Primary Bible Passages: Job 38 - 42

Key Verse: Job 42:5

Memory Verse: Romans 8:28

Lesson Aim: To clearly set forth the main message of Job.

Preparatory Daily Bible Readings:

• Monday: Job 38-39
• Tuesday: Job 40-41, Isaiah 27:1
• Wednesday:Job 42
• Thursday: John 9; Romans 5:3-5; II Corinthian 12:7
• Friday: Ecclesiastes 8:11-13; Genesis 3:14-19; Exodus 20:5
• Saturday: I Peter 5:7; Psalm 103:13; Hebrews 4:15; Deuteronomy 10:12; Matthew 10:28; Luke 22:31-32; Luke 14:26-27
• Sunday: Genesis 1; Psalm 19:1-3; Romans 1:20; Colossians 1:17; Psalm 37:3-7; Proverbs 3:3-8; Matthew 6:24-34; Romans 10:17; Psalm 86:5; Genesis 18:25; Romans 8:28; James 5:11; Isaiah 6:1-5; I Timothy 1:15

I. THE ISSUE OF HUMAN SUFFERING.

A. Why men suffer, particularly saved men, was the main concern of Job and those around him.

1. Job was consumed with his suffering.

Job’s agony was so fully consuming and intense that he found it almost unbearable. In Job 3 he complained that he was ever born. He cursed the night of his conception and the day of his birth and wished that he could die. He felt that the gravity of his affliction justified his impatience, (Job 6:1-13) and that even God should pity him. (Job 6:28-7:21) In Job 9-10 he expressed his belief that God was his adversary and that he could not get a fair hearing since God was his judge. In Job 16-17 he talked of how there was no hope of mortal recovery, and he hoped for vindication after death. He began chapter 23 by saying that his suffering was greater than he could express. (Job 23:1-2) Job 30 is an especially pointed expression of his misery.

2. The main effort of Job’s comforters was to explain Job’s suffering and to instruct him as to how to bring it to an end. All four "friends" who addressed Job spoke essentially the same message.

a. Each contended that all suffering is a direct result of sin. To them, a person who was righteous wouldn’t suffer, and suffering in anyone was an irrefutable proof of sin in that person’s life. (Job 4:7-8; 8:8-19)

b. They contended that Job’s suffering was a direct result of deep sin in his life, and they persisted with passion that he repent and confess it to God. According to them, if he would address his sin and get right with God, his calamities would cease and he would be restored to his former state. (Job 5:8-27; 8:4-7; 11:13-19)

c. Their’s was a "prosperity in return for righteous living" position, which is the very argument which Satan made to God about Job, and every believer. It reduces God’s economy to a "payment of debt as a result of works" basis. It excludes grace and assumes that God owes man good care for faithful living, which is wholly untrue and without scriptural foundation. God owes no man anything, and all man receives is by grace, not merit. (Psalm 103:10; Lamentations 3:22; Titus 3:5)

3. Job, who was a man of grace, who realized that he had from the beginning never merited any of the blessings which God had bestowed on him, staunchly resisted and challenged the arguments advanced by his friends.

a. Job’s speech in Job 21 is given almost wholly to the fact that the wicked often prosper indefinitely then pass away in peace while the righteous suffer and perish. Job admitted that he didn’t understand that fact, but he knew that it was true. (Job 24)

b. He vehemently denied that his awful affliction was punishment for sin. (Job 16:6-17; 19:5-22) He argued that his suffering could only be explained by some principle of which he was unaware. (Job 31)

c. Job wanted an audience with God at which time he might plead his case and seek answers to his situation. (Job 13:22-23; 23:1-5)

B. Suffering was not at all the main issue with God in Job’s case.

1. God’s purpose in Job’s case was a demonstration and proof in a mortal of the effectiveness of His plan of redemption. (Job 1-2; James 5:11)

2. On earth, the main issue was human suffering; in heaven the main issue was proof of true faith in God. Job’s main concern was his suffering; God’s main interest was proving Job’s faith.

C. The suffering of His people is important to God.

1. The Bible says He cares deeply for His children and is touched with the feelings of their infirmities. (I Peter 5:7; Psalm 103:13; Hebrews 4:15)

2. As important as how His children feel is to God, the depth of their commitment and faith in Him is more important. (Deuteronomy 10:12; Matthew 10:28; Luke 22:31-32; Luke 14:26-27) For each of us, the body will ultimately perish, potentially in great agony and suffering. God’s commitment is not to prevent that eventuality. He didn’t die on the Cross for the body alone; He died to redeem man's spirit man. His primary concern is the condition of the spirit, not the body.

D. It is true that sometimes men suffer as a direct result of sin in their lives. It is also true that there are other reasons for suffering.

