OVERVIEW:
The continuation of Job’s defense of himself; Bildad’s continued accusations; Job’s response to Bildad; Zophar’s accusation that Job is 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 our Lord Jesus Christ as He hung on the cross. As Job continues his speech in chapter 17, the picture also continues. When Job says in verse 7, “Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, and all my members are as a shadow,” 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, of Whom Job’s innocence is simply foreshadowing. Christ is the innocent Saviour who died for the guilty.
Note that chapter 17 is also a great reminder of one of the great paradoxes of life: winners don’t always win and losers don’t always lose. Many times the godly suffer, while the wicked prosper.
In chapter 18, Bildad presents his second “sermon” 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 the time of Tribulation. The subject of the passage appears for the first time in verse 5, as reference is made to “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 2nd Thessalonians 2:8. Verse 21 of this 18th chapter looks to the coming antichrist, and to his ultimate destination in hell: “Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place of him that knoweth not 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 in 19:13–19, as it points to:
- ISRAEL as a proverb and a by-word of reproach.
- CHRIST counted as an enemy by the armies of God as He hung on the cross.
- 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! That’s some pretty awesome theology for a guy who didn’t have a single page of the Bible!
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 Saviour who died for the guilty – Matthew 27:4)
- Through JOB as the one whom God’s WRATH was presumably kindled against – Job 19:11 (2nd Corinthians 5:21)
- As the REDEEMER – Job 19:25 (Acts 20:28; Ephesians 1:14; Revelation 5:9)