Let us turn again to God's Word
in Job chapter 9. Job chapter 9, the chapter that
we read, and I want to draw your attention to the words that we
find here at verse 33. Job 9, 33. Neither is there any
day's man betwixt us that might lay his hand upon us both. neither is there any daisman
betwixt us that might lay his hand upon us both. You may observe in the margin
that the word daisman is literally to be understood as one to argue
neither is there anyone to argue betwixt us a mediator there's some disputes much doubts
as to exactly what this word daisman means and why it is that
the translators of our authorized version have used such a word
maybe It's used because it refers to the particular day, the day
appointed wherein this matter is to be heard and arguments
are to be presented. But as I said on Thursday when
we were looking at those words in 1 Timothy 2.5, there is one
God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. this verse is really speaking
also of that great work of mediation how that Job really looks and
desires that there might be one who will mediate come between
him and God laying his hands upon us both or one who will
serve as an umpire And as we made some reference
to this verse last Thursday evening, I was drawn to consider it more
particularly. Hence, tonight, I've announced
the words of the text for our consideration. Neither is there
any day's man betwixt us that may lay his hand upon us both. As I said, here in chapter 9,
Job is beginning to answer his friends, Bildat, and the answer
that Job gives to what had been said in chapter 8 really runs
through chapters 9 and 10. It's a lengthy answer that he
gives, and you might be aware, I think I've mentioned it in
on previous occasions that the principal part of this book of
Job is made up of these various cycles of speeches. There are
these men called Job's friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar,
and each of them come along to minister to him and supposedly
to comfort him in the midst of all his afflictions. and one
speaks, Eliphaz speaks, and Job will answer him, and then Bildad
speaks, and Job answers him, and then Zophar speaks, and Job
answers him. So we have different cycles of
speeches, and that is really the principal part of the book. It runs from chapter 4 right
the way through to chapter 31. And so here we have Job. speaking words that are in the
first place being addressed to this man, Bildat. But in the
words of our text, we really see something of Job's despair. And I want to divide what I say
into two parts. We're considering the day's man,
the Lord Jesus Christ, as the day's man, but what is it that
brings Job to speak in this fashion? First of all, to look at his
despair, is in a desperate situation. And then secondly, to consider
the words more particularly in terms of Job's desire, his longings,
his yearnings, that such a provision might be made for him that there
may be one who will be his daysman and argue on his behalf on that
particular day that is appointed. But first of all, to think about
Job's despair. Now the opening two chapters
of course set the scene and in those chapters we read something
of the history of this man Job and it does appear that Job was
living before the days of Moses Now if the five books of Moses,
the Pentateuch, Genesis through to Deuteronomy, stand at the
beginning of our scriptures, and Moses is the author of those
books, we have to recognize that this book, the book of Job, predates
even those books. In other words, this is the oldest
part of the Word of God. This is the first book that was
inspired by God, the Holy Spirit. And interestingly, Luther says
of this book that it is magnificent and sublime as no other book
of Scripture. It is magnificent and sublime
in the language of the great Protestant reformer. It is a
remarkable book. because it is a remarkable history
that we have recorded. And as I said, it's there in
the opening chapters, the first two chapters, that we have the
scene set and the history of this man. And how Satan sets
his eye upon him, Satan desires him, Satan will assault him. But Satan, as we know, is not
a free agent. He is a creature. He's not equal
to the great Creator. He's a mighty creature. He's
a fallen angel. There's a great mystery with
regards to the person of Satan and those other devils that fell
with him. But we see him at the beginning
of the book, there in the opening chapter. And he sets his eye
upon this man Job. And what does he say to God there
in verse 9 of chapter 1? Satan answered the Lord and said,
Doth Job fear God for naught, as thou not made an hedge about
him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every
side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance
is increased in the land. But put forth thine hand now,
and touch all that he hath, and he will curse it to thy face.
And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in
thy power only upon himself. Put not forth thine hand. So
Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord. And what is the
outcome? Well, Satan cannot touch him
in his person. But there, by the time we come
to the end of that chapter, we see how Job has lost so much. He was a man of great substance,
one of the great men of the world in those days. And he loses. He loses all his possessions. Worse than that, he loses his
children. Terrible, terrible, catastrophic
things fall upon Job. And God is behind it, although
God is not the author of any sin, but Satan is there. And Satan is seeking to destroy
this man. But that's not enough, because
in the second chapter we see how Satan comes again. There in chapter 2 and verse
3, the Lord says to Satan, As thou considered my servant Job,
that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright
man, one that feareth God, and dost doeth evil. And still he
holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movest me against him, to
destroy him without cause. And Satan answered the Lord,
and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give
for his life. But put forth thine hand now,
and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy
face." And so Job is now going to be tormented in his own person. He had lost his possessions,
he had lost his children, but now he is going to suffer in
his own body. And yet, still, still he maintains
his integrity. At the end of the first chapter
we read in all this, Job said not nor charge God foolishly. He never accuses God. And then
when his wife turns, and turns against him there in the second
chapter at verse 9, his wife says unto him, Thus hast thou
still retained thine integrity. Curse God, and die! And he said
unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh.
What? Shall we receive good at the
hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? in all this did
not Job sin with his lips and yet his situation is desperate
his situation is awful really for us to contemplate and at
times we see as the book unfolds and we have these various speeches
and Job answering the things that are said by his friends
He does feel that God is against him. And we see it here at the end
of the chapter. We see it at the end of the chapter where
our text is set. What does he say in the following
34th verse? Let him take his right away from
me. Let not his fear terrify me.
then would I speak and not fear him but it is not so with me
or what can this poor man do in this desperate situation in
all his despair and I would say this in some ways there's a lesson
to be learned from Job we know that all these things are written
for our learning as Paul says there in Romans 15 they're all
written for our learning all these books of the Old Testament
that we through patience or endurance and comfort of the Scriptures
might have hope. Or we might not know the depth
of the experiences of this man. When the Lord takes us in hand,
when the Lord deals with us, when he makes us see what we
are as sinners, when he brings us into that place of conviction
and the realization of what we are, can we not learn from Job
And as we think for a while about Job's despair, I want us to consider
some three things. First of all, here he has to
recognize God's determination. Although God is not the author,
it's Satan who is in all of these things. Yet, God is determined
to do something here. Look at the language that we
have In verses 30 and 31 he says, he's Job, if I wash myself with
snow water, make my hands never so clean, yet shalt thou plunge
me in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall abhor me. In a way he seems to be suggesting
that God has prejudged him. God has prejudged him. Whatever
he does, if he tries to make himself right. If I wash myself
in snow water, pure water, and makes himself ever so clean,
whatever he does, he can't help himself. What did he say previously
in verse 29? Why then labour I in vain? All that he does, all his labours,
all that he's doing to to make himself right with God and acceptable
to God. You see, his reasoning here is
also wrong. He doesn't understand what God's
doing, he doesn't understand the ways of God. And he's misjudging
God's dealings with him. Remember what Moses says concerning
God, there, in his song in Deuteronomy 32 and verse 4, he is the rock,
he's speaking of God. He is the rock, his work is perfect,
for all his ways are judgment, the God of truth, and without
iniquity, just and right is he. And this is Job, and Job is not
really understanding God or the ways of God. And we can be like
Job, we may. Try and justify ourselves outwardly
before men. And isn't that what Job is saying?
If I wash myself with snow water and make my hands never so clean
if I am respectable, decent, a good person. But remember what we are told
concerning the Lord God, the Lord seeth not as man seeth,
for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh
upon the heart. And this is what Job has got
to realise. Verse 31, Yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch,
and mine own clothes shall abhor me. I can't make myself what
I want to make myself. It's not in me. Again, look at
what he says previously in verse 19. If I speak of strength, lo,
he is strong. And if of judgment, who shall
set me a time to plead? If I justify myself, mine own
mouth shall condemn me. If I say I am perfect, it shall
also prove me perverse. Oh God, He's determined, you
see, that His people will understand what they are, what they really
are, before Himself. Oh, remember how the Lord Jesus,
in the course of His own ministry, speaks of those scribes and Pharisees,
those religious men, the most religious men in all Israel,
and all look to them. how highly regarded and respected
they were. But what does the Lord say when
He denounces those fearful woes upon them? That chapter 23 of
Matthew, those fearful words really, woe upon woe is pronounced
upon these religious men. Verse 27, Woe unto you, scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres,
which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full
of dead men's bones and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also
outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of
hypocrisy and iniquity. And wasn't that man Saul of Tarsus
one of them? Was he not once a Pharisee of
the Pharisees? Touching the righteousness which
is in the law, or he said he was blameless. He would justify
himself. But how God was determined. And
the determination of God is seen in the remarkable way in which
that man's life is turned around and turned upside down and turned
inside out. And there he has to acknowledge
that truth. Remember the language that we have there in the 7th
of Romans, where he confesses again and again, he's wretched,
it's all wretched man that I am, he says. But there in Romans
7, verse 7, he says, Nay, I have not known sin, but by the law
For I had not known lust, except the Lord had said, Thou shalt
not covet but sin, taking occasion by the commandment wrought in
me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead. For I was alive without the law
once, but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died."
All the determination of God to deal with that man. to strip
him of all his own self-righteousness, to bring him to that place where
he could say, though I be nothing. And that's what he says there
at the end of 2 Corinthians, though I be nothing, though I
be a mere cipher, a zero. He had to be stripped of everything,
the determination of God. And this is what Job is experiencing. Thou turnest man to destruction. and sayeth, Return ye children
of men. There in the prayer of Moses
in Psalm 90, Thou turnest man to destruction. And so it was
with this man and the way in which the Lord dealt with him. If I wash myself with snow water
and make my hands never so clean, yet shalt thou plunge me in the
ditch. and mine own clothes shall abhorment."
Oh, there was such determination in God in the way He dealt with
this man. But consider more generally God's
dealings here. God's dealings with the man were
hard dealings. There's no dispute in that. Verse
17, He breaketh me with a tempest, and multiplieth my wounds without
cause. He will not suffer me to take
my breath, but filleth me with bitterness. All God's dealings. And this chapter is full of them.
Full of the dealings of God with the soul of this man. Again at
the end there, verse 34, Let him take his rod away from me,
and let not his fear terrify me, then would I speak and not
fear him but it is not so with me he says or why he recognizes
really that the life of the godless man and the irreligious man why
it's so much easier than the life of poor Job later in chapter 21 verse 7 This is Job speaking, Wherefore
do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power? Their
seed is established in their sight with them, and their offspring
before their eyes. Their houses are safe from fear,
neither is the rod of God upon them. Oh, how different is their
life, those who know not God, have no thought of God, all seems
to be so pleasant. Ah, but Job, remember, remember,
whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth,
and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening,
God dealeth with you as with sons. Or what son is he whom
the Father chasteneth not? sooner have God's dealings than
be left to our own devices. But here is Job, you see. Job's
despair springs from this misapprehension of God's determination. God's
going to strip him of everything. But his despair, it rises also
from the fact that he misunderstands the dealings of God. He looks
at others and their lives seem to be so much better than his
life, so much easier than his life, but they are the godless.
But then, with regards to his despair, thirdly, surely it springs
from this sense of God being so different. So different that
God seems to be at a great distance from him. He's at a great distance
from him. Verse 32, For he is not a man
as I am, then I should answer him, and we should come together
in judgment. But he realizes something of
the greatness of God. Who is this God? He sees the
otherness of God. God's at a great distance. Verse
10, Which doeth great things, past finding out. Yea, and wonders
without number, Lo, he goeth by me, and I see him not. He passeth on also, but I perceive
him not. Behold, he taketh away. Who can hinder him? Who will
say unto him, What doest thou? How can poor Job cope with this
situation where God is dealing with him? And he has to recognize
something of the greatness of God and the power of God. We
have it at the beginning, verse 4 following, He is wise in heart
and mighty in strength, who hath hardened himself against him
and hath prospered. which removeth the mountains
and they know not which overturneth them in his anger which shaketh
the earth out of her place and the pillars thereof tremble and
so he goes on speaking about God's greatness not only in the
earth but also in the starry heavens why he maketh Arcturus,
Orion and Pleiades and the chambers of the south he is the creator
of all things he is the great God or what does he say later,
or what he said later, it's not the words of Job, it's the word
of Zophar. There in chapter 11 and verse
7, Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out
the Almighty unto perfection? It is as high as heaven. What canst thou do deeper than
hell? What canst thou know? The measure thereof is longer
than the earth and broader than the sea. All this great God And yet this is the God who Job
recognizes is there. He's behind all his troubles,
all those terrible calamities and catastrophes that have fallen
upon him. He is such a glorious God. What
hope has Job. No wonder he utters the words
of our text. neither is there any daism betwixt
us that might lay his hand upon us both. Lord, if we cannot find out God
by all our searchings, what does he say? My thoughts are not your
thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For
as the heaven is higher than the earth, so are my ways higher
than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts, You can't
understand, you see. You cannot understand what God
is doing. Oh, again there in the book of
the prophet Isaiah, how God challenges the children of Israel in that
day. They were going after the idols
of the nations round about them. And time and again God rebukes
them for their folly, chapter 40, chapter 46. He speaks of the vanity of those
idols. To whom then will ye liken God,
or what likeness will ye compare unto Him? Oh God is altogether
different. God is the Creator. Job is the
poor creature. God is the Eternal One. and Job
is but a mere man and his life why as he says in verse 25 my
days are swifter than a post they flee away they see no good
what is Job in comparison to this great God and this God is
a holy one Job of course in his very nature is a sinful man he's
a son of Adam he's an unclean thing Job then is uttering words
out of his utter despair. Oh God, God's determination in
dealing with him. And all those strange dealings
of the Lord God, and God so different to him, and God at a distance
from him. But also, in the second place, and I want us to turn
now to the second point, in the text do we not see something
of Job's desire? Neither is there any daysman
betwixt us that might lay his hand upon us both. It's very
negative because he's in despair but surely here he's also expressing
his longing that there might be one, or if there was but one, who could stand between him and
God. He needed someone to come and
to argue for him. Oh, he so needed that. One to
be his mediator. One to take up his cause and
to answer for him. Look at what he says in the opening
words. When he first answers Bildad, he says, I know it is
so of a truth, but how should a man be just with God? If he
will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand.
