Please turn to the book of Job. We have just started at the beginning of this book. We are going very slowly, we take it word by word. We compare scripture with scripture because that is what God has taught us to do. This is how we understand the Word of God. He has written it in parables. We read in Mark 4:11:
And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables:
Christ spoke in parables. The whole Word of God (the whole Bible) are the words of Christ. He is the Word manifested, made flesh and it is all parables. We are to search out the words and see how they are used. Throughout the Bible, we are to look at situations in these stories and the counts, in the histories, in the genealogies, in the battles that were fought and all the things that befelled the Israelites. It is all parables and the gospel is hidden all through it. Let me read out of Proverbs 25:2. Proverbs 25:2 says:
It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: …
The word dâbâr (daw-bawr’), Strong’s number 1697. In Proverbs 25:2:
It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter (thing).
It is the same word. But it is just translated as “matter” for some reason in the second time that it appeared in that sentence.
But it is the glory of God to conceal a thing and it is the honour of kings to search out that thing and “kings” are the true believers in the Bible. This is the way we study the Bible.
Now we are, I believe maybe at about verse 13 of Job. Let me start reading at verse 6 here, in chapter 1 of Job. In Job 1:6-22:
Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before JEHOVAH, and Satan came also among them. And JEHOVAH said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered JEHOVAH, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. And JEHOVAH 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? Then Satan answered JEHOVAH, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. And JEHOVAH 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 JEHOVAH. And there was a day when his sons (that’s Job’s sons) and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house: And there came a messenger unto Job, and said, The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding beside them: And the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away; yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The fire of God is fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep, and the servants, and consumed them; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The Chaldeans made out three bands, and fell upon the camels, and have carried them away, yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house: And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: JEHOVAH gave, and JEHOVAH hath taken away; blessed be the name of JEHOVAH. In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.
So we are trying to pair it out and understand what this is all about. Where is the gospel in this? I think most people readily understand that Job is a picture (a figure) of Christ. In Job 1:1, it says that he “was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.”
Now that applies to all children of God. They are perfect. Any child of God is perfect in the eyes of God because God has ascribed to him, the righteousness of Christ. So all children of God fear God and eschew evil.
But we also see, as we read through this book, that Job seems to be suffering for no sin of his own and he claims that repeatedly through this book and in that, I believe that he is a figure of Christ and in many other things that we see in this book.
If we read chapters like, chapter 19, they are Messianic. They read like Psalm 22. You can obviously see Christ suffering on the cross, in a chapter like that or in much of what Job says and as we look at these three friends that come to visit him a little later on in a study, we will not get to them tonight but we have to try to understand who they are.
They come to console Job, but they never really do any consoling. They start to suggest to him or tell him that God has brought all this affliction on him because he has sinned. He maintains that he has not sinned and he wants to reason with God. They get offended and so the exchange goes on in that light for many chapters.
But something else, I believe, as I have been studying this book and I am not going to say this conclusively at this point, but we will keep examining this that Job seems to be also a picture of Christ as the head of his body, which is the church and in this suffering and affliction and what God does to his sons and his daughters and how he takes his possessions, I believe also that we are to see Christ in that.
We already looked at “his substance” in verse 3 there, his flocks, how they numbered to 11,500 which is 5 times 23 times 100 (5 x 23 x 100) and we know that that number 23 is the number of destruction. Particularly, it is associated with the corporate people of God in the Bible.
Let us start here, at verse 13. Then we go on to read how Satan appears in the presence of God. He was allowed in heaven until the time at the cross and he challenges God.
God asks him if he has seen this man Job, how he is perfect and upright and then Satan challenges God. He says, “take away what he has and he will curse thee to your face”. So we read here, that God allowed Satan to touch what he has. In Job 1:12:
And JEHOVAH said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. …
At this point, God did not allow Satan to touch Job physically. So, we read in Job 1:13:
And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house:
And we looked at “eating and drinking” and “eating and drinking” in the Bible, very often has to do with partaking of the gospel, of eating of that bread of life and we know that Christ certainly emphasized this when he instituted the last supper and certainly there are many verses in the Bible that talk about “eating and drinking”.
