JESUS CHRIST IN THE BOOK OF JOB
JESUS CHRIST IN THE BOOK OF JOB
Tuesday Morning bible Study, 7/15/2025; (1/19/2010)
Pastor Carolyn Sissom
Job is a “BIG STUDY.” – so rich in wisdom, life, revelation of Christ our Redeemer and gospel truth. I am so grateful to the LORD to allow me to be alive and well to preach an overview of the Book of Job one more time. What an honor and privilege!!!! What a honor it is to preach or teach any Book of the Holy Bible.
It is the Book of the Mystery of Suffering or the book of Blessing through Suffering. My approach will be to teach, “Blessing through Suffering”.
After reading some of the comments written about Job as literature, I could be intimidated as a Teacher.
1. “The book of Job is perhaps the greatest masterpiece of the human mind>’ – Victor Hugo.
2. “I call this book, apart from all theories about it, one of the grandest things every written. Our first, oldest statement of the never-ending problem: man’s destiny, and God’s way with him in the earth. There is nothing written, I think, of equal literary merit.” –Thomas Carlyle.
3. “The book of Job rises like a pyramid in the history of literature and is without a predecessor and without a rival.” – Philip Schaff.
4. “Job is the Melchizedek among the O.T. books.” – Franz Delitzch.
5. “Job is the clear and unambiguous voice of humanity, which finds echo in the entire world.” – Genung.
6. ‘Job is the greatest poem in literature, whether modern or ancient.” – Tennyson.
7. “Job is magnificent and sublime, more than any other book in the Scriptures.” – Martin Luther.
8. “Job is a book of intense individuality, in which we see a man learning the lesson of his own nothingness, in the fierce fire of deep affliction by “messenger of Satan”---through loss, bereavement, and disease---fighting single-handed against the crude philosophy and cruel attacks of his friends; above all, with his own proud, un-subdued self-righteousness and unbelief, until an “interpreter” is heard, who leads him to the point where he listens to God and learns the lesson of all the ages, that HE alone is God…therein lies his blessing.” –Ridout.
The literature of the ancient Near East has not yielded another Job, and not one can be considered seriously as a possible source or model for Job. This book stands far above its nearest competitors, in the coherence of its sustained treatment of the theme of human misery, in the scope of its many-sided examination of the problem, in the strength and clarity of its defiant moral monotheism. In the characterization of the protagonists, in the heights or its lyrical poetry, in its dramatic impact, and in the intellectual integrity with which it faces the “unintelligible burden” of human existence, in all this Job stands alone. Nothing we know before it provided a model, and nothing since, including its numerous imitations, has risen to the same heights as this book. Comparison only serves to enhance the solitary greatness of the book of Job. (Taken from Francis Anderson’s book on “Job”).
There are in excess of 100 words which appear in Job that are used nowhere else in the bible. The Prologue and Epilogue are prose (the name Jehovah is used), and the rest of the book is poetry (the name El is used). Job is a hero in the prologue and a sinner in the epilogue. The fact that Job is pictured as a city-dweller and a farmer is resolved by being semi-Nomadic. The book exerts and overall unity and has a basic integrity.
This book was probably written by Job himself (my preferred theory). Job. 19: 23-26: Oh, that my words were now written! Oh, that they were printed in a book! That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock forever! For I know that my redeemer lives, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And though after my kin worms destroy, this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God. He acknowledged outwardly a coming Redeemer. By faith and as a prophet, he saw the great and awesome Day of the LORD.
The words were written and are now eternal in the Heavens.
Job lived 140 years after these events took place. 42:16: After this lived Job a hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons’ sons, even four generations. So, Job died being old and full of days.
However, according to tradition, the author(s) is (are) unknown.
Jewish tradition (The Talmudic) ascribes Moses as the author, having written it at Midian. If this is correct, it would be the oldest Biblical book. Moses’ compilation would have been made from the records of the conversations made by Elihu (32: 10-18). This view is drawn from the following:
1. The story of Job comes from before Moses’ day. Job was probably written during the time of the patriarchs (though the story itself is pre-Abraham).
2. Some of the words and phrases of the book are characteristically Mosaic, such as “sons of God” (1:6; 2:1), “fire from God” (1:16). “But” (ulam), “hawk” (netz), “judge” (pelil), and “Almighty”.
3. The land of Uz where Job lived is adjacent to Midian, where Moses spent forty years.
Some feel that Job’s plight lasted a full year in view of the fact that all the seasons of the year are mentioned in the book.
The Book of Job cries out for a mediator, someone who could plead his case with God and unfold the mystery of his calamities. 9:33: Neither is there any days-man between us that might lay his hand upon us both.
