In his six volume work, God, Revelation and Authority, Carl F. H. Henry begins the second volume with an introduction of his 15 theses on divine revelation. He will spend the rest of that volume and the next seeking to explain and flesh out each of the fifteen theses. I would like to begin this morning by reading the first of his 15 theses. He writes: “Revelation is a divinely initiated activity, God’s free communication by which he alone turns his personal privacy into a deliberate disclosure of his reality.” Basically, the point that Henry is making to begin his discussion of divine revelation is that we could not know anything about God and his ways were it not for his choice to reveal himself. Henry will go on to write about how God has chosen to reveal himself through creation, history, the Scriptures, and ultimately through Jesus Christ. But why this discussion of divine revelation? Why spend six volumes on such a topic?

The importance of the topic is this: either God has spoken and revealed himself to us or he has not. Either we can take the Scriptures and learn of God or we cannot. The very basis of the Christian faith is that God in his kindness has revealed himself through his Word and ultimately through the person and work of Jesus Christ, who we know because of the Word. If this is not true, if God has not revealed himself through his word and through the person of Christ, then we are left hopeless. In realizing the great gravity of this issue, Henry sought to define and defend the orthodox Christian view of divine revelation for a world that is doubtful that universal truth exists, much less believes that God has spoken to mankind through his Word.

This morning may we come to the text believing that God has spoken. We will be looking particularly at a text that we refer to as the Yahweh speeches in the book of Job (not to be confused with the Yahoo speeches that was spoken of last week). It is tempting at times for us to see this text as more inspired than other texts because it is actually God speaking in the story. Yet, as we say from week to week, we believe that all the Scriptures are God breathed and are profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness (see 2 Timothy 3:16). What we do see this morning from the book of Job is God’s decision to and delight in revealing himself to mankind. Are we not indeed privileged people to be able to read and study what God has revealed to his servant Job (not to mention the rest of the Scriptures). Thus, may we proceed with great gratitude and awe that our God has spoken.

I. Structure: Brief outline and comments on the text

Since this passage is more familiar than last week’s text, I only want to briefly run though an outline of the text. Basically the text involves two speeches from the Lord, two responses by Job, and the epilogue. The first speech of the Lord is found in chapters 38 and 39. After the Lord questions Job, we find his first response in 40:3-5. The second speech of the Lord is then found in the remainder of chapter 40 and then 41. Job’s second response is recorded in 42:1-6 followed by the epilogue in 42:7-17. This is the basic layout of our text this morning.

II. Instruction: What can we learn from the text?

The vital question that we must ask and answer from this text is simply: What does God reveal in his speeches? This is where we must focus as we seek to understand this text. Before I offer an answer to that question, I want to first say that the Lord does not reveal what we (or Job) might be expecting. As we looked at last week, Job has greatly struggled in trying to understand why he has had to suffer in such a terrible way. He asks to have his day in court with God and he wants the Lord to bring out his accusations against Job. Job ends his words with this thought in 31:35-37: Oh that I had one to hear me! (Here is my signature! Let the Almighty answer me!) Oh, that I had the indictment written by my adversary! Surely I would carry it on my shoulder; I would bind it on me as a crown: I would give him an account of all my steps; like a prince I would approach him. Thus, after reading this we might expect the Lord to lay out his reasons for allowing Job to suffer as he has. Job is looking for answers. He wants to know what he has done to deserve such suffering. Again, as we pointed out a couple of weeks ago, we know what has taken place in the heavenly scene between God and Satan. Thus, we might expect that God would explain this to Job and let him in on what has taken place. Yet, God is not controlled by our expectations. As Henry stated in his first thesis, God is free to reveal what he chooses. And it must be added that what He chooses is what we really need! So then, what does the Lord reveal in His speeches?

By his Speeches, God reveals his great knowledge and control of all things.
If we are using theological terms we would call this God’s omniscience, or his knowledge of all things, and God’s sovereignty, or his control of all things. Thus, the Lord is revealing himself, his own attributes to Job in these speeches. How do we see this from the text? Let’s consider the first speech.