We have looked at Proverbs 15:15. Let me just read it again. Proverbs 15:15 says:
All the days of the afflicted are evil: but he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast.
And we read in many places in the Bible, how God feeds his people or shepherds. Often it is the same word. We should be able to see spiritually if Job is Christ. He was a very rich man also. Men like Abraham or Isaac or Jacob or others in the Bible that were rich and had flocks and herds were pictures of Christ. 2 Corinthians 8:9 says:
For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.
And that verse really applies to the story of Job. Job was a rich man. God took away all that he had and through the poverty of Christ, as he suffered the wrath of God, the riches of salvation came to all of God’s elect and we should see this in Job how God takes away everything that he has and he still remains faithful.
But again, I believe as we see that he has seven sons and three daughters, this is a parable and I believe, we readily should see that those seven sons and three daughters represent the church and now they are eating and drinking. In Job 1:13:
And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house:
Now this word “eldest”, is the word “firstborn” and again, I think, we are to see, in the suffering of Job here, how God takes away, his flocks, his herds, his sons and his daughters. I believe that, we are to see the destruction of the Old Testament church.
Again, this word “eldest” is “firstborn” and so often in the Bible, we see the principle that “the first shall be last and the last shall be first”. How that God blesses the first and then the first becomes proud or rebels or does not glorify God in what he has.
In the ceremonial law, the firstborn of the Israelites were to be given the “double blessing”, the “inheritance”. But we read about Judah in Genesis 38. In Genesis 38:7, we read of Judah, the fourth son of Jacob. In Genesis 38:6-7, we read:
And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, whose name was Tamar. And Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of JEHOVAH; and JEHOVAH slew him.
And we read, in so many places in the Old Testament where there was a problem with the firstborn. In Genesis 38:7:
And Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of JEHOVAH; and JEHOVAH slew him.
And this is a very interesting and very involved parable in itself because, we read in Genesis 38:8:
And Judah said unto Onan (that would be Judah’s second son), Go in unto thy brother’s wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother.
And we read that this was instituted in the ceremonial law, that the brother would go into the dead husband’s wife and raise up the seed. In Genesis 38:9, we read:
And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother’s wife, that he spilled it on the ground, …
That word “spilled” is the word “corrupted”. It continues:
… lest that he should give seed to his brother.
He did not want to do it. And then, we go on to read that he had a third son named “Shelah”, who was not given to Tamar (the wife of Er), and I am not going to get into this parable now. But it is very interesting and you can see in it. But you will have to work through it. Someone explained this to me once and I was just amazed by it that it is really a picture of Old Testament Israel, then the New Testament church and then the gospel as it goes out in the Latter Rain. But the point I just wanted to make here was that, there seems to always be problems with the first born and the principle in there is that, “the first shall be last and the last shall be first”.
Ishmael, the firstborn really of Abraham was only “problems”. The descendants of Ishmael became the enemies to the Israelites. Ishmael was really the son of the Egyptian maid Hagar because Sarah was old and yet God had come to Abraham and told him that he was going to have a son. So he did not quite understand how it was going to happen. He did not wait on the LORD. So, he went into Sarah’s handmaid Hagar and had this son Ishmael who again was only problems.
Then we read that “Esau”, the firstborn of Isaac, again, was a picture of Satan. Esau and Jacob were the twin sons of Isaac. Esau was the firstborn, but he was used as a picture of Satan throughout the Bible and Jacob got the inheritance through subtilty, he tricked him out of it. But again, it is a picture of the true believers. But again, the firstborn was not in the “blessed” line.
Joseph had two sons, “Manasseh and Ephraim”. The firstborn was Manasseh. But when it came time for the father Jacob to bless those children, he blessed Ephraim ahead of the firstborn Manasseh.
