Reading Job (Part 2)

Reading Job as a Guide to Forgiveness, Mediation, and Resurrection

Welcome to No Compromise Radio Ministry. Mike Gabenroth here. I don't, I've got this digital thing here. What's the voice digital? What about this one? What does this one make? I like the Heidelcast one better.

And then lastly, okay, that's enough. Send all your emails to scottclark .com. Besides Heidel Vlog, I think there's an rscottclark .com. I think you can find some old papers there. Mike Gabenroth here, No Compromise Radio Ministry, Duplex Gratia Radio.

I hope you didn't use any of those cheap glasses looking at the eclipse. That's how they're going to take over the world. Bad glasses. Everybody's blind. Nobody can see. I think that was kind of similar show to Day of the Triffids, that old creature feature show.

An astral something, comet, and then everybody went blind except the people that had just had eye surgery and their eyes were covered when these plant-like things came in to consume them. Now that's when you do the monster.

Consuming them. Mike Gabenroth, No Compromise Radio. Today, part two, the book of Job. Job. Questions that are found in Job that are of a literary device called foreshadowing. Clues, questions to get you to say, what should I look for in the rest of the Bible?

Three detective-like questions in last show in this. Columbo-like questions found in Job designed to help you read your Bible well. The first one we saw in Job chapter 7, last show, was does God forgive sin?

That's a good question to have in mind as you read your Bible. Does God care? Does He love me? Does it matter to Him? Well, if He forgives sins, we know the answer. The second question that we're going to look at today, I didn't get to last time, is there a mediator between God and man?

Is there a mediator between God and man? Wouldn't that give you comfort? Wouldn't that let you know that God cares, God loves, God has mercy, kindness if there's an advocate or a mediator? Job 9, 29, Job began talking.

I shall be condemned. Why then do I labor in vain? If I wash myself with snow and cleanse my hands with lye, yet you will plunge me into a pit, and my clothes will abhor me. For he, God, is not a man as I am, that I might answer him, that we should come to trial together.

There is no arbiter between us who might lay his hand on both of us. Let him take his rod away from me, and let not the dread of him terrify me. Then I would speak without fear of him, for I am not so in myself.

And in this section, Job starts off in verses 29 and 31 through 31. Okay, God is transcendent, he's holy, he's other, he's above, but is he close? Is he near? Does he have a care for me? Is there any kind of condescension?

Is he far away or is he close? And if there's a mediator, well, that would answer the question, if God cares. If there was a mediator, that would answer the question, does God love? And this all drives us to one of the most mysterious, fascinating, and wonderful topics in all the Bible, and that is the incarnation, the incarnation of the Lord Jesus.

And does that show you that God is not only transcendent and above, beyond, over, but close and near? Truly man, truly God, perfectly man, perfectly God. God does care. And when Job says, I don't have an arbiter, basically he's saying to his three friends, they're not arbiters, they're not empires, they're not helping, they're not mediators.

I wish I had one that would give me comfort. Here I'm in divine court. I would like a lawyer, sometimes translated umpire, a referee. There's two MMA fighters grappling and the referee has to pull them apart.

If only I could have reconciliation with God. It seems like God's far off. It seems like God doesn't care. It seems like God is absent. A mediator would solve all that. When I think about God's rod, Job said, verse 34, later in the Bible, talks about wrath in the Old Testament in Exodus 17, Psalm 89, Isaiah 10.

I mean, this is frightening. But if there was an arbiter, someone that could put his hands on, one hand on me and one hand on God and stand between to mediate our dispute, a heavenly umpire, making reconciliation, resolution.

I would so know that you cared, God, and that you love me. I'm suffering. That makes it even harder for me to think, do you care for me? Real comfort found in a mediator. I need help. These negotiations are beyond me.

I've had a right relationship with you. Well, then suffering would be easier. I would know. Well, I think you see where this is going, right? You see where this is going. Job is crying out if there's just someone to mediate, to arbitrate, to be an umpire.

I wouldn't be exasperated. Matter of fact, I could suffer well knowing that I'm fine with God if I knew he cared. And as some say, this is the longing of every sinner. Is there a mediator? How do you approach God?

You have to have a mediator. And we even know later from our Bibles that to be in heaven is to be in the presence of God with a mediator. And to be in hell is to be in the presence of God without a mediator.

So, when you're reading your Bible, Job is giving us a literary foreshadowing device to help you say, what should I be looking for? I need to look for how are sins forgiven? Is it possible? I also need to be looking at is there ever going to be a mediator?

And as you read your Old Testaments and then New Testament, tracing the theme of a mediator, how about tracing the theme of a priest? How about high priests? Not angels. But you read your Bible and you think, I wonder if there's any way.

