Job’s Final Word – Part 1
Job 25-31 (25-28)
February 7, 2016
Well obviously we aren’t going to cover all 7 chapters tonight in our study,
But because it is all one thought,
I think it is best to keep it in tact as we work our way through it.
Tonight we’ll begin looking at Job’s final statement.
JOB FINALLY RETURNS TO THE LAMENT
He began way back at the beginning of this book.
• After the initial onslaught of suffering Job began to air his complaints regarding
his situation.
• Before he could ever really fully express those, he was confronted by his three
friends who sought to silence him and to condemn him.
• They came armed with the prosperity gospel, and the blind certainty that Job
must have done something terribly wicked for such adversity to fall upon him.
• So, Job has taken somewhat of a break from his lament in order to debate his
three friends.
Tonight we’ll see that Job has finally silenced his friends
And will return to the lament he once began.
Now before we get to Job’s statement
We do have one final statement from his friends.
Bildad responds to Job’s last statement.
If you’ll remember Job had maintained that
• If he could only get to God and stand before Him and present his case to Him
• Then he knew God would be forced to vindicate him and he would come out as gold.
Job held fast to his integrity
And belief that justice demanded his acquittal.
As you might expect Job’s friends didn’t like such beliefs
And so once again rise to confront him.
The only difference is that it is clear they are now at a loss for words,
For Bildad only responds with a weak and shallow argument.
(Job 25) “Then Bildad the Shuhite answered, “Dominion and awe belong to Him Who establishes peace in His heights. “Is there any number to His troops? And upon whom does His light not rise? “How then can a man be just with God? Or how can he be clean who is born of woman? “If even the moon has no brightness And the stars are not pure in His sight, How much less man, that maggot, And the son of man, that worm!”
If you are going to try and read what Bildad says and shoot holes in it,
You are going to have a very difficult time,
For everything Bildad says here is true.
“Dominion and awe” do belong to God.
• God is sovereign over all things.
• It is God who illumines all things (that is all things at their best only radiate His
glory)
And Bildad’s questions are right on.
“How then can a man be just with God? Or how can he be clean who is born of woman?”
His point is clear.
Man is sinful, fallen, corrupt and yet God is holy, perfect, and sovereign.
How could man ever expect that he can measure up \
And be righteous before a holy God?
And in truth we talk about this reality quite a bit.
Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”
Romans 3:10-12 “as it is written, “THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.”
We can read Psalms 51 about how David was conceived in sin and brought forth in iniquity and we agree that man does not measure up to God.
So there is nothing Bildad says here that we would disagree with.
The revelation here is that Bildad’s answer
Totally sidesteps the issue.
Job has been talking about the propensity of the wicked to prosper
And the reality that at times the righteous suffer.
And Bildad has no answer for that.
All he (or any of Job’s friends) seem to be able to do
Is reduce their responses to simple and bland truths.
It would be like
• If you come to me in the middle of your suffering and explain how you are suffering,
• But you know you didn’t do anything wrong to deserve it,
• But you are still uncertain as to what God desires…
And I look at you and say, “Yes, but God is love.”
Well you would agree with me because it is true,
But my answer would not have addressed the issue at all.
So it is here.
• Eliphaz, Zophar, and Bildad have run out of answers.
• They have been unable to cope with Job’s wisdom or his answers.
• They are now at a loss.
In fact, after Job finishes his discourse the Scripture will reveal this.
Job 32:1 “Then these three men ceased answering Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes.”
These men have no answer.
They tried and they tried and they tried to expose Job and to condemn Job
And they could not.
JOB’S FRIENDS LOST.
And now, Job is about to take his victory lap.
He has finally silenced his friends
And so Job delivers his closing arguments.
And that is what we find in chapters 26 through 31.
It is Job’s final word.
And when you look at this section in in its entirety
It actually only comprises of two main points.
1) Job rebukes his friends
2) Job returns to his lament
So let’s begin working our way through this section.
#1 JOB REBUKES HIS FRIENDS
Job 26:1-28:28
Three chapters here entail Job’s response and rebuke to his friends.
And in these chapters Job is about to tell his friends
5 things they don’t understand anything about.
We want to pay attention here because we don’t want to be Job’s friends
When we seek to comfort those in pain.
1) YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND COMFORT (26:1-4)
“Then Job responded, “What a help you are to the weak! How you have saved the arm without strength! “What counsel you have given to one without wisdom! What helpful insight you have abundantly provided! “To whom have you uttered words? And whose spirit was expressed through you?”
If you are picking up on the sarcasm there,
Then you’re reading this section correctly.
Job is certainly not congratulating or even thanking his friends.
He is mocking them for their utter ineptness as it pertains to comforting him.
• “What help you are…”
• “What counsel you gave…”
• “What helpful insight you have…”
Those are statements meant to humiliate and embarrass.
These men were not a help, these men did not give good counsel,
The insight of these men did not help.
We are not going to hash all back through everything they said,
But certainly you do remember the gist of it.
These men traveled to the home of a friend who was suffering immensely.
• This man had lost his possessions
• This man had lost his children
• This man had lost his health
• This man had lost his reputation
AND NOT ONCE DID HIS FRIENDS EVER PICK HIM UP.
All they did was go on an unwarranted investigation
To find out what Job must have done wrong.
When Job said, “Nothing”. They said, “We don’t believe you.”
• They accused
• They attacked
• They slandered
All for the purpose of exposing Job’s presumed sin.
When you slice it right down the middle,
We realized they didn’t really care about Job,
They just wanted to make sure they were protected
From what happened to Job.
And Job here calls them on it.
You guys were no help at all, you know nothing about comfort.
2) YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND GOD (26:5-14)
This section actually humors me just a little,
Because it is a classic “one-upping” of Bildad.
Bildad just tried to express the greatness of God in chapter 25.
He talked about how God has dominion and awe and how it is his glory that illumines all things, and how man cannot be pure in His sight.
Job here one-ups him.
It’s as though Job says, “You don’t even know the half of it”
And then Job goes on a rant about the real greatness of God.
(5-6) “The departed spirits tremble Under the waters and their inhabitants. “Naked is Sheol before Him, And Abaddon has no covering.”
• “Sheol” was the place of the dead.
• “Abaddon” was the place of punishment or utter ruin.
Bildad said that dominion belonged to God,
Job takes it a step further.
Yes, God has dominion in life, in death, in judgment, in everything.
• So much so that “the departed spirits tremble”
• Everything man has ever done lays bare before God, “Sheol” is “naked”.
God sees all and knows all and judges all.
Job is expounding on Bildad’s simple statement.
Bildad also said, “And upon whom does His light not rise?”
It was a simple expression of God as creator.
God created all things and His light shines on all things.
Job carries it farther.
(7-10) “He stretches out the north over empty space And hangs the earth on nothing. “He wraps up the waters in His clouds, And the cloud does not burst under them. “He obscures the face of the full moon And spreads His cloud over it. “He has inscribed a circle on the surface of the waters At the boundary of light and darkness.”
Bildad called God the creator of light,
Job responds as if to say, “You’re in way over your head here.”
• Did you know that God stretched out the north over empty space?
• Did you know that God hung the world on nothing?
There’s a thought for you.
What did God create the world from?
Nothing, because there was nothing for God to create the world from.
God looked into empty, brought forth something,
Hung it on nothing, and told it to stay there.
You can actually hear Job telling Bildad, “You don’t even have a clue!”
Bildad then expressed that creation was not “just” before God.
He said that even the stars were not pure before God
And certainly man was not.
And again Job responds as if to say,
“You don’t even know what you don’t know”
(11-13) “The pillars of heaven tremble And are amazed at His rebuke. “He quieted the sea with His power, And by His understanding He shattered Rahab. “By His breath the heavens are cleared; His hand has pierced the fleeing serpent.”
It’s not just that creation falls short of His standard,
It’s that creation sits on pins and needles at the thought of His rebuke.
Nothing in creation dares defy Him.
Not the sea, not the sky, not the lightning.
Creation is terrified of His holy rebuke.
And Job then ends this short lesson
With these words to really pierce his friends.
(14) “Behold, these are the fringes of His ways; and how faint a word we hear of Him! But His mighty thunder, who can understand?”
Job just expounded on their simple view of God and then said,
“And even what I’ve told you barely scratches the surface.”
His point to his friends is simple – YOU DON’T HAVE A CLUE
You arrived at my house to give comfort; at which you stink.
