Eleven Lectures on the Book of Job-W Kelly

8/21/2019 Eleven Lectures on the Book of Job-W Kelly

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Eleven Lectures On The Book Of Job

by William Kelly

http://www.biblecentre.org

PREFAE

Owing to the Author's decease within a comparatively short time of their delivery, these

"Eleven ectures," reported in shorthand, were denied the advantage of the ecturer'scareful revision for which they were waiting before being committed to the printers.

!nder the circumstances, the Editor has thought it best to depart as little as possible from

the reporter's transcript, and counts therefore upon the reader's ind indulgence in regardto any imperfections that may appear in the wor. #epetitions there are throughout, as

must be, more or less, in the case of oral delivery.

$t may interest the reader to now that the Author's "%otes on the &oo of ob" appeared

in ()*+ his "-hree ectures" on the same &oo in (++ and now his latest commentary.in the olume here put forth. -hey will be found mutually complementary, and most

helpful. 0ay the ord richly bless these Addresses to 1is own for their comfort and

encouragement in trial, that they may, from the heart, be able to say with the apostle:"2e . . . have seen the end of the ord that -1E O#3 $4 E#2 5$-$6!, A%3 O6

-E%3E# 0E#72" 8ames 9: ((.

E7-!#E (: O&. (;<

E7-!#E =: O&. >;*

E7-!#E : O&. ((;(>.

[Lectures 1-4 are omitted due to copyright restrictions]

LET!RE "

JOB# $"%$&

$n this (9th chapter we have the second debate between ob's friends and himself. $ shall

tae a view of the greater part of it, if the ord will, in a general way tonight.

Although Elipha? was the more grave and solid of his friends, they were all infected withthe same fundamental mistae. -hat is an important thing for our souls. @e are so apt to

thin that we never mae any important mistae. @hy should that be so Are we so

different from others Are we not very liable to it 2ou must remember that this is a


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practical mistae it is not merely a dogmatic one. -here is no Buestion of false doctrine

of any ind here but it is the application of truth to the soul and it is of great moment to

us that Cod has given us a very early boo ; 0oses probably the writer of it but the persons concerned are considerably before 0oses. @e see that from the very age of ob,

and from all the circumstances.

-here is no reference to the law of $srael no reference to the deliverance of $srael out of

Egypt it always speas of a particularly early time. $ts great point is the dealings of Codwith man, and particularly with men of faith. $t is not merely unbelieving man with him

it is always pretty much the same thing. 1is guilt may be aggravated and, indeed, $ have

no doubt that there is no man now so responsible as those that hear the gospel ; those thathave 7hristianity in a living way presented to them. -hey are far more guilty and more to

be pitied in one way than even the wild -artars, or the subDects of that ingdom 8-hibet

that seems now (+


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heaven about the child of Cod, even the trialsH -his was to be a peculiar trial, but it was

all settled there ob new nothing about it. -he raid of these 7haldeans, and those we

call "&edouins," and the lie ; all that was merely natural and, no doubt, the tendencywas to regard it merely as the trials of a righteous man and his family from natural

causes.

%o, beloved friends it is not a mere natural cause to the believer he is under the eye of

Cod. 1e was so always still more so now. %ow we are brought into nown relationshipwith Cod, and into the nearest relationship with Cod. @e are put in the place of 1is own

family we are 1is own children, yea, sons of Cod, for this latter speas of a dignity

before others that is to say, we are no longer novices, no longer babes in the nursery, aswas the case with believers in the ewish system. -hey had not arrived at age. -he

7hristian now, if he nows what it is to be a 7hristian 8a great many, alasH do not now,

for they thin themselves very much lie believers of old, but that is a mistae, has farsuperior privileges and it is one of the great means of 4atan's hindering, to lead people

not to understand the place they are brought into, and, conseBuently, their responsibility.

1owever that may be, here we have these undoubted saints that were all at sea in regardto this terrible calamity, this blow after blow, tempest after tempest which blew away

everything in which ob had once been so favoured. 6or Cod has pleasure in blessing 1is

people not merely in spiritual things, but where we can bear it. 2ou remember that word

of the apostle ohn, where he wishes that Caius might prosper as his soul prospered. $fthe soul does not prosper, adversity comes as a great mercy but where the soul prospers

we may be allowed to feel, and Cod has pleasure in showing, 1is goodness in everything

; in family circumstances, yea, in everything, if it be for 1is glory. 1e is the Dudge of that.&ut there are continually things that, in the wisdom of Cod, are forbidden in this way or

that way.

1owever, $ do not go into that new but here we have the fact that the two things perfectlycoalesced in ob ; that there was not a man upon earth that Cod had such pleasure inlooing upon as ob, and yet such a man passing through deepest trial from Cod. $t is a

great difficulty with the ews they cannot understand it. -hey want to mae out that ob

was an imaginary being, because it seems so strange to them that after Abraham, $saac,and acob, there should be a man outside $srael altogether that Cod had such a high

opinion of ; and he not a ewH 2es. 4o there it was a great blow to their pride and their

narrowness. 2et were they not all in fact outsiders -hey would seem to have been in theAbrahamic line in one way but they were not in the chosen line. 2ou now that Abraham

had other children and they would appear to have been sprung from an Abrahamic line,

but outside that particular covenant and we have no reason to suppose that they had the

sign and seal of that covenant which, of course, the $sraelites have.

%o the point is Cod dealing with "man," and with man's heart and conscience. And what

is more, it was not because of any particular evil. -here was the radical mistae of

Elipha? which runs through his speech that $ have Dust read tonight. 1e cannot rise above

the thought that ob had seemed everything that was beautiful to our eyes andeverybody's eyes, and he was blessed of Cod in an eGtraordinary manner. 6or he was, as

is said, the greatest man in that part of the East. And now this utter reverseH this casting


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him down from what seemed his eGcellencyH 1ow could it be but that, as Cod is a

righteous Cod, there must be some terrible iniBuity there 4o he also felt that if there was

an iniBuity, ob must be conscious of it and yet not a word from obH %ot a sign that hewas ashamed of himself, or that he had anything to be DudgedH -here was fault in ob but

not the least of the ind they eGpected. -he fault in ob was this, that ob had a good

opinion of himself, and that ob had great pleasure in everybody's so highly respectinghim. $ wonder whether any of us have got that $ am afraid it is a very common thing.

And there is Dust what people do not find out. -hey do not learn they so little understand

this wonderful mirror of the word of Cod. -hey do not understand that here is their owncase.

1owever, $ perhaps anticipate. &ut we find how very strong is the outburst of Elipha? ; a

mild, grave, and serious man ; for this he undoubtedly was. -here is no need of our

running down the three friends as if they were something very uncommon. -hey werevery common indeed. ob rather was uncommon, yea, decidedly uncommon and that is

what made the eGample of ob so very pertinent to the obDect of Cod ; that a man might

be spotless in his way, that a man might be Dustly respected, but that when the man that is pious, Cod;fearing, prayerful and one so loved and valued and cried up as ob was ;

when he accepts it as his due, and has great pleasure in it, Cod is a Dealous Cod, and will

not allow that. And why not 0an is a sinnerH And ob, even though he was now a

believer, had sin in him, and self;Dudgment was wanting. $f self;Dudgment had been dulyeGercised, ob would not have needed this trial. And there is another thing too that when

Cod does send a trial, the great call of man is to submit to it without a doubt, without a

Buestion, giving Cod credit for it that there is no undue severity. %ow, on the contrary,ob felt a very great deal about it, and found fault with Cod, and thought that Cod was

dealing very hardly indeed with him. -hus it is that the way in which this boo has been

sometimes treated for (,9 years 8perhaps more is an entire fallacy.

@hat $ refer to is this: that ob was considered to be a ind of type of 7hrist in hissuffering. %othing of the sort. Iuite the reverse. oo, for instance, at 5salm


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scene. A man when alone can bear but when there are people that show no sympathy and

no understanding, he breas loose and lets out, and flings very improper language about

his friends ; perhaps they deserved it, but certainly, certainly not Cod. And his friendswere alive to that. -hey could see that he spoe improperly about Cod so that he put

himself Buite in the wrong there.

"4hould a wise man utter vain nowledge," for they were Buite aware that there was

something very able in what ob said ; they called that vain nowledge ; "and fill his belly with the east wind" %o doubt he was eGceedingly wrong. "4hould he reason with

unprofitable tal or with speeches wherewith he can do no good 2ea, thou castest off

fear, and restrainest prayer before Cod." %ow he did nothing of the ind ob alwaysclung to Cod, always looed up to Cod, but he said, '$ cannot find 1im 1e has shut me

out, occupying me with this agony that $ am passing through, so that $ cannot get at 1im.

