2. Key Text:
“Surely He has
borne our griefs
and carried our
sorrows;
yet we esteemed
Him stricken,
smitten by God,
and afflicted”
Isaiah 53:4
3. With the sudden appearance of the Lord Himself, beginning in chapter 38,
the book of Job reached its climax. God revealed Himself to in a powerful
and miraculous way, and this resulted in Job’s confession and contrition.
The Lord then rebuked Job’s three friends for their wrong words, and Job
prayed for them. “And the Lord restored Job’s losses when he prayed for
his friends. Indeed the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before” (Job
42:10,, and Job lived a long and full life afterward.
4. There is, however,
something unsettling,
something unsatis-
factory about the
story and how it ends.
God and Satan, arguing
in heaven, battle it out
here on earth in the life
and flesh of poor Job?
It just doesn’t seem fair, doesn’t seem right, that Job would have to bear
the terrible brunt of this conflict between God and Satan, while the Lord
remained in heaven and simply watched it. There must be more to the
story. And there is. It is revealed many centuries later, in Jesus and His
death on the cross. In Jesus alone we find amazing and comforting
answers to the questions that the book of Job doesn’t fully answer.
5. The living Redeemer.
The Redeemer made man.
The exemplary Redeemer.
The crucified Redeemer.
The suffering Redeemer.
The victorious Redeemer.
At the end of Job’s story, God introduces Himself as the
great Creator and ends up with Job’s sorrow.
Nevertheless, the conflict between God and Satan that
caused this problem went unresolved.
However, Job foresaw the solution to that conflict. He
understood there’s only a solution for sin: a Redeemer.
6. “I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will
stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed,
yet in my flesh I will see God.” (Job 19:25-26 NIV)
Job fully believed that a living redeemer
will rescue him from death in the future.
Nevertheless, he didn’t have to wait
long to see his Redeemer. He introduced
Himself as the Creator (Job 38-41).
Redemption and Creation come together
in Jesus Christ: “In the beginning was the
Word […] All things were made through
Him […] as many as received Him, to
them He gave the right to become
children of God.” (John 1:1-12).
The love of our Creator is wonderful, He
gave His own life to save His creatures
from death!
7. “Do you have eyes of flesh? Do you see as a mortal sees?
Are your days like those of a mortal or your years like
those of a strong man?” (Job 10:4-5 NIV)
Job fully trusted his Creator and
Redeemer. Nevertheless, God was
in Heaven and he was on Earth.
God was free of all suffering but
he was suffering.
“God cannot understand me
because He’s not a man! He
cannot suffer like we do!”
That complaint was solved in
Jesus: “So the Word became
human and made his home
among us.” (John 1:14 NLT). God
became fully human to redeem
us. “For in that He Himself has suffered,
being tempted, He is able to aid those
who are tempted.” (Hebrews 2:18)
8. “He who says he abides in Him
ought himself also to walk just as
He walked.” (1 John 2:6)
The Redeemer suffered like we do and
He also lived a life like ours, but He
lived sinless.
Jesus is the only perfect example we
have in terms of how to live the kind of
life to which God calls us. That’s why
we are encouraged to imitate him in
every aspect.
Living a perfect life is not what made
Him our Redeemer. He can redeem us
because He decided to become our
Substitute.
He came to more than just being an
example and sympathizing with us. He
came to suffer our death.
9. “And He began to teach them that the Son of Man MUST
SUFFER many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief
priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise
again.” (Mark 8:31)
The redemption plan always involved the
Messiah dying at the Cross. Jesus died the
eternal death in our place. HE MUST DO IT.
Each one of us has been substituted by the
Lamb of God, like Isaac was substituted by a
lamb.
He came to offer “one sacrifice for sins
forever.” (Hebrews 10:12).
Everyone whose life “is hidden with
Christ in God” will not die forever
(Colossians 3:3).
Let’s accept that substitution and
cling to the crucified Redeemer by
faith.
10. “Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our
sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten
by God, and afflicted.” (Isaiah 53:4)
The story of Job introduces but
doesn’t solve the problem of
human suffering. Only Christ is
the solution for our problem; He
is the “man of sorrows.”
He carried the cross with all the
suffering of humanity. The suffering of
each human being.
No one can teach God anything about
suffering because He experienced all
our past, present and future suffering
as a human being.
The suffering of Jesus at the cross is
our hope when surrounded by pain
and sin; that’s the assurance of our
salvation.
11. Satan questioned God’s character. Job’s
victory was just a small defeat for the devil.
Jesus defeated him completely. Satan’s lies
were exposed.
Satan described God as a tyrannical and
proud being. Nevertheless, God humbled
Himself to the point of death to save the
sinners (Philippians 2:5-8). And He wasn’t
alone.
“God [the Father] was in Christ [the Son]
reconciling the world to Himself”, who
“through the eternal Spirit [the Holy Spirit]
offered Himself.” (2 Corinthians 5:19;
Hebrews 9:14).
The divine/human Jesus overcame for us. By
faith we can have the assurance of eternal
life in Jesus.
12. “Jesus, precious Saviour! We may study the
love of the Father in that He gave His dear
Son to die for a fallen world. As we study
this inexpressible love in the light of the
cross of Calvary, we are filled with wonder,
with amazement. We see mercy, tenderness,
and forgiveness blended harmoniously with
justice and dignity and power. Jesus bids the
sinner to look to Him and live. “I,” He says,
“have found a ransom.” The gulf of perdition
opened by sin is bridged by the cross of
Calvary. Penitent, believing souls may see a
forgiving Father reconciling us to Himself by
that cross of Calvary.”
E.G.W. (This Day with God, June 16)
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