Job 10:1-10 “Show Me Why You [God] Contend With Me?”

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Job 10:1 My soul is weary of my life; I will leave my complaint upon myself; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
Job 10:2 I will say unto God, Do not condemn me; shew me wherefore thou contendest with me.
Job 10:3 Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress, that thou shouldest despise the work of thine hands, and shine upon the counsel of the wicked?
Job 10:4 Hast thou eyes of flesh? or seest thou as man seeth?
Job 10:5 Are thy days as the days of man? are thy years as man’s days,
Job 10:6 That thou enquirest after mine iniquity, and searchest after my sin?
Job 10:7 Thou knowest that I am not wicked; and there is none that can deliver out of thine hand.
Job 10:8 Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round about; yet thou dost destroy me.
Job 10:9 Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as the clay; and wilt thou bring me into dust again?
Job 10:10 Hast thou not poured me out as milk, and curdled me like cheese?

Introduction

Job has confessed that he is a sinner, and in the same breath he questions why God is doing what He is doing to him:

Job 7:20 I have sinned; what shall I do unto thee, O thou preserver of men? why hast thou set me as a mark against thee, so that I am a burden to myself?

In this study we will show that what is happening to Job is, according to Job himself, the Old Testament type and shadow of God’s wrath being poured out upon the self- righteous beast within us all, which is typified by Job’s self- righteousness.
Here is Job’s own assessment of what God is doing to him.

Job 14:13 O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me!
Job 16:9 He [ God, verse 11] teareth me in his wrath, who hateth me: he [ God] gnasheth upon me with his teeth; mine enemy [ God Job 19:11] sharpeneth his eyes upon me.
Job 19:11 He [ God] hath also kindled his wrath against me, and he counteth me unto him as one of his enemies.

God’s wrath IS His judgments:

Job 19:29 Be ye afraid of the sword: for wrath bringeth the punishments of the sword, that ye may know there is a judgment.
Job 20:23 When he is about to fill his belly, God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him, and shall rain it upon him while he is eating.
Job 20:28 The increase of his house shall depart, and his goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath.

Even after admitting in the previous chapter that God has “kindled His wrath against me”, as we have just quoted in Job 19:11, in his self- righteousness, Job does not realize that he is speaking of himself in these verses:

Job 21:16 Lo, their good is not in their hand: the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
Job 21:17 How oft is the candle of the wicked put out! and how oft cometh their destruction upon them! God distributeth sorrows in his anger.
Job 21:18 They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away.
Job 21:19 God layeth up his iniquity for his [ the wicked] children: he rewardeth him, and he shall know it.
Job 21:20 His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty.

Just like us, Job has witnessed his own destruction and still cannot admit that “drinking” the cup of God’s wrath is constructive and is for his good so he can “enter the temple” of God (Rev 15:7-8). He knows he is under God’s wrath, but he does not know why. He does not know that he was “shapen in iniquity and conceived in sin” (Psa 51:5).
“He shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty”. Is that not exactly what God tells us concerning “all” of His own people, as well as “all nations”?

Jer 25:15 For thus saith the LORD God of Israel unto me; Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it.
Jer 25:16 And they shall drink, and be moved, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them.
Jer 25:17 Then took I the cup at the LORD’S hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the LORD had sent me:
Jer 25:18 To wit, Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, an hissing, and a curse; as it is this day;

“To wit, Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them a desolation…” God is intent upon the destruction of our “old man”. He is in the process of destroying Job and “bringing him back to the dust”. It is through the destruction of His own people with whom He is dealing in His wrath that He will save them. It is His own habitation with whom He is dealing in His wrath.

Jer 25:28 And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ye shall certainly drink.
Jer 25:29 For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye [ God own people, His own habitation] shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the LORD of hosts.
Jer 25:30 Therefore prophesy thou against them all these words, and say unto them, The LORD shall roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he shall mightily roar upon his habitation; he shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth.

Job still cannot see that it is HE who is “wicked”, but he does know that God’s wrath is for the wicked:

Job 21:30 That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction? they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath.

