The Gospel According to Job
It has been estimated that in Hinduism there are 330 million different goddesses and gods. These gods demonstrate the same foibles and weaknesses as human beings. Together these are said to make up the ‘genderless principle called Brahman, representing the many facets of Ultimate Reality’. In the Greek pantheon there were 3142 gods and goddesses with 12 major gods or Olympians. They also demonstrated the foibles and weaknesses of humans. The Romans also had 12 major gods that reflected the Greek gods but were given Roman names. However they also had many other gods, some of which were imported from other religions. These gods also demonstrated the same foibles and weaknesses as humans.Yet the one God depicted in the book of Job is very different - he is clearly the Christian God.
It is thought that the book of Job is the written account of a story that goes back to around 2000 BC. Job lived in the land of Uz which was near the north west shore of what is now called the Persian gulf. This was not that far from ancient Ur and Babylon where ancient civilisation was centred and where Abraham came from, around 2000 BC. Job was ‘the greatest man among all the peoples of the East’ (Job 1:3) yet later historical records cannot identify him.
There are several internal reasons for giving the Job account a very early date. There are no references to Jewish practices or culture whatsoever. Job’s riches were defined in terms of the number of animals he owned, and ‘seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys’ was regarded as being inordinately wealthy. Job himself made animal sacrifices on behalf of his family - priests had yet to have a defined role. There were no references to political events that were later to centre in that region. No countries are mentioned so it is likely that society was still based on city states. The patriarchs lived much longer than we do today and the record that Job lived for 140 years after the catastrophes in the book and saw his descendants ‘to the fourth generation’ all suggest that the story comes from very early times. The Old Testament is divided into sections, the Law or history section, the Wisdom or poetry section, the Major and the Minor Prophets. The books in each section appear in chronological order. Job is placed at the beginning of the wisdom literature.
The remarkable feature of the book of Job is that, in spite of being such an early account, it precisely foreshadows the New Testament in describing the one true God and the way that people can have a relationship with him. This is so remarkable that it gives further credence to the statement Paul made about the Old Jewish Scriptures,
‘These are the very words of God’. Romans 3:2
Job’s Problems
Satan suggested to God that Job was only righteous because he benefitted from being so. He is permitted by God to afflict Job horrendously in a series of catastrophies. First a raiding party of Sabeans took his oxen and donkeys. Then fire killed his sheep and their shepherds. Then his camels were stolen by three raiding parties of Chaldeans, who at that time were Bedouin tent dwellers. Job’s servants were killed in all these raids. Finally all his children were killed when the house they were staying in was destroyed by a desert wind.
Job was devastated but his response is astounding,
“He fell to the ground in worship and said, ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.” Job 1:21
Many will recognise the central words of this verse as they are part of many funeral services: yet the first and last phrases are poignantly omitted. Job can still worship and praise God even in the presence of disaster because he knows God personally.
The Story centres on God
In contrast to the degenerate gods of other societies, the book of Job recognises only one God and he is perfect and just. The following are some of the descriptions of the God Job worshipped.
a. God is all wise and powerful
Job chapter 9 is dedicated to a description of God’s unlimited power. One verse reads,
“His wisdom is profound, his power is vast. Who has resisted him and come out unscathed? . . . He is the maker of the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades and the constellations of the south.” Job 9:4-9
“ . . . he views the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens.” Job 28:24
b. God is most concerned about people,
“What is man that you make so much of him, that you give him so much attention, that you examine him every morning and test him every moment.” Job 7:17
c. God creates us and cares,
“You gave me life and showed me kindness, and in your providence watched over my spirit.” Job 10:12
d. God notices our sin,
“If I sinned, you would be watching me and would not let my offence go unpunished.” Job 10:14
This understanding that there is one God who is invisible and yet all powerful, who cares passionately for people and our walk with him and yet hates our sin, is remarkable.
