The God Who Is Near Us

When I talk to people who are school teachers, I often hear that one of the greatest joys of their profession is being able to see when students start to see and understand and make sense of the subject material. Teachers seems to love witnessing those “aha” moments when the lightbulb flips on and suddenly the lesson material starts to make sense. But they will tell you that often it is not a quick single moment. More times than not, it is not an isolated instance in which one second a student does not understand, and then suddenly in the next second they do understand. Perhaps it is not fair to characterize these times as flipping on the switch of a lightbulb. Maybe it is more accurate to compare such moments to the gradual lighting of a lightbulb by slowly sliding up the dimmer switch. Catching on and understanding a new idea or concept usually takes time to develop over a series of steps, not a single instance.

Job needs time for his faith to develop

We certainly see this in the life of faith as well. To be sure, there are in fact dramatic conversion events such as Saul of Tarsus seeing a vision of Jesus while on the road to Damascus. However, the reality for the vast majority of people is that faith gradually develops over time, not in a single instant of one moment. So, I suppose it should not be a surprise that Job needs time for his faith to develop, and this development takes gradual steps, not a single instant. Being stuck in this moment of struggle becomes the context for that faith development to occur.

author wants us to wrestle with the way Job feels trapped in his moment of struggle

Today we start to turn a corner in the story of Job. I applaud those of you who have been diligent to read through the book with us. If you are following the daily reading schedule you should be through chapter 19 by now, just about half way through the 42 chapters of Job. And as I have mentioned before, there is a middle section to this book which just seems to be spinning in circles without ever going anywhere. One of the points I made in last week’s sermon is that this feeling of being stuck which comes in the middle of Job is intentional; the author wants us to wrestle with the way Job feels trapped in his moment of struggle.

Job’s faith progresses during his time of struggle

All that sets the stage for Job moving through the moment of struggle in which he seems stuck. Today I am selecting three passages which demonstrate for us a progression. See if you can pick this up as we move from one passage to another. During this time in which Job is stuck in his struggle, something is changing. Job is beginning to change the way he sees things. In the words of these selections we can identify that Job is developing a deeper sense of what is going on behind the scenes. But it is a development that moves incrementally forward a step at a time. See if you can spot that in these passages from Job. These selections today come from chapters 9, 16, and 19; and they are all words spoken by Job himself.

Job 9:25–35 (NIV)

Job 9:25–35 NIV

25 “My days are swifter than a runner; they fly away without a glimpse of joy. 26 They skim past like boats of papyrus, like eagles swooping down on their prey. 27 If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint, I will change my expression, and smile,’ 28 I still dread all my sufferings, for I know you will not hold me innocent. 29 Since I am already found guilty, why should I struggle in vain? 30 Even if I washed myself with soap and my hands with cleansing powder, 31 you would plunge me into a slime pit so that even my clothes would detest me. 32 “He is not a mere mortal like me that I might answer him, that we might confront each other in court. 33 If only there were someone to mediate between us, someone to bring us together, 34 someone to remove God’s rod from me, so that his terror would frighten me no more. 35 Then I would speak up without fear of him, but as it now stands with me, I cannot.

Job 16:15–21 (NIV)

Job 16:15–21 NIV

15 “I have sewed sackcloth over my skin and buried my brow in the dust. 16 My face is red with weeping, dark shadows ring my eyes; 17 yet my hands have been free of violence and my prayer is pure. 18 “Earth, do not cover my blood; may my cry never be laid to rest! 19 Even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high. 20 My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God; 21 on behalf of a man he pleads with God as one pleads for a friend.

Job 19:23–27 (NIV)

Job 19:23–27 NIV

23 “Oh, that my words were recorded, that they were written on a scroll, 24 that they were inscribed with an iron tool on lead, or engraved in rock forever! 25 I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. 26 And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; 27 I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!

