Job #4: God's Appearance — Stephen Kaung

But that is not the end of the story. Elihu was only preparing the way of the Lord. In other words, the Lord was not able to appear to Job when he was educating in his soul. It was only after Job was quiet and he was able to listen to the voice of the Spirit within him, then the way of the Lord was open.

God's Appearance Ends the Spiritual Crisis

And here you'll find the Lord appeared. Dear brothers and sisters, a spiritual crisis is not over when you have an interpretation. A spiritual crisis is over only when God appears to you. Very often we think that if we had had the explanation, and the right explanation from God, then our problem is solved.

No. God does condescend Himself to explain things to us sometimes. But dear brothers and sisters, even with the right interpretation, your crisis is not over yet. A spiritual crisis is only over when God appears to you.

Is it not true in our spiritual life? We are always thinking of, oh, if only I can explain, then I'm satisfied. But dear brothers and sisters, you know more than you need to know already, and you are not satisfied.

Nothing can solve our spiritual problems. Nothing can lift us out of a spiritual crisis. But the appearing. Oh, if only God appeared to you, then everything. The solution is not in searching. The solution is not in interpretation.

The solution is in God. Very strange. When God appeared to Job, He did not explain. Do you find in the answer of God to Job any explanation of what had happened? Job said, Here am I. This is my situation.

Now answer me. Explain it. And you know what God did? Instead of answering him, God asked him more questions. Out of the whirlwind, God spoke. You know, there was a storm. And after the storm, the bright sun.

God's Voice in the Whirlwind

But then, the whirlwind. You know, sometimes we think that certainly God is not in the whirlwind. You know, when the whirlwind comes, it blows, it sweeps away everything. It destroys everything. It lifts everything out, up from the earth.

To us, it seems as if a whirlwind is very destructive. It whirls around. It doesn't have a direction. It confuses. It destroys. And is it not true that this is experience of Job? It seems as if Job is in a whirlwind.

He has been turning around and around and around. And he is all confused and puzzled. He is being obluted from the earth. He is floating in the air. He doesn't know where he will go. It is all confusion.

How can God be in such confusion? How can God be in that whirlwind? But dear brothers and sisters, there is one thing good with the whirlwind. As it whirls, it furries to the air. It lifts you out of the earth, into heaven.

Oh, very often God has to use a whirlwind to deliver us out of ourselves, into himself. It is a terrible experience, yes. But thank God he is in the whirlwind, speaking out of the whirlwind. Very often in our time of prosperity and peacefulness, we do not hear God.

In the most unlikely situation, we find not only the voice of God, but the presence of God. You know, one day Elijah was ready to leave this earth and go to God. And Elijah followed him over the river Jordan.

And then Elijah said, well, what do you want? And Elijah said, I want a double portion of your spirit. Oh, it is a very hard thing. A double portion of the spirit of Elijah. Think of that. The spirit of Elijah is a great portion.

And yet Elijah wants a double portion of that spirit. So even Elijah said, well, that was a difficult thing to ask. But if you see me as I go up, then you have it. And as they were talking, you remember, a chariot of fire and fiery horses separated Elijah from Elijah.

Some people think that Elijah rode on that chariot of fire into heaven. But you read your Bible and you find this was not so. The chariot of fire and the horsemen divided Elijah from Elijah. But it was a whirlwind that took Elijah up.

Elijah was raptured in the whirlwind. And dear brothers and sisters, that is what you are going to find here. Here you will find this poor Job was to be delivered completely out of his self. He was all bound up with himself, full of self-love, self-pity, self-righteousness, self-vindication.

And God whirled him around and raptured him out of himself into God. God began to speak. But you know the stranger thing is, God did not explain. O brothers and sisters, as we approach God, how often our mentality is full of the request for an answer.

Answer me, give me an answer, and I am satisfied. Then everything will be all right. But if you know God, you know this is not the right approach. God does not owe you anything. He is God. He is greater than man.

God's Questions in Job 38–40

There is no need for him to explain. Job asked for an answer from God. But God appeared to him and asked him more questions. Oh, if you read chapter 38 and chapter 39, I don't know how many questions can you find there.

I tried to count how many questions actually God asked Job. And each time I counted, I counted differently. So I don't know. One thing I knew, and that was, it must be over 50 questions. Ask God one question.

And God turned around and asked him more than 50 questions. It is not for us to ask God questions. It is for God to ask us questions. Why is it that God asks all these questions? Read these two chapters, these are beautiful chapters.

