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Job 13:1 Lo, mine eye hath seen all this, mine ear hath heard and understood it.
Job 13:2 What ye know, the same do I know also: I am not inferior unto you.
Job 13:3 Surely I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to reason with God.
Job 13:4 But ye are forgers of lies, ye are all physicians of no value.
Job 13:5 O that ye would altogether hold your peace! and it should be your wisdom.
Job 13:6 Hear now my reasoning, and hearken to the pleadings of my lips.
Job 13:7 Will ye speak wickedly for God? and talk deceitfully for him?
Job 13:8 Will ye accept his person? will ye contend for God?
Job 13:9 Is it good that he should search you out? or as one man mocketh another, do ye so mock him?
Job 13:10 He will surely reprove you, if ye do secretly accept persons.
Job 13:11 Shall not his excellency make you afraid? and his dread fall upon you?
Job 13:12 Your remembrances are like unto ashes, your bodies to bodies of clay.
Job 13:13 Hold your peace, let me alone, that I may speak, and let come on me what will.
Job 13:14 Wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in mine hand?

Introduction

To this point we have witnessed the pride of our flesh in Job and in his accusing, so- called comforters. But as the type of God’s firstfruit elect, it is Job who is being judged and who is being used to demonstrate to us what are our own faults first.

Rom 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
Jas 1:18 Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
1Pe 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

Are Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar full of “the pride of life”? Yes, of course they are. But it is not Eliphaz, Bildad, or Zophar who are being judged and afflicted by the hand of God at this time. “The time is come that judgment must begin at the house of” Job first (1Pe 4:17). It is Job who is first being ‘afflicted by God’ and humiliated before his own “inward friends”. It is Job, the type of God’s “firstfruit… elect” whose judgment must begin first. It is Job, as a type of God’s elect who must have the this ‘vessel of clay’ destroyed first.

Job 6:14 To him that is afflicted [ by “the hand of God”] pity should be shewed from his friend; but he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty.
Job 19:19 All my inward friends abhorred me: and they whom I loved are turned against me.
Job 19:21 Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me.
1Co 3:12 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;
1Co 3:13 Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
1Co 3:14 If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
1Co 3:15 If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

‘All in Adam’ first build with “wood, hay, and stubble” before they build with “gold, silver, [ and] precious stones”, and “every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare… every man’s work”. The only thing that distinguishes God’s elect is the fact that they are the “firstfruits of the spirit” (Jas 1:18), and are therefore those upon whom ‘judgment must first begin’.

1Pe 4:12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
1Pe 4:13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.
1Pe 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

God’s judgment which must “first begin at us” is that fire which causes us all to suffer the loss of this present evil life.

Mat 10:39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

But we do not ‘find our life’ until we have suffered “the loss of all things”, and Job’s story demonstrates that this “loss of all things” is a lengthy process that is “for a long time” which seems like an eternity to Job while that process is taking place. As the type and shadow of us, Job’s trials are the seven last plagues as they are being poured out within our lives.
It was God who gave Job life and all that he had. Outwardly Job appeared to be a very good, God- fearing man. But Job had a ‘deep, dark, deadly’ sin within his flesh which is common to all men. That sin had to be ‘brought out to life’, and Job, as the type of us, had to come to see that even the prosperity of this life, when covered with this sin still within us, is nothing more than “the valley of the shadow of death”, which must be burned out of each of us.

Job 12:22 He discovereth deep things out of darkness, and bringeth out to light the shadow of death.

Psa 23:4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Luk 20:9 Then began he to speak to the people this parable; A certain man planted a vineyard, and let it forth to husbandmen, and went into a far country for a long time.

As hard as it is for our natural man to grasp, God’s rod and His staff are his fiery words that are intended to comfort us, and are given as a lamp to our path.

Psa 119:105 NUN. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
Rom 15:4 For whatsoever things were written aforetime [ Job’s trials included] were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

The spirit demonstrated by both Job and His ‘miserable comforters’; his comforters falsely accusing him, and Job accusing both his “comforters” as well as his Creator, is the spirit given to the “husbandmen” who receive the Lord’s “vineyard, and who then refuse to give Him the fruit of his own vineyard.