This was answered and confirmed in Jesus. 1 Ti. 2:5: For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
The victims of the Guadalupe Flood (2025) are surely crying out as did Job asking God to answer them as to “Why?”
He inwardly aspired for Christ in the perplexity of his pain and his plea for both understanding and deliverance.
1:1: “There was man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was perfect and upright and one that feared God, eschewed evil.
The theme of the book of Job is the age-old question, “why does a loving and righteous God permit the godly to suffer?” In just a few days, Job lost his business, his wealth, his family (and possibly his wife also), and also his health! Why should this happen? His three friends had it figured out that Job was really a hypocrite, that there was hidden sin in his life, and that Jehovah was chastening him. But Job insisted that he knew of no hidden sin, so they kept arguing with him. In Job. 2:3, God states very clearly that he had no case against Job! And in 42:7, God rebukes the three friends for not speaking the truth about him! Job was not a hypocrite, although (like any of us) he certainly had room for improvement in his life, and this he admitted in the end (42: 1-6).
It is true that God does send chastening when His children need discipline (Heb. 12: 1-13). This training is evidence of His Love. It is also true that the wicked have their enjoyment today but will soon be cut down (Psa. 37 and 73). If the believer waits, he will see his reward. But neither of these facts meets the need in Job’s life. God had a divine purpose in permitting Job to suffer; for one thing, he revealed unto Satan and the heavenly host the testimony of a man of faith.
Eph. 3: 9-10: And he makes all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world has been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ; to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God.”
However, the main lesson in Job is this: God is completely sovereign in His dealings with His people and will never permit anything to come to the life of an obedient Christian that is not for his good and God’s glory. That is an absolute!!!!!! God does not have to explain His ways to us. It is enough for us to know that He cares and that He is too wise to ever make a mistake.
In one sense, the book of Job does not give a “pat answer” to the problem of why the righteous suffer. Certainly, Job was a better man after the trials were over, for suffering can have a purifying effect if we will surrender to the Lord. Job maintained his faith in God and believed that, in the end, God would vindicate him---and God did! Perhaps this is the greatest lesson of the book: God is completely sovereign in our lives and does not have to explain His ways to us. He works out His purposes and this is all that matters. Romans 8:28: And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose. I believe that. When we believe that then “Faith is a Fact.”
Let us not misjudge the subject of the book of Job: It is not dealing with the problem of suffering as a whole, but only one aspect of that problem---why do the righteous suffer? There is no final solution, but we do have in the Book of Job an interim answer. “Behind all the suffering of the Godly is a higher purpose of God, and beyond it all is an “afterwards” of glorious enrichment and restoration.
He is an “ISH” man – notable man of high degree. In Lyn Gitchell’s book, Eleven Reasons Why Job Stayed Sick, she takes his ancestry back to Genesis 46:13. And the sons of Issachar, Tola, Phuvah, and Job and Shimron.” Throughout the Bible when we study the Sons of Issachar, these were all Holy of Men of God, under the favor of God and Blessed of the Lord.
Job, son of Issachar, went down to Egypt with his father in the years of famine. If Job was around twenty years old when he went with his father to Egypt, and seventy years old when adversity struck him, then sometime in the interim fifty years he had taken his family to this land of Uz and was successful there.
Genesis 22:20-21 we read that Abraham heard his brother Nahor had eight sons, and among them two are named Uz and Buz. Buz and Aram are mentioned with Elihu in Job 32:2, which would seem to suggest that this was the Uz who was Job’s contemporary and in whose land Job dwelt. The land of Uz is also mentioned in Jeremiah 25:20 and Lamentations 4:21.
Jesus Christ is seen in the book of Job as:
1. The Priest, whose patient suffering was inflicted by Satan, but purposed by God (Heb. 5:8-9; 1 Pet. 3:18). Job is a type of the suffering humanity of Christ our iniquity-bearer, the pattern Son.
2. The perfect and upright One. (Job. 1:1; 1 Cor. 1:30; Eph. 4:12; Heb. 6: 19-20).
3. The Greatest of all. (1:3).
4. The Man Child (3:3).
5. the Instructed many and the strengthener of weak hands and feeble knees (4:3-4).
6. The one in Covenant with the Stones 5:23: for you shall be in league with the stones of the field; and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with you.”
7. The one with a Great Seed 5:25: You shall know also that your seed shall be great and your offspring as the grass of the earth.
8. The one who spreads out the heavens and treads upon the eaves of the sea, Which makes Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south. (9:8-9).