Are you and I the wicked Publican? Are you and I the wicked woman caught in the very act of adultery? If we are granted to see these people in our own flesh, then it is only because we were all first the spiritually blind, self- righteous Pharisee, typified by Job, who at first, like Job, could not see any of that wickedness within himself.
Yes, indeed, God’s wrath is “reserved to the day of destruction [ of] the wicked” who is within us all. Job is the type of all those who do not think that God’s wrath is needed or intended for them.
Job is the perfect type of all of us when we first see 1Th 5:9 as the only verse in scripture that matters concerning God’s wrath. Like Job, we all, before we can see “the sum of God’s Word” (Psa 119:160, ASV) on the subject of His wrath, are spiritual Pharisees who will not acknowledge any need for God’s purifying wrath to be poured out upon their own wickedness.
Let’s look at that verse in 1Th 5, and see what it is really saying:

1Th 5:9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,

Indeed, it is all of mankind who is not appointed to wrath but to salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.
Neither is mankind appointed to death, but to salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ:

Joh 8:51 Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.
Joh 11:26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

“Never see death… shall never die”??? How is that accomplished? It is accomplished in the same way that we are “not appointed to wrath but to salvation”. The way we “shall never see death” is “through death”, through “dying daily” (1Co 15:31), and being “crucified with Christ” (Gal 2:20″. That is also the way “we are not appointed to wrath, but to salvation”. Without first knowing and fulfilling God’s wrath “no man can enter into the temple” of God.

Rev 15:7 And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.
Rev 15:8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues [ G4127, plege] of the seven angels were fulfilled.

There is no blessing promised to anyone who does not keep these words written in this 15th chapter of the book of Revelation.

Rev 1:3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.
Rev 22:7 Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.

In this study we will see how Job’s suffering God’s wrath lines up with the seven last plagues which fill up the wrath of God. It is very instructive to be aware that the Greek word translated ‘plagues’ in Rev 15 and 16 is the exact same word translated ‘stripes’ in these verses:

Luk 12:47 And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.
Luk 12:48 But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes [ G 3127, plege], shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.

The first plague – a grievous sore

Job is covered with “a grievous sore”:

Job 2:6 And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life.
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.
Job 2:8 And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal; and he sat down among the ashes.

Such is the first vial:

Rev 16:1 And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.
Rev 16:2 And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.

The second plague – upon the sea

Job reveals that the ‘sea’ is within us. He sees Himself as a marked man and an enemy whom God is intent upon destroying.

Job 7:12 Am I a sea, or a whale, that thou settest a watch over me?

The second vial is poured out on “the sea”.

Rev 16:3 And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea.

The third plague – makes the waters deadly

The life- giving waters of the word of God instruct us about the destruction of our “old… first man, Adam”. It was those very waters , the words of God, which were now turned against him and were destroying the “old man”, Job.

Job 12:14 Behold, he breaketh down, and it cannot be built again: he shutteth up a man, and there can be no opening.
Job 12:15 Behold, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up: also he sendeth them out, and they overturn the earth.
Job 12:16 With him is strength and wisdom: the deceived and the deceiver are his.

The third vial is poured out upon the rivers and fountains of water, and they become deadly to our old man:

Rev 16:4 And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.
Rev 16:5 And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus.
Rev 16:6 For they [ Saul of Tarsus, you and I] have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.
Rev 16:7 And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.

There it is in plain English. God’s wrath is “Thy judgments”, and what do God’s judgments produce when they are “in the earth”?

Isa 26:9 With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments [ God’s wrath, Rev 16:7] are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

The fourth plague – great heat

In his rebellion against God, Job is “burned with heat”.

Job 30:29 I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.
Job 30:30 My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.
Job 30:31 My harp also is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep.

The fourth vial ‘scorches men with great heat”.

Rev 16:8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
Rev 16:9 And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.