Even when you think of the Trinity, what's going to happen here? I will tell the decree, the Lord said to me, you are my son, today I have begotten you. Ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession.

You shall break them with the rod of iron and shall dash in pieces, dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Now, therefore, O kings, be wise, be warned, O rulers of the earth, serve the Lord of fear and rejoice with trembling.

Kiss the son, lest he be angry and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him. And you begin to think, is there a way to have your sins forgiven? And now here, is there a mediator?

Oh, even Trinity language, even the language of son, maybe the son, you take refuge in the son, that's the mediator? Or Psalm 110, the Lord says to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.

Does God care? You read the Old Testament and you think of priests, high priests, offerings, prayers, right? Prayers and offerings. Are there mediators? I came to North No Compromise Radio Ministry. You can write me, mike at nocompromiseradio .com.

The two new books out, two additional 31-day guidebooks are out. Cancer is Not Your Shepherd, a 31-day guide to suffering. I wrote half the book. The other half of the book is about suffering in general with old authors like Thomas Brooks and Thomas Watson.

I don't think there's any Thomas Goodwin's in there, but I could be wrong. And then a 31-day guide to purity called Sexual Fidelity. It's updated and revised, more law gospel, more grace, et cetera. I dreamt last night that a box of books came in, my books, and I opened it up and the first page had a typo.

I just read a Crossway book last night or this morning, Kevin DeYoung, Mission Impossible, Impossible Christianity, something like that. It said ever, but it should have said never. So, I've seen D. A. Carson books with typos in them.

So, hey, at least they're just made to order so I can change it up pretty fast. Detective-like questions. They'll help you understand your Bible. Look for the right things. And when you find those things to be happy and joyful, does God forgive sin?

Is there a mediator? And is there a resurrection? Is there a resurrection? Would that show that God is loving, kind, merciful? Would that give comfort to you? Job 14, verse 13, oh, that you would hide me in Sheol, that you would conceal me until your wrath be passed, that you would appoint me a set time and remember me.

If a man dies, shall he live again? Let me repeat that. If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my service I would wait till the renewal should come. Hey, there's life. There's afterlife. There's life now and there's life later, after we're dead.

That sounds like resurrection to me. Verse 15 of Job 14, you would call and I would answer you. You would long for the work of your hands, for then you would number my steps. I would not keep watch over my sin.

My transgression would be sealed up in a bag and you would cover over my iniquity. But the mountain falls and crumbles away and the rock is removed from its place. The waters wear away the stones, the torrents wash away the soil of the earth, so you destroy the hope of man.

You prevail forever against him and as he passes, you change his countenance and send him away. Sons come to honor and he does not know it. They're brought low and he perceives it not. He feels only the pain of his own body and he mourns only for himself.

Lord, do you care? I'm suffering. Do you love me? You know, one of the things that he talks about, for then you would number my steps and would not keep watch over my sin. What if I'm all cleaned up at the resurrection?

What if I'm all better? What if I'm holy? What if, verse 17, my sins are all gone? They're dealt with. Is it just a dream? Is there any hope? Or is it final? If there's a resurrection, Lord, I know you'd care.

Job 19, for I know that my Redeemer lives and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself and my eyes shall behold, and not another.

My heart faints within me. I know my kinsman Redeemer lives, my Goel, the one who vindicates family members. When you read your Bible, dear Christian, you should be asking yourself the question, does God forgive sin?

Is there a mediator? And is there going to be a resurrection? Begin to read your Bible. People die and you're like, hey, Enoch, well, it's not a resurrection, but something's going on there. Translated, walking with God, then he was not, for God took him.

How many people raised from the dead in the Bible? 10? 20? 30? Zero? In the Old Testament, three. The widow of Zarephath's son was raised, 1 Kings 17. The Shunammite's woman's son, 2 Kings 4. The man raised out of Elisha's grave, 2 Kings 13.

Is there a resurrection? You're looking for those. You're excited when you see them. In the New Testament, the widow of Nain's son, Jairus's daughter, that's Luke 7, Luke 8. Lazarus of Bethany, John 11.

And then in Matthew 27, there was a whole slew of people raised. We don't know the number. When Jesus died and the people, the tombstones were opened and the people were raised from the dead, when Jesus died, they stayed there on Saturday.

Then on Sunday morning, they started walking around town. And then the ultimate, the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, he's risen, just as he said. When you're suffering, all the frills, spills, sports, politics, family drama, it's all gone.

Think you're going to die? What are you thinking about? So you ask the right questions about you and God. Who is God? Does he care? Does he love me? And so when you read your Bible, there's a theme that you should see.

