Audio Links

Video Links

Job 38:24 By what way is the light parted, which scattereth the east wind upon the earth?
Job 38:25 Who hath divided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters, or a way for the lightning of thunder;
Job 38:26 To cause it to rain on the earth, where no man is; on the wilderness, wherein there is no man;
Job 38:27 To satisfy the desolate and waste ground; and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth?
Job 38:28 Hath the rain a father? or who hath begotten the drops of dew?
Job 38:29 Out of whose womb came the ice? and the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it?
Job 38:30 The waters are hid as with a stone, and the face of the deep is frozen.

Introduction

God has asked us to come and reason with Him:

Isa 1:18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

These last five chapters of Job show us what it is like to “reason with” God. God reasons with us through His judgments. He does not ask us for our opinion or our input, because we have nothing to contribute to Him.
In our last study as God reasoned with Job He asked if Job had ever entered into the springs of the sea or walked in search of the depth. The last question we discussed was God asking Job, the type of our self- righteous old man, if he had entered into the treasures of snow, or had seen the treasures of the hail. We saw that God is in all these places, and He is in them all at the same time. He does not go there in a submarine or in an airplane. He is there because He is omnipresent and because He is the Creator and Sustainer of those parts of His creation, as indeed He is sustaining all of his creation.
We also saw that the spiritual significance of hail is that “the hail… wipes away the refuge of lies” and that all of God’s “treasures” are used by Him do just that and to judge this world.

Isa 28:17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.

One of those lies is what God is dealing with in His work in the life of Job. It is the doctrine which has Job, the type of us, believing that he is righteous of himself, and he is therefore in a position to reprove God for the way He is dealing with the self- righteous old Job. But God is not the least bit impressed with Job’s righteousness, because God knows that the truth is that Job has no righteousness of himself, and any good works Job has ever done were done by living, moving, and having his being in Christ.

Act 17:28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
Rom 11:34 For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?
Rom 11:35 Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?
Rom 11:36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

God is working all things after the counsel of His own will (Eph 1:11), and in doing so, He first placed a hedge around Job’s life, just to show us how He is dealing with us. After doing that He took that hedge down and called the adversary and sent him to try Job’s faith and his patience. It was God who engaged Satan in Job’s experience and commissioned and gave Satan the power to destroy all of Job’s great possessions and all of his ten children. It was God who sent Job’s best friends to falsely accuse him, adding to his torment. But it was also God who sent Elihu to tell Job the truth about Job’s self- righteous reproving, contending with and condemning of his own Creator, and to point out to Job, that while God answers to no man, yet all men do answer to Him:

Rom 9:18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
Rom 9:19 Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
Rom 9:20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
Rom 9:21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?

So God is in the process of destroying the first carnal Job, in type and in shadow, and through that destruction, He is, in type and shadow, creating a “new man”, a new Job, and as incredible as it may seem, He did it all for our sakes:

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.
1Co 15:47 The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
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.
2Co 4:15 For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.

“The ends of the world” of 1Co 10:11 is the outcome or the product and purpose of the ages, which first come upon us.

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?

As Peter makes so clear, the ends of the ages did not come upon any of the patriarchs, kings or prophets of the Old Testament.

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 ends of the world [ the ages]” is the destruction of “the earthy… old man… the first man Adam”. It is through that destruction that God is bringing forth “the heavenly… the new man… the last man Adam”. While we are in Babylon, we never see any personal application for the scriptures which deal with the judgment of sinners and the wicked. All those verses, which make up the bulk of the Word of God, are always relegated to other less righteous men. So as the type of us, Job does not realize that he is speaking of himself while he was pointing one finger at his persecutors, all the while uttering words from his own mouth by which he will be judged:

Job 21:20 His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
Job 21:30 That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction? they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath.

Zophar, who is just another type of our old self- righteous earthy man, had just told Job:

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

From what Peter was inspired to reveal to us, we now know that everything Job is experiencing, he is ministering “not unto himself, but unto us… upon whom the ends of the world [ the ages] have [ first] come”.

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?

The lesson Job is ministering to us is that when God asks us to come and reason with Him, He is actually calling us to Himself to judge us first and as His “house”, to be the first to be cleansed of our sins. In this position we need to, and we will, put our hand to our mouth and just listen to Him, as He “reasons with” us as He demonstrates for us just how insignificant and worthless is our old man and this body of corruption which we know as flesh and blood. To demonstrate this Truth, God is asking us all of these questions, and the answer to every question is the same. As God continues to reason with us He poses this question:

Job 38:24 By what way is the light parted, which scattereth the east wind upon the earth?

When we do not know God, then the answer is, ‘I do not know Lord, because I was not there and I don’t know you’. When we do come to know God, we become aware He was the One who “parted… the light” from the east by His mere command:

Gen 1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
Gen 1:4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
Gen 1:5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

What is the source of this ‘light’? Is it the physical sun? No, the physical sun gets its light from the Creator of that sun who is light.

