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Study Aired October 2, 2011

Job 5:1 Call now, if there be any that will answer thee; and to which of the saints wilt thou turn?
Job 5:2 For wrath killeth the foolish man, and envy slayeth the silly one.
Job 5:3 I have seen the foolish taking root: but suddenly I cursed his habitation.
Job 5:4 His children are far from safety, and they are crushed in the gate, neither is there any to deliver them.
Job 5:5 Whose harvest the hungry eateth up, and taketh it even out of the thorns, and the robber swalloweth up their substance.
Job 5:6 Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground;
Job 5:7 Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.
Job 5:8 I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause:
Job 5:9 Which doeth great things and unsearchable; marvellous things without number:
Job 5:10 Who giveth rain upon the earth, and sendeth waters upon the fields:
Job 5:11 To set up on high those that be low; that those which mourn may be exalted to safety.
Job 5:12 He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise.
Job 5:13 He taketh the wise in their own craftiness: and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong.

As we have seen with both Job and with Eliphaz to this point and for many chapters to come, it is our nature that as vessels of clay which are by design “marred in the hand of the Potter”, we will never fail to take our Lord’s words which He has given to us, His gold and His silver, and we will just naturally pervert those treasures into idols of our own hearts:

Eze 16:17 Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them,

The “gold and silver” which has been given to us from the hand of our Lord is not literal gold and silver. It is spiritual gold and silver “tried in the fires” of the trials of this life:

Psa 12:6 The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.
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.

“Images of men” there in Eze 16:17 are to be understood as spiritual “idols of the heart”.

Eze 14:1 Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me.
Eze 14:2 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Eze 14:3 Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them?
Eze 14:4 Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols;

God answers us ‘according to the multitude of our idols’ with which we have twisted His word to make it conform to the idols of our hearts. But God’s words are both silver tried in a fiery furnace of earth, and they are also the fire itself. “I will make my words in your mouth fire…” Now consider these next verses in connection with Eze 16:17 and Psa 12:6, and Jer 5:14:

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.

If God’s words are “as silver tried in a furnace of earth”, what then is “gold tried in the fire” which makes us rich? When we consider that we are admonished to “read” the words of the revelation of Jesus Christ, to “hear” the words of the revelation of Jesus Christ, and last but not least, to “keep the things which are written therein”, it becomes very clear that the “gold tried in the fire” is also the Words of God which we are to “read… hear… and keep”. The words of God are “fire in [ our] mouths” and they are at the same time ‘gold’ and ‘silver’ which are both being tried in that fire, which ‘fire’ is burning in a “furnace of earth” or in an “earthen vessel”.

So it is God’s Words which we abuse and twist and with which we cover our ‘idols’, which are now “idols of the heart”.

Eze 14:4 Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols;

These are spiritual ‘idols’ which we put ahead of the plain words of God. They are not to be tolerated, not even in secret, because “all the people” are to be “of one mind”.

Deu 27:15 Cursed be the man that maketh any graven or molten image, an abomination unto the LORD, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and putteth it in a secret place. And all the people shall answer and say, Amen.

The one idol of the heart with which we all just naturally contend is the one which is probably the most insidious and sinful of all. One reason it is so offensive is that it is so hard for us to detect this sin in ourselves. It is so offensive that God specifically names this sin and tells us that it is “filthy rags.

Isa 64:5 Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways: behold, thou art wroth; for we have sinned: in those is continuance, and we shall be saved.
Isa 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

“Our righteousnesses” are one of the many sinful ‘idols’ we all have in common which causes us all to take part in the very death of our own Savior. It is the spirit of this particular ‘idol of the heart’ which effectuated the death of our Savior. Like the chief priests and Pharisees, we all read the words “Adam, the son of God”, and we all think that because God is in the process of “making man in His image” and because we have repented of some very bad sins and have done many wonderful works in His name, that therefore we are righteous in our own right and in our “own ways”, and if we are not yet perfected, we nevertheless, are certainly to be considered as being above any need for the wrath of God to ever be poured out upon us.