Job is beginning to develop an understanding of what is needed for him to find a path forward

Do you see it? Job’s words in chapter 9 seem to be completely hopeless. But by the time we get to the end of this passage in chapter 19 we actually see a glimmer of hope in Job’s words. Something is going on behind the scenes during all this dialogue back and forth between Job and his friends. Job is beginning to develop an understanding of what is needed for him to find a path forward.

Job is forced to approach God in ways that move beyond his previous beliefs about God

Before we say more about that, let’s remind ourselves of where Job has been. We have observed this already over the last two weeks in this series. Both Job and his friends all operate on the assumption that God’s justice is this linear formula of rewarding righteousness and punishing wickedness. I noted last week that biblical scholars call that the retribution principle. This is why Job’s friends all insist that there must be sin somewhere in Job’s life, because nothing else could ever explain why Job is suffering according to their view of who God is and how God’s justice works.

And as we have noted, Job feels stuck because he does not know what he has done wrong. He is living during a time before the law of God was revealed to Moses for the people of God. In the time of the patriarchs when Job lived, God directly revealed himself to the patriarch of the family. Job is pleading over and over again for God to answer him; that is what Job expects from God. We saw last week that Job arrives towards a conclusion that God is simply beyond Job’s complete understanding.

But think now for a moment where that leaves us. Is Job just going to throw up his hands and say, “God is a mystery I can never fully understand, and I give up trying to understand.” I suppose Job could do that, but it is not what happens. Job chooses something else. He holds onto this developing realization that God is something more than he had always thought before. He holds onto this developing realization that there are ways of God’s justice beyond Job’s wisdom and understanding. And we see that Job is beginning to develop in his own understanding of God what that must mean as a result of all this.

I cannot possibly ever stand alone

What Job is beginning to realize is this: I cannot possibly ever stand alone.

Job is beginning to realize that the only way forward is to have a mediator, intercessor, advocate

Job is beginning to realize that the only possible solution to the struggle in which he is stuck is a mediator, an intercessor, an advocate. Job is beginning to realize that his only hope is for someone to step in on his behalf. We see this as a development because in the first passage we read today from chapter 9 Job is convinced nothing like this is available. In chapter 9 Job is beginning to recognize that he needs a mediator—intercessor, advocate—between Job and God, but in chapter 9 Job is convinced that no such intercession is available. In chapter 9 Job is convinced that there is no one advocating for him on his behalf. Look again at his words in chapter 9.

Job 9:33–35 (NIV)

Job 9:33–35 NIV

33 If only there were someone to mediate between us, someone to bring us together, 34 someone to remove God’s rod from me, so that his terror would frighten me no more. 35 Then I would speak up without fear of him, but as it now stands with me, I cannot.

chapter 9 — hopeless because no mediator exists

Job is starting to recognize that his only solution is someone who steps in on his behalf. But at this point in the story, Job is still convinced it is hopeless. No such mediator exists. But look at the way this development moves forward by the time we get to chapter 16.

Job 16:19–21 (NIV)

Job 16:19–21 NIV

19 Even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high. 20 My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God; 21 on behalf of a man he pleads with God as one pleads for a friend.

chapter 16 — mediator is in heaven, but disconnected

Hebrew reah “friend” = neighbor, another

Okay, this is a remarkable change from only a few chapters before. Job has developed an understanding that a mediator is necessary for him, and here in chapter 16 he becomes convinced that a mediator is in fact available. He is developing an understanding that there is someone who advocates for him before God. Yet, at this point in the story Job’s advocate is distant and disconnected. Sure, the English language of our Bibles say in chapter 16 that Job sees his advocate as his friend, but we should understand that Hebrew word to carry a different meaning. It is the Hebrew word reah, and it is most often translated in the Old Testament as “neighbor” or “another.” The point here in Job is this: Job is beginning to recognize that he (Job) cannot be his own advocate. Job is beginning to develop the understanding that the advocate he needs before God must be someone else besides Job himself. But at this point in chapter 16 we don’t get a sense yet that the advocate Job is looking towards has any close personal connection. Or for that matter we don’t see at all in chapter 16 that this mediator in any way brings Job any closer to God. But that completely  changes by the time we get to chapter 19.

