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Job 3:19-26 – The Thing Which
I Greatly Feared Is Come Upon Me
Job 3:19  The small and great are there; and the servant is free from his master.
Job 3:20  Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul;
Job 3:21  Which long for death, but it cometh not; and dig for it more than for hid treasures;
Job 3:22  Which rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave?
Job 3:23  Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God hath hedged in?
Job 3:24  For my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are poured out like the waters.
Job 3:25  For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.
Job 3:26  I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came.
Introduction

That God is sovereign, even over all evil, is a settled doctrine in the mind of God’s elect, who are typified by Job.

Job 1:21  And [ Job] said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.
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:

As typified by Job, we know we are God’s Christ. But in bodies of sinful flesh, the struggle between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman is life- long, and before that struggle is settled in our hearts, there is a great earthquake, followed by a time of dominion over that sinful flesh. But even this time of dominion is maintained only by ever constant vigilance.

1Pe 5:8  Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

Job, as we are at this point of our appointed time, is in the process of experiencing the great earthquake such as has never before been. This period of tribulation is so severe that our self- righteousness is brought to be seen as the filthy rags it is.

Mat 24:21  For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
Rev 16:17  And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.
Rev 16:18  And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.
Rev 16:19  And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.

That “great city” is “divided into three parts” in preparation for her impending judgment. That is where we are in our study today. It is at this point in our judgment that we cannot see what is the meaning of this “great tribulation”. We see ourselves as righteous and just and full of integrity, until we are shown that we, of ourselves, have absolutely no integrity.
Here is an earlier description of our self- righteous, harlot state of mind in this same book of Revelation.

Rev 3:17  Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
Rev 3:18  I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
Rev 3:19  As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

At this point in our walk, the very last thing we think we need is to have the wrath of God poured out upon our ‘ungodliness and unrighteousness’, which we as yet cannot even acknowledge. Most Christians perceive God’s wrath as being designed simply to harden and to punish, with no redemptive value at all. But virtually every mention of God’s wrath reveals it to be scourging and chastening, which prepares us to “enter into the temple of God”.

Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
Heb 12:7  If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
Heb 12:8  But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

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

“Every son” is scourged? “No man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled”? Must God’s wrath really be poured out upon all men? What do the scriptures actually teach concerning this vital question? Surely we all want to be “loved of the Lord”. Surely we all want to “enter into the temple of God”. That is what is at stake. That is just how important this question is. So what is the Truth concerning the purpose of the wrath of God, and exactly who must experience that wrath in order to be with Christ in His Father’s throne in the heavens? Here is what the scriptures teach on this vital subject. The principle which answers this vital question is given to us in the first chapter of Romans, just before we are told that God’s wrath is poured out upon all ungodliness and unrighteousness:

Rom 1:16  For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

“To the Jew first and also to the Greek” is the principle which answers this question, beyond any doubt for all who have been granted eyes that see and ears that hear what is a Jew and what is a ‘Gentile’ or a ‘Greek’.
God’s wrath is His ‘goodness which leads us to repentance’, and for us to think otherwise simply stores up that wrath ‘against the day of wrath and perdition of our ungodly man within us’.

Rom 1:18  For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
Rom 2:28  For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
Rom 2:29  But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God

So “ninety and nine just persons who need no repentance” will never see the need for God’s wrath against them, because they think of themselves as “rich and increased with goods and in need of nothing”. They cannot see the word ‘not’ in Rom 2:28. Consequently they rob themselves of the Truth of verse 29 which tells us that only those who are spiritual Jews have any ‘praise of God’.
Simply who must know and experience the seven plagues of the seven angels? Who must fulfill the wrath of God upon their unrighteousness? Since “all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men” doesn’t seem to get through to our natural man, let’s look at what the apostle goes on to reveal to us concerning this vital subject here in Rom 2. Here is what the scriptures teach consistently on this subject:

Rom 2:8  But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,
Rom 2:9  Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;
Rom 2:10  But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile:
Rom 2:11  For there is no respect of persons with God.

Once again the “ninety and nine who need no repentance” will exclude themselves from ever being ‘contentious, disobedient or unrighteous”. Nevertheless, there it is once again; “Every soul of man that does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Gentile” must know and ‘fulfill the seven plagues of the seven angels before they can enter the temple of God.’

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.

Are you an exception to all these verses of God’s Word? Job in us thinks that to be the case.

