Book of Job- Scene Six
Everybody’s mad; that’s how we begin the monologue of Elihu in Job 32-37. Job’s mad at his friends and God, the friends are mad at Job, and Elihu is mad at all four of them! Why?
Self-justification.
We all do it, we all act badly, and then justify our behavior defending ourselves with rational reasons why we acted that way. We have a burning necessity to convince ourselves and then others that we’re right. We use excessive reasons, explanations, and excuses to justify ourselves. Sound familiar?
The Book of Job isn’t about a man who suffered unjustly but about mankind who lives in self-righteousness and pride. That’s the root; it always has been.
Reading Elihu’s words are thought-provoking. He doesn’t mention Job’s suffering but discusses the heart and soul of mankind. I think he was a prophet of God using the lower story of Job’s reactions to suffering to display the heart of humanity.
In Job’s final appeal he blamed God (33:9-11) for all of his circumstances and Elihu called him out on it with one phrase: God is greater than man (33:12). However, Elihu doesn’t leave it there but qualifies his reasoning with a message of hope.
If there be for him an angel, a mediator, one of the thousand, to declare to man what is right for him, and he is merciful to him, and says, ‘Deliver him from going down into the pit; I have found a ransom; let his flesh become fresh with youth; let him return to the days of his youthful vigor’; then man prays to God, and he accepts him; he sees his face with a shout of joy, and he restores to man his righteousness. Job 33:23-26
Hmmmm, sure sounds like Jesus, doesn’t it? The Hebrew word for angel is also ‘messenger’ so let’s compare the promised Messiah to this description.
* Mal. 3:1 calls Messiah the Messenger of the Covenant (same word as angel).
* Heb. 8:6, 9:15, and 12:24 describe Jesus as the Mediator between God and man.
* Song of Songs 5:10 calls Him the Chief among ten thousand.
* Believers are declared righteous by faith (Rom. 5:1).
*In Luke 4:18 Jesus proclaimed Himself as Deliverer.
*Lastly, in Mark 10:25 Jesus heralded His mission: to give His life as a ransom for many.
Elihu had nailed it:
… then man prays to God, and He accepts him; He sees his face with a shout of joy, and He restores to man his righteousness. Job 33:26
The remaining words of Elihu declare God’s majesty and His miraculous works which Job had lost sight of and he closed his message with this statement of truth:
Therefore men fear Him; He does not regard any who are wise in their own conceit. Job 37:24
This is a great time to consider your own views of yourself. Are they self-justification or repentance? Your choice.
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