2909. Job’s Sure Knowledge

No. 2909-50:541. A Sermon Delivered On Lord’s Day Evening, September 10, 1876, By C. H. Spurgeon, At The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

A Sermon Published On Thursday, November 10, 1904.

For I know that my Redeemer lives. {Job 19:25}

 For other sermons on this text:
   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 504, “I Know That My Redeemer Lives” 495}
   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2909, “Job’s Sure Knowledge” 2910}
   Exposition on Job 19 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2909, “Job’s Sure Knowledge” 2910 @@ "Exposition"}

1. I daresay you know that there are a great many difficulties about the translation of this passage. It is a very complicated piece of Hebrew, partly, I suppose, owing to its great antiquity, being found in what is, probably, one of the oldest books of the Bible. Besides that, different people have tried to translate it according to their own varying views. The Jews firmly fight against the notion of the Messiah and his resurrection being found in this verse, while many Christian commentators see here everything that we can find in the New Testament, and translate the passage as though Job were as well instructed in this matter as we are now that Christ “has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” Others say that, while there is, no doubt, a reference to the person and the resurrection of Christ, yet it is not so vivid as some seem to think.

2. Personally, I am quite satisfied with the translation given in our Authorized Version; yet it has occurred to me that, possibly, Job himself may not have known the full meaning of all that he said. Imagine the patriarch driven into a corner, badgered by his so-called friends, charged by them with all kinds of evils until he is quite boiling over with indignation, and, at the same time, smarting under terrible bodily diseases and the dreadful losses which he has sustained; and, at last, he bursts out with this exclamation, “I shall be vindicated one day; I am sure I shall. I know that my Vindicator lives. I am sure that, there is One who will vindicate me; and if he never clears my name and reputation as long as I live, it will be done afterwards. There must be a just God, in heaven, who will see me justified; and even though worms devour my body until the last remnant of it has passed away, I truly believe that, somehow, in the far-off ages, I shall be vindicated.” He throws his faith forward to some tremendous era which he anticipates, and he declares that there will be found then, as he believes there is alive even now, a Goel, {Redeemer} a Kinsman, an Avenger, who will stand up for him, and set right all this wrong. He cannot conceive that God will permit such gross injustice to be done as for a man, who has walked as he has walked, to be brought so low, and then to be stung with such unfounded accusations; he is positive that there must be a Vindicator for him somewhere, and he appeals to that last dread tribunal, which he dimly sees in the far-off future, and he believes that someone will be found to stand up successfully for him there.

3. If that is the case, you will see that Job was driven, perhaps beyond his former knowledge, by his very pains and trials. He may only dimly have perceived a future state, but his condition revealed to him the necessity for such a state. He felt that, if the righteous suffer so much in this life, often apparently without any just cause, and if the wicked prosper, then there must be another state in which God will set right the wrongs of this, and rectify the apparent inequalities of his providence here. Job realized that; and, possibly, his deep griefs may have been the channel of another revelation to him, namely, that there was a mysterious Divine Being, concerning whom that dark prophecy had been handed down from the garden of Eden itself, “The Seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent’s head.” He felt sure that, for those who were wronged as he had been, there must be an Advocate provided. He had before complained that there was no Umpire — no “Daysman” — to stand between them both; but now he asks for an Advocate, and he feels that there must be one, yes, he knows that there is, and he declares that, somewhere or other, there is an Advocate who will, some day or other, set right all that concerns him, let things go now as they may. So, possibly, Job was seeing more than he had ever seen before of that mysterious One who pleads the cause of those who are oppressed, and shows himself strong, on their behalf, at the right hand of God.

4. I am not going to enter into any discussion of the matter, but shall use the passage in the full evangelical sense. Job may have known all that we now know concerning Christ, for he may have had special revelations and manifestations. We do not find all that we know in his book, yet he may have meant all that I shall say in this discourse. If he did not mean it, I trust that we shall, under the gracious guidance of the Holy Spirit.