Now look at Jeremiah 31. In Jeremiah 31, God is speaking again, how he is going to have mercy on Israel after their rebellion. Let me start at verse 4 here in Jeremiah 31. In Jeremiah 31:4-9, we read:
Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel: thou shalt again be adorned with thy tabrets, and shalt go forth in the dances of them that make merry. Thou shalt yet plant vines upon the mountains of Samaria: the planters shall plant, and shall eat them as common things. For there shall be a day, that the watchmen upon the mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion unto JEHOVAH our God. For thus saith JEHOVAH; Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations: publish ye, praise ye, and say, O JEHOVAH, save thy people, the remnant of Israel. Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that travaileth with child together: a great company shall return thither. They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.
God speaks of Ephraim here, which was a dominant tribe of the 10 Northern tribes when they split, as his firstborn. He is going to again bring blessing upon Israel after their rebellion. But I just want to make a point here, how he says, “Ephraim is my firstborn” and we know that he wasn’t literally.
“Reuben”, the eldest of Jacob’s 12 sons. Turn to Genesis 49 and look what Jacob says about him, as he blesses his 12 sons. Genesis 49:1-4 says:
And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days. Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father. Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power: Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to thy father’s bed; then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch.
Reuben had laid with Jacob’s concubine, and that was sin. But Reuben was the firstborn son and here he is not being blessed and I believe that in other ways, God uses Reuben to represent national Israel or Old Testament Israel as he is the first son. Several of those sons represented different things.
David, his eldest son, Ammnon was wicked. Many of David’s sons were wicked but the eldest son “Ammnon” was wicked. He killed his brother.
“Nadab”, Nadab and Abihu (the son’s of Aaron). Nadab was the eldest. The two of them were killed when they offered strange fire before the LORD. Again, “the first shall be last and the last shall be first”. After God killed Nadab and Abihu, Aaron had two more sons who became the high priests after them and again, I believe that there is a picture there, “the first shall be last and the last shall be first”.
Eli’s son’s, Hophni and Phinehas were evil men and they were priests. Samuel’s sons again were unsaved men. Let me read another verse about “firstborn” here. Look at Psalm 89. In Psalms 89:18-25, we read:
For JEHOVAH is our defence; and the Holy One of Israel is our king. Then thou spakest in vision to thy holy one, and saidst, I have laid help upon one that is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of the people. I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him: With whom my hand shall be established: mine arm also shall strengthen him. The enemy shall not exact upon him; nor the son of wickedness afflict him. And I will beat down his foes before his face, and plague them that hate him. But my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him: and in my name shall his horn be exalted. I will set his hand also in the sea, and his right hand in the rivers.
This is speaking about Christ. This is not speaking about David. In Psalms 89:25-29, we read:
I will set his hand also in the sea, and his right hand in the rivers. He shall cry unto me, Thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation. Also I will make him my firstborn (first begotten), higher than the kings of the earth. My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him. His seed also will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven.
This is talking about Christ. In Psalms 89:30, we read:
If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments;
But I just want to bring out again that Christ is the firstborn. He is the firstborn from the dead. I heard back in the 80’s when Mr. Camping debated/ discussed. He had a debate/ discussion with this man who at that time was a chancellor of the Dallas theological seminary. The debate was over there whether there was going to be a millennium or not at that time and now I believe that that seminary is probably about the most respected seminary in the country. I will not give the man’s name.
But this man said several things that were just un Biblical. He did not understand how God used national Israel, so there is no way he could understand the way God talks about Israel in Romans, in the way he used them. We will not get into that. But one statement he particularly made was, to indicate that he did not see spiritual things. He says, “I don’t see anywhere in the Bible where it mentions David and it’s talking about Christ”. And here is one obvious place but this is the way God wrote the Bible.
But the firstborn should have the blessing and the firstborn many times in the Bible was rebellious and we see in that again, the principle, “the first shall be last and the last shall be first”.
