Appendix: Retrospective Notes

Note A Those to whom the message of Job applies. — Introduction p. 10.

It is important to remember that the special message of the book of Job is only applicable to those who have learnt to walk in fellowship with God, in integrity of heart, exercising themselves to maintain a conscience void of offence toward God and man, and unswerving in their fixity of purpose to eschew evil up to the fullest extent of their light.

If we fail to recognize this we shall be thrown into hopeless confusion, for it cannot be said that those who are godless, or even those who profess to be Christians, with a name to live, but yet dead in trespasses and sins, are under the mighty hand of God in the special way in which the Lord dealt with Job.

Note B The place of suffering in the spiritual life. — Chapter i, p. 15, 16.

The book of Job reveals to us the place and purpose of suffering in the spiritual life. In the history of Job we are shown, subjectively, the stage of growth when suffering becomes a necessary part of God’s training in conforming His children to the pattern Son, Who is the First-born of many brethren.

In the history of Job, the earlier stages of the Christian life are not depicted at all, the story begins at the point where many place the goal.;

Job, so said Jehovah, was in His sight blameless (not faultless), true, godly and eschewing evil! What better description could we have of the life of victory over sin; of surrender to the will of God; and of obedience to the known commands of God? What better description of a life in the power of the Holy Ghost, than that which fell from Job’s own lips, recorded in chapter xxix?

The story of Job’s life therefore teaches us that the “life of God in the soul of man” must come to some maturity of growth, before the child of God is ready for the lessons of the crucible, where he will learn to ‘‘ endure unto chastening”’, and be dealt with as a son in whom the Father delighteth, * and whom He scourgethy that he may be a partaker of His holiness.

Job was an object-lesson for the people of God throughout all time, therefore every aspect of trial was allowed to come upon him. With other of His children the Lord may use but one of Job’s many sorrows, to bring them to the same place of blessing.

To some may come the loss of all earthly substance; to others the removal of loved ones to the heavenly home; and yet to others the stripping of strength, and the lesson of helpless weakness. The All-wise Father knoweth each child of His love, its own peculiar temperament and character: its particular danger and need; and so He lovingly adapts His training to the individual soul.

Some naturally love the active life, and need to be taught to lie still; others shrink from activity and would gladly live in quiet retreat — these latter He may choose to face the glare and pain of aggressive service, whilst the ones who love the bustle and noise are bidden ‘‘ Go, shut thyself within thy house”; others again are full of energy and strength, and only learn with bitter tears how to keep step with God, whilst slothful easy-going souls are taught to find their energy in Him!

In any case the Scriptures plainly teach us that, in many and varied ways, the ripest servants of God are led through the same pathway of trial. ‘The “object-lessons” are repeated, so that we may not fail to understand the ways of the Lord.

If we compare the language of David in Psalm lxix, with chapter xxx of the book of Job, we see how both were led

through the same deep waters, in very different circumstances. * Again if we compare Lamentations iii, with the same chapter in the book of Job, we find the words of Jeremiah and Job to be almost alike in the outpouring of grief in their hour of affliction.

Yet once more we find a similar cry of the soul in the language of Jonah when in the ‘‘ sea-monster” — in this case specifically said by the Lord Himself, to represent His own

* Prov. iii. 12. t See Heb. xii. 6-10.

’ passage through Calvary, and the grave, to the right hand of the Majesty on high.

Again to show us the sovereign choice of God in dealing with His own, it is significant also to note that Elijah was translated by a chariot of fire, not having seen death, whilst Elisha, upon ae his mantle fell, was taken with “‘ a sickness whereof he

hed). *

Joash, the king of Israel, wept over Elisha in his sick-chamber, and used the very same words that Elisha had used when he saw Elijah taken away before his eyes: ‘‘ My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof!” Joash thus seeing in Elisha’s death-bed the same translation to the glory as Elisha saw in the chariot of fire that caught away Elijah!

Thus in ‘‘ precept upon precept; line upon line: here a little, there a little’ does the Lord of Hosts, wonderful in counsel, and excellent in wisdom, patiently teach His loved ones His varied ways of working in their lives.

“© Whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.”’

Note G The Lord’s object in accepting the challenge of the Adversary. —

Chapter i, p. 16.

The scene in heaven conclusively shows that one object of Job’s trial was to prove to the heavenly principalities and powers, the “‘ manifold wisdom of God’’,t for, as the heavenly hosts looked on at the tested servant of God upon earth, they saw the wisdom of God in His masterly way of changing the Satanic attempt to ruin Job into a means of greater and richer blessing to his soul.

The Lord proved to the angels that His plan of bringing men through death to life, was worthy of His infinite wisdom and knowledge of the character of man. He proved also to the heavenly powers that He was able to obtain disinterested love and service from His servants on earth.