The fifth plague – full of darkness

Job was tormented in his darkness. Darkness is the Biblical symbol of a lack of knowledge and of confusion. Job is in great darkness, and in great affliction:

Job 30:26 When I looked for good, then evil came unto me: and when I waited for light, there came darkness.
Job 30:27 My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me.
Job 30:28 I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the congregation.
Job 30:29 I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.

This lack of understanding torments us all. This darkness is the pouring out of the fifth vial upon the kingdom of our ‘old man… the first man Adam”. When we reprove, contend with and condemn God for His ways in our lives, we are blaspheming God ‘because of our pains’.

Rev 16:10 And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain,
Rev 16:11 And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.
Rom 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

The sixth plague – dries up the waters

When the waters of God are dried up in our lives, the lies of Babylon “out of the mouth of the dragon… the beast… and the false prophet” flourish. At the same time that those life- giving words are “overturning” and destroying our “old man” with all his lies, they are in the process of bringing forth a “new man” .

Job 12:15 Behold, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up: also he sendeth them out, and they overturn the earth.
Job 28:4 The flood breaketh out from the inhabitant; even the waters forgotten of the foot: they are dried up, they are gone away from men.

It is the dragon himself whom God has sent to afflict Job. Job’s physical boils are no more painful to him than are the false accusations and the mental torment of his friends. Both Job and his friends are lacking the nourishing life- giving waters of the knowledge of God. They are “dried up”, and the “kings of the east” will destroy our old kingdom, just as God used Satan to destroy Job’s ‘kingdom’; just as He used King Cyrus to destroy ancient Babylon, and just as the kingdom of our beast will also be ‘destroyed by the brightness of Christ’s coming’ (2Th 2:8). But we will be deceived by the miracles performed by the beast, and in that state, and at that time we, with Job, will turn against and condemn our own Creator. Job was very physically prosperous before he was afflicted through Satan and of God. But that time of prosperity was merely a time in which Job was being set up to be destroyed. It is God Himself who sends “the spirits of devils, working miracles” and causes us to err and hardens our hearts against His ways” and brings us all to our own ‘Armageddon’ and the death of our “old… first man Adam”.

Rev 16:12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.
Rev 16:13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.
Rev 16:14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.
Rev 16:15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
Rev 16:16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.
Isa 63:17 O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance. />

The seventh plague – On the ‘air’

According to our Lord, the beasts of the earth and the fowls of the heavens and the fowls of the air are the symbols of “the wicked one” who snatches away the word of Truth.

Mat 13:4 And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up:
Mat 13:18 Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower.
Mat 13:19 When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.

Yet this is exactly the source to whom Job would send us to learn of God:

Job 12:7 But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee:

“The air” is the invisible realm of the spirit, and it is true that these all know that God is and that He is sovereign,

Jas 2:19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
Eph 2:2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

Nevertheless they have not been granted to either know our Lord or His Father as He wants us to know Him, even though Christ is hinted at by Elihu here in this book of Job:

Job 33:23 If there be a messenger with him [ Christ], an interpreter, one among a thousand, to shew unto man his uprightness [ Christ]:
Job 33:24 Then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom [ Christ].

It is the “thunder” of God which judges the things that are in “the air”. Here is some of that ‘thunder’ that God poured out on Job’s ‘air’.

Job 37:1 At this also my heart trembleth, and is moved out of his place.
Job 37:2 Hear attentively the noise of his voice, and the sound that goeth out of his mouth.
Job 37:3 He directeth it under the whole heaven, and his lightning unto the ends of the earth.
Job 37:4 After it a voice roareth: he thundereth with the voice of his excellency; and he will not stay them when his voice is heard.
Job 37:5 God thundereth marvellously with his voice; great things doeth he, which we cannot comprehend.
Job 40:9 Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like him?