5. I. I shall speak first on this point, — JOB HAD A TRUE FRIEND AMID HIS MISTAKEN FRIENDS.

6. These men were miserable comforters, but Job had a real Comforter, they were estranged from him, but he had a true Friend left; so he said, “I know that my Goel lives.” That is the Hebrew word; I suppose you all know that it means the person nearest akin to him, who, because he was nearest akin, was bound to take up his cause. If a man was accidentally slain, the goel pursued the one who had slain him, and endeavoured to avenge his death. If a person fell into debt, and was sold into slavery because of the debt, his goel, if he was able, had to redeem him; and hence we get the word “redeemer.” Or if estates became mortgaged through poverty, it was the duty of the next of kin to redeem them, if possible; so again we get the idea of redeemer. But the word “goel” is more comprehensive than the word redeemer, so we will begin with its first meaning.

7. Job, in the midst of his false friends, had One whom he called his kinsman. “I know,” he said, “that my Kinsman lives.” We interpret that word “Kinsman” as meaning our Lord Jesus Christ, and we sing, —

    Jesus, our Kinsman and our God,
    Arrayed in majesty and blood,
    Thou art our life; our souls in thee
    Possess a full felicity.

I want you, just now, to think of Jesus Christ as your Kinsman if you are really in him, for he is indeed the nearest akin to you of any, — bone of your bone, and flesh of your flesh. “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same.” Now, your own flesh and blood, as you call them, are not so near to you in real kinship as Jesus is; for, often, you will find flesh and blood near akin by birth but not by sympathy. Two brothers may be, spiritually, very different from each other, and may not be able to enter into each other’s trials at all; but this Kinsman participates in every pang that rends your heart; he knows your constitution, your weakness, your sensitiveness, the particular trial that cuts you to the quick, for in all your afflictions he was afflicted. So he is nearer to you than the nearest of earthly kin can possibly be, for he enters more fully into your entire life; he seems to have gone through it all, and he still goes through it all in his constant sympathy with you.

8. Christ’s kinship with his people is to be thought of with great comfort because it is voluntary. We have some, perhaps, who are akin to us, yet, who wish they were not. Many a time, when a rich man has poor relatives, he is half-ashamed of the kinship between them, and wishes that it did not exist. Shame on him for thinking so! But our Lord Jesus Christ’s relationship to us is no accident of birth; it was voluntarily assumed by him. He would be one with us because he loved us; nothing could satisfy him until he had come to this earth, and been made one flesh with his Church. “For this cause,” it is said concerning marriage, “shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined to his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery,” said Paul; “but I speak concerning Christ and the Church.” And, truly, so it was with Christ, as the poet sings, —

    “Yea,” saith the Lord, “with her I’ll go
    Through all the depths of care and woe;
    And on the cross will even dare
    The bitter pangs of death to bear.”

He did this because he would be one flesh with his people, and that is a very near kinship which comes as close as that, and which willingly does so, — not by force; but by voluntary choice.

9. And, further, this is a kinship of which Jesus is never ashamed. We have known or heard of the prosperous man who has been ashamed of his poor old mother, and of the educated young man who has looked down with scorn on the very father who has toiled and slaved in order to give him the advantages of such an education. It is disgraceful that there should ever be such ingrates; but it is written concerning our great Kinsman, “He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all of one; for which reason he is not ashamed to call them brethren.” He declares to the whole universe, concerning those persecuted ones, those who are ridiculed as being fools, “They are my brethren.” The Prince of glory, whose fingers are adorned with stars of light like rings of priceless value, calls the poor bedridden woman, who is a child of God, his sister, and calls the humble, toiling, labouring man, who walks with him, his brother; and he is not ashamed to do so. Think, beloved, with most intense gratitude, of this great Kinsman of yours, who is so near of kin to you, — voluntarily near of kin, and not ashamed to acknowledge the kinship.

10. Remember, too, that your Kinsman lives in this respect, — that he will always be your Kinsman. The closest ties of earthly relationship must, to a great extent, end in death, for there are no husbands and wives, as such, in heaven. There cannot be, “for in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.” There are other ties, of a spiritual kind, that will far outshine the best of bonds that linked us together here; but, when all other ties are broken, Jesus will always be our Kinsman, our Brother. We shall find the fraternal relationship better understood, more fully enjoyed, and more clearly revealed up there than it ever can be here. When all other relationships are growing dim, this blessed eternal kinship will shine out all the more brightly. So I want all of you, who truly love the Lord Jesus Christ, to interpret my text in this way: “I know that my Kinsman lives,” and to feel how honoured you are to have such a Kinsman as Christ is. Ruth was highly privileged in having such a kinsman as Boaz, who was not content for her to glean in his fields, but who took her as his wife; and your great Kinsman intends that you should be betrothed to him for ever, and he will bring you to his heavenly home at the marriage supper of the Lamb.

