Friday, August 1, 2014

Job - The Foreshadowing Part 9


    Job's terrible physical sufferings direct our attention to the bodily agonies experienced by the Lord Jesus Christ.

    "Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown" (Job 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).

    Smitten by boils to the degree of being unrecognizable, Job experienced pain and humiliation beyond description.  "I am full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning of the day.  My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin is broken, and become loathsome" (Job 7:4-5).  It's horrible even to imagine, and Job's frequent verbal expressions describing his agonies provide all the more awareness of the pain he must have known.

    Terrible as Job's sufferings were, and as disfigured as he was by the boils, Someone else knew greater physical pain and destruction.  "Marred more than any man" declares the prophet Isaiah of the Lord Jesus.  The New Testament's actual account of the Savior's sufferings is quite understated, but the Old Testament records with surprising clarity the record of beatings (with fists and rods), scourging, the plucking of His beard, the plating of a crown of thorns upon His brow, and the crucifixion.  Unlike Job, however, no Scriptural record exists of the Lord Jesus responding verbally to any aspect of the terrible assault He experienced.  On the contrary - "He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not his mouth: He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not his mouth" (Isaiah 53:7).  Our Lord said nothing to His human attackers, nor did He voice complaint to His Father for allowing the savage cruelty and pain.

   I harbor no criticism of Job for his many expressions of grief and bewilderment regarding his sufferings.  Pain loosens our tongues to say much about how we feel.  However, I'm sure you join me in much awe and appreciation for the Lord Jesus, who uttered not a word of complaint or bitterness regarding the pains He suffered.  Indeed, His silence also stills our voices because what words can adequately tell the wonder of the quiet Lamb led to the slaughter?  He counted us worth the sufferings that purchased our redemption, and suffered without complaint because He loves us to the degree that "for the joy that we set before Him, He endured the cross, despising the shame" (Hebrews 12:2).  We are that "joy that was set before Him," and we are cause of so much pain as known by our Savior, and so few words spoken about it.

"Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow His steps: who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth: who, when He was reviled, reviled not again."
(I Peter 2:21-23)

Weekly Memory Verse
   By Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name.
(Hebrews 13:15)






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