Such Wonderful Knowledge

“Had I been present at the Creation I would have given some useful hints for the better ordering of the universe.” ~ King Alphonso the 10th, King of Spain in the 13th century

Shocking audacity?

We shouldn’t be so quick to judge King Alphonso, since we practically do the same thing when we question God and what He’s doing in our own lives.

Elihu began the answers to Job, speaking prophetically of the justice, loving mercy and kindness of God. No one interrupted Elihu or questioned him. Job’s friends are silent and so is Job.

But what comes next is absolutely Wonderful, for God begins to speak. And when God speaks — He reveals Wonderful Knowledge.

Job 38:1 HCSB

Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind. He said:

First, we see — The Astonishing Voice of God

God speaks and this is what Job has both desired most passionately and feared most deeply. God speaks directly to Job. If we think rightly of such an event, we would understand the prospect of such an audience with God is most terrifying. And yet, like Job, we at times long for this.

Job 23:3 HCSB

If only I knew how to find Him, so that I could go to His throne.

Elihu mocked such a request as unimaginable.

Job 5:1 HCSB

Call out if you please. Will anyone answer you? Which of the holy ones will you turn to?

Job

Elihu cannot even imagine such an encounter.

Job 37:23 HCSB

The Almighty—we cannot reach Him— He is exalted in power! He will not oppress justice and abundant righteousness,

But here it happens. And Job doesn’t find the Almighty — the Almighty finds and speaks to Job. And it’s apparent, that God is not “finding Job,” for God is because He is as Elihu described — Exalted in power!

Four things mark God’s Speaking

God’s speech is Unmediated. That means no one speaks for God here. Though God began speaking through His prophet Elihu — He now addresses Job personally.

The Covenant Name of God — “the LORD” Yahweh is used for the first time since chapters 1 and 2. This is significant and that is how God comes to His people. He deals with Job as God of a believer. It also ties the book of Job historically with Israel and especially in the fulfillment of God’s dealings with His people in Jesus Christ.

God speaks directly and personally to one man. This is special revelation — a word to Job himself.

God speaks “from the whirlwind.” The awesome storm Elihu described in 36 and 37. Though scary, it demonstrates the sovereign power and control God has over the storms controlling Job’s life. In other words, God sends, controls, and calms the storms in your life. This is a powerful comfort.

What is the purpose of God speaking to Job?

I. Astonishing Knowledge

Job 38:2–3 HCSB

Who is this who obscures My counsel with ignorant words? Get ready to answer Me like a man; when I question you, you will inform Me.

Each time the Lord speaks, He begins with a challenge. In this first speaking, God accuses Job of “obscuring My counsel with ignorant words.” The word counsel is a broad term for mysterious and paradoxical way in which the world is ordered and operates. All along, Job maintained his innocence to supposed secret sins. Elihu has accused Job of

Job 34:35 HCSB

“Job speaks without knowledge; his words are without insight.”

Here we see God confirms Elihu’s accusation. And God says — “That’s right. You have spoken in ignorance. You speak as though you have cosmic knowledge, this wonderful knowledge.” But only God has this knowledge.

This is important for us to know. God alone has such wonderful knowledge of what He’s doing in your life.

So God challenges Job to ready himself. This means to go to war, dress for action — gird your loins, tuck your robe in. The fight is about to begin.

To do so — “Like a man,” means something like a warrior or strong man. It means — Job, you need to Man up.

This is a verbal engagement. It’s interesting how God presents his to Job. The Lord is about to question Job and Job is invited to answer.

And notice God does not directly answer Job’s questions, or ours. He doesn’t tell Job what transpired in Chapters 1 and 2. What He tells Job is even more deep and unveiling of the heavenly scenes of chapter 1 and 2 could have revealed. Because what God reveals is not what He did — But Who He Is!

The structure of God’s speaking is about 17 short sections. Probably the most natural division is:

38:1-38 — the Inanimate Creation

38:39-39:30 — Animals and Birds of Creation

40:1-2 — the Final Challenge

I’m not sure we’re intended to have a discernable structure, but that’s just to help us.