I'm going to be looking for forgiveness of sins through a mediator via the resurrection. I'm looking for Jesus as I read my Bible. That's how you look for Jesus. Questions that come out of suffering. Let me give you some takeaways.

Do I want to make four more questions? Okay, I guess I could do it. How do I know God cares? This is just to reiterate, because God forgives people in the name and person of the Lord Jesus. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

How does he know God cares? He's provided a mediator. There's one God, and there's one mediator between God and the man Christ, Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.

How do I know God cares? Because God not only resurrected Jesus, but will resurrect you. 1 Corinthians 15, this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.

When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through the Lord Jesus Christ. God loves you, dear Christian. And even though you might struggle, even though you might fall into temptation, even though you might sin, even though God might discipline you, even though you're going to suffer in this world, he loves you.

And when you are suffering like that, you're going to ask the right questions. When you're in the death zone with COVID, or you have cancer, who do you turn to? The God who cares. Are you suffering, Christian?

Casting all your anxiety, 1 Peter 5, verse 7, on him because he cares for you. And when there's no answers, may that lead you to the Lord Jesus and his cross. God cares. One of the key words of this book is comfort.

Job's friends tried to comfort him. Job takes comfort in not having denied the words of the Holy One, chapter 7. God comforts, unlike the three false comforters. Job 42, verse 6, therefore I despise myself, Job said, and repent in dust and ashes.

Now, that word repent, it's a derivative of the same word in Job 2 .11 that means comfort. And there's an ESV footnote that says, I despise myself and am comforted in dust and ashes. And they say it finds support in the way it corresponds to Job's search for comfort that runs throughout the entire book and is consistent with God's declaration that what Job has spoken of him is right.

Does God care? Does God comfort? Yes. In this particular case, all of Job's fortunes are restored. Meredith Klein said, the philosophical why has not been answered. But God, by the condescension of his coming, has assured Job of his gracious concern.

That is enough for Job. That's Job 42, 6. God cares. Do the righteous suffer? Of course, they suffer. The Lord Jesus suffered. Our suffering points to a greater sufferer. We suffer because of the sin and curse world.

Jesus' suffering was not internal in the sense that he sinned. But he who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? I said this on the show prior to that, but when I first heard Abner Chau talk about this, I've expanded it some and thought this is the right way to look at Job, not only about suffering, but to ask the right questions when there is suffering.

Now, I think Chau said if Job could have the book of Romans with him, he would have turned his world upside down. I get his point and I'll just take it and expand it a little bit and in my mind make it better.

What if Job would have had the book of Hebrews? What if Job had the book of Hebrews and needed to answer then the question, why are you cast down, oh my soul? Because in the book of Hebrews, what do you see?

You see forgiveness, mediator slash priest, and resurrection. It's all there. Hebrews chapter 1 verse 3, after making purification for sins, dealing with sins, sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.

Forgiveness dealt with. Mediator, how do you have one hand on each? You have to be truly God and truly man, and to be truly God, it says of Hebrews 1, 8, of the son, your throne, oh God, is forever and ever.

Truly man, he was made a little lower than the angels, Hebrews 2, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. Since therefore, verse 14 of chapter 2, children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise also partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil.

Truly man, truly God. The priest, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the son of God, Hebrews 4. The priest who makes intercession for us, he always lives to do that, Hebrews 7, 25.

The point in what we are saying is this, we have such a high priest who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty on high, Hebrews 8, 1. We have a priest, we have the mediator, but we also have the resurrected mediator because he, in chapter 1 and here now chapter 8, he's seated at the right hand of the majesty on high.

And what does he do? When he made sacrifice for sins, a single sacrifice, he sat down, Hebrews 10. Hebrews 12, he despised the shame, endured the cross, and is seated at the right hand of the throne. And Hebrews 13, now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will.

You read Hebrews and you think, that's amazing, if Job had that, he'd be doing cartwheels, backflips. But you have that when you suffer. What comfort does resurrection of the body afford you, ask Heidelberg Catechism 57, that not only my soul after this life shall be immediately taken up to Christ its head, but also that this my body, raised by the power of Christ, shall be reunited with my soul and made like unto the glorious body of Christ.

What comfort do you have from the article of life everlasting, that inasmuch as I now feel in my heart the beginning of eternal joy, I shall after this life possess complete bliss, such as eye has not seen or ear heard, neither has entered into the heart of man therein to praise God forever.

In Jesus, there is forgiveness via, that was a mistake, push the wrong button. In Jesus, there is forgiveness through a mediator who was raised from the dead. Do you see that? Of course you do. Mike Cavendraw with No Compromise Radio Ministry.

Go home, read Job. And as you're reading the Bible, look for questions. What about forgiveness? What about mediator? What about resurrection?