Does Job's intercession foreshadow Jesus?
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| Vitaly Gariev |
JOB ENDURED NUMEROUS trials, but his last test may have been the most difficult.
After his encounter with God, Job admitted he had "uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know" (42:3). And, in response, he said:
I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,but now my eye sees you;therefore I despise myself,and repent in dust and ashes.
Job 42:5-6
Such is the natural response when confronted by a pure, holy God. Think of Isaiah who said, "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” (6:5). Or recall Simon Peter's response to Jesus after the miracle of the large catch of fish. He fell before the Lord and said, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord" (Luke 5:8).
When confronted with God's holiness, one cannot help but "despise" himself, for we are all sinful people with unclean lips and unclean hearts. Even the best, most faithful of us pale in comparison to a holy, perfect God. As Isaiah wrote, "All our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment" (64:6). And as the Psalmist wrote, "There is none who does good, not even one" (14:3).
But if fear and self-loathing are the natural responses to an encounter with God, what Job had to do next was anything but instinctual.
