Job 16

God is our witness

1 Then Job answered and said, 2 I have heard many such things: you are all miserable comforters. 3 Is there an end to words of wind? What emboldens you to answer? 4 I also could speak as you do: if your soul were in my soul's place, I could heap up words against you, and shake my head at you. 5 But I would strengthen you with my mouth, and the moving of my lips would soothe your grief.

• Ephesians 4:29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace to the hearers.

6 If I speak, my pain is not held back: and if I hold back, what ease do I get? 7 But now he has exhausted me: you have devastated my family. 8 You have shriveled me up, which is a witness against me: and my failure rises up in me, it answers to my face. 9 He tears me in his wrath, who hates me: he gnashes on me with his teeth; my enemy sharpens his eyes on me. 10 They have gaped on me with their mouth; they have struck me on the cheek reproachfully; they have gathered themselves together against me.

• God bragged to the archenemy about Job in chapter 1, but this is how it looks to Job. Verse 10 is prophetic about Christ on the cross (Psalm 22:13).

11 God has delivered me to the ungodly, and turned me over into the hands of the wicked. 12 I was at ease, but he has broken me apart: he has taken me by my neck, shaken me to pieces, and set me up for his mark. 13 His archers surround me, he shatters my emotions, and does not hold back; he pours out my gall on the ground. 14 Again and again he smashes me, charging at me like a warrior. 15 I have sewed sackcloth on my skin, and laid my head in the dust. 16 My face is red with weeping, and the shadow of death is on my eyelids; 17 Not for any injustice in my hands: and my prayer is pure. 18 O earth, do not cover my blood, and let there be no resting place for my cry. 19 Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and my record is on high. 20 My friends scorn me: but my eye pours out tears to God. 21 O that one might plead with God for a man, as a man pleads for his neighbor! 22 When a few years are come, then I will go the way where I will not return.

• Job thought he was going to be miserable for a while and then die.
• God gave Him back double all that was taken and gave him 140 more years to enjoy it. Then God took Job into paradise.

• 1 Samuel 12:5 And he said to them, The LORD is witness against you, and his anointed is witness this day, … And they answered, He is witness.

• Jeremiah 29:23… even I know, and am a witness, says the LORD.

• Luke 23:43 And Jesus said to him, “Definitely, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”

                                              Job 17

1 My spirit is broken, my days are extinct, the grave is ready for me. 2 Are there not still mockers with me? Does not my eye rest on their insults? 3 Lay down now a pledge with me for yourself; who is he that will be my guarantor? 4 Foryou have hid their heart from understanding: therefore you will not exalt them. 5 He that speaks flattery to his friends, the eyes of his children will fail. 6 He has also made me a byword of the people; I am one at whom me spit. 7 My eye is dim because of grief, and all my members are like a shadow. 8 Upright men will be astonished at this, and the innocent will stir up himself against the ungodly. 9 Yet the righteous holds firm to his way, and he that has clean hands will be stronger and stronger.

• The Holy Spirit is our guarantee of eternal life.
• The word ‘earnest’ in 2 Corinthians 1:22 means down payment.

• 2Corinthians 1:22 Who has sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.

• Ephesians 1:13 In whom you also trusted, after that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also, after you believed, you were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

• Philippians 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

10 But as for you all: I cannot find one wise man among you. 11 My days are past; my plans are broken off, even the desires of my heart. 12 They set night into day: the light is near in the face of darkness.13 If I wait, the grave is my house: I have made my bed in the darkness. 14 I have said to corruption, You are my father: to the worm, You are my mother, and my sister. 15 And where is now my hope? As for my hope, who shall see it? 16 They will go down to the bars of the Hades, when we descend together in the dust.

• 1Peter 1:21 Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.

• John 11:25-26 Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believes in me, though he were dead, yet he shall live: And whosoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?

                                              Job 18

1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said, 2 How long until you put and end to words? Gain understanding, and afterwards we will speak. 3 Why are we regarded as beasts, and considered stupid in your sight? 4 He tears his soul in his anger: will the earth be forsaken for you? And will the rock be moved out of its place?