$ now if $ could only get there $ should find goodness and mercy.' $t was no doubt veryinconsistent but that is always the case with poor man when he is not in the presence of

Cod. -hat was one of the grand points that all had. ob was living, for a man of faith, too

much in the good opinion of other people as well as in his own good opinion. -here iswhere he was Buite wrong. And there is where 7hrist and 7hristianity puts us in our true

place if we are faithful ; which is, that we have to face a hostile world that we have to

face not only a hostile world, but even, it may be, fellow 7hristians, who, if they are not

faithful, are mad against any people that are because it rebues themselves. @e have to bear that, and conseBuently here we are now in the truth of things suffering with 7hrist.

-hat is what 7hrist suffered.

$ am not speaing now of suffering for 7hrist. 4uffering for 7hrist is where there is a

decided brea made. 5erhaps we are cast into prison falsely, or it may be transportedfalsely, or eGecuted falsely as martyrs and the lie ; that is suffering for 7hrist. &ut there

is another ind of suffering that belongs to the 7hristian ; suffering with 7hrist. 6orinstance, suppose that there was a royal princess of England that was truly brought toCod, and who entered really into the place of the 7hristian ; why, what would be the case

of that young princess Always suffering. @hy &ecause every. thing that surrounded her

would be contrary to what belonged to her soul and to her position. @hy so &ecause it isof the world, and of the world in its grandest shape, and conseBuently it would mar the

contrariety. @hat is the place of the 7hristian 1e is not of the world. 1ow far not of the

world @hy, lie 7hrist. @hat did 7hrist do with the world @here did 7hrist evercontribute one iota to what the world lies and values 7hrist appeared to be the most

useless of men for the world. 1e never made a speech upon science 1e never contributed

one lesson in learning or literature. 1e never gave a vote ; if $ may spea of voting or

anything of that ind. 1e never did the slightest thing of that nature. 1e would not even Dudge a case, or arbitrate even when they wanted 1im to Dudge in that informal way

conseBuently, there never was a person more completely outside the world while passing

through it. -hat is where the 7hristian is. $ say, therefore, that the higher you are up in theworld the more you find the difficulty of being faithful. And that is suffering with 7hrist,

where you feel it. -here are some people who get through things easily. -hat is not to be

admired it is a ind of opiate ; continually dramming oneself with opiates to drown


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feeling, and tae everything Buite comfortably, no matter what it is, and entirely losing

sight of the fact that we do not belong to these things in which we tae part.

Oh, beloved friends, that is not the way. Our call is to tae part actively for 7hrist andaccording to 7hrist. Our call is to entire separation to the ord. 4upposing that there was

a house on fire neGt door it would be our business to immediately do all we could to helpand save both life and property. -hat is not worldly but it would be worldly to go into the

7ourt and fight for our rights or to refuse to pay our dues if we are called upon to do so.All that is not only worldly, but it is rebellious. $ now what they call themselves ;

"5assive #esisters" ; but $ do not understand that language. -hey are active resisters of

the law and if they had any sense of propriety they would pay their money Buietly, or let people tae their goods Buietly, and so mae an end. $ only mention it now to show how

completely Cod's children have lost the sense of what it is to be a 7hristian. $ am

speaing now practically. $ might go further. $ maintain that 7hristians have lost thedoctrine of what a 7hristian is. $t is not that there is a certain blessed standard that we all

acnowledge to be what a 7hristian is, and that we fall sort, practically. $ believe it will

be found that they areas wrong about the standard as they are about the practice and onething $ can say for myself, honestly and truly, that what has occupied me all my life, is

cleaving to what $ have found to be the 7hristian pathway and duty, and seeing to help

others to see the truth and blessedness of it, and to act faithfully according to it. $ am sure

$ have plenty to Dudge myself for but $ than Cod for every trial and everything that hasmade nothing of me. And that is Dust what ob had to learn as to himself. 1e did not now

that Cod was woring all this for ob's own great good, even allowing also what was

most repulsive to Cod ; the disease, and the sweeping away of his family. -his was all thedevil's doing but Cod allowed it for ob's good, and ob had not an idea of all that. $f ob

had understood the end that was coming, and had understood the beginning which was

before all the trial, he would have lost a great deal of the blessing, and why &ecause,

then, as now, the child of Cod is to wal by faith.

5eople lie to wal by sight, and that was the great fallacy that lay under all the speeches

of these three friends. -hey looed at ob they looed at what he was and they loo at

what he now is in all this terrible crushing to the dust, and they said in effect, '@ell, Codis a righteous Cod, and if there were not some dreadful thing behind all this, Cod would

never have allowed it.' -hey were completely wrong, and ob was thoroughly right in

saying, '%o, $ now it is not so, and all your tal cannot get rid of the fact that you havemost wiced men that are most flourishing, and you have pious men that are eGceedingly

suffering, in the world as it is now.' 1ow is that &ecause 4atan is actively woring here

because 4atan is the one that men follow without nowing. -hey are slaves and captives

of the devil and those that are not slaves of the devil are the obDects of his vengeance andhatred. Cod does not remove that 1e does not put down 4atan yet he is allowed his way.

And there never was a greater proof of it than his leading the world and the ewish people

to crucify their own 0essiah, the ord of glory. @as there any fault here 1ere you havethe crucial proof. 1ere was the absolutely sinless One and never such a sufferer.

-he whole theory, then, of the three friends was a falsehood from beginning to end. 2et it

is eGactly what most people thin to this day. -hey have an idea that there must be


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something very wrong where they see people passing through eGceeding deep waters.

%ow there was something that ob had not got, and that was to measure himself in the

presence of Cod and Cod never stopped till 1e brought him into 1is presence. 1einterfered in the most remarable way but $ must not anticipate. Elipha?, after having let

out strongly at ob, now falls bac upon what was a very common feeling, especially of

the former. Elipha? was a man that strongly stood for the great value of eGperience. 2ounow there are people that are very strong for eGperience, and accordingly, as to the great

and good men that have been before ; is that a standard %o one denies the honour due to

elders, at least no person with any propriety. &ut Elipha? used it in a wrong manner, andtold ob, "@hy, you are going against everything that has been held by the best of men

that have ever been. Are you the first man are you as old as the hills when you tal in

such a manner as this, as if you new better than any of these most eGcellent men, older

than your father and you set up in this way." @ell, he carries on that for some time, andhe comes to this what it must be. "1ow much more abominable and filthy is man, which

drineth iniBuity lie water $ will show thee, hear me and that which $ have seen $ will

declare." 1e meant ob particularly there. "$ will show thee, hear me and that which $

have seen $ will declare, which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hidit." 1e loos therefore at old eGperience, and of the best of men, when men were not so

bad as they were in his time. 6or that is Buite true man does get worse and worse, andeven he had remared it.

A famous poet that $ used to read as a boy ; a heathen poet ; says the very same thing,

that no generation had been so bad as the present one, which is going to bear children that

will be worse than their fathers. At any rate they are not so bad as the people who thinthe world is going to get better, for these are most deplorably wrong. -here will be a great

change but what will bring in that change will not be preachers, nor tracts, nor boos,

nor education nay, not even the &ible, although that is the word of Cod. &ut the &ible

demands more than this. $t reBuires that men be born of Cod and even in the case of people that are born of Cod they are called to Dudge themselves, Dust lie ob, the very

best of them. -hat is what he was brought to, and what he was most slow to come to.

-herefore all this reasoning was entirely out of place, and the larger part of the chapter isdescription, that when a man is carrying on in this way it must be that he is always in

dread of what is coming. Elipha? was wrong about that. ob had no such thought. ob was

Buite sure if he could only find Cod that all would be right, and that 1e would spea tohim, and Cod would do all that was good. &ut he new that somehow or other Cod was

dealing, in allowing all these terrible things to happen to him, why he did not now, and

for what end he did not now.

%ow we come to ob's answer 8ob (J. "$ have heard many such things miserablecomforters are ye all. 4hall vain words have an end Or what emboldeneth thee that thou

answerest $ also could spea as ye do. $f your soul were in my soul's stead, $ could heap

up words against you, and shae mine head at you. &ut $ would strengthen you with mymouth, and the moving of my lips should assuage your grief. -hough $ spea, my grief is

not assuaged." And no doubt ob spoe perfectly truly. 1e would have been a comforter

of sorrow he would not have been a physician without any medicine. -hey brought poison into his wounds instead of something to assuage. 1e said, '$ have been pouring out


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my sorrow, but $ am no better for it' ; "-hou hast made desolate all my company. And

thou hast filled me with wrinles." 1e now speas of his own person too. "1e teareth me

in his wrath, who hateth me." 1e does not say it was Cod. $ thin it is rather too much tosuppose that he means that but he does mean that Cod allowed it and therefore, in a

euphemistic way he says "1e." &ut it was Cod allowing the devil to do it ; his enemy ;

otherwise it would be a dreadful inconsistency with the rest of his language which we arenot bound to carry out to more than a superficial inconsistency it is not radical. "Cod

hath delivered me to the ungodly" ; and he in the most graphic manner describes his

intense affliction. &ut now 8ver. (*, we find ob in the midst of this maing complaint asto prayer being restrained. "%ot for any inDustice in mine hands" ; that he could say truly.

