Turn to Job chapter 1. We have just started in chapter 1 of this book and we are just going through it, verse by verse and word by word, to try to understand what God is telling us in this book.
It is generally understood by most Christians I think, that Job in the first instance, is a type of Christ how God just afflicted him with horrible suffering and yet, the Bible tells us that he was a righteous man, and we read that Job never faulted God.
But there are other pictures I believe in this book. I believe that we can also see the suffering of Christ as his body was afflicted and his body is the church, and I believe that we will work through it, very carefully and possibly as we read in Lamentations 3, verse 1. This may come out. Lamentations 3, verse 1 is the church speaking in the first person as God has put tribulation on his corporate body (his corporate representation on this earth) because of their falling away, their turning to idols. Lamentations 3:1-2 says:
I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light.
And I believe that we can see this, as we get into the book of Job. I believe that last time we got to maybe verse 7, but I would like to look at some more things in the opening verses. There is so much in the opening chapter of this book and again, we have to be very careful, we have to take it word by word and compare scripture with scripture as God has taught us to do, in his Word.
He has taught us that Christ spoke in parables and without a parable he did not speak unto them, and we know that this book is the Word of God, that Christ is the Word of God. He is the Word that became flesh.
So, the whole Bible is Christ speaking to us. It has been mentioned here in the first message tonight. The verse mentioned was Proverbs 25:2, speaking of parables. Proverbs 25:2 says:
It is the glory of God to conceal a thing (or a matter, Hebrew word dâbâr (daw-bawr’)): but the honour of kings is to search out a matter (thing).
Same word. Strong’s number 1697, Hebrew word dâbâr (daw-bawr’). God is telling us, very suddenly, all through the Bible. He is teaching us in parables and we are to see that the gospel is hidden in many places where we can not see it. But, we are to search these things out by comparing scripture with scripture. In Hosea, there is one that teaches you to compare scripture with scripture in the Old Testament. In Hosea 12:10, God says:
I have also spoken by the prophets, …
And the prophets were those men that God sent, like Jeremiah or Ezekiel or Hosea or Daniel to physically speak to the Israelites, but the prophets also are the whole Bible. But he says in Hosea 12:10:
I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and used similitudes, by the ministry of the prophets.
A similitude is when you say, “something is like something” or “something is as something”. That is a very revealing verse that teaches us to compare scripture with scripture in the Old Testament. If you are still in Hosea there in chapter 13, here is a similitude. He is speaking of bringing Judgment on Israel. In Hosea 13:7-8, he says:
Therefore I will be unto them as a lion: as a leopard by the way will I observe them: I will meet them as a bear (these are similitudes) that is bereaved of her whelps, and will rend the caul of their heart, and there will I devour them like a lion: the wild beast shall tear them.
They are all similitudes, and they teach us how God speaks to us. Let me read from Job 1, maybe the first 6 or 7 verses. In Job 1:1-7:
There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil. And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters. His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east. And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them. And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually. Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before JEHOVAH, and Satan came also among them. And JEHOVAH said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered JEHOVAH, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.
We will stop there. We have already established in the last two studies. The first verse says, “There was a man in the land of Uz, …”. It does not say that he was of the land of Uz. It simply says, “There was a man in the land of Uz, …”. Matthew Henry suggested that the land of Uz is up there around Ur of the Chaldees somewhere. Nahor (Abraham’s brother) had a son named Uz. It is the same word they spell “Huz” in Genesis but it’s the same word. But we compare scripture with scripture, we only stay in the Bible, for our understanding, and there is a verse in Lamentations, in Lamentations 4, verse 21. Lamentations 4:21 says:
Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, that dwellest in the land of Uz; …
That is the only verse in the Bible, that suggests where the land of Uz is, that it is in the land of Edom and I believe that if we go with that, we will keep our minds open but we are going to see other spiritual things in this.
“There was a man in the land of Uz, …” Or Edom, I believe. The Edomites were always the enemies of the Israelites, although Edom or Esau was a full blooded twin brother of Jacob. Yet, he is always used in the Bible, as a picture of Satan.