11. There was a second meaning to the word goel, arising out of the first, — Job’s kinsman would become his Vindicator. It was the kinsman’s duty to defend the rights of his needy relative, so Job intended to say here, “I know that my Vindicator lives”; and the Lord Jesus Christ is the Vindicator of his people from all false charges. It is not easy for Christians to live in this world without being slandered and misrepresented; certainly, those of us who live in the full blaze of public life can hardly utter a word without having it twisted, and tortured, and misconstrued. We are often represented as saying what we loathe even to think; yet we must not be surprised at that. The world loves lying, — it always has done so, and it always will. Even in private life you may experience similar cruel treatment; there are some of God’s best children who lie under reproach for years. The very things which they would not tolerate for a moment are laid to their charge, and they are thought to be guilty of them, and even good people hold up their hands in pious horror at them, though they are perfectly innocent all the while. Well, beloved, always remember that your Vindicator lives. Do not be too much concerned to clear your own character; above all, do not attempt to vindicate yours in a court of law, but say to yourself, “I know that my Vindicator lives.” When he comes, “then shall the righteous shine out as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” His people may be under a cloud now; but, when he appears, the cloud shall break, and their true glory shall be seen. The greater the obloquy under which any of us have unjustly lived on earth, the greater will be the joy and the honour which will be bestowed on us in the day when Christ shall clear our character from all the shameful aspersions that have been brought against us. All will be cleared up in that day, so leave the accusations alone, knowing that your Vindicator lives.

12. There is another most comforting thought, — that our Vindicator will clear us from true charges as well as false ones. As for the false charges, what do they matter? It is the true ones that really concern us: can Christ clear us from them? Yes, that he can. Remember how the apostle John writes, “If any man sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” You see, it is not merely, if we have been said to sin when we did not, but if we really sin, “we have an Advocate with the Father.” Oh blessed Advocate, how do you clear your people of the sin which they have actually committed? Why, in this way; he took it on himself, — the awful load of their guilt, — and suffered the full penalty for it. So there he stands before the eternal throne, to plead their cause; and, as he does so, he says, “Those sins, committed by my people, — I have taken them on myself, and suffered in the room, and place, and stead of all who will believe in me.” Oh you blessed Kinsman, how glorious are you in your grace, in that you have so completely undertaken our cause that you have been made sin for us, so that we might be made the righteousness of God in you! Yes, beloved, Jesus will plead the merit of his precious blood and his spotless righteousness; and, before that powerful pleading, our sins and our transgressions shall sink beneath the flood, and shall not be remembered against us any more for ever.

13. In that day, too, our Vindicator will defend us against all the accusations of Satan. Our great adversary often assails and attacks us here, and the Lord says to him, as he did concerning Joshua the high priest, “The Lord rebuke you, oh Satan; even the Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you!” We may tell the devil, when we stand foot to foot with him, and are severely beset, that our Vindicator lives, and we may quote to him that grand promise, “The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly,” because our Vindicator, who is to bruise the serpent’s head, still lives. The old serpent may nibble at your heel for a while, as he did at your Master’s, but you, in the strength of your Lord, shall bruise his head; and whatever other adversary of your soul there may be, at any time, rest in quiet confidence. Even if that adversary is permitted to prevail over you for a while, say to him, “Do not rejoice against me, oh my enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light for me.”

14. So you have two meanings of the word goel, — my Kinsman, my Vindicator, lives. I hope you who are greatly tempted and tried, and you who are persecuted and oppressed, will catch that second meaning, and commit your cause to God. “Dearly beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine; I will repay,’ says the Lord.” Be slow to anger; do not fret because of the wicked man who prospers in his evil way, and do not think of being revenged on your oppressors. In patience and quietness possess your souls, knowing that your time of vindication will surely come, for your Vindicator lives.