The Lord proved to the devit that Job did not serve Jehovah for all the blessings he had received from Him, and that all attacks upon the children of God but led them closer to their Lord, so long as they trusted the faithfulness of God, and did not withdraw themselves from His hand.

The Lord proved to Job that the Enp of all His.dealings with

* Compare 2 Kings xliii. 14, and 2 Kings ii. 12. + Ephes. iii. 10.

His children was for their eternal good, and that His character of love and pity was not changed when He placed His servant in the crucible. Job himself acknowledged that Jehovah’s dealings with him had been right, as in the searchlight of His presence he looked back upon his past, remembered his self-vindication, and loathed himself.

The Lord proved to the friends that a man could be justified before the Lord, and walk with Him in integrity of heart, and that suffering was not invariably the result of transgression.

The Lord proves to the children of God, through all the ages, that they need the lessons of the crucible to make them know themselves; and still more a direct interview with Him ere they truly can renounce themselves, and know the abundant life in union with the Risen Lord.

Note D
The Adversary and his limit. — Chapter ii, p. 22.

The glimpse into the heavenly court gives us, not only the knowledge of Jehovah’s complete control over the Adversary, but some knowledge of the devil’s character, and attitude towards the servant of God.

We are shown (what is of the most vital importance to ourselves to-day, over three thousand years since the story of Job was written) that the devil sets his heart upon every child of God who seeks to shun evil, and to walk before the Lord with singleness of purpose and loyal integrity, and that he does not cease to use every subtle wile to break their fellowship with God. Yet let us remember —

“* T give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of My hand’’, said the Lord Jesus to His disciples, adding, “‘ My Father is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and the Father are one ’’.*

The story of Job reveals the strength of the tie of life between the Lord and His children. The Adversary is allowed to bring to bear upon it every possible test, and it stands them all!

Property gone — but Job’s treasures are in heaven! Children gone — but he had committed them to God, and offered sacrifice for them, and they were safe in the Lord’s keeping! Job himself stricken and broken on every side,

* John x. 28, 29, 30.

longs for death and cries to God to let him alone, but even in his anguish he refuses to part with the anchor of his soul! He persists that he is in the hand of God; and by his faith that he was there, he abode therein!

Let the redeemed take heed that they ‘“‘ keep [themselves] in the love of God”’,* and by faith abide under His mighty hand, so that He may exalt them in due time. Let them remember that the devil can only touch them so far as he is given permission by the Lord, but also only so far as they give him permission too!

The Lord may have permitted him to attack thee on every side, oh child of God, but take thou heed that thou givest him no further licence than thy Lord hath allowed him, by listening to his whispered words that thy God hath forsaken thee. ‘‘ Hope - thou in God and thou shalt yet praise Him, Who is the health of thy countenance, and thy God.”

Nore E
The Hand of God. — Chapier vii, p. 57.

Cruden says that ‘‘ Hand” when referring to God, signifies (1) His eternal purposes and executive power. (2) His corrections. (3) His sovereign disposal. (4) His providence, etc., etc.

Job, in saying that the “‘ Hand of God” had touched him, meant simply that the sovereign will of God had decreed his afflictions.

Satan was obliged to acknowledge the sovereignty of God when he said to Jehovah, ‘“‘ Put forth Thine hand now, and touch all that he hath”? and again, ‘‘ Put forth Thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh”’.

Jehovah replied, ‘‘ Behold all that he hath is in thy power” — thus by His sovereign will permitting the attack of the enemy, whilst by His Divine control, He made it actually true that Job and his times were in His hand.

Note F The Refining fire. — Chapter ix, p. 69, 70. In Ezekiel xxii. 17-22 the Lord tells Ezekiel that He will deal

with Israel as men deal with precious metals. ‘‘ As they gather silver and brass and iron and lead and tin in the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire upon it, to melt it... as silver

* See Jude xxi, and John xiv. 9, 10.

is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall ye be melted in the midst thereof.” For the house of Israel had become dross to the Lord, and the fire that was to melt them was the fire of His wrath in terrible judgments.

It may be said that a soul walking with God as Job did, could not be subject to the same “‘ fire”? as Ezekiel described to Israel; but the apostle Paul speaks of a “judging” of the children of God that is inevitable.

The “judgment” that is coming upon the world must begin with the house of God, that the children of the family of God be not ‘“‘ condemned with the world”? (1 Pet. iv. 17. 1 Cor. xi. 32).

The ‘“‘ dross’? in Israel, and the dross in the character of the faithful servant of God are alike abhorrent to the Lord, and alike to be dealt with by His fire.

