Audio Links

Video Links

Job 18:11 Terrors shall make him afraid on every side, and shall drive him to his feet.
Job 18:12 His strength shall be hungerbitten, and destruction shall be ready at his side.
Job 18:13 It shall devour the strength of his skin: even the firstborn of death shall devour his strength.
Job 18:14 His confidence shall be rooted out of his tabernacle, and it shall bring him to the king of terrors.
Job 18:15 It shall dwell in his tabernacle, because it is none of his: brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation.
Job 18:16 His roots shall be dried up beneath, and above shall his branch be cut off.
Job 18:17 His remembrance shall perish from the earth, and he shall have no name in the street.
Job 18:18 He shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world.
Job 18:19 He shall neither have son nor nephew among his people, nor any remaining in his dwellings.
Job 18:20 They that come after him shall be astonied at his day, as they that went before were affrighted.
Job 18:21 Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place of him that knoweth not God.

Introduction

In our study this week, Bildad continues to look down his nose at the suffering of his friend, Job. As we read his words, let us remember that while he is accusing Job, these words are inspired of the holy spirit, and they are intended to be applied to all men of all time.

Mat 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Since Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar are all attacking the very person we are told was their friend, and since these words “are written for our admonition”, what we are being told is that their actions are our own actions and reactions to this particular situation where we all, at some time witness a friend who is being destroyed before our eyes.

1Co 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

Another way of expressing what it is that we are being admonished is that while we all understand that wicked men are predestined to be destroyed, we never see ourselves as being “that wicked”.
Remember just how self- righteously King David reacted to what he was confronted with what he thought was another man’s sin:

2Sa 12:5 And David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, As the LORD liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die:
2Sa 12:6 And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.
2Sa 12:7 And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul;

The lesson is that there is a self- centered beast on the throne of the heart of every man, and every man must must live by all these words which have proceeded out of the mouth of God.
Second Th 2 tells us what the book of Job is all about in this verse:

2Th 2:8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

“That wicked” refers to “that man of sin” of verse 3:

2Th 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

Those who have been given “ears to hear” will understand that the book of Job is the Old Testament type and shadow of how the seven last plagues are fulfilled in the lives of all who are granted to enter into the temple of God in this age.

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 of the seven angels were fulfilled.
1Co 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

Being God’s temple and entering into His temple are one and the same thing. Just as Christ says we are ‘Jesus of Nazareth’, and yet we are told that we must be ‘in Christ’, so too, we are called “the temple of God”, and yet we are also told that we must “enter into the temple”.

Act 22:7 And I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
Act 22:8 And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.
2Co 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

The “old things [ which] are passed away” is primarily our “old man”. This is the message of this entire book of Job.

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.
Eph 4:22 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
Col 3:9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;

‘Crucifying… destroying… and putting off’ are all the destruction of our old man. It is only through his death and destruction that we are able to “put on the new man”.

Col 3:10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:

“After the image of Him that created him” proves that “the first man, Adam” was not the finished product. It is only “the new man which is… after the image of Him that created him”.

Eph 4:23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
Eph 4:24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

It is only “the new man, which… is created in righteousness and true holiness”.
This “smoke from the glory of God” which fills the temple of God until the seven plagues of the seven angels is fulfilled is generated by the fire that is His Word. Those fiery words will always be burning the “wood, hay, and stubble… grass [ and] trees” of this “earth” as it is found in “the mouth” of His elect.

Jer 5:14 Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.
Rev 11:3 And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.
Rev 11:4 These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.
Rev 11:5 And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.

The number ‘two’ in scripture is the number of ‘witness’. These are our Lord’s words so they “never pass away”.

Mat 24:34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
Mat 24:35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

They were true in the generation when our Lord was walking this earth in a body of flesh and blood, and they are just as true to this very day.
Job and his “miserable comforters” knew that God’s Words were a consuming fire in the lives of the wicked:

Job 15:34 For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery.

Job 20:26 All darkness shall be hid in his secret places: a fire not blown shall consume him; it shall go ill with him that is left in his tabernacle.
Job 22:20 Whereas our substance is not cut down, but the remnant of them the fire consumeth.

These fiery words of Truth are the ‘fire’ of “the fiery trials” of God’s elect (1Pe 4:12), who Job prefigures. It is Christ’s Words which are burning out all of the self- righteous mountains and principalities within the hearts and minds of His saints, who have been given “ears to hear” and are blessed to have these seven last plagues which “fill up the wrath of God… fulfilled” in this age. It is Job’s firm belief that his flesh does not need to have God’s wrath in His temple, which furnishes the fuel, the wood, hay and stubble, that must be burned out of all of God elect in this age.

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 of the seven angels were fulfilled.

The Old Testament prophets, in type and shadow, reveal that we must be the first to know the fire of God’s wrath in our lives:

Psa 85:2 Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people, thou hast covered all their sin. Selah.
Psa 85:3 Thou hast taken away all thy wrath: thou hast turned thyself from the fierceness of thine anger.