15. Then the third meaning of the word goel certainly is redeemer, so Job could say, “I know that my Redeemer lives.” As I have already said, the next of kin, in the process of vindicating his poor kinsman, was accustomed to redeem him from bondage, or to redeem any part of his estate that might be under mortgage. So, let us next think of how the Lord Jesus Christ has redeemed us from bondage. Having broken the law of God, we were in bondage to that law; we had received the spirit of bondage again to fear. But we, who have believed in Jesus, our Kinsman, can say that he has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, and that we are no longer in bondage. We were also in bondage under sin, as Paul wrote, “I am carnal, sold under sin”; but Christ has come, and broken the power of sin in us, so that its reigning power is subdued; and though it still strives to get the mastery, and often makes us to groan within ourselves, even as Paul did, yet we, with him, thank God, who gives us the victory, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

16. There are two redemptions, — redemption by price and redemption by power, and both of these Christ has accomplished for us; — by price, by his sacrifice on the cross of Calvary; and by power, by his Divine Spirit coming into our heart, and renewing our soul. Ought we not unceasingly to bless the Lord who has redeemed us from under the law, having paid the penalty for the commands which we had broken, and who has also redeemed us from the power of sin? “I know that my Redeemer lives,” then I know that I am a free man; for if the Son makes us free, then we are free indeed. I know that he paid the price for my soul’s eternal redemption, then may my soul continually exalt in him, and rejoice in the liberty by which he has made me free.

17. But, as I have already reminded you, the redeemer was also accustomed to redeem the estate as well as the person of his kinsman. We had lost everything. Father Adam had put everything under a heavy mortgage, and we could not even meet the interest on it; but the whole estate is unmortgaged now, even to paradise itself. Does someone ask, “Is there not any mortgage even on paradise?” I answer, — No; for Christ said to the dying thief, “Today you shall be with me in paradise”; so it is clear that he has entered paradise, and claimed it on his people’s behalf. Jesus Christ has said, in the words of the psalmist, “I restored what I did not take away.” Bankrupt debtors, through the Lord’s sovereign grace, you are no longer under any liabilities because of your sin if Christ is accepted by you as your Goel and Redeemer. He has restored to you the estates which your first father, Adam, had lost; and he has made you heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ, through the wonderful redemption which he accomplished for you on the cross of Calvary.

18. Suck the honey, if you can, out of these three glorious truths, and you will be able to do so in proportion as you can personally use the words of the text, “ ‘I know that my Redeemer lives.’ I know that he lives who will vindicate my character, and rectify my wrongs. I know, too, that he lives who has redeemed me from sin and hell; and even though I die, I know that he will redeem me from the power of the grave, and that he will enable me to say, ‘Oh death, where is your sting? Oh grave, where is your victory?’ ”

19. Dwell on the thought that you have such a Divine Helper, and then let us pass on to another thought, at which I will only briefly hint as I proceed to another part of my theme.

20. II. The second point, is this, — JOB HAD REAL PROPERTY AMID ABSOLUTE POVERTY.

21. Job had lost everything, — every stick and stone that he possessed, he had lost his children, and he had lost his wife, too, for all practical purposes, for she had not acted like a wife to him in his time of trial. Poor Job, he had lost everything else, but he had not lost his Redeemer. Notice, he does not say, “I know that my wife and my children live”; but he says, “I know that my Redeemer lives.” Ah! “my Redeemer,” — he has not lost him, so he has the best of all possessions still left. Looking up to him, by faith, with the tears of joy standing in his eyes, he says, “Yes, he is my Redeemer, and he still lives; I accept him as mine, and I will cling to him for ever.” Can you, beloved friends, not merely rejoice in Christ as the Redeemer, but also as your Redeemer? Have you personally accepted him as your Redeemer? Have you personally trusted him with your soul, wholly and really; and do you already feel, in your own heart, a kinship to this great Kinsman, a trust in this great Vindicator, a reliance on his great redemption? Another man’s redemption is of no value for my soul; the sweetness lies in the little word “my” — “my Redeemer.” Luther used to say that the marrow of the gospel is found in the pronouns, and I believe it is: “My Redeemer.” Say, with me, each one of you for himself or herself, —

       My faith would lay her hand
       On that dear head of thine,
    While like a penitent I stand,
       And there confess my sin.
       My soul looks back to see
       The burdens thou didst bear,
    When hanging on the cursed tree
       And hopes her guilt was there.

