Something Different, Job 19:25–27

Introduction

The last time that I was up here I spoke on Job's friends, particularly on Job's complaint about his friends. His complaint about his friends was thorough enough that we were able to pick out what Godly friends ought to be. We found five points, in particular: devotion, availability, courage, honesty exercised wisely, and purity of motives.

I'll be the first to admit that pulling out the qualities of good friends is not one of the typical uses of the book of Job. I mentioned before that people turn to Job for a number of reasons, including comfort, wisdom, and prophecy. Today I want to look at one of these more common topics: prophecy.

Preliminaries

Before we dig into the prophetic portions of Job, we need to review a preliminary; we need to understand the contrast of the typical appearance of God in the Bible's wisdom literature with His appearance in the rest of Old Testament scripture, particularly History and Prophecy.

History

History in the Old Testament, by and large, follows the path of one people, one nation, and that is Israel. Genesis 12:1–3 sets the tone for the rest of Israel's history:

Now the Lord said to Abram, Go forth from your country, and from your relatives, and from your father's house, to the land which I will show you; and I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing; and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. Genesis 12:1–3

The history that is presented in the Old Testament focuses on the descendants of Abraham. We can read about his children, and the centuries of captivity in Egypt, the Exodus that united the nation and, eventually, brought them into the promised land. After a period of Judges, Israel institutes a monarchy that after only a few kings becomes divided, and so on. The rest of the world still existed throughout this time, but the Bible focuses on the history of a particular people that God chose out from all the rest.

I did something sneaky while I was quoting scripture, though—I cut off the end of verse three. It ends with And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. The prophecy in Job touches on some of that part of God's promise.

History in the Old Testament focuses on Israel, and God's special relationship with Israel.

Wisdom Literature

The wisdom literature in the Bible, viz.: Job, Psalms (sort of), Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon, doesn't focus as much on the history of Israel, per se. Most of the proverbs, for instance, can be understood without knowing anything at all of the Israel's calling. Knowing nothing of God, we can still accept Proverbs 10:4–5, Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth. He who gathers crops in summer is a wise son, but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son. Similarly, most people can accept the advice of Ecclesiastes 11:6, Sow your seed in the morning, and do not be idle in the evening, for you do not know whether morning or evening sowing will succeed, or whether both of them alike will be good, whether they are Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, or atheist, because it is true, and it is universally true—it doesn't depend on some particular understanding of God unique to Israel.

In Job, even though Job and his friends talk about God, they are not drawing from the particular interaction of God with His people. One common perspective on the book of Job is that it addresses the question of suffering; why do the righteous suffer? This presupposes a notion of righteous, and, perhaps, of justice (if you suppose that righteous people ought not to suffer), and there is the understanding that there is a God who is just, and who is righteous, and that that God is able to and does intervene in the happenings of the earth.

But because the questions that arise in Job are more general, and apply to all of mankind, it should come as no surprise, then, the answers that come up, or at least that Job is looking for, are things that not only is Israel looking for, but all of humanity is looking for.

Scripture

Now, the prophetic passages in Job are scattered through the book, but I want to draw attention to the one that is probably known the best. With our preliminaries out of the way, we can look at this passage and see why it really is something different. This passage is Job 19:25–27:

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! (NIV)

And as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will take His stand on the earth. Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I shall see God; Whom I myself shall behold, and whom my eyes shall see and not another. My heart faints within me. (NASV)

This isn't the only part of Job that is considered prophetic. Other parts include:

He is not a man like me that I might answer Him, that we might confront each other in court. 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. Then I would speak up without fear of Him, but as it now stands with me, I cannot. Job 9:32–35

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

[Elihu speaking:] 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—then his flesh is renewed like a child's; it is restored as in the days of his youth. He prays to God and finds favor with him, he sees God's face and shouts for joy; he is restored by God to his righteous state. Then he comes to men and says, I sinned, and perverted what was right, but I did not get what I deserved. He redeemed my soul from going down to the pit, and I will live to enjoy the light.Job 33:23–28

Something Different

Now in these passages that are considered prophecy, I think that we can find some things that are different; we can find truths being revealed that, perhaps, we already know, but that are new and revolutionary in the book of Job, and that point directly to Jesus. In the time that we have left, we'll look at three things which are new, revolutionary, and show us something different about God's plan for mankind. These are redemption, fellowship, and God in us.

