Job 40:6-14, “Justification” in the OT (3)

Let’s reflect a little on what we saw in Job concerning “justification.”

ü Job’s friends are incredulous that Job would think he could be justified.  All three ask the same question, can a man be righteous before God?  But Job also poses the same question (9:2).  The general truth all share is that a man, at his best, should not even consider being in the presence of God.  It is not so much that men are such sinners as it is that men are the creation and God is the Creator.  In the end God is always right, and thus, man is foolish to think he can stand in the presence of God.

ü The Lord says something similar, and yet different (40:8).  His question points out what is ultimately the result of trying to justify yourself: if you do, then you must bring God down to your level.  We should consider that when we so loudly proclaim our righteousness.  Other “wisdom books” in the Bible agree with this.

o   Psalm 19:9: It is God’s judgments that are righteous altogether.

o   Psalm 51:4: David confesses his sin so that God may be found to be “just” when He speaks.  In other words, he clears God.

o   Ps. 143:2: In your sight no one living is righteous.

ü If all men are unjust when they stand before God, and God will not justify the wicked (Ex. 23:7), then man has a serious problem.  Job is aware of this, and he knows what he needs.  In Job 9 Job gives his speech, so to speak, on justification.  He recognizes his hopeless situation, but he also tells why his situation is hopeless: 

o   God is not a man with whom I can talk (9:32).  I ask you, is he saying God is not a man and is therefore too far away for us to have a conversation?  Or is he saying God is not a man and cannot understand my situation?  The point is that Job and God are separated.  Job cannot go into God’s presence and God has not come into Job’s presence.  In either case, he is asking for the Incarnate Christ.  

o   Job’s second point is: there is also no mediator between him and God (9:33).  Job knows he needs an effective priest to come between.  He is asking for Christ, our great High Priest.

o   His third point is that he cannot talk with God because God is angry with him or is disciplining him.  Thus, Job is afraid to talk with God.  He wishes God would take away His rod of punishment.  Again, he is asking for Christ, the propitiation for our sins.

Behind all of this is the truth that God alone must be justified.  The Lord’s words in Job 40 make this clear: Job is nothing like God; there is, of course, no one like God.  Job and his friends agree: no one can be justified before God.  They lack the character, and God cannot justify the wicked.