And the LORD restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before. Then came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and ate bread with him in his house. And they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the LORD had brought upon him. And each of them gave him a piece of money and a ring of gold. (Job 42:10-11)
A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
(Proverbs 18:24)
When I think of Job, I cannot help but think about poor counseling and luke-warm friendship. Job's story is a tragic one. Here we have a righteous man, upright and blameless, who God has prospered out of His own good pleasure. Job is a man who fears God, and who loves God's Law. Job continuously offers burnt offerings on behalf of his children, wanting to consecrate them just in case they cursed God in their hearts (Job 1:5).
Satan enters the Heavenly court, and tells God that if He were to take away all that Job had on earth, then Job would no longer fear God, but that he would curse God to His face (Job 1:11). God then relinquishes authority over Job's life to Satan, allowing Satan to do as he pleases as long as he does not harm Job. Satan goes to town, as it were, and completely decimates Job's life. Satan takes everything from Job, so that he has nothing left but the shirt on his back and his wife at his side. Job's response? "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord" (Job 1:21). Job did not curse God. He worships God and magnifies His name instead.
Satan once again enters the heavenly court. God asks Satan once again to consider Job and his uprightness, and Satan replies, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. The loss of his property, his prosperity, and his posterity didn't phase him, but if you take his health away, he'll quickly crumble and shake his fist at you in derision." God, again, hands authority of Job's life to Satan to do with as he pleases, as long as he does not kill Job. Satan fills Job's body with diseases. Job's wife tells him to curse God and end the pain, but Job responds, "Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?" (Job 2:10). Then the author of Job tells us that throughout this trial, Job did not sin with his lips. But, did Job sin within his heart? Perhaps Job cursed God in his heart, as he feared his children might have, but he, nevertheless, never let the wickedness escape his lips.
Most of Jobs friends ditch him and leave him to suffer alone. Three friends came along to comfort him and show him sympathy. Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. A most sympathetic and comforting bunch. Here is a short snippet of their comforting counsel for Job:
"Remember: who that was innocent ever perished? Or where were the upright cut off? As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same. By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of his anger they are consumed." (Job 4:7-9)
"He (the wicked) has no posterity or progeny among his people, and no survivor where he used to live. They of the west are appalled at his day, and horror seizes them of the east. Surely such are the dwellings of the unrighteous, such is the place of him who knows not God." (Job 18:19-21)
"Utter darkness is laid up for his treasures; a fire not fanned will devour him; what is left in his tent will be consumed. The heavens will reveal his iniquity, and the earth will rise up against him. The possessions of his house will be carried away, dragged off in the day of God's wrath. This is the wicked man's portion from God, the heritage decreed for him by God." (Job 20:26-29)
What comforting friends Job had. Dude, what did you do to make God hate you? You must have done something, because God doesn't just smite people for no reason. Job, however, continued to argue that he was righteous, and that such destruction in his life did not make sense. The message was clear on both sides: God prospers the righteous and destroys the wicked. Good things happen to good people, right?
It is the same for all, since the same event happens to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean, to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As the good one is, so is the sinner, and he who swears is as he who shuns an oath. This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that the same event happens to all. (Ecclesiastes 9:2-3)
Terrible things happen throughout our lives. A righteous man, resting in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross, does not live a lavish life marked with prosperity. A wicked man, who curses God with his heart and with his lips, does not live an impoverished life marked with hardships. A tornado does not sweep away the wicked and leave the righteous unscathed. A destructive wildfire does not distinguish between the houses of a Christian and a non-Christian as if it were the Passover. War does not spare the adopted sons of God and only claim the lives of the sons of Satan. There is evil in this world, there is destruction in this world, there is suffering in this world, there is death throughout this world, and it falls upon the righteous just as hard as it falls upon the wicked. When disaster, destruction, and suffering strike, the same event happens to all. Job and his three counselors did not understand this.
Job does not understand what he did wrong or what he did to deserve this treatment from God. He cries out:
"If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of mankind? Why have you made me your mark? Why have I become a burden to you? Why do you not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For now I shall lie in the earth; you will seek me, but I shall not be." (Job 7:20-21)
In the face of calamity and great suffering in our lives, as Christians, our default setting is to think like Job. We forget that God is gracious and merciful. We look to our works rather than remembering that God has always and only loved us by grace. Our warped and sinful perceptions of God begin to resemble idol worship of ancient Egyptian and Greek gods, as we think that rain dances will bring rain and a lack of rain dances will bring famine. When the famine strikes, we look at our rain dances and wonder what we did wrong. We forget that famine causes the righteous to hunger along with the wicked. Disaster is not necessarily punishment, but rather, a result of the Fall that hurts all men alike. Job believed his prosperity was a result of his faithfulness and that his destruction had to be a result of wickedness in his life. He searched for the great sin he committed to deserve such suffering from the hand of God, but blindly, he could not see that one sin in his life required suffering.
