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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 37:6 For he saith to the snow, Be thou on the earth; likewise to the small rain, and to the great rain of his strength.
Job 37:7 He sealeth up the hand of every man; that all men may know his work.
Job 37:8 Then the beasts go into dens, and remain in their places.
Job 37:9 Out of the south cometh the whirlwind: and cold out of the north.
Job 37:10 By the breath of God frost is given: and the breadth of the waters is straitened.
Job 37:11 Also by watering he wearieth the thick cloud: he scattereth his bright cloud:
Job 37:12 And it is turned round about by his counsels: that they may do whatsoever he commandeth them upon the face of the world in the earth.

Introduction

This is the last chapter in which Elihu, an Old Testament type of God’s two witnesses, will be witnessing against Job, an Old Testament type of our self-righteous old man. In our last study Elihu was telling Job that God works upon this earth by the agency of His clouds, and in a physical sense, that is indeed a most obvious thing. Generally speaking great blessings come from the clouds as they water this earth and cause it to bring forth food for man and beast. On the other hand, God can and does at times use typhoons, hurricanes, tornadoes and lightnings to wreak havoc upon this earth, destroying thousands and even millions of lives and billions in material losses.

Job 36:28 Which the clouds do drop and distil upon man abundantly.
Job 36:29 Also can any understand the spreadings of the clouds, or the noise of his tabernacle?
Job 36:30 Behold, he spreadeth his light upon it, and covereth the bottom of the sea.
Job 36:31 For by them judgeth he the people; he giveth meat in abundance.
Job 36:32 With clouds he covereth the light; and commandeth it not to shine by the cloud that cometh betwixt.

What is less understood, as we saw last week, is that these clouds typify those who are seated with Christ in the heavens and by whom we are told God both feeds His sheep and by whom He will also judge His people. That is the very purpose for our calling. We are not being called just for the purpose of attaining our own salvation. Our salvation is merely one of the benefits of our calling. We are called to become both judges and saviors of God’s children:

Oba 1:21 And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD’S.

1Co 6:1 Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints?
1Co 6:2 Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
1Co 6:3 Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?

In this chapter Elihu adds to the work of God’s clouds the function of the lightning and the thunder that come with God’s clouds at their appointed time.

Job 37:1 At this also my heart trembleth, and is moved out of his place.

“At this” refers to all the work God accomplishes by the agency of His clouds as we just saw in our review of last week’s study. Elihu is God’s thundering to Job and to us. As such he implores Job:

Job 37:2 Hear attentively the noise of his voice, and the sound that goeth out of his mouth.

This is an oft repeated commandment we are given, and all in whom Christ dwells do indeed listen diligently to every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Moses tells us the very same thing:

Exo 15:26 And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee.

What a wonderful promise! If we are granted to “diligently listen to His voice… do that which is right in His sight… give ear to his commandments, and keep all His statutes”, then none of the lying afflictions which enslave Egypt with all of her traditions of men will afflict us, because it is God’s voice and His words which He uses to heal us:

Psa 107:20 He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.

God’s words are His clouds, and He speaks to mankind via His church in whose mouth are His nourishing yet fiery words.

Eph 3:8 Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;
Eph 3:9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:
Eph 3:10 To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,
Eph 3:11 According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:

There it is. That is God’s agency for both blessing and judging the work of His hands. It is all accomplished “by the church” which is His nourishing rain upon us as the earth. But it is also “by the church” that God will judge “all men” and cause ‘all men to understand what is the fellowship of the secret which from the beginning of the world has been hidden in God’ and in His Word by whom He has created all men and all things.

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.

Very few think of God’s Word in terms of the lightning which “He directs” or as the thunder which always follows the lightning. But that is only because our old man has neither eyes to see His lightning nor ears to hear the thunderous “noise of His voice”.

Mat 13:13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
Mat 13:14 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:
Mat 13:15 For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
Mat 13:16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.
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.

We are all first born blind and unable to see with our eyes or hear with our ears. Only after Christ comes into our lives and begins to destroy the old first man Adam with in us, are any of us granted to hear the voice of the true shepherd.

Job 37:5 God thundereth marvellously with his voice; great things doeth he, which we cannot comprehend.

Our flesh cannot receive the things of the spirit, and that spirit was not even available to any on the prophets and righteous men of the Old Testament, including Job and Elihu, who both, in their own order, typify the elect of God. Peter repeats Christ’s words of Mat 13:17, when he reveals this 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.

