faith of God's people; and, being such, it was also the lesson they had
to learn and to practise, the principle of their life; because the
principle of a divine dispensation is ever the rule and character of the
saints' conduct. The purchase and occupation of the burying field at
Machpelah, tell us that the Genesis-fathers had learnt the lesson. Moses
learnt and practised it, when he chose affliction with the people of
God, having respect to the recompense of the reward. David was in the
power of it, when he made the covenant, or resurrection-promise, all his
salvation and all his desire, though his house, his present house, was
not to grow. 2 Sam. xxiii. The whole nation of Israel were taught it,
again and again, by their prophets, and by-and-by they will learn it,
and then witness it to the whole world, the dry bones living again, the
winter-beaten teil tree flourishing again; for "what shall the receiving
of them be, but life from the dead?" The Lord Jesus, "the Author and
Finisher of faith," in His day, I need not say, practised this lesson to
all perfection. And each of us, His saints and people, is set down to it
every day, that we "may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and
the fellowship of His sufferings."
By the life of faith the elders obtained a good report. And so the
saints in every age. For "without faith it is impossible to please Him;"
that faith which trusts Him as a rewarder of them that diligently seek
Him, which respects the unseen and the future. They, of whom the world
was not worthy, practised the life of faith, the life of dead and risen
people. Hebrews xi. Stephen before the council tells us the same.
Abraham, Joseph, and Moses, in his account, were great witnesses of this
same life; and he himself, at that moment, after the pattern of his
master, Jesus, was exhibiting the strength and virtues of it, through
the power of the Holy Ghost, and apprehending, through the same Spirit,
the brightest joys and glories of it. Acts vii.
Now, I believe that the leading purpose of the Book of Job is to exhibit
this. It is the story of an elect one, in early patriarchal days, a
child of resurrection, set down to learn the lesson of resurrection. His
celebrated confession tells us that resurrection was understood by him
as a doctrine, while the whole story tells us, that he had still to know
the power of it in his soul. It was an article of his faith, but not the
principle of his life.
And a sore lesson it was to him, hard indeed to learn and digest. He did
not like (and which of us does like?) to take the sentence of death into
himself, that he might not trust in himself, or in his circumstances in
life, or his condition by nature, but in God who raises the dead. "I
shall die in my nest," was his thought and his hope. But he was to see
his nest rifled of all with which nature had filled it, and with which
circumstances had adorned it.
Such is, I believe, the leading purpose of the Spirit of God in this
Book. This honoured and cherished saint had to learn the power of the
calling of all the elect, practically and personally, the life of faith,
or the lesson of resurrection. And it may be a consolation for us,
beloved, who know ourselves to be little among them, to read, in the
records which we have of them, that all have not been equally apt and
bright scholars in that school, and that all, in different measures,
have failed in it, as well as made attainments in it.
How unworthily of it, for instance, did Abraham behave, how little like
a dead and risen man, a man of faith, when he denied his wife to the
Egyptian, and yet how beautifully did he carry himself, as such, when he
surrendered the choice of the land to his younger kinsman. And even our
own Apostle, the aptest scholar in the school, the constant witness of
this calling to others, and the energetic disciple of the power of it in
his own soul, in a moment when the fear of man brought with it a snare,
makes this very doctrine the covert of a guileful thought. Acts xxiii.
6.
Encouragements and consolations visit the soul from all this. Happy is
it to know, that our present lesson, as those who are dead, and whose
life is hid with Christ in God, has been the lesson of the elect from
the beginning--that on many a bright and hallowed occasion they
practised that lesson to the glory of their Lord, that at times they
found it hard, and at times failed in it. This tale of the soul is well
understood by us. Only we, living in New Testament times, are set down
to learn the same lesson in the still ampler page, and after the clearer
method, in which it is now taught us in the death and resurrection of
the Lord Jesus Christ.
There is some difference, let me observe, nay, I would say, distance,
between a _righteous_ and a _devoted_ man. No saint is a devoted one,
who has not been practising this lesson of which I have been speaking.
The measure of his devotedness may be said to be according to his
attainment in it, according to the energy he is exercising as a man dead
and risen with Christ. At the beginning of this history, Job was a
righteous man. He was spoken well of again and again, in the very face
of his accuser. But he was not a devoted man. The whisper of his heart,
as I noticed before, was this, "I shall die in my nest." Accepted he
was, as a sinner who knew his living and triumphant Redeemer, godly and
upright beyond his fellows, but withal, as to the power that wrought in
his soul, he was not a dead and risen man.
Such also, I might add, was Agur in the Book of Proverbs. He was godly,
and of a lowly, self-judging spirit. He makes a good confession of human
blindness and pravity, of the unsearchable glories of God, the purity
and preciousness of His word, and of the security of all who trust in
Him. Prov. xxx. 1-9. He was a man of God, and walked in a good spirit.
But he was not a devoted man. He did not know how to abound and how to
suffer need. He dreaded poverty lest he should steal, and riches lest he
should deny God. He was not prepared for changes. Neither was Job. But
Paul was. He had surrendered himself to Christ, as they had not.
According to the power that wrought in his soul, Paul was a dead and
risen man. He was ready to be "emptied from vessel to vessel." He was
instructed both to be full and to be hungry. He could do all things
through Christ strengthening him. See that devoted man, that dead and
risen man, in the closing chapters of Acts. xx.-xxviii. He is in the
midst of a weeping company of brethren at Miletus, and in the bosom of a
loving Christian household at Tyre. But were those, the greenest spots
on earth to a saint, where, if any where, the foot of the mystic ladder
is felt to rest, and the fond heart lingers and says, Let us make
tabernacles here, able to detain him? No. Even there, the dear, devoted
Apostle carried a heart thoroughly surrendered to Christ. "What mean
ye," says he, "to weep and to break mine heart? for I am ready not to be
bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord
Jesus." He would not be kept. And on from thence he goes, along the
coast of Syria up to Jerusalem, and then for two long years, apart from
brethren, in perils by sea and land, under insults and wrongs, a single
heart and devoted affection bearing him through all.
A good conscience alone is not up to all this. Mere righteousness will
not take such a journey. There must be that singleness of eye to Christ,
that principle of devotedness, which reckons upon death and resurrection
with Jesus. Job was righteous, but he was not prepared for such shifting
scenery as this. He loved the green spot and the feathered nest. Changes
come, and changes are too much for him. But God, in the love wherewith
He loved him, as his heavenly Father, puts him to school, to learn the
lesson of a child of resurrection, to be a partaker of "_His_ holiness,"
the holiness not merely of a right or pure-minded man, but _the holiness
that suits the call of God_, the holiness of a dead and risen man, one
of the pilgrim family, one of God's strangers in the world. Heb. xii. 9,
10.
Job was chastened to be partaker of such a holiness as this. Not that
trials and troubles, like his, are essential to the learning of this
lesson. A very common method it is, indeed, with our heavenly Father, in
His wisdom. But Paul set himself daily to practise that lesson, without
the instructions of griefs and losses in either body or estate. Phil.
iii. In the fervent labourings of the spirit within, he exercised
himself in it every day. And so should we. We are to dread the Laodicean
state, satisfaction with present condition or attainment. The Laodicean
was not a Pharisee, or a self-righteous man of religion. He was a
professor, it may be, of very correct notions and judgments, but in a
spirit of self-complacency, he did not cherish increasing freshness and
vigour in the ways of the Lord.
Arise, depart; for this is not your rest, says the Spirit by the
Prophet. And why? Why is it not to be our rest? "It is polluted," he
adds. He does not say it is sorrowful, it is disappointing, it is
unsatisfying, but it is polluted. The quickened soul is to gather from
the _moral_ and not from the _circumstances_ of the scene here, its
reasons for cherishing within it the power of Christ's resurrection. The
dove outside the ark did not fear the snare of the fowler, but found no
rest for the sole of her foot on the unpurged ground.
It is humbling to sit down and delineate what has been so poorly reached
in personal power. But "a beauteous light" may be seen "from far," and
as such, some of us descry and hail the virtues of the risen life.
A dead and risen man will have neither his _springs_ nor his _objects_
here. His principles of action will be found in Christ, and his
expectations in the coming kingdom. He is taken out of all the
advantages and adornings of the flesh into the righteousness of God, and
then, livingly and practically, is struggling up the hill, having, in
spirit, left the low level of the world, abating the force of nature,
and the fascination of nature's circumstances, and taking the affections
from things on earth to give them to those which are with Christ above.
He has lost himself, but he has won Christ. He has taken leave of the
course of the world which goes its rounds on the plain beneath, and is
ascending after Jesus.
He lets the world know that it could never provide him with his object.
In the midst of its kingdoms and delights he is a stranger still. And
virtues and qualities of heart he practises that are of like divine
excellence. He can, like his Master, hide the glory to which God has
appointed him, and be nothing in the present scene. Abraham did not tell
every Canaanite whom he chanced to meet, that he was the heir of the
country. In the ears of the children of Heth he said, "I am a stranger
and a sojourner with you." He was content to be, and (what is still
harder) to be thought to be, a homeless, houseless man. So David,
another of the dead and risen family, when hunted and driven by the evil
thing then in power, though the oil of Samuel was upon him, God's own
consecration to the throne, he did not publish it. That was the secret
and the joy of faith. But he did not publish it. He did not traffic with
it among men--he did not talk of himself in connection with that which
the world could value. He was rather, in his own reckoning before men,
no better than "a dead dog" or "a flea."
Oh, precious faith! Oh, holy and triumphant faith! But this was an
elevation which Job had to reach. He was not, according to the power
which wrought in his soul, of this generation. Not that his condition in
life made him proud, or self-indulgent, or indifferent to others. But he
_valued_ his condition. With what eloquence does he describe it. Chapter
xxix. The minuteness with which he remembers it tells us with what
fondness he had embraced it. The eloquence with which he describes it
(and nothing can exceed that) betrays with what fervour of heart he had
lingered over it, in the day of its bloom and beauty. He loved his
condition and circumstances in life, his place, his character, his
estimation, his dignities and praise among men. Godly he was, truly and
admirably so. There was none like him in the earth. But his place in the
earth was important to him. He was largely ready to communicate and to
serve, but he communicated and served as a patron or a benefactor. And
he desired continuance. "I shall multiply my days as the sand," was his
calculation. Hence the great end of his trial, and the purpose of
recording it. For this Book gives us the story of a saint in patriarchal
days, or rather, the story of his trials, trials through which he was to
learn the common lesson, according to the common calling, that we are a
dead and risen people. Job came, I believe, before Abraham, but he did
not come before this lesson; for it had been taught, as we have seen,
from the beginning; Adam and Abel, and the line of Seth through Enoch
and Noah, had already practised it. And Job, after them, is set down to
the same lesson, only engraven in somewhat deeper and darker lines.
Such, generally, I believe, was Job, and such his history. A solitary
saint he was; at least, not linked with dispensational arrangements, or
with the peculiar covenanted family, and before the call of God was
manifested in the person of Abraham. This, however, adds exceeding value
to the Book. For it is, thus, a witness of the religion of God's people
in the most detached and independent condition. Time and place do not
connect him with the ecclesiastical order or course of things at all.
But still, the faith of the elect of God was his faith, their truths his
truths, their calling his calling, their hopes his hopes. We have Adam,
and Seth, and Noah, and Shem, and Job, and Abraham, Moses, Prophets,
Apostles, and ourselves, till the number of the elect be accomplished,
learning the joy and the song of redemption. As we sometimes sing
together--
"Then shall countless myriads, wearing
Robes made white in Jesu's blood,
Palms (like rested pilgrims) bearing,
Stand around the throne of God.
"These, redeemed from every nation,
Shall in triumph bless His name;
Every voice shall cry, 'Salvation
To our God and to the Lamb.'"
Not only, however, the substance or materials, but the very style of the
Book is in the analogy of the whole inspired volume. It does not teach
doctrines formally, after the method of a science; it rather assumes
them, or lets them publish themselves incidentally. Even in the Epistles
this is the common way. The great revelation of doctrines made there
comes out, more commonly, in the way of either enforcing results, or in
answer to inquiries, or in defence of truth against gainsayers or
corrupters. So in this Book, doctrines are assumed, or delivered
incidentally; the more direct object, as I have suggested, being
this--to exhibit a soul set to learn, through trials and sorrows, the
common lesson, the power of our calling, that our hopes are neither in
the world, nor from the flesh, but in living scenes, with Jesus, beyond
all that is here.
And deeply affecting as a narrative of trying and sorrowing events it
surely is, for the events themselves are deeply touching. But they are
all ordinary, or such as are "common to man." Robbers carry off his oxen
and asses. Lightning destroys his flocks. A high wind blows down his
house, and kills his children. And, at last, a sore disease breaks out
on his body from head to foot.
Each of these might have happened to his ungodly neighbour, as well as
to him. In the mere matter of these afflictions, there was nothing that
distinguished him as a child of God. They were not the sufferings of
righteousness from the hand of man, the sufferings of a martyr. They
were such as were "common to man." But still they were all under the
exactest inspection and admeasurement of his heavenly Father, all in the
way of appointment and of discipline flowing from heavenly interests,
and divine relationships. And all, too, the result of great transactions
in heaven. For Satan had been there, accusing Job, and the Lord had been
boasting of him; and the Lord had licensed Satan to go against Job, with
a quiver full of arrows, but had appointed him his measure and rule.
And this is very comforting. For many a child of God is troubled, in the
day of affliction, with the thought that his trial is commonplace, and
no witness at all that he is not "as other men." But such trouble is
mistaken. In the shape or material of the affliction, the believer may
be just in company with other men, it is true. The same storm on the
distant sea, or the same disease at home, may have bereaved them alike;
but faith takes account of the relationship with God, and of the
interest which all that concerns a poor saint awakens in heaven.
In the wisdom of God, in the construction of this beautiful story (true
as I know it to be in every incident that it records), it is made to
introduce all the great actors in the divine mystery, and to reveal the
great truths which form the common faith of the elect.
This is much to be prized; for this declares the perfect harmony of all,
even the most distant and independent, portions of the oracles of God.
Accordingly, we see engaged in the action of this Book the _angels_ who
minister to the divine pleasure; _Satan_ the great adversary; _the elect
sinner_ whose faith is cast into the furnace; _his brethren_ in the
faith; _the minister of God_ in the energy of the Holy Ghost; and _the
Lord God Himself_.
These are the actors in the wondrous scenery of this Book; so that while
the action itself is simply the trial of a saint, it is so constructed
as to bring forth all these great agents and energies, the very same
with which our souls are conversant to this hour, occupied, also, in the
ways and places which the whole of Scripture assigns to them. And it is
a matter of the richest interest to our souls to trace this.
Thus the angels or "sons of God" are here seen for a moment or two, but
exactly in the place and action which the general consent of all
Scripture gives them. They are in attendance on the Lord in heaven, as
those who had been forth, and were ready again to go forth, in the
service of His good pleasure. For the whole Word thus bears witness to
them. They are "ministering spirits," "ministers of His that do His
pleasure." They are His hosts on high, and the Lord Himself is among
them. Gabriel stands in His presence. The Seraphim attend His throne,
and they are winged, either to veil their faces and their feet before
the divine majesty, or to fly, like the wind, to execute the divine
commands. All this is told of the angels throughout Scripture, and here
the heavens are opened for a moment, and all this is seen and heard.
So as to Satan. This Book is in strictest analogy with the whole volume.
"Messengers of Satan" go forth from the presence of God, as well as
Gabriel and the hosts. "Lying spirits" as well as "ministering spirits"
take their journey and their commission from thence. He goes about, says
an apostle, seeking whom he may devour; as here, he says of himself,
that he had been up and down, and to and fro, in the earth. Another
apostle tells us, that he, with his principalities and powers, is in
heavenly places; and here we find him among the sons of God, in the
presence of God. And again; he desired to have all the apostles, that he
might sift them as wheat, put them to the proof of what they were; and
so here as to Job. Satan is elsewhere called "the accuser of the
brethren," and here he is heard as such. He is the tormentor of this
servant of God, as Scripture generally presents him; but, as Scripture
also testifies, his action is under the limitations and sovereignty of
God. Jesus, God manifest in the flesh, as He walked in the land of
Israel, gave him his measure (Mark v.); and so Elohim from the throne
does here, and the eye of the Seer and the voice of the Prophet assign
him also exactly this place and action. 1 Kings xxii.; Zech. iii.[27]
[27] The children of light should reckon upon the attempts of the
powers of darkness against them. A sudden moment of conflict
should not therefore surprise us. For we are set to be the scene
or theatre of their defeat by Christ. "It is our illumination"
that exposes us. That is its proper natural operation. The more we
are in the light, I may say, the more exposed we are. It was
Adam's creature-beauty, Job's memorial with God, and the Apostle's
attachment to Christ, that laid them open to Satan.
But let me add, that a "messenger of Satan" may be sent forth from
the presence of God upon either the _flesh_ or the _heart_ of man.
An evil spirit from the Lord came upon Saul, and a lying spirit
came upon the prophets of Ahab. 1 Sam. xvi.; 1 Kings xxii. The
Lord was beginning solemn acts of _judgment_, and, therefore,
these messengers of Satan were sent forth upon the _heart_ of
those who were righteously under judgment. But other messengers of
Satan reach only the _body_ or _circumstances_, as in the case of
Paul and of our patriarch. And this is _discipline_ merely, and
not judgment.
These analogies are as strict and literal as they can be. And
further--for it is edifying to trace this still--we find the patriarch
in one school with the distant apostle of the Gentiles--so richly does
one Spirit breathe through the whole volume. We are in the last chapters
of 2 Corinthians, when reading the first chapters of the Book of Job! We
have the "thorn in the flesh," "the messenger of Satan," in both Job and
Paul.
Then, as to Job and his friends, or the elect one whose faith is cast
into the furnace, and his brethren in the faith. A very principal part
of this patriarchal story is made up, as we commonly know, of the
controversies that arose between them. Bitter and heated they were, in
something more than the ordinary measure. But such things are still, and
have been in every age.
Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar were friends and brethren indeed, though
they proved to be but "miserable comforters." They came to Job when all
had deserted him, children mocking him, young men pushing away his feet,
his kinsfolk failing him, his inward friends forgetting him, his
servants giving him no answer, and his wife refusing him, though he
entreated for their children's sake. They were true-hearted friends, who
said that they would go and comfort their afflicted brother. And they
did go; and they sat with him in his place of ashes and potsherds for
seven days.
But they fell out by the way. _Sad_ to tell it, but so it was; not
_strange_ to tell it, for so has it ever been, and so is it still. So
early as the times of Abraham's herdmen and Lot's herdmen, this stands
on record. Joseph had to say to his brethren, "See that ye fall not out
by the way." Moses knew the trial of the _camp_ even beyond that of the
_wilderness_, as he went from Egypt to the Jordan. It was of His own
that Jesus in His day had to say, How long shall I be with you and
suffer you? And Paul counted "the care of all the churches" the heaviest
thing that came upon him.
Variety of temper, different measures of attainment, the quality of the
light and the form of the kingdom in us, if I may so express it, will
occasion collision and trial, even where there is nothing morally wrong.
But from whatever cause it be, so is it still, and so has it been from
the days of Job and his friends, that we form a great part of each
other's trial. The Lord sits over it all, refining His silver and
purifying His gold, but still so it is, that we help to heat each
other's furnace for the trial of faith.