Well Bildad, like his predecessor Elephas, has what you might call a cash registered understanding of justice. What you get What you deserve. And here's Job. He's pleading innocent. And then there's God, who is the judge.
There's no one in between. There's no arbiter. He needs somebody to represent him. He needs somebody to argue his Case. He needs somebody to come and represent him before the Almighty.
And Job is saying, I wish I had such a person. You get what you deserve. Surely there are many of us who've said that to someone else, and perhaps someone has said it to you. We understand that there is a kind of rightness to that phrase. But when it's directed at us, even if it's right.
Do we not wish for mercy? Before Almighty God, people surely will get what they deserve. But is there anyone able to advocate for mercy on our behalf? Hello and welcome to the Friday edition of Renewing Your Mind. Thank you for joining us.
Today, we join Dr. Derek Thomas at the conclusion of this week's study of the Book of Job. And though we'll wrap up this brief study of Job, Dr. Thomas' complete series goes into much greater depth than we've heard this week. Stay tuned until the end of today's episode to find out how you can receive lifetime digital access to the entire series.
Does Job deserve justice? Is there anyone to advocate to God on his behalf? Here's Dr. Thomas.
Well, this is lesson number five, and we are looking at Job chapter eight and chapter nine. The second of Job's comforters comes in. In chapter 8, his name is Bildad. The Shuite, lots of jokes occurs about how small he was. Bildad the Shuite answered and said, How long will you say these things?
And the words of your mouth be a great Wind.
Well, that's not polite, of course. Yeah. Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert the right? What's he saying?
He's a little brasher than Aliphaz. He's probably younger than Aliphaz. And he's coming in and he's saying, does God pervert justice? Does God... Put justice aside.
Just for you, Job. There's a principle, there's an order in the world. Until the Turn that order. Does he turn that system upside down just for you? What is that order in the world?
We saw it in our previous lesson. Elifaz introduced it in chapter four. You reap what you sow. You get out of life what you put into it, no more. and no less Calvin, when you Preached his 159 sermons on the book of Job in the middle of the 16th century in Geneva.
In the very first summon, he said, Job's friends have been able to do that. A very bad case. But they argue it extremely well. Job. has a very good case and he argues it very badly.
The case that Job's friends are making is. that suffering is always punishment. It is always, invariably, without exception, Divine Retribution. That's the law of the universe. That is their understanding of God.
Now, you must understand that Eliphaz and Bildad and Zophar and Fir Elihu later on. They're not. weak need liberals. They believe in law, they believe in justice, they believe God is sovereign. They believe God punishes.
They believe in the wrath of God. Right, so they're not lily-livered liberals. Yeah. Strong defenders of the sovereignty of God. But in their application of that truth.
They're wide of the mark.
So here comes Bildad, chapter 8, verse 3. Does God pervert justice? Does he put justice aside? Just in your case, everybody else fits this rule of the universe. You reproduce so.
But not in your case. Is that what we're to understand, since Job is protesting that he's innocent? Or does the Almighty pervert justice? Drop down to verse 6. If you are pure, and upright.
Surely then he will rouse himself for you and restore You're rightful. Habitation. But if Job's protestation of innocence is correct, God will come in and restore him. The fact that he isn't being restored, the fact that Job is continuing. To decline into this ill health.
The threatens to take his life is evidence. that the judgment of God is upon him, and the judgment of God can only be upon him for one reason Because he's a sinner. Because he has committed some act of sin.
Now in the past In his youth he may even have forgotten what it is. But that's the law of the universe, and how can that law be turned upside down just to suit the purposes of Job? And then if you drop down almost to the end of build ads. First section. Verse 20 of chapter 8, Behold, God will not reject a blameless man, nor take the hand.
of evildoers. God will not reject a blameless man, a righteous man, a godly man. Job is A godly man. God will not reject a godly man. If he's godly, if what he's saying about himself is true, God will come and vindicate him.
The fact is that there seems no evidence of this vindication.
