Gospel Restoration

Job 42

In the sanctuary of a church in Borja, Spain there is a painting, a fresco of the Lord Jesus wearing the crown of thorns called; Ecce Homo which in Latin means Behold the Man. It was painted in 1936 by Spanish artist Elias Garcia Martinez, but over the years the painting had begun to deteriorate. Until in 2012, when a local pensioner, 81 year old Cecilia Gimenez made an attempt to restore the cherished painting...

Gimenez’s restoration attempt stunned the world. And many began to call the transformed Ecce Homo by a new name; Ecce Mono, or in English - Behold the Monkey!

Why begin by retelling this comical tale? Well, as we come now to the final chapter of the book of Job, the theme before us at the close of the curtain is the theme of RESTORATION. That is the central theme of the 42nd chapter of the book of Job; restoration. It’s a word that is more commonly used in connection with domestic or historic property or works of art. But what is actually meant by the word restoration?

RESTORATION - “The restitution or recovery of something taken away or lost.” (Oxford Dictionary)

So what had been lost that needed restoring? Well...

Job’s posterity; his children, his sons and daughters that died when their house collapsed on them.

Job’s prosperity had been taken away, his livestock, his camels, his servants had all been stolen or killed.

Job’s health had been taken away, and even now in chapter 42 that has not yet been restored, he is still at this point covered in painful sores.

The relationship between Job and his friends. It had started out well when they first visited him but had descended into bickering and accusations as Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar’s bad theology bound them to a very cold and dispassionate response to their friends pain.

Job’s friend’s relationship with God had been damaged - Job 42:7

Job 42:7 ESV

7 After the Lord had spoken these words to Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “My anger burns against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.

f. Job’s trust in God’s goodness had been damaged and therefore his relationship with God had suffered also.

God’s Plan for Restoration

Now as we saw in the case of the Spanish Fresco painting, it’s possible to botch a restoration project, it’s possible to get it wrong and actually make things worse.

But what we see here in Job 42 is that God has a restoration plan. It’s not piecemeal, it’s not random, there’s a flow and a method to God’s restoration plan. When we try to do restoration our own way - we make a mess!

How some try to restore relationship with God their own way

Trying to restore broken relationships our own way

It’s important we take note here of how God brings about a full restoration to this broken picture that we find here in Job. Because what we have here in chapter 42 is a foreshadowing of the Gospel - God’s great restoration plan. And we will see that there is a proper order, timing and due process to God’s work of restoration.

There are three steps in God’s process of restoration:

Repentance

Sacrifice

Forgiveness

And the flow of God’s restoration works in three directions

Upwards

Outwards

Inwards

None of these steps could be skipped in the process of restoration. If one of them was ignored or skipped over then full restoration for Job and His friends could not happen.

Repentance - Job 42:1-6: The first step in the process of restoration was repentance. Before Job could have his earthly posessions restored, before he could have his health restored or his relationship with his friends restored he had to have his relationship with God restored, and this happened through repentance. Job had to acknowledge his wrongdoing before God and acknowledge God’s right as God to do as He sees fit with His creatures.

So does this mean Job’s friends were right all along? Because they had been saying from the start that all Job needed to do was repent and the suffering would cease. Well, no, because Job’s friends were saying that his suffering must have been as a result of some awful hidden sin in his life and that he needed to repent of this hidden sin. But that’s not what Job is repenting of here in chapter 42, Job is repenting of the sin that he committed IN his suffering, as Gareth said last week, Job had begun to sin IN his suffering through questioning God’s goodness and seeking to put Him in the dock to question Him.

God’s words caused Job to see these two things really clearly;

Job acknowledged God’s absolute sovereignty, or in other words, His Godness -

2  “I know that you can do all things,

and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.

ii. And Job acknowledged his humanity, or in other words his limitations =

English Standard Version Chapter 42

Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,

things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.

c. Repentance is the first step in the process of Gospel restoration. Before any of us can be restored to relationship with God, there must be this two fold recognition of God’s godness, and of our sinfulness, and our need to submit to Him and turn from our sin.

2. Sacrifice - Now in the case of Job’s friends, their restoration was to take place through sacrifice. Job 42:8

Job 42:8 ESV

8 Now therefore take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves. And my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.”

They had to offer up a blood sacrifice for their sins. And they had to do it through Job! They had to go to the one that they had wronged, they had to humble themselves and go to Job, who they had accused of being far from God and a sinner, in order to be restored!

In the process of gospel restoration - a reckoning is required for sin. God doesn’t just say, there there, now, it’s all forgotten, it’s water under the bridge, no need to worry about it! God requires a sacrifice from Job’s friends in order for their sins to be forgiven. God is the same yesterday, today and forever; there is no forgiveness of sin without the shedding of blood - Heb 9:22

Hebrews 9:22 ESV

22 Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

c. God will not wink at sin - he won’t sweep it under the carpet, He must deal with it. Job’s friends could not be restored to God apart from that sacrifice, and no one today will be restored to God apart from sacrifice. And the good news is, that we don’t have to provide that sacrifice for ourselves, God has done it for us - He has provided His only son, Jesus Christ as our sacrifice of restoration.

d. And Job’s friends couldn’t just go to God with their sacrifice, they had to go to Job as part of their restoration, they had to go through a mediator. The same is true for all who want to be restored to God today - you can’t just come to God your own way, you have to come through a mediator, a mediator who has been appointed and chosen by God, and only when we come to Him will our sins be forgiven us; that mediator is Jesus Christ.

John 14:6 ESV

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

3. Forgiveness - God’s plan for restoration included not only repentance and sacrifice but also forgiveness.

God made Job the mediator for his friends, in order for them to be restored to God he had to pray for them. This wasn’t a suggestion from God to Job, but rather a command, my servant Job SHALL pray for you.

Job received his friends and their sacrifice and prayed for them. It wasn’t until Job forgave his friends that his own fortunes were restored. Gospel restoration requires forgiveness, and forgiveness is like a sluice gate and once that opens up, all the blessings of restoration flow.

We read that God blessed Job’s latter days more than his early days; all his brothers and sisters who had stayed away during his time of suffering came and visited him and comforted him. The Lord gave Job double the livestock he had before and gave him seven sons and three daughters who’s names were Jemimah (meaning daylight), Keziah (which was a perfume) and Keren-Happuch (which was a type of eye shadow used in ancient times) - all their names signify their beauty. And God gave Job another 140 years, he would have lived to be roughly 200! And when he died, he died a man ‘full of days.’ He had a full and rich life afterwards.

GOD’S RESTORATIVE FLOW

First upwards - our relationship with God must be restored first.

Then outwards - then, because of this restoration, our broken relationships with others can be restored through repentance and forgiveness.

Then inwards - Finally, the gospel promises us personal restoration. Ultimately we are promised eternal life, no more sickness and pain, no more poverty, no more hunger or lack. We experience a taste of this personal restoration here on earth but ultimately - we shall experience it to the full in heaven.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, God is a God of restoration. His heart is to restore all that has been lost or broken in this world, and not just restore it back to it’s original condition but restore it to a condition even better than the original.

God’s method of restoration is the gospel and it is foreshadowed here in chapter 42 - In order to be restored we must come to God through His chosen mediator, we must repent of our sins and be forgiven.

When we attempt restoration apart from God’s plan, we end up making a mess just like that pady made a mess of the fresco painting. When we try to restore relationships without dealing with the sin, when we try to force forgiveness but ignore repentance we make a mess of restoration.