$t was not a Buestion of inDustice it was a Buestion of ob's too great complacency in

himself. "Also my prayer is pure. O earth, cover not thou my blood, and let my cry have

no place." 1e regards himself as if he were a victim to all this enmity that is shown him."Also now, behold, my witness is in heaven." 2ou do not find the others saying that. -hey

did not now as much about heaven as ob they did not now Cod as ob did ; not one of

the three. "0y record is on high." $t is the beginning of a little light that is piercing

through the clouds. "0y friends scorn me but mine eye poureth out tears unto Cod. Ohthat one might plead for a man with Cod, as a man pleadeth for his neighbourH" 1ow the

heart of ob was made to pine for the very thing that 7hrist must doH

$n the (*th chapter ob carries on, and goes bac to his dreadful condition. $t was not yeta settled thing it was merely a gleam. "0y breath is corrupt, my days are eGtinct, the

graves are ready for me. Are there not mocers with me" ; surely there were three of

them ; "and doth not mine eye continue in their provocation" $f that was the case withthese three men who had been his friends, what was the feeling of all the people round

about that new 2ou may depend upon it it would be Buite as bad as that of the three

friends, or worse. @e must not suppose it is limited to them. $t is the natural conclusion

of the natural mind, woring upon this thought, that Cod's moral government is eGactnow, instead of nowing that Cod on the contrary, is waiting for 1is direct government,

when 7hrist, who alone is capable of holding the reins and of governing, shall rule.

-herefore, even when the church was formed, the church was perfectly incapable of Dudging the world and of this 5opery is a clear instance. -here they have tried to govern

the world, and what are they @hy, the most abominable thing in the eye of Cod on the

earth. -here is nothing more wiced than 5opery. 2ou may tell me about all the horrors of heathenism and &uddhism. 2es, but they do not miG up 7hrist, or 5eter, or 5aul, and all

the rest. -he 5apists now enough of 7hristianity to mae them verily guilty. $t is a great

deal more wiced idolatry to worship the irgin 0ary than to worship uno or enus because the one was pure ignorance under the darness of the devil, and the other is

worshipping 0ary after 7hrist came ; after the true light shone. -here is nothing more

guilty than what people call 7hristian $dolatry. @orshipping the 0ass ; what is that -hatis not confined to 5apists now now it is unblushingly done ; $ will not say by 5rotestants,

but by people who masBuerade as clergymen. 4urely that is not too severe an eGpression

for it ; and at the same time they are perfectly in the error of 5opery, only they do not

yet own the 5ope but they have all the falsehood of it in their souls.


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@ell, ob bemoans his condition in a very solemn manner, and compares what he once

was. "Aforetime $ was as a tabret," i.e., "$ sounded music, as it were, in the ears of people

as $ had to do with them." &ut now a by;word not merely of the three friends, but "of the peopleH" "0ine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, and all my members are as a shadow.

!pright men shall be astonied at this, and the innocent shall stir up himself against the

hypocrite. -he righteous also" ; you see it is turned for good ; "shall hold on his way."-hat is where he looed onward to. 1is record was on high his witness was in heaven he

clung to Cod. "-hough 1e slay me, yet will $ trust 1im." -hat was ob's language that

was his spirit. 1e had far more faith than any one of the three.

-hen, in the neGt chapter 8() we have another man, &ildad the 4huhite, and he speasstill more violently than Elipha?, "1ow long will it be ere ye mae an end of words" 1e

had no feeling for ob whatever no understanding. "0ar, and afterwards we will spea.

@herefore are we counted as beasts, and reputed vile in your sight 1e teareth himself inhis anger shall the earth be forsaen for thee and shall the roc be removed out of its

place 2ea, the light of the wiced shall be put out." -here was a thrust, and a bitter

thrust, at poor ob ; "and the spar of his fire shall not shine. -he light shall be dar in histabernacle, and his candle shall be put out with him." -hat is what he counted ob. "-he

steps of his strength shall be straitened and his own counsel shall cast him down. 6or he

is cast into a net by his own feet, and he waleth upon a snare" ; a mere dream of his own

imaginationH And this he pursues to the very end of the chapter. $ do not dwell upon it, inorder to come to ob's answer. 6or it was all a mistae.

"-hen ob answered and said 8ob (+, 1ow long will ye veG my soul, and brea me in

pieces with words -hese ten times have ye reproached me: ye are not ashamed that ye

mae yourselves strange to me." And now he taes this ground ; &e it that $ have sinnedwithout nowing be it that $ have done something displeasing to CodH ; "mine error," he

says, "remaineth with myself. $f indeed ye will magnify yourselves against me, and pleadagainst me my reproach now now that Cod hath overthrown me" ; that was his faith.1e taes it all as from Cod, without nowing what had taen place in heaven. 1e was to

be made to pass through the deepest trouble but the man that was to be proverbial for

patience broe out in a total impatience. -here came about the total failure of even a pious man not merely of a man not merely of Adam ; for Adam fell he was not born

after ob, but ob was born after Adam and yet after all, that a man so noted for his

patience should fail when he was triedH AhH in 7hrist there is the contrast. -hat is where people are so wrong to mae this one the type of 7hrist. %o, it is a specimen failing, and

a man born of Cod failing. @e want 7hrist, and cannot do without 7hrist. -hat is the true

moral of the &oo of ob.

"Know now that Cod hath overthrown me" ; it is perfectly true it must have been Codallowing all this." &ehold, $ cry out of wrong, but $ am not heard $ cry aloud, but there is

no Dudgment. 1e hath fenced up my way that $ cannot pass, and he hath set darness in

my paths. 1e hath stripped me of my glory, and taen the crown from my head." All this

he felt very deeply. @hat right has any believer to a crown now @hat right has any believer to glory now 1as he not an evil nature to be Dudged constantly, every day 3oes

this deserve a crown Or a man that has that nature to contend with does that deserve a


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crown -he day when we shall be crowned is when we have nothing but what is of

7hrist, every bit of the old man completely passed away. -here is where ob had much to

learn. "1e hath destroyed me on every side, and $ am gone and mine hope hath heremoved lie a tree. 1e hath also indled his wrath against me ;" ; there he was wrong ;

"and he counteth me unto him as one of his enemies. 1is troops come together and raise

up their way against me, and encamp round about my tabernacle. 1e hath put my brethren far from me, and mine acBuaintance are verily estranged from me." 2ou now

what that is to the heart if you have ever tasted it. "0y insfol have failed, and my

familiar friends" ; he now gets closer ; "have forgotten me. -hey that dwell in minehouse, and my maids, count me for a stranger: $ am an alien in their sight. "$ called my

servant" ; his man, as we call it, or in modern language, his 'valet' ; "and he gave me no

answer" 8vers. (;=.

1ow pitiableH 1e had come down very low to call upon his dear friends to have pity, andthey had nothing but bad suspicion which wounded him to the Buic. "@hy do ye

persecute me as Cod, and are not satisfied with my flesh" 1ave not $ suffered enough to

satisfy you "Oh that my words were," etc., not eGactly, printed in a boo ; but that theywere impressed upon stone, or whatever might be the way in which writing was

accomplished in those days. 1e refers to a very permanent form ; "-hat they were graven

with an iron pen and lead in the roc for everH 6or $ now that my #edeemer liveth and

that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth." -his is a most wonderful eGpressionof faith, and the more so when we compare it with what we had last @ednesday evening

in the (>th chapter ; the resurrection of "man" ; not the resurrection of "the righteous,"

but the resurrection of man. ob, you remember, begins, "0an that is born of a woman" ;not a word of any one born of Cod. 0an without Cod, man without 7hrist, and what is

the end of all that A tree cut down to the very root may sprout, but not man and so long

will that sleep be that man will not awae ; and the resurrection of man will not be ; "till

the heavens be no more."

$s that the case with the resurrection of the righteous %o. -hat is what he says here. 1e

says, "$ now that my Kinsman orF #edeemer" ; the One that will avenge the wrongs of

Cod's people on their enemies the One that will care for them in the face of everydifficulty and every enemy ; "$ now that my #edeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at

the latter" ; 1e "the last" is probably the meaning of it, not "at the latter day." 1e is the

One that when all has failed will appear. -he 6irst will be the ast, as it were, to tae upnot "man," but the saint, the believer. "$ now that my #edeemer liveth, and that he shall

stand at the latter or, lastF day" ; as "last" is the word ; "upon the earth." -his last word is

a little stronger too. $t is the "dust" ; Buite a different thing from the heavens being no

more. -here will be no dust to stand upon then. -he heavens and the earth will all bedissolved, and it will be a Buestion of fire destroying everything, as we are told in more

scriptures than one, particularly by 5eter. Everything will be dissolved ; the very

elements. -here will be no dust at all. &ut here 1e will stand upon it 1is power mayreach it and it may for aught $ now refer to the dust of his people. 1e is going to raise

them. &ut at any rate the word is rather vague and we must not eGpect more than Dust a

little gleam of light made nown in those days. $t is reserved for 7hrist to bring out thelife of the resurrection.