If you really do rely on Christ’s atoning sacrifice, and so take him as your Redeemer, you may not only hope your guilt was there, but you may know that it was. There, poor man, you may not have a penny in your pocket, but if you can truly say, “my Redeemer,” you are infinitely better off than a millionaire who cannot say that. You, who do not know where you will have a lodging tonight, if you can truly say, “my Redeemer,” you need not envy the very angels of God, for, in this respect, you are ahead even of them, for they can call him “Lord,” but not “Redeemer.” He is not so near akin to them as he is to you, “for truly he did not take on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.” He took your nature and mine, beloved, for Christ became a man.

22. So Job had something real and valuable left even when he had lost all his property.

23. III. Thirdly, Job seems to lay stress on the word “lives”: “I know that my Redeemer lives.” This teaches us that JOB HAD A LIVING KINSMAN AMID A DYING FAMILY.

24. All his children were dead. We cannot easily estimate the full force of that blow on the patriarch’s heart. The loss of one child is a very painful event, even when the child is a very little one, and the parents have many others left; but it is a far worse bereavement when the children, who are taken away, are grown up, as Job’s were. They were evidently a very united family, who used to meet in each other’s houses for mutual fellowship. They seem to have been a very happy family, and they were certainly a family under very gracious influences, for Job was accustomed, after their days of festivities, to offer sacrifices for them, lest they should have sinned against the Lord. Altogether, it was a fine family, — seven sons and three daughters; — and now they were all gone at once! To lose all one’s family at once, like that, is a heavy stroke that no one can measure but those who have felt it. All were gone, — the whole ten at once! That was sad for poor Job, but it was most blessed that he was able to say, “Though my children are all dead, ‘I know that my Redeemer lives.’ He, is not dead, and I find more in him than all that I have lost.”

25. Look at your Lord, dear friend, if you are mourning, just now, the sons of loved ones, and see whether he is not better to you than ten sons and daughters. See whether there is not, in his heart, room enough for that affection, which has been so rudely snapped, to grow again. The tendrils of your soul need something to cling to, and to twist around; then let them twine around him. Rejoice that he lives in a dying world. If you walk through the cemetery, or stand by the open grave, how blessedly these words seem to fall on your spirit, like the music of angels, “These are dead, but ‘I know that my Redeemer lives,’ — lives on, lives in power, lives in happiness, lives with a life which he shares with all who trust him. He lives, and therefore I shall live with him. He lives, and therefore the dead, who are in him, shall live for ever.” Oh blessed truth!

26. You yourself will die soon, dear friend; no, I must correct myself, you will not die, for it is not death for one who knows the Saviour to die. You will fall asleep in him, one of these days, at the very hour that God has appointed; and when you open your eyes, it will not be in the narrow death-chamber, you will not be on the bed of sickness. I think you will be startled to find yourself amid such new surroundings. “What is this I hear?” you will say. “Such music as this has never charmed me before, and what is that I see?” But you will not need to enquire, for you will know that face at once. You knew, while on earth, that Jesus still lived; but you will know it better then, when you lay aside these heavy eyes that only dim our sight, and get into the pure spirit state, and then see HIM. Oh, the bliss of that first sight of Christ! It seems to me as if that would gather up an eternity of delight into a single moment; that first glimpse of him will be enough to make us swoon away with excessive rapture. I truly think that some saints, whom I have known, have done just that, — swooned away with the excess of joy that they have felt in their departing moments. I have, echoing in my ears just now, the voice of a dear brother, by whose bedside I sat for a little while before I came to this service. He said to me, “I shall be home tonight, pastor. I wanted to see your face once more before I went; but I shall be home tonight, and see the face of Jesus.” I hope you will all be prepared to die in that way. The godly old man said, “Our minister is dying full of life.” That is the way to die, — full of life. Because Jesus lives, we shall live also, and we may well die full of life because of our union to him.

