Slices
Prepare
We have a promise that we will see Jesus and be made like him (1 John 3:2). What is your response?
Bible passage
19 Then Job replied:
2 ‘How long will you torment me
and crush me with words?
3 Ten times now you have reproached me;
shamelessly you attack me.
4 If it is true that I have gone astray,
my error remains my concern alone.
5 If indeed you would exalt yourselves above me
and use my humiliation against me,
6 then know that God has wronged me
and drawn his net around me.
7 ‘Though I cry, “Violence!” I get no response;
though I call for help, there is no justice.
8 He has blocked my way so that I cannot pass;
he has shrouded my paths in darkness.
9 He has stripped me of my honour
and removed the crown from my head.
10 He tears me down on every side till I am gone;
he uproots my hope like a tree.
11 His anger burns against me;
he counts me among his enemies.
12 His troops advance in force;
they build a siege ramp against me
and encamp around my tent.
13 ‘He has alienated my family from me;
my acquaintances are completely estranged from me.
14 My relatives have gone away;
my closest friends have forgotten me.
15 My guests and my female servants count me a foreigner;
they look upon me as a stranger.
16 I summon my servant, but he does not answer,
though I beg him with my own mouth.
17 My breath is offensive to my wife;
I am loathsome to my own family.
18 Even the little boys scorn me;
when I appear, they ridicule me.
19 All my intimate friends detest me;
those I love have turned against me.
20 I am nothing but skin and bones;
I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth.
21 ‘Have pity on me, my friends, have pity,
for the hand of God has struck me.
22 Why do you pursue me as God does?
Will you never get enough of my flesh?
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 for ever!
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!
28 ‘If you say, “How we will hound him,
since the root of the trouble lies in him,”
29 you should fear the sword yourselves;
for wrath will bring punishment by the sword,
and then you will know that there is judgment.’
Explore
Job is friendless. His closest mates are crushing him with their words (v 2). No longer for him but now against him, God is on the attack in a ‘divine overkill’ that includes siege works against his tent (v 12)! And as if that were not enough, he laments over his family, his staff, little kids, and other friends who find him repulsive or funny (vs 14–20). They may have thought his wickedness dangerous to be associated with. ‘Thy hand, O God, has guided’ (EH Plumptre, 1821–1891) has become, ‘Thy hand has struck me’ (v 21). His relationships are in tatters and he does not even have his previous friendship with God to fall back on.
Then come the most famous verses in Job (vs 25–27), best known to us from Handel’s Messiah. We must take care not to read all our understanding about Jesus, his resurrection and his return, into Job’s words. For him this is a yearning that is soon going to be followed again by despair (eg 23:1–4). But he is on the right track. His longing, like ours, is to see God and be like him. That alone is true satisfaction for the believer and the answer to all our woes.
Respond
How, in the midst of a troubled and painful world, does your church keep eternal hope alive, with hearts set on seeing Christ and being like him?
Deeper Bible study
One day faith will be overtaken by sight and death swallowed up by life. Rejoice in these truths today and give thanks.
There is magnificence here. I can almost hear the strains of Handel’s Messiah in the background: ‘I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth’ (v 25). I have spoken these words hundreds of times in funeral services and thank God for their timeless truth. This personal testimony rings down the ages as witness to the faith that can surmount even Job’s suffering. This is saving faith.1
Job’s listing of how desperate and difficult his journey has been, and still is, comes suddenly upon an oasis of hope. He leads up to it with insight into the sovereignty of God. Letting go of his righteous anger about the attacks from his friends, he looks for and finds the hand of God at work in his circumstances (v 21). We know from chapters 1 and 2 that this is a moment of revelation. Recognising the sovereignty of God at work in our trials can become a precursor to even greater understanding of his redeeming grace in Christ.
This amazing unveiling that Job receives concerning his future state after death is more remarkable given the age of this book. Long before Christ, he glimpses the hope of bodily resurrection (vs 25–27). He is way ahead of his time, but holding on to that hope of coming glory is precisely what each of us needs to do in times of trial. The same power that revealed it to Job thousands of years ago can open our eyes too. Today we have God’s Word and Spirit to help us. For a moment Job’s attention was taken away from his gaunt, wasting, offensive body, to a day when it would all be destroyed. He declares that through the Redeemer’s appearing, he would see God for himself, clothed in a brand new body.2
What keeps you going through tough times? Consider Job’s faith and thank God for our hope today.
1 Rom 10:11–13 2 Cf 1 Cor 15:53,54
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Job 33,34; Luke 24
Pray for Scripture Union
Give thanks for Mission Enabler Hannah Legge who has just returned from helping run Sports Ministry outreach at CreationFest, a Christian festival in Cornwall. Pray that the hundreds of children and young people who attended will continue to grow in their understanding of Jesus and how much he loves them.
