The Lord Speaks (Job 38:1-3)
Sermon Summary
Pastor David Yan
2 Feb 2020
Job was a desperate man. God is a God for desperate people.
Job felt God had deserted him. He wanted to find God and come to his seat (23:3). God eventually spoke and silence was broken (38:1-3).
There are lessons to be learnt from the way God spoke to Job.
First, God does speak. Though he may delay he is not dead. He answered Job's prayer. He will answer your prayer. Prayer is answered through the mediatorial work of Jesus Christ. He is the great High Priest. He is great because he is God. He is great because he is man - the only man qualified to reach God.
God breaks the silence in his own time. He allowed Job and his friends to argue their perspectives. When they had nothing left to say it was time for God to speak. In the fullness of time Jesus Christ was born. At the right time, God’s time, Jesus died and rose from death. In God’s time this world will end and the new heaven and earth will be inaugurated. Everything is done according to God’s time. We may not have particulars but we must have patience.
God speaks unmistakably. He spoke to Job through a whirlwind (38:1). There was no ambiguity, no confusion. It was God speaking. God spoke unmistakably at the birth of Jesus. There was the star in the East. There was angelic activity. He spoke unmistakably at the death and resurrection of Jesus. When God speaks people are silenced.
When God speaks he confronts darkness and ignorance. Job had spoken dark counsel. He had spoken words without knowledge (38:2). God now confronts Job’s darkness and ignorance. Today he does the same thing. God has spoken through Jesus Christ who being the light of the world and the truth confronts human darkness and ignorance.
God challenges people to listen. He told Job to prepare himself to listen (38:3). When God speaks people stop arguing and they listen. The Christian gospel is a proclamation. It is not something to debate and argue over. God has spoken through the resurrection of Jesus Christ and people are required to listen to what God has said.
When God speaks he addresses the intellect. It is not first of all an emotional thing. Thus the Lord challenges Job’s understanding “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?” (38:4). Then follows many questions in which the Lord challenges the mind of Job. The Christian gospel is addressed first of all to our understanding.
The Lord speaks and Job is deeply affected. He is overwhelmed. The Lord challenges Job about the natural world (38:4ff.), the animal world (38:39ff.) and the moral world (40:8ff.). Job has no answers.
Job knows his vileness (40:4). He is silenced (40:4-5). He confesses the greatness of God (42:1).
His confession is typical of every believer’s confession: “I know you can do everything, and that no purpose of yours can be withheld from you” (42:2).
God our Creator has spoken through Jesus Christ. You may argue and resist for a season but God is not seasonal he is eternal and he will have the last say. Put aside your resistance. Listen to him for in him you will find new life. Job found this new life. You too may find new life.