It may also be said that the Lord Himself is the Refiner’s fire to His separated ones; “‘ Our God is a consuming fire”; but again it is written by Isaiah, that He purges by the “* spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning”’, so that both are true.

The All-wise Lord turns His hand upon His children to thoroughly purge away their dross (Isa. i. 25), whilst He Himself is like a Refiner’s fire in the midst of them, for it is written that He shall “‘ sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and He shall purify the sons of Levi (His separated ones) and purge them as gold and silver’; whilst the glorified Lord, the Faithful Witness, speaks yet again as He did to the Laodicean church (typical of these last days), and counsels us to “buy” (or obtain from Him at all costs) the “gold refined by fire”, that we may ‘‘ become rich” and, clothed with ‘‘ white garments ’’ — white with the white-heat of the furnace He has brought us through — be ready for His appearing.

‘““And some of them that be wise shall fall (or be feeble, as the word in the original means) to refine* them, and to purify,t and to make them whitet even to the time of the end” — Dan. xi. 35.

* Refers to the expulsion of dross by the smelting fire. + Refers to the separation or removal of the dross already expelled.

Refers to the polishing and brightening of the metal after it has been freed from its impurity.

G. H. Pember in “Great Prophesies of the Centuries”, p. 417.

Notre G
Job’s integrity. — Chapter x, p. 74.

It may appear that Job was really ‘‘ righteous in his own eyes”’, as he speaks so assuredly of his integrity before God; but we are given a glimpse into his actions at the beginning of his story which clearly explains his strong confidence.

The writer to the Hebrews, referring to the sacrifices of Abel, declares plainly that the Old Testament sacrifices, offered in faith, obtained from the Lord the witness that the offerer was “‘ righteous”? (Heb. xi. 4) in the very same way as to-day the Holy Spirit bears witness to our conscience, that ‘“‘ the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ, unto all and upon all them that believe”’ is ours, as we draw nigh to God in faith, depending upon the “one perfect, and sufficient, sacrifice for the sins of the whole world” offered upon Calvary’s Cross, when our High Priest Christ Jesus offered Himself to God.

Job’s early rising to offer sacrifices for his children, in case they may have sinned, strikingly reveals his reliance upon sacrifice for clear fellowship with God. Job lived before the eye of God so continuously, and feared sin so intensely that he was keenly alive to the least danger of disloyalty to God even in his family. Therein lies for us to-day a deeply needed lesson if we would walk before God with the same integrity of heart.

Speaking in Paul’s language, it may be said that Job exercised himself to have a ‘‘ conscience void of offence ’’, even as regarded his family and home. Only by this sensitive dealing with sin in practical life, and entire dependence upon the effect of the sprinkled blood within the veil,* as cleansing our consciences every moment, can we walk with God, and have the same witness borne to us by the Spirit of God, as it is written, ‘‘ He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in Himself”’.t ‘‘ The Spirit Himself beareth witness with our spirit; that we are children of God.”’y

Note H “The wheel of nature.”’ — James iii. 6. — Chapter xix, p. 140.

How little we children of God recognize the solemn truth that lies behind the statement of the apostle James, when he

* See Heb. xii. 24; 1 Pet.i.2; 1 Johnii. 7. ft 1 John v. 10, A.V. t Rom. viii. 16.

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says that the tongue is “set on fire by hell” so as to blaze ’’* the “‘ wheel of nature”’.

We may be desirous of renouncing the old life, and yielding it to the Cross, but frustrating that desire at the very same time by — perhaps unconsciously — setting the wheel of nature in a blaze by our use of the tongue.

The apostle James’ use of the word “‘ curse”’ in connection with this passage may have hidden its truth from us. We do not ‘‘ curse’ we say, and it is only the “‘ cursing”’ of the tongue that is set on fire of hell; whereas the word simply means ‘‘ to wish evil to”. ‘The Lord’s words in Matt. v. 22 may give us light here. In dealing with the use of the tongue by the children of the kingdom, for whom He is setting forth the laws of the kingdom, He says: ‘‘ Whosoever shall say to his brother (another child of God) Raca — an expression of contempt — shall be in danger of the council (the council of holy ones in heaven who decreed the sentence upon Nebuchadnezzar), and whosoever shall say, Thou fool — an expression of condemnation — shall be in danger of the hell of fire.

And He adds in another place, “‘ Every idle word that men shall speak they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned”’.y

The Lord therefore shows that words of contempt; words of condemnation; idle words; must be absolutely put away by those who seek to walk as sons of the Father: and even superfluity of speech is said to be ‘“‘ of the evil one! ’’§

Just so the Lord recognized the evil one as the source of Peter’s impulsive words to Him when he said, “‘ Pity Thyself Lord, this shall not be unto Thee’. The Master said, ‘‘ Get thee behind Me, Satan; thou mindest not the things of God, but the things of men”’.

