The Gospel Proclaimed in Job

"Now therefore take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves.  And my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly.  For you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has."  -Job 42:8

It is important for us to see that the Bible is a unified narrative, all 66 books.  It is not two different messages, it does not testify to two different kinds of God.  Throughout every page of Scripture, our gaze is directed to the infinitely holy God over all that exists.  We are reminded time and time again that it will not be by man's will or exertion that he makes himself right in the sight of this great God - it will be only by God's grace and faith in Him that man will have right standing with Him.  Throughout the Old Testament, in clear statements, types, and shadows, the gospel is proclaimed.  The message that man needs a mediator, a savior.  That man's sin is not something that he can overcome by himself, but that he will need an act of grace to cleanse him from his guilt.  Or else he will suffer the wrath deserved for his sins.

I just finished studying through the book of Job, and it is amazing to see so many gospel themes playing out.  One or two are specifically on my mind today.  Job is described as "blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil." (1:1)  Satan is given permission on two separate occasions to afflict Job greatly, but must spare Job's life.  Through these afflictions, Job loses his property, his children, and his physical health.  His affliction is great, so great in fact that his wife encourages him to "curse God and die." (2:9)  He has friends who come to comfort him, but their words of "comfort" make his afflcition even worse.  They encourage him to come clean, because there is no way such things would happen to someone unless they had made God really mad.  Job is vexed by their accusations, and this leads to him calling God to account for His actions.  God responds to Job with His Godly authority, turning the tables on Job and calling him to account.  "Will you even put Me in the wrong?  Will you condemn me that you may be in the right?" (40:8)  After God repeatedly reminds Job of His eternal power and authority over all things, Job repents of his questioning of God in dust and ashes.

What happens next is a beautiful pointer to the person and work of Jesus.  God was angry with Job's friends "for you have not spoken of Me what is right, as my servant Job has." (42:7b)  And God does not ask them to bring a sacrifice directly to Him, for He would not accept it.  He tells them to bring their sacrifice to Job, so that he might pray for them.  God says that He will accept Job's prayer, and will not deal with his friends according to their folly.  For these three men, they were blessed to have someone who would and could mediate between God and them.  It was their salvation, in a sense.  "And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends." (42:10)

Multiple times in the beginning and end of the book of Job, God refers to him as "my servant Job."  And as He uses that phrase repeatedly in chapter 42, specifically in this instance of Job interceding on behalf of his friends, let our eyes and hearts be drawn to Jesus Christ.  In the book of Isaiah, as God describes the coming Messiah He says, "Behold, My servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted." (52:13)  He also says, "Out of the anguish of His soul he shall see and be satisifed; by His knowledge shall the righteous one, My servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and He shall bear their iniquities.  Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the many, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong, because He poured out His soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet He bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors." (53:11-12)

Job's intercession was of great benefit to his friends, but it is only a pointer to the intercession that Christ makes for all who believe in His atoning death and victorious resurrection.  His intercession makes us righteous in God's sight, though our sin is great.  Job's restoration is a wonderful blessing of God upon him and his family, but it is also a pointer to the exaltation and eternal glory of Jesus Christ, who reigns as King and great High Priest at the right hand of God the Father!  Praise God that He has been proclaiming the good news from the beginning of creation, and that Jesus Christ was brought low and exalted, for His praise into all of eternity and for the salvation and joy of all who believe!