• God did more than move a rock for us, even more than move the earth and heavens for us—He gave His only Son!

• John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him not perish, but have everlasting life.

5 The light of the wicked will be put out, and the spark of his fire will not shine. 6 The light will be dark in his tent, and his lamp above him will be put out. 7 The steps of his strength will be distressed, and his own counsel will throw him down. 8 For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he is walking into a snare.

• Jeremiah 2:19 Your own wickedness will correct you, and your backslidings will reprove you: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that you have forsaken the LORD your God, and that my fear is not in you, says the Lord GOD of hosts.

9 The trap will take him by the heel, and a snare prevails over him. 10 The noose is hidden for him in the ground, and a trap for him in the way. 11 Terrors frighten him on every side, and drive him to his feet. 12 His strength is starved, and destruction is ready at his side. 13 It devours parts of his skin: the firstborn of death eats his parts. 14 His hope will be rooted out of his tent, and he will be marched to the king of terrors. 15.Nothing of his dwells in his tent: brimstone will be scattered on his dwelling. 16 His roots are dried below, and his branch is cut off above. 17 His remembrance perishes from the earth, and he has no name among the renowned.

• This did not have to happen. This person did not seek God or humble himself before his Maker. Jesus reveals Himself to every person on earth.

• John 1:9 That was the true Light who enlightens every man that comes into the world.

18 He will be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world. 19 He will neither have son or nephew among his people, or any remaining in his dwellings. 20 Those after him will be astonished at his day, as those that lived with him were seized with horror. 21 Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place of him that does not know God.

• Knowing God saves from terrible destruction.

• 2 Peter 3:9… but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any perish, but that all come to repentance.

                                              Job 19

1 Then Job answered and said, 2 How long will you distress my soul, and break me in pieces with words? 3 These ten times you have reproached me: you are not ashamed to wrong me. 4 And if I really have erred, my error remains with me. 5 And if indeed you will magnify yourselves against me, and plead against me my reproach: 6 Know now that God has overthrown me, and has surrounded me with his net.

• Satan challenged God and God used Job to prove Satan was wrong.
• In Job 1:7-12 God gave Satan permission to test Job, but God set the limits.
• The same thing happened with Peter.

• Luke 22:31 And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:

7 Behold, If I cry out concerning wrong, I am not heard: I cry aloud, but there is no judgment. 8 He has fenced up my way so that I cannot pass, and he has set darkness in my paths. 9 He has stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head. 10 He has destroyed me on every side, and I am gone: and he has uprooted my hope like a tree. 11 He has also kindled his wrath against me, and he counts me as one of his enemies. 12 His troops come together, and build up their road against me, and camp around about my tent. 13 He has put my brothers far from me, and my friends are truly alienated from me. 14 My relatives have failed, and my close friends have forgotten me. 15 They that dwell in my house, and my maids, consider me a stranger: I am a foreigner in their sight. 16 I called to my servant, and he does not answer; I must beg him with my mouth. 17 My breath is offensive to my wife, and I am repulsive to the children of my own body. 18 Yes, young children despise me; I arose, and they spoke against me. 19 All my close friends abhor me: even this one whom I have loved has turned against me. 20 My bone clings to my skin and to my flesh, and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth. 21 Have pity on me, have pity on me, O you my friends; for the hand of God has touched me.

• God gave permission; Satan did the doing.

• Habakkuk 1:13 You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and can not look on iniquity.

Our Redeemer lives; He will stand on the earth in the last days

22 Why do you persecute me as God does, and are not satisfied with my flesh? 23 Oh that my words were now written! Oh that they were printed in a book! 24 That they were carved with an iron pen and lead in the rock forever! 25 For I know that my redeemer lives, and that he will stand at the latter day on the earth:

• Job’s request was granted because what happened to him became part of the Word of God that lives and abides forever.
• Our Redeemer will stand on the earth in the latter days to rule forever.
• ‘Stands’ is more than just standing in this case.
• Jesus will rule the whole earth and His ways, laws, and policies will be followed instead of the policies of evil.