Again the Lord said “‘ he that speaketh from himself seeketh his own glory”.§ Job had spoken from himself, and unknowingly sought his own glory (or credit) in his self-vindication. In his days of power, when his tongue had been so wondrously used by the Lord to counsel and bless others, did he think that in the crucible of trial that same tongue would sarcastically reply to misjudging friends, defend and vindicate his own character, and reproach his faithful Lord?

* Greek. f Matt. v.22,m. Matt. xii. 36, 37. § Matt. v. 37.

Matt. xvi. 23, A.V., m. § John vii. 18.

In this respect, the message of Job is a solemn one to God’s children to-day. Contempt; sarcasm; condemnation; idle (unnecessary) words, and superfluity of speech, mark the speaking from ourselves, with the ‘‘ wheel of nature” as the source.

With the tongue “bless we the Lord and Father; and therewith curse (or condemn and criticize) men which are made after the likeness of God: out of the same mouth cometh forth blessing and cursing!”? Oh children of God, these things ought not so to be. ‘‘ Who is wise — with the wisdom that is from above — let him show... meekness,” for the wisdom that is from above, is pure, peaceable, gentle, full of mercy and good fruits.

Nore I The message of Job, and its limit in gospel days. — Chapter xx, p. 149, Did Job know no more of “trial” in his life on earth, may be the question of some seeking heart, but no direct answer to this is given in the sacred record, and we must recognize the limit of the message of Job to us who live in the fuller light of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The old-time saints were ‘“‘ examples ’”’ for us, as Paul said, and all things happened unto them by “way of figure”’, for “our admonition upon whom the end of the ages are come”’. *

The Scriptures not only contain the word of God to His people but also a series, so to speak, of human photographs, or picture-lessons, of the out-working in experience of the “life of God in the soul of man”’.

In far back ages, from the Majesty of the Throne, the Omniscient Lord looked down upon the little world of men, and so controlled and guided each life surrendered to Him that it became, as it were, a canvas upon which He painted some aspect of His eternal truth, so as to teach in varied object-lessons, the finite mind of His creature man.

It has been truly said that “‘ all saints’ are needed for the apprehension of the breadth, and length, and height, and depth, of the love of Christ which passeth (finite) knowledge.

Even so again, the living Body of Christ is knit together by that which every joint supplieth, according to the working in due measure of each several part.

*, 1, @or.; x. raj¢m.

In the same way it may be said that the saints and prophets of the Old dispensation minister unto us, each one in his measure, some aspect of the truth of God — ‘‘ To whom it was revealed that not unto themselves, but unto [us] did they minister these things”’.*

In Job’s case, the Spirit of God flashes the light only upon that part of his life which ‘‘ happened unto [him] by way of example” for teaching us the special aspect of God’s dealing with souls in trial.

The arrangement of the book bears the impress of a Divine hand, guiding the record of the story for a Divine purpose.

The early stages of Job’s life are passed over, and little is emphasized but his personal character at the beginning of his trial, and again very few words are considered sufficient to speak of a life that lasted one hundred and forty years after his trial was over. Instead the light is focussed upon a few brief months in his life history, when we are shown by “way of figure’ the path of stripping, and breaking down, by which the soul is brought into a knowledge of God, upon the Throne of the universe, never realized before.

The story closes with the account of the “‘ abundance” of grace and cloudless fellowship with God, which is the Enp — or purpose — of the Lord’s dealings with every soul; but for another aspect of the same abundant life, promised to us in Christ Jesus our Lord, we must turn to the history of the apostle Paul.

In Job we are shown the abundance that follows the brokenness, but in Paul we behold the greater brokenness that is the further outcome of the abundance.

In brief it may be said that after the soul has been broken on every side, and brought into the abundant life typified by the double restored to Job, we are shown by Paul’s history that it will be led, on the man-ward side, into still greater brokenness, for the outpouring of life to others.

On the God-ward side the soul will be led from faith to faith, strength to strength, glory to glory, whilst on the earth-ward side the outward man is “alway delivered to death’, and becomes increasingly a partaker of the afflictions of Christ for His body’s sake the Church, until in a very real sense the language of the soul finds expression in the words of Paul the apostle — ‘‘ as dying, and behold, we live; as chastened, and

* TPT AMT Os RI LO.

not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things”’.* Like the Lord they serve, “‘ crucified through - weakness ’ — daily, hourly, weakness — yet living, in union with Him as the Risen One, by the power of God toward others for whom He died. f

* 2 Cor. vi.9. f 2 Cor. xiii. 4.