Luk 20:10 And at the season he sent a servant to the husbandmen, that they should give him of the fruit of the vineyard: but the husbandmen beat him, and sent him away empty.
Luk 20:11 And again he sent another servant: and they beat him also, and entreated him shamefully, and sent him away empty.
Luk 20:12 And again he sent a third: and they wounded him also, and cast him out.
Luk 20:13 Then said the lord of the vineyard, What shall I do? I will send my beloved son: it may be they will reverence him when they see him.
Luk 20:14 But when the husbandmen saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, This is the heir: come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.
Luk 20:15 So they cast him out of the vineyard, and killed him. What therefore shall the lord of the vineyard do unto them?
Luk 20:16 He shall come and destroy these husbandmen, and shall give the vineyard to others. And when they heard it, they said, God forbid.

This book of Job is the story of the destruction of these evil husbandmen. The beast within Job, also called “the first man Adam” is being burned up and destroyed as the means by which “the new man… the last man Adam” is being birthed within us. The “others” to whom God will give His vineyard is that “new man” who is being birthed within us.
However Job does not yet understand any of this, because at this stage of our story, he is a shadow of each of us before we come to see that we must lose our life in order to find it. So Job in this stage of his development continues to foolishly compare himself with his “miserable comforters”.

Job 13:1 Lo, mine eye hath seen all this, mine ear hath heard and understood it.
Job 13:2 What ye know, the same do I know also: I am not inferior unto you.

The last thing any of us needs to be doing is comparing ourselves to those whom God has sent to prove us. Nevertheless those whom God uses to bring us our trials should be appreciated for the sacrifice that is being made of them for our own spiritual benefit.

Rom 11:30 For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
Rom 11:31 Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.
Rom 11:32 For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.

God will, in His appointed time, have mercy upon Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, the types of those through whose “unbelief” our mercy is obtained. But these men are the type and shadow of those who are not at this time being judged.

Job 13:3 Surely I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to reason with God.
Job 13:4 But ye are forgers of lies, ye are all physicians of no value.
Job 13:5 O that ye would altogether hold your peace! and it should be your wisdom.

These three verses are preceded with:

Job 13:2 What ye know, the same do I know also: I am not inferior unto you.

The beast is still on the throne within us, while we are comparing ourselves among ourselves or with the leaders of Babylon. That is who Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, foreshadow. At this point Job is no different. His symbolic election is not yet made known to him or his accusing ‘friends’.

2Co 10:12 For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.

The one thing that distinguishes God’s elect, as we see them throughout God’s word, is their desire to please God, even as they fail to see the sin that is in their members. From Abel, to Joseph, to Jacob, to King David, and to all the prophets and great men of scripture, they all in their own individual way “feared God and eschew evil”.

Job 1:1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.

Job wants to speak to God and ask Him what He is doing and why He is doing it. “I desire to reason with God. But you are forgers of lies, you are all physicians of no value. Oh that you would altogether hold your peace! and it should be your wisdom”.
Few of us are as outwardly pure as Job is presented to us. “That man perfect and upright, and one that feared God and eschewed evil”. So Job knows that the things that are being said of him are not true. Still it is obvious, even to him, that the Lord is doing something in his life that he doesn’t understand. What Job doesn’t understand is that he is inherently self- righteous. Another thing Job does not yet understand is that his entire life and experience as well as that of his friends, is not ministering to himself, but to us.

1Pe 1:9 Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
1Pe 1:10 Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:
1Pe 1:11 Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
1Pe 1:12 Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.

There is a lot to be said about that section of 1Pe 1. That is a very bold statement “… not to themselves, but unto us they did minister”. Peter is here merely reiterating what Christ told us when He said this:

Mat 11:11 Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

… and again:

Mat 13:17 For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.

Christ tells us that “he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than John” who is as great as any man born of a woman before Christ. If that is so and if what Peter tells us of the ministry of the Old Testament prophets not being to themselves but to us, then it is also true that no Old Testament saint will be in that kingdom. If John or any other Old Testament saint is in the kingdom of heaven ahead of those who are in Christ, then Christ’s words are meaningless and contradictory. On the other hand, if none of the Old Testament saints and prophets were even ministering to themselves but to us, then what Christ said is true. He that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John, who is as great as anyone born of a woman.
But didn’t Christ also say that ‘Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob would be in the kingdom of God’? Yes, He did. Here is what Christ said just three chapters earlier:

Mat 8:11 And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 8:12 But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

What is going on here? Weren’t Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob “born of women”? We know that Isaac’s mother’s name is Sarah, and we know that Jacob’s mother’s name was Rebecca. We also know that Abraham was born of a woman even if we are not given her name. So how then can Christ tell us in Mat 8 that those patriarchs will be in the kingdom of God, and then tell us that “Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he”?