1. Job recognized that even though his affliction was not directly connected to any particular sin in his life, the truth remains that God ultimately punishes all of the wicked. (Job 27:13-23) Evil doers should take no comfort from Job. (Ecclesiastes 8:11-13) Those who are guilty and are being punished as a result thereof should not deny it.

2. Ultimately all suffering is traceable to original sin and the resulting curse, (Genesis 3:14-19) although, a specific adversity often does not exist as a result of an immediate sin in the afflicted person. The affliction may be a direct result of sin in the parents or grandparents several generations removed. (Exodus 20:5) A person may have been afflicted as a vessel through which God will practically demonstrate some divine truth as in the case of Job and the blind man of John 9. Some suffering is for the purpose of tempering and refining the person who bears it or those who attend the sufferer. (Job 23:10) Suffering can have the good effect of adding virtue and strengthening character. (Romans 5:3-5) Paul needed a "thorn in the flesh...lest I should be exalted above measure." (II Corinthians 12:7)

II. THE APPEARANCE OF GOD TO JOB. (Job 38-41)

A. God appeared to Job in a great whirlwind (hurricane or storm) and spoke to him.

1. God did not mention suffering. He did not give Himself to any of the questions and arguments of Job and his comforters, except indirectly. Though He didn’t explain how, He did emphatically state that those who had counselled Job were wrong. He further added that Job was right. (Job 38:2; 42:7)

2. Most of what those men said was accurate so far as it went. Much of their error was in what they did not see nor say and in their applications. They ignored great aspects of God and His work, aspects such as grace and love.2 For example, men do suffer afflictions because of sin, which was as much as the friends of Job would admit. The fact is that there are many other reasons why men suffer. Their narrow, legalistic view, though correct as far as it went, negated and falsified their overall concept of suffering and made their applications and conclusions wrong.

B. God’s revelation to Job was given wholly to His creation and natural world.

1. God first brought Job’s attention to His Creation and the great Flood. (Job 38:1-11)

a. God started with His act of Creation. (Job 38:4-7) Job, like all other men, could know nothing of the origin of the universe, including earth with all its magnificent phenomena, apart from divine revelation. No man was there, and to imagine that current processes are the same as those at the beginning is totally speculative assumption. Such assuming, which is routinely done by evolutionists, and called science, is not science at all, since the scientific method requires actual measurement, experimentation, prediction, and repetition. None of these are possible with the process of origins and development.

b. From Creation, God moved to the Flood. (Genesis 38:8-11) No processes ever known or observed, short of the Genesis Flood, could produce the cataclysmic phenomena observable worldwide today, much of which is mentioned in Job.

2. Beginning with Job 38:12 and to the end of His appearance, God focused Job’s attention on present processes and systems in His natural world.

a. In Job 38:12-38, God asked Job a series of awesome scientific questions primarily about various systems in the universe. He asked about the rotation of the earth, (verses 12-15) about the pathways of the sea, (verse 16) about the breadth of the earth, (verse 18) about light, (verses 19-21) about properties of snow, (verses 22-23) about how light is divided, (verse 24) about the formation and distribution of water in varying forms, (verses 25-30) about the movements of heavenly bodies and their effects on earth, (verses 31-33) about the earth’s hydrological cycle, (verses 34-37) and about certain properties of soil. (verse 38) Answers to many of these questions are not fully known even in modern times and most of the answers which are known have been found only in modern times. Fifteen or more facts of science are suggested in Job that scientists did not discover until recent centuries.

b. In the remainder of God’s revelation to Job, He centered on His biological world. He asked questions about both animal behavior and His sustaining of them. He spoke of the lion, (Job 38:39-40) the wild goat, (Job 39:1) the hind, (Job 39:1-4) the wild ass, (Job 39:5-8) the peacock, (Job 39:13) the ostrich (Job 39:13-18) the grasshopper, (Job 39:20) birds of prey and scavenger birds, (Job 39:26-30,41) and even of the extinct unicorn (Job 39:9-12). Job 39:19-25 is the most magnificent depiction and tribute to the war horse in all of literature.

C. God’s appearance to Job is an awesome testimony of His greatness.

1. So much of existence is His exclusive domain and exists and continues solely by His power. (Genesis 1:1; Colossians 1:17) Inherent in what God said to Job was the point that all of the natural world is and continues exclusively by the power of God totally apart from any input from man. All credit for all physical laws and phenomena is God’s. He is totally self-sufficient as seen in His name Jehovah. He needs nothing from man.