So Job must be incorrect he must be false. He must misunderstand. And jobs comfort us. Have the right view of things. You reap.
What you saw. Suffering is instant retribution. Every time, every way. without exception.
Well, Bildad, like his predecessor Elephants, has. what you might call a cash registered Understanding of justice. What do you get? What you deserve. And so Job comes in in chapter 9, and I want to go right to the end of what he says in verse 33.
There is no arbiter between us.
Now the ESV translates that. There's a translation issue here, whether this is expressing a wish or stating a fact. And if you have an ESV, you'll notice there's a little footnote that says, would that there were an arbiter between us? And translations may reflect that, whether this is a wish, a desire, or whether it's an actual fact. Let's go with the ESV translation for a minute.
There is no arbiter between us who might lay his hand on us both. Right here's Job. He's pleading innocent. He has a case. Think of it as a legal case.
Think of it as a court of law. And then there's God, who is the judge. There's no one in between. There's no arbiter. He needs somebody to represent him.
He needs somebody to argue his Case. He needs somebody to come and represent him before the Almighty. And Job is saying, I wish I had such a person, or as the ESV translation is saying, I don't have such a person. Not only is my plight Sorrowful. and misunderstood, but there's no one to correct it.
There's no one to represent my point of view before Almighty God. Let him take his rod away from me, verse 34, and let not dread of him terrify me. Then I would speak without fear of him, for I am not so in myself. There's nothing like the feeling of being Alone Not being a tiny Little car kind of vast universe. that you cannot control and cannot Understand.
You're a prisoner, and you've been falsely charged. You're a widow. And life has been difficult and as Delta. a particularly difficult hand to you. You're a victim of a vicious attack.
You're a single person. and a multitude of other possibilities. And you're saying I wish there was somebody to stand between me and God. Between me and a sovereign creator, between me and a sovereign Lord, to represent my case. That's what he's saying.
The heart of this book, you see. behind that. There's Job. And then there's God. And this God, yes, he's sovereign.
And he's just. The question that Job is wrestling with. Is this God good? And not just good in general, but But is he good toward me? And he's wrestling with that.
Satan lies behind it. He's calling it into question. Satan has already laid down that thought in Job's. Mind. God cannot be trusted.
His justice may work. one way with one person and another way. with another person and there is no Standard rule. There is no predictability about it. And life seems unfair.
Well let's go back. To chapter 9, verse 1. And let's pick up some of the things that Job says here. Let's look at some of the language, first of all. In verse 3, for example, if one wishes to contend with him, he's talking about God.
Maybe we need to go back up to verse 2. How can a man be in the right before God? But how can a man be in the right before God? You could take that verse. You could preach it as a gospel text.
How can a man be right before God? We're all sinners. We're all under the judgment of God. There is none righteous, no, not one, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We need a Saviour.
We need somebody to forgive us our sins. We need Jesus Christ. You can imagine that sermon. Be a wonderful sermon, gospel summon, except it's absolutely nothing to do with the text itself. That's not what the text means.
It's in a different context entirely. How can a man be in the right before God? Job's problem is not his sin, at least from Job's perspective. It is not his sin, because Job is saying he's innocent. He hasn't committed any sin.
He's not saying he's sinless. But his problem here is not his sin. The problem here is the justice of God. How can it be fair? How can it be right?
That someone who hasn't committed any particular sin. And we've been told that by God. He was a godly man. How can it be fair? That God should should visit that person.
and inflict upon that person Pain And suffering. And disease. What is Job saying? What Job is saying is. How can you ever have justice with God?
Where can I find justice?
Well, to someone who's in that position and and you may know someone who's in that position.
Someone who's been violated. Horrible. The perpetrator has never been caught. They feel as if justice hasn't been done. And not just in this world, but With God, they've taken this problem, they've brought it before the Lord, they've laid it before him.
There's no justice. Where is justice? If one wishes to contend with him. Contend verse three Look at verse 14. How then can I answer him?