Job 19:25–27 (NIV)

Job 19:25–27 NIV

25 I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. 26 And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; 27 I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!

chapter 19 — Job’s mediator is a redeemer who restores Job with God

Verse 25 in chapter 19 is perhaps one of the most well known verses in all of Job. So much of what the author of this book seeks to unpack in this book of wisdom literature hinges on Job’s words in this one verse. Not only is Job developing a faith in which he understands he cannot solve his own problems and he cannot get himself out of his moment of struggle by himself; not only is Job developing a faith that embraces the availability and provision of a mediator to step in as an advocate and an intercessor; but here we see that Job is developing a faith which firmly clings to an assurance that this mediator—advocate, intercessor—acts not only as Job’s redeemer, but also as a close relational connector between Job and God himself. Job’s mediator restores Job with God.

Job’s developing faith in a mediator on his behalf points forward to Christ

Here in the book of Job we find Job discovering a brand new way to think about who God is and how God’s justice works. Here in the book of Job we find an intricate example showing that this is a kind of faith that develops and progresses one step at a time. Here in the book of Job we see just one of many examples in the Old Testament of prophetic literature which ultimately points us forward into the New Testament where all of this is fulfilled in Christ. It does not appear in any way that Job has a special foreknowledge of Jesus. There is very little in the book of Job that would indicate somehow Job knows this redeemer he speaks about in chapter 19 is a redeemer who will bring salvation to all God’s people. Every indication in the book of Job is that Job develops a faith which sees the mediator as his own personal redeemer for his own personal struggle. Job appears to be unaware that this personal redeemer is also a cosmic redeemer who personally unites his righteousness to all believers. We see Job giving us just a glimpse forward into something which finds greater meaning in the gospels.

one — faith in Christ as our redeemer develops over time

But here in the Old Testament in the story of Job there are certainly a few takeaways we pull from this story which are practical applications for us today. First is this: faith in Christ as our redeemer is a development. That is not to say that redemption through Christ is something that needs to develop. What Christ did on the cross by sacrificing himself for our sins is accomplished and completed. Jesus himself spoke from the cross and said the words, “it is finished.” Salvation in Christ is not something which is subject to further development. What is subject to further development is our understanding of everything that redemption in Christ means for us as his people. The Bible itself speaks of this in the letters of Paul when he writes to the church in Corinth.

2 Corinthians 3:17–18 (NIV)

2 Corinthians 3:17–18 NIV

17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

process of sanctification is ongoing

The process of sanctification is ongoing for each one of us. It is okay to acknowledge that we hold a faith which is continually developing and deepening as we are drawn closer to Christ. It is no wonder the Bible tells us to be humble, understanding that our ability to hold absolute certainty about all the ways of God is beyond our wisdom. And yet we see here in Job a progression in which our faith is always under development.

two — we all need a mediator who will step in on our behalf

I cannot possibly ever be the one to advocate for myself before God

The second takeaway from Job’s story is this: like Job, we all need a mediator who will step in on our behalf. Like Job, you and I cannot possibly ever be the ones to advocate for ourselves before God. Job had to confront this truth when he was at his darkest point in life. Often that may be the case that you and I most profoundly embrace the need of Jesus to be our redeemer when everything else in life seems to fall apart around us. But what makes this such an important reminder is that our need for Jesus to be our redeemer remains just as true in moments when life does not appear to be falling apart. It is especially important to remember our need for a redeemer in times when it seems like we have everything under control for ourselves.

Like Job, may we find ourselves growing within a faith which declares we have a redeemer, that our redeemer lives, and that—because of our redeemer—we shall see God face to face.