No 12  It Turns on Two

My acceptance and appreciation of a book or article on the Book of Job turns on two points. A book will either be set aside or cherished based on

            1) Was Job a real person in history?

            2) Is Job regarded as righteous?

1) When an author or preacher tells me that Job is the result of the melding of many ancient myths rolled into one, I quietly lay aside the source. I believe Job was a real person in a real point in the history of this world. I haven’t the time to wade through twenty reasons why the book is given as fictitious and mythical. If it is mythical, it has no purpose. Because it is real, it has valuable purpose.

2) When an author or preacher spins yarn about Job being self-righteous and concerning whom God had to "teach a lesson," I quietly lay aside the source. I believe Job was exactly what God Himself described Job to be. If Job had been anything less than God's description of him, Job would not have qualified to be the subject of the book. God would have had to look elsewhere for a candidate for the story. Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? (Job 1:8). God put the two together (Job + righteous), and what therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder (Matt 19:6). Had Job been any less than what God said he was, Job would not have been able to endure the intense heat and pressure of the test. Satan would have loved for God to set forth a puny man, but not a Job-like man.

Remember―Remember―Remember 

The experiences didn’t make Job what he was. Because of what he was, he had these experiences.

Christ’s Parable of the Sheep and Goats (Matthew 25)

Jesus Christ described a time when all nations would be gathered before Him. They would then be separated. The goats were to be placed on His left hand―the sheep on His right―(verses 31-33). Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world (verse 34). What determined whether a person would be allotted a place with the sheep or a place with the goats? It was how that person had lived his life and regarded the needs of others. Religion is not a profession. Religion is an action.

Here were the terms:

For I was an hungred, and ye gave Me meat:

I was thirsty, and ye gave Me drink:

I was a stranger, and ye took Me in:

Naked, and ye clothed Me:

I was sick, and ye visited Me:

I was in prison, and ye came unto Me (verses 35,36).

Job was a Powerful Man in His Community 

Why? Because Job lived the kind of life Jesus was describing in His parable given above. Prosperous. Wealthy. Greatest man in the East. Yes. But what made Job the special target of Satan's hatred was his relationship with God and his influence for good. Hear his story in Job 29:

7 When I went out to the gate through the city,
when I prepared my seat in the street!
8 The young men saw me, and hid themselves:
and the aged arose, and stood up.
9 The princes refrained talking,
and laid their hand on their mouth.
10 The nobles held their peace,
and their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth.
11 When the ear heard me, then it blessed me;
and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me:
12 Because I delivered the poor that cried,
and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him.
13 The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me:
and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. 

Job continues with more specifics:

15 I was eyes to the blind,
and feet was I to the lame.
16 I was a father to the poor:
and the cause which I knew not I searched out.
17 And I brake the jaws of the wicked,
and plucked the spoil out of his teeth.

Job continues with even more specifics:

21 Unto me men gave ear, and waited,
and kept silence at my counsel.
22 After my words they spake not again;
and my speech dropped upon them.
23 And they waited for me as for the rain;
and they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain.

Several parameters in Christ's parable match the language given in Job 29.

Satan hated Job because of his influence for God. It’s called witness. Job’s power to influence people for God was tremendous. Was it not because the power of God was tremendous in Job’s own life? God Himself described Job to be righteous. There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil (Job 1:1). God’s testimony given through the prophet Ezekiel bears the same: Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord God (Eze 14:14, and repeated in verse 20). Job’s powerful influence extends to the end of time. Brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the Lord’s name as an example of suffering and patience. See, we count as blessed those who have endured. You have heard of Job’s endurance and have seen the outcome from the Lord. The Lord is very compassionate and merciful (James 5:10,11 HCSB).

Remember―Remember―Remember
The experiences didn’t make Job what he was. Because of what he was, he had these experiences. And what was he? Simply put, it is this: My servant Job (Job 1:8).
 
I want to be accounted as God’s servant. Don’t you?
 

Please send questions or comments to Will Hardin at P O Box 24 Owenton KY 40359.

The number 2 in the heading is from www.clipartmax.com/png/small/259-2598285_number-2-color-yellow.png.