However, it took an eaves-dropping young man to come along and set Job and his friends straight:
"Man is also rebuked with pain on his bed and with continual strife in his bones, so that his life loathes bread, and his appetite the choicest food. His flesh is so wasted away that it cannot be seen, and his bones that were not seen stick out. His soul draws near the pit, and his life to those who bring death.
"If there be for him an angel, a mediator, one of the thousand, to declare to man what is right for him, and he is merciful to him, and says, 'Deliver him from going down into the pit; I have found a ransom; let his flesh become fresh with youth; let him return to the days of his youthful vigor'; then man prays to God, and he accepts him; he sees his face with a shout of joy, and he restores to man his righteousness. He sings before men and says: 'I sinned and perverted what was right, and it was not repaid to me. He has redeemed my soul from going down into the pit, and my life shall look upon the light.'
"Behold, God does all these things, twice, three times, with a man, to bring back his soul from the pit, that he may be lighted with the light of life." (Job 33:19-30)
Suffering, pain, loss...it is the human condition. Elihu's response to Job and his friends is clear and articulate. All men know pain, hunger, disease, and death, the wicked and righteous alike. All men know the sting of death, and only a mediator can remove that sting. Matthew Henry writes:
He (God) deals with them by conscience, by providences, by ministers, by mercies, by afflictions. He makes them sick, and makes them well again. All these are his operations; he has set the one over the other (Ecc. 7:14), but his hand is in all; it is he that performs all the things for us. All providences are to be looked upon as God's workings with man, his strivings with him. He uses a variety of methods to do men good; if one affliction do not do the work, he will try another; if neither do, he will try a mercy; and he will send a messenger to interpret both. He often works such things as these twice, thrice; so it is in the original, referring to Job 33:14. He speaks once, yea, twice; if that prevail not, he works twice, yea, thrice.
If there be for man a mediator to declare to man what is right, a mediator that is merciful to man, and pleads with God, "Deliver him from going down into the pit; I have found a ransom; let his flesh become fresh with youth; let him return to the days of his youthful vigor," then let us accept him, and sing, "I sinned and perverted what was right, and it was not repaid to me. A mediator has redeemed and ransomed my soul from going down into the pit, and my eyes shall look upon the light!" Elihu points the suffering soul to Him who ransomed our souls from the grave and eternal judgment, and not only became the propitiation for our sins, but gives us exactly what our sins do not deserve: to look upon the light...standing before the presence of our Holy God in pure, undefiled robes as white as snow.
As Christians, when suffering becomes a part of our lives, we can often find it confusing and it causes us to doubt our salvation and God's love for us. We scan through our lives, searching for a specific sin that has caused God to forsake us. Our works righteousness trigger gets switched on, and we begin to wonder if we're not praying enough, if we're not reading God's Word enough, or if we are not listening to the sermon on Sunday morning's close enough. Obviously, when we suffer, we must have done something to deserve it. Certainly, evil cannot cause the righteous to suffer along with the wicked.
But then there is this merciful mediator that Elihu points Job to. There is this mediator that declares to man what is right and provides a ransom for those suffering, delivering them from the sting of death. Is this mediator an angel; a perfectly righteous creature that has committed no transgression from the Law? No, He is infinitely higher than the angels, but for a time became a little lower than the angels. What ransom can this mediator possibly provide that will ransom sinners from the sting of death and deliver them to eternal youthful vigor? What sacrifice can take away the sins of the world?
And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; 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.
(Isaiah 53:9-12)
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, is this mediator that knows not sin but, bearing our sins, provides his own righteousness as a ransom for our transgressions to that we might become the righteousness of God.
As Christians, when we suffer, does it strengthen our gaze upon Christ Jesus our Lord, or does it diminish our hope in His sacrifice? We tend to think, Certainly, God would not let such evil happen to the ones he loves. Do we curse God with our lips? Do we curse God in our hearts? Do we cry out, "Injustice! Injustice has been done to me!" Do we doubt God's care for us? Do we doubt our adoption as sons and daughters of the living God? How could God our Father allow us, His children, to suffer along with the wicked?