Jer 25:28  And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ye shall certainly drink
Jer 25:29  For, lo, I begin to bring evil [ the seven last plagues of God’s wrath] on the city which is called by my name, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the LORD of hosts.

There it is in plain English; “I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the LORD of hosts.” Nevertheless, our natural man cannot see the word ‘all’ and simply cannot receive this most vital Truth on this vital subject.
It is at this point that we all long for death and cannot find it. This is where we are in our study of Job:

Job 3:19  The small and great are there; and the servant is free from his master.

In death we are no longer the servant of sin. How sweet is the thought of rest from the pain we bring upon ourselves by refusing to see and acknowledge our own self- righteousness. So we continue to question and contend with God.

Job 3:20  Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul;

The English Standard Version asks this question in more modern English:

(ESV)  “Why is light given to him who is in misery, and life to the bitter in soul,

We have come to the point of contending with our Creator. We are now beginning to despair of life. The pain of God’s wrath upon our self righteousness has taken away the joy of living, and we no longer want to live. We literally hate this life, even as we cling to our own righteousness.

Job 3:21  Which long for death, but it cometh not; a nd dig for it more than for hid treasures;
Job 3:22  Which rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave?

Yet even this ‘desire to die’ part of our walk is a vital part of the revelation of Jesus Christ within us. These are “the things written therein” which we must “keep” if we hope to be with Him in His Father’s throne in that “blessed and holy first resurrection”.

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.

Where is this part of Job’s experience “written therein” for us to “keep”? Here is where it is “written therein”.

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.

This is the part of the process of the revelation of Jesus Christ which is so often denied by many who cannot yet see that Christ really is “the beginning and the end”, and that it takes this “great earthquake” of scripture to see the significance of what being “the beginning and the end” means. It certainly does not mean that Christ, the last Adam, is the first Adam, but it certainly does mean that the “first man, Adam”, is a spiritual “figure of Him that was to come” and that ‘the first man Adam… lives and moves and has his being, and consists within Christ, who is the beginning and the end’.

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

Act 17:28  For in him we [ Pagans and sinners] live, and move, and have our bein g; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.

Rom 11:36  For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

Rom 5:14  Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.

1Co 15:45  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
Col 1:15  Who [ Christ] 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.

There in 1Co 15:45 is the subject of all scripture. It is all written about these “two men” (Luk 18:10), “the first man Adam” and “the last Adam”. They are both to be found within every man who has ever lived. All the curses, and all of the wrath of God are poured out upon that “first man Adam” within us all, and all of the blessings and promises of rulership with Christ, are poured out only on those who are made into a new man, and who can and who do acknowledge that they are that first man, and that they are deserving of any and of all of the wrath of God to be found within those seven vials of those seven angels. That is what is meant by ‘living by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God’. There is no ‘third man’ on whom to pour out God’s wrath, so there is no flesh which is exempt from any verse of scripture:

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.

God’s elect know that they are, or were at one time, the self- righteous Job, and they are also the self- righteous Pharisee, and they are the rich man who thinks he needs nothing. God’s elect know they are the “old man”, the “first man Adam”, before they are granted to be the ‘last Adam’ who has come to see that he is “vile” Job’, and the publican who knows he is a sinner, or Lazarus, who is poor and despised by those who are rich in the things of this world.

Job 40:3  Then Job [ the reformed Job, the new Job] answered the LORD, and said,
Job 40:4  Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.
Job 40:5  Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further.

Here is how that was accomplished within Job:

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.

‘Of the same lump He makes one vessel to honor and another to dishonor’.

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?
Rom 9:22  What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath [ the first vessel of clay we all first are] fitted to destruction:
Rom 9:23  And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, [“the last Adam” we are in our time]

We are in our order, both men. They are both us. We are all first “vessels of wrath fitted to destruction”, before God “with much longsuffering” endures our harlotries before he destroys our old man by making us into “the vessels of mercy, which He has afore prepared unto glory”. Here are both of those ‘Adams’ within us:

Luk 18:10  Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.
Luk 18:11  The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.
Luk 18:12  I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
Luk 18:13  And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
Luk 18:14  I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

So who will “go down to his house justified”? Will it be the man who proclaims that he is not deserving of the wrath of God, or will it be the man who acknowledges the hand of Christ in both Adams, and endures that wrath and enters into the temple of God?

Col 1:15  Who [ Christ] 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.
Col 1:18  And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence
Rev 15:7  And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.
Rev 15:8  And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, t ill the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

So Christ is not darkness, yet He created darkness and ‘calls light out of darkness’. Neither is He evil yet He creates evil, and He alone is capable of making good come from evil.