Why would God “take away all His wrath” from His servant, King David, if it had never been there? What is the result of a forgiven, truly repentant heart? We are told in the very next verses:

Psa 85:4 Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause thine anger toward us to cease.

We were told clearly in Revelation chapters 13 and 14 that being overcome by the beast and the fulfilling of the seven plagues upon the beast within our life “is the patience and faith of the saints”.

Rev 13:1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
Rev 13:2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
Rev 13:3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.
Rev 13:4 And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?
Rev 13:5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.
Rev 13:6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.
Rev 13:7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
Rev 13:8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Rev 13:9 If any man have an ear, let him hear.
Rev 13:10 He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.
Rev 14:9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
Rev 14:10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
Rev 14:11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
Rev 14:12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

These verses, Rev 13:1-10 and Rev 14:9-12 are the New Testament fulfillment of “the patience of Job”.

Jer 5:14 Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.
Jas 5:11 Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.

“The patience of Job” is the Old Testament type of “the patience and faith of the saints… they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus”. It is Jesus who commands us to “keep the things which are written therein”.

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 13:10 and Rev 14:9-12 are both “things which are written therein”.
Just as the experience of Job losing all his earthly possessions, including his seven sons and three daughters, his enduring the boils from his head to his feet and his torment at the hands of his accusers were all essential to demonstrate “that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercies”, so also is the enduring of the wrath of God which is filled up in those seven last plagues, essential to demonstrate “the patience and faith of the saints… [ who] keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus”.
Once again, we must conclude:

1Co 3:21 Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;
1Co 3:22 Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;
1Co 3:23 And ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.

Once again we must conclude that all mankind will ‘live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God’, and that this is all “common to man”:

Mat 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
1Co 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

So if the scriptures are true and ‘all things are ours – the world, life, death things present, and things to come’ – then these words of Bildad are also ours, and are in truth, “common to man”.

Job 18:11 Terrors shall make him afraid on every side, and shall drive him to his feet.
Job 18:12 His strength shall be hungerbitten, and destruction shall be ready at his side.

There is no spiritual change without the terrors of God causing the beast within us, “that man of sin”, unable to enjoy rest until he is given to see himself as “vile”. The most insidious means of hiding that Truth and the corruption of our flesh is our own self- righteousness.

Job 27:5 God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me.
Job 27:6 My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.

Job agrees with Bildad that God terrorizes “that wicked” within us:

Job 24:17 For the morning is to them [ the wicked, “those which have sinned… all have sinned”, verse 19] even as the shadow of death: if one know them, they are in the terrors of the shadow of death.
Job 24:18 He is swift as the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth: he beholdeth not the way of the vineyards.
Job 24:19 Drought and heat consume the snow waters: so doth the grave those which have sinned.
Job 27:20 Terrors take hold on him as waters, a tempest stealeth him away in the night.

The Hebrew word translated ‘hungerbitten’ in verse 12 is everywhere else translated simply as ‘hunger’. This is how hunger affects the strength of the wicked:

Lam 4:9 They that be slain with the sword are better than they that be slain with hunger: for these pine away, stricken through for want of the fruits of the field.

“Destruction shall be ready at his side” is the predestined fate of these clay vessels.

2Pe 2:12 But these [“our old man”, Rom 6:6], as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;

It is because we have all first been “brute beasts”, that we are all “made to be taken and destroyed” as such “brute beasts”, so that a “new man” can be brought forth out of the darkness of that “brute beast”.
Job wishes the grave would consume him, but it does not do so. Job is, in type, living and keeping these words:

Rev 9:3 And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
Rev 9:4 And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.
Rev 9:5 And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.
Rev 9:6 And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.

We are not given the exact length of the time of Job’s terror and his torment, but we are told that it lasted for “months”, and we are also told that Job wanted to die.

Job 7:3 So am I made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed to me.
Job 7:21 And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? for now shall I sleep in the dust; and thou shalt seek me in the morning, butI shall not be.

Job is forced to acknowledge that he must be guilty of some sort of transgression and iniquity, but being the type of all of us who at first think so highly of ourselves, Job thinks God is holding the sins of his youth against him:

Job 13:26 For thou [ God] writest bitter things against me, and makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth.

But God’s wrath is poured out upon our self- righteousness, as well as our other beastly sins. The seven last plagues of God’s wrath are poured out upon the kingdom of the beast within us and upon Babylon within us.

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,

Job truly believes that he is in the light and does not need God’s wrath doing its work in his life. He is what Christ has to say of such a self- righteous attitude:

Mat 6:23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!

When we are worshiping our beast, thinking he is so righteous that he need not fulfill the seven plagues in his life, we truly believe that we are living in the light of God’s Word. We are in total darkness, but we are totally unaware of that fact. We are worshiping the beast and the dragon while thinking we are serving God. That is why God is intent upon the destruction of our beast. So the very worst possible position to be in is to think that our old man, our flesh, is living in the light and is above needing to be destroyed, because he, like Job, is too good to be destroyed.