27. IV. The last thought I want to leave with you is this, — JOB HAD ABSOLUTE CERTAINTY AMID UNCERTAIN AFFAIRS.

28. He said, “I know that my Redeemer lives.” Why, Job, I should have thought you would not have known anything for certain now. I should not have liked to insure Job’s sheep, and oxen, and donkeys, and camels, or the houses in which his children met together to feast. Nothing seemed to be certain with Job but uncertainty; yet there was one thing, concerning which he felt that he could put his foot down firmly, and say, “ ‘I know.’ The winds may rage, and the tempests roar, but they cannot shake this rock. ‘I know.’ ‘I know.’ ‘I know.’ ” Beloved, is everything uncertain with you in this world? Of course it is, for it is so with everyone. But does it appear to be more uncertain with you than it does with anyone else? Does your business seem to be slipping away, and every earthly comfort be threatening to disappear? Even if it is so, there is, nevertheless, something that is certain, something that is stable, — Jesus your Redeemer lives. Rest on him, and you will never fail. Let your faith in him be firm, and confident; you cannot be too fully established in the belief that Jesus, who once died, has left the grave, to die no more, and that you, in him, must also live eternally. Something may be wrong with you, for the next few days or weeks, but all is right with you for ever, and “all’s well that ends well.” There may be some rough water to be crossed between here and the fair havens of eternal felicity, but all is right there for ever and ever. There may be losses and crosses, there may be tossings and shipwrecks, but all is right for ever with all who are in Christ Jesus. “Some on boards, and some on broken pieces of the ship,” — but all who are in Christ Jesus shall escape “safe to land.” There are innumerable uncertainties, but there is this one certainty: “Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation: you shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.” Spring on this rock, man! If you are struggling in the sea, just now, and waves of sin and doubt beat over you, leap onto this rock, Jesus lives. Trust the living Christ; and, because he lives, you shall live also. I could cheerfully take my place with Job, if I might be able to say as confidently as he did, “I know that my Redeemer lives”; and if you, as a poor sinner, are trusting entirely and only in Christ, then he is your Redeemer, and you are saved for ever. If he is the only hope that you have, and you cling to him as the limpet {a} clings to the rock, then all is right with you for ever, and you may know that he is your Redeemer as surely as Job knew that he was his. May the Lord bless you, for Jesus Christ’s sake! Amen.

{a} Limpet: A gasteropod mollusc of the genus Patella, having an open tent-shaped shell and found adhering tightly to the rock which it makes its resting-place. OED.

Exposition By C. H. Spurgeon {Job 19}

1, 2. Then, Job answered and said, “How long will you vex my soul, and break me in pieces with words?

They struck at him with their harsh words, as if they were breaking stones on the roadside. We ought to be very careful what we say to those who are suffering affliction and trial, for a word, though it seems to be a very little thing, will often cut far more deeply and wound far more terribly than a razor would. So Job says, “How long will you vex my soul, and break me in pieces with words?”

3. These ten times you have reproached me: you are not ashamed that you make yourselves strange to me.

He means that they had reproached him several times over, and hints that they ought to have been ashamed to act so strangely, so coldly, so unkindly, towards him.

4. And if indeed I have erred, my error remains with myself.

“I have done you no harm. The error, if there is error, is within my own heart, for you cannot find anything in my life to lay to my charge.” Happy is the man who can say as much as that.

5, 6. If indeed you will magnify yourselves against me, and plead my reproach against me: know now that God has overthrown me, and has surrounded me with his net.

Job seems to say, “I did not bring this trouble on myself; it is God who has laid it on me. Take heed lest, in reproaching me because of my trouble, you should reproach God also.” I suppose that all of us cannot see into the inner meaning of these words, but if we are in very severe trouble, and those who ought to comfort us are bringing cruel accusations against us, we shall read the language of Job with great sympathy and satisfaction.

7. Behold, I cry out concerning wrong, but I am not heard: I cry aloud, but there is no judgment.

Poor Job! When our prayer is not heard, or we think it is not, then the clouds above us are dark indeed. You who are passing through a time of unanswered prayer, do not imagine that you are the first to traverse that dreary way! You can see the footprints of others on that desolate sandy shore. Job knew what that experience meant, so did David, and so did our blessed Lord. Read the second verse of the twenty-second Psalm, and hear Jesus say, “Oh my God, I cry in the daytime, but you do not hear; and in the night season, and am not silent.”