The answer to this apparent dilemma is made very clear when we understand that the “kingdom of heaven” extends beyond the thousand year period, which is also a part of “the kingdom of heaven”, and it extends through the period known as ‘the great white throne judgment and the lake of fire’. Here are the verses that make this clear:

1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
1Co 15:23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.

“Every man” who has ever lived is to be raised up to life, “in his own order”. So when Christ said that “he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John” He never meant that to be understood as the Old Testament patriarchs, prophets, and saints would never be in that kingdom. What He is telling us is that those who will rule in that kingdom first, will be “greater than John” who is as great as any man ever born of women.
Now notice that the kingdom of heaven extends beyond the thousand years and into and through the great white throne judgment and the lake of fire all the way to the destruction of death itself, until God is “all in all”. It is revealed in the very next verses of 1Co 15:

1Co 15:24 Then cometh the end [ the harvest at “the end of the year, Exo 23:16], when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
1Co 15:25 For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
1Co 15:26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

“He [ Christ] must reign, till he has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” Just in case there is any doubt about the time line involved for the salvation of physical Israel and all of the”many prophets and righteous men” of the Old Testament, we have these verses to clear that question up:

Eze 16:55 When thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate, then thou and thy daughters shall return to your former estate.

So all Israel, including all the “many prophets and righteous men”, all the patriarchs and all the Old Testament saints, will be brought to God “when… Sodom… and Samaria are brought back to God, after the thousand year reign of those who are in the kingdom of God during that thousand year period. Let’s look at these verses again:

Mat 13:17 For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.
1Pe 1:9 Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
1Pe 1:10 Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:
1Pe 1:11 Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
1Pe 1:12 Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.

The eleventh chapter of Hebrews is called ‘the faith chapter’ because it lists the names and acts of faith performed by the “many prophets and righteous men” to whom Christ, Peter, and Paul refer. At the very end of that chapter this is what we are told:

Heb 11:39 And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:
Heb 11:40 God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.

The “something better” is not for “themselves but unto us” (1Pe 1:12). “That they without us should not be made perfect”, is just another way of saying this:

Rom 11:30 For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
Rom 11:31 Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.

“They without us should not be made perfect” simply because it is “through your mercy [“he that is least in the kingdom” as well as he that is greatest] they also [ Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who “all died not having received the promises”] may obtain mercy”.
“Many prophets and righteous men [ who] have not seen them” certainly includes Job. But again, Job knows nothing of any of this, while suffering the loss of all things, and being covered with boils, and being falsely accused by his “inward friends”. So he continues his fruitless efforts to get them to consider the pain which they are adding to his affliction:

Job 13:6 Hear now my reasoning, and hearken to the pleadings of my lips.
Job 13:7 Will ye speak wickedly for God? and talk deceitfully for him?
Job 13:8 Will ye accept his person? will ye contend for God?

Who among us were not Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar on steroids when we once taught that not only was that sinner deserving of more than his sin deserved (Job 11:6), but he was going to burn in literal flames of fire for all eternity. We have all ‘spoken wickedly for God, and talked deceitfully for Him’.
“Will you accept His person?” It is wrong to be a ‘respecter of persons’ when judging between men, but we think ourselves to be doing God a service when we present Him to this world as the monster we make Him out to be. “Will you contend for God?” tells us that we, with our onerous concepts of a loving heavenly Father who will either annihilate or torment His creatures for all eternity, that we are “contending for God” while we are really blaspheming His name.

Job 13:9 Is it good that he should search you out? or as one man mocketh another, do ye so mock him?
Job 13:10 He will surely reprove you, if ye do secretly accept persons.
Job 13:11 Shall not his excellency make you afraid? and his dread fall upon you?

God certainly does search us. He is not looking for something of which He is not aware, rather He reveals to us “the secrets of [ our own] heart”.

Psa 44:21 Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart.
Psa 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:

Eternal life is knowing God and His Son, and having their mind. When we don’t even know how God and His Son think and yet we claim to be speaking for God, we cannot help but “mock Him”, and at the same time we will be thinking that we are “doing God a service” while doing so.

Joh 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
Joh 16:2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.

