I want to share with you this evening a message from the book of Job. It is a message that gives hope to each of us who are struggling with sin, whether it be the consequences of sin in this life, or the consequences of sin that we must face in the Day of Judgment. In this life we suffer from sin in one of two ways: the first way is that our own sinful nature can result in us making bad choices that lead to bad consequences; and the second way is that we can suffer from the sinful decisions of other people. The way we can suffer for sin in the Day of Judgment is that those of us who are not covered by the blood of Jesus Christ will be sentenced to spending an eternity in hell.
In the book of Job, we find that Job suffered unjustly from sin. He did not suffer for any crimes that he had committed, but he suffered the consequences of simply existing, or simply being born into this evil world. You see, the Bible tells us that Satan is the ruler of this world. The world is a sinful place, and this is Satan’s domain. Isaiah 14:12 tells us of how Lucifer was cast down out of heaven to walk this earth; and then in Job 1:7, we read, “And the Lord said to Satan, ‘From where do you come?’ So Satan answered the Lord and said, ‘From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it’.”
Because we live in a sinful and fallen world, there will be times in our life when we will have to go through trials and difficulty. As we shall see, Job went through such a time; however, he was not alone. The message that will bring us hope this evening is the good news that we do not have to face the consequences of sin alone. We have Someone who will stare sin right in the face and boldly fight in our defense. Job knew Him as his Redeemer.
A Mediator between God and Man (Job 9:32-35; 16:19-22)
32 For He is not a man, as I am, that I may answer Him, and that we should go to court together. 33 Nor is there any mediator between us, who may lay his hand on us both. 34 Let Him take His rod away from me, and do not let dread of Him terrify me. 35 Then I would speak and not fear Him, but it is not so with me (9:32-35).
Allow me to re-read these verses in the New Living Translation, for it translates it a little clearer: “God is not a mortal like me, so I cannot argue with Him or take Him to trial. If only there were a mediator who could bring us together, but there is none. The mediator could make God stop beating me, and I would no longer live in terror of His punishment. Then I could speak to Him without fear, but I cannot do that in my own strength.” Now, let’s look at Job 16:19-22.
19 Surely even now my witness is in heaven, and my evidence is on high. 20 My friends scorn me; my eyes pour out tears to God. Oh, that one might plead for a man with God, as a man pleads for his neighbor! 22 For when a few years are finished, I shall go the way of no return (16:19-22).
The New Living Translation says, “Even now my witness is in heaven. My advocate is there on high. My friends scorn me, but I pour out my tears to God. Oh, that someone would mediate between God and me, as a person mediates between friends. For soon I must go down that road from which I will never return.”
As we read these verses, we see that Job feels like God has let him down. He mentions dreading God, and how he wishes the Lord would take away His rod from him and stop beating him. We also see that Job wants to speak to God and plead his case with Him. So, what is going on here? Well, for those of us who have read the book of Job, we know what’s happening. Just to refresh our memories, Job was under some serious spiritual attack from Satan. Allow me share some of Job’s plight:
We read that Job was a “blameless [man] and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil” (1:1), and that he was also blessed with many earthly possessions and a large and healthy family (1:2). Job had it all. However, one day Satan came to God and told the Lord that the only reason Job worshipped and served Him was because he was so blessed. Satan said to God that if He would just take away His hedge of protection from Job that he would curse God to His face (1:9-11). So, the Lord lifted His hedge of protection from Job, and He allowed Satan the opportunity to test him and try him (1:12).
You have heard before that trouble comes in three; well Job got it in five: A report came to Job that his servants had been killed; then another report came that his livestock had been killed; and then another that his camels had been stolen; and then he received the horrendous news that his own children had been killed by a tornado (1:13-19); and if that were not enough, a little later on Job’s health was taken from him (2:4-7).
Both Job and his friends thought these calamities came from the hand of God. His friends figured that Job must have committed some sin that he was being punished for. But Job, knowing in his heart that he was an upright man, thought that God was punishing him for no reason, or harming him unjustly. Job and his friends could not read their own story. They could not see from the perspective that we see. We have the privilege of looking through the lens of God’s Word, which reveals that it was not God causing the trouble, but it was Satan as the Lord allowed the testing.
Job was frustrated and angry with God. We read here that Job wanted to take God to trial and speak to Him face to face, and to ask Him why He was doing all these terrible things to him. He realized, though, that it was impossible for a man to speak with God directly to His face. Back in his day and time, the only way a person could possibly speak to God was to have a priest do it for him, because common people were too spiritually unclean to stand in the presence of a holy God. Even today we cannot stand in the presence of God without Jesus Christ to intercede for us.
Job mentions in these verses how he desperately needs someone to speak to God on his behalf. He says, God is “not a man, as I am, that I may answer Him” (9:32). He says he needs a “mediator” and an “advocate.” The definition of a “mediator” is “one who works with opposing sides in order to bring about an agreement.”(1) Other words for a “mediator” are “arbitrator,” “go-between,” “intercessor,” “middleman,” “moderator,” and a “negotiator.”(2) And “to mediate” means, “to occupy a middle position.”(3) Job is requesting that someone speak to God on his behalf.
I don’t believe Job’s situation is unique, do you? How many of us here tonight need someone else to speak to God on our behalf? We don’t need another human being or a priest to speak for us, or some Catholic saint; but we all need a Savior. If any of us here desires to plead with God about allowing us to into His kingdom and about granting us eternal life, this is done through our Mediator, Jesus Christ. I believe we find here in the book of Job a prophecy about our Mediator and Advocate; Jesus, the Messiah.
1 Timothy 2:3-6 declares, “For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.” Hebrews 9:24 and 26, in the New Living Translation, says, “For Christ has entered into heaven itself to appear now before God as our Advocate . . . He came once for all time, at the end of the age, to remove the power of sin forever by His sacrificial death for us.”
