Let us turn to that chapter of
scripture we were reading in the book of Job. Job 23. Our text is found here at verses
3 and 4. Job 23, 3 and 4, O that I knew
where I might find him, that I might come even to his seat.
I would order my cause before him and fill my mouth with arguments." Job is answering, as we're told
in the opening verse, then answered Job and said, as you know the
book is made up of these series of speeches, he's answering Eliphaz
who was spoken in the previous 22nd chapter and not only Eliphaz
but there are others who speak Zophar, Bildad and we have therefore
these series of speeches as one of these men speaks so Job answers
him and they are often referred to as the friends of Job that
they were poor friends in so many respects. On a previous occasion in chapter 15 we have a speech by
Eliphaz and then Job begins to answer what he had said on that
occasion with those words at the beginning of chapter 16 Job answered and said I have
heard many such things miserable comforters are ye all these three
men they didn't seem really to be of much help or assistance
to Job in the midst of all those deep trials that had come upon
him and yet though Job says those words and dismisses them as miserable
comforters it would be wrong to say that they don't say any
wise words because I'm sure if you read through the book you
will find that on occasions these three men do say remarkable things
and right things And certainly in the previous chapter here,
chapter 22, Eliphaz says some useful words concerning the whole
matter of the necessity of repentance. There in verse 21, he says to
Job, Quote now thyself with him, and be at peace. Thereby good
shall come unto thee. Receive, I pray thee, the law
from his mouth, lay up his words in thine heart, if thou return
to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put away
iniquity far from thy tabernacles." In many ways it's a call then
to repentance, to turn from sin, to turn to the Lord God himself.
They do say some quite remarkable things on occasion, but on the
whole we have to acknowledge that they fail to understand
Job and Job himself certainly speaks more wisely than they
speak when we come to the very end of the book and the Lord
God is speaking there in chapter 42 what does he say verse 7 after
the Lord had spoken these words unto Job The Lord said to Eliphaz
the Temanite, the same man that he's answering in our chapter
tonight, the Lord says to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled
against thee and against thy two friends for ye have not spoken
to me the thing that is right as my servant Job hath. Job was more ready to speak the
thing that was right than ever his friends were and Thinking
tonight of these words that I read just now as our text at the beginning
of this 23rd chapter. What right words they are! Oh,
that I know where I might find him, that I might come even to
his seat, I would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth
with arguments. Aren't these words that are commendable
words, right words as God would call them there in chapter 42.
Well, let us come and consider this statement for a little while.
Two things. First of all, to say something
with regards to Job's desire, as we have it expressed in the
language of verse 3. He's expressing something of
his longings, his yearnings. And then, secondly, the way in
which he would seek to pray. and to speak to God and to order
his cause in the presence of God. But first of all to say
something with regards to the desire of Job. In many ways we see that he's
like others of the godly that are spoken of in the Old Testament,
those men And those women of faith, remember the great catalogue
that we have in Hebrews 11 concerning the saints of the Old Testament.
We're familiar with the language of David as he speaks time and
again in the book of Psalms. And what desire David had? Lords. Lord, he says, all my desire
is before thee, and my groaning is not hid from thee. How he was burdened to seek to
make his needs known unto God and yet he David couldn't find
the words that were adequate to express that desire that was
in the depths of his being and he groans out his prayers well
what a state poor Job is in here he cannot even find God or that
I knew where I might find him that I might come even to his
see previously here in chapter 11 we have those words spoken
by another of the friends Zophar and these surely are are wise
words the questions that he puts there at verse 7 following in
chapter 11 canst thou by searching find out God Can so find out
the Almighty unto perfection? It is high as heaven, what can
so do? Deeper than hell, what can so
know? The measure thereof is longer
than the earth and broader than the sea. There's that sense in
which Zophar is saying God is really unknowable, unsearchable. He's the infinite one. And here
is poor Job. Oh that I knew where I might
find him. that I might come even to his
seat. What is he doing? Well, in his
desire he is seeking after God. That is what he is doing. He
is seeking after God. He wants God to come. He wants to speak with God. He wants to unburden himself
in the presence of God. Now, Eliphaz the man who in particular
he is giving answer to, Eliphaz had known something of God. He'd spoken previously how God
had actually visited him and made himself known to him. In
chapter 4 we have another of the speeches of Eliphaz. And
look at what he has to say there. Verse 12, a thing was secretly
brought to me, and my ear received a little thereof. In thoughts,
from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men,
fear came upon me, and trembling which made all my bones to shake.
Then a spirit passed before my face, the air of my flesh stood
up. It stood still, but I could not
discern the form thereof. An image was before my nose.