9. The longed for Daysman. 9:32-33: For he is not a man as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come together in judgment. Neither is there any daysman (judge) between us, that might lay his hand upon us both.
10. The One who is mocked. 12:4: I am as one mocked of his neighbor, who calls upon God, and he answers him; the just upright man is laughed to scorn.
11. The One with the Print on the Heels of His Feet. 13:27: You put my feet also in the stocks, and look narrowly unto all my paths; you set a print upon the heels of my feet.
12. The tree that sprouted again 14: 7-9: For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease. Though the scent of water it will bud and bring forth boughs like a plant.”
13. the smitten One turned over to the wicked 16: 10-21: They have gaped upon me with their mouth; they have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully; they have gathered themselves together against me. God has delivered me to the ungodly, and turned me over into the hands of the wicked…His archers compass me round about…he breaks me with breach upon breach…nor for any injustice in mine hands; also my prayer is pure…Behold, my witness is in heaven, and my record is on high…
14. The One who was stripped of His Glory 19:9: He has stripped me of my glory and taken the crown from my head.
15. the One Who was forgotten and betrayed 19:14: My relatives have failed, and my close friends have forgotten me.
16. The Redeemer 19:25: For I know that Redeemer lives, and he shall stand at last on the earth.
17. The Path which the vulture’s eye has not seen. 28:7-8: There is a path which no fowl knows and which the vulture’s eye has not seen; the lion’s whelps have not trodden it, nor the fierce lion passed by it.
18. The Wisdom of God 28: 12-28: ---Where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? Man knows not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living. The deep says, it is not in me, and the sea says, it is not with me. It cannot be gotten for gold, neither; neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof. It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire. The gold and the crystal cannot equal it; and the exchange of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold.
19. The Latter Rain 29:23: “And they waited for me as for the rain; and they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain.
20. The One who becomes like dust (30:19).
21. The One without fault 31: 1-32; 4: Job asserts his integrity. Jesus who is without fault, opened not his mouth.
22. The Heavenly Interpreter 33:23: If there is a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to show unto man his uprightness.
23. The Heavenly Ransom or atonement. 33:24: Then he is gracious unto him, and says, Deliver him from going down to the pit. I have found a ransom.
24. The Heavenly Bright Cloud 37: 11: Also, by watering he wears the thick cloud; he scatters the bright cloud.
25. The Creator 38: 1-29: Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, Who is that that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up now your loins like a man, for I will demand of you and answer thou me. Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare if you have understanding. Who has laid the measures thereof if you know? Or who has stretched the line upon it?
26. The Heavenly Arcturus (38:32): Can you bright forth Mazzaroth in his season? And can you guide Arcturus with his sons? Do you know the ordinances of heaven? Can you set the dominion thereof in the earth? Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, that abundance of waters may cover you?
27. The Heavenly Horse (39: 19-25) Have you given the horse his might? Have you clothed his neck with quivering and a shaking mane? Was it you (Job) who made him to leap like a locust? The majesty of his (snorting nostrils is terrible). He paws in the valley and rejoices in his strength; he goes on to meet the armed men. He mocks at fear and is not frightened neither turns he back from the sword. The quiver rattles against him the glittering spear and the shield. He swallows the ground with fierceness and rage; neither does he believe it is the sound of the trumpet. He says among the trumpets, ha, ha: and he smells the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.
28. The Rock and the Strong Place. 39:27-30: Does the eagle mount up at your command, and make her nest on high? She dwells and bides on the rock, upon the crag of the rock, and the strong place.
29. The One who hooked leviathan 41:2: Can you draw out leviathan with a hook? Or his tongue with a cord which you let down? Can you put a hook into his nose? Or bore his jaw through with a thorn?
30. the One who prayed for His friends 42:10: The LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends… Jesus said, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.”
31. The One with the Double Portion 42:10. …also, the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.
32. The One with a New family 42: 13-15: The LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning; for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys. He also had seven sons and three daughters.
The book reveals the deeper principle of patience and endurance unto the end of our course. This goal, of course, is the mark for the prize of the high calling in Christ Jesus (Phil. 3:1-14). Simply stated, Jesus Christ is the end, the goal, and the prize. We are to partake of His divine nature. When he shall appear, we shall be like Him (1 Jn. 3: 1-3).
There is a principle of the End of the Lord which we shall only briefly explore but would be a study unto itself.
This principle is based upon Job 42:12 and Jas. 5:11:
(1) So, the Lord blessed the latter End of Job more than his beginning.
(2) Behold we count them happy that endure. You have heard of the patience of Job and have seen the end of the Lord.