II. God’s Counsel revealed in the Inanimate Creative Order

A. First, we see the Place of Evil in the Good Created Order

This is from 4-21.

There is language of the sea, darkness, and death. As we are confronted by evil, we need to think carefully about good and evil and where and how evil fits into God’s created order.

The Order of Creation is Joyful

Verses 4-7

The Universe is pictured as a great building project with a foundation, measurements to insure precision, secure footings, strong sockets for the pillars, and a “cornerstone” to insure the whole thing holds together firmly. It’s a building built to last and the inference is there’s nothing that can destroy this but its Creator.

I posted the following on Facebook:

The word of God says in , “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night will not cease.”

Don’t be concerned about “Global Warming” or “Climate Change.”

My point is exactly that — God’s creation cannot be destroyed by man. He built it to last and it’s much bigger than us — It is incredibly huge, solid, secure, robust, and repeat with beauty and enduring majesty.

And verse 7 is the resounding chorus of song that speaks of a superlatively good creation created by the eternal God.

Job had denied this fundamental goodness in creation in his dark anti-creation lament in chapter 3. In his eyes, evil and disorder in creation had wiped out its goodness and all we’re left with is essentially and fundamentally evil. And God, the Creator, says “NO!” The creative order jumped into song for what God did.

The question is whether or not Job — and We — will align ourselves with this song of Joy and praise to God even in the midst of loss and sorrow and evil.

What God says in essence is, “If you had perfect knowledge of creation, you would understand that it not only was — but remains a source of cosmic joy in its Creator.” This is strange and surprising to a man who suffers — but this is the key to understanding and dealing with the suffering.

Evil has a limited place in Creation

Verses 8-11

The imagery changes abruptly as God invites Job to think about the sea. The sea is a Biblical symbol of disorder, chaos, danger, evil, and ultimately death. There is a place for evil in this world, but it has a place of strict limits.

For example, bad things happen, but why don’t bad things happen all the time.

Picture a wild ocean coastline, huge waves crashing, dark skies, wild winds. The language of a baby bursting from his mother’s womb. Her water breaks, it’s the end of pregnancy, where everything was warm, comfortable, provided for, and safe. But suddenly the whole world crashes in — yet within moments — Mama swaddles him in warm cloth and holds and comforts him. A better world, is it not?

Evil may be looked at as God’s baby — not in the sense that God is the Author or origin of sin, but that evil is no threat at all to God no more than a misbehaving infant is to his parents. And if evil is no threat to God, then we can be sure, it’s no threat to us as we trust God with it all.

Evil has its limits —

Job 38:10–11 HCSB

when I determined its boundaries and put its bars and doors in place, when I declared: “You may come this far, but no farther; your proud waves stop here”?

Job 38:10 HCSB

when I determined its boundaries and put its bars and doors in place,

But the question arises —

Will it always be so?

And the following verses answer that question.

Evil will be destroyed one day.

Verses 12-15

God, the Architect, Surveyor, Builder, and Disciplinary Parent, now becomes the Commander.

The morning, the dawn is Commanded.

Man has made cameras now that can see objects in complete darkness. But nothing gives the full picture and brilliant clearness than God’s dawning lights.

Genesis 1:14–15 HCSB

Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night. They will serve as signs for festivals and for days and years. They will be lights in the expanse of the sky to provide light on the earth.” And it was so.

It seizes the edges of the earth and shakes the wicked out of it. God shakes the sleepy dawn and tells it to wake the world. The dawn gets to work.

What’s the purpose of all this?

Every time the sun rises it is evidence that there is a judgment coming. Every time the light is switched on in creation, it reassures us that darkness will not last forever. Each new day is cosmic proof that evil has no enduring place in the created order.

There will come a day when the sea will be no more.

Revelation 21:1 HCSB

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea no longer existed.

There will come a day when evil will be no more. God set before Job a deep and penetrating portrait of the fundamental structure of the universe, a cosmos that is deeply and ultimately good, a cosmos in which there is a necessary place for evil and yet in whose structure the final destruction of evil is foreshadowed. The universe in which the ugliness of evil is part of the creation of God and will ultimately serve the glory of God.

Let’s stop there tonight.