This morning we come to the final instalment of our journey through the book of Job. Over the past month we’ve seen Job suffer greatly at the hands of Satan, we’ve heard the unhelpful words of his three friends (his ‘miserable comforters’!), and we’ve witnessed God speak dramatically to Job straight out of a storm.
Today the story comes to a conclusion. In this final chapter of the book of Job, we see Job’s reaction to God’s great speech – and then learn how sin and suffering can be overcome. And surely that is one of our greatest longings of all our hearts? Surely we all long to know how our sin can be forgiven and our slate wiped clean. Surely every human being longs for a day when suffering shall be no more. Wonderfully, today’s chapter shows us how sin can be forgiven, and assures us that every Christians’ suffering will one day be replaced by unending joy.
Job’s reaction to God (v.1-6)
Today’s passage begins by describing Job’s reaction to the words of God. If you were here a fortnight ago you may remember that God had addressed Job out of a whirlwind. The Lord had presented Job with a catalogue of evidence for his goodness, wisdom, and power:
- He had directed Job’s attention to the wonder of the heavens and the beauty of the earth.
- He had reminded Job of his loving care for all his creatures.
- And God had told Job that he had the power to restrain the forces of evil – symbolically portrayed in the great beast called Behemoth and the sea dragon known as Leviathan. He, and he alone, has Leviathan on a leash.
All in all, the Lord’s great speech from the storm was both a rebuke and reassurance to Job. It was a rebuke to Job’s questioning of God’s justice, but also a reassurance that the Lord could be trusted and evil overcome. The ‘Leviathans’ of this world will not have the last word.
Job’s response to God’s great speech is recorded in the opening six verses of our reading this morning. Job has been profoundly humbled by what he has seen and heard, and says to God: “I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted…surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.”
Confronted by the evidence of God’s goodness, power and wisdom, Job says he “repents”. In other words, he will no longer question God’s justice, nor think that he could run the world better than the Lord.
Job has learnt that we can (and should) keep faith in the Lord, even in the mist of suffering – even when we don’t understand why he has allowed some bad event to take place. Such faith requires a combination of humility and trust:
- Humility that the Lord knows best – he is God, not us. Humility that recognises our rightful dependence on God. A humble attitude that we can cultivate through daily prayer – as each day we bring our anxieties and needs before the Lord.
- And faith includes trust that God is willing and able to bring good out of evil – a confidence that he is in ultimate control of the cosmos. A trust in God’s power and goodness that is nourished whenever we read the Bible – especially passages like James chapter 5, which remind us that the Lord is “full of compassion and mercy.”
As Job discovered, real faith requires humble trust in the Lord – and with such faith we too can persevere in the midst of hardship, just like him.
Job’s intercession for his friends (v.7-9)
The second section of today’s passage begins in verse 7, where the Lord takes Job’s three miserable comforters to task. God says “to Eliphaz the Temanite, “I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken the truth about me.”
For God to be angry with you is not a good situation(to put it mildly!), and some means of reconciliation between the Lord and the three comforters is urgently required. Somehow, in some way, the sin of Eliphaz and his friends needs to be forgiven, and their slate wiped clean. The whole Bible makes clear, of course, that this problem is not confined to Job’s comforters. Humanity as a whole is alienated from God and has aroused his anger. As the apostle Paul puts it most memorably in Romans chapter 3 – “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God”. If condemnation is to be avoided, atonement is urgently required – some means of reconciliation with God must be found for us all.
The solution, for Job’s three comforters – and for us – is the offering of a sacrifice and the intercession of a mediator. We know this because in verse 8, God says to Eliphaz and his companions; ‘take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly.’
In short, the three comforters are to offer a sacrifice to God to atone for their sin – a sacrifice to make reparation for the moral debt that they owe. And they are to ask Job to intercede for them – to pray to God on their behalf – asking him to forgive them and bless them. Sure enough, ‘Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite did what the Lord told them; and the Lord accepted Job’s prayer.’ The three comforters were forgiven and reconciled with God.
As Christians we should know that the same two ingredients – sacrifice and mediation – are essential for our forgiveness and reconciliation with God as well. Two ingredients that, wonderfully, have been given to us by Jesus. Because the New Testament describes Jesus’ death on the cross as the perfect sacrifice for our sin, the ultimate act of atonement that pays the price for all our follies. And the New Testament also tells us that Jesus is our perfect mediator, he is the risen and ascended Son of God who sits at the right hand of the Father and constantly intercedes for us. If we have faith in Jesus, his sacrifice and his prayers serve to restore our relationship with God – just as Job successfully interceded for his three friends. Reconciliation with God requires a sacrifice and a mediator – and we can rejoice that Christ offers us both!
Job’s restoration by the Lord (v.10-17)
Lastly, the story of Job ends with a happy ending, doesn’t it? Verses 10 to 16 tells us that “after Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before…The Lord blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the former part. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys… And he also had seven sons and three daughters. After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation.”
In short God graciously blessed his faithful servant Job. The Lord did not merely call a halt to Job’s suffering, instead he more than compensated Job for what he had been through. Every worldly good was restored to Job – wealth, possessions and a beautiful family – so much so that he had twice as much as before. And he was given many more years of life in which to enjoy the gifts that God had given him.
The wonderful news for us, if we are Christians here this morning, is that our suffering in this world will also come to an end. The New Testament promises us that we have a glorious inheritance in the world to come, we have treasure in Heaven to look forward to, we have a seat reserved for us at the royal banquet in Christ’s coming kingdom:
- Just as Job had his flesh healed and his life extended, so we too will receive resurrected bodies and life everlasting.
- like Job, we too will have an enormous extended family – we will be part of a vast multitude of God’s people drawn from every tribe and tongue.
- And even better than Job, our blessings will be everlasting, far outweighing the sufferings we experience in this world. Joy will replace sadness, every tear will be wiped away – and Satan, Leviathan, that great enemy of God’s people, will be destroyed once and for all.
Do read Revelation chapters 20 to 22 for a richer account of the world to come, a world in which the suffering of God’s. people will end, forever.
But for now, let us hold fast to the apostle Paul’s words from Romans 8: “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” With such a hope, held on to by faith, we will persevere in the face of suffering – just like Job.