There was silence, and I heard a voice saying, Shall mortal
man be more just than God? Shall a man be more pure than
his maker? Behold, he put no trust in his
servants and his angels, he charged his father, how much less in
them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in
the dust which are crushed before the moth. He seems to be speaking
of some revelation from God where he was made to feel his own creatureliness
and his mortality when he was made to see something of the
greatness of God and the eternity of God. God had visited him. And really, is he not suggesting
in the previous 22nd chapter here that Job needed a similar sort of
experience, a similar sort of revelation from God when he utters
those words that we've already referred to in verse 21 of that
chapter. Acquaint now thyself with him.
Be at peace. Thereby good shall come unto
thee. Receive, I pray thee, the law
from his mouth. Lay up his words in thine heart. But he is really misjudging Job. He doesn't really understand
Job. Job already knew God. But what had happened was that
Job had come into such deep waters. He was so troubled was Job. and
he felt so deserted by God in the midst of all those terrible
calamities that had befallen him. We know how the book opens
with that description of the devil, strange ways in which
he is under the sovereignty of God and He's not free to do as
he pleases, and yet God permits him to come and to try this man,
this man Job, who's one of the great men of the East. A just
man, that's what it says of him. He was a justified sinner, but
now he was tried and he loses all his possessions, he loses
his children, so much is taken from him. And then Satan is even
permitted to touch him in his own person. He cannot destroy
his life, but he's struck down with some terrible disease, and
he goes and sits amongst the ashes, and his body covered in
bruises and sores, and he takes a pot shirt, he's scraping himself.
there amongst the ashes that was his situation what a trial
Job was in and God seemed so very far from him look at what
he says for example in chapter 7 and verses 13 and 14 when I
say my bed shall comfort me my couch shall ease my complaint
then thou scarest me with dreams and terrifies me through visions
all time and again This man, he cannot find God. If he finds
God, God only torments him and troubles him. Again, the language
that we have in chapter 29. He speaks of how things once
were with him, in the days before all those troubles. What does he say there at verse
2? All that I were as in months past, as in the days when God
preserved me, when his candle shined upon my head, And when
by His light I walked through darkness, as I was in the days
of my youth, when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle,
when the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were about
me. But all that is gone. He's now
in favour and blessing from God. But now he's in dark and difficult
places and he cannot find the God that he desires to do business
with, or that I know where I might find him, that I might come even
to his seat. This is his cry, this is his
desire. He was the Lord's, as I say,
when he's introduced to us there at the beginning of the book
There was a man in the land of Oz, whose name was Job, and that
man was perfect and upright, one that feared God, understood
evil. There may have been something
of a self-righteousness about him, but when it speaks of him
as perfect and upright, he's upright because he's clothed
with the righteousness of Christ, he's Redeemer. Does he not speak
of his Redeemer? I know that my Redeemer lives,
he says. He was a man who had the faith of God's elect but
he's in the midst of trials but his salvation is never lost it
never could be lost doesn't Christ say of his own I give unto them
eternal life and they shall never perish no man is able to pluck
them out of my father's hand my father that gave them me is
greater than all no man can pluck them out of my father's hands
They are secure, they are safe. But God's people sometimes find
themselves in dark places. Think of that character that
we read of at the end of Isaiah 50, who is among you, that feareth
the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh
in darkness and hath no light. let him trust in the name of
the Lord and stay himself upon his God. He's walking in darkness,
there's no light. What is he to do? He's to trust. He's to rest himself in his God. Oh poor Job, how gloomy it was
for this man. Wherever he turns, verse 8, behold
I go forward. But he is not there. and backward
but I cannot perceive him on the left hand where he does work
but I cannot behold him he hideth himself on the right hand that
I cannot see him but he knoweth the way that I take when he hath
tried me I shall come forth as gold oh he looks all around him
he looks to the front he looks behind He looks to the right
hand, he looks to the left hand. But then at the end there is
that upward look. Or that blessed upward look that
we have in verse 10. He knoweth the way that I take. When he hath tried me I shall
come forth as gold. It is clear that this man is
one who has real faith. Or there's comfort you see. There's
comfort for this tried man. in the midst of all his troubles,
or that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even
to his seat. He's seeking after God, he wants
to find God, but what does he speak of quite specifically?