Joh 8:12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
Joh 9:5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

The physical sun does not appear until the fourth day of creation along with the other stars of the physical heavens. Here is the true source of the light of both Gen 1:3-5 as well as the light of the physical sun. Here is the true source of all light of which the physical light of the sun is but a type:

Isa 45:7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

So He who creates the light and who is the light, continues to reason with us:

Job 38:25 Who hath divided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters, or a way for the lightning of thunder;
Job 38:26 To cause it to rain on the earth, where no man is; on the wilderness, wherein there is no man;

The “divid[ ing of] a watercourse for the overflowing of waters, [ and] a way for the lightning of thunder” have nothing to do with man- made canals, but rather deals with the watercourses which “cause it to rain on the earth”. Let us remember that raining on the earth is just Bible- speak for the work of God’s clouds which we have already learned are the symbols of God’s servants who do His bidding.

Job 36:27 For he maketh small the drops of water: they pour down rain according to the vapour thereof:
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.

God has ordained that it is to be “by the church”, His “clouds”, that He will bring the nourishing rains of his Word to us, and that “by the church”, by “His clouds” He will also bring to us “the lightning of thunder” as the Biblical symbol of His judgments upon the kingdom of our self- righteous, old, earthy man. “By them judges He the people”.

Exo 9:23 And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven: and the LORD sent thunder and hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground; and the LORD rained hail upon the land of Egypt.
1Sa 2:10 The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven shall he thunder upon them: the LORD shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.

Here is this same message in the New Testament:

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:

So once again, if we are God’s elect, we are the spiritual subject of God’s words concerning the physical realm. “Who hath divided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters, or a way for the lightning of thunder;”? It is God Himself divides a watercourse for the overflowing waters and a way for the lightning of the thunder of His judgments which He accomplishes “by them”, by His “clouds”.

Job 38:27 To satisfy the desolate and waste ground; and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth?

Let’s look again at verses 25 and 26:

Job 38:25 Who hath divided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters, or a way for the lightning of thunder;
Job 38:26 To cause it to rain on the earth, where no man is; on the wilderness, wherein there is no man;

God divides a watercourse for the overflowing of waters and a way for the lightning of thunder to cause it to rain on the earth when no man is; [ even] on the wilderness, wherein there is no man. But for what reason? He does it “to satisfy the desolate and waste ground; and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth.” Again, this is us, first. We are all “desolate and waste ground”, desperately wanting to be satisfied with the refreshing, nourishing words of God’s clouds, “by [ whom] judges He the people”.

Job 36:31 For by them judgeth he the people; he giveth meat in abundance.

It is “by them [ His clouds, His elect] that He judges the people, [ and] He causes it to rain on the earth, [ and He] cause[ s] the bud of the tender herb to spring forth [ out of] the desolate and waste ground” which is our lives before God sends His clouds to us, to judge us and to cause us to bring forth “meat in abundance”.

Job 38:28 Hath the rain a father? or who hath begotten the drops of dew?

Oh yes, indeed, the rain has a father, but as the first unconverted Job, we have no idea who is the Father either of the clouds or the rain those clouds produce. Neither do we know at that time in our journey “who has begotten the drops of dew”. What is so revealing about all these questions God is asking us through this story of Job, is that the things He is asking about are all types and shadows of His own creatures through whom he carries out all that He is doing, and all of God’s questions are revealing just how far from Him we are when we are still reproving, contending with and condemning our own Maker, when we are not patient and waiting upon Him and His time and His ways, Now we have another great revelation, for our self- righteous old man:

Job 38:29 Out of whose womb came the ice? and the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it?
Job 38:30 The waters are hid as with a stone, and the face of the deep is frozen.

What God is teaching us through this experience which Job endured, is that He is sovereign over both the good and the evil. Men who do not know God deny this, but God does not deny this. To the contrary he proclaims it:

Pro 16:4 The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.
Isa 45:5 I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:
Isa 45:6 That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.
Isa 45:7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.
Amo 3:6 Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?
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 members, 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.

How did that “law of sin [ get] in my members”? God does not deny that even our cold, hard hearts are the work of His sovereign hand:

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

That is the message God is teaching us by asking us “out of whose womb came the ice? and the hoary frost of heaven, who has gendered it?” It is Christ who is the Creator and who is the “womb” out of which comes all things, including the cold and hardened heart of our old, self- righteous “first man Adam”. It is by Christ’s own design that we are first given a cold “heart of stone”.

Eze 36:26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
Eze 36:27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
Rom 11:34 For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?
Rom 11:35 Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?
Rom 11:36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.
Col 1:15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
Col 1:16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
Col 1:17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

“By Him were all things created… and by Him all things consist” certainly includes the “frozen… face of the deep” which becomes “as a stone” because of how cold our heart is toward God, at this time of our experience.

Psa 147:17 He casteth forth his ice like morsels: who can stand before his cold?
Rom 11:33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!

Next week, if the Lord wills, we will continue to reason with the Lord over these verses:

Job 38:31 Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?
Job 38:32 Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?
Job 38:33 Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?
Job 38:34 Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that abundance of waters may cover thee?
Job 38:35 Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go, and say unto thee, Here we are?
Job 38:36 Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts? or who hath given understanding to the heart?
Job 38:37 Who can number the clouds in wisdom? or who can stay the bottles of heaven,
Job 38:38 When the dust groweth into hardness, and the clods cleave fast together?
Job 38:39 Wilt thou hunt the prey for the lion? or fill the appetite of the young lions,
Job 38:40 When they couch in their dens, and abide in the covert to lie in wait?
Job 38:41 Who provideth for the raven his food? when his young ones cry unto God, they wander for lack of meat.