Learning Judgment: The Prophesies of Job

"Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts? Or who hath given understanding to the heart (Job 38:36)." When it comes to understanding prophecy, God puts wisdom and understanding into the hearts and minds of his people by using patterns. A pattern is God's requirement that for every prophecy of scripture there would be a true life experience recorded in scripture which would align itself with the prophecy and cause people to perceive the meaning of the prophecy. Evidence that patterns exist, and that they are a requirement of God, is secured in the verse, "That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past (Ecclesiastes 3:15)." In other words, according to God's requirement, everything that is prophesied to happen during end times, has a pattern. Job's physical suffering, and his confusion and anguish, are the required pattern which was recorded to give his people answers concerning the afflictions and judgments of end times. In other words, what Job experienced was for our edification, and although he had no warning, his testimony serves as our warning. "Oh that one would hear me! Behold, my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me, and that my adversary had written a book. Surely I would take it upon my shoulder, and bind it as a crown to me (Job 31:35-36)."

The word "priest" is not found in the book of Job, however there are certain clues which insinuate that Job was a priest. This is important because it demonstrates that afflictions will come upon seemingly innocent, and beloved priests (Malachi 2:2). One clue regarding Job's position, is a verse which says that Job sent and sanctified his sons by offering burnt offerings for them, which is the responsibility of a priest (Job 1:5). A second clue is that Job admitted to ruling as a king over an army of God’s people. "I chose out their way, and sat chief, and dwelt as a king in the army (Job 29:25)." It is also important to understand that Job was a righteous man. This is evidenced by the respect which Job claimed to have had. "When I went out to the gate through the city... the young men saw me and hid themselves: and the aged arose, and stood up. The princes refrained their talking, and laid their hand on their mouth. The nobles held their peace... because I delivered the poor that cried (Job 29:7-12)." Job's righteousness is also evidenced in the testimony of a friend who acknowledged the good works that he did, "Thy words have upholden him that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees (Job 4:4)." But the ultimate glory of Job's righteousnes is heard in God's own words: “Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that fears God, and eschews evil (Job 1:8)?”

Without contradiction Job was a righteous priest who loved the Lord (Job 29:12-17). But was Job staying alert to the voice of the Lord? When God moved to do a new thing, was Job willing to follow? "Though he slay me, yet will I trust him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him (Job 13:15)." "Changes and war are against me (Job 10:17)." Before religion was even born, God began scripting a plan against it, to defeat it (Proverbs 8:27). God knew that hypocrisy and wickedness would enter into his house and ensnare his people, and that deceivers would reign over them (Job 34:17; 38:13). So God planned an overthrow of every religion (Job 9:5; Isaiah 40:17; Romans 3:10). "That the hypocrite reign not, least the people be ensnared (Job 34:30)." God wrote truths which will lead his people out of religion's clutches, and which will guide them into that one way that they may serve him from henceforth and forevermore (Zephaniah 3:9). When God moves, every priest needs to pay attention, even if that means listening unto God's voice through the warnings of other believers (Isaiah 44:26). Job had said, "I will maintain my own ways before him," which means that he was not willing to follow the Lord and make changes, or to listen to the warnings of a messenger. His spirit of rebellion was recorded that believers might know that punishments of correction will come upon priests who ignore, and, or, reject God's messengers. “His sons come to honor, and he knows it not; they are brought low, but he perceives it not of them. But his flesh upon him shall have pain, and his soul within him shall mourn (Job 14:21-22).”

“Make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes… until the cities be wasted (Isaiah 6:10-11).” Pride and complacency are the sins which cause priests to harden their hearts against receiving the newly revealed truths of prophecy. "Till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of sleep (Job 14:12)." They must be awakened, because end time truths will come against everyone's core religious beliefs. Job is our pattern. Job was doing the works of the Lord and he believed that God would sustain him, and yet the curse came upon him because Job was determined to always maintain his own ways (Deuteronomy 28:15; Job 23:10-12). "I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came (Job 3:26)." "He causeth it to come (Job 37:13)." "He preformeth the thing that is appointed for me (Job 23:14)." Gone were Job's oxen and asses, his camels and sheep; and gone were his children and his servants. His skin was made loathsome with sores, and everyone that saw him, despised him. Moreover, Job was made to suffer visions and dreams which terrified him (Job 1:15-19; 2:7; 7:14; 19:13). "God hath overthrown me, and hath compassed me with his net. Behold I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard: I cry aloud, but there is no judgment (Job 19:6-7)."

"Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God hath hedged in? For my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are poured out like the waters. For the thing which I greatly feared of is come upon me (Job 3:23-25)." Job desperately needed the right answers. Wasn't he doing righteousness? "Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery? (Job 3:21)?" Why did God allow him to have understanding, and yet hide things in scripture from men? "My sighing cometh before I eat." This remark insinuates that believers who refuse to look into the covenant message will suffer Job’s fate (Psalms 34:8). “I esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food (Job 23:12).” Job knew the scriptures, and he he did study them and he cried out to God for answers, but that was not enough to give Job the answers that were necessary for his healing.

“I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid? (Job 31:1).” Job wanted to know, Why should I think upon a messenger? The words of his protest accomplish three things: first of all, they supply additional evidence that God planned for the covenant message to come forth from a woman (Jeremiah 30:6). Secondly, they suggest that Job had made a covenant with God, and that he would have to brake it in order to change to his theology. The final thing that this verse accomplishes, is that it raises an important prophetic question: Why, if I’m already secure in the Lord, should I waste my time listening to a messenger, or studying the covenant message? Answer: because the covenant message is the long anticipated end time plan of God, and it is his will (Malachi 3:1).

"Righteousness shall go before him; and shall set us in the way of his steps (Psalm 85:13)." The covenant message is purposed to go before the Lord and correct the hearts, minds, and teachings of his people, so that believers can avoid suffering God's correction, or his wrath. Believers have the scriptures for evidence, and God has sent his messengers forth, therefore priests are without excuse. "The curse causeless shall not come (Proverbs 26:2)." "Doth God pervert judgment? or doth the Almighty pervert justice (Job 8:3)?" Job had access unto truths which he overlooked and refused to believe. “The things that my soul refused to touch are as my sorrowful meat (Job 6:7).” Believers are to pray and find out what God's will is, and then they are to follow God's end time instructions. “If thou say, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that ponders the heart consider it? He that keeps thy soul, doth not he know it? Shall not he render to every man according to his works (Proverbs 24:12)?”

Because Job had refused to know the truth, he was stripped of his royalty, and found guilty before the world. "He has stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head (Job 19:9)." Prophecy reveals that the glorious crown of righteousness will be cast off the head of David's seed during end times. "Thou hast been wrought with thine anointed... Thou hast profaned his crown by casting it to the ground (Psalm 89:38-39)." "He strikes them as wicked men in the open sight of others; because they turned back from him, and would not consider any of his ways (Job 34:26-27)." What more could God have done to convince every priest to receive the truth, and get prepared? They were given the covenant message, and they had seven years to heed the warnings of his messengers. "For God speaks once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not (Job 33:14)." "Therefore it is come to pass, that as he cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not hear (Zechariah 7:13)." "I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early (Hosea 5:15)."

When Job’s friends came to comfort him, they had no answers: Why did the curse come upon him? When Job pressed upon them for answers, his friends rehearsed mistakes that unwise and backslidden believers make, and they told Job truths that he already knew. Their words were of no benefit; they were offensive, and they were condemning. "Ye are forgers of lies, ye are physicians of no value (Job 13:4)." This pattern is for our edification: when people that are without covenant understanding come forth to comfort to the afflicted, their words will be offensive, because they have no answers. Job was condemned by his peers because they did not believe that God would strike an innocent man. "Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off (Job 4:7)?" Job stirred himself up against his friends and declared his own innocence. "God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me. My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live (Job 27:5-6)." "So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes... They had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job (Job 32:1-3)."