You tried to explain God’s working to me; of Whom you know nothing.
Pretty harsh rebukes that Job has here for his friends.
You don’t understand comfort You don’t understand God
3) YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND INTEGRITY (27:1-12)
All along one of the main issues between Job and his friends is that
Job maintained his integrity while his friends continually attacked it.
• They argued time and time again that there is no way that Job could be a pure man and suffer like he was suffering.
• Job maintained that he was a pure man and that he did not deserve this suffering.
Well here Job is going to tell them that
They don’t know what real integrity looks like.
He starts with a simple declaration (an oath even)
(1-6) “Then Job continued his discourse and said, “As God lives, who has taken away my right, And the Almighty, who has embittered my soul, For as long as life is in me, And the breath of God is in my nostrils, My lips certainly will not speak unjustly, Nor will my tongue mutter deceit. “Far be it from me that I should declare you right; Till I die I will not put away my integrity from me. “I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go. My heart does not reproach any of my days.”
As God lives, I will not let go of my integrity.
I am holding fast my righteousness.
“My heart does not reproach any of my days.”
In other words Job just said, “I’ve got a clean conscience”
It is similar to the statement of Paul:
Acts 23:1 “Paul, looking intently at the Council, said, “Brethren, I have lived my life with a perfectly good conscience before God up to this day.”
2 Timothy 1:3 “I thank God, whom I serve with a clear conscience the way my forefathers did,”
I am suffering because God “has taken away my right.”
Next Job is actually going to show them
What they have been thus far unable to see.
Job is going to show them evidence of his integrity.
He is going to show them why they should have known
He was in fact an innocent man.
(7-12) “May my enemy be as the wicked And my opponent as the unjust. “For what is the hope of the godless when he is cut off, When God requires his life? “Will God hear his cry When distress comes upon him? “Will he take delight in the Almighty? Will he call on God at all times? “I will instruct you in the power of God; What is with the Almighty I will not conceal. “Behold, all of you have seen it; Why then do you act foolishly?”
Job is here revealing that the response he has demonstrated since his affliction are not the response of the wicked.
Job says “For what is the hope of the godless when he is cut off..?”
That is to say a godless man has no hope.
• He doesn’t expect vindication.
• He doesn’t have hope for anything better.
• Because he knows he is wicked.
He may lie about to those around him,
But in his heart he knows what he is and therefore has no hope.
But you will remember, that certainly isn’t Job.
Remember Job’s great statement of hope?
Job 19:25-27 “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 will see and not another. My heart faints within me!”
Job was confused as to why he was suffering,
But he wasn’t without hope.
Job says, “That’s not normal for the godless”
Job goes on to ask (10) “Will he take delight in the Almighty? Will he call on God at all times?”
The obvious answer is “No, he won’t”
When God afflicts wrath on those who are living in sin,
Their first reaction is not to stay in close commune with God.
And yet if you’ll remember this book,
That’s the only one Job has wanted to talk to.
At times he has been forced to debate his friends,
But all he has really wanted is to draw near to God.
That is not a response of the wicked.
Jesus said:
John 3:19-21 “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. “For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. “But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”
In the Revelation we see:
Revelation 6:12-17 “I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”
The godless and the wicked and those without integrity
Don’t naturally cling to God when they are under divine wrath.
Job ends this section by saying:
(12) “Behold, all of you have seen it; why then do you act foolishly?”
Job was describing simple fruit.
• You don’t spot a man of integrity by whether or not he suffers.
• You spot a man of integrity by how he responds when he suffers.
Those who are righteous run to the light; they run to God.
They cling to God. They cry out to God. The hope in God.
Job is telling his friends that they obviously do not understand integrity.
They obviously do not know the marks of a genuine believer.
You don’t understand comfort
You don’t understand God
You don’t understand Integrity
4) YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND JUDGMENT (27:13-23)
Job’s friends saw Job’s suffering and made a foolish assumption.
They assumed that what Job was experiencing
Was the wrath and judgment of God.
But it wasn’t.
Job was experiencing the wrath and torment of the enemy,
Not the divine wrath of God.
And Job wants his friends to know that there is a major difference.
(you should know there is a major difference)
Job is about to explain it.
(READ: 27:13-23)
Job says, “This is the portion of a wicked man from God…”
Here is what God gives the wicked.
