Friday, July 25, 2014

The Foreshadowing - Job Part 5


     "His sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them. And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually" (Job 1:5).

    We know nothing of Job's background or religious upbringing.  The Bible introduces God's servant without introduction of the most basic details of his life, leaving us with little more than tradition to conjecture regarding the what, where, and when of this most intriguing Scriptural figure.  We do, however, know this: Job recognized the reality of God, the seriousness of sin, and the need for sacrifice in order to avoid the incurring of Divine wrath.  "Without shedding of blood is no remission" (Hebrews 9:22).

    Job's intercessory nature and practice extended beyond his sons.  Much later in the narrative, after his sufferings had long brought untold sorrow and misery, Job made offering for the friends ("miserable comforters" actually) whose false accusations led to their own spiritual jeopardy.  "The LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends" (Job 42:7).  God commanded the men to take bullocks and rams to Job for a burnt offering, promising that Job's intercession would save them from judgment.  This occurred, along with the end of Job's trial: "And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends; also the Lord gave Job twice as much as before" (Job 42:10).  

   The typology of this glimmers and gleams so brightly of the Lord Jesus Christ that it hardly seems to require mention.  Before his sufferings, Job's sacrifices did not and could not spare his sons from calamity.  After his trial, conversely, Job's intercession delivers friends who acted like enemies, and also results in his own multiplied wealth and blessing. "So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses. He had also seven sons and three daughters" (Job 42:12-13).  

    "Christ must needs have suffered, and risen from the dead" (Acts 17:3).

    Until His death and resurrection, the Lord Jesus could not redeem us from our sins.  God does not and cannot save by mere Divine fiat, as it were.  As the saying goes, "In order to create, God spoke.  In order to redeem, He bled."  Atonement is required, according to the Lord's holiness and righteousness.  Moreover, sacrifice must involve the most holy of offerings in order to be accepted and efficacious.  "It is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins… we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: but this man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God" (Hebrews 10:4; 10-12).  The Lord Jesus gave Himself for our sins, an offering so sufficient in His Father's sight that it eternally saves every sinner who avails Himself of Calvary's grace, and so perfect that God raised His Son from the dead and made Him "the Heir of all things" (Hebrews 1:2).

    Sorrow and suffering constituted Job as an effectual intercessor.  A far greater sacrifice made Christ "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29).  We respect and appreciate the former; we fall to our faces in loving and amazed worship before the Latter…

"And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever."
(Revelation 5:11-14)

Weekly Memory Verse
   But this man, because He continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.
(Hebrews 7:24-25)

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