In the first speech, which is found in chapters 38 and 39, the Lord tells us much of his control and knowledge over the universe. Look at 38:1-7 with me. The Lord is asking questions of Job that find their answer in God. The Lord says in verse 4, Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? God is pointing out to Job that He alone established the earth and knows its measurements. From here God declares in this speech his control and knowledge over the sea (38:8-11, 16, see especially verse 11 and his control of the waves), over the morning (38:12-15), over light and darkness (38:19-21), over the weather (38:22-30, 34-35, see especially 22-23), over the stars (38:31-33, constellations we can still observe today), and over man’s wisdom (38:36-38). In 38:39 the Lord begins to reveal his knowledge and control over various animals: lions (38:39-40), ravens (38:41), mountain goats (39:1-4, see especially 1-2), wild donkey (39:5-8), wild ox (39:9-12), ostrich (39:13-18, a very humorous passage), horse (39:19-25), and the hawk and eagle (39:26-30). In all this we see God’s great knowledge and control over his universe.

Let me just make a quick aside before we move to the second speech. Oh, that we as the people of God would marvel at Him as we consider nature and all that he has made. Indeed, as we read at the beginning of the service from Psalm 19, The heavens declare the glory of God. May we be people who take the time to marvel at what they declare about our God!!

In the second speech, which runs from 40:6 through the end of 41, we see God declare his knowledge and control over the Behemoth and the Leviathan. After speaking of his control over man, which we will consider in a moment, God moves in verse 15 of chapter 40 to speak of his control over the Behemoth. The entirety of chapter 41 is spent talking about the Leviathan. Of course we must ask, what is being talked about in these two sections. The simple answer is that the Behemoth represents the hippopotamus and the Leviathan represents the crocodile. Many see these two animals in the descriptions of the Behemoth and the Leviathan. My struggle with this is found in 40:19 for the Behemoth and 41:18-21, 33-34. It seems hard to understand these texts as speaking simply of a hippopotamus and a crocodile. Many would explain this as just descriptive language, which is typical in Hebrew poetry, and this may be correct. Some would explain the Leviathan passages as referring to dinosaurs, which also could be a possibility. Yet, however you identify them on the earth, I think the author is intending for us to recognize them as symbols. Thus, the Behemoth would represent death (which is connected to the definition of the Hebrew name and is used in other literature) and the Leviathan would represent chaos and Satan. To support this we can look back to 3:8 which says, Let those curse it who curse the day, who are ready to rouse up Leviathan. In this context where Job is calling for a curse of the day of his birth, it seems odd that Leviathan would be referring to the crocodile in this passage. Also, in Isaiah 27:1 the prophet writes, In that day the Lord with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea. Again, I do not think that Isaiah has in mind the crocodile in this passage. Rather he is speaking of God’s overthrow of chaos and evil, and specifically Satan, the serpent. We must be careful in opening the door of symbolic interpretation, but we must not be afraid of trying to understand the passage how the biblical author intended it. Thus, I think we can say that the passages concerning the Behemoth and the Leviathan, whatever they may be referring to on the earth, are meant to represent God’s knowledge and control over death, chaos, cosmic evil, and Satan. We learn that Satan is no simple puppet, but a powerful force. Yet, as are all creatures, Satan remains under the control of the Lord and as Luther put it in his hymn, “One little word (the name of Jesus) shall fell him.”

It must be said that God’s knowledge and control of all things is seen in contrast to man’s inability to know and control all things. In a passage like 38:2-3 and 40:7-14, we see God specifically dealing Job and his inabilities. Yet, throughout the speeches it is clear to the reader that God has knowledge and control that we do not. He brings rain on a land where no man is (38:26), He controls the wild donkey and the wild ox which will not be controlled by man (39:7-12), He alone will bring justice to the wicked by his might (40:10-14), Man can only tremble before the Leviathan, which the Lord controls (41:9-11). Again, in all this we see the Lord’s great knowledge and control of all things in contrast to our inability to know and control.