“Shall not His excellency make you afraid? and His dread fall upon you?” Yes, of course it should, but Job himself, the type and shadow of us ourselves, at this point, does not really grasp what is “His excellency”.

2Co 3:10 For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth.

One of the most glaring distinctions between “that which was glorious” and “the glory that excelleth” are these two conflicting laws:

Mat 5:43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
Mat 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

In spite of these plain words, the orthodox Christian world exhorts those in their charge to get involved in the affairs of this age and go out and fight and kill for God and country.
We have all been murderers by virtue of hating our brother at some time in our lives.

1Jn 3:15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.

“As one man mocks another do you not mock Him?” When we claim to speak for God and deny His Words, we certainly are mocking Him and blaspheming His name. We, as the anti- type of Job’s comforters, have mocked God, and we have blasphemed His name.

Rom 2:24 For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written.

Job 13:12 Your remembrances are like unto ashes, your bodies to bodies of clay.
Job 13:13 Hold your peace, let me alone, that I may speak, and let come on me what will.
Job 13:14 Wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in mine hand?

“Your remembrances are like unto ashes, your bodies to bodies of clay” are Biblical words which tell us that the flesh of all men is “marred in the hand of the Potter”. Ashes and clay are the Biblical type of our “old man… the first man Adam… flesh and blood [ which] cannot inherit the kingdom of God”. Ashes and clay are both “out of the ground” will indeed return there again, and will, in that state be under the feet of our “new man… the last Adam”.

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.
Jer 18:4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
Mal 4:3 And ye [ our new man] shall tread down the wicked[ the old man]; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts.

“Hold your peace, let me alone, that I may speak, and let come on me what will,” Job knows that the things he is being accused of are false, and his self- righteousness is so deep that he simply cannot conceive of why God is doing this to him. He is so confident of his own righteousness, that he is willing to receive whatever curse may come upon him for standing on his conviction that he is above reproach. As we continue our studies, Job’s confidence in his own righteousness increases. He is just getting started, and he is the type and shadow of how we respond to anything thing that might have the appearance of humbling us. “Oh that men would praise the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men”. Indeed we all will do just that in time, but that spirit is contrasted against the self righteous spirit that first must be burned out of all men.

Psa 107:21 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
Psa 107:22 And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing.

It is God’s “goodness and wonderful works” which leads us all to repentance:

Rom 2:4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

It simply is not possible for our old man to accept the things Job is enduring as God’s “goodness and forbearamce and longsuffering”. What is needed at this stage of our suffering is just pity.

Job 19:21 Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me.

When Job says, “Wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in mine hand?” he is telling us that he is now willing to die for his conviction that God is on his side and will justify him in the end. The word translated “wherefore” is actually two Hebrew words ‘al’ and ‘maw’, which are far more commonly translated as ‘al’, meaning ‘against, and ‘maw’, meaning ‘which’. So Job is saying that he is so confident that his friends are ‘speaking wickedly for and deceitfully for God’, and that he himself is above reproach, and will be exonerated by God, that he is more than willing to “take his flesh in his teeth and put [ his] life in [ his own] hand” and continue with his self- righteous, self- justifying speech.

Job 13:7 Will ye speak wickedly for God? and talk deceitfully for him?

Next week, if the Lord wills, we will see that Job is willing to die to prove himself just and to maintain his integrity.

Job 13:15 Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.
Job 13:16 He also shall be my salvation: for an hypocrite shall not come before him.
Job 13:17 Hear diligently my speech, and my declaration with your ears.
Job 13:18 Behold now, I have ordered my cause; I know that I shall be justified.
Job 13:19 Who is he that will plead with me? for now, if I hold my tongue, I shall give up the ghost.
Job 13:20 Only do not two things unto me: then will I not hide myself from thee.
Job 13:21 Withdraw thine hand far from me: and let not thy dread make me afraid.
Job 13:22 Then call thou, and I will answer: or let me speak, and answer thou me.
Job 13:23 How many are mine iniquities and sins? make me to know my transgression and my sin.
Job 13:24 Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and holdest me for thine enemy?
Job 13:25 Wilt thou break a leaf driven to and fro? and wilt thou pursue the dry stubble?
Job 13:26 For thou writest bitter things against me, and makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth.
Job 13:27 Thou puttest my feet also in the stocks, and lookest narrowly unto all my paths; thou settest a print upon the heels of my feet.
Job 13:28 And he, as a rotten thing, consumeth, as a garment that is moth eaten.