It is interesting that the book of Job is quoted or referred to in over 60 other places in the Bible.
The Hebrew word for “end” in Job 43:12 is Achariyth” (3319, 310, 309) which means “the last or end, hence the future; also, posterity; latter end, hinder or uttermost, length, remnant, residue, reward, the hind part, or after; to loiter (be behind).”
The word used in the Septuagint for “Latter end” is “Eschatos” (#2078) and means “farthest, final; ends of last, latter end, lowest, uttermost.” It is also used 58 times in the N.T.
The Greek Word for “end” in James 5:11 is “Telos” and means to set out for a definite point or goal; the point aimed at as a limit; the conclusion of an act of state (termination); result (immediate, ultimate, or prophetic) or purpose.
Simply stated, the End of the Lord means that He is Lord at the End. It also meant the end of Job’s wisdom and strength! --- Death to self that others might live. It is the principle of John 3:30 – “He must increase…I decrease.” It is obvious from the from the word study that Job was perfected through suffering. The principles of perfection, the full growth of the new creation man (the overcomer) is seen in Job. He reveals the full purpose of God for His people at the end of the race. The Lord Himself is the end, the goal, and the prize of our high calling (Phil. 3: 1-14). It seems that Job found this place in the Lord. It is the place of Life In Christ.
He received the blessing of the “double Portion.” This is the “portion of the firstborn (11 Kg. 2). Jesus was the firstborn among many brethren. The firstborn from the dead (Col. 1:18), and the Beginning or Head of the New Creation Man. Rev. 3:14: And unto the angel of the church: of the Laodiceans write: These things says the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God.
Who was Job?
He was a real person, historically. The Bible itself establishes this in Ezek. 14:14, 20 and James 5:11.
(1) Ez. 14:14: Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, says the Lord GOD.
(2) Ez. 14:20: Though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live, says he Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness.
(3) Ja. 5:11: Behold, we count them happy which endure. You have heard of the patience of Job and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy.
Thus, the bible reveals Job to be a man of righteousness and of patience. The Greek word means cheerful (or hopeful).
Four statements are given in Job 1 that describes his character before the LORD permitted Saan to break him.
(1) Job was perfect---wholeheartedly given over to pleasing God.
(2) Job was upright ---walking right with God and man.
(3) Job feared God ---reverentially trusting God and hating evil.
(4) Job eschewed evil---turning away from (abstaining, shunning) evil.
Job “was the greatest of all the men of the East” (1:3). He was of the stature of royalty, perhaps a prince or even a king.
His age would have been 70+140=210 years (3 x70). Accordingly, he was born after Joseph was sold, and died 119 years after the death of Joseph. When Joseph died, Job, according to this view, would have been 91, and his affliction took place 21 years before when he was 70. His removal from the land of Egypt to Uz must therefore have taken place earlier still. When Job died, Moses was 55, and had been in Midian 15 years (25 years before the Exodus). This would account for Job being a worshipper of the God of Abraham and explains how Moses could have been the author of the book.
1:7-11: And the Lord said unto Satan, where have you come from? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, from going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. And the Lord said unto Satan, Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him the earth, a perfect and upright man, one that fears God, and shuns evil. Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, Does Job fear God for nothing? Have you not made a hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. Put forth your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.
It was God who initiated the events of Job 1 & 2. In the remainder of chapter 1, Job lost his possessions and his family, yet he sinned not with his mouth and his faith remained intact as he successfully met the challenge.
1:12: And the Lord said to Satan, behold all that he has is in your power; only upon himself put not forth your hand. So, Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord.
Satan cannot touch God’s people without permission from God, which should be a great consolation in times of adversity. Job’s trial was absolutely necessary to vindicate God and silence the attack of Satan calculated to damage the reputation of both God and Job. God mercifully places a limitation upon the malignity of Satan’s wiles as he roams about the earth in search for an object of his hatred. God protects His people against Satan’s efforts to overthrow them without their being aware of it.
1. Satan cunningly waited for a time to take Job unaware, a day of festivity when the least expected trouble.
2. the suddenness of Satan’s blow was calculated to trigger Job into an impulsive denunciation of God.
3. The rapid succession of diverse blows from diverse directions was intended to deprive Job of time for reflection and the assumption of a defensive posture to ward off the attack. This is one of the ways we know we are under attack, is several things happen at one time.
4. The increasing pressure from increasing losses, not only in number but also in value, would tend to have the effect of undermining Job’s faith, questioning his God, and the breaking down of his resistance.