Later on, we will get into these three friends of Job who come to visit him and really never console him. But this one particular man “Bildad”, if we look at Job chapter 8, he was talking about Job’s children. Job 8:1-2 says:
Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said, How long wilt thou speak these things? and how long shall the words of thy mouth be like a strong wind?
Job’s words are offending these men because he maintains that he is righteous. Job 8:3-6 says:
Doth God pervert judgment? or doth the Almighty pervert justice? If thy children have sinned against him, and he have cast them away for their transgression; If thou wouldest seek unto God betimes, and make thy supplication to the Almighty; If thou wert pure and upright; surely now he would awake for thee, and make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous.
But here, he is saying to Job now because God has taken away his children. His children obviously have sinned against him. But these men say a lot of things that are beautiful and glorifying to God and faithful in doctrine and yet they do not have everything quite right. So we will take a long look at them later, if we get the chance.
But again, he says to Job. In Job 8:4:
If thy children have sinned against him, and he have cast them away for their transgression;
And again, I believe that Job’s children that God has just taken represent the church corporately. We read how Job would rise early in the morning and offer sacrifices for them - Interceding - He said, “it maybe that they have sinned in their hearts and again I believe that we should see how God is grieved about how he had to bring Judgment on Old Testament Israel and then on the New Testament church in this. We see how Christ was grieved and he wept over Jerusalem. He did not take any pleasure in bringing Judgment on them.
We read in Job 1:13-15:
And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house (the house of the first born): And there came a messenger unto Job, and said, The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding beside them: And the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away; yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
We spoke about these four messengers before, how they bring this terrible news to Job, one after the other and each one speaks of how, “I only am escaped alone to tell thee.” I believe that we are to see, in these messengers, they are the church (the true believers). God uses them as messengers, even to bring a grievous news or grievous tidings.
It is the Hebrew word “mal’âk (mal-awk’)”. It can be translated as either an “angel” or a “messenger”. We read in Psalms 34:7:
The angel (that is the word) of JEHOVAH encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.
But again, look at Malachi 2. In Malachi 2:7-8, we read:
For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of JEHOVAH of hosts. But ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith JEHOVAH of hosts.
Look at Malachi 3. Malachi 3:1 says:
Behold, I will send my messenger, …
This is speaking of John the Baptist. In Malachi 3:1:
Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and JEHOVAH, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith JEHOVAH of hosts.
So Christ is the messenger of the covenant. True believers are messengers as they bring the message of the gospel. But these messengers I believe, in Job also are a picture of the elect because they escaped the Judgment. That word “escaped” is also translated “delivered”. Look at Psalms 124. Psalms 124:1-7 says:
A Song of degrees of David. If it had not been JEHOVAH who was on our side, now may Israel say; If it had not been JEHOVAH who was on our side, when men rose up against us: Then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us: Then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul: Then the proud waters had gone over our soul. Blessed be JEHOVAH, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth. Our soul is escaped …
It is the same word. See, that is the idea of escaping. In Psalms 124:7-8:
Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped. Our help is in the name of JEHOVAH, who made heaven and earth.
So again, I believe these messengers, that have escaped are those that have been saved. In Jeremiah 51:6, this word is translated “deliver”. Jeremiah 51:6 says:
Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver (that same word “escaped”) every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for this is the time of JEHOVAH’S vengeance; he will render unto her a recompence.