So Elihu typifies us as God’s elect witnesses, while Job typifies us as God’s elect before our conversion, being witnessed to by God’s Elihu elect.

Job 37:6 For he saith to the snow, Be thou on the earth; likewise to the small rain, and to the great rain of his strength.
Job 37:7 He sealeth up the hand of every man; that all men may know his work.

God really does work through His clouds, His elect, who speak for Him and make Him known to all men in every season.

Eph 3:9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:
Eph 3:10 To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church [His “clouds”] the manifold wisdom of God,
Eph 3:11 According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:
Eph 3:12 In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.

When speaking of “the snow, the small rain, and the rain of His strength”, Elihu is still speaking of God’s clouds, and he is still demonstrating the sovereign work of God upon mankind even in the time of “snow… on the earth”. Through Elihu God is telling us that He is “working all things after the counsel of His own will”, and He is doing so in all seasons.

Eph 1:9 Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
Eph 1:10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
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:

It is God who sends both the weather of summer and the weather of the winter. When He wants the clouds to pour down rain, it rains. When He wants them to do so lightly, it falls lightly and waters the face of this earth. When He wants a typhoon, hurricane or a tornado, that is what happens. He is just as busy today as He was during the creation week. He is the One who is bringing forth the grass and causing the beasts of the earth to multiply upon it. God is still working all things, just as He did that first week. The fact that God can with a heavy snowstorm cause both man and beast to stop all activity and “seal up the hand of every man” and at the same time cause all the beasts to enter in to their dens and remain there, demonstrates that it is the hand of God, which to this very day is manipulating both men and beast “after the counsel of His own will”.

Job 37:8 Then the beasts go into dens, and remain in their places.

Spiritually we can see how effortlessly our heavenly Father manipulates the beasts within us all. It also shows us that every beast which comes up against us is sent to do so by the Lord Himself for our good:

Rom 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

These words of Elihu to us through his words to Job help us to “know that all things work together for good to them that love God…” What we do not generally understand when we read Rom 8:28 is that this is what “all things” includes:

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;

What we do not generally understand when we read and quote Rom 8:28 is that “all things” includes “every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” (Mat 4:4), which would mean that Job and his trials are ours, and that we, too, must be willing to forsake all for Christ’s sake:

Mat 10:37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
Mat 10:38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.
Mat 10:39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

Elihu is emphasizing God’s sovereignty over and over again. Without a clue that he is doing so though, he is also emphasizing the fact that God’s way of speaking to us is through His church, His clouds, whom He has brought to Himself before He brings us to Himself. He has pointed out how he works through His clouds to nourish us in our carnality, just to remove His hedge when His time arrives for our judgment. Then He sends “the great rain of His strength”. He goes on to tell us that He is working with us in different seasons, and seals our hands and subdues our beasts in His seasons of our lives. Not only does God work with us in every season of the year, but Job has come to see that God is his enemy and has indeed decreed that the old self-righteous, God-condemning Job will definitely have to “lose his life” because flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.

Here are the only people who will be received by God into His family:

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

“He that loseth his life” is that man who is daily crucifying the old God-condemning Job within him, and that old man is within all of us. Here is the only way that is accomplished:

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.

What this tells us is that “the life that I now live in the flesh” is the daily crucifying of our old man, and what we must come to see is that we live that life and crucify our flesh, our old man, only by having “Christ liv[ing with] in [us]” destroying His enemy, our old God-condemning Job. To this end He comes against our self-righteous old man, not only in every season, but he also come against our old carnal mind from every direction:

Job 37:9 Out of the south cometh the whirlwind: and cold out of the north.

The whirlwind out of the south is the symbol of God’s wrath which he has come to pour out on the kingdom of our beast. This is made clear right here in Job:

Job 38:1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
Job 38:2 Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?
Job 38:3 Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.

This is repeated in chapter 40 where the Lord is still chastening Job with these words:

Job 40:6 Then answered the LORD unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
Job 40:7 Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
Job 40:8 Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?

Job has told us repeatedly that God has kindled his wrath against him, and he truthfully tells us that God counts him His enemy.

Job 19:11 He hath also kindled his wrath against me, and he counteth me unto him as one of his enemies.

Those with eyes to see will recognize that King David also tells us that God deals with our old man out of His whirlwind and in His wrath:

Psa 58:6 Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: break out the great teeth of the young lions, O LORD.
Psa 58:7 Let them melt away as waters which run continually: when he bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces.
Psa 58:8 As a snail which melteth, let every one of them pass away: like the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun.
Psa 58:9 Before your pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath.