And actually the verb is capable of being translated, argue. Notice how he goes on, choosing my words with him, as you do in an argument. It's Like a court of law, how can I make a case? How can I argue my words? Look at verse 15.
though I am in the right, I cannot answer him. I must appeal for mercy to my accuser. God isn't speaking to me. God isn't speaking to Job. Where is he going to find justice?
How is he going to argue with God? God is sovereign, He's a creator, He's hidden from view. Job believes in the sovereignty of God. He believes in the transcendence of God. Job believes, as we might say, in a big God.
A god who is outside of creation, a God who is other, God who is transcendent. How can I get justice? How can I even plead my case? How can I even get a hearing?
Well, do you ever feel like that? About a certain issue? The only way that you can get a hearing is to pray. Correct? You you pray.
Yeah. Don't you ever feel sometimes that your prayers are just bouncing back off the ceiling. They're not going anywhere, they're not penetrating through the ceiling. They're not even being heard. God isn't even hearing them.
The heart of this book, and we're almost in the heart of this book. is the nagging suspicion on Job's part that God cannot be trusted. That God cannot be trusted. That's one of the. pastoral issues about suffering.
About trials. What about difficulties? about senses of injustice and so on. But there comes a point where you begin to distrust. God, you distrust His providence, you distrust His motive.
He may be good to others. Yes, he may answer other people's prayers. And you rejoice and you send notes and how wonderful God has answered your prayers, but he's not answering your prayers.
Some of you have been praying for something for 20, 30, 40, 50 years. How can I find justice? Look at verses 3, 4, and 5 again. If one wishes to contend with him, one could not answer him once in a thousand times. Do you understand what he's saying?
One couldn't answer him once in a thousand times. If God were to speak, How could Joe possibly answer? He is wise in heart and mighty in strength, who has hardened himself.
Well, he believes in the wisdom of God and he believes in the power of God, the might, the strength of God. But there's a twist here. Who has hardened himself against him and succeeded? You know, I might rise up against God and protest that his ways aren't fair.
Well, who's ever succeeded in that? How am I likely to succeed? How can I go before a sovereign God who is all-wise and all-encompassing? and expect him to hear my my protestations. Who has ever succeeded in that?
He who, verse five, he who removes mountains and they know it not. When he overturns them in his anger, who shakes the earth out of its place and its pillars tremble, earthquakes, and so on. He believes in a sovereign God, he believes in a God of powerful. Omnipotent Creative force. Look at the Summary in verse 24: The earth is given into the hand of the wicked.
He covers the faces of its judges. If it is not he. Who then Is it? When death comes. When sudden calamity comes.
Well, if it's not God who brings this, if it's not God who is responsible for this. Then who is it? Job believes that God is the Creator. Job believes that God has the power to do beyond His comprehension. Look at the closing line of verse 12.
Who will say to him, what are you doing? But how can you go before God and say, what are you doing? What do you think you're doing? You ever said that to somebody? They're doing something.
Something silly. And you go up to that. What do you think you're doing? This is not the way to do it and you take it from them and you show them how to do it and so on. Who will say to him, who will say to the sovereign God of heaven and earth, the God of earthquakes?
of tornadoes. Or thunderstorms. Who will say to him, what are you doing? Oh. In verse 13.
God will not turn back his anger beneath him bowed the helpers of Rahab. We need to say something about this. In the ancient Near East, there were certain myths about creation. Job is obviously familiar with them. And one of them is the influence of Rahab.
This is part of an ancient Near Eastern religious belief. The same is going to be true of Leviathan and Behemoth, perhaps later in Job, the closing chapters of Job and so on. I don't think that we're meant to infer from this that Job believes these myths. He's simply speaking into the culture. And the culture of the day believes, the ancient Near Eastern culture of the day believes in the input of these mythological creatures in creation.
And Job mentions them. I don't think we're meant to infer that he believes in them in any way, but simply saying.
Well, even even your even your imaginary gods, what help are they? How can they how can they possibly be of help here? C.S. Lewis says on this that There are some aspects of these ancient Near Eastern myths, of course, which are true. And they've just been distorted.