We are not sure when this book took place. It is very possible that this was written or that it took place, while the Israelites were in captivity in Egypt. And again I am not going to get into that, it is very difficult, there is a lot of speculation. We cannot know exactly when this book took place, but that could also be a spiritual principle, that we can look at, that the Israelites were outside of the promised land at that time and yet this man, Job, who is a picture of Christ is still among–Let me speak about the characters in this book. Just keep in mind that the Israelites at this time, possibly were not in the promised land. They had gone into captivity, they had gone into Egypt and had actually become captives.
A little later, we read about these three men that came to console Job, these three men were Eliphaz the Temanite, Zophar the Naamathite and Bildad the Shuhite and as we examine these men’s names, it is the only hint (clue) that God gives us as to who these men are. I believe that two of them are possibly desendants of Essau, they are Edomites, and the other man maybe a descendant of Abraham through Keturah (the woman that he married after Sarah died). But it takes place in the land of Edom.
Again, let me just put it out there, that I think, it may have taken place while the Israelites were not in the land of Canaan, but I believe that this man Job in the land of Uz, among the Edomites (enemies of the Israelites), is a picture of Christ as he dwells among us, even when we are enemies of God. And the word “Job” means “enemy”. Look at Job 13:24. This is Job speaking to God. Job 13:24 says:
Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and holdest me for thine enemy?
That is the word Job, and we can say that as Christ was making the payment for sin, it is as if he were the enemy of God the Father, and again that relates to all of us, in Romans 5:8-10, we read:
But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
There was a point when we were enemies, and here, Job is in the land of Edom (the land of Uz) and his name means enemy, he is also an enemy of God the Father. At this time I believe that we are to see in his suffering, we are to see the suffering of Christ as if he is an enemy of God at that time.
But we read in Job 1, verse 1 that the man was perfect and upright and one that feared God and eschewed evil. That means that he was a saved man. We have already gone through this, but again, he is a picture of Christ, but all the true believers relate to Christ and they are perfect in God’s eyes as the righteousness of Christ has been ascribed or imputed to them.
In Job 1, verse 2, we read that, “… there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters.” Seven, three and ten are all spiritual numbers. Perfect completeness (perfection), the purpose of God and again completion in the number ten and I believe that his sons and daughters are pictures again, of the church, as we go on to read what happened. I think, we may see that it is a corporate church but we are just going to have to keep on going, very slowly, pray for understanding and not come to any conclusions too quickly.
In Job 1, verse 3, we read that, “His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, …” Or his possessions and we know that God uses animals in the Bible, just as we were speaking about Noah and the ark as pictures of those coming to salvation. We are the sheep of his pasture.
But if we look at the numbers here, we read that, “His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels (that is 10,000), and five hundred yoke of oxen (a yoke is a pair, that is 11,000), and five hundred she asses (that is 11,500 and that is 5 times 2,300), and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.” And that could be translated, “was greater than all the men of the east”. It is still not saying absolutely, that he is an Edomite. But he was the greatest of all the men of the east, and those east countries at that time were enemies of the Israelites.
Edom was there, the country of Ammon, Moab, Median. Further North, we had, Syria and Ur of the Chaldees. They were enemies of the Israelites.
In Job 1:4, we read:
And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them.
Eating and drinking, we looked at last time, has to do with partaking of the gospel. We read in Proverbs 15:15:
All the days of the afflicted are evil: but he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast.
Here, Job’s son’s and daughter’s are feasting in the son’s houses, every one his day. They are eating and drinking and this is again a picture of worship or going to church or partaking of the gospel. We read in Job 1:4-5:
And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them. And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.
And again, I believe that these children represent the corporate church. Let us take a look at Isaiah chapter 1. The book of Isaiah start’s right off, speaking of the rebellion of the Israelites. Isaiah 1:1-2 says:
The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for JEHOVAH hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.
So he speaks of his corporate church, as his children. Then we read in Isaiah 1:3:
The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.
And it goes on from there. Let us take a look at Psalm 82:1-8:
… JEHOVAH standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods. …
And the “gods” here, are men. It goes on to say that, “we have been created in the image of God”. And it says in Psalm 82:2-5:
How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah. Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked. They know not (again he is speaking of his people), neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course.
If we would work through that phrase, “the foundations of the earth”, again, that speaks to God’s people who have the Word of God. They have been given the commission to bring the gospel to the world. They have been specially blessed by God. But in Psalm 82:6-8, it says:
I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High. But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes. Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations.
