Job famously asked in chapter nine, “How should man be just with God? If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand. He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath hardened himself against him, and hath prospered?” Based on Job’s present situation, he felt that he had a strong case to plead before God to show that his suffering was mismatched to his lifestyle. However, he also expressed at times the impossibility of providing his own legal answer to God. Ultimately, the book outlines the need for a capable representative to stand on behalf of man before God. Although the New Testament revelation of Jesus Christ was not yet complete, the book of Job vividly details the need for such an office and provides what Christians may interpret as a distinct prophecy of His appearance to fill the office.
Job expressed his desire to present his case before God in several instances, becoming very bold at times. “Hear diligently my speech, and my declaration with your ears. Behold now, I have ordered my cause; I know that I shall be justified. Who is he that will plead with me? For now, if I hold my tongue, I shall give up the ghost. Only do not two things unto me: then will I not hide myself from thee. Withdraw thine hand far from me: and let not thy dread make me afraid. Then call thou, and I will answer: or let me speak, and answer thou me. How many are mine iniquities and sins? Make me to know my transgression and sin” (Job 13:17-23).
In this chapter 13 text, Job is very confident in his case, and it is arguable that he was correctly confident regarding the merit of his argument. As we consider Job’s statements, we should try to interpret them in context. Job is not attempting to describe himself as a man who had never committed sin and was preparing to stand before God’s throne to justify himself by works forever. In fact, Job explicitly acknowledged the iniquities of his youth only three verses later (vs 26). Rather, Job’s main argument is that the types of sudden sufferings he was experiencing are typical punishments on the wicked, and that his habitual lifestyle was not wicked. God’s own testimony in chapter 1, 2, and 42 corroborates Job’s claim of a righteous lifestyle. Job does not intend his arguments to address the type of judicial atonement that Jesus satisfied but instead refers to a practical, experienced righteousness and expectation of subsequent blessedness.
Job eventually became so bold as to say, “Oh that one would hear me! Behold, my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me, and that mine adversary had written a book. Surely I would take it upon my shoulder, and bind it as a crown to me. I would declare unto him the number of my steps; as a prince would I go near unto him” (Job 31:35-37). He has clearly overstated his case here. First, he flatters himself that he would answer God as an adversary. This is shocking language from someone the Bible uses as an example of patience, but it stems from his confidence in his argument. The idea is that his present sufferings are fit for a wicked individual with a long list of indictments from heaven. This is the book Job wishes to see: his friends have accused him falsely, and he feels even to have been falsely accused from Heaven. Job trusts his own integrity to such a degree that he believes he “as a prince” could approach God and by recalling his true actions demonstrate that the afflictions were unjust. His argument fails on two points: First, he views God’s rule of creation as mechanical, rendering just deserts to man without accounting for the complexities of the world, redemption, and sovereign judgment; Second, his impression of his own capability to answer God is vastly inflated.
The case is quickly settled when God answers Job out of the whirlwind. Notice Job’s two requests from chapter 13 (that God would remove his hand and that His dread would not make Job afraid) are not granted. God did not give Job the type of answer Job expected. Instead, He challenged Job with a series of questions that no man could answer to establish that Job did not occupy a position from which he could question God’s authority or wisdom. Eventually, God gave Job a chance to provide his answer, to “fill his mouth with arguments” as he had declared he was ready to do in chapter 23. Job’s answer? “Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth. Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further” (Job 40:3-5).
As righteous as Job was, he had no ability to stand before the Lord of Hosts and answer for himself. This same pattern, of course, extends to all men: there is such a great difference in the thrice holy God and mortal man that it is an utter impossibility that we should stand before Him to plead our own case. Now, we can begin to understand the great difficulty in schemes of eternal salvation that are based on works: if righteous Job could not begin to present his own case for a practical and temporal deliverance, how could we think that we would start to plead our own merits before God’s eternal throne?
Job, interestingly, had already laid out the answer: he needed a capable representative. The representative he needed must be a “daysman betwixt us [God and man], that might lay his hand upon us both” (Job 9:33). He needed an advocate, one that would “plead for a man with God, as a man pleadeth for his neighbour!” (Job 16:21). Finally, he described a Redeemer that would stand on the earth at the latter day.
As we see again and again through the Old Testament, the person of Jesus is not revealed, but His office and work are depicted through “types and shadows.” How beautifully the office of Jesus mirrors the need that Job expressed! From I Timothy 2:5 “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” Jesus is the one, the only one, who can put His hand on both God and man. And not only does He perform this work as the Mediator, but He is the continual Advocate (I John 2:1) and Intercessor (Romans 8:34). Job could describe the gap, and had at least some confidence to be able to say “I know my redeemer liveth.”
“How shall man be just with God?” It is not by standing before God and offering our own obedience, love, or logic. Job demonstrated that this man is absolutely unfit to give his own answer. It is by having a suitable representative to stand before God for us. We are represented by His obedience, righteousness, and wisdom. “Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmity; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” What blessedness we have in the One who stands between!