I could never repeat them. They are so beautiful. But God asks questions, answers questions concerning his creation. God said, when I created the earth, where were you? When I laid the foundation of the earth, did you do anything?

When I shook up the tide, the water, and set a boundary to it, did you help? When I bring the morning to the day, that everything may be enlightened, what have you done? When I enter into the depths of the sea, fathom the gates of death, do you know anything about it?

When I bring about the rain, who is the father of the deep? When I bring out the stars in the heavens, are you able to do that? Look at all the different animals, the eagles, the asses, the goats, all are different.

Who supply them with food? Who give them intelligence? Who lead them? Do you know anything about it? Over 50 questions. And you know, all these questions were asked with one purpose. And you'll find that in chapter 40, verse 2.

Job chapter 40, verse 2. Shall he that will contend with the Almighty instruct him? He that reproveth God, let him answer him. You want to instruct me? God says, all right, instruct me. You want to reprove me?

All right. Dear brothers and sisters, of course, we will never consciously and purposely take such an attitude. We know that God is greater than man. We will never consciously and purposely take such an attitude, thinking that we know more than God, that we can instruct God, we can even reprove him.

We dare not do that. But unconscious, when we are wrapped up with ourselves, we will drift into a kind of attitude as if we know more than God, and God has to explain his actions. In other words, how easily for us to forget ourselves.

Not in the right sense of forgetting, but in the wrong sense of forgetting who we are. We came to forget who we are. We love ourselves, we pity ourselves, we try to justify ourselves to such an extent that unconsciously we forget, blow up ourselves as if we are equal with God, or sometimes even greater.

Being Brought to Nothing

Dear brothers and sisters, it is not an explanation we need. Job got the explanation already, through Elihu. So God did not explain anymore. But it is the right attitude. God has to cut us down to size.

God has to bring us to our sense. God has to drive us to a point to see that we are nothing. You know, especially with a man like Job, who was perfect and upright, one who feared God and escaped from evil, who was prospering under the hand, the blessing of God, one who had so much, he was tempted to feel that he had now become somebody.

Now he had a right to demand certain things. But dear brothers and sisters, if God should appear to you, if he does not explain, at least one thing is sure to happen, and that is when God appears to you, he brings you to your senses.

He cuts you down to the right size. You begin to see that you are not, you are nothing. In some translation it says, I am vile. I am not only nothing, but I am terrible. How dare I sin without knowledge.

Dear brothers and sisters, only an appearing of God will make us free of sin. To Job you will find all the questions are related to creation. Because this is the Old Testament time. But dear brothers and sisters, today, when God shall appear to us, you will find there are not only questions related to creation, but there will be questions connected with redemption.

I have done this. I have done that. I have crucified for you. I have shed my blood for you. I have given my life to you. Have you done anything? What have you done? What is it that is not given? What is it that is yours?

Do you not owe everything to me? Am I not God? Do I not have a right over you? Cannot I do anything that pleases me? Is there not a reason for my working? Why can you not trust me? Why must you question me?

Can you not abandon yourself to me? Do you not know I am God? I am your God. And who are you? Nothing. Dear brothers and sisters, all the trials of Job, if there is no appearing of God, will end up in vanity.

Why this good man suffer? That he may be brought. That he may bow down and say, I am. Oh dear brothers and sisters, how difficult it is for God to bring a person to that position. Especially when we are blessed by God.

Especially when we have achieved something. How easy for us to become proud and think that now, now we know something. We have a right before God. We know nothing. It is very hard. We need to be grinding a crucible into that nothingness.

But this is a blessed position that God has to bring us into. Otherwise we cannot be fully united with God in one spirit. When our soul is so big, when our self is so big, we are not able to be united with God in one spirit.

Our self has to be crushed. We have to be reduced in order that he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit. Dear brothers and sisters, the whole trouble with our union with God, so far experience is concerned, is not because God is great.

It is because we are too great. That is the whole problem. It is not the smallness of man that hinders that union. It is our greatness. Unless we are brought to know that union with God is most difficult.

Christ's Humility and the Believer's Union with God

Look at the life of our Lord Jesus. He who is equal with God. And yet he emptied. He took upon himself the form of a man. He took the position of a slave. Being obedient to death. He said I can't do nothing.

I can't speak nothing. I'm nothing. And because he is nothing, therefore God is everything. Dear brothers and sisters, how often we say God is everything. Is he everything? If we are not being brought to nothing, how can he be everything?

