TODAY’S READING: JOB 17-21
OVERVIEW:
The continuation of Job’s defense of himself; Bildad’s continued accusations; Job’s response to Bildad; Zophar’s accusation that Jobis a wicked man; Job’s response to Zophar.
HIGHLIGHTS & INSIGHTS:
As yesterday’s reading came to a close in chapter 16, we saw that Job’s expression of what he was going through speaks prophetically of what was taking place in the heart and mind of the Lord Jesus Christ as He hung on the cross. As Job continues his speech in chapter 17, the picture continues. In verse 7, “Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, and all my members are as a shadow” (17:7), we see a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ consumed with the weight of our sin. “The innocent” in verse 8, who “shall stir up himself against the hypocrite,” is obviously a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ, Whom Job’s innocence foreshadows. Christ is the innocent Savior who died for the guilty. This chapter is a great reminder of one of the great paradoxes of life. Many times the godly suffer, while the wicked prosper and assume that they are godly. The fact is, winners don’t always win, and losers don’t always lose.
In chapter 18, Bildad offers his second attempt to convince Job that there must be some secret sin that has been the cause of his intense persecution and suffering. As only God’s supernatural Book has the ability to do, God’s record of Bildad’s words provide us unbelievable information about the Antichrist and time of Tribulation. The subject of the passage appears for the first time in verse 5 – “the wicked.” The reference to “the wicked” in the Book of Job is a prophetic foreshadowing of “that Wicked” (the Antichrist) whom Paul mentions in II Thessalonians 2:8. Verse 21 of this 18th chapter looks to the coming Antichrist, and to his destination in hell: “Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place of him that knoweth that God.”
Chapter 19 opens with Job’s response to Bildad’s discourse. Job’s words are like a triple-exposure picture pointing to Christ’s suffering on the cross, the Jew suffering in the Tribulation, and the lost man suffering in hell. The common denominator shared by these three pictures is the fact that they are all the objects of God’s wrath (19:11-12). The three-fold imagery is further seen in19:13-19, as it points toIsraelas a proverb and a by-word of reproach; Christ counted as an enemy by the armies of God as He hung on the cross; and the lost man forever separated from everyone he knows and loves in hell.
Verses 25-27 of chapter 19 are the spiritual climax of the Book. Job’s words in these verses comprise one of the greatest confessions of faith in the entire Bible. He declares that the Redeemer is alive and well; that He will physically be present on the earth in “the latter day,” and that the believer will live in a new physical body.
In chapter 20, it’s Zophar’s turn to take his shots at Job. Once again, the record of his words give us greater insight into the coming Antichrist, “that wicked.”
In chapter 21, Job has been brought to a place of utter frustration with his counselors. His words point to the future judgment and conquest of the Antichrist’s false system by the Lord Jesus Christ.
CHRIST IS REVEALED:
As “THE INNOCENT” – Job 17:8 (Christ is the innocent Savior who died for the guilty – Matt. 27:4)
Through JOB as the one whom God’s WRATH was presumably kindled against – Job19:11(II Cor.
5:21)
As the REDEEMER – Job19:25(Acts20:28; Eph.1:14; Rev. 5:9)