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"And though after my sin worms destroy this bodyF" ; i.e., after the sin is destroyed ;

meaning all the frame of the body. $t is better to omit than supply the word "body." "2et

in my flesh shall $ see Cod." -hat is, it will be a real resurrection ; not indeed "flesh and blood" ; but you recollect it was really 1imself when 7hrist rose. 1e ased them to feel

and now that there were flesh and bones, but not "flesh and blood," which is the natural

life of man now. @hen the resurrection comes there will be still the flesh in a gloriousway, and there will be bone in a glorious way and instead of it being blood as the source

of life, it will be spirit a divine character of eGistence will then be. @hile there is life,

blood can be shed, and the man dies. -he shedding of blood is the great figure of death byviolence, and the blessed ord new all that, and passed through it all. &ut risen from the

dead, the body possessed is a tangible body and can be felt and although that need not

always be, there is a power of change in this form and $ have no doubt the same thing

will be true of every power. &ut there is the power. %ow we are all limited so limited thateven a powerful man can be stopped by an oa board of only an inch, or two, thic. $t

stops him. And certainly a granite wall could stop anybody. &ut when that day is come

we shall pass through everything Dust as our ord did. Our ord purposely came in when

the doors were shut. 2ou may tell me the stone was removed from the sepulchre but itwas not to let the ord out it was to let the disciples in to see that 1e was gone. @hat is

all the thicness of the earth to 1im -he glorified body has a power of its own. and can pass through anything.

-his is not the case with man now. 1e is very limited and feeble a little thing stops or

even ills him. &ut not so when the body is raised in power and incorruption and glory

and here then the ord comes to claim, and stand upon, the dust as it were. -hat is thefigure, of course, of dealing with the lower state. -he body is destroyed not merely the

sin, but everything belonging to man in the natural state. &ut what then "2et in my

flesh shall $ see Cod" ob was to be raised and live again, and to live in a glorious way,

and in the way of power and incorruption. "@hom $ shall see for myself." Ah, he was notin the least afraid of the ord. 1e loved to thin of 1im, and looed for 1is intervention

with certainty. "And mine eyes shall behold, and not another." @hat a contrast with

&alaamH &alaam could not see eGcept prophetically, but not for himself. 1e had no partnor lot. &ut ob, with every part and lot, new it perfectly. "-hough my reins be

consumed within me." -hat will not hinder it at all.

4o then you see this was a resurrection of the righteous it is before the heavens are nomore. And though the earth subsists, it will, when it is in a state of ruin, give place to a

complete change ; not only one affecting the condition of the bodies of the millennial

saints, but also the earth itself. All creation meanwhile awaits its deliverance from the

bondage of corruption from which it now suffers. And 7hrist will accomplish it, for thiswill be 1is wor. %o one need wonder, therefore, that when that day comes, there will be

righteous government on the earth. %o one need wonder that then 4atan will be allowed

no power. 1e will be shut up, and not be allowed to deceive another moment until the endof the thousand years, and then it will be to act as a ind of sieve, to separate those that

are not born of Cod from those that are. 1e will be allowed to do that, and then will be

cast into the lae of fire for ever. &ut the righteous will have been reigning for a thousandyears before, while the earth still goes on. 2ou see the great force of it there, and of the


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ord coming upon that earth in a state as low as it can possibly be reduced to under the

power of 4atan, Dust before 1e comes and delivers it. Oh, may our hearts rest upon 1im

entirely, beloved brethren. et us cleave to the ord nowH and let us remember that theord is served and magnified by simple faith day by day, having to do with 1imself

about each thing, and with implicit trust in 1im, and Dudgment of ourselvesH Amen.

LET!RE '

JOB# () % (*

7hap. = ob was not a wiced man. -here was the great error of Lophar ; of this hastyand violent man for evidently this was particularly his character. 1e was not so much

looing at long eGperience as did Elipha? ; that was his point ; long eGperience. A

valuable thing, but still it may not be the mind of Cod. $t may be right, or it may bewrong and it was wrong in this case, because ob's trial was altogether peculiar. Cod had

not dealt with any other man in the remarable way in which ob was tried, and that is the

reason why we have a whole boo about him ; because he was tried so specially. %o onesave the ord esus was ever tried lie ob. -he trials of our ord were far more

profound but in 1im. there was nothing but perfection, and why &ecause, to begin with,

there was no sin in 1im there was in ob, and ob did not thin about the sin that was in

him. ob had no idea of what the %ew -estament calls "the old man." 1e had turned from4atan and from his sins to Cod he was a real, true, saint of Cod. &ut he had no notion,

nor, indeed, had anyone among the Old -estament saints, any definite conception of what

our evil nature is. -hat was a truth that came out after 7hrist came. $t was 7hrist thatmade everything clear, and till 7hrist came things were not plain. -here was Buite enough

light to guide and for that matter all the three friends were pious men, and ob

particularly was but for all that, ob had to learn that there was that in him which was

proud of the effects of faith in his soul. ob had too good an opinion of himself.

-his is not a very uncommon thing with a 7hristian even. $ thin $ now a good many

who are not disposed to thin very lowlily of themselves but $ am Buite sure 8and $ have

nothing to boast of myself $ desire to feel thoroughly what $ am. 2et $ admit we are veryoften apt to forget it. -here was no Buestion of ob's end, no Buestion but that Cod would

receive him, and had already received him in spirit and therefore there was no fear of

death in ob he looed at it and desired it even but that would spoil the great lesson.Cod would allow him to be tried thoroughly, but would not allow 4atan so to torment him

as to end his life ; that would frustrate the lesson he had to learn by agony of suffering

and suspicion of his own friends ; his dearest friends, those who had most respected him.

-hey all gave him up, and thought there was something very bad behind it ; there couldnot be so much smoe without fire.

-hat is eGactly what people say nowadays when they see anything particular. -he

eighteen on whom the tower in 4iloam fell must be the worst people in erusalemH '%ot atall,' said the ord. Cod has his own wonderful ways of which we now nothing but

"EGcept ye repent ye shall all liewise perish" ; by a worse perishing than the fall of a

tower upon you. @e find how a man was ept ; not faultless, far from it ; but entirely free


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from all the hidden evil that was imputed to him because of his terrible suffering, which

entirely alienated, therefore, the sympathy of his friends and instead of getting one grain

of sympathy he got a good many tons of scorn, and their suspicion that things were verywrong in him.

-his is what entered into all their speeches. And they get worse and worse for a while,and particularly this one. -his is the last of Lophar's he poured it out so strongly, that,

somehow or other, he was afraid to come forward again. @e find that Elipha? and &ildaddo follow, and ob disposes of them all. -hey were completely taen abac by ob's

reasoning, and the reason is that there was a truthfulness about ob that was not in them,

although a good deal remained for ob to learn. -herefore, in comes Elihu, a new personage in the matter, and after that ehovah himself. -hese are facts. -his is not an

imaginary tale. -here was a real person called ob who went through all this trial and

there were these three friends and there was Elihu too and, further, ehovah made 1is presence and 1is mind nown, and settled the case brought ob out of all his troubles,

and at ob's intercession pardoned the other three for all their bad and groundless ill;

feeling against ob.

@ell now, here Lophar comes forward. "-herefore do my thoughts cause me to answer,and for this $ mae haste." 2es, and that is Dust where haste generally lands us. $t is easy

for those who are not in trouble to spea, and to suspect evil of a man that is in the

depths. And that is Dust what this young man ; for he was younger than the others ; fellinto. "Knowest thou not this of old, since man was placed upon earth" ; are you the only

man that nows the mind of Cod ; "that the triumphing of the wiced is short, and the

Doy of the hypocrite but for a moment" $s that all that Lophar had ever learnt 3id he

now of no dealings of Cod for the trial and good of 1is children here below 1ad he nothought of Cod disciplining us ; even before 1is proper 6atherly relationship was fully

made nown and conferred upon us. 6or now we are brought into that very place of privilege ; we are children of Cod. -he Old -estament saints were so, but they did notnow it. -hey were saints of Cod, and they now very well they were separated to Cod,

and that they were not lie the men of the world. -hey new that perfectly, and they were

waiting for One who would settle all Buestions and mae nown all things. Even thewoman of 4amaria new that. "@hen 0essias cometh, 1e will tell us all things." 1e

would clear up all difficulties.

