Job – Chapter 33

“Wherefore,” says Elihu, “wherefore, Job, I pray thee, hear my speeches, and hearken to all my words.” Elihu represents the man of God in truth. We have seen already that Elihu represents in a sense the conclusions of the New Testament, the doctrine of the apostles, the teachings of the gospel writers. Wherefore even Job is admonished to hearken to all his words. But as we read this 33rd chapter we are struck in the words by the similarity to Christ Himself. In verse four, “The spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.” Our Lord said, “The Spirit of God is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach…” In verse five, “If thou canst answer me, set thy words in order before me, stand up.” In the gospels we read there was none could answer, neither dared any man ask Him any more questions. In verse six, “Behold, I am according to thy wish in God’s stead: I also am formed out of the clay.” Christ is God manifest in flesh, according to Paul; the Man of God in truth. Listen again to Elihu in verse three, “My words shall be of the uprightness of my heart: and my lips shall utter knowledge clearly.” Christ came to bring us the words of the Father, to be the living Word among men, to make clear the knowledge of God. And could He who was before Abraham not say to Job, as Elihu says in verse eight, “Surely thou hast spoken in mine hearing, and I have heard the voice of thy words”? Yes, Elihu here represents the Man of God in truth. We should be aware of this also. It is Christ who is the conclusion of every debate about righteousness. It is Christ who is the sum total of all that is said in the Old Testament. It is Christ who is both the Author and Finisher of the faith of the just. Now having said that, let us consider Elihu more properly as the summing up of the debate, the conclusion, the end of the matter. We see in verse nine, ten and eleven a little review, as it were, when Elihu says, “I have heard the voice of thy words, saying, I am clean without transgression, I am innocent; neither is there iniquity in me.” (These are Job’s words.) “Behold, he findeth occasions against me, he counteth me for his enemy, He putteth my feet in the stocks, he marketh all my paths.” And Elihu tells Job in verse 12, “Behold, in this thou art not just.” So the conclusion, as we have said, is that no matter how upright we may be, no matter how innocent of fault, no matter how free from iniquity, we cannot justify ourselves before God, but rather must seek the justification of Christ alone which is by faith. That is the first conclusion we come to, as Elihu would lead us to see. “I will answer thee,” Elihu tells Job, “that God is greater than man.” So we find this teaching in New Testament scripture, that God in fact is able to justify the ungodly, because of what Christ has done, and God has decreed that apart from Christ no one can stand before God and justify himself. All flesh is corrupt in His sight. Job cannot be accepted into the presence of God in spite of a perfect life, because of the corruption of the flesh, denoted by boils. Now if Job cannot stand before God, how shall the wicked fare? Or as the New Testament puts it, “If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the sinner and the ungodly appear?” The Cross of Christ is the only point where man and God may meet to effect a reconciliation, because of the innate holiness of God and the innate sinfulness of man. And the Justifier has to be the living Christ who is risen from the dead, for, says Paul, if Christ be not risen ye are yet in your sins. So the conclusion is that justification without Christ is impossible. Elihu goes on to ask, “Why dost thou strive against him? for he giveth not account of any of his matters. For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not.” It reminds us of Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus. “It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks,” he is told. Saul of Tarsus was a Pharisee of Pharisees, whose righteousness was a byword in Israel. No other group of men ever strove so hard to live perfect lives, yet Saul is cast to the ground and asked, “Why dost thou strive against him?” God spoke once, and told them to keep all His law, which they failed dismally to do. But God spoke again, ‘once, yea twice,’ and told them to believe on Jesus Christ, and again they failed. It is the second speaking which man perceived not. But if we fail to do what God tells us – that is, to believe on Jesus Christ – we are not doing His will no matter what else we may do, for this is His will, that we should believe on Him whom the Father hath sent. We are striving to do something different, and we are shown to be striving against God, not perceiving that God has spoken twice. What? Shall we then accuse God of dealing unjustly? asks Elihu. God is not accountable to us – “For he giveth not account of any of his matters.” We are accountable to God, and must give account of ourselves before Him in the end. This is again a further conclusion we must learn from the book of Job. The first speaking was the law, the second speaking was of grace. Now when we perceive that God has spoken twice, we find we are no longer under law, for by grace we are saved. This too is found in the ‘younger’ part of scripture, the New Testament, so-called. It sounds like a different God speaking, but in fact it is the same God. What we are to perceive is the difference in the speech, for the same God who spoke once has spoken twice, and it is Christ – by the Cross, by the Tomb, by the Resurrection – who makes the difference. In verse 15 of chapter 33 Elihu