The spiritual lies of Satan, “the prince of the power of the air”, tell us that God is not a loving God and that He has no right to “scourge” us as He does (Heb 12:6-7) or to treat us as He does. It is these lies which Job believes, because he is the Old Testament type of us while we are having the scourging of the seven last plagues of God’s wrath poured out upon us. It is the lies of the “Prince of the power of the air” which we and Job believe which give God the “occasion” He is seeking to pour out His wrath upon “the cities of the nations… and great Babylon” within Job and within each of us.
God does not “thunder [ with] the noise of His voice… and His lightning” just to impress us. When He ‘thunders marvelously with His voice’, and He directs… His lightning unto the ends of the earth”, the lies of the prince of the power of the air are revealed for what they are beyond any shadow of a doubt even within the hardest and most rebellious heart, and those lies are destroyed on the spot. God’s work is a process, but it is “a short work” that the Lord does upon the earth.

Rev 16:17 And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.
Rev 16:18 And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.
Rev 16:19 And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.
Rev 16:20 And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.
Rev 16:21 And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.

It is through “His wrath” that the Lord is working with Job and with us:

Job 20:28 The increase of his house shall depart, and his goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath.

While it may seem like an eternity to us, as it did to Job, from God’s perspective it is but for “a little moment”, and it is “a short work”.

Isa 54:7 For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee.
Isa 54:8 In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer.
Rom 9:28 For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.

To all of us and to Job, the type and shadow of those who “keep the things written” in the revelation of Jesus Christ (Rev 1:3), it does not seem like either “a little moment” or “a short work”. Like us, Job has no rest day or night while being judged in God’s presence:

Job 7:13 When I say, My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint;
Job 7:14 Then thou scarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me through visions:
Job 7:15 So that my soul chooseth strangling, and death rather than my life.
Job 7:16 I loathe it; I would not live alway: let me alone; for my days are vanity.
Job 7:17 What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him?
Job 7:18 And that thou shouldest visit him every morning, and try him every moment?
Job 7:19 How long wilt thou not depart from me, nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle?

“Depart from me… let me alone till I swallow down my spittle” That is the spirit of “the prince of the power of the air” with which we reprove our Potter in whose hands we are. It is in this very spirit that Job continues to contend with God:

Job 10:1 My soul is weary of my life; I will leave my complaint upon myself; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

Job says “I will speak in the bitterness of my soul”. We all do that, but in doing so, we are being set up for our own destruction. It seems we simply cannot learn our lesson at this particular time in the revelation of Jesus Christ within us:

Job 9:18 He will not suffer me to take my breath, but filleth me with bitterness.

It is better to say ‘I am vile… I will speak no more’ (Job 40:4). But we continue in our stubborn self- righteous reproofs of God:

Job 10:2 I will say unto God, Do not condemn me; shew me wherefore thou contendest with me.
Job 10:3 Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress, that thou shouldest despise the work of thine hands, and shine upon the counsel of the wicked?

“Show me why you contend with me”, we demand. We, as a piece of pottery, can condemn our Maker, but we think He has no right to condemn us? We can contend with Him, but we want Him to answer us and tell us why He is contending with us? We can condemn men who oppress other men, but what right do we have to condemn God for doing what He wants to do with His creatures? What right do we have to accuse and condemn Him for “despising the work of [ His] hands and shin[ ing] upon the counsel of the wicked”?

Job 10:4 Hast thou eyes of flesh? or seest thou as man seeth?
Job 10:5 Are thy days as the days of man? are thy years as man’s days,
Job 10:6 That thou enquirest after mine iniquity, and searchest after my sin?

We are truly confused when we dare to ask such foolish questions of our God. God does not see as men see. If He did, we would never have eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and we would all still be naked in the garden of Eden, blissfully unaware that we were “shapen in iniquity and conceived in sin” (Psa 51:5). Most Christians to this day want to have the blissful ignorance of Eden.

Gen 2:25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

Job and we know the answer to those questions, but our self- righteousness, and our “bitterness” will not permit us to keep our mouth shut. God is not “enquiring after our iniquity, and searching after our sin”. What He is doing and what will happen is that He will eventually show to Job and all of us just how self- righteous we are in daring to put Him on trial and condemn Him for His ways. God is “searching” for nothing, rather He’s simply revealing to us everything that is within us.