He speaks of God's seat. He wants to come even to God's
seat. Now what is God's seat? What
is God's seat in the Old Testament? It's the mercy seat. It's in
many ways that most significant part of all the furnishings of
the tabernacle. It was that that was the covering
for the Ark of the Covenant. And remember when Moses is there
in the mount receiving all that instruction and direction concerning
the furniture. We read of the the Ark of the
Covenant and the Mercy Seat in Exodus chapter 25. What was the Ark? Well, it was
an open chest and it was where they were to place the Ten Commandments,
the tables of the Law. God had entered into covenant
with this people. That's why it's called the Ark
of the Covenant. And those commandments express
the terms of the Covenant, as it were. But upon the Ark there
was a covering and it was the Mercy Seat. And there were to
be two cherubims fashioned and formed on each end of the Mercy
Seat. And the angels or cherubims were to have their eyes down
upon the Mercy Seat. And that was the seat of God. it was the place where God said
He would meet with them there in Exodus 25-22 He said He would
meet with them upon the mercy seats between the two cherubims
there He would be, there He would commune with them it was to be
put in the tabernacle in the most holy place, the holy of
holies and no one was ever permitted to go beyond that veil except
the high priest but then he could only go beyond that veil before
the the mercy seat on the great day of atonement spoken of in
Leviticus chapter 16 and when he went on that one day in the
year he was to take a sacrifice. It was to be a bullock sacrifice
for a trespass offering, but there was also to be a goat.
Well, there were two goats. and the one goat was to serve
as the sin offering and the other was to serve as the scapegoat
you can read it all there in Leviticus 16 but when the high
priest goes he is to take that sacrifice of the sin offering
and he is to sprinkle the blood before the mercy seat and upon
the mercy seat it's a place where they meet with God but this God
is the Holy One and so when the high priest comes before his
throne he must offer the blood of sacrifice because God is a
holy God and God is angry with the wicked every day and his
wrath must be propitiated it's the place of propitiation it's
the place of propitiation and this is where Job wants to come
That's where he's going to find God. Even at his mercy seat. Now, what is the mercy seat? It's a type. And it's a type
that is fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is very strictly
a type of the Lord Jesus. It's a place of propitiation.
and remember the language of John in his first epistle on
two occasions he speaks of Christ there in 1 John 2 verse 2 he
is the propitiation for our sins and not for our sins only but
for the sins of the whole world he's writing to the Jew is John
there and he's reminding them that the Lord Jesus has made
the great propitiatory sacrifice not only for Jews but also for
sinners of the Gentiles and again in chapter 4 and verse 10 he
says here in his love not that we love God but that he loved
us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins what
a remarkable statement that God should send his son to be that
propitiation, that propitiatory sacrifice. In other words, God
is going to pour out, as poured out, all His wrath against the person of His only
begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is a fulfillment
of the mercy seat. And again, we see it clearly
Hebrews 9 where in the opening verses the apostle is describing
something of the furnishings of the tabernacle. He mentions
the mercy seat. That mercy seat that as I say
is spoken of quite clearly in Exodus 25. It's a principal part
of the furnishings. And the word that he uses to
describe the mercy seat, the particular word in the original
is used on just two occasions. Other versions of the word might
be used, but that particular and specific word, mercy seat,
is only used on one other occasion in Romans 3.25 concerning the
Lord Jesus. Paul says, Whom God hath set
forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood. Now we could
render it exactly the same way it's rendered in Hebrews 9.5. Whom God that set forth to be
a mercy seat through faith in His blood or the faith of this
man or that I might come even to His seat what is His desire? His desire is for the Lord Jesus
Christ Christ is the only Saviour of sinners it was the work of Christ it
was that sacrifice that Christ offered that atone for the sins
of Job and all the saints of the Old Testament you see as
this man desires God so he comes to God by the Lord Jesus Christ
there is no other way no other way or that I know where I might
find him that I might come even to his sea these are yearnings
and longings after Christ in the midst of all his troubles,
all his trials, all the difficulties, all the great losses that this
man has endured. He still has this desire. He
wants to know God. How can he come to God? He can
only come through him who is the mediator. One God and one
mediator between God and man. The man Christ Jesus. All through
him. Through Him we have access, by
one Spirit unto the Father. What does he go on to say? End
of verse 6. Well, verse 6. Will He plead
against me with His great power? No, but He would put strength
in me. There the righteous might dispute
with Him, so should I be delivered forever from my judge. or the
righteous who are the righteous only those who are justified
in the Lord Jesus, the Lord our righteousness. This man speaks
the language of the Christian. Yes, he uses Old Testament terminology,
of course he does, Christ has not yet come. But he is one of
those who is looking and watching and longing and yearning and
desiring the coming of the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. That is
his desire. he wants to find God he's seeking
after God and he speaks in terms of God's seat the mercy seat
but turning in the second place to what he says with regards
to how he's going to conduct himself what he's going to do
at this mercy seat I would order my cause before him he says and
fill my mouth with arguments. That's what he's going to do.