Redemption

In the Old Testament, there was no getting rid of sin. There were sacrifices for covering it up, but sin was a fact of life, and the punishment for sin, death, was inevitable. David wrote Psalm 49 whose verses 7–9 read:

No man can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for him—the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough—that he should live on forever and not see decay. Psalm 49:7–9

Mankind has a sin nature, and the wages of sin is death. Death was inevitable, and it was clear that nothing that we might do would keep us from it. Elihu said, though Spare him from going down to the pit; I have found a ransom for him—then his flesh is renewed like a child's; it is restored as in the days of his youth. He prays to God and finds favor with him, he sees God's face and shouts for joy; he is restored by God to his righteous state. We now understand more fully, for, as John wrote in his gospel: for God so loved the world that he gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16

The redemption of man is Something Different.

Fellowship

Job lamented about God, that He is not man like me that I might answer him, that we might confront each other in court. 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. Then I would speak up without fear of him, but as it now stands with me, I cannot. Job knew that as a sinner (for while he thought his suffering was unfair, he knew that he wasn't absolutely sinless) he could not approach God. We see this in the separation of the Holy of Holies into which a priest could only enter once a year, or from Isaiah's vision (Woe is me!), or Moses' glowing face.

Because of sin we were separated from God, and nothing that we could do could bring us back to Him. But He was willing to come to us as Jesus Christ, fully God and fully man. We know of God that He tempts no one, and He cannot be tempted, but we also know that Jesus was in the wilderness for forty days and was tempted by Satan. God knew that we could never redeem ourselves, and since the gap between us and Him was so large, that only He could bridge it through Jesus Christ.

Being able to fellowship with God Himself is Something Different.

God in Us

One of the aspects of human sin nature is that we cannot get out of our sin rut. We cannot practice, or develop will power, or anything of that sort that would get us out of sin nature. This corruption is present all the way into the core of our being, to the point that we are powerless. Paul sums up condition: we are slaves to sin.

We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. Romans 7:14–25

While Christ's sacrifice took care of our redemption, God has something else in store for us once we've accepted Christ as Lord and Savior to take care of us while we still occupy these physical bodies. Elihu spoke, saying,

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—then his flesh is renewed like a child's; it is restored as in the days of his youth. He prays to God and finds favor with him, he sees God's face and shouts for joy; he is restored by God to his righteous state. Then he comes to men and says, I sinned, and perverted what was right, but I did not get what I deserved. He redeemed my soul from going down to the pit, and I will live to enjoy the light.Job 33:23–28

God has done even more for our redemption! We don't have an angel to say Spare him from going down to the pit; I have found a ransom for him, but we have the one and only Son of God! And Jesus' final command is echoed here, for [coming] to men and [saying] I have sinned, and perverted what was right, but I did not get what I deserved. He redeemed my soul from going down to the pit, and I will live to enjoy the light! is nothing less than spreading the Gospel, the most effective way to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

But what's even more, is that we're promised something within us! John records Jesus as saying,

But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor [that is, the Holy Spirit!] will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgement. John 16:7–8

And doesn't this sound an awful lot like an angel on his side as a mediator, one out of a thousand, to tell a man what is right for him?

Elihu said, He prays to God and finds favor with him, he sees God's face and shouts for joy. Doesn't this sound like what Paul wrote to the Roman church, … the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know ow to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. (Romans 8:26)

Now God guided His people in the past. He has never abandoned His people, that is a certainty. But that God is willing to send a part of Himself to us, as individuals, and to guide us along in everything that we do, to teach and convict us, and to keep us in communion with Christ is truly Something Different.

Summary

To quickly summarize, we considered two preliminaries, that the historical books tend to focus on the history of Israel, and emphasize God's special dealings with His chosen nation, and the Prophets deal largely with prophecies for Israel (though they do, most certainly, point toward the bigger picture). The Wisdom books, however, lack some of this national emphasis, and their message is more easily received by those who might not be aware of God's special dealings with his chosen people. As a result, when we look to the wisdom literature, we can expect to see things that are more universally understood, and prophecy in the wisdom literature deals with things that apply to all of mankind.

In Job, we see three things that might be Something Different than what we'd expect after reading the Jewish history and prophecy. We see a plan for redemption of sin, restoring man's righteous status. We see God willing to come as a man in order to fellowship with his creation. We see the promise of the indwelling Holy Spirit, God's presence within us.

I'm sure that I've only barely scratched the surface of the prophecies in Job, but I hope that we've seen that prophecy in the wisdom literature points to something for the whole world, something different.