5. the last blow was the worst of all and was confidently expected by Satan to overwhelm Job with unbearable personal grief and sure to cause him to expose his presumed hypocrisy.
Satan is fully cognizant of the fact that the character of man is generally revealed in the hour of sudden crisis. With no time to think, what is in the heart will suddenly break out, especially under those pressures of great anguish and pain.
Satan has power not only to employ wicked men to accomplish his purpose, but also to employ the elements of nature (God permitting).
Satan chose a time when Job enjoyed the security of material prosperity, which the adversary would suddenly turn into painful calamity.
Satan’s onslaught was without any pity, as stroke fell upon stroke by a merciless adversary solely bent on his victim’s destruction.
1: 20-22: Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, and said, ‘Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.
Instead of rising up against God in rebellion as Satan had wanted, Job fell down to the ground in submission to the Sovereignty of God. Instead of turning from God in his sorrow and grief as Satan had intended, Job turned to God in worship. Instead of charging God with injustice as Satan had expected, Job kept faith in God’s righteousness. Instead of rejecting the hand of Providence as Satan had thought, Job accepted what it brought. Instead of cursing God, Job blessed the Name of the Lord. Instead of defeating Job, he defeated Satan and vindicated his God.
Job acknowledged God’s right to ownership of all things and, therefore, His right to take away as well as to give. Job possessed great riches, but his riches did not possess him. We must remember that all that we have is still God’s, for we ourselves belong to God. Perceiving this calms, the resentful and rebellious spirit which is the source of so many of our emotional miseries. Job retained an unwavering confidence in the wisdom and righteousness of the absolute Sovereignty of his God.
Job had an implicitly confidence in the un-impeachable integrity of the Name of the Lord for, in the final analysis, the Name of the Lord is what he is. If all that God is could be expressed in one word, that one would be His Name. Many names of God are used in the bible because just one word does not exist. Neither could such a word be formed. An infinite God cannot be expressed in a finite word any more than God can be reduced to a mathematical equation.
Job’s confidence in the Name of the Lord was mingled with the worship of that Name. This worship in confidence was Job’s best and, perhaps, only defense against the deadly temptation of bringing God into question because of circumstances that appear to be the very negation of His promises.
Worship of the Name of the Lord in the hour of deep distress thwarts Satan’s attempt to discredit God by bringing Him to trial. Therefore, and especially at such a time, one should remember His Name, call upon His Name, and trust His Name. The literal rendering is “May the Name of the Lord be Blessed!” Job throws water in Satan’s face by blessing the Name of the Lord both openly and resolutely!
“In all this Job sinned not nor charged God foolishly.” Job proved to be greater than his calamity. He did not accuse God of injustice, nor utter a word which in any way reflected on the character of God. Job kept the door of his lips---and with it his integrity! Job did not say anything wrong. He did not murmur or speak of his “rights for he knew the “rights” of a sovereign God who gave it all!
The whole book is a panorama of the fall and then the redemption of man. It could be summed up in one verse – Rom. 8:20:
For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
THE WORDS: “My servant” and “him will I accept” are full of proof of Satan’s defeat! Note also that Job had not demanded or even asked for restoration, which came only after the test was over and Job was vindicated! We must emphasize that his repentance was for an attitude acquired during his suffering, not for sins that caused his suffering.
“My servant Job” is mentioned four times (a number of creation and world-wide or universal).”
God then deals with Job’s friends or should we say accusers, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar with wrath and mercy. Their intention was right, but their words were wrong! In their folly, they had spoken of Jehovah “the thing which is right.” They are restored through the King-Priest ministry of Job’s prayer!
The key was “when he prayed for his friends” –the dunghill had become the mercy-seat.
We are to be Kings and Priests in the Kingdom of God to pray and intercede for our brothers and sisters in the Lord. This is the realm of no condemnation, criticism, gossip or complaining in the Holy of Holies.
Job was the first man to see the truth of the resurrection and immortality – new flesh. (19: 23-29; 33: 23-30). Chapter 42 points to the consummation of the program and purposes of God with man. So, we see a new body (for Job), a new family, new sons, and daughters, possibly a new wife (?), new possessions, etc. Well, new wife is written tongue-in-cheek. However, it would seem that with seven new sons and three new daughters, at his age he would need a new wife.
Carolyn Sissom, Pastor
Eastgate Ministries Church, 10115 West Hidden Lakes Lane, Richmond, TX
Text from Principles of Present Truth by: Kelly Varner and quotes from Eleven Reasons Why Job Stayed Sick by Lyn Gitchell. Scripture from KJV. Comments and conclusions are my own and not meant to reflect the views of those who I entered into their labors.