8. He has fenced up my way so that I cannot pass, and he has set darkness in my paths.

God had done this, and done it to Job, whom he called “a perfect and an upright man.” Then, how can you and I expect to escape trial and difficulty when such a man as the patriarch of Uz found his road blocked up, and darkness all around him?

9, 10. He has stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head. He has destroyed me on every side, and I am gone: and he has removed my hope like a tree.

That is, torn up by the roots, and carried down the stream, to be forgotten by the people who once knew it, and rejoiced in its welcome shade.

11. He has also kindled his wrath against me, and he counts me as one of his enemies.

Does God ever act like that towards his own children? Yes; there are times when, without any anger in his heart, but with intentions of love towards them, he treats his children, outwardly, as if he were an enemy to them. See the gardener going up to that beautiful tree. He takes out a sharp knife, feels its edge to be sure that it is keen, and then he begins pruning it here, gashing it there, and making it to bleed in another place, as if he were going to cut it all to pieces. Yet all that is not because he has any anger against the tree, but, on the contrary, because he greatly values it, and wishes it to produce more fruit than it has ever done. Do not think that God’s sharpest knife means death to his loved ones; it means more life, and richer, fuller life.

12. His troops come together, and raise up their way against me, and encamp all around my tent.

Troops of trouble, troops of Chaldeans and Sabeans, troops in which Job considered the stormy winds as terrible allies of the Most High; — all these had come up against Job, and he seemed to be like a country that is beaten down and devoured by powerful invaders.

13. He has put my brethren far from me, and my acquaintance are truly estranged from me.

He looks on those so-called “friends” of his, and, remembering the bitter things they had said, he tells them that they are estranged from him.

14, 15. My relatives have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me. Those who dwell in my house, and my maids, consider me a stranger: I am an alien in their sight.

What a long way a child of God may be permitted to go in trouble! Ah, brethren! we do not know how those, who are most dear to God’s heart, may suffer all the more for that very reason: “for whom the Lord loves he chastens.”

16, 17. I called my servant, and he gave me no answer; I entreated him with my mouth. My breath is offensive to my wife, and I am repulsive to the children of my own body.

He mentioned to his wife those whom death had taken away, and asked her to speak kindly to him; but even she had harsh words to throw in his teeth.

18-20. Yes, young children despised me; I arose, and they spoke against me. All my close friends abhorred me: and those whom I loved are turned against me. My bone cleaves to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.

There is no skin on the teeth, or scarcely any, and, therefore, Job means that there was next to nothing of him left, like the skin of his teeth.

21. Have pity on me, have pity on me, oh you my friends; for the hand of God has touched me.

How pathetic it is that he has to beg for sympathy like this! This strong man — this most patient man — this perfect and upright man before God has to ask for sympathy. Do you wonder that it was so? HE, who was far greater than Job, ran back three times to his sleeping disciples as if he needed some help from them, yet he did not find it, for he had to say to them, “What, could you not watch with me for one hour?” Let this be a lesson to us to try and possess hearts of compassion towards those who are in sorrow and distress.

22. Why do you persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh?

“If God strikes me, why do you, who are all around me, do the same? Is it not enough that God seems to be turned against me? Why should you also be my enemies?”

23, 24. Oh that my words were now written! Oh that they were printed in a book! Oh that they were engraved with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever!

Inscriptions have been found, engraved in the rocks, that may have been done in the time of Job, and it was common, in ancient days, to write on tablets of lead or brass; so Job desired that what he was saying might be recorded for future reference, for he was persuaded that he was being harshly dealt with, and unjustly judged.

25. For I know that my Redeemer lives, and that he shall stand in the latter day on the earth:

“For I know,” What a splendid burst of confidence this is, right out of the depth of his sorrow, like some wonderful star that suddenly blazes on the brow of the blackest night, or like the sudden rising of the morning sun!

26-28. And though after my skin is destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God: whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins are consumed within me. But you should say, ‘Why do we persecute him, since the root of the matter is found in me?’

Job seems to say, speaking about himself, though in the third person, “He is a devout man, can you not see that? He has faith in God, my friends, can you not perceive that? Why, then, do you persecute him like this?”