And certainly there is some temporal affliction here.
• Job mentions how he is destined for the sword.
• Job mentions how he won’t keep his silver
• Job mentions how his house won’t stand
But Job takes it a notch farther.
Job talks about what this man receives in the next life.
See in verse 19 the wicked man dies. Job says he “lies down rich”
That is he dies still in prosperity, but when opens his eyes on the other side of death, he will not like what he sees.
(20) “Terrors over take him like a flood”
• (22) He will be in unsparing pain
• (22) He will try to flee, but will not escape
Job tells his friends that they have no clue about the judgment of God.
God’s judgment on the wicked
Is not limited to poverty and sickness in this life.
In fact there are many wicked whom God allows to prosper in this life.
The judgment of God is what occurs to the wicked
In the next life for eternity.
There is a major difference between the affliction of the enemy and the affliction of God.
Jesus spelled it out clearly for us:
Matthew 10:28 “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
Job’s friends came with the assumption that
What Job was receiving was the wrath of God
Job says, “You have no clue about the wrath of God.”
Can you see why Job’s friends were such sorry counselors?
• They didn’t understand comfort
• They didn’t understand God
• They didn’t understand integrity
• They didn’t understand judgment
5) YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND WISDOM (28)
If you will remember these men continually appealed to history
As their source of wisdom.
Bildad said:
Job 8:8-10 “Please inquire of past generations, And consider the things searched out by their fathers. “For we are only of yesterday and know nothing, Because our days on earth are as a shadow. “Will they not teach you and tell you, And bring forth words from their minds?”
Eliphaz said:
Job 15:17-19 “I will tell you, listen to me; And what I have seen I will also declare; What wise men have told, And have not concealed from their fathers, To whom alone the land was given, And no alien passed among them.”
These men walked under a VERY COMMON MISCONCEPTION.
Namely that wisdom comes with age.
There was a lady who used to attend church here who told me that all the time.
Can I burst your bubble?
“Wisdom SHOULD come with age, but it is not automatic.
Wisdom comes with a fear of the Lord.”
Listen to Job explain that very thing.
In the first 11 verses Job is going to explain to you how you can acquire any precious commodity that the earth has to offer.
• You want gold?
• You want diamonds?
• You want silver?
Job will explain how to get it.
(READ 28:1-11)
But then he poses a commodity that can’t be found like this: WISDOM
(READ 28:12-22)
Wisdom is not automatic.
It can’t be found, it can’t be bought.
But there is an answer.
(READ 28:23-28)
God alone possesses wisdom and God gives it to those who trust Him.
The implication to Job’s friends is that they don’t have wisdom.
• It isn’t found in experience
• It isn’t found in history books
• It isn’t found in universities
• You can’t dig for it
• You can’t pan for it
• You can’t purchase it
Real wisdom only comes to one who trusts God.
Real wisdom doesn’t bank on its own understanding or knowledge
Wisdom recognizes the One who does know and trusts them.
Jesus said:
Matthew 7:24-27 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. “And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. “The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell — and great was its fall.”
A wise man is not the man who knows all the answers.
A wise man is the man who believes that God does.
And thus we’re back to Job.
• All he’s wanted to do is appeal to God.
• All he’s wanted to do is speak to God.
• All he’s asked of his friends is that they pray for him.
Job has yet to presume why any of this has happened to him,
His only request was that God reveal it.
Job’s friends on the other hand reached deep into their own experiences and their own logic and sought to explain the situation to Job.
And to that Job responds – “You don’t have a clue about wisdom”
And there you have Job’s rebuke of his friends.
• You don’t understand comfort
• You don’t understand God
• You don’t understand integrity
• You don’t understand judgment
• You don’t understand wisdom
No wonder they were sorry counselors and no wonder Job silenced them.
I would think before we ventured to step into the role of Job’s friends
We had better make sure we understand those things better than they did.
All they did was wound Job and earn a rebuke from God.
If you want to offer real comfort and encouragement then:
• Know the truth about God’s person and purposes for our lives before you speak on His behalf.
• Know what real integrity looks like before you accuse someone of not having it.
• Know what real judgment is before you tell someone they are under it.
• Know what real wisdom is before you offer something less to someone else.
These were the blunders of Job’s friends
And Job here rebukes them for it.
