Job serves as one of the most vivid Old Testament types and foreshadowings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Numerous aspects of Job's character, life, and experience reflect the Savior, while some aspects of Job also serve as contrasts to the person and work of the Lord Jesus.
"Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of Me" (Job 5:39).
At the time in which the Lord Jesus Christ spoke, "the Scriptures" comprised only the Old Testament writings of the prophets. Never is the Lord directly mentioned by name, but He shines on every page of the Old Testament, either in prophecy or aforementioned imagery or type. Indeed, we never completely or adequately interpret Biblical text until we glean from Moses, David, Solomon, Isaiah, and the other prophets their illumination upon Christ. Again, "they are they which testify of Me."
In Job, we see the Lord Jesus foreshadowed in numerous ways that we will consider in messages to come. Unlike previous series, I may not write on consecutive days about this subject, but over the course of the next few weeks, we will regularly consider the typology of Job and Christ. As an introduction, the outline that follows will provide a number of ways in which Job serves as a bright light prefiguring the person and work of the Lord Jesus. We will consider these points more fully in messages to come.
1. Godliness - 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 1:1). And He that sent Me is with Me: the Father hath not left Me alone; for I do always those things that please Him" (John 8:29).
2. Wealth - Job's 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 (Job 1:3). "For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor" (II Corinthians 8:9).
3. Intercession - "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). "The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many" (Matthew 20:28).
4. Divine approval and affirmation - "The LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?" (Job 1:8). "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:17).
5. God's initiation of devilish challenge - "The LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?" (Job 1:8). "Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil" (Matthew 4:1).
6. Satanic attack and temptation - "The LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD" (Job 1:12). "When he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread" (Matthew 4:2-3).
7. The challenge - "Put forth Thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse Thee to Thy face" (Job 1:11). "He is... a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief" (Isaiah 53:3).
8. The overcoming - "Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped. In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly" (Job 1:22). "We have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin" (Hebrews 4:15).
9. Physical suffering - "Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown" (2:7). "His visage was so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men… They crucified Him" (Isaiah 52:14; Matthew 27:35).
10. A broken heart - "Job spake, and said, Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived. Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it" (Job 3:2-4). "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?!" (Matthew 27:46).
11. Friends - a.k.a. Accusers - "Miserable comforters are ye all" (Job 16:2). "And one shall say unto Him, What are these wounds in Thine hands? Those with which I was wounded in the house of My friends… Neither did His brethren believe in Him" (Zechariah 13:6; John 7:5).
12. Faithfulness - "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him" (Job 13:15). "When He was reviled, reviled not again; wheHe suffered, He threatened not; but commit Himself to Him that judgeth righteously" (I Peter 2:23).
13. Judged as a sinner - "Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said… "Know therefore that God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity deserveth" (Job 11:1; 6). "This man is a sinner" (John 9:24).
14. Vindication - "The LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath. Therefore take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you: for him will I accept: lest I deal with you after your folly, in that ye have not spoken of me the thing which is right, like my servant Job" (Job 42:7-8). "Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that He should be holden of it" (Acts 2:23-24).
15. Sacrificial prayer - "The Lord turned the captivity of Job when He prayed for His friends" (Job 42:10). "Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34).
16. Restoration - "So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning" (Job 42:12). "being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Philippians 2:8-11).
17. Example to us - "Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy" (James 5:11). "Consider Him who endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds" (Hebrews 12:3).
These and other facets of Job's person and life exist in the Bible as a stunningly brilliant display of the Christ to come. Contrasts also present themselves, which we will also consider. For now, let us simply propose that whether we open Old Testament or New, the Scriptures bear one Theme, one holy Subject, and one declaration of Glory, the glory of the One who declared, "They are they which testify of Me."
"In Thy light shall we see light."
(Psalm 36:9)
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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