2. He has power over all things, even over those things over which man is totally powerless.

a. To emphasize His mighty power, God brought to Job’s attention behemoth. (Job 40:15-24)

Behemoth was the greatest land animal to ever exist. No living animal conforms to the description of this creature except certain extinct dinosaurs. In the Hebrew, the word means a large, dumb beast. Dinosaurs were large, powerful, and fearsome. No man could stand before behemoth; yet God not only made him, He was in full control of him.

b. The same is true regarding leviathan. He was the largest and most fierce of the aquatic animals. Leviathan was a wreathed, serpent-like animal. Isaiah 27:1 calls leviathan "the dragon that is in the sea." He was extremely dangerous and beyond man’s ability to control, subdue, or kill. He even breathed fire, a phenomenon which has been proven to exist in the bombardier beetle. Leviathan was a real animal now unknown to man. He, too, was fully under the control of God.

3. With behemoth and leviathan, God accentuates His greatness and full power over all things. Leviathan seems to be a Bible symbol of Satan himself, that old serpent who deceived man in the garden of Eden. Job 41 communicates a prophetic announcement of Satan’s ultimate doom at the hands of the all-powerful God of the universe who appeared to Job.

III. THE MAIN MESSAGE OF GOD IN JOB.

A. "Trust me!" Of all the great truths set forth in the book of Job, the main truth is the fact that what God wants most from His children is implicit, unwavering trust.

1. In the final analysis, Job would simply have to trust God, and he should. The message of God was loud and clear. "If I can create, and if I can unilaterally take care of the natural world, then I can take care of you." That is the message which God would have all men learn. (Proverbs 3:5-8; Psalm 37:3-7; Matthew 6:25-34)

2. Such trust is only possible by a recognition of who God really is.

a. God did not demand a faith without evidence. God invited Job (and all men) to simply look at the evidence which is continuously observable, the evidence of the natural world and the reality of its origin and continuing existence. That evidence is irrefutable testimony of the power of God, which is beyond mortal comprehension and description. (Psalm 19:1-3; Romans 1:20)

b. True faith or trust rests upon the ability and trustworthiness of the one to be trusted. (Romans 10:17) The essence of life is centered on God, His existence and who He really is. Nothing speaks of Him more than Creation and the natural world, thus God spent His entire appearance to Job dealing with this subject.

Surely the appearance of God to Job should serve as an example to generations as to where the emphasis of teaching should be. God and His greatness is the foundation of true faith.

3. In view of the passionate concerns of Job and his comforters as to what God was doing in Job’s case, what God did not say in His appearance is very important. In the context of the overall scenario of great human suffering coupled with the greatness of God, and the trust which that reality should generate, God’s silence on the questions of Job and his friends says God does not have to explain what He does and allows. Even when His activity significantly involves one or many of His mortals, God does not consider it His obligation to explain Himself. He knows that He is good (Psalm 86:5) and righteous, (Genesis 18:25) and that all He allows in His own is for their ultimate good.(Romans 8:28) Therefore His stance is that His people will simply have to trust Him, even without an explanation.

B. After his supreme test, Job was doubly blessed by the Lord. (Job 42)

1. Job 42:10 says, "the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before." Job 42:11-12 explains that relatives and friends came and gave to Job. Job 42:13 reports that ten additional children were born to him.

2. Job’s enormous blessings after his trial should not be misunderstood as a payment of debt or obligatory reward on God’s part. The messages so clearly established by the test is that all God gives is by grace which is unmerited by the recipient. That does not mean that God in not gracious. He is, and for His own purposes He rewards whomsoever He chooses.

3. The test was a most humbling experience for Job.

a. He confessed to God that he was in no position to even question, let alone contend with God. (Job 42:2)

b. He also confessed that concepts which he had long embraced without proper understanding and appreciation became true realities to him. (Job 42:3,5)

c. He saw himself as very small. (Job 42:6) The greater God becomes in one’s thinking, the more insignificant and dependent he sees himself to really be. (Isaiah 6:1-5; I Timothy 1:15)

2. Morris, Henry, The Remarkable Record of Job, Santee, California: Master Books, 1988, pages 67-69.

3. Ibid., pages 101-102.

4. Ibid., page 35.

5. Strong, reference 3068.

6. Morris, pages 115-117.

7. Strong, references 929, 930.

8. Ibid., reference 3882.

9. Morris, pages 117-119.

10. Ibid., pages 119-125.

For obvious reasons, the main issue on the mind of Job as well as the minds of his friends was adversity and human suffering. Job’s friends were sure that all suffering is a direct result of immediate sin. Job did not deny that sin brings suffering, although not necessarily quickly. He cited wicked people who prosper and die in peace. He also knew that some righteous people face severe troubles all through life and end up dying young. Job knew that though all suffering is linked to the sin problem in humanity, not all suffering is traceable to some immediate or specific sin in an individual or group of individuals. He knew there are other reasons for suffering.