Throughout this narrative, God has been pouring out His wrath upon Job, upon our own old man, and He is in the process of “crucifying that man who would indeed “condemn God [to make himself] righteous”. God, of course, is having no part of that simply because:

1Co 15:48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
1Co 15:49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
1Co 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

Flesh is not neutral. It is “corruption”. Flesh innately, by the Potter’s design, is deliberately “marred” in the Potter’s hand, with a fleshly mind, which is fundamentally antagonistic against God.

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.

Rom 8:6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Rom 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

Elihu continues explaining just how thoroughly God is purging us of the power of our flesh:

Job 37:10 By the breath of God frost is given: and the breadth of the waters is straitened.

Frost incapacitates our flesh if it’s cold enough. This reiterates the fact that God has a season in which He “seals [our] hands” from our own works. Job’s hands have been sealed from doing anything he had done before the destruction of his old man began.

Job 37:6 For he saith to the snow, Be thou on the earth; likewise to the small rain, and to the great rain of his strength.
Job 37:7 He sealeth up the hand of every man; that all men may know his work.

We live with God’s work in our lives. “By [His] breath”, He keeps us inside our homes, and we don’t acknowledge it. He sends us out of our homes to work, and we think we made that decision. He causes us to nourish our flesh, and we think we are doing it. He is working all things after the counsel of His own will, and our flesh tells us He is not involved in the affairs of men. That is what our flesh wants us to believe, and all the while the Truth still remains:

Pro 16:4 The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

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:

Job 37:11 Also by watering he wearieth the thick cloud: he scattereth his bright cloud:

“The thick cloud” is ‘awb‘, a different Hebrew or Aramaic word from “His bright cloud”, which is ‘anan‘, which, as we are told, is more scattered. They are all God’s clouds, which He is even now using to deal with those to whom He sends them to do His work with mankind. “By watering he wearies the thick cloud” is just another way of telling us how God uses His clouds to water others:

Joh 7:38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

Being “wearied” is simply being used by God. It is not to be understood as being resentful on the part of God’s clouds. It is simply a statement describing how God uses His people:

2Co 12:15 And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved.

Job 37:12 And it is turned round about by his counsels: that they may do whatsoever he commandeth them upon the face of the world in the earth.

God’s clouds “do whatsoever He commands them upon the face of the whole earth.” Here is how Christ says this very same thing:

Joh 15:14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
Joh 15:15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
Joh 15:16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

And this is just some of the fruit He has ordained that we “bring forth do[ ing] what He has commanded [us]”:

Joh 17:18 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.
Joh 17:19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
Joh 17:20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;

“Their word” is His Word. If they are not His word, then these are not those He has sent into the world to do what His Father sent Him to do. God sent Christ to be crucified to save this world, and that is what He has sent us to do:

Joh 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

We too, have been sent to be crucified as saviors of this world. This is what God Himself tells us of our calling:

Oba 1:21 And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD’S.

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 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Rom 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

That is our calling, and it is what Christ’s Father sent Him to do. That is exactly what He is in the process of getting done through His clouds who “do whatsoever he commandeth them upon the face of the world in the earth.”

Next week, if the Lord wills, we will hear the end of Elihu’s admonitions as the type of us as God’s clouds, who are commanded to come to our brother, and pour out his waters of God’s life giving words upon Job, who typifies us at this earlier stage of our walk.

Here is the end of Elihu’s exhortations and admonitions to us:

Job 37:13 He causeth it to come, whether for correction, or for his land, or for mercy.
Job 37:14 Hearken unto this, O Job: stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God.
Job 37:15 Dost thou know when God disposed them, and caused the light of his cloud to shine?
Job 37:16 Dost thou know the balancings of the clouds, the wondrous works of him which is perfect in knowledge?
Job 37:17 How thy garments are warm, when he quieteth the earth by the south wind?
Job 37:18 Hast thou with him spread out the sky, which is strong, and as a molten looking glass?
Job 37:19 Teach us what we shall say unto him; for we cannot order our speech by reason of darkness.
Job 37:20 Shall it be told him that I speak? if a man speak, surely he shall be swallowed up.
Job 37:21 And now men see not the bright light which is in the clouds: but the wind passeth, and cleanseth them.
Job 37:22 Fair weather cometh out of the north: with God is terrible majesty.
Job 37:23 Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out: he is excellent in power, and in judgment, and in plenty of justice: he will not afflict.
Job 37:24 Men do therefore fear him: he respecteth not any that are wise of heart.