He cannot answer God. He cannot justify himself before
God. That's what he is saying. But
then, you see, we come to the words of the text. And he speaks
of the days. And this is one of the names
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, this is one of the names
of the... He's longing for the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, it might
be a rather dark verse in a sense, a dark saying we might say, but
we have to remember, you see, Job, as I said at the beginning,
his book is reckoned to be the most ancient of all the books
of the Bible. He was living in the days before
Moses. And so this book predates the
books of Moses. Now remember what we have there
in those books of Moses. We have mentioned, do we not,
of all the ceremonial laws. And what were those ceremonial
laws? They were gospel. Leviticus is
a gospel book. All those types, all those figures,
they point to the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, in a sense, there's much
that is dark and difficult in this book, but the Lord Jesus
Christ is in the book of Job. All the Lord Jesus Christ is
here in the book of Job, because Christ is everywhere in the Bible.
the Lord himself says doesn't he search the scriptures in them
you think that you have eternal life and these are they that
testify of me that's scripture in its totality it all speaks
to us of the Lord Jesus Christ well we know how Job can go on
and speak of his Redeemer I know that my Redeemer lives and he
shall stand at the latter day upon the earth or Job Job is
made aware in his measure of the Christ who was to come and
the Lord Jesus Christ is here in our text two things I want
to mention as we draw to a conclusion tonight first of all here we
have the person of the Lord Jesus Christ and then secondly here
we also see something of the power of the grace of God. First, the person. The person
of Christ. He speaks of one betwixt us. Betwixt us. He speaks of one
who will lay his hands upon us both. Who is the one who can answer to that that Job is trying
to express in his own way. Well, the one who answers that
must be both God and man. He must be both God and man. And who is the God-man? That
is the Lord Jesus Christ himself. He is God. He is God. What does he say at the end of
John chapter 8, before Abraham was? I am. He is the great I am. He is Jehovah. Jehovah Jesus,
again. Previously, John 8, 24, he says,
if you believe not that I am He, you shall perish in your
sins. But the He you'll see there in
italics, literally he says on that occasion, if you believe
not that I am, you shall perish in your sins. Yes, the great
I am. And he's that one who really
answers Job's desire. Job wants one to come between
himself and God in heaven. And when the fullness of the
time was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made
under the law. Oh, that's the wonder of it.