We are too big. It takes a crucible, a grinding, the deeper working of the cross. Many sufferings to bring us to that point. Dear brothers and sisters, whenever God appears to you, this will be. You remember Eli, Isaiah.

The Unworthiness Revealed by Seeing God

When God appeared to him in the temple, he cried out and said I am unclean. I am a man with unclean lips. Dwelling among a people of unclean lips. When Daniel saw the Lord, he fell down at his death. He said all my calmness into corruption.

Do you say you have seen God? Do you say you have met God? What do you mean? You mean that you have received some light from God? You are being enlightened? You know something about God? You can explain?

You can instruct people? Or you have even arrived, achieved somewhere morally, spiritually? Do you mean that? You have heard him. You know him only by hearing. But does my seeing him? If you see him, the one unmistakable mark in your life is.

Yes, I have lots to say, but I cannot say them. You know the sign of a child is a child, but the sign of a matured person is silence. He knows too much. Can I sing? Before God. Do you think this is all?

God spoke again. And in the second speaking of God, you find God raised more questions. Shifted to the moral side. God said are you able to humble the proud? The proud. Two illustrations. The behemoth and the Leviathan.

Humbling Pride Through Behemoth and Leviathan

Now we do not know exactly what these two animals are. Most likely behemoth is Hippopotamus. Leviathan is crocodile. God describes these two beasts. God called Hippopotamus the king of my ways. And God called the crocodile the king of all the beasts.

These two animals were fierce for animals. Uncontrollable. Fear nothing. As it got it. I create you Job with this Hippopotamus and with this crocodile. You are like a king among men. You are proud. Uncontrollable.

But are you beyond me? You are beyond the control of men. Like the Hippopotamus. Like the crocodile. But are you beyond my control? Can I do something to you? I hope every time you go to the zoo and see a Hippopotamus you see yourself.

Every time you see a crocodile you see yourself. This is what we are. O brothers and sisters how proud we can become. That is, if you want to call it sin, that is Job's sin. Job is righteous, yes. But he is so self-righteous that he sins in being proud.

As it got it, the reason why I deal with you is you are humble. You are too proud. You are too proud of yourself. You are too proud of your spiritual achievements. Now I take all your virtues and your works away.

Lay you bare and see whether you can still be proud. As it got it, do you know why I'm dealing with you? To take away your pride. That you may submit yourself with humility. Dear brothers and sisters, therefore you'll find after God has so spoken, Job said, I know that thou canst do everything and that thou canst not be hindered in no thought of thine.

Job said, yes God, you are great. You can do anything. A thought. No one can hinder that thought. Your thought is not a thought of harshness, of cruelty, but your thought is good. Yet I don't know it.

Therefore I abhor myself and repent in dust. I abhor. You'll find that Job was being brought into even a lower position than nothing. Yet he was brought into nothing. So far as I'm concerned, I'm nothing.

But he is less than nothing. He said, I abhor myself. I'm afraid. How can I raise myself up against God? How can I question Him? Why should I question Him? Does He not know what He is doing? I should trust Him.

I should abandon myself to Him. Why should I hold on to myself to nothing? This is worse than nothing. I abhor myself and repent in dust. Dear brothers and sisters, He mentioned that before. He mentioned dust and ashes before.

If you read chapter 30, you'll find there Job in complaining. He said, now you have made me dust and ashes. But I'm not. I'm precious too. You know, sometimes when we say, oh Lord, I'm but dust and ashes.

And by the very tone of it, you know that I am a precious stone. You don't mean it. You don't want to be dust and ashes. But here you'll find Job was brought to a point when he gladly become dust. Yes, you have reduced me to the very last form.

And I gladly accept that. I know myself. And I know you. Brothers and sisters, there's a great difference between hearing God, knowing God by hearing, and knowing God by seeing. Knowing God by hearing will puff you up, make you somebody.

But knowing God by seeing will reduce you into dust and ashes. How do I know that I have seen God? I know because I'm dust. I abandon myself. He is God. And dear brothers and sisters, at that point is reached the crisis.

Job's Restoration and God's Purpose

What is the latter end of Job? The latter end of Job was, captivity of Job was turned. After he prayed for his freedom, God spoke to Eliphaz and said, you have to bring seven bullocks and seven rams. And ask Job to offer the burnt offering for you and pray for you.

Because you haven't spoken as rightly as my servant Job. Here you'll find Job. His soul was quiet. The activities of his soul were quieted. He was able to listen to the Spirit's interpretation. And finally he was face to face with God.