explains, “In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed; Then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction, That he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man.” Again, the conclusion is found in the New Testament. We are to cease from all our labors, and to enter into rest, for our salvation is not of works lest any man should boast. What would we boast of? We would boast of our integrity, our righteousness, our perfect living – in the language of the Pharisee, “I thank Thee I am not as other men.” No, no! says Elihu. It is only when we have ceased from these things, and entered into rest, that the vision is granted to us. As long as we are striving to please God with our own works, our own righteousness, we are going contrary to His revealed will. We must accept by faith the righteousness of Jesus Christ, and trust in His redeeming blood to please God and to suffice for us. “In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed…” Sleep is typical of death. We must die to self, and cease from self-righteousness, in order to hear His word to us. Our baptism is the outward, public demonstration of our inner hearing of God’s instruction. It is not something we do in order to please God. It is the result of ceasing from our labors, and listening instead to the word of God which we receive in faith, and then following His instructions to us. There is a world of difference. Our communion is the outward, public demonstration of our inner hearing of God’s instruction. It is not something we do in order to please God ourselves. Our fellowship, our way of life, our evangelization, our praying, our weeping, these are not self-righteousnesses, but the result of seeing the vision, the result of dying to self, the result of hearing God speak; these are our instructions. “That he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man. He keepeth back his soul from the pit, and his life from perishing by the sword.” Elihu is the man of God in truth, speaking with authority. Man only perceived, like Job, that he must strive to please God by a perfect life. Few ever succeeded like Job, but man made it his purpose. And man became proud when he was in any way successful. But the vision was given to withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man. Pride is the original sin, and God sees that so long as man has whereof to boast, man will be proud of that, and so sin. Wherefore God by Jesus Christ made a perfect Way, by which man could achieve true righteousness without having whereof to boast. Indeed, it is humiliating to proud man to have to accept Another’s righteousness for himself. Man has to humble himself at the foot of the Cross and ask for the righteousness of Christ to cover his nakedness before God. But in love and grace, this one Way saves man from pride – “He keepeth back his soul from the pit” – and this one Way is now therefore the only Way, as our Lord told us, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” And this one Way, this one Truth, is the way of Life, to save us from perishing by the sword (of judgment). “He that believeth on Me shall not come into condemnation,” Jesus says, “but is passed from death unto life.” In the debate in the book of Job the question is, “Should a truly righteous man suffer, or not?” No, says Job. No, no, no, say his three friends. But how do we become truly righteous? By accepting the true righteousness. Shall we then suffer as the wicked? No, says Elihu. No, says scripture. No, says our Lord. No, says God. Seven times No! No, affirm the apostles. No, repeat the saints. No, proclaims the Church. No, cry the evangelists. All say no. This is a firm conclusion, based on faith in the God of truth. Now we cannot linger over each precious verse, but Elihu goes on to paint a picture of the Cross, for us, and the Resurrection, and the way to salvation. His conclusions are all to be found in the ‘younger’ or New Testament. But running on down the chapter to verse 31 we hear Elihu say, “Mark well, O Job, hearken unto me: hold thy peace, and I will speak.” So if we have been clinging, like Job, to any righteousness of our own, and ignoring the too-obvious corruption of our own flesh, let us mark well, and hearken to Elihu, and hold our peace, and listen to the truth. Elihu then goes on to say, “If thou hast anything to say, answer me: speak, for I desire to justify thee.” Do we wish to argue? Do we want to answer back to Elihu? He is not against us, as he says, “for I desire to justify thee,” but in view of his conclusions can we any longer justify ourselves. There is no reply from Job the perfect, greatest of all the men of the east. What about us, then? Perhaps we are neither as perfect nor as great as Job. Can we stand where Job failed? Can we justify ourselves by any answer if Job could not? “If not,” continues Elihu, “hearken unto me: hold thy peace, and I shall teach thee wisdom.” Yes, we do well to hearken unto Elihu, and learn wisdom. Christ bought salvation for us at enormous cost. “His flesh,” Elihu tells us, “is consumed away that it cannot be seen; and his bones that were not seen stick out.” In dying like that for us, we are told in verse 24, he can say, “I have found a ransom.” But Elihu speaks of the Resurrection also, “He shall return to the days of his youth,” and shows the way of salvation: “If any say, I have sinned…He will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light.” This is the message of the ‘younger’ Elihu. It is worth hearkening to, if we have not done so before. The conclusion of the book of Job, the parable, the debate, is that man needs a Saviour, and only Jesus Christ the Righteous can ever save us.