Job: a new perspective, part 1
March 31, 2019
INTRODUCTION
A long time ago, I was driving to a bible class, waiting at a stop light in the left turn lane. The weather was nice, so I had the front windows on both sides of my car rolled down. In the lane on my right was a black pickup truck who had his windows down also.
The driver was having an argument with somebody on his cell phone.
I was only at the light long enough to hear a few choice curse words directed against the other person who just happened to have the same name as me.
Only the adversary, the god of this world, could have arranged that.
We are psychologically and spiritually assaulted on a daily basis.
Websites, TV commercials, text messages, social media videos, overhearing a conversation from a stranger on a bus or a seeing a poster in the break room where you work can all be sources of confusion, darkness and error.
Welcome to the world!
Ephesians 6 is the epitome of the spiritual competition and gives us a great strategy on how to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
Ephesians 6
10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
In verse 16, it mentions “all the fiery darts of the wicked”.
So what are they, anyways?
They probably can’t be numbered. However, we can categorize, understand, and defeat them with all the resources God gave us.
I John 4:4
Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
Matthew 15 categorizes 2 types of these fiery darts:
- Commandments of men
- Tradition of the elders
Matthew 15
1 Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying,
2 Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread.
3 But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?
4 For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.
5 But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me;
6 And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.
7 Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying,
8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.
9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
That’s a perfect example of fiery darts of the wicked, the most effective of which are the ones in a counterfeit religious context.
In verse 6, look at the definition of “of none effect”:
The interesting part is to investigate the root word of kuroo: Kurios = Lord or master.
If we obey the doctrines, commandments and traditions of men, then we are not making Jesus Christ Lord or keeping God first.
Matthew 6:24 [amplified bible}
No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon [money, possessions, fame, status, or whatever is valued more than the Lord].
So what does all of this have to do with the crucifixion of Jesus Christ?
I Peter 2:24 …By his bruises we were healed…
I Peter 2:24
Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
The word “stripes” is the Greek word molops and this is the only place its used in the bible. This makes a lot of sense because Jesus Christ is the one and only true savior and the one and only true healer.
Definition of stripes:
Strong’s Concordance #3468
mólóps: a bruise
Part of Speech: Noun, Masculine
Usage: a bruise, stripe, left on the body by scourging.
We have forgiveness of sin by his shed blood and healing by his broken body.
Isaiah 52 [NET bible, New English Translation]
13 Look, my servant will succeed! He will be elevated, lifted high, and greatly exalted—
14 (just as many were horrified by the sight of you) he was so disfigured he no longer looked like a man;
15 his form was so marred he no longer looked human— so now he will startle many nations. Kings will be shocked by his exaltation, for they will witness something unannounced to them, and they will understand something they had not heard about.
What about his psychological bruises? They weren’t any less destructive than his physical attacks.
The Ephesians, Romans, Job connection
Jesus Christ not only provided physical healing, but psychological as well.
How do we overcome the fiery darts of the wicked mentioned in Ephesians 6?
Ephesians 1:1
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:
Ephesians is written to the strong, mature believers, those whose spiritual diet includes the solid meat of the word of God. But before you get to the top of your game, you must master the basics first.
Canonically [Genesis to Revelation], the book of Romans is the very first book of the 7 books of the bible written directly to the believers in the body of Christ and serves as its foundation.
Below is a screenshot of page 86 [the last page] of the book of Acts in the online version of the Companion Reference Bible by E.W. Bullinger.
Central to this book are the 5 sonship rights and mastering the corrupt old man nature.
- Redemption
- Justification
- Righteousness
- Sanctified
- The word and ministry of reconciliation
Although Job did not have or know about all that we have now as sons of God in the grace administration, he did have enough to be victorious, even after an almost incomprehensibly horrific string of assaults and disasters.
Just as Ephesians is based upon Romans, the new testament is based upon the old testament.
The very first book of the bible written chronologically was the book of Job, around 1700 – 1500 B.C..
Thus there are parallel concepts between Romans, the first book of the 7 church epistles, and Job, the first book of bible written.
Therefore, we can learn a lot from the book of Job and his experiences.
By chapter 2, Job had already lost his sons, daughters, business, and servants to a fire, a storm, and attacks by the Sabeans and Chaldeans.
How would you have weathered a “perfect storm” from the adversary like that, after being the greatest man or woman of God in your region?
And the devil was just getting warmed up…
Job 2:7
So went Satan forth from the presence of the Lord, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.
Who says that God tests us with sickness, disease and death? Not God.
Job 2:9
Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die.
Imagine your spouse telling you to curse God and die after all the previous disasters and being made sick as a dog on top of that!
Many have said that verbal abuse is worse than physical abuse because its effects and memories can haunt you a lifetime, long after physical bruises have healed and gone away.
Look what the word of God says about the fiery darts of the wicked.
Psalms 57:4
My soul is among lions: and I lie even among them that are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.
Psalms 64:3
Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words:
Proverbs 16:27
An ungodly man diggeth up evil: and in his lips there is as a burning fire.
These are all accurate examples of fiery darts of the wicked.
Job, Jesus Christ and us: victorious
So now we are going to peel back a deeper layer of truth about Jesus Christ’s crucifixion and what he really accomplished for us.
I Peter 2:24
Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
I Peter 2:24 is quoted from Isaiah 53:5.
Isaiah 53:5
But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
The word “bruised” is the Hebrew word daka [phonetic spelling: daw-kaw’] and it means to crush. It’s used 18 times in the old testament, including Job 19:2, translated “and break”!
[The entire 18th chapter of Job is Bildad the Shuhite speaking to Job. According to the exhaustive dictionary of bible names, on page 43, the name Bildad means, “son of contention; contender; Lord Adad; old friendship, with love; confusing [by mingling] love.”
How appropriate.
Shuhite means: “descendents of Shua = wealth; rich; prosperity; noble.”
Job 19
1 Then Job answered and said,
2 How long will ye vex my soul, and break me in pieces with words?
3 These ten times have ye reproached me: ye are not ashamed that ye make yourselves strange to me.
How much more can a person take?!
Yet there were 2 more counterfeit friends who launched their own attacks against Job on top of Bildad’s attacks.
Then after all that, Job endured even more attacks from Elihu, a man the commentaries say was a man of God.
They just didn’t say which God he was a minister of, but that is the subject of another teaching.
Back in Isaiah 53:5, the word “stripes” is the Hebrew word chabburah defined below:
Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance #2250
blueness, bruise, hurt, stripe, wound
Or chabburah {khab-boo-raw’}; or chaburah {khab-oo-raw’}; from chabar; properly, bound (with stripes), i.e. A weal (or black-and-blue mark itself) — blueness, bruise, hurt, stripe, wound.
This word chabburah is used 7 times in the old testament, the number of spiritual perfection.
So in I Peter 2:24, we are healed by Jesus Christ’s stripes, which quotes Isaiah 53:5, where the word “stripes” is used in Job 19:2, translated “and break”.
Next month, we will dig deeper into Job and see what surprises come up…