Is it unreasonable to believe in a God we cannot see, touch or hear. Not if God is in a different dimension to us. Mathematicians have calculated that there may be eleven dimensions! That defies our understanding. We recognise just four dimensions in our lives, but if you can, imagine a world in which people only live in two dimensions, with depth and width but no height! In that world we could only see others living in just our two dimensions. We would be ‘flat-landers’ - anyone living above the plane of our existence could see us but would be invisible to us.
The Story centres on Sin
The description of Job at the beginning of the book begins with his moral character. It is clearly what others thought of him.
“This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil.” Job 1:1
However Job himself recognised that all people are sinful and rebels against God, and he included himself in this,
“But how can a mortal man be righteous before God?” Job 9:2
“Who can bring what is pure from the impure? No-one.” Job 14:4
“What is man, that he could be pure, or one born of woman, that he could be righteous?” Job 15:14
In spite of this, many people continue to turn their backs on God.
“Yet they say to God, ‘Leave us alone! We have no desire to know your ways. Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him? What would we gain by praying to him? Job 21:14-15
To think like that is, in God’s eyes, the ultimate sin. It is striking that although all people are seen to be sinners, there are people who have been forgiven their sin because of a trusting relationship with their God.
The Meaning of Death
Some have suggested that the Old Testament speaks little of life after death. This is untrue. The whole Bible is in agreement that this life is just a precursor to an eternal life to come. In this book of Job, death is a doorway into a new form of existence. Hell is recognised as a reality for the ungodly.
“Terrors will come over him; total darkness lies in wait for his treasures. A fire unfanned will consume him . . . the heavens will expose his guilt.” Job 20:25-26
To stand in the presence of God is seen as the other option,
“Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face.” Job 13:15
“And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God.” Job 19:26
Our only hope is that God will be merciful to us. God is on such a higher plane to us that we are dependant on God’s mercy for eternal salvation.
“How then can I dispute with him? How can I find words to argue with him? Though I were innocent, I could not answer him; I could only plead with my judge for mercy.” Job 9:14-15
A Saviour is needed
Job was concerned about the spiritual welfare of his seven sons and three daughters who regularly feasted in each others homes. After these feasts he would call his family together,
“Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, ‘Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.’ This was Job’s regular custom.” Job 1:5
So here, in this earliest of accounts, rejecting God is seen to be the greatest offence people can commit. Sin has, rightly, been defined with the acrostic,
“Shove off God, I’m in charge, No to what you want.”
To think like that is to curse God in our hearts. Job recognised that humans cannot atone themselves for their sin against God; a price must be paid, a sacrifice must be offered.
In the book of Job, mankind’s dilemma, that our sin has separated us from God, is answered by the possibility that God himself will intervene and be our Saviour. This is astounding when the date of the story is remembered. Job teaches that a mediator is needed if peace is to be achieved between God and people.
“If only there were someone to arbitrate between us, to lay his hand upon us both, someone to remove God’s rod from me so that his terror would frighten me no more.” Job 9:33-34
Job imagines himself as the accused in court. He needs both a reliable witness to give evidence on his behalf and a good barrister,
“Even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high. My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God; on behalf of a man he pleads with God as a man pleads for his friend.” Job 16:19-21
“Yet if there is an angel on his side as a mediator, one out of a thousand, to tell a man what is right for him, to be gracious to him and say, ‘Spare him from going down to the pit; I have found a ransom for him.” Job 33:23-24
The next picture is that of a man in great debt to God. The only one who can pay the debt is God himself,
“Give me, O God, the pledge you demand, who else will pay up security for me?” Job 17:3
In the New Testament these needs are fulfilled by the Lord Jesus Christ,
“For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men.” 1 Timothy 2:5
“If anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father - Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins.” 1 John 2:1-2
Confidence in our future is possible
In spite of all his problems, Job can see the big picture. He sees his real future to be one of standing in the very presence of the God he worships. He knows this to be a certainty because he knows his Lord loves his people and has become their Saviour or redeemer. These words, that are repeated in that wonderful aria in Handel’s ‘Messiah,’ echo the great confidence all those who depend on Christ can experience. Job magnificently exclaimed,
“I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. and after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes - I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me.” Job 19:25-27
False teaching on how to please God
Much of the book of Job is the discussion between the suffering Job and his so-called friends, Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar. They each hold to the teaching that was, and still is, widespread throughout the world. They considered that Job’s suffering must be because he has done wrong in God’s eyes. They thought he was suffering because it was his ‘karma’, the punishment for the way he must have lived.
