Perhaps This Was Job's Biggest Test of All

  Does Job's intercession foreshadow Jesus?

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.

Gods Aren't Supposed to Suffer

What the Romans intended for mockery, God used for redemption.

Elly Brian

Although Jesus made it through Satan's temptations unscathed, the Lord's greatest test was yet to come, and he knew it.

In fact Jesus predicted his own death numerous times to his disciples. Although they couldn't comprehend the implications of Jesus's words, these statements are important to demonstrate that Jesus wasn't taken by surprise at his execution and that he willingly served as a sacrifice on our behalf.

His predictions notwithstanding, this latter fact should be obvious since Jesus made no defense on his behalf despite false testimony against him. In addition Jesus could have simply avoided Jerusalem where the heat on him was the hottest had he desired to avoid crucifixion. And yet again he could have slipped away from his captors in Gethsemane as he did earlier in Nazareth when the synagogue congregates tried to throw him down a cliff. 

Jesus was going to the cross, and he knew it.

Where's God When You Suffer?

Upon debate Katie and I decided to take our not yet one-year-old to the emergency room; Abram labored more and more with each breath. We had even administered two breathing treatments to him earlier in the day, but they weren’t enough. He needed more help.

Allan Foster (CC)

Furthermore, he refused to eat or drink, and the resultant dehydration compounded the problems. In retrospect, Abram’s pediatrician theorized that even though the x-ray that night showed negative for pneumonia, it was probably a false negative; the lack of fluids masked the condition.

Did Jesus Contradict Himself?

You may have heard your preacher quote Matthew 11:30 in which Jesus said, “My yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” The verse brings comfort to us who are weighed down by the realities of life. Anyone who has trusted in Jesus has no doubt felt a huge burden lifted from his or her life.

James Lee (CC)

But if you were to go back to the previous chapter in Matthew's gospel, you would find a statement that seems at odds with light burdens and easy yokes:

Whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Matthew 10:38 (ESV)

Last you checked, a cross isn’t very light. How can we reconcile these two statements? Did Jesus contradict Himself?

Why Jesus Chose Gethsemane

Jesus would have rather been anywhere else, but he chose Gethsemane on purpose.

His betrayer knew it well because Jesus often took his disciples there (John 18:2).

Photo Credit: Episcopal Florida (CC)

What he was about to do would be by far the hardest thing he’d ever done. Fasting for forty days? Elementary. Astounding the teachers in the synagogue? Raising a man from a dead? Nothing to it.

No, this was different. He’d felt pain before, but nothing like what was about to happen.

That Jesus went to a garden in order to begin the process of atonement was no accident.

Don’t Forget This 1 Fact About Christ’s Death

I’d rather have been crucified.

That’s the thought I had in my head one morning in the shower.

A few months ago, my pastor preached a moving sermon using the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste as an illustration--a story I had not heard before.

Let me briefly tell it here: