Job 9:27-35, Job and the Savior (1)

What did Job know about the Savior and how did he know it? Psalm 19 says that all men can know something about God and the need of a Savior.  They know this by “general revelation.”  God has revealed to everyone general truth about Himself and our connection with Him.  He did this through Creation and Conscience.  In Creation we can know there is a God, defined as the Creator, and we can know many of His attributes.  If you are an atheist, evolutionist, epicurean, materialist or engaged in “creature worship,” you are guilty of suppressing the truth (Rom. 1:18).  If you deny that you are at enmity against the Creator you are either denying your conscience or you are living in blindness, having ignored your conscience so long that it is no longer telling you of your sin and guilt. Thus, you are living in rebellion against the Creator who laughs at your denial of the obvious (Ps. 2:1-3).

With respect to Job, we must believe that he was attentive to the message of “general revelation.”  But we can also assume that Job had a measure of truth somewhat akin to what Abraham’s grandfather had.  There are enough details in the story of Job to indicate he likely lived in the time, certainly before the “Law of Moses” (he certainly made no mention of it if he did).  He was offering sacrifices for his own children (Job 1), so there was no Aaronic priesthood.  Abraham did the same thing, leading his family in worship, as had Noah after the flood. 

This general timeframe tells us that Job knew the oral tradition passed down from Noah and his sons, especially Shem who worship the true God.  If we take the ages literally in Gen. 1-11 then we can say that Shem was still alive, and likely influential, until the birth of Isaac.  Thus, Job knew of Adam and Eve (sin and the Savior who would be of the “seed of the woman”), Cain and Abel (true and false religion), Noah (the flood, the Noahic Covenant, the special place of the Semites).  Could he have known of Abraham?  Possibly but not positively.  What I am asking you to do is to try to put yourself in Job’s historical setting.  You don’t know about Israel or Messiah the Son of David or Matthew, Mark, Luke and John or a place outside Jerusalem called Golgotha.  He knew there was a Creator, that he had sinned against his Creator, that he was guilty, that he would someday face his Creator.  But join me in seeing what else a reasonably intelligent man could understand who had limited access to God’s word, the Bible.

·       Job 9:32: Job knew it would be helpful if God could become a man and experience what he, Job, experienced.  (Heb. 4:14-16).

·       Job 9:33: If that were not possible, then at the least there needed to be a Mediator, one to stand in between him and the Creator, one who could understand both sides. (1 Tim. 2:5)

·       Job 13:16: He knew salvation would have to come from God.  He did not think there was anything in him that could save him.  “Saved” means delivered.  He needed deliverance from this thing that separated him from God. (Ac. 4:12)