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Chapter 25 (ESV)

Posted on June 04, 2023  - By Chris LaBelle  

Chapter 25 (ESV) - Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:

“Dominion and fear are with God;
    he makes peace in his high heaven.
Is there any number to his armies?
    Upon whom does his light not arise?
How then can man be in the right before God?
    How can he who is born of woman be pure?
Behold, even the moon is not bright,
    and the stars are not pure in his eyes;
how much less man, who is a maggot,
    and the son of man, who is a worm!”

Question to consider: How can man be in the right before God?

In chapter 24, Job asked his friends to prove him wrong concerning the true justice of God. They had been contending that although God allowed a fair amount of injustice in the world, He blessed those who believed in Him. The only thing they were really sure about was that someone who had known the blessing of God and lost everything as Job had faced was due to some extreme moral failure which compelled God to intervene in judgment.

Job instead offered up the idea that God’s justice was not actually realized until after we died and were raised up to face Him. In the meantime, there were times in which the wicked prospered and the righteous faced calamity. I believe Bildad’s response in today’s passage was his attempt to debunk Job’s theory.

Bildad began by pointing out that God has dominion over all things with an innumerable army of angels at His disposal to carry out His will in this world. If God really were to dole out individual justice as Job described, then who could stand? Even someone who appeared blameless here on earth would look like a worm or a maggot before a perfectly holy God.

However, Job clung to the idea that there was some righteous Advocate who would make His case before God so that he and his children would one day be raised up from Sheol and live. He recognized that nobody in themselves would be right before God, but he knew that his Redeemer lives and would make intercession for him.

This is the hope to which we cling as Christians. The eternal Son of God took on flesh as a son of man and perfectly fulfilled the Law. Despite His innocence, He was hung on a tree to become a curse for us and pay our sin debt before God. We know this is true because on the third day, He rose from the dead, and now intercedes for us with the Father. We know that He is with the Father because He sent the Holy Spirit at Pentecost who now dwells in all who have been baptized in Him. It is because the Spirit of God dwells in me that I can testify along with Job, “I know that my Redeemer lives.”

Prayer

Dear Lord, thank You for redeeming us and being our advocate before the Father. May we rest in the hope of eternal life in Christ even when we face all kinds of trials. Amen.