They've been turned into something else.
Well, the point here is this. How can we expect a hearing from someone so powerful as God? as the biblical God, the God that Job believes in. You feel Well you feel helpless. And you feel Insignificant.
There's something, well, there's something arbitrary.
Now, about what God does. In verse 20, Though I am in the right, my own mouth would condemn me. Though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse.
Well, I can't win. Even if I speak the truth, even if I were to contend with the Almighty and speak the truth, well, he's going to make me out to sound dumb. I like Eugene Peterson's The Message. And uh it's a paraphrase of chapter 10, as Job continues. And he says, well, in the beginning of verse 10, he says, I loathe my life, and he seems to revert to that.
Section in Job chapter 3, but then in verses 21 and 22 he ends: Are not my days few? Then cease and leave me alone, that I may find a little cheer before I go, and I shall not return.
So the land of darkness and deep shadow, the land of gloom like thick darkness, like deep shadow without any order, where light is as thick darkness. And Eugene Peterson says, isn't it time to call it quits on my life? Can't you let up and let me smile just once? Before I die and am buried, before I'm nailed into my coffin, sealed in the ground, and banished for good to the land of the dead, blind in the final dark. Sir Job wishes he had an arbiter.
That's what suffering can do, do you see? It can make you cynical. Cynical about God, cynical about ever getting justice. Cynical about the order of the universe, or perhaps just cynical about God's attitude towards you personally. You may believe that the gospel and so on is fine for others, but as far as you Everything seems to be, well, just turned.
Upside down. Everything seems to go what what's the word? Caddywampus. Wh when it's when it's you? He wishes there was an advocate.
Oh, it's very important here. Verse 33 of chapter 9. There is no arbiter, or is it a wish? I wish there was an arbiter. Job is not looking for someone to forgive him his sins.
We have an advocate with God, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. You can run from here into the New Testament, you can run to Jesus. Joe wishes he has an arbiter, he wishes he has an advocate, he wishes he has a lawyer. That's what he wants. He wants somebody to represent him in a court of law, represent his case.
And he wishes he could find one. And you could say, well, Jesus is our advocate. He is our lawyer, he is our representative. But representative in what sense? Job isn't looking for somebody to forgive him his sins.
That's not his point. His point is that he is in the right. Who's going to plead my case?
Well, I think of a beautiful woman in Memphis. To whom Something truly awful was done. I think of a teenager who is tired of being Picked on unfairly. I think of a widow. Bereft of her life.
Partner and facing the future that seems full of Well, darkness and Uncertainty. I think of a family trying to pick up the pieces after their. Teenage Son has taken his life. Bruised Reeds. Smoking Flax.
Then I'm saying We have a savior. who heals the brokenhearted. We're not talking here about somebody to come and forgive us our sins. Of course, he does that, but that's not the point here. The point that Job is saying here is: I wish I had somebody who could argue my case, who could represent.
My case. Before God And Jesus does that. He's been in a place where there seems to be no justice. He's been in a place Where violence is done to him. He's been in a place where he's cried out My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
And he's seen the brutality and the injustice of this world. And you can represent your case. You can hear you when you cry out to him. When you seem to have lost all hope. in this world.
We have an advocate with the Father. Jesus Christ. The righteous one. We all deserve justice. We should all get what we deserve.
But Christ advocates for us. What a joy that brings Today's message from Dr. Derek Thomas's teaching series on the Book of Job was just one of twelve messages. And if you'd like to have lifetime digital access to the entire series plus the whole series on D V D, and a digital study guide, Call us with a donation at 800-435-4343 or give your gift online at renewingyourmind.org. God created marriage to be a blessing and a joy for mankind, and yet, So many marriages end in hostility.
Why is that? How can we experience the joy that God intended in the marital union?
Next week we'll be back with another teaching series. as we explore R. C. Sproll's The Intimate Marriage. I hope you'll join us here.
on Renewing Your Mind.