He's going to order his cause, and he's going to be bold, and
he's going to employ arguments. How remarkable this is. He's
going to pray, that's what he's saying really. And what he's
describing is real prayers. and remember when we come to
the New Testament and of course Paul speaks of the mercy seat
but he also speaks of the throne of grace and the language that
we have there at the end of Hebrews 4 let us therefore come boldly
to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace
to help in every time of need or let us come boldly and that
word boldly One of those compound words again, it's two words really.
Two particular words. One word literally means all
and the other word means speech. Let us come with all speech,
that's what he's saying. Let us come with all speech to
the throne of Christ. Or what does William Cooper,
the hymn writer, say? Have you no words? Ah, think
again. Words flow apace when you complain. And fill your fellow creature's
ear with the sad tale of all your care. Or we can complain
one to another. And we do. Maybe we do it too
much sometimes. we should go to the Lord, we
should make our complaint there, we should present our arguments
there, we read those words, didn't we? A great statement in Isaiah
14, to take with you words, it says, and turn to the Lord and
say, take away all iniquity, receive us graciously, we will
render the calves of our lips, that's praises, because God will
hear us, when God's hearing, God will also Answer us. Our God, you see, invites us
to come. He has made every provision whereby
we may come. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
Great High Priest. And what does a priest do? Under
the Old Testament, the priest makes the sacrifice. And Christ
has made the sacrifice. But what does a priest do? He
also serves God at the golden altar. He burns incense. He offers
prayers. And the Lord Jesus has now entered
into that aspect of his priestly office. He has entered heaven
itself now to appear in the presence of God for all his people. He
ever lives to make intercession. What that means is that his very
presence, his continual presence therein Glory is a prayer on
behalf of all His people, all the time He's there. His very
presence, His session, at the right hand of the Father. God
has made every provision for us to pray, because there's not
only one in heaven, there is the miniature of the Holy Ghost,
who helps us in all our infirmities, the language of Romans 8, who
makes intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered.
And he that searcheth the heart, we are assured, knoweth what
is the mind of the spirit. He maketh intercession for us
according to the will of God. God has made provision, and so
God invites us to come. And what an invitation we have
there in Isaiah 118, come now, let us reason together. Though
your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though
they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. What an invitation! That's gospel. Oh, the Old Testament,
it's full, isn't it, of gospel. Full of it. God invites us not
only to pray to Him, but to plead with Him. He not only invites
us to ask, but he says we can come and argue with him let us
reason together he says and this is what Job is about really I
would order my cause before him and fill my mouth with arguments
what do we see here with regards to his prayer well I want to
mention two things Job was very much aware of the need of one
to be an advocate and other things besides an advocate. He wants
an intercessor, a pleader, he wants a daysman, he wants a shortener. He wants all of these things
and we see time and again in the way in which he speaks in
the book. I would order my cause before him and fill my mouth
with arguments and yet really what Job wants is one to take
up his particular plea and to serve as his is advocate and
we're told, aren't we, if any man sin we have an advocate with
the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He is the propitiation for
our sins the seat is the place of propitiation and Christ who
is the mercy seat is also that one who is the advocate all these
wonderful offices that the Lord Jesus himself fill He wanted one, did Job, to be
a pleader with God, an intercessor on his behalf. Look at his language
at the end of chapter 16. He says, "...or that one might
plead for a man with God, as a man pleadeth for his neighbour."
Who is that one who's going to plead for man? That one who quite
deliberately became a man. He didn't take upon Him the nature
of the angels, He took upon Him the seed of Abraham. And because
the children were partakers of flesh and blood, He partook of
the same. Oh, the man, Christ Jesus, He
comes to plead for the sinful sons of men to be their intercessor
again. Job, remember back in chapter
9, and verse 33 speaks of his desire for what's called a daisman. Neither is there any daisman
betwixt us that might lay his hand upon us both. The margin says neither is there
any umpire. The Hebrew it says here in the
margin, is literally one that should argue. Neither is there
anyone that should argue betwixt us. It might lay his
hand upon us both. Who is the one who can do that?
Why, that one who is both God and man. That's today's man. The Lord Jesus, he can put his
hand upon God, he is God. He can put His hand upon man,
He is man! What a remarkable provision and
what remarkable words we have in this ancient book of Scripture. One of the oldest books in all
the Word of God and it's full. Lord Job has so much to say concerning
the Lord Jesus and His various offices and how He meets all
the needs of His people. And that means He meets my need
and your need. Surely none of us would imagine
that we've known trials like this man Job has ever known.
