Today in God's Word—June 2023
East Tallassee Church of Christ
June 12, Job 17
”Lay down a pledge for me with you; who is there who will put up security for me?"
- Job 17:33
I have been blessed with good health. We are not wealthy by the world’s standard. But we live comfortably, and God provides for all our needs and blesses us richly beyond that. My children are alive and well, and so are my grandchildren. Even though I have nothing to complain about, I still sometimes find time and ways to feel sorry for myself. Are you anything like me?
Satan robbed Job of his wealth and killed all ten of his children in a single desperate day. Then the devil destroyed Job’s health. Then his wife and friends turned on him.
Job was weary and broken. His intense suffering, tragic losses and bitter discouragement combined with no understanding of why it all happened to shatter the man's life. So we must not fault him for listing miseries, and crying out to God. Pushed to the limits of his endurance, he sensed he was not far from death and the graveyard. Job feared that his life would end before he could complete his plans and finish his business.
Job stacked image upon image, phrase upon phrase to describe his misery. He also persistently maintained his integrity and trust in God. He believed that he would somehow eventually be vindicated. Job’s accusers had been vicious and relentless. Job knew what they said about him was not true. He even challenged them to go on, to continue their unkind barrage of accusations and insults.
Job was probably an early patriarch, long before the law of Moses came to Israel at Mt. Sinai. That law would later define as a crime and prescribe the punishment for something that Job suggested should happen to his hateful mocking friends. They accused Job of gross wickedness that resulted in the death of all his children. Job suggested that the mockers be punished with the same punishment they
imagined he deserved — the death of their own children.
In an amazing insight (or more likely inspiration), Job asked God to do something that had been God’s plan since the foundation of the world. God knew in advance that a drastic intervention would be necessary to redeem human beings who would all fall away from him. Job asked the Lord who was his judge to also be his Advocate, to answer the charges lodged against him. He asked God to vouch for him.
The whole human family (and that includes you and me) are guilty with no peer who can rise to defend us to the Judge. But the great news of the gospel is that Christ did and does what Job imagined and requested here. Jesus took our place as the guilty one, took our punishment on himself and died in our place. He then rose from the grave and ascended to the right hand of God where he now intercedes for us, acting as our Advocate before the Father.
None of Job's associates could do for him what he wanted God to do. But you and I have Jesus as the one Job imagined, someone who could stand between us and God and intercede for us.
Paul wrote, “In Christ God was reconciling the world unto himself." You see, God answered Job's plea. He provided the Mediator, the Advocate that Job imagined. What Job longed for, what the prophets saw dimly, what the angels wanted to see, God did for us in the person of his Son, Jesus. He came to take the place of the guilty, and secure a place for us with him in heaven. Let's bow our heads right now and give thanks for our Savior Advocate, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Copyright © 2023 by Michael B. McElroy. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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