that knows no pain or suffering, only joy.

God wanted to put in the heart of the Hebrew people the fact that a person's welfare did not always coincide with their spiritual state. He wanted people to understand that if things were going well in life for a person, then he was not always in God's favor.

The opposite would be true too. If things were going terrible, and this is what we see in Job, this should not necessarily be interpreted as God's rejection of that person. If the Jewish people did not have access to the truth that comes from the book of Job, then they would not be able to believe in Christ's work.

Often when someone does some evil act, our feeling is we want to see immediate judgment of God. We want instant judgment so that others will not do the same wrong. Otherwise, if judgment is delayed, people might think a little evil doesn't matter.

If evil is immediately judged, then sin would be held back. I am thankful that God has not allowed me to be executioner of his judgment.  If crime was judged immediately, then there would be less crime.  If people we given swift judgment, then they would think twice before they committed acts of evil.  If that were true, the earth would have long ago been destroyed. But in that case, neither would there be any redemption!

Fortunately for us, God worked out another plan. In fact, we see God holding back judgment from the very beginning. Death was passed on Adam and Eve, but it was back for several years. We need to go behind the scenes to understand why the world is not so simple to understand.

God does not immediately judge us, if He did, we would all be wiped out, and there would be no redemption.

The opposite is true too.

God does not immediately bless the righteous because He has greater plans that can best be implemented through pain and suffering.

The fact is that God will always judge sin and bless righteousness as Job's friends so persistently indicated. What they didn't know was that God delays this judgment and reward. From their perspective, suffering always indicated punishment for sin. So, they concluded that Job's pain was because of hidden sin. His restoration was dependent upon repenting and doing right (cf. Job 8:5-6). They were wrong.

The Book of Job so powerfully rips through these overly simplistic perspectives of the world. Life is not what it often seems. The truth of this book is that the Holy Spirit reveals to the that they should not be so quick to wrongly judge those who are suffering. In the end, man must conclude that we are poor judges on earth and must pass this honor on to God.

God sent His Son Jesus Christ into the world to suffer and die for sinful man. He did not want anyone to think that the one who died a cursed death was necessarily cursed because of his own sin.

The LORD conditioned the Israelite people to allow for exceptions. Yes, the wicked would be judged as wicked, and the righteous would be rewarded as righteous. But in the meantime, we sometimes see occurrences where what happens is a bit fuzzy.

Job was such a case. Christ’s was an exception too. And evidently, it seems to happen much more than we would care to acknowledge. Notice Jesus’ response to His disciples. We need to develop a fuller theology as Jesus encouraged His disciples below.

And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind?" Jesus answered, "It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents, but it was in order that the works of God might be displayed in him. (John 9:2-3).

Job's sufferings prepared the way for the Messiah. Job in a general way prefigured Christ. He is the one who was the greatest in the land and yet became accursed. He lost everything. For Job, it was not his choice. In a sense, nor was it the choice of the Messiah. Yes, He did choose to do His Father's will, but He did not desire the pain and rejection associated with the cross. The scene at Gethsemane should leave a scar on our minds so that we never forget this.

The rich became poor. The righteous suffered. Everything seemed to be complicated at the cross. But the story could not have ended there. Because Jesus was a righteous man, death could not hold Him from rising from the dead. Reward and blessing had to come.

The last chapters of Job parallel the last chapters of the Gospels where light overcomes darkness. No one can reverse or hold back the mighty tides of justice embedded into this world by its Maker.

"There is futility which is done on the earth, that is, there are righteous men to whom it happens according to the deeds of the wicked. On the other hand, there are evil men to whom it happens according to the deeds of the righteous. I say that this too is futility" (Ecclesiastes 8:14).

The righteous might suffer. He might need go through persecution. But there will always be a good ending. We need not tremble to see the righteous suffer nor the wicked triumph, for they are but temporary images for time.

The Book of Job first teaches us that justice is not always immediately carried out. Judgment doesn’t always come immediately upon the sinner, and neither does reward always accompany the righteous.

We need to be gracious and understanding for we have difficulty accurately assessing a person’s circumstances. But on the other hand, we also see the glory of justice. Righteousness always does win out. Wickedness is always severely judged.

So how does the life of Job represent Jesus Christ?

·         In the book of Job, the most upright man on earth (Job 1:8) suffers the most of anyone on earth. We see this in the life of Christ and his death on the cross.
·         Trembling with pain, Job cried, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there” (Job 1:21). That statement describes Jesus perfectly, who died naked on a cross.
·         Job was so disfigured by his sufferings that his friends didn’t recognize him (Job 2:12). Similarly, Jesus’ “visage was marred more than any man” at His execution (Isa 52:14).
·         Eliphaz taunted Job to call out to God for help (Job 5:1). And they said of Christ at His death, “He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him” (Matt 27:43).
·         Psalm 22 is a messianic psalm about Christ’s sufferings. Some of the things said by the Messiah in that psalm compares to Job’s speeches. For example, consider this comparison. “They gape at Me with their mouths, like a raging and roaring lion” (Ps 22:13).  “They gape at me with their mouth, they strike me reproachfully on the cheek, they gather together against me (Job 16:10).
·         Job lamented, “Why do You hide Your face, and regard me as Your enemy?” (13:24). This reminds us of Jesus cry on the cross, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Both Job and Jesus asked the why question.
·         In the hour when Job needed his friends most, they failed him. Same for Jesus. At His arrest, His friends forsook Him.
·         Job’s best friend, Eliphaz, became so frustrated at Job that he leveled concocted charges at his friend (Job 22:6-9). Similarly, Jesus was falsely accused by false witnesses at His trial before the high priest.
·          Job was raised up from his sufferings when He interceded for his friends. (Job 42:7-10). And Jesus was raised up as our great Intercessor, Heb. 7:25.
·         In the bitterness of his soul, Job cried, “He destroys the blameless and the wicked” (Job 9:22). And when you look at the three crosses on Golgotha’s hill, you’re looking at the death of both the blameless and the wicked.
·         God said this to Satan about Job: “You incited Me against him, to destroy him without cause” (Job 2:30). Job did nothing wrong to deserve his suffering. Nor did Christ. He was a blameless sacrifice.
·         Both Job and Jesus suffered in the will of God (1 Pet 4:19).

In Job, we see the Suffering Savior.  We also learn that appearances are not always reality. When bad things happen to us, we cannot presume to know why. What God wants from us is faith in him, no matter what our circumstances may be. God rewards great faith, sometimes in this life, but always in the next.  What is important is that we remain faithful to God regardless of the circumstances of life.