&ut Lophar had no difficulty at all. -hat is generally the case with people who now very

little they fancy they now everything. Lophar, therefore, eeps up this ; that there is thegreat fact, there is a righteous Cod above, and there are unrighteous, wiced people

below, and Cod invariably deals with these wiced people now. -hat was not true. A large

part of the world has always been allowed of Cod to apparently prosper in their evil, andthe reason is that the time of Dudgment is not yet come. -here may be Dudgments there

may be eGceptional dealings with the wiced Dust as ob's case was a very eGceptional

dealing in the severity of his trial, and in the manner in which 4atan was challenged by

Cod to do his very worst and Cod was secretly eeping up ob even when he wasfinding fault with Cod and thining 1e was very hard upon him to allow all this. &ut he

was ept up not only for his own good, but for ours. %ow we have the &oo, and are


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meant to profit by it for ourselves and for other people. "-hough his eGcellency mount up

to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds yet he shall perish for ever lie his

own dung they which have seen him shall say, where is he"

Lophar was not at all wanting in power of eGpression. 1e was what you call an

"eloBuent" man in fact, they were all eloBuent. -hey all pleaded their cause with ability ;only there was short;sightedness. -hey had not before them this ; that it was out of the

goodness of Cod, and for the blessing of ob himself, that Cod made ob to recogni?e hisnothingness, and also the evil that was within, which he had never detected to be, as it is,

a sin against Cod, i.e., thining too well of himself, taing credit for what grace had

wrought. 6or $ do not deny that grace had done a good deal for ob. Crace had wrought afine character, full of benevolence and rectitude of purpose. 2es, but why did ob dwell

upon it, and thin so much about it @hy did ob thin so much more highly of himself

than others All these things were woring in ob's mind, and they must all be broughtout. -hat was a great lesson for ob to learn, and it came out at the very severe cost of

ob's trial and suffering. "1e shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found." -hat was

true of some cases but where were the eyes, where the discernment of Lophar and thiswas all that he saw going on in the worldH $t was a very narrow way of looing at the

dealings of Cod. "-he eye also which saw him shall see him no more neither shall his

place any more behold him. 1is children shall see to please the poor" ; he supposes that

Cod would still eep up the family, and would deal with his children ; that they wouldhave to restore some of the ill;gotten goods that their father had acBuired.

All this was pointed at poor ob, but not a particle of it was real. $t was nothing but evil

surmises. 4o, he describes his case in very strong terms, which $ need not follow; ; all his

inward trouble, and the being forced to give up what he had swallowed down. "1e shallnot see the rivers, the floods, the broos of honey and butter." -hat is, Lophar recognised

that Cod delights in doing good. 2es, 1e does and not merely to the righteous, but to theunthanful and evil. $s it that 1e has any complacency in them Iuite the contrary, butout of 1is own goodness, as our ord put it so simply and so grandly, 1e causes 1is sun

to shine upon the evil as well as upon the good, and 1e sends 1is rain upon the Dust as

well as upon the unDust. @ell, before all $ say now, he is a most wiced man, the greatestenemy of Cod alive on the earth, who profits by all these benefits, and never thins of

Cod at all. -here he is, so utterly insensible ; more insensible possibly than the brute.

-here is less gratitude than with even the poor irrational brute who owns his master'sindness and care. -his is indeed, an awful thing in a man. 2ou might find men of the

greatest education and of the highest ability, who are lie a stoc or a stone before the

goodness of Cod. -hat you have now. -he %ew -estament has come in and made it all

plain. One word accounts for everything ; unbelief.

-he beginning of Cod's goodness in a man is when he comes to the sense of his badness,

and that is produced by faith. $t is by what Cod sends. Cod's word is the foundation and

the means by which a man is brought out of darness into light, and out of death into life

eternal. And why &ecause the word of Cod reveals 7hrist. And the believer receives7hrist on Cod's testimony. %ow the great mass of men in our country are rushing either

into infidelity or superstition. -hese are both of them maing more progress than the


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truth, at this present moment. Cod no doubt converts souls too but if there are a few

souls truly converted, how many go bac and sometimes out of the very families of

those that love the ordH 4o it has been for hundreds of years. 4o it was at the beginningso it is now. 4ome believe the words that are spoen, and some do not believe them. And

as some enter now into endless and eternal blessing, so others will fall into absolute and

everlasting ruin.

1ere then, we see the all;importance of our getting the mind of Cod. %either eGperiencewill do, nor tradition. &ildad was as fond of tradition as Elipha? was of eGperience but

Lophar, $ fancy, was pretty much confident in himself. And this self;confidence is what

maes a man still more biassed than either the weaness of thining too much of thewisdom of old age, or of the tradition of the elders before us. %o, Cod will have 1is own

word and Cod is honoured by our receiving 1is own word and applying 1is word, not to

other people merely, but, above all, to oneself. Everything issues from this, "$ believe."-hat is eGactly where all human nowledge fails. 1uman nowledge ; science for

instance ; is entirely founded upon the facts that are before our eyes, or the facts that we

gather even if they are invisible to our eyes, that are ascertained through whatever means,sometimes by the microscope, sometimes by the telescope ; but however it may be, it is

all founded upon what is before man's eyes and before man's mind.

%ow the blessing of Cod is entirely founded upon divine testimony. 2ou honour Cod by

believing Cod against yourself by believing Cod against your sins by believing Cod,receiving 1is testimony about 1is own 4on. &ut Cod has love enough in 1is heart to lay

all our case at all costs upon the ord esus and 1e has perfectly met all the mind of Cod

about it. -hat is 7hristianity now and this, of course, in ob's days, was yet to be. -here

was Dust enough light ; a little distant gleam as it were ; a rift in the cloud that showed the0essiah that was to come, but that was all. -here was a little increase of light in the

5salms, and still more in the 5rophets but the full light was never there till 1e 1imselfcame. -hen it was not merely a gleam it was not merely a promise it was 1imself. $twas the 4on of Cod, and eternal life in the 4on of Cod to be given to everyone who

believes in 1im. &y that $ do not mean a mere nominal assent. %o, beloved friends, it is

always through our conscience that we are brought into the truth. -here is no divine linwith Cod unless it be the conscience that acnowledges our sinfulness, and, therefore,

casts oneself in faith upon the ord esus.

@ell, now, we do not find anything of this in Lophar it is all looing simply at Dudging

wiced men. -he Dudging of a righteous man never entered his mind, and that was thereal Buestion. 4o he puts to ob the awfulness of what will come to pass upon the man

that goes on in his wicedness, and does not allow it, but only is clever in hiding it. And

really he had got that in his head about ob, and never could get it out until Cod broughtdown everyone of them into the dust, and they were indebted to ob for escaping the

severe chastening of Cod. 1e finishes, "-his is the portion of a wiced man from Cod,

and the heritage appointed unto him by Cod." 1ere is not the slightest sense of Cod

having chastening dealings with those that 1e loves during this time of pilgrimage. 2etthis is eGactly what Cod does. -his is what 1e is carrying on today with you and me. -he

apostle 5eter refers to it particularly in the first chapter of his 6irst Epistle, i.e., that after


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we are born of Cod we become subDects of the dealings of Cod as 6ather. @e are Dudged

every man according to his wor now. 1e will not do that by and by the future Dudgment

is entirely in the hands of 7hrist and it is particularly said that the 6ather has committedit all to the 4on and it is as the 4on, and as the glorified 0an too, that the ord will sit

upon the Creat @hite -hrone, where all the evil of all the unrighteous will be Dudged

finally. -hat is the last thing before the new heavens and the new earth wherein dwellethrighteousness. -he 6ather has nothing to do with that but the 6ather has everything to do

with watching over our faults, with pruning the vine, every branch of the vine, and this is

what goes on now. $t is the 6ather who is the husbandman, and 1e prunes that we may bear more fruit and if there is no fruit at all, 1e taes it away.

ob now answers in the twenty;first chapter. "1ear diligently my speech." $t was a great

relief to the tried man to spea out. 1e had entirely failed to win their sympathy, but still

ob preferred to spea plainly out, and had no difficulty in meeting anything they had tosay. "And let this be your consolation. 4uffer me that $ may spea and after that $ have

spoen, moc on." $t was severe, but still it was not more than they deserved. "As for me,

is my complaint to man" $n the midst of all this he has the deep sense of having to dowith Cod, and that is true piety. "And if it were so, why should not my spirit be

troubled" i.e., $ do not understand it that is the thing that maes it so terrible. "0ar me,

and be astonished, and lay your hand upon your mouth. Even when $ remember $ am

afraid, and trembling taeth hold on my flesh." And what was it that made him so afraid@hy, he too saw Dust the very opposite of what Lophar only saw.

Lophar confined himself simply to the particular cases of Cod's dealing Dudicially with

some specially wiced men. And there are such cases every now and then. A man calls

Cod's name in vain, and swears to a downright falsehood ; perhaps theft, or any other breach ; and, occasionally, a man drops down dead after it. @ell, that is a very unusual

thing. Other people swear to it and eep their money, and try to eep their character, butall the while they are heaping up wrath against the day of wrath. %ow what made obtremble so when he saw wicedness prosper As he says here, "@herefore do the wiced

live" 1e says, '$ can understand it so far $ can perfectly understand Cod casting down

wiced men ; it is only what they deserve but it is not the fact, for the great mass of themseem to flourish in their wicedness for the time.' "@herefore do the wiced live, become

old, yea, are mighty in power -heir seed is established in their sight with them." $t was

not at all passing away lie a dream 8as Lophar pretended as a general role it was ratherthe other way. "-heir houses are safe from fear." 0any a pious man's house is broen into

by a robber many a pious man's house is burnt over his head and here there might be

wiced men of the worst character, and they do not come into these troubles at allH

&ut there is the awful end that awaits them, the awaening up lie the rich man 3ives, "inhades he lifted up his eyes, being in torments." AhH that was a solemn thing, but it was the

ord that gave us that picture. %obody could spea positively of that till the ord came.

