When we read the OT with NT perspective it is easy for us to
see glimpses of the gospel in even unexpected places. One is here in Ch. 9 of
Job. Picture the scene. Job’s friends have come to offer counsel and
encouragement. But what they are actually doing is accusing Job of deep sin.
Job responds this time to Bildad’s call for him to repent by
saying, “how can a man be in the right before God?” (9:2) Great question. How
can a sinful human being be right before God. Answer: he can’t, if left to
himself. As Job knows, “if one wished to contend with him, one could not answer
him once in a thousand times.” (9:3) Then later Job expresses the real need of
sinful humans, “[Would that there were] arbiter between us, who might lay his
hand on us both.” (9:33 see ESV footnote). That’s what Job needs an arbiter, a
mediator between him and God.
Oh, glorious gospel! That’s it. That’s the good news in
Jesus Christ. He is our mediator. “For there is one God, and there is one
mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a
ransom for all.” (1 Timothy 2:5-6a) He bore our sins in his own body on the
cross (1 Peter 2:24) in order to make us right before God (9:2). The Lord Jesus
came and took away God’s contention against us (10:2). That’s what Job wanted.
That’s what Job needed. And that is what each of us needs.
Prayer: Thank you for giving your Son, that whoever believes
in him will not perish but will have eternal life. Thank you for providing the
mediator that we needed because we could not make ourselves right before you.
Thank you, that in Jesus Christ we are acceptable before you and we no longer
contend against you and you no longer contend against us. Glory hallelujah!
Amen!
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