1Pe 2:9  But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:
Gen 50:20  But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.
Isa 45:7  I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

It takes and requires the great earthquake which is the seven last plagues to “fill up the wrath of God” upon our ungodly self- righteousness. This ‘earthquake’ is the death of our first Adam. He must be destroyed before the new Adam with the dominion over the first Adam comes into being.

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.

Our adversary, the devil, knows we have been given dominion over him within us, and he ‘leaves us for a season’. He and his children are the Canaanites and giants within us, and the terror of Christ within us will come upon them. A harlot who acknowledges and repents of her harlotry is who we are. As such we are typified by Rahab, who lived on the walls of Jericho. Her nation must be destroyed before she can enter into “the Israel of God” and be delivered from being part of the giants in the land.

Jos 2:9  And she [ Rahab] said unto the men, I know that the LORD hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you.
Jos 2:14  And the men answered her, Our life for yours, if ye utter not this our business. And it shall be, when the LORD hath given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with thee.
Gal 6:15  Certainly, it doesn’t matter whether a person is circumcised or not. Rather, what matters is being a new creation.
Gal 6:16  Peace and mercy will come to rest on all those who conform to this principle. They are the Israel of God. (GW)

We do not negotiate with the giants in our land when finally we are granted to die to our “old man”, our “first man Adam”.
But as the first man being as Job was, we are still contending with God, longing for death and wondering why He seems to be delighting in our suffering.

Job 3:23  Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God hath hedged in?

The Easy Reading Version makes this verse a little clearer:

Job 3:23 But God keeps their future a secret and builds a wall around them to protect them. (ERV)

God’s wrath is designed to bring us to hate this life and to bring our “first man, Adam” to his “wits’ end” via the wrath of God upon our self- righteous ‘first man Adam’. He literally protects us from death even as we are being tormented:

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.
Psa 107:25  For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
Psa 107:26  They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.
Psa 107:27  They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.

When we refuse to understand the purpose for God’s scourging and His wrath upon our old man, the first Adam, we confess that it is His destruction which we have feared all along. Like Abraham with the loss of Ishmael, we loathe to give up our own flesh and blood, which we have come to love so much.

Job 3:24  For my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are poured out like the waters.
Job 3:25  For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.
Gen 17:18  And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!

Our Lord Himself struggled to relinquish this clay vessel at 33 years of age:

Mat 26:37  And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy.
Mat 26:38  Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.
Mat 26:39  And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.

We guard our own righteousness with great vigilance, “yet trouble came”, and we are made to “cast out the bondwoman and her son” because the son of the bondwoman within us, our own “flesh and blood, cannot inherit the kingdom of God” (1Co 15;50), and will not be made heir with the son of the freewoman.

Gal 4:30  Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.
Gal 4:31  So then, brethren [ as the “last Adam”], we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.

Job continues his complaint:

Job 3:26  I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came.

This is common to us all. We are “the Israel of God” (Gal 6:16), and in that capacity this is what we all say:

Isa 40:27  Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God?

This is what Job is saying here in this verse. He says the same thing later:

Job 27:1  Moreover Job continued his parable, and said,
Job 27:2  As God liveth, who hath taken away my judgment; and the Almighty, who hath vexed my soul;

That is our perspective as the first Job, the first man Adam. But in time we come to know that God is working all of this for our good:

Isa 40:28  Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.
Isa 40:29  He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.
Isa 40:30  Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:
Isa 40:31  But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

It is that “waiting upon the Lord” that kills us all. That is the time when we do not yet see what is the need for God’s wrath in our life.
Next week, Lord willing we will get started in the fourth chapter of this book which chronicles what happened to Job for our admonition.
It is the false accusations we all must hear from our own flesh, when God does begin His work within us.

Job 4:1  Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,
Job 4:2  If we assay to commune with thee, wilt thou be grieved? but who can withhold himself from speaking?
Job 4:3  Behold, thou hast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened the weak hands.
Job 4:4  Thy words have upholden him that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees.
Job 4:5  But now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest; it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled.
Job 4:6  Is not this thy fear, thy confidence, thy hope, and the uprightness of thy ways?
Job 4:7  Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off?
Job 4:8  Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same.
Job 4:9  By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed.
Job 4:10  The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, and the teeth of the young lions, are broken.
Job 4:11  The old lion perisheth for lack of prey, and the stout lion’s whelps are scattered abroad.