But again, back here in Job, in chapter 1, verse 4, I believe that his sons and daughters represent that church corporately. But now Job, in verse 5, I believe, is a picture of God, in intercession or Christ in intercession. He says in Job 1:5
And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings …
He was supplicating to God for his children. That word “sanctified” does not necessarily mean that they were saved. All of you have heard it enough, as you have listened to Family Radio for years. The word “sanctified” simply means “to be set apart”, “to be made holy”. But that does not necessarily mean “salvation.” Let us take a look at Exodus 30.
Exodus 30 is all about making the altar, the incense altar, it talks about lighting the lamps, it talks about burning incense. It is when the tabernacle has been pretty much completed. That tabernacle out there in the wilderness. Then they consecrate Aaron and his sons to be the priests and in verse 30, in Exodus 30:30, we read:
And thou shalt anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them (that is the word sanctify), that they may minister unto me in the priest’s office.
But if we go on to Leviticus 10, where God came down and consumed that sacrifice on the altar. We read that Aaron’s son’s, his oldest two sons, Nadab and Abihu, when they saw that, they were taken up with that and they offered strange fire and God killed them. They were consecrated, they were sanctified. But God judged them at that point. What we are to see in them is those in the church trying to add to the Words of God. That is a whole study in itself. But here, we read in Job 1:5:
And it was so, when the days of their feasting (Job’s son’s) were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, …
All through the Bible, we speak of someone rising up early. In Genesis 22:3, we read:
And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and …
Abraham had been commanded by God to sacrifice Isaac and again, this is a picture of Christ suffering the wrath of God. Abraham was perfectly obedient to that sacrifice. We know the story, at the last instance, God gave Abraham this ram to offer rather than Isaac. But again, the perfect obedience of Abraham is seen in that.
Back in the New Testament, it speaks of this as Isaac (Abraham’s son), as good as dead, as if he had been offered like Christ. But Abraham rose up early to go and do this and we see Christ in this.
Let us take a look at Genesis 28:18. This is when Jacob was going to the land of Padanaram to get wife and again, this is a parable. It is Jacob going out of the land of Canaan and into a heathen nation to get himself a wife and this is where we all came from, a heathen nation. We read about him having this dream where he saw the ladder, but we read in Genesis 28:18:
And Jacob rose up early in the morning (after he had known that he had been in the presence of God), and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it.
Again, the atonement is in view there. The sacrifice of Christ. In Exodus 34, in verse 4. This is speaking of Moses, after he destroyed the first tablets of stone, as he saw the rebellion of the Israelites. In Exodus 34:4:
And he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up unto mount Sinai, as JEHOVAH had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tables of stone.
And so forth. All through the Bible, we have this phrase, “rising up early” and what is in view there again is the payment of sin. In John 20, verse 1. After Christ had demonstrated his victory in that victory over sin and death.
We read in John 20:1:
The first day of the week (that is the first of the Sabbath’s isn’t it?) cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark (it was early in the morning), unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.
He had already risen, early in the morning. So Job, we read Job 1:5:
… rose up early in the morning (again, he is a picture of Christ), and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all (his sons): for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.
Now we go on to read about Satan being in the presence of God. In Job 1:6-7:
Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before JEHOVAH, and Satan came also among them. And JEHOVAH said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered JEHOVAH, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.
That is his thing, that is what Satan does. Let us take a look at 1 Peter 5. By right of conquest, as he got Adam and Eve to sin, God gave him rule over this world and cursed it at that point. But in 1 Peter 5:8, we read:
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion (there is a similitude), walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
Walks about, walks to and fro through the earth, that is his thing. So, we read in Job 1:8-10:
And JEHOVAH said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? Then Satan answered JEHOVAH, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.
And yes, God has done that. He has done that to Christ and he has done that to all the elect. But what happens here is that Satan challenges God to take all this away from Job and to afflict him and yet Job still remains faithful. Look at Psalm 125. In Psalm 125:2, we read:
As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so JEHOVAH is round about his people from henceforth even for ever.
Look at Psalm 34. Psalm 34:7 says:
The angel of JEHOVAH encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.
Yes, God has put a hedge around his people and it is him that holds us fast. 1 Peter 1:5 is a verse that you are all familiar with. 1 Peter 1:4-5 says:
To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God …
That is the way it works. We are kept by the power of God. In 1 Peter 1:5:
… through faith …
Through our own faith? No, through the faith of Christ. In 1 Peter 1:5:
Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
So, Satan says in Job 1:10:
Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? …
His substance, his flocks, his herds, his sons and his daughters. And he goes on to say, in Job 1:10:
… thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.