In Job 1:13-15, we read:
And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house: And there came a messenger unto Job, and said, The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding beside them: And the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away; yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
Now remember how we spoke about Job’s possessions (his substance) back there in verse 3. These flocks and their herds are also pictures of the church or pictures of his believers. And here we read now, “The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding beside them:”. This word “oxen”, is translated “bullock” sometimes. Sometimes it is simply translated “herd” or “herds”, but it is a clean animal and it could be offered for sacrifice. In Exodus 29:1, we read:
And this is the thing that thou shalt do unto them to hallow them, to minister unto me in the priest’s office: Take one young bullock (that is the word oxen), and two rams without blemish,
And so forth, sacrifice them. So these herds, these flocks that Job has, are also pictures of the true believers. These oxen were plowing. Now, we are getting here to the point now where we are spiritualizing and those in the churches say, “you can’t do that”, “you are taking the Bible too far”, and God himself teaches us to do this. Look at Deuteronomy 22:10. Deuteronomy 22:10 says:
Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together.
Now, “ox” is a clean animal and “ass” is an unclean animal. We read in 2 Corinthians 6, “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: …” But in 1 Corinthians 9, remember, this messenger came to Job and he said, “The oxen were plowing, …” Look at 1 Corinthians 9. Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit here is speaking about how a minister should be fed by those that he is ministering to. He says in 1 Corinthians 9:8-9:
Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. …
They were not to put a muzzle on that ox as it was treading out the corn. Whatever he was doing was separating the wheat (the years of wheat) from the chaff, or whatever grain it was. It continues:
… Doth God take care for oxen?
In 1 Corinthians 9:10:
Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; …
God likens “plowing” to doing the work of the gospel. It continues:
… and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope.
So back here in Job, we are reading that the oxen were plowing. In 1 Corinthians 2:14, we read:
But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
We are looking at spiritual things here and these things would be nonsense or foolishness to those that do not see them. But we read here in Job 1:14:
And there came a messenger unto Job, and said, The oxen were plowing, …
The people in the church were plowing. They are doing the work of getting the gospel out. It continues:
… and the asses feeding beside them:
“The asses were feeding”, this word “feeding” is also translated “pastor” or “shepherd”. Look at Psalms 28:9. Psalms 28:8-9 says:
JEHOVAH is their strength, and he is the saving strength of his anointed. Save thy people, and bless thine inheritance: feed (same word) them also, and lift them up for ever.
The asses are feeding alongside of the oxen. But the word is not “beside”, it is “at their hands”. That is the word “hand”. It is the Hebrew word “hand” and it is used 1400 times in the Old Testament and it is never used in a way that it means “in close proximity” or “beside them”. It is always “at their hands”, in other words, the asses, the unclean animals and asses are often used in the Bible to picture people that are coming to salvation.
Christ told a couple of disciples before his triumphal entry, to loose the ass and the foul, and it is a picture of salvation and he was going to ride them into Jerusalem, as a picture of Christ, triumphant, riding on his church.
We read in one of the epistles of Peter, about how the dumbass, speaking with man’s voice, rebuked the madness of the prophet, that was speaking of Balaam. In Exodus 13:13, we read that an ass could be redeemed. Exodus 13:13 says:
And every firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb (Christ is the lamb of God); and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break his neck: and all the firstborn of man among thy children shalt thou redeem.
So here we read that the asses are feeding at the hand of the oxen. This is the way God wrote the Bible. This is not foolishness. This is what we are to see.
In Job 1:14-15, we read:
And there came a messenger unto Job, and said, The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding beside them (or at their hand): And the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away; yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
That word “Sabeans” is the word “Sheba”. It is somewhere in Northeast Africa, we do not even know, you will not see it on any map in the Bible. But the Sabeans are used, some places in the Bible, again, to represent Gentiles who do come into the Kingdom of God. That is what the story of the queen of Sheba coming to visit Solomon was all about. She came to hear the wisdom of Solomon. But again, these are spiritual things and we will keep going on, to look at the judgment of God or the affliction that he brought on Job and how he remained perfectly faithful.
We will close now. Shall we pray.
Heavenly Father, again, we come before you and just ask that you would lead and guide. That your people would see the way you have hidden the gospel in the Bible. Could it be, that if we have anything a wrong here, that you would correct. Please bless us with understanding. Again, may it be all to your glory and we ask this in Jesus name. Amen.