The Home Builders | Week 4

The Home Builders

Week 4 – Knowledge

Job speaks without knowledge, His words are without wisdom. Job 34:35

And to man He said, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; And to depart from evil is understanding.
Job 28:28

The book of Job is the first of the books of poetry in the Old Testament. It is “one of the most ancient pieces of finished literature in existence. It is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, books in the Bible.” (What the Bible is All About by Henrietta Mears, p. 184)

The Old Testament is organized into the following sections:

Books of the Law: Genesis - Deuteronomy Books of History: Joshua - Esther BooksofPoetry: Job–SongofSolomon Books of Prophecy: Isaiah - Malachi

I. God’s Evaluation – Job 1:8

A. No one like him on earth

B. Blameless

C. Upright

D. Fearing God

E. Turning from evil

Job is considered along with Noah and Daniel – Ezekiel 14:14 & 20 Noah – favor, righteous and blameless – Genesis 6:8-9
Daniel – wisdom, favor - man of high esteem – Daniel 10:10 & 18

Masada – Built by Herod the Great between 37 and 31 BC. He built it as a fortress and refuge for himself as recorded in Josephus Flavius’ The Jewish War.

II. The Problem of Human Suffering

“Job’s key word is ‘tried’. ‘He knoweth the way that I take: when He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold’ (Job 23:10). Trials and suffering are for our education and training. The athlete is not put under strict discipline for punishment, but merely to make him ready for the race. Christ is ever preparing us for the race that is set before us (Hebrews 12:1-2).” (What the Bible is All About by Henrietta Mears, p. 183)

“Whenever you get into a prison of circumstances, be on the watch. Prisons are rare places for seeing things. It was in prison that Bunyan saw his wondrous allegory, and Paul met the Lord, and John looked through heaven’s open door, and Joseph saw God’s mercy.” (The Works of F. B. Meyer, Loc. 28992)

Reasons for Suffering

1. Our own sinful choices – God corrects and disciplines
2. Test and purify
3. For our eternal good and the comfort of others
4. Because we live in a broken world – the result of the Fall
5. Persecution

Other Biblical Examples – Abraham, Joseph, David
“Job never really saw himself until He saw God. This is true of every life.” (What the Bible is All About, p. 187)

III. Without Wisdom and Understanding there is no Knowledge

“The knowledge of God is not intellectual, but moral and spiritual. Things which eye saw not, and ear heard not, are made known to Love and Obedience. Let the Love of God be shed through the heart, and the will of God be the ruling principle of life, and there will be given a knowledge of God which the research of the investigator could never gain.” (F. B. Meyer, Our Daily Homily, Loc. 3068)

Love and obedience – John 14:21

2 Peter 1:1-4 – True knowledge is granted through His Word and through His promises we become partakers of the divine nature.

“The promises are our inventory of possession, and our need should make us look up for and claim the blessing intended to meet it.” (The Works of F. B. Meyer, Loc. 9710)

Building our Masada – The North Face of God, by Ken Gire

IV. Job’s Friends

Eliphaz

Bildad

Zophar

Elihu

They came. They sat with Job and entered into his suffering. Then they spoke. Do not offer empty platitudes or Christian clichés. Pray and help bear one another’s burdens. Speak only if guided by the Holy Spirit.

V. God’s Answer

“I have found a ransom, or propitiation; Jesus Christ is that ransom, so Elihu calls him, as Job had called him his Redeemer, for he is both the purchaser and the price, the priest and the sacrifice; so high was the value put upon soul that nothing less would redeem them, and so great the injury done by sin that nothing less would atone for it than the blood of the Son of God, who gave his life a ransom for many.” (Job 33:24 - Matthew Henry’s Commentary, Bible Study Tools)

Do you know?... Job 38-40

Can you?.... Job 41

Jesus – Righteous, blameless, without sin, gave up the glories of heaven to come to earth that He might be misunderstood, blasphemed, betrayed, beaten, tortured, crucified, forsaken by God that He might be our ransom!

Job contains some of the most frequently quoted and best loved passages of the Bible:

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked I shall return there.
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” Job 1:21

“Behold, how happy is the man whom God reproves,
So do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.” Job 5:17

“Though He slay me, I will hope in Him.
Nevertheless I will argue my ways before Him.” Job 13:15

“As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives,
And at the last He will take His stand on the earth.

Even after my skin is destroyed, Yet from my flesh I shall see God; Whom I myself shall behold,

And whom my eyes will see and not another. My heart faints within me!” Job 19:25-27

“But He knows the way I take;
When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” Job 23:10

“He stretches out the north over empty space and hangs the earth on nothing.” Job 26:7

“But where can wisdom be found?
And where is the place of understanding? God understands its way,
And He knows its place.
For He looks to the ends of the earth And sees everything under the heavens.

When He imparted weight to the wind And meted out the waters by measure,

When He set a limit for the rain And a course for the thunderbolt,

Then He saw it and declared it;
He established it and also searched it out.
And to man He said, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; And to depart from evil is understanding.’” Job 28:12 & 23-28

“Then Job answered the Lord and said,
‘I know that You can do all things,
And that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted.
Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?
Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.”
Hear, now, and I will speak;
I will ask You, and You instruct me.
I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear;
But now my eye sees You;
Therefore I retract, and I repent in dust and ashes.’” Job 42:1-6

Additional Resources

Chronologicalbibleteaching.com (videos and devotional blog posts)

Shannonmullins.com (videos)