Intro
Elihu came, said his words, and left. We now find God responding to Job’s suffering.
The Whirlwind: The Law and Judgement against His Enemies
Isaiah 29:6: Judgment will come from the Lord of the Heavenly Armies—with thunder, earthquake, and great noise, with whirlwind, tempest, and flames of consuming fire.
Jeremiah 23:19: Look, a storm from the Lord! Wrath has gone forth, a whirlwind raging down on the heads of the wicked.
Ezekiel 13:13: This is what the Lord God proclaims: In my wrath, I will unleash the whirlwind. Torrents of rain will come in my anger and hailstones in destructive fury.
The Whirlwind: The Glory and Gospel for His People
2 Kings 2:1: The time had come for the Lord to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind.
Ezekiel 1:4: As I watched, I noticed a whirlwind coming from the north—an immense cloud with fire flashing back and forth, surrounded by brilliant light. From deep within the fire, there was something like gleaming amber. Deep inside it were what looked like four living creatures.
- If you remember from last week, what does coming from the north signify?
- When your think of the apostle John’s vision in Revelation (4:6-9, 5:6-14, 6:1-8, 14:3, 15:7, and 19:4), what does the four creatures tell us about the whirlwind?
Zechariah 9:12-15:
Return to your fortress, you prisoners of hope. Even today I am telling you: I will return double what was taken from you. I will bend Judah as I bend my bow and load it with Ephraim, my arrow! I will rouse your sons, O Zion, against the sons of Greece, wielding you like a mighty warrior’s sword. The Lord will appear over them [Greece], and His arrow will fly like lightning. The Lord God will sound the trumpet and advance with the southern winds. The Lord of the Heavenly Armies will defend them [His people].
God Comes to Job
Read Job 38:1
- How does God approach Job?
- Because Job does not die as an enemy of God, what does the text imply about God coming to Job?
Read Job 38:1-7
- What does God do and not do in His words to Job?
- What corrective does God give to Job about trying to understand the “mind of God” through our fallen creation?
From not being able to comprehend God fully, God now transitions from God as almighty creator to something else.
Read Job 38:41-39:4
- Despite the fallen corruption of creation, what does God do for His creation?
Read Job 39:14-17
- Moving from the lesser to the greater, what is God’s implication for Job?
Read Job 40:1-2
In Job 10:2, Job earlier said, “I will say to God, ‘Do not condemn me; let me know why you contend against me.’”
“contend with”: This expression means “bring a lawsuit against.” Earlier, Job had charged God with doing so against him.
- What does God do with Job’s contention that He is pressing charges against him?
Read Job 40:3-5
Job’s desire to confront God now takes place.
- By what he says, what does Job realize about his complaints against God?
Read Job 40:6-8
Job 19:6: Job said, “Know then that God has put me in the wrong and closed his net about me.”
- What did Job do in his relation to God by putting Him in the wrong?
Romans 9:20: Who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Does the clay say to the potter, “Why did you make me like this?”
- Job’s focus had turned inward, on himself and his suffering. By God directing Job to creation and to Himself, what did that do to Job’s focus?
Comparing God against the Most Powerful in His Creation
Read Job 40:15-24
- How does God describe this creature?
Read Job 41:1-10a
- What is this creature?
- If Job were to contend against a Leviathan, what would be the result?
Read Job 41:10b-11
- What is God’s implication for Job about who He (God) is?
- If we see the behemoth and leviathan, not just as real creatures, but as metaphors for evil within the book of Job, what are the implications of God’s words?
The New-Testament Tie-In
Read 1 Corinthians 15:20-28 and Revelation 20:11-15
- When the fallen creation is no more, what will God do with the last great enemy of death?
Read Revelation 21:1-2, 22:1-5
“worship”: Here, John uses the word latreuo, which is the generic word for worship. Before the new heaven and new earth, every time John saw the saints worshiping God, he used the word proskeneuo, falling down before God in fear and reverence.
- How is worship and life with God different after the resurrection of the body in the new heaven and earth?
Prayer: Psalm 118
P I waited patiently for the Lord;
C He leaned down to me and heard my cry.
P He plucked me out from the pit of destruction,
C out of the mud and mire.
P He set my feet on solid rock
C and gave me a firm place to stand.
P He put a new song in my mouth,
C a hymn of praise to our God. Psalm 40:1-3
P Do not withhold your mercy from me, O Lord;
C may Your love and faithfulness ever protect me.
P For evils have encompassed me beyond number;
C my iniquities have overtaken me, and I cannot see.
P Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me;
C come quickly and help me, O Lord! Psalm 40:11-14
P You are my help and deliverer;
C you are my God, do not delay. Psalm 40:17