One of Jesus’ purposes is to plead our case before God, that great and righteous Judge, who tries men according to their actions here on earth. In Revelation 21:27, we read about heaven that “there shall by no means enter [into] it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.” Job spoke of going to trial with God, and there is going to come a time when we will all go to trial before God as we are judged according to the Lamb’s Book of Life. In that great trial Jesus will be our “advocate” and our “lawyer” who speaks on our behalf.
In that Day we will not be judged according to our own fallible and sinful works, but we will be judged according to the standard of God’s one and only Son, Jesus. The Lord will look at us, and then He will ask His Son why we should be allowed to enter into His kingdom, and Jesus will declare, “Because they have accepted Me as their Savior and they have been covered by My holy and righteous blood” (Revelation 7:14-15, paraphrase).
Let us now move over to Job 19:25-27, and we will see further evidence of this “Mediator” being a prophecy about Jesus Christ.
A Living Redeemer on the Earth (Job 19:25-27)
25 For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth; 26 and after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God, 27 whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!
Job had spoken earlier of his need for a “mediator” to plead his case before the Lord, and here he speaks of a “Redeemer,” with a capital “R.” What is a “redeemer?” Exodus 6:20 gives us a clue, for it states, “Therefore say to the children of Israel: ‘I am the Lord; I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, I will rescue you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.” The Lord had promised to “deliver” the Israelites from their bondage, and He mentioned “redeeming” them. So, we can conclude from this verse that a “redeemer” is a “deliverer.”(4)
Job said that there was “One” who would deliver him from his hardships and injustices. The word “redemption” means, “deliverance from some evil by payment of a price.”(5) Somehow, Job would be delivered from the calamities that befell him by “Someone” who would pay the Lord, or plead with the Lord to save him.
How many of you realize that the only way we can enter into God’s kingdom is by “Someone” else paying for, or purchasing, our eternal life? That “Someone” who pays a price is Jesus. The Bible tells us that each and every person in the world is a sinner (Romans 3:10, 23), and that the penalty for sin is death (Romans 6:23) – spiritual death in the flames of hell for all eternity. However, we do not have to pay the penalty for our sin if we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord. When Jesus died on the cross, He died for “our” sin. He stepped in and took “our” place, and was punished on “our” behalf.
Allow me to share with you an illustration: “Colonel Byrd, of Virginia, fell into the hands of the Cherokees once, and was condemned to death. In the tribe was a chief who had before been his good friend. At the approach of the executioners, the Indian threw himself upon the intended victim, saying, ‘This man is my friend; before you can get at him, you must kill me.’ This saved the man’s life.”(6) And in a similar manner, Jesus payed the price for our salvation with His very own life.
1 Corinthians 6:20 says, “For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s,” and 1 Corinthians 7:20 says, “You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.” 1 Peter 1:18-19, in the New Living Translation, says, “For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom He paid was not mere gold or silver. He paid for you with the precious lifeblood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.”
Not only did “Jesus” pay the price for our redemption, but “God” paid the price as well when He gave up His one and only Son. John 3:16-17 tells us, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”
Job was speaking here of a future Redeemer, Jesus Christ, whom he prophesied would come into this world. He said, “I know that my Redeemer lives” – I know that He exists; I know He is out there somewhere; I know He will one day come into this world to save His people – “He shall stand at last on the earth!” He goes on to tell us that he will see his Redeemer. He says, “And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God.” This wording here is rather confusing; therefore, I took the liberty of looking for an answer in The Bible Knowledge Commentary, which says that the statement, “after my skin has been destroyed” may also be rendered, “after my skin has been stripped off,” meaning “after he had died.”(7)
What is important is that Job believed in the coming Redeemer and Messiah. He knew that he would see Him one day, either in this life or the next. And he says it positively by declaring, “I shall see God!” – I know for certain my Redeemer lives! And he goes on to shout, “How my heart yearns within me!” – Oh, I can’t wait to see Him!
Time of Reflection
Our Redeemer has come, and His name is Jesus! He has walked upon the earth. In John 1:10-11 we read, “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.” Our Redeemer has indeed already come and walked upon this earth; however, we just read that many did not believe Him, and many people still refuse to believe in Him to this very day. Jesus wants to be your Redeemer, but He can only redeem you and save you from the penalty of your sins if you believe in Him as your Savior and Lord.
Do you want to be as one of those who “did not know Him” or who “did not receive Him?” If you are one of those people, then you are left without a defense in the Day of Judgment, and you are left without a Mediator to speak to God on your behalf and plead your cause. I want to encourage you to be as Job and boldly declare your faith in Jesus Christ as your Redeemer, who saves you from your sins.
It is my earnest hope and prayer this evening that you have such a hunger and desire to know the Redeemer that you too can say, “[Oh] how my heart yearns within me [to see Him]!” If you have a hunger to see your Redeemer, you can find Him right here and right now by calling on the name of Jesus.
NOTES
(1) “Mediator,” Merriam-Webster Online Thesaurus, taken from the Internet in May 2005 at http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/thesaurus?book=Thesaurus&va=Mediator&x=13&y=19.
(2) Ibid.
(3) “Mediate,” Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, taken from the Internet in May 2005 at http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=Mediate.
(4) “Redeemer,” The New Bible Dictionary (Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers, 1962), taken from Logos 2.1 F on CD-ROM.
(5) Ibid.
(6) Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations, taken from Logos 2.1F on CD-ROM.
(7) John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck, The Bible Knowledge Commentary (Wheaton, Illinois: Scripture Press Publications, 1983, 1985) taken from Logos 2.1F on CD-ROM.