And that is not describing what will be after the resurrection this is what taes place

directly after death. And it was not a wiced man as he appeared in the eyes of the ewsit was not a man who was a drunard or a thief, or a robber, or anything of that ind. 1e

was a man highly respected he was a man characterised by self;indulgence. @e do not


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hear of any swearing we do not hear of any scoffing. -here he was he acnowledged

father Abraham even in the midst of his torments and the ord is the One that describes

it. 3ives is anGious about the souls of his five brethren he was anGious about them. -hatis to say, he was a man whom people might consider of high respectability, but there was

no faith, no repentance, no looing to Cod, no waiting for the 0essiah. 1e was Buite

content to enDoy all his wealth and, as for poor a?arus, the dogs might loo after himfor all he cared about him.

"-heir houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of Cod upon them." AhH but it will be.

"-heir bull gendereth, and faileth not their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf."

Everything went flourishing. "-hey send forth their little ones lie a floc, and theirchildren dance" ; everything prosperous and smiling ; "-hey tae the timbrel and harp,

and reDoice at the sound of the organ." $t is rather serious to find all that with such bad

company ; a solemn chec for those that are given up. "-hey spend their days in wealth,and in a moment go down to the grave. -herefore, they say unto Cod, 3epart from us."

ob's words are far more solemn and more true than the violent Lophar had painted. "6or

we desire not the nowledge of thy ways. @hat is the Almighty, that we should serve1im and what profit should we have if we pray unto 1im" $t is not meant that they say

that to man, but that is what their conduct says to Cod.

-herefore there is great force in what we read, "-he fool hath said in his heart, -here is

no Cod." 5erhaps he never uttered that once in his life, "-here is no Cod," but it is whathis heart says. Cod reads the language of the heart. And the evil servant says in his heart,

"0y lord delayeth his coming." 5erhaps he preached what people call the "4econd

7oming" he may have preached it, but that is what his heart said. 1e was not really

waiting for 7hrist at all he was glad that 7hrist stayed away. -here never was such a prayer with him as "7ome, ord esus." 4o that it is a very solemn thing ; the way in

which the ord taes the crafty and reads the heart and therefore, it is of all importancethat we should Dudge ourselves, and loo to the ord, that we may have 7hrist 1imself before our souls so habitually that we are filled by 1is mind and directed by 1is love, and

led by the 1oly 4pirit who gives the needed power and grace to those that loo to 7hrist.

"o, their good is not in their hand the counsel of the wiced is far from me." ob was

farther from these people than his three friends. $t is very possible that these three friendslied to be on good terms with people that were so flourishing, for that is a very common

snare. 5eople lie to be in what they call "good company," and to be respected by people

that are respectable in this life but where is 7hrist in all that Our hearts are called to bewith that which 7hrist values, and with those whom 7hrist loves. $ do not say we are not

to have the love of compassion for the very worst of manind ; surely, surely but this is a

different ind of love altogether. $t is loving the family of Cod. -his is higher than lovingan unconverted wife higher than loving our children if they are not brought to Cod. -he

family of Cod are nearer to us, and for all eternity, and we are glad to wal in that faith

and love now. "1ow oft is the candle of the wiced put outH" -here he allows the other

side that they were all harping upon they only looed at that. "And how oft cometh theirdestruction upon themH" -here were such cases he had seen and nown them, and in no

way disputed them.


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2ou see, what Lophar and the others press, was only a half a truth. %ow half a truth never

sanctifies. @hat you leave out is perhaps of eBual, or, it may be, of still greater

importance, and there was Dust the difference. @ith all his defect, ob really was cleavingto the truth, and he looed at it with a larger heart and with a more eGercised conscience.

-here are people moralised, or what you call "sermonised" but this did not come from

their souls it was merely their correct tal according to the thoughts of men. $t was notthe language really of faith at all. ob's was, in spite of all its defects. "-hey are as stubble

before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away. Cod layeth up his iniBuity for

his children he rewardeth him, and he shall now it. 1is eyes shall see his destruction" ;he allowed it might run in the family ; "and he shall drin of the wrath of the Almighty."

"6or what pleasure hath he in his house after him, when the number of his months is cut

off in the midst" i.e., selfishness is at the bottom of all these wiced men that flourish in

this world. And even their children are in no way an obDect to be compared with thenumber of their own months. -hat is what they want ; to live as long as possible.

"4hall any teach Cod nowledge" ; now he turns to 1im to vindicate him ; "seeing he

Dudgeth those that are high. One dieth" ; you see he too in the two sides. -his very manhad spoen of truth being double but it was all mere tal it was not put into practice at

all. $t was a wise saw it was merely an apophthegm, without being the true eGpression of

his feeling and life. &ut ob had a reality about him. "Another dieth in the bitterness of

his soul, and never eateth with pleasure. -hey shall lie down alie in the dust" ; and thecareless world goes to their funeral, and thins they are both all right, that it is all right

with them both. -hat is what is called "Dudging with charity" ; charitable DudgmentH -hey

hope that everybody goes to heaven, unless they are too bad ; openly wicedH %ow whatis the Dudgment according to Cod -hat if One died for all, then all were dead. -hat is the

state of man. -here is no Buestion at all of their state or their end there. And 1e died for

all ; all manind. -hey are all ineGcusable. And the death of 7hrist maes them in a

worse state if they do not believe than if 7hrist had never come and never died. 1e diedfor all, that they which live ; ahH there is the difference ; they which live ; should not any

longer live to themselves. -hat is what they all did. -he dead ; the spiritually dead ; live

to nothing but themselves. $t might be honour it might be seeing the applause ofmanind and the world but they live to themselves, not to 1im.

&ut the 7hristian, the believer, lives to 1im who died for us and rose again. -hat is not

said to be for all. -he resurrection of the ord is the pledge that 1e will be by and by theudge of those that do not believe. -he resurrection to the believer is the sign;witness on

Cod's part that his sins are all blotted out. 6or the One that became responsible for his

sins went down into the grave, and Cod has raised 1im up to show us that our sins are

gone. $t was for all that believe, and for none others. And what for the others -he risen0an is the One that will Dudge all. -hat is what the apostle declared to the Athenians.

-hey were not believers, and therefore he does not spea of any being Dustified but he

tells them that the resurrection of the ord is the proof and pledge which Cod has giventhat 1e is going to Dudge all the habitable world by that 0an whom 1e has raised from

the dead. @hat maes it so solemn is that it was man that put 1im in the grave it was

man that slew 1im. $t was Cod that raised 1im up. And that risen 0an will Dudge them,all that are found alive ; all the habitable world. $t is not here the @hite -hrone Dudgment


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it is the ord Dudging the habitable world when 1e comes again in the clouds of heaven.

1e does not spea here about taing up all that are 7hrist's, but of 1is coming down in

Dudgment upon all that are not 7hrist's.

"&ehold, $ now your thoughts, and the devices which ye wrongfully imagine against

me." 1ere you see he is now returning to their fault through this narrowness of their view,and the impropriety of allowing people to surmise evil without the slightest ground in fact

for it. %o, we are called upon to live what we now we are called upon to spea whenwe do now but where we do not now we loo to Cod. "6or ye say, @here is the house

of the prince and where are the dwelling places of the wiced 1ave ye not ased them

that go by the way and do ye not now their toens, that the wiced is reserved to theday of destruction" -hat is the reason why they flourish now. 1e laid hold of the great

truth morally in a very admirable manner. "-hey shall be brought forth to the day of

wrath." %ot a Buestion of nowH -hese friends were all looing at the present time as theadeBuate proof of what Cod thought about men ; that if 1e thins we are all waling well

we are flourishing, and if we come into trouble it is because we are bad people. -hat was

their theory, an utterly wrong and corrupt theory. "@ho shall declare his way to his faceand who shall repay him what he hath done 2et shall he be brought to the grave, and

shall remain in the tomb. -he clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him" ; looing at the

outward appearance ; "and every man shall draw after him, as there are innumerable

before him. 1ow then comfort ye me in vain, seeing in your answers there remainethfalsehood "

@ell now, we begin again with Elipha? 8ob ==. Elipha? taes it up, and he says, "7an a

man be profitable unto Cod, as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself" 2es,

Elipha?, but cannot a man please Cod $t is not for profit that a pious man submits toCod, and obeys the word of Cod, but it is to please 1im, and why &ecause he loves

1im. -hat is not woring for profit. -hat is a way in which a ew did afterwards. "$s itany pleasure to the Almighty that thou art righteous" 2es, it was. 1e was Buite wrongabout it. Cod was pleased with ob ; that very man that they were so insidious against,

and against whom they insinuated all inds of evil. Cod pointed out, as you remember, at

the beginning of the &oo, that there was not a man on earth that was all round lie 1isservant ob, and yet there was something there that Cod meant to bring out, of which ob

had no idea, i.e., that he never recogni?ed that it was wrong. "@ill he reprove thee for

fear of thee @ill he enter with thee into Dudgment $s not thy wicedness great andthine iniBuities infinite 6or thou hast taen a pledge from thy brother for nought" ; now

come all his evil surmisings once more ; "and stripped the naed of their clothing. -hou

hast not given water to the weary to drin."