"Why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away my iniquity (Job 7:21)." After being insulted and accused by his friends, Job received counsel from a wise counselor named Elihu. Job was made to realize that he had ignored God's will, and that by claiming his own innocence, he was, in effect, accusing God. Elihu said: "I have heard the voice of thy words, saying, I am clean without transgression, I am innocent; neither is there iniquity in me. Behold, he findeth occasions against me, he counteth me for his enemy...  In this thou art not just: I will answer thee that God is greater than man (Job 33:8-12)." "Should it be according to thy mind (Job 34:33)?" "He looketh upon men, and if any say, I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not. He will deliver his soul from the pit, and his life shall see the light (Job 33:27-28)." Elihu was successful at opening Job's ears, so that after receiving his reprimand Job was able to hear God's rebuke. And the Lord said unto Job: "Wilt thou disannul my judgment? Wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous (Job 40:8)?"

“If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to show man his uprightness: Then he is gracious unto him (Job 33:23).” It will be a blessing for the afflicted when they receive one of God's messengers, for God's messengers will bring forth the truths which will cause the afflicted to see and know the mistakes that they are making against God, and then God will be gracious unto them. “If they be bound in fretters of iron, and holden in cords of affliction; Then he sheweth them their work, and their transgressions that they have exceeded. He openeth their ear to discipline, and commands that they return from iniquity (Job 36:8-10).” After Job received the truth, he prayed for, and forgave his friends. "And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends (Job 42:10)."

A second message from the prophecies of Job:

Among the lessons of Job is the parable of leviathan, who is prophesied to be a sea monster playing among the unsaved (Lamentations 4:3). "There go the ships: there is that leviathan, whom thou hast made to play therein (Psalms 104:26)." Leviathan's name represents well respected priests who know the Lord (Job 41:22; Job 41:25), but prophecy indicates that these priests are guilty of allowing their pride to cause them to maintain their silence concerning the covenant message (Job 41:15-16). The parable of leviathan discloses man’s utter inability to cause priests to teach the covenant message. “His scales are his pride, shut up together as a close seal (Job 41:15).” Although men cannot persuade leviathan to talk, God will persuade him (Isaiah 66:9). "Who hath prevented me, that I should repay him (Job 41:11)?"

In the parable, God coyly suggests the various tactics which he has stored up and prophesied to come against leviathan. "Wilt thou play with him as a bird? or wilt thou bind him for thy maidens... Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons? ...Lay thine hand upon him, remember the battle, do no more. Behold, the hope of him is in vain: shall not one be cast down even at the sight of him (Job 41:5-9)." The words “cast down at the sight of him” convey the disheartening frustrations of God's messengers as they try to convince and persuade leviathan. "With lies you have made the heart of the righteous sad (Ezekiel 13:22)." What more can the people do? "Is it fit to say to a king, Thou art wicked? And to princes, Ye are ungodly (Job 34:18)?" "In that day the Lord with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea (Isaiah 27:1)."

"By his neesings a light doth shine, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning (Job 41:18)." Although leviathan will not be persuaded until after God gets involved, victory starts moving rather quickly when these priests start to preach the truths of prophecy. "Sorrow is turned to joy before him (Job 41:22)." Leviathan's influences are powerful. “When he raises up himself, the mighty are afraid: by reason of breakings they purify themselves. The sword of him that layeth at him cannot hold… The arrows cannot make him flee.. he laughs at the shaking of the spear… Upon earth there is not his like, who is made without fear” (from Job 41:25-33). These priests will teach the congregation the truth. “I will not fear what flesh and blood can do unto me (Psalms 56:4).”

"I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and that though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God (Job 19:25-26)." These words are words of encouragement and strength for priests that will suffer the afflicting pestilence of end times. Job suffered his sores as a pattern for their edification. "He delivers the poor in affliction (Job 36:15)." "Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not the chastening of the Lord (Job 5:17)." Because some priests are not willing to receive the truth, they made it necessary for God to use affliction to get their attention. Affliction will convince these priests to accept the counsel of a messenger. Elihu's counsel brought Job to repentance, and thereby Job was able to come before the throne of grace where he beheld the terrible mightiness of our God. "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes (Job 42:5)." "And the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before (Job 42:10)."