29. Be afraid of the sword: for wrath brings the punishments of the sword, so that you may know there is a judgment.”

Now Job carries the war into the enemy’s camp; and he says, “You charge me with all kinds of sin, and yet you cannot deny that the root of the matter is in me. Would it not be much wiser for you to be yourselves afraid lest God should cut you off for falsely accusing me, and slandering me, in the time of my sorrow?” There we may confidently leave Job, for the man who can truly say what he has said about his Redeemer, will come out all right at the last.

 {See Spurgeon_Hymnal “Jesus Christ, His Praise — A New Song To The Lamb” 412}
 {See Spurgeon_Hymnal “Jesus Christ, In Heaven — ‘He Ever Liveth’ ” 326}
 {See Spurgeon_Hymnal “Extra Non-Tabernacle Hymns — Hark, the Glad Sound” 1063}

Jesus Christ, His Praise
412 — A New Song To The Lamb
1 Behold the glories of the Lamb
   Amidst his Father’s throne;
   Prepare new honours for his name
   And songs before unknown.
2 Let elders worship at his feet,
   The church adore around,
   With vials full of odours sweet,
   And harps of sweeter sound.
3 Those are the prayers of the saints,
   And these the hymns they raise;
   Jesus is kind to our complaints,
   He loves to hear our praise.
4 Eternal Father, who shall look
   Into thy secret will?
   Who but the Son shall take that book,
   And open every seal?
5 He shall fulfil thy great decrees,
   The Son deserves it well;
   Lo! in his hand the sovereign keys
   Of heaven, and death, and hell.
6 Now to the Lamb that once was slain,
   Be endless blessings paid;
   Salvation, glory, joy, remain
   For ever on thy head.
7 Thou hast redeem’d our souls with blood,
   Hast set the prisoners free;
   Hast made us kings and priests to God,
   And we shall reign with thee.
8 The words of nature and of grace
   Are put beneath thy power;
   Then shorten these delaying days,
   And bring the promised hour.
                        Isaac Watts, 1709.

Jesus Christ, In Heaven
326 — “He Ever Liveth”
1 He lives, the great Redeemer lives,
   (What joy the blest assurance gives!)
   And now before his Father God,
   Pleads the full merit of his blood.
2 Repeated crimes awake our fears,
   And justice arm’d with frowns appears;
   But in the Saviour’s lovely face
   Sweet mercy smiles, and all is peace.
3 Hence, then, ye black despairing thoughts;
   Above our fears, above our faults,
   His powerful intercessions rise;
   And guilt recedes, and terror dies.
4 In every dark distressful hour,
   When sin and Satan join their power,
   Let this dear hope repel the dart,
   That Jesus bears us on his heart.
5 Great Advocate, Almighty Friend,
   On him our humble hopes depend:
   Our cause can never, never fail,
   For Jesus pleads, and must prevail.
                           Anne Steele, 1760.

Extra Non-Tabernacle Hymns

Safe In The Arms Of Jesus <7.6.7.6>
1 Safe in the arms of Jesus,
   Safe on His gentle breast;
   There by His love o’ershaded,
   Sweetly my soul shall rest.
   Hark! ’tis the voice of angels
   Borne in a song to me,
   Over the fields of glory,
   Over the jasper sea.
   Refrain:
      Safe in the arms of Jesus,
      Safe on His gentle breast;
      There by His love o’ershaded,
      Sweetly my soul shall rest.
2 Safe in the arms of Jesus,
   Safe from corroding care,
   Safe from the world’s temptations;
   Sin cannot harm me there.
   Free from the blight of sorrow,
   Free from my doubts and fears;
   Only a few more trials,
   Only a few more tears!
3 Jesus, my heart’s dear Refuge,
   Jesus has died for me;
   Firm on the Rock of Ages
   Ever my trust shall be.
   Here let me wait with patience,
   Wait till the night is o’er;
   Wait till I see the morning
   Break on the golden shore.
                  By Fanny J. Crosby, 1868

No. 25, The Flowers and Fruits of Sacred Song and Evangelistic Hymns Editors Vernon J Charlesworth, J. Manton Smith

No. 25, Sacred Songs And Solos, Ira D. Sankey.

For music See Explorer "http://library.timelesstruths.org/music/Safe_in_the_Arms_of_Jesus/"