Elipha? is Dust imagining what he thins ob must have done to account for the troublesthat he was passing through. "&ut as for the mighty man, he had the earth" ; ob was the

mighty man ; "and the honourable man dwelt in it. -hou hast sent widows away empty,

and the arms of the fatherless have been broen. -herefore snares are round about thee."

2ou see all the reasoning is Buite mistaen. "And sudden fear troubleth thee or darness,that thou canst not see and the abundance of waters cover thee. $s not Cod in the height

of heaven and behold the height of the stars, how high they areH And thou sayest, 1ow


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doth Cod now" -hat was not what ob said at all, but Buite the reverse. "7an he Dudge

through the dar cloud" @ell, undoubtedly he was not a scoffer. %othing of the sort. 1e

was a pious, narrow;minded man and there are plenty of such individuals. "2et he filledtheir houses," etc. 8vers. (;=. -here was a little bit of tenderness in his heart toward ob.

"AcBuaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.

#eceive, $ pray thee, the law from his mouth." Elipha? certainly was nothing lie Lophar,nor even &ildad. "And lay up his words in thine heart. $f thou return to the Almighty, thou

shalt be built up." And so it was. ittle did he now that that return was about to be made

manifest, to their shame. "-hen shalt thou lay up gold as dust, and light shall shine uponthy ways" 8vers. =(;=). And so it did, in the most marvellous way, and much sooner than

Elipha? eGpected. "@hen men are cast down, then thou shalt say, -here is lifting up and

he shall save the humble person. 1e shall deliver ;"

-here is a very old mistae in this verse 8


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compelled these three men to feel ; that ob was more righteous than they that his hands

were cleaner than theirs. -hey had defiled their hands in setting upon ob so foully and so

violently and they owed it to ob that they were spared their lives.

ob answers in the neGt chapter 8=


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troubleth me because $ was not cut off before the darness, neither hath he covered the

darness from my face."

LET!RE +

JOB# (, % (-

7hap. =>. ; -his closes the answer of ob to Elipha? that we began on last @ednesday.

ob maes it perfectly clear that all things now are an anomaly ; that you cannot Dudge of

Cod's feeling about the prosperity of man here below, for the righteous are often far more

tried and it is no proof of anything wrong on their part, but, on the contrary, Cod puttingthem to the test, to manifest that they really are 1is conseBuently, submissiveness of

heart is what we are all called to under trial, and to perfect confidence in Cod. 4till, we

have an advantage saints of old had not and could not have till 7hrist came ; not merely7hrist's wor accomplished, but the light of 7hrist shining. -hey had not that. -his was

before the law. %evertheless, we see clearly that there was light enough for those that

looed to Cod, and that there was darness unBuestionably, Dust as there is now, for thosethat have not faith in Cod. Only, the great profitable lesson of the boo is the difference

between believers, and why it is. -here was a mighty difference between ob and his

three friends, and $ have endeavoured to point out wherein that difference lay. @hatever

might be the mistaes of ob, and whatever his irritation at being accounted a hypocrite by his friends 8and if we have ever nown anything lie that we can now the bitterness

of it, there is no blow so een and so deeply felt as that which comes from those who

profess to love us. And yet the devil is always woring and trying to set Cod's children bythe ears.

@ell, here we find it in a very eGtreme form. -hat is the grand difference between the

history of ob and that of other men. -hey only new it in a measure but Cod brought itout in one great display in the case of ob, who was more tried than any other man everwas. $ do not mean that 5aul and 5eter and others may not have had trials of their own

ind, and, particularly their life in their hand. -hat was not the case with ob. -here was

no Buestion of life it was a Buestion of endurance. 1is life was not to be touched itwould have entirely spoilt the history if ob had died but Cod too care that whatever his

sufferings might be, he was preserved and preserved to pass through such a scene as

probably was in no other case since the world began, yet turned to incomparable benefit.-hat was what Cod was showing.

4atan never does anything for good ; always for evil &ut in this case 4atan had entirely

failed, and it was Cod that wrought, and wrought particularly by the unfaithfulness and

the unspirituality of ob's three friends. -hat is the great moral of the boo. $t was onlythen that he began to curse his day ; never before. @hatever came from 4atan he bore,

and bore it with the fullest courage and with all confidence in Cod. &ut when his three

friends began to insinuate wicedness hidden, and hypocrisy, that was too much for obhe could not stand it. 1e broe out therefore into many a word highly unbecoming but

Cod made all allowance for that, because in the main ob adhered to Cod, and whatever


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came, he desired to accept it from Cod. 1e could not understand why, but he still cleaved

to Cod. %ow he puts the case himself.

"@hy, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do not they that now him see hisdays" i.e., there are these times of evil, and how is it that Cod, who is a moral governor,

and who taes notice of all evil, yea, even the words of people 8words reveal the secretsof the heart ; how is it that 1e allows it to passM as 1e does, and that there is no day of

retribution now @ell, we can perfectly answer that. $t is all reserved for 7hrist. -he6ather will not Dudge any man that is not what the 6ather will do. 1e is showing love

because 1e is a 6ather, and showing love because 1e is Cod because Cod is love Dust as

much as 1e is light. And therefore it is reserved for 7hrist, and the reason is plain. 7hristwas the One whom, without the very slightest reason for it, without a cause, they hated.

-hey hated both 1im and the 6ather and therefore it is reserved for the ord esus to

eGecute Dudgment. All Dudgment is committed to the 4on, because 1e is the 4on of man,and as the 4on of man 1e has been hated 1is 3eity has been denied, and 1e was

accounted as a companion of wiced people. 1e was accounted as a 4amaritan, and to

have even a demon. -here was nothing too bad for man to say and feel.

And these were not the heathen the heathen were never so bad as that. $t is Cod's peoplewhen in a bad state that are worse than anybody. -hat is a thing that many cannot

understand and do not believe. -here they are beating their drums and blowing their

trumpets in 7hristendom as if everything were going on right. Oh, they are ripening for Dudgment indeed in England. $t is not merely a Kamchata or in the centre of Africa all

that is Buite a mistae. -he more light there is, if people are not faithful, the worse they

are. And therefore our ord was very clear in showing that the ews were the people. $t

was no Buestion of 4odom and Comorrah. -hey taled about the horribleness of 4odomand Comorrah. 'Oh,' said the ord, 'it is you that are worse than they. $t will be more

tolerable in the day of Dudgment for 4odom and Comorrah and -yre' ; and all those placesthat were regarded as peculiarly wiced ; 'it will be worse for 7hora?in, &ethsaida and7apernaum.' 7apernaum was the place where 1e lived. $t was accounted 1is own city in

Calilee. @hat 1e thought worse was the reDection of all 1is light and all 1is love. And

therefore the nearer you are to the blessing, if the blessing is not yours the more guiltyyou are.

&ut then comes another very important thing, and that is, that unless our self is Dudged ;

unless there is continual self;Dudgment going on day by day, we get hard we lose the

unction of the truth, we lose the power of it in our souls, and thus we may be very self;complacent, because we now that we believe. -hat is Dust where the friends of ob were.

-hey were Buite comfortable there was nothing amiss with them they were all right, but

obH he must be very bad. -hat was their entire misDudgment. %ow ob faces this Buestion; how is it, if the times are so bad, that the day of retribution does not come @e do not

see it. $t is coming it awaits the only One that can perfectly deal with evil.

@e are all apt to be very partial. 4ometimes there are certain evils very bad in our eyes ;

man's eyes particularly. 4ome people are very hard upon drining. @ell, the same peopleare not at all hard upon covetousness. %evertheless $ suppose there is no one with any


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Dudgment but what avows that the spirit of covetousness is far more blinding and

inDurious to the soul than even the debasement of a man getting tipsy. %o doubt a tipsy

man is an obDect of contempt to those that are temperate, and they pass very severe Dudgment upon him and there is where the devil attacs them all. 'Oh, no $ never drin $

never touch a drop $ am a good man and they are very bad, they are very wicedH' @ell,

$ do not at all doubt that they are bad but $ do say other people are worse who have agood opinion of themselves. -here is nothing that Cod has more an abhorrence of than a

man who thins well of himself for however lofty his thoughts he is nothing but a poor,

lost sinner, and if he has not one particular evil he has others perhaps as bad or evenworse. $ do not say that to eGcuse anything.