Look at Psalm 90, in verse 15. Let me start at verse 14. Psalm 90:14-17 says:
O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil. Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children. And let the beauty of JEHOVAH our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.
Once we become true believers, the work of our hands is the work of Christ’s hands. It is the work of taking that gospel into the world that people might be saved through it. There are verses in the Bible that actually speak of the true believers being the work of His hands. Look at Psalm 111. It simply speaks of the work of God. The work of God is salvation. Psalm 111:1-9:
Praise ye JEHOVAH. I will praise JEHOVAH with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright, and in the congregation. The works of JEHOVAH are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein. His work is honourable and glorious: and his righteousness endureth for ever. He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered: JEHOVAH is gracious and full of compassion. He hath given meat unto them that fear him: he will ever be mindful of his covenant. He hath shewed his people the power of his works, that he may give them the heritage of the heathen. The works of his hands are verity and judgment; all his commandments are sure. They stand fast for ever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness. He sent redemption unto his people: …
The whole thing is talking about salvation. In Psalm 111:9-10:
He sent redemption unto his people: he hath commanded his covenant for ever: holy and reverend is his name. The fear of JEHOVAH is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.
So yes, God has blessed the work of Job’s hands and he does bless the work of the hands of the people of God. But again, all through this book, we see the faithfulness of Job and how Satan was wrong. Look at Job 1, verse 21, after God had allowed Satan to afflict Job the first time. We read in Job 1:20-22:
Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: JEHOVAH gave, and JEHOVAH hath taken away; blessed be the name of JEHOVAH. In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.
What a test for each one of us as we examine ourselves. “Examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith”. We examine ourselves against the scriptures. Look what has be fallen this man and he remains perfectly faithful. Look at Job chapter 13, verse 15, it is a well known verse. Job 13:15 says:
Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.
And God the Father did slay Christ. He had to die. He had to die eternally to perfectly pay for sin. Incidentally, in Job 1:21, “… JEHOVAH gave, and JEHOVAH hath taken away; …” A verse you have heard over the years at funerals I am sure. But again, this is the attitude of a child of God, even in his affliction.
Look at chapter 19, another verse you are all familiar with, if you are spending time in the Bible. In chapter 19, this chapter really is Messianic. It reads like Psalm 22. We can clearly see Christ suffering in this chapter. Let me start at verse 20. In Job 19:20-22:
My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth. Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me. Why do ye persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh?
He said those words to the three men who came to console him. They never really do any consoling at all. They simply began right away to tell Job that he has done something to cause God to bring this evil upon him. But he says in Job 19:23:
Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book!
And I think that this suggests the Word of God. In Job 19:24-27:
That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever! 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: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.
Again, perfect faithfulness. He says to his friends in Job 19:28:
But ye should say, Why persecute we him, …
That is Job. He is saying to his friends, “why are you persecuting me?” In Job 19:28:
… seeing the root of the matter is found in me?
And that word “matter”, there again, it is the same word, Strong’s number 1697, the word dâbâr (daw-bawr’), the root of the whole matter, the issue, the subject. Ecclesiastes 12:13 says:
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: …
The Word of God. God’s message to us. He is telling them, “… seeing the root of the matter is found in me?” This is Christ speaking of the church. Then he goes on to say, in Job 19:29:
Be ye afraid of the sword: for wrath bringeth the punishments of the sword, that ye may know there is a judgment.
Okay, we will stop there. I know I did not cover much tonight. I just went through everything we had already seen. But again, this is a very difficult book. This is the Word of God. We have to be very careful and pray to God that he will show us truth of his Word and what he means for us to see in the book of Job.
Father in Heaven, we come to You and say could it be that we have expounded correctly on what we have looked at in the book of Job here this evening and if we have gotten anything wrong, in your mercy we know that you will forgive but we cannot harm those that were sealed. In your mercy LORD, we cannot harm anyone whose sins have already been paid for. But again, we just ask that we could have a constant reverence for your Word, that you would bless us with understanding and ultimately we would glorify you, whatever we speak in your name. We pray this in Jesus Name. Amen