In my home I have a large picture depicting the ancient Egyptian view of a person’s final judgment. After death their heart is weighed and if found wanting, he is rejected, and Osiris, the judge of the dead, condemns his soul to return to earth as some unclean animal. If however his good deeds outweigh the bad deeds he is admitted to the glory of the gods.
In Buddhism, it is up to the faithful to follow the principles taught by the Buddha. If they do so then the follower may find ‘nirvana.’ These are all teaching the ancient doctrine of ‘justification by works.’ Most religions teach that salvation is achieved by joining their god’s group, and then keeping the group’s rules as best they can. If a person does well they are taught they will be accepted by God. This was similar to the the teaching of Job’s advisors. Thus Eliphas taught,
“Should not your piety be your confidence and your blameless ways your hope?” Job 4:6
Bildad also taught,
“If you are pure and upright, even now he will rouse himself on your behalf and restore you to your rightful place.” Job 8:6
This doctrine that our good and bad deeds are ‘weighed in the balance’ is common not only to ancient religions, but also to modern Judaism, to Islam, to most sects and unfortunately now in some Christian churches. In the Bible however, salvation is a gift that is only given to those who are relying on God for salvation. Christians rely on the death of the Lord Jesus himself to pay for their sin. Those who believe this and trust in Jesus find they want to please the Lord who has saved them. This longing is the work of the Holy Spirit who is given to all Christ’s people. Those who don’t want to please the Lord, in the way they live, have not been given the Spirit of Jesus and do not really believe, whatever their outward profession.
Paul made it abundantly clear in the New Testament that people are put right with God by trusting in Jesus and his death on their behalf.
“For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last.” Romans 1:17
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not of works, so that no-one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:8-10
“He saved us, not because of righteous things we have done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Saviour, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.” Titus 3:5-7
Job knew that his acceptance by God, his hope of eternal life, was not because he did good things but because God would provide a mediator, an advocate, for him who would pay for his debt to God. This is why the book of Job is so important to us today. Salvation is only to be found by trusting in the salvation God’s Son achieved for us on that cross. This is why Job could say with such confidence,
“I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes - I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me.” Job 19:25-27
The Importance of Grace
The great difference between Job and his advisors was that Job was dependant on the love and grace of his God. The advisors, in contrast, were moral legalists who considered the troubled Job must have offended God because of all that had happened to him. Job himself was, in everybody’s eyes a great man, doubtless of a much higher standing than his advisors. Job 31 describes his character - he was a truly exceptional, ethical person, yet he was reliant on God’s grace to save him. His advisors only looked to good works.
There was a similar situation in the conflict Jesus had with the religious Pharisees. They also were moral and religious legalists, but Jesus wanted them to see how much everybody needs God’s grace. This is not just a theological difference - our very salvation depends on our reliance on the grace of God, seen in Jesus and in his death on our behalf.
The apostle John was able to reassure those who belong to Christ, and who rely on the salvation he alone can give, that they are secure in God’s eyes. Without Christ we have nothing to offer God and we will have to face God’s judgment on our own.
“And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son does not have life.” 1 John 5:11-12
Job points us to Jesus
Job was undoubtedly an exceptional man, who, in spite of all his problems, kept his faith and dependance on his Lord through thick and thin. The ambition of all Christians is to model Jesus and this is exactly how Job lived. He knew what God was like and wanted to emulate him. Jesus is the perfect example of such living. Jesus also faced immense pressures but kept living to please his Father in heaven. Both Jesus and Job looked forwards to a real existence in a better world where we will be living in God’s dimension. They both taught that no-one can be accepted by God because of our good lives but only because of God’s grace to those who trust their Lord.
BVP