God sent forth his son, that One who is the Eternal Son of
the Eternal Father, the Son of the Father in truth and love,
that One who is very God of very Gods, begotten, not made of one
substance with the Father. That's the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Word. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten,
the only begotten Son of God, full of grace and truth." That's
the Lord Jesus Christ, and He is God, and He is God manifest
in the flesh. That is the One, He is the Son
given, he is the child born that Isaiah speaks of unto us the
son is born unto us unto us a child is born unto us a son is given all the son is given the eternal
son the child is born that's the human nature without controversy
great is the mystery of godliness God was manifest in the flesh
There is one, you see, a daysman, who is betwixt us, who can lay
his hands upon us both. He has come. For as much then
as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, we are told,
likewise has he taken part of the same. Verily he took not
on him the nature of the angels, but He took upon Him the seed
of Abraham. Oh, He is Abraham's seed, that
one that was promised. He's made a little lower than
the angels. He's become a real man. And He can therefore lay
His hand upon us both. He is so fitted to come between
God and men. so fitted to stand between heaven
and earth because in that one person of the Lord Jesus Christ
there are those two distinct natures. He is God and He is
man. He is God-man. And isn't that
the gospel? What is it that the apostles
preached? They preached Christ and Him
crucified. That is the sum and substance
of the gospel. Paul says to the Corinthians,
we preach. This is a message that is to
be proclaimed to the ends of the earth. And what is it that
Paul and the other apostles preach? Christ. That is the person. Christ crucified,
that's the work. And how these two Blessed truths,
centering in the Lord Jesus Christ is the very Gospel. Oh, He is
God-Man. And He has accomplished that
great work of salvation. He has come to do all the will
of the Father, to finish the work that the Father has given
Him to do, and He's done that by His obedience, by His obedience
unto death, even the death of the cross. he has shed his precious blood
and without that shedding of blood there's no remission of
sins but he has died and died the just for the unjust but he
who died also lived and he's the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believe it's all in the person of the Lord
Jesus Christ he stands then between heaven and earth and we're thinking
here in particular of his person as God and man one person but
the great mystery of godliness it is God and it is God manifest
in the flesh there are two natures he is human, he is divine and
so he answers Job's great desire But then, finally here, we also
see something of the power of the grace of God. We read of
His hand, that He might lay His hand, His hand upon us both. What does that suggest? Well, the hand suggests power.
Behold, says the prophet Isaiah, the Lord's hand is not shortened
that it cannot say. Oh, He makes bare His arm, He
stretches forth His hand. And that speaks to us of His
power, the invincible grace of God, the hand of God. And you
know, we refer to those words in Hebrews 2 verse 16. If you look at that verse, you'll
see that there's an alternative reading in the margin. The text
reads, verily he took not on him the nature of angels, but
he took on him the seed of Abraham. But the margin says that the
original can also be rendered, verily he took not hold of angels,
but of the seed of Abraham he taketh hold. Oh, he's not just
made in that likeness of men, he takes hold. And how he takes hold of this
man, this man Job, he's taken hold of this man. Yes, the devil
is there, and God is not the author of sin, and there's much
that is difficult and hard for us to understand and interpret
in this book, but God is here, and God is dealing with Job. And doesn't Job have to acknowledge
that? What does he say at the end of
chapter, well, not the end, but towards the end of chapter 19,
verse 21? He says, Have pity upon me. Have pity upon me. O ye my friends,
for the hand of God hath touched me. Oh, this is what he desires. He repeats himself there, you
see. Have pity upon me. Have pity upon me, O my friends,
for the hand of God hath touched me. Oh, when God touches a man
with his hands. It's painful. It's painful when
the Lord takes hold of a man. The Lord has taken hold of this
man Job. He's doing something with Job. it's very painful and yet oh
how profitable there's mercy in it you see there's mercy in
it why? what is the latter end of Job?
go to the very last book and we see there so clearly that
his latter end he was a great man at the beginning before it
all began and yet when we come to the end his end is greater
than his beginning. So the Lord blessed the latter
end of Job more than his beginning for he had 14,000 sheep and 6,000
camels and 1,000 yoke of oxen and 1,000 she-asses. He had also
seven sons and three daughters and he called the names the name
of the first, Jemima, and the name of the second, Hosea, and
the name of the third, Kerenhapuk. And in all the land were no women
found so fair as the daughters of Job, and their father gave
them inheritance among their brethren. After this lived Job
an hundred forty years, and saw his sons and his sons' sons even
four generations. And Job died being old. and full
of days. Oh, how the Lord turned His captivity. How the Lord turned His captivity
and gave Him twice as much as ever He had before. Oh, when
the Lord deals with a man or a woman, when the Lord comes
and touches us and takes us in hand, is there not profit in
all of these things? There is a daysman The Lord Jesus
Christ, it's Christ's office. He has many offices, you know,
as the mediator. We speak not so much of one office,
but his mediatorial offices. What is he to his people? Is
there a prophet to teach them as their priest, to sacrifice
and then to intercede for them? Is there a king to reign over
them, to reign in them? or is this blessed mediator who
comes and stands between us and God and there's no other way
whereby we can approach him no other mediator he says in those
great I am statements in John's gospel amongst them we have those
words of John 14 6 I am the way the truth and the life no man
cometh unto the Father but by me oh God grant us grace to come
and to come by Him and to find all the fullness of salvation
in Him. Amen.