Lessons from Job (Part 1)

3 May 2020

Lessons from Job (Part 1)

"Although the Lord mentioned that these 3 men (Noah, Daniel and Job) were righteous, it is important to note that they were not sinless, but men who were striving to be righteous in the sight of God. It would be doctrinally wrong to think that these 3 men saved themselves through their righteous characters."

The name Job means ‘The Persecuted’. Job is described in God’s words as follows:

Job 1:1  There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil. 

Job 1:2  And there were born unto him seven sons

and three daughters. 

Job 1:3  His substance also was seven thousand sheep,

and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she

asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the

men of the east.

I will be covering the study of this book and would like to share the following topics relating to Job:

1)                  The character of Job

2)                  A glimpse of the heavenly conflict and the given powers of Satan

3)                  The common attack of the Devil

4)                  Job’s understanding and his trust in God.

 

This week, we will consider the Character of Job.

The character of Job

The Bible verses below declare Job as a righteous man.

Eze 14:13  Son of man, when the land sinneth against me by trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out mine hand upon it, and will break the staff of the bread thereof, and will send famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast from it:

Eze 14:14  Though these three men, Noah, Daniel,

and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their

righteousness, saith the Lord GOD.

The Lord, in the above verses, singled out 3 righteous men in the Old Testament (i.e. Noah, Daniel and Job) and Job was highlighted as one of them. Although the Lord mentioned that these 3 men were righteous, it is important to note that they were not sinless, but men who were striving to be righteous in the sight of God. It would be doctrinally wrong to think that these 3 men saved themselves through their righteous characters. 

Job himself declared in Job 42:6:  Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes. 

All the Old Testament saints would likewise need the blood of Christ to cleanse them from their sins as the blood of Christ has retrospective, present and prospective powers to atone for man’s sin. Since all men have sinned, it is sufficient to understand that as far as the Old Testament saints are concerned, those that love righteousness and eschew evil are also saved by the blood of the Son of God. In our present time, the test for a person’s righteousness is not demonstrated by our works— but is encapsulated in Romans 10:9 as all righteousness is demonstrated by believing in the Lord Jesus. In Him is all goodness found.

God describes Job as a man who was perfect, upright, God-fearing and one who eschewed evil. In my attempt to describe Job’s character, I would like to pair these characteristics into two sets:

   I.            Perfect and Fear  God

   II.            Upright and Eschew evil

1)      Perfect and fear of God

Job’s perfectness in the sight of God arose from his fear of the Lord. If there is no fear of God, he definitely cannot attain perfectness with God.

Political correctness will tell us not to speak so much about fear but love. Although it is true that love is the greatest, fear is the driving force to the greatest attribute of love. The book of Proverbs repeatedly tells us, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom…(Proverbs 9:10).” When we examine these words carefully, if the fear of the Lord is not present, there is no beginning of wisdom. It is imperative that Christians who trust in the Lord Jesus should be fearful of Him. This is the reason why we should address Him as LORD JESUS and avoid the familiar address of Him as ‘Jesus’. The beautiful second verse of the hymn “Amazing Grace” captures the scriptural value of fear as written below:  

’Twas Grace that taught my heart to fear,

  And Grace my fears relieved;

How precious did that Grace appear

  The hour I first believed!

When we fear God, many things in our lives would change. We will be looking at God— the Lord Jesus Christ— as our Master and Lord. We would be careful in valuing the things of God, the sacredness of His words, His teachings and His presence in our gatherings in His name. It will guide us towards perfectness in the sight of God. Perfectness is the believers’ aim, Mat 5:48  Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

2)      Uprightness and eschewal of evil

Math teaches us the importance of following a formulaic sequence to arrive at a correct answer. For example, multiplication and division must be completed before addition and subtraction (e.g. 2+ 3 X 7 = 2 + 21 = 23).

When we fear God, we strive towards perfection in accordance to His words and teachings. Only after the fear of God and strive towards perfection is present in our lives, we can work towards emulating Job’s other characteristics of uprightness and eschewal of evil. Anyone who only develops his or her character on the principles of uprightness and eschewal of evil without the fear of God is only nurturing a humanistic form of uprightness which falls short of God’s expectations.

The virtues of uprightness and avoidance of evil relate to our relationship with our fellow humankind. The import of this teaching to ourselves, children and society cannot be overemphasized as man is a depraved being. We see evil manifestations even in high societies, whereby their evil deeds vex us daily. As Christians, we bear a responsibility to our fellow humankind, even if they are non-Christians. The Bible verses below sum up the teachings of Christian uprightness and eschewal of evil:

Rom 12:17  Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. 

Rom 12:18  If it be possible, as much as lieth in

you, live peaceably with all men.

Rom 12:19  Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves,

but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will

repay, saith the Lord.

Rom 12:20  Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed

him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of

fire on his head.

Rom 12:21  Be not overcome of evil, but overcome

evil with good.

Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Job is a believer in God during the Old Testament era and he has earned such an excellent testimony from God. If we benchmark our character with him, I think his character is so much better than many of us living in the New Testament era. Let us pause for a moment to contemplate on why the saints living in the New Testament era should have better faith and conduct compared with a saint living in the Old Testament era.

(Hint: The relative brightness of a candle and 50 W LED lamp)

With God’s blessings,

CL