Luk 3:38 Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God.

It is true, “all things are of God”, including “the first man Adam”. It is also true that “the first man Adam” really is in the process of being made into the image of the Son of God. Even so we simply do not at first have a clue as to what that process involves. Least of all we do not see that we ourselves are that self- righteous Pharisee whose self righteousness is what causes him to want our Lord and His doctrine of the necessity of “dying daily” as a prerequisite to obtaining life, to be destroyed.

Mat 10:39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.
1Co 15:31 I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.

It is in that state of mind that Eliphaz continues his assault upon the man he came to comfort.

Job 5:1 Call now, if there be any that will answer thee; and to which of the saints wilt thou turn?
Job 5:2 For wrath killeth the foolish man, and envy slayeth the silly one.

As we pointed out earlier, the word ‘answer’ is an old English way of saying ‘speak’ or in this case ‘to speak for’ you. The point Eliphaz is making is that there are no saints who will speak for Job or speak in his defense. After all, has not God promised to bless those who obey Him and to destroy those who do not. Remember the question he first posed to Job?

Job 4:7 Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off?

Yes, indeed, Eliphaz is speaking the truth, “Wrath kills the foolish man, and envy slays the silly one”. It is manifest that the wrath of mankind works evil:

Jas 1:20 For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.

It is also clear that envy slays all who are in its grip:

Mar 15:10 For he knew that the chief priests had delivered him for envy.

But these great truths are being twisted to apply only in an outward manner upon anyone but the guilty Eliphaz. To Eliphaz it is Job who is obviously and unquestionably guilty of some secret sin. Just like many in Jerusalem thought that those whose blood ‘Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices’ and ‘those upon whom the tower of Siloam had fallen were sinners above all who dwelt in Jerusalem’, Eliphaz assumes that Job is a sinner above all in the land of Uz. What Eliphaz is not granted at this time to understand is that obedience to God entails acknowledging that we must all first endure God’s wrath upon our own self- righteous “first man Adam”. What Eliphaz, as type and shadow of that self righteous Pharisee, does not see is that we personally are all first “carnal… babes in Christ” (1Co 3:1-4), who contend with and condemn our own Savior. We just read it there in Isaiah where we were told that it is our righteousnesses which are as filthy rags to God. It does not say ‘our sins are as filthy rags’. It says our righteousnesses. Let’s look at that preceding verse again:

Isa 64:5 Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways: behold, thou art wroth; for we have sinned: in those is continuance, and we shall be saved.
Isa 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

What are “your ways”? “Behold you are wroth; for we have sinned: in those is continuance and we shall be saved”. That is God’s “ways” we are to “remember”. This fifth verse of Isa 64 is just another way of saying what is repeated in these two sections of scripture:

Rev 13:6 And he [“the first man Adam” 1Co 15:45] 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.

“He opens his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, his tabernacle and them that dwell in heaven… for we have sinned: in those is continuance… Here is the patience and faith of the saints… those that remember thy ways”. “For we have sinned: in those is continuance” means that we acknowledge that this is what takes place within the lives of “those [ who] remember you in your ways” from generation to generation. It never fails. There is not a generation which magically produces a good truly righteous “first man Adam”. The spirit of Eliphaz is that self- righteous “first man Adam” who does not believe that his name could possibly be blotted out of God’s book of life. Those words, to the spirit of Eliphaz within us, simply must be referring to some much lesser person. Some really vile sinner, whose sins are so great that they deserve and require that God pour out on that man the seven plagues of the seven angels which fill up His wrath against that vile sinner. So he feels that those words in Rev 13:6-10 are not words for him to keep. Never mind that he is specifically told 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.

The truth of Rev 13:6-10 and Isa 64:5-6 is reiterated in Rev 14, just to make sure we don’t miss its all important message:

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.

“If any man worship the beast… the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God… and the smoke of their torment ascends up for the eon of the eons”. What is this? Can any of us receive the Biblical answer to that simple question? Here is that answer for all who are given to receive it:

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 are those who have been given by God to acknowledge that Job and Eliphaz are within their own flesh. Not the flesh of some really vile sinner who is someone else. These are those who acknowledge ‘I am that man’. These are those few to whom it is granted to read and hear these words:

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.

It is the spirit of Eliphaz within us all who cannot receive these words and who points to Job and to all who are blessed to, in this age, be found “drinking of the wine of the wrath of God” as Job is, and condemns them as being secretly wicked men, when all the while it is Eliphaz himself who is secretly sinful and is completely unaware of his naked, wretched and miserable condition.
Self- righteous Eliphaz continues his merciless judgement of his friend Job, totally unaware that he judging and condemning himself:

Job 5:3 I have seen the foolish taking root: but suddenly I cursed his habitation.
Job 5:4 His children are far from safety, and they are crushed in the gate, neither is there any to deliver them.
Job 5:5 Whose harvest the hungry eateth up, and taketh it even out of the thorns, and the robber swalloweth up their substance.

“The robber [ had] certainly swallowed up” all of Job’s substance. Job’s most valuable livestock, his oxes and his asses, had been stolen by the Sabeans. Job’s means of trade, his camels, had been stolen by the Chaldeans. Job was obviously a very vile and sinful man. Just look at what the Lord had done to Job. Eliphaz asks simply, “To which of the saints will you turn?” ‘Which of the saints would not agree with me?’ After all, the whole world knows that God destroys sinners, and blesses His elect. That is the spirit of Eliphaz within each of us at our own appointed time. That is the spirit of the “prosperity gospel” which permeates the church today. 1Th 5:9 is misapplied to make the whole world believe that Isa, 64:5-6; Rev 13:6-10; and Rev 14: 9-12 just don’t say what they clearly teach.

1Th 5:9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,

All this verse is saying is the same thing Isa 64:5 says, which is:

Isa 64:5 Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways: behold, thou art wroth; for we have sinned: in those is continuance, and we shall be saved.

“… Not appointed to wrath” is a true statement made in contrast to the product of that wrath, which is ‘salvation’. Salvation is the common end of all men, and it is also true that “no man can enter into the temple till the seven plagues of the seven angels [ which “fill up the wrath of God”] is fulfilled”(Rev 15:8). So the wrath of God against the unrighteousness of “the first man Adam” within us all, is also common to all men.

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;

“The patience and faith of the saints” is to acknowledge that they too, have “kept the things which are written therein”; all of those verses of all of those Words which have “proceeded out of the mouth of God”. This is not accomplished in us by literally doing every sin ever recorded in scripture. Christ was not “made sin” by doing all those sins, He was “made sin” by simply being in a body of death and acknowledging that even His flesh was not good, and could not inherit the kingdom of God.

Mat 19:17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.

In like manner we too, who have committed sin, must also acknowledge that while we may not have committed every sin that is in the world, yet “all that is in the world” is in our flesh.

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;

“The world” is ours. “Things present and things to come” are ours. Is not God’s wrath upon “all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men” always in “the world”? Is not God’s wrath “in continuance… [ in] things present and things to come”? Of course it is. That is how “we are saved”. It is enduring that wrath upon our ungodliness and unrighteousness which is “the patience and the faith of the saints”. But the saints are the few to whom it is granted to acknowledge that “all that is in the world” resides in “the first man Adam”, within their own sinful flesh, in the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life”. It lies there within us all just waiting to be enticed by the adversary who, but for one man in all the history of mankind has, by God’s design, enticed and taken captive all men at his will, Eliphaz is no exception to that rule, but neither is Job, and neither are you nor I. Christ is the only man in the history of all mankind who was never taken captive by the snare of the devil.

2Ti 2:26 And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.
Jas 1:14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. [ by “the snare of the devil”].

1Jn 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

“All that is in the world” is contained within these three categories of sin, “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life”, and those categories were in our mother Eve before she ever touched the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They are also just naturally in each of us.
Job, as we have already noted, is the type and shadow of those who do come in time to see the truths of Isa 64, Rev 13, and Rev 14, in this age. Job knows and acknowledge that “all things are of God”. He actually confesses in chapter one, “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord”

Job 1:21 And 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.

But at this stage of our walk with the same breath and with the same mouth we maintain our own works, integrity and righteousness, and contend with and condemn God for His ways as being “unequal”.

Job 13:15 Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.
Eze 18:29 Yet saith the house of Israel, The way of the Lord is not equal. O house of Israel, are not my ways equal? are not your ways unequal?
Job 10:15 If I be wicked, woe unto me; and if I be righteous, yet will I not lift up my head. I am full of confusion; therefore see thou mine affliction;

We are all at this time, like Job, very confused.

Job 5:6 Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground;
Job 5:7 Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.

Can this possibly be true? Is it true that affliction does not come forth of the dust? Is it true that trouble does not spring out of the ground? Yes, once again, Eliphaz speaks the Truth even as he fails to properly apply it to Job and to Himself. Here is why these words are true. In the same sense that Eph 6:12 is to be taken, “affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground”.

Eph 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
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.
Psa 51:5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Jas 4:12 There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?

So while there is “no good thing” in our flesh, and while it is true that we are all “shapen in iniquity and conceived in sin”, the fact still remains that the reason for the ‘affliction’ and ‘trouble’ we experience is the result of “a law” that operates within our sinful members. God is the only lawgiver who can save and destroy. It is by a law of physics that “sparks fly upward”, and it is by a law that “man is born to trouble”. It has nothing to do with man’s integrity or his lack thereof. It is the result of a law which is called “the law of sin and death”, which operates in all flesh.

Rom 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

So while his words are all true, Eliphaz has no clue of these New Testament truths and he, as each of us at this point in our own ‘book’, condemns Job as “born into trouble, as sparks fly upward”, and as we all do, he exempts himself.
Eliphaz continues in false humility to speak and to misapply the truth.

Job 5:8 I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause:
Job 5:9 Which doeth great things and unsearchable; marvellous things without number:
Job 5:10 Who giveth rain upon the earth, and sendeth waters upon the fields:
Job 5:11 To set up on high those that be low; that those which mourn may be exalted to safety.
Job 5:12 He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise.
Job 5:13 He taketh the wise in their own craftiness: and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong.

God “gives rain upon the earth, and sends waters upon the fields to set on high those that be low”. If there is any truth to these words, and they are all true, it would seem that we could all see that Job has been brought very low, is mourning the loss of all his possessions, and all ten of his children, and is now in a position to “be exalted to safety”. But the spirit of Eliphaz, whose righteousness is his own and is in his own law, can only view Job in his formerly exalted position, and is now firmly convinced that Job is guilty of some vile secret sin. Eliphaz cannot apply the Truths of God’s mind and words to himself, so he thinks Job has been ‘taken in his own craftiness, with his froward counsel being carried headlong into his own ruin.
This is the inevitable fruit of our own self- righteousness. This is that which we all produce as long as we remain in a state of mind which cannot yet understand that it is I who must live by every word of God. This is where we all remain as long as we cannot yet acknowledge that all things, the world… death, things present, and things to come, all are mine, and that it is I who must read, hear, and keep the things written therein, including “the world [ and] death”. Job, at this point, is in the same sad spiritually dead state of mind. That is where we all remain until we are hopefully granted to “turn to see” the spirit of Eliphaz that has been hidden within our own flesh all along.
Next week, Lord willing we will cover these verses:

Job 5:14 They meet with darkness in the daytime, and grope in the noonday as in the night.
Job 5:15 But he saveth the poor from the sword, from their mouth, and from the hand of the mighty.
Job 5:16 So the poor hath hope, and iniquity stoppeth her mouth.
Job 5:17 Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty:
Job 5:18 For he maketh sore, and bindeth up: he woundeth, and his hands make whole.
Job 5:19 He shall deliver thee in six troubles: yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee.
Job 5:20 In famine he shall redeem thee from death: and in war from the power of the sword.