In Job’s own case, he couldn’t understand why he was in such miserable shape. He knew that he was innocent of any sin worthy of what he was facing. He really felt that he was being mistreated by God and wished that he’d never been born. He was not aware that he was God’s showcase example of faith and purity, or that he was in the midst of a great cosmic scientific test in which God was proving the effectiveness of His plan of redemption by grace and free choice apart from works.

Job and his contemporaries were concerned about suffering. God was also concerned about suffering, but He was far more concerned about grace and faith. As concerned as He is about our physical welfare, the condition of our bodies and the events we face in life are not what concern God most. Ultimately our bodies will die, perhaps tragically and miserably. God’s purpose is not to prevent that from happening. In fact, He allows many trying things into our lives for the very purpose of strengthening and further developing our spirits. As in Job’s case, He sometimes uses His people as living testimonials of commitment and faith.

At the end of the big debate over human suffering and the unfounded analysis of Job’s condition, Jehovah God suddenly appeared on the scene in a great whirlwind. Both what He said as well as what He did not say are extremely pertinent to this story. One thing He made abundantly clear was the fact that Job’s friends were wrong. He also made it clear to Job that his impatience and criticism of God was totally unjustified.

In His appearance, God did not directly address the question of human suffering at all. His revelation to Job was given wholly to Creation and the natural world. He first brought Job’s attention to His act of Creation. He reminded Job that no man, including Job, can know anything about the origin of the universe apart from divine revelation. No mortal was there to see it happen, and to suppose that processes currently operate as they did at Creation is totally speculative and without scientific basis.

From Creation, God moved to the Flood pointing out that no processes ever known or observed by man, short of the Genesis Flood, could possibly account for existing phenomena.

God followed His discussion of Flood geology with a look at present processes and systems in His natural world. Job had no answers for most of the awesome scientific questions posed by God. Even with all of the learning of the ages and with modern technology, complete answers to most of God’s questions to Job continue to elude mankind.

The last segment of God’s appearance to Job centered on His biological world. He reminded Job that these beings continue and flourish in the total absence of human input. They are there and continue because He cares for them.

To really emphasize the insignificance of humanity, God brought up behemoth and leviathan. These were the two mightiest and most fearsome beasts on earth. Neither could be conquered nor resisted by man. Before them, man was powerless, yet each was totally under the control of God. Behemoth was earth’s largest land dinosaur while leviathan was a mighty, fire-breathing aquatic dinosaur.

The appearance of God and His revelation left Job speechless. The greatness of God and the insignificance of man was strikingly obvious. Job could not miss it and admitted that he had been far out of line in sitting in judgment on God.

God had not answered his questions, but He didn’t need to answer them. Why should the Almighty, eternal God of the universe have to answer to any man or group of men? As His revelation made abundantly clear, He is absolutely good and benevolent. He is furthermore amply capable of doing anything. He can not only create, He can, and does, take care of all natural things.

His message to Job, and to all of us, was and is Trust me. By His silence on the very issues of concern to Job and his friends, issues relating to their personal welfare, God was saying, You’ll have to trust me. God’s point was that if He could create the whole world with its enormously complex formations and systems along with its flora and fauna, then He could surely take care of Job, and anyone else. There was really no need for Job, or anyone, to fret and worry about it. God’s idea was that He uses men in His great plan to His advantage, and that every man should simply trust Him to do a good job, even though that may not appear to be the case in hours of deep stress.

One other thing which was made clear by God’s silence is the fact that God didn’t explain what He was doing with Job to Job. Apparently He didn’t think an explanation was necessary. Trust means letting Him be the manager, letting Him run the show. Those who are best used of God let Him utilize their lives to serve His purposes without explanation and without complaint or murmuring. They know He will do the job right, even though He doesn’t personally explain to them what He is doing. That’s trust, and that’s what God wants from those who are His.

2. In the testing of Job, what was God’s main concern?

3. Explain the main effort of Job’s friends toward him.

4. Elaborate on and consider the connotations of the argument of Job’s friends.

5. How does the argument of Job’s friends contradict grace and the eternal plan of God?

6. What was Job’s firm position regarding himself in light of the argument of his friends?

7. State the true perspective of God’s concern for the suffering of His people.

8. Name some reasons why people suffer.

9. How were Job’s friends wrong in what they argued to Job?

10. To what subject is God’s revelation to Job wholly given?

11. Why is the scientific method impossible regarding origins?

12. How did God account to Job for the major geological formations of the earth?

13. Consider some of the present natural processes and systems to which God alluded to Job.

14. Consider God’s questions to Job regarding His biological world.

15. How did God’s appearance to Job exalt God’s greatness?

16. Discuss behemoth.

17. Discuss leviathan.

18. How does leviathan represent Satan?

19. Discuss Job after his testing.