How easy is our lot compared with all that Job had to endure?
He wants an advocate, he wants a pleader, an intercessor, he
wants a daisman. He speaks also of one being a
shorter. In chapter 17, verse 3 lay down now put me in
a surety with thee who is he that will strike hands with me
isn't the Lord Jesus that one who is the surety of his people
the surety of the new covenant we have that I think it's a lovely
illustration of what suretyship means back in Genesis when Joseph, who'd been betrayed by
his envious brethren, had been sold into slavery in due course,
of course, interpreting the dreams of the Pharaoh. He's made a great
man. He gives advice, there's going
to be years of great plenty, seven years of plenty. Lay up
in store, because seven years of great wants and famine will
follow. But there's much corn in Egypt
and all the peoples around about are having to go to Egypt to
obtain corn. And there's Jacob and they need
corn, he sends his sons. And Joseph recognizes his men,
they're his brethren. They don't recognize him but
he makes provision, sends them away. We don't need to go into
the detail. But of course Benjamin, his younger brother, was not
there with them. Benjamin was still at home with the father,
near Benjamin. Why, that was the real brother
of Joseph. They had the same mother. They
were the children of Rachel, weren't they? That great man in Egypt had made
it clear, should they ever come to obtain more corn, they must
bring that younger brother with them. And the time came when
it was necessary. They'd run out of corn again,
they must go into Egypt, but they must take Benjamin. Well, Jacob had lost his beloved
son, his favorite son, he was fearful he was going to lose
Benjamin also but it's Judah who stands forth and Judah says
he's going to be sure to know for Benjamin in Genesis 43 and
there at verse 9 I will be sure to for him he says to his father
this is Judah Verse 8, Judah said unto Israel his father send
the lad with me and we will arise and go that we may live and not
die both we and thou and also our little ones I will be sure
thee for him of my hand shalt thou require him if I bring him
not unto thee and set him before thee then let me bear the blame
forever now this is Judah and who is the lion of the tribe
of Judah that's the Lord Jesus he's in the line of Judah And
Judah was surety for Benjamin. I will bear the blame forever. Oh, that's what the surety does.
That's what the surety does. He makes it his own responsibility.
That's the Lord Jesus. The very thing that the surety
has done. The wise man who warns us. He
that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it and Christ
has stood surety for strangers for those who were in a state
of alienation from God, enemies of God he stood as their surety
and it cost him and it's this man Job who is speaking of all
these things this is what he desires then a surety, a days man a pleader,
an intercessor, an advocate to plead his cause. I would order
my cause before him and fill my mouth with arguments." But
see here how he speaks of arguments, arguments. Again in chapter 13 and verse
3. Surely I would speak to the Almighty
and I desire to reason with God, he says. That's who he's going
to argue, he's going to reason with the Almighty. Come now,
says God, let us reason together. What an invitation. Oh, what
an invitation. He's not going to plead his own
deeds, his own religious works, his great faith, his genuine
repentance. That's not what Job's going to
do. He has nothing to plead. He can
only speak of another. He can speak only of that one who is the Redeemer of his soul all that tremendous passage previously
in chapter 19 verse 25 I know that my Redeemer
liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth
and though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh
shall I see God Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eye
shall behold, and not another, though my reins be consumed with
him. But ye should say, Why persecute
we him, seeing the root of the matter is found in him?" The
root of the matter is in this man. Or this man Job, he is a
real Christian. And isn't this really the language
of the child of God? wanted to find God wanted to
come where God is wanted to order his cause at God's mercy seat
wanting to fill his mouth with reasonings and arguments though
ultimately of course when we come to the end of this book
we see this man so gloriously restored I like the language
that we have there in chapter 42 When he says at verse 5, I
have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye
seeth them. Wherefore I abhor myself and
repent in dust and ashes. And then of course, well you
know how the book ends, the latter end. The Lord's blessed the latter
end of Job. More than his beginning, for
he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and
a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she-asses. He had
also seven sons and three daughters, and he called the name of the
first Jemima, and the name of the second Zia, 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
one hundred and forty years, and saw his sons and his sons'
sons even four generations. So Job died, being old and full
of days. Oh, what a man! And what prayers
this man was brought to utter before the Lord! Might he be
one then to teach us and to instruct us what it means to find acceptance
only in and through him who is in his very person the mercy
seat, that one who fills the throne of grace, even our Lord
Jesus Christ. Well, the Lord bless his word
to us.