When we suffer hardships and grief in this life, let us look to Jesus. When we lose comfort and hope in this life, let us gaze upon the cross. When destruction and evil bears down upon us, and we suffer along with the wicked, let us know Christ and Him crucified. The righteous one suffered along with the wicked so that he could provide a ransom to save sinners from the sting of death. Throughout the whole of history, there has only been one man and one man alone that has suffered great evil when his righteousness truly did not deserve it. It's not you or me. It is Jesus, our Lord and Savior. Our divine mediator. Our suffering should remind us of the Gospel, and what a precious price was paid to ransom us from death. When we cry Injustice!, let us be reminded that our righteousness is a gift from Him who suffered infinitely more than we ever will so that we might eternally know peace and comfort forevermore.
Job had many friends. When affliction and suffering marked his pathetic life, most of his friends left him. The three that came around to comfort him and show sympathy, were not very comforting or sympathetic. When tragedy strikes, when the people we love suffer lose and pain, what comfort or sympathy do we bring them? Do we stand fast by their side, or do we distance ourselves from their hurt and their pain? Do we encourage them to straighten their paths before God, or do we press them to fix their gaze upon the cross? Do we tell them they suffer for no reason, or do we tell them of Him who had no reason to suffer but did on our behalf?
I can be a pretty lousy friend when my friends are dealing with hardships and grief. I can tend to say, "I'm praying for you," and expect that to excuse my tendency to distance myself from them. I never feel like I have any words that can take their pain away. I fear they are inconsolable, and only God knows how to bring some peace to them in the midst of such great suffering and tragedy. When they cry out, "What did I do to deserve this?" I can often be like Job's friends and want to reply, "You're a sinner." I can remind them that tragedy strikes Christians along with the rest of the world. I can remind them that Christians are not immune to the evils in this world. As a friend, how can you comfort those suffering from evil in this world?
As Christians, we have all experienced hardships and tragedy. Some more than others. Suffering is no stranger to any of us. When tragedy strikes, we look to our left and to our right, but no one seems to stick around. Many of our friends abandon us, and those that stick around to comfort us have no comforting words to give. Some of our friends even point us to Christ, but the message of the Gospel is lost on us sometimes. If the Gospel is true, then why am I suffering? If Jesus has bore my transgressions, then why does God now smite me like the rest of the wicked? If I am a child of God, then why does he allow evil to touch me? We may not curse God with our lips, but we curse God in our hearts. We feel abandoned by our friends, we feel abandoned by our family, and we feel forsaken by our God. However, there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother:
"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another." (John 15:12-17)
Jesus Christ is the friend that sticks closer than a brother. In the midst of tragedy, He never abandons us. We might suffer great loss in this life, but never the loss of a friend that sticks closer than a brother. We might be struck by a natural disaster that takes from us everything we ever held dear in this life, but we still have a friend that sticks closer than a brother. Our friends might not have any words that bring comfort to our downtrodden hearts, but there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother.
Even Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, God incarnate, was not spared from suffering. Even as Christians, we do not suffer undeservedly. We are still sinful creatures living in a fallen world due to the disobedience of our first parents and the transgressions of their progeny throughout all of history. We might fear God, we might delight in His Law, but we are sinful nevertheless. We are men, and suffering is the name of the game.
However, Jesus is God. Jesus is perfectly righteous and perfectly holy. God became a man, but unlike you and I, He knew not sin. He became sin, however, that we might know and be the righteousness of God. He suffered the very pain He cursed upon His creation. He felt the tragedy and sorrow that He cursed His fallen creation with. Ultimately, He died a more gruesome and painful death than most men will ever know, and He did not deserve it infinitely more than any man could ever claim.
Jesus suffered, and He suffered so that when you suffer you can have a friend that sticks closer than a brother. He suffered so that when you suffer you can rejoice in His sacrifice and remember that a time will come when you will suffer no longer. He suffered so that you might know peace. He became sin so that you could know righteousness. He suffered death so that you might know life. He ventured into the deepest, darkest depths of the pit that He might carry you out within His loving embrace. He bore your transgressions so that you could wear His radiant robes. He was not spared by His holy Father so that you might be spared. He suffered so that you might have comfort and peace in the midst of suffering. Jesus suffered, and so will you. However, your suffering will come to an end only because He who should have never suffered for the sake of evil humbled Himself to death on a cross so that transgressors who should only ever suffer might know everlasting peace in Him.
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died--more than that, who was raised--who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:31-39)
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