SSLS 2016-12-12
2016 4th Quarter
Lesson 12, December 10-16, Job’s Redeemer
Monday, December 12
Job has a complaint that he would put before God. This was his argument that he thought God ought to answer.
“I will say unto God, Do not condemn me; shew me wherefore thou contendest with me. Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress, that thou shouldest despise the work of thine hands, and shine upon the counsel of the wicked? Hast thou eyes of flesh? or seest thou as man seeth? Are thy days as the days of man? are thy years as man’s days, That thou enquirest after mine iniquity, and searchest after my sin? Thou knowest that I am not wicked; and there is none that can deliver out of thine hand. Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round about; yet thou dost destroy me.” KJV, Job 10:2-8.
It was this complaint that caused Elihu to be angry with Job. Remember his rebuke to Job?
“The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life. If thou canst answer me, set thy words in order before me, stand up. Behold, I am according to thy wish in God’s stead: I also am formed out of the clay. Behold, my terror shall not make thee afraid, neither shall my hand be heavy upon thee. Surely thou hast spoken in mine hearing, and I have heard the voice of thy words, saying, I am clean without transgression, I am innocent; neither is there iniquity in me. Behold, he findeth occasions against me, he counteth me for his enemy, He putteth my feet in the stocks, he marketh all my paths. Behold, in this thou art not just: I will answer thee, that God is greater than man.” KJV, Job 33:4-12.
Some may see the words of Elihu as arrogant. He is younger than Job and his three friends. But his upbringing was such that he had a truer understanding of God than Job. Job believed in God as his Creator and Redeemer. But Elihu believed in God as a blending of the clay of humanity with the Deity of God. In this sense, Elihu is prophesying of Jesus’ first advent for the purpose of condemning sin in the flesh. Elihu joins the Psalmist and other prophets in a testimony that God would be made flesh in order to earn the right to be our Advocate. Read Psalm 40:4-8; Hebrews 10:5-10; Isaiah 40:5.
“Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God? Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” KJV, Isaiah 40:27-31.