Job 27:5 God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me.
Job 27:6 My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.

Such an attitude causes us to “possess the iniquities” of our own self- righteousness until that man of sin is revealed as ‘the son of perdition’ sitting in the temple of God showing himself to be God. Until that revelation comes, we remain under the wrath of the Truth of these words:

Joh 3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

It is the wrath of God which fulfills: “destruction shall be ready at his side.”

Job 18:13 It shall devour the strength of his skin: even the firstborn of death shall devour his strength.
Job 18:14 His confidence shall be rooted out of his tabernacle, and it shall bring him to the king of terrors.

Terrors accompany the destruction and consumption of our old man:

Psa 73:19 How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors.

“The king of terrors” is referred to as “so great a death” by the apostle Paul:

2Co 1:8 For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life:
2Co 1:9 But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:
2Co 1:10 Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us;

It simply cannot be otherwise when we incriminate ourselves:

Jer 2:19 Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.

Job 18:15 It shall dwell in his tabernacle, because it is none of his: brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation.
Job 18:16 His roots shall be dried up beneath, and above shall his branch be cut off.

How can sin “dwell in his tabernacle” and still be “none of his”? Paul answers that question for us if we are granted eyes that see and ears that hear:

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 7:20 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 members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

“Brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation. His roots shall be dried up beneath, and above shall his branch be cut off” simply because there will be nothing in which the sinful flesh of our old man will be able to glory before God.

1Co 1:26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:
1Co 1:27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
1Co 1:29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.

‘Brimstone’ burns very hot and is used to purify because of the high temperatures it produces. God uses brimstone as the symbol of how His word burns so hot to purify Sodom and Gomorrah within His elect:

Gen 19:24 Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;

Sodom and Gomorrah, Egypt, Babylon the great, and the first man Adam, are one and all just different symbols for our old man, whose destruction is the catalyst for the birth of our new man. So Bildad’s words are true:

Job 18:17 His remembrance shall perish from the earth, and he shall have no name in the street.
Job 18:18 He shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world.

That is right! We are driven to forsake our Lord and His Word. We are “driven from light into darkness”, and it is God who does so:

Psa 90:3 Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men.

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.
Eze 14:9 And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.
Eze 14:10 And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity: the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him;

Here are God’s words to all who truly think, as Job and his miserable comforters thought, and as we all first do, that we need never drink of the wine of His wrath, nor fulfill the seven plagues of the seven angels in our lives:

Job 18:19 He shall neither have son nor nephew among his people, nor any remaining in his dwellings.
Job 18:20 They that come after him shall be astonied at his day, as they that went before were affrighted.
Job 18:21 Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place of him that knoweth not God.

“… Such are the dwellings of the wicked… this is the place of Him that knows not God”. Job, at this point does not know God. Job, at this point, is like the old man within us all, who denies that he must fulfill the seven plagues of the seven angels, before he can enter into the temple of God. That is not the mind of the God of Scripture. In other words, the man who thinks like our old man thinks, will simply be completely destroyed and never again brought to remembrance. Here is God’s own solemn warning to us all against such a foolish doctrine which would dare to teach that God’s wrath is never upon God’s elect’:

Jer 25:27 Therefore thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Drink ye, and be drunken, and spue, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you.
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.

“He shall have neither son nor nephew among his people” is speaking of our old man, “the first man Adam”. This book, is the record of the fact that God’s elect are who Job foreshadows. “Ye shall surely drink” specifically refers to the cup of the wine of God’s wrath:

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:

Just as Peter told us in 1Pe 4:17, God begins the judgment of the seven plagues, which fill up His wrath, at his own house:

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;

It is our own old man who is first judged and destroyed by the fire of God’s wrath.
Next week, if the Lord wills we will see Job telling us plainly that this book concerns God’s wrath against him, as the Old Testament type of each of us as we endure the seven plagues of the seven angels, which “fill up the wrath of God” (Rev 15:2).

Job 19:1 Then Job answered and said,
Job 19:2 How long will ye vex my soul, and break me in pieces with words?
Job 19:3 These ten times have ye reproached me: ye are not ashamed that ye make yourselves strange to me.
Job 19:4 And be it indeed that I have erred, mine error remaineth with myself.
Job 19:5 If indeed ye will magnify yourselves against me, and plead against me my reproach:
Job 19:6 Know now that God hath overthrown me, and hath compassed me with his net.
Job 19:7 Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard: I cry aloud, but there is no judgment.
Job 19:8 He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass, and hehath set darkness in my paths.
Job 19:9 He hath stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head.
Job 19:10 He hath destroyed me on every side, and I am gone: and mine hope hath he removed like a tree.
Job 19:11 He hath also kindled his wrath against me, and he counteth me unto him as one of his enemies.
Job 19:12 His troops come together, and raise up their way against me, and encamp round about my tabernacle.
Job 19:13 He hath put my brethren far from me, and mine acquaintance are verily estranged from me.
Job 19:14 My kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me.