• 1Peter 1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which lives and abides forever.

• Revelation 11:15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he willreign forever and ever.

We will see God

26 And though after my skin is destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God: 27 I will see him for myself. Yes, I will see him with my own eyes. I am overwhelmed at the thought! 28 How dare you go on persecuting me saying, It’s his own fault? 29 I warn you, you yourselves are in danger of punishment for your attitude. Then you will know that there is judgment.”

• Our God is awesomely beautiful.
• Job knows that he will be resurrected from death and see the Lord.
• Job’s faith is clear in the midst of life’s worst suffering.

• Psalm 45:2 You are more beautiful than the children of men: grace is poured into your lips: therefore God has blessed you forever.

• Romans 14:12 So then every one of us will give account of himself to God.

• John 5:22 For the Father judges no man, but has committed all judgment to the Son:

• Psalm 96:13… for he comes to judge the earth: he will judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.

                                              Job 20

1 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said, 2 My anxious thoughts make me answer, because of the turmoil within me. 3 I have heard the rebuke that reproaches me, and the spirit of my understanding causes me to reply. 4 Do you know this of old, since man was placed on earth, 5 That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment? 6 Though his excellency mounts up to the heavens, and his head reaches the clouds; 7 Yet he will perish forever like his own waste: those who have seen him will ask, Where is he? 8 He will fly away like a dream and not be found: yes, he will be chased away like a vision of the night. 9 The eye that saw him will see him no more; neither will his place behold him any more. 10 His children will seek the favor of the poor, and his hands will restore their goods. 11 His bones are full of the sin of his youth, which will lie down with him in the dust.

• Isaiah 26:19 Your dead men will live; together with my dead body they will rise. Awake and sing, you that dwell in dust: for your dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth will cast out the dead.

12 Though wickedness is sweet in his mouth, though he hides it under his tongue; 13 Though he spare it, and does not forsake it; but keep it within his mouth: 14 Yet his food in his bowels is turned to the gall of asps within him. 15 He has swallowed down riches, and he will vomit them up again: God will cast them out of his belly.

• God allows man’s own wickedness to correct him. He desires that man choose life.

• Jeremiah 2:19 Your own wickedness will correct you, and your backslidings will reprove your: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that you have forsaken the LORD your God, and that my fear is not in your, says the Lord GOD of hosts.

16 He will suck the poison of asps: the viper’s tongue will kill him. 17 He will not see the rivers, the streaming brooks, the brooks of honey and butter. 18 He will return his fruit (to another), and will not eat of it: he will compensate his substance and he will not rejoice in it. 19 Because he has crushed and forsaken the poor; because he has violently seized a house that he did not build; 20 Surely he will not know quietness in his belly, he will not save what he desired. 21 None of his food will be left; his prosperity will not last. 22 In the fullness of his plenty he will be cramped: every hand of the wretched will come upon him.

• Job 1 and 2 show Satan having to ask permission to touch someone.

23 When he is about to fill his belly, God will cast the fury of his wrath upon him, and it will rain him while he is eating. 24 He will flee from the iron weapon, and the bow of steel will strike him through. 25 It is drawn, and comes out his back; yes, the glittering point from his gall: terrors are upon him. 26 All darkness will be hid in his secret places: a fire not blown will consume him; and those left in his tent will be broken. 27 The heaven will reveal his iniquity; and the earth will rise up against him. 28 The increase of his house will depart, and his goods will flow away in the day of his wrath. 29 This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed to him by God.

• Genesis 6:3 And the LORD said, My spirit will not always strive with man,

• Isaiah 45:22 Look to me, and be you saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.

• John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life.

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SUMMARY: Job 16-20

• God is our witness
• Our Redeemer lives
• He will stand on earth in the last days
• We will see God