Jesus throughout the Scriptures: Job (4)
Pray Psalm 28.8, 9.
The LORD is their strength,
And He is the saving refuge of His anointed.
Save Your people,
And bless Your inheritance;
Shepherd them also,
And bear them up forever.
Sing Psalm 28.8, 9.
(Angel’s Story: O Jesus, I Have Promised)
Our strength are You, O Savior, our strong defense and sure.
Anointed with Your favor, we rest in You secure.
Save us, and bless us, Jesus, upon us turn Your face.
With shepherd’s care, LORD, keep us forever in Your grace.
Read Job 9.1-4, 32, 33; 16.20-22; 19.23-27; meditate on 19.25-27.
Preparation
1. For what did Job express a longing?
2. What did he know?
Meditation
In the midst of his terrible loss and suffering, Job knew two things.
First, he knew that God was altogether transcendent. That He exists in a realm that we cannot visit, nor can we fully understand its operations. In a very real sense, God is beyond our reach.
And yet, Job also knew, God is our Redeemer—He rescues us from our temporal conditions and plight—and He lives! And because He lives, Job also seemed to know, we will live, too (19.26). Then we will abide forever in the Presence of the transcendent God. We will see Him and know Him in ways and to a degree which is not now available to us. How Job’s heart yearned for that day (19.27)!
And he knew that some Mediator would be required to bring us together with the Lord, Someone to lay a hand on us and on our heavenly Father and unite us in Himself (9.33), although in Job’s day, that Mediator was not in sight.
But He was in foresight, in foreshadowing. For here in the oldest book of the Old Testament—written even before the books of Moses—already the need of a Mediator is seen to be the heart longing of men. And Jesus came to fulfill that longing, to mediate between us and God, to stretch out His hands on the cross and, by His own blood, bind us back to our God. And He promised the very thing Job cried out for, that one day we will see Him face to face and be like Him, we will dwell with Him in a new heavens and new earth where righteousness dwells, and there will be no more pain and no more sorrow.
Job’s cry for a Mediator reaches to the deep longing of our own souls, a longing graciously fulfilled by Jesus.
Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
Although I saw this over 45 years ago, it is a sight I cannot unsee.
Our Bible study teacher, Pat Hunter, was teaching from the book of Job.
She was seated between two of her students.
She put her hands on both of their shoulders, and spoke out in her commanding voice:
“Oh, that I had a daysman to stand between us, who may lay his hand on us both!”
And then she proclaimed we do—our Daysman is Jesus!
A daysman is an umpire, arbiter, referee and mediator. And the term is used in Job 9.33 in the King James Version. Jesus is indeed all those things for us. He stands between us and the wrath of God. His blood pleads our case before the Almighty. He is the answer for our sin. He is the only Way, Truth, and Life (Jn. 14.6).
“Consider my affliction and deliver me, for I do not forget Your law.
Plead my cause and redeem me; revive me according to Your word” (Ps. 119.153, 154).
“I will bear the indignation of the LORD, because I have sinned against Him.
Until He pleads my case and executes justice for me.
He will bring me forth to the light; I will see His righteousness” (Micah 7.9).
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (Jn. 3.16).
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6.23).
“For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,
Who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men,
the Man Christ Jesus, Who gave Himself a ransom for all… (1 Tim. 2.3-6).
Our cry for a Daysman and Mediator has been heard. God sent us Jesus.
“In this the love of God was manifested toward us,
that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world,
that we might live through Him” (1 Jn. 4.9).
Reflection
1. How would you explain Jesus’ work as Mediator to an unsaved friend?
2. What qualifies Jesus to be our Mediator?
3. How does Jesus mediate for you even now? How should you use His mediation?
There is a Mediator, a Daysman, or Umpire, for us, even God’s own beloved Son, who has purchased peace for us with the blood of his cross, who is able to save to the uttermost all who come unto God through him. Matthew Henry (1662-1714), Commentary on Job 9.32-35
Pray Psalm 28.1-7.
Thank the Lord that, through Jesus, we have access to Him in prayer. Call on Him to guide you with His favor, to keep you from all sinful ways, and to lead you to bless and praise our only Mediator, Jesus Christ, throughout the day.
Sing Psalm 28.1-7.
(Angel’s Story: O Jesus, I Have Promised)
I cry to You, our Savior, O, be not deaf to me!
LORD, speak to me with favor, lest I should dying be.
Hear now my supplications when for Your help I cry.
Receive these, my oblations, before Your throne on high.
LORD, count me not among those who walk in sinful ways.
With words of peace their tongue glows while evil fills their days.
Your works they disregard, LORD, while evil fills their hands.
Destroy them by Your Word, LORD, and let them no more stand.
Blessed be the Name of Jesus, for He will hear our prayer.
His strength protects and shields us with mercy and with care.
In You our heart rejoices; You help us by Your Word.
To You we raise our voices to praise and thank You, LORD.
T. M. and Susie Moore
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.