A second question we could ask is this: How does Job respond to this revelation? We said last week that one of the difficult issues in the book of Job is whether or not Job sinned in his speeches. Again, it is hard to come to a definite conclusion. Yet, I do think we get some insight into the issue in the Yahweh speeches. In 38:2 the Lord accuses Job of darkening council without knowledge, or speaking about things that Job did not understand. In 40:8, one of my favorite verse in the whole book, the Lord asks Job, Will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be in the right? Job has struggled with God’s justice in light of his innocence. Thus, as Job argues and takes vows concerning his innocence, he in turn seems to conclude that God is not just. So then, how does Job respond to all of this?

In his first response, Job simply responds with silence. We read this in 40:3-5. After such a revelation of the Lord as we see in his first speech, Job can only shut his hand over his mouth and remain silent before the Lord. In his second response, we see Job respond with comfort in God’s great knowledge and control and with repentance and humility in light of what has been revealed. We read this in 42:1-6. Job recognizes that he is only a man and that he has indeed darkened council without knowledge. In verse 3 he says, Therefore, I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. For this he repents. Yet, he takes great comfort in God’s revelation of his knowledge and control. His hope and trust in God have been restored for as he says in verse 5, I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear; but now my eye sees you. We also see in the epilogue that Job responds by being willing to forgive and pray for the friends (42:9).

In speaking of the epilogue, we could also ask of our text this morning: What are we to learn from the Epilogue? In addition to what we have already said, I think the real focus of the epilogue is the kindness of the Lord. We see this in God’s forgiving of the friends who had spoken of him falsely. We also see the Lord’s kindness in his restoration and vindication of Job.

III. Application: How do we apply what we have learned to our lives?

I think the clear application of our text this morning (and of the book in general) is to be grateful for and take comfort in the revelation of God.
As we consider Job’s second response to what the Lord has revealed in his speeches, we see him take great comfort in the fact that God is in control and has chosen to reveal himself to his servant. Look again at 42:2 and 5. As we said the first week, the sovereign control of God is to be a great comfort in the lives of believers. We should take great comfort in the fact that God is in control. This is exactly where our theology meets the road of life. The book of Job calls us to rest in the fact that the God of the universe is in control of all things.

Yet, the book of Job is not our only source of divine revelation. As we have said at the beginning, we believe that the whole Bible is God-breathed. Not only has the Lord chosen to reveal himself through the book of Job, but he has chosen to reveal himself through 65 other books as well. If Job responded with trust and comfort in God’s revelation, how much more should we?

Let us consider one more reality this morning. As we come to the end of the book of Job, we may be left with many questions: Where is God’s justice in allowing Job to suffer, Where is God’s justice in forgiving the friends if they have indeed spoken falsely about him, What about Satan and his accusations? It is these questions and others that cause us to continue probing the Word of God for answers. And as we come to the New Testament, we find the answers we are looking for. For it is in the Person and Work of Jesus Christ that we find the ultimate divine revelation. He is the display of the sovereignty of God (in that redemption was planned through him before the foundations of the world). He is the display of the justice of God (in that God has justly forgiven those who repent and believe in Christ because of the atoning sacrifice that Christ became and because the Word tells us that when Christ returns man will be judged in relation to the Lamb who was slain). Any injustice we may think we have known pales in comparison to the sacrifice of the perfect Lamb of God. It is Christ who has made God known to us as John 1:18 tells us. Based on the revelation of Christ, we now have great reason to believe and trust in God’s exhaustive knowledge, in his sovereign control of the universe, in his great wisdom in governing the world, and in his great justice and mercy, which will ultimately be displayed when Christ returns. Shall we not marvel at what the Lord has revealed? May we not spend our lives on knowing, believing, obeying, and proclaiming the great hope that God has revealed to us through the person of Jesus Christ? May we not indeed approach the table with such thankfulness this morning?

GOD, REVELATION, AND THE PLIGHT OF MAN

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