He was reduced to ashes. God, brothers and sisters, here is a man who was now living in God, in the Spirit. And because of that, all the different parts of his soul are to be redeemed, atoned, purified, and brought under the control of the Spirit.

That was the dividing of the soul and the Spirit. And now, bring the soul in subjection. And this is what you'll find there. And the result was, God blessed Job doubly. And do you know what is meant by double portion?

The Double Portion and Sonship

If you read Deuteronomy 21, verse 17, you'll find that the double portion is the right of the firstborn. The firstborn is to receive double portion. Why? Because the firstborn is the son of a man's vigor and strength.

It is the right of the firstborn. Dear brothers and sisters, who is the firstborn? Our Lord Jesus is the only begotten Son of God. But so far as his relationship with the creation is concerned, he is the firstborn of all creation.

In other words, he came to this world with a very definite purpose of bringing many sons into glory. And because of that, he is called the firstborn. He is to bring many sons into glory. Whom he foreknows, he foreordains that they may be conformed to his image.

Oh, brothers and sisters, what is the eternal purpose of God? The eternal purpose of God is that our Lord Jesus Christ, the firstborn, that we may all become sons, that we may all take up his character.

We may be conformed to his image, that he may be formed in us. What his firstborn son is, so are we, his many sons. And this is God's purpose. He wants to bring many sons into glory. And do you know, so far as our relationship with the creation is concerned, the church has become the church of the firstborn.

Hebrews 12, verse 23. Because our head is the firstborn, therefore the body is also firstborn. In other words, we are made heirs and co-heirs with Christ. We are to receive a double portion, the right, the blessing of the firstborn.

Oh, brothers and sisters, this is the end of the Lord. This is the whole lesson of the book of Job. What is the end of the Lord, to be arrived at? The end of the Lord is that Job may receive a double portion, that from a child, from an adolescent, he may grow into maturity, sonship, and there receive his double portion.

And this is God's purpose. In Christ Jesus, concerning his church, a double portion, heirs and co-heirs. Oh, and then you'll find there is spiritual increase. God gave him seven sons and three daughters.

Spiritual Beauty, Fragrance, and Power

You know, the sons and daughters that he had before, were born, yes, by the blessing of God, but still, naturally possible, because he was younger. But at that time, probably he was seventy, hundred. Humanly speaking, he was not able to bear any sons and daughters anymore.

But now you'll find there was spiritual increase, of such purity, that there was depth. The three daughters' names were given, very beautiful. The first daughter's name was Jememiah, which means beautiful as the day.

Beautiful as the day. Vibrant. Full of life. That kind of beauty. You know, there are two kinds of beauty. One kind of beauty is like a false flower, you know. You can make a flower a false flower. But there is a beauty in it.

What is that beauty? There is another kind of beauty, which is life. Full of life. And here you'll find the virtue of Job, from henceforth, is beautiful as the day. Because the daughters represent virtue.

The sons represent strength. You'll find his virtue is like the day. The fruits of the Spirit. Full of life. The second daughter's name was Kaziah. Cassia. Purple. Flower. Fragrant. Full of fragrance.

The fragrance of Christ. And the third daughter's name was Karen Capuch. Horn of the paint. Horn stands for power. So here you'll find there is such spiritual increase that it is full of beauty, full of fragrance, and full of power.

And he is able to see his sons and his sons' sons to the fourth generation. Very productive. Dear brothers and sisters, this is the end of the Lord. So James 5 .11 says, we have seen the endurance of Job, and we know that the end of the Lord.

We have seen the end of the Lord. That the Lord is full of tender compassion and pity. Isn't it true? God has no desire to make us suffer. He allows suffering only to bring in. He is full of tender compassion and pity.

Prayer for Growth into Sonship

May the end of the Lord be reached in each of us. Heavenly Father, we have seen the endurance of Job, and we have also seen the end of the Lord. We agree and say the Lord is full of tender compassion and pity.

Therefore, how we praise and thank Thee because Thy thoughts concerning Thy people are noble and manifold. O how we praise and thank Thee that Thou art not contented with our being little children, but it is Thy desire that we should grow into sonship, that we may be heirs and co-heirs with Christ.

O what a blessing. Lord, do open our eyes and our understanding that we may see the goal which Thou art after. That we may endure the cross for the joy that is set before us. O may we look often to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.

We bless Thy name. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.