-here are many other ways in which people show that they have nothing in common with

the ord esus, and that they have no nowledge of Cod whatever. &ut it is the ord that

will be the infallible udge. $t is the ord that will never swerve to the one side or theother. Everything that is contrary to Cod will be met solemnly by 1is Dudgment another

day and it is because people did not see Cod in 1im, but only a man, that therefore 1e as

a man will be the udge of all manind. All Dudgment is committed to the 4on because 1eis the 4on of man. @ell now, ob describes these anomalies that are going on now. 1e

says, "4ome remove the landmars." -hat is not at all an uncommon thing. @e have the

evidence of it all round about us in ondon now. -here are people that have encroached

upon ; taen the common land of this very &lacheath. -here you see in various parts ofit where people somehow or other have encroached they have laid hold upon what does

not belong to them. &ut it has gone on so long that the law cannot touch them. -here they

are in possession and we now that is a great thing in the eyes of lawyers although it isBuite contrary to law in itself, but still they cannot touch them. And there are all these

anomalies constantly going on ; even in the face of all the censure of the law here we

have it. $f we were in 7ornwall or in the south of $reland nobody would be astonished

there are plenty of anomalies there but here you have it in ondon before your eyes.

And so it is too in many other forms besides land grabbing. &ut this is what is referred to

; a very old tric of bad men, and particularly of men of property, particularly of men of

ran and the lie, because having land it gives them the opportunity of stealing a littlemore. And so it is with ings. -hey see there is a nice province Dust outside 6rance that

would mae such a good addition to the Empire, and by and bye it is stolen. @ell then

again, Cermany sees that there is a certain part that gives an outlet to the sea that theyhave not, and they steal that and find a preteGt of war in order to tae what belongs to

3enmar or whatever country it may be. $n that case it was 3enmar. -hat is in our own

day ; both of these things. And so it has ever been and that is in the face not merely of

the law, but the gospel and these things are done by people that go to church or to chapeland the lie, and there they are professing 7hristians. And all that by the very persons

who by their position are the guardians of the eGecution of the law yet they are the

people guilty of all this wicedness.

And the same thing goes on in the lower strata of society. -here they are prompted veryoften by want but then what is it very often that is the cause of want @hy, for the most

part it is dishonesty it is reclessness as to performance of their duty. -hey lose their


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post. -hey strive to get rich they tae money that does not belong to them, and they

come under public Dudgment. -hat is going on constantly in the lower Dust as it is in the

higher strata, and the fact of it is, all is wrong, and will be wrong here below till the ordesus is the One that eGecutes Dudgment and that reigns righteously. %othing will be

passed over there will be no favouritism, but all will be according to Cod, and never

before. 6or any measure of peace or Buietness or allowance of what people have ; to be intheir possession peacefully ; we have reason to than Cod very much indeed. &ut $ am

speaing now of looing into things as they really are, and it does not matter what

country you tae.

@e in England thin ourselves a very righteous nation, and there are many that thin weare, as compared with others but $ have Dust been referring to things that prove how very

hollow all this pretension to righteousness is. And therefore there is the greatest possible

comfort in looing up to Cod. -here there is absolute righteousness, and not only that, but active goodness. -here there is Cod caring for 1is own. 1e chastises them because

1e loves them ; where there is something that they do not see for very often it is that

they do not. 4ometimes we are buffeted for our faults. -hat is a thing that ought not to be.@e ought to suffer for righteousness rather than for unrighteousness, because "for sins

7hrist once suffered, ust for unDust," @ho is made infinitely dear to us. &ut there we

come on 7hristian ground.

%ow ob simply taes up the things that are around him. "-hey violently tae awayflocs and feed thereof. -hey drive away the ass of the fatherless, they tae the widow's

oG for a pledge. -hey turn the needy out of the way" ; these were what you may call the

"respectables" of society, the people who had flocs and herds, but they wanted more.

"-he poor of the earth hide themselves together." @ell, now we see another class we seethe poor and distressed here below. "&ehold, as wild asses in the desert, go they forth to

their wor" ; they are the people that have nothing, now the "masses," that have nosilled wor, but that live merely Dobbing about, and in all the precariousness and thesuffering that this Dobbery produces. "As wild asses in the desert, go they forth to their

wor rising betimes for a prey" ; before the light, and a prey, because it is not something

settled ; it is what they can catch. "-he wilderness yieldeth food for them and for theirchildren."

-hin of that ; the barren sands of the wilderness, that is the only thing, and why

&ecause they have got no land of their own. "-hey reap every one his own corn in the

field" ; that is the corn of the rich man ; "and they gather the vintage of the wiced." %owthey are called not "rich" but "wiced." "-hey cause the naed to lodge without clothing"

; that is what these wiced rich do. -hey have not pity for them they mae use of them

for their wor. "-hey cause the naed to lodge without clothing, that they have nocovering in the cold. -hey are wet with the showers of the mountains" ; describing still

the indigent class that had scarcely any regular wor to do, ; "and embrace the roc for

want of shelter. -hey pluc the fatherless from the breast, and tae a pledge of the poor.

-hey cause him to go naed without clothing, and they tae away the sheaf from thehungry." -here might be a sheaf or two forgotten in the case of harvest, but they have

found it out, and they are at them to get bac their sheaf. "@hich mae oil within their


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walls." -hey are employed for their abundance ; they mae the oil, but they never have a

drop of it for themselves ; "and tread their wine;presses and suffer thirst." -here is no

wine for them. "0en groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth outyet Cod layeth not folly to them." Cod does not tae any notice of it, and the reason is

that 1e is waiting for that day.

%ow what a wonderful love it is to the very persons to whom the gospel is preached. $t

was to the "poor" the gospel was preached they were peculiarly the obDect of the ordesus. -here never was such a thing before, since the world began. %obody ever made

them his grand obDect, and that for eternity. &ut ob could not now anything of that.

"-hey are of those that rebel against the light they now not the ways thereof, nor abidein the paths thereof." -hen he describes a still worse class. -hat is a man ; whether higher

or lower it does not matter ; a man of violence, the murderer. -he man who has got his

Buarrel, and the man that nothing will satiate but the life of his victim. "-he murdererrising with the light illeth the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief" ; who will be

ashamed to show that he was robbing the poor. "-he eye also of the adulterer waiteth for

the twilight, saying, %o eye shall see me" ; the corrupt man ; violence and corruption, thetwo great characteristics of human evil ; "and disguiseth his face. $n the dar they dig

through the houses, which they had mared for themselves in the day;time they now

not the light. 6or the morning is to them even as the shadow of death if one now them,

they are in the terrors of the shadow of death." -hey cannot bear to be nown, what theyare and what they see. -here he pursues this terrible picture down to the end of the

chapter, showing that there is an eternal misery and a consciousness of guilt ; for that was

a very wonderful woring of Cod.

@hen man was first created, he did not now anything about good and evil. 1e did notnow the difference between them, because no such thing here eGisted. 1e was made

perfectly without any evil. -here was no evil in man when Cod sent him forth from 1ishand. &ut directly he fell into sin he acBuired the power of Dudging what was wrong, andwhat was right in itself. -hat is conscience. -here was no need of conscience Dudging of

what was right and wrong when all was good but directly man fell, he began to Dudge

good and evil -hat is what Cod does perfectly ; man does it in an unhappy, miserableway. $t is because he nows of what is within that he detects it without, and pronounces

Dudgment, but man is none the better. %ow when man is unconverted, he goes on in that

ind of misery, and his use of good and evil is this ; there are other men he considers as bad as, or worse than, himself, and he eGcuses himself on that ground, and so he goes on.

&ut when a man is converted conscience turns its eye upon himself. -hat is the reason

why repentance is indelibly and from the very beginning bound up with the believer in

7hrist. 6aith and repentance go together, and the fact of our receiving 7hrist maes us Dudge self, and not merely to spot other people's evil or eGcuse ourselves.

2ou see it in the poor taG;gatherer. @hen the 5harisee was saying, 'Cod, $ than -hee $

am not lie other men $ am a better;man $ do not drin $ do not swear $ do not go to

gamble or anything of that ind no, $ am a good man, much better than other people' ;there was the poor taG;gatherer, to whose soul Cod had spoen, and who, instead of

looing to find other people as bad or worse, can only say, "Cod be merciful to me the


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sinnerH" $t is not merely "to me a sinner." 6or many, many years $ have been struc with

the great beauty of that eGpression "Cod be merciful to me the sinner, if ever there was

one. $ now my sins and they are so overwhelming $ do not thin about others. Cod bemerciful to me the sinner me only." -hat man went down Dustified rather than the other.

$t is not what is called "Dustification by faith" but it was the right thing that always taes

place in a converted soul ; self;condemnation before Cod And it is the light of 7hrist,somehow entering, that produces that. And therefore now that the wor of 7hrist is done

1e is eGalted to give repentance and remission of sins to every one that loos to 1im.

4o that repentance is a gracious wor the very opposite of

Eleven Lectures on the Book of Job-W Kelly

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