Job 10:7 Thou knowest that I am not wicked; and there is none that can deliver out of thine hand.

“You know I am not wicked”??? That is what is within us! No, God knows that we are all wicked. Here is what God knows, and this is what we at first, typified by Job, do not know. This is what the orthodox Christians as well as all the rest of mankind do not yet know:

Rom 7:17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
Rom 7:19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Rom 7:20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
Rom 7:22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
Rom 7:23 But I see another law in my member s, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
Rom 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Rom 7:25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

At first Job has no clue that “sin dwells in me… and brings me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members”. How did that sin get there “in my members”? It got there through “another law in my member s, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
Where did this “law of sin” come from? It is of the utmost importance that we become aware of the answer to this question or we will remain as ignorant of God and His ways as was self- righteous Job. James gives us the answer to this perplexing question of who is the giver of this “law of sin [ which is] in our members”:

Jas 4:12 There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?

God alone is the “one Lawgiver, who alone is able to save and to destroy…” Job does not know what that “one Lawgiver” is in the process of doing. In his ignorance he continues to attempt to reason with God and to convince God that flesh and blood is not all that bad a creation. After all flesh and blood are God’s own handiwork:

Job 10:8 Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round about; yet thou dost destroy me.
Job 10:9 Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as the clay; and wilt thou bring me into dust again?
Job 10:10 Hast thou not poured me out as milk, and curdled me like cheese?

While it is obvious that Job had been given the knowledge of the sweet smelling savor burnt offering, it is yet apparent that he was completely unaware of these verses of scripture:

Gen 3:17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
Gen 3:18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
Gen 3:19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

Job knows nothing of life coming only “through death”. He certainly is not aware of the advantage of dying daily while we are yet in these vessels of clay. We all know of God, long before the depth of this Truth is realized within us:

Joh 12:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
Col 1:22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:
Col 1:23 If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;
Col 1:24 Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:

Christ did not die to the sins of the flesh so we could live in those sins. He died to the sins of the flesh so He could fill up in our flesh what is ‘behind of His sufferings’. He died to the sins of the flesh so He could come into our bodies and die daily so we too, could be “crucified with Christ”, and be raised up again with Him to “walk in newness of life… until the redemption of the purchased possession”.

Gal 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Rom 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?
Rom 6:2 Certainly not! We died to sin– How shall we live any longer in it?
Rom 6:3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
Rom 6:4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also should walk in newness of life.
Eph 1:11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Eph 1:12 That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
Eph 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Eph 1:14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

“The redemption of the purchased possession” necessitates the death of “the first man Adam”, who is typified by Job, until God comes and changes his heart and mind,
“Will you bring me into the dust again?” The answer is a resounding “Yes, indeed” we are all to be ‘brought to dust again” for this simple reason:

1Co 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

Next week, if the Lord wills, we will cover these verses of Job which reveal the utter confusion we all must come to know before we will be granted to know what God is doing with His creature:

Job 10:11 Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh, and hast fenced me with bones and sinews.
Job 10:12 Thou hast granted me life and favour, and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit.
Job 10:13 And these things hast thou hid in thine heart: I know that this is with thee.
Job 10:14 If I sin, then thou markest me, and thou wilt not acquit me from mine iniquity.
Job 10:15 If I be wicked, woe unto me; and if I be righteous, yet will I not lift up my head. I am full of confusion; therefore see thou mine affliction;
Job 10:16 For it increaseth. Thou huntest me as a fierce lion: and again thou shewest thyself marvellous upon me.
Job 10:17 Thou renewest thy witnesses against me, and increasest thine indignation upon me; changes and war are against me.
Job 10:18 Wherefore then hast thou brought me forth out of the womb? Oh that I had given up the ghost, and no eye had seen me!
Job 10:19 I should have been as though I had not been; I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.
Job 10:20 Are not my days few? cease then, and let me alone, that I may take comfort a little,
Job 10:21 Before I go whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death;
Job 10:22 A land of darkness, as darkness itself; and of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as darkness.

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