"How can man be just with God?

If He be pleased to contend with him,

He cannot answer Him one of a thousand..

For He is not a man, as I am, that I should answer Him,

That we should come together in judgment.

There is no daysman betwixt us,

That might lay his hand upon us both."

     That is not an answer to Eliphaz, Bildad, or Zophar. It is the cry of a smitten soul. 6L HOW can man be just with God?" does not mean, How can a man be justified by God? but rather, How can a man argue his case with God, how can a man contend with God? There is still manifest his conviction of the existence of God, and his certainty of himself, but he enquires, How am I to find my way to God? And if He asks me questions, How am I to answer Him one of a thousand? Then he exclaims in complaint,

"There is no daysman betwixt us,

That might lay his hand upon us both."

Said this man in effect, If I should find my way to God, I could not argue with Him. Oh, that there were some one in the universe who could bring us together; who could put his hand on God, and on me; who could represent God to me, and me to God.

     The next word occurs in the course of an answer to Zophar. The opening words of that answer were,

"Man that is born of a woman

Is of few days, and full of trouble."

Having made this general affirmation, he continued,

"For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again,

And that the tender branch thereof will not cease.

Though the root thereof wax old in the earth,

And the stock thereof die in the ground;

Yet through the scent of water it will bud,

And put forth boughs like a plant.

But man dieth, and wasteth away:

Yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?"

That was a wail of hopeless despair, in which he declared that a tree has a better chance than a man. But continuing he exclaimed,

"If a man die, shall he live again?

All the days of thy warfare would I wait,

Till my release should come.

Thou shouldest call, and I would answer Thee:

Thou wouldest have a desire to the work of Thine hands."

That is as though Job had said, If I could but believe that a man could live again, I would bear all the conflict and would wait. This was hardly the expression of a hope ; it was only a sigh. Yet there was in it a gleam of light in the midst of the terrible darkness. He could not find a daysman able to put his hand on God and on himself. He declared there was nothing for him but death. A tree had a chance, but a man had not. Suddenly there flamed across his spirit a wonder, an enquiry, which came out of his essential nature. It was an affirmation of his consciousness of the need for more time and space for the realization of life than life itself seemed to afford.

     A little later he exclaimed,

"O earth, cover not thou my blood,

And let my cry have no resting place.

Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven,

And He that voucheth for me is on high.

My friends scorn me;

But mine eye poureth out tears unto God;

That He would maintain the right of a man with God,

And of a son of man with his neighbour!"

Notice carefully the marvel of this word. Job was passing into deeper darkness, and yet suddenly uttered this most remarkable word. It was the cry of his spirit; it was prayer. It revealed a profound conviction.

"Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven,

And He that voucheth for me is on high."

This was an affirmation of his belief in the existence of God, and of the fact that He was in heaven, on high, that is, enthroned. He believed in God, but thought of Him as at a distance. Upon the basis of this conviction he expressed his desire that God would maintain the right of a man with God, and a son of man with his neighbour. He had said but a little while before, There is no daysman who can put his hand upon God and upon me. Now he declared that absolutely the only way for his case to be argued with God would be for God to argue it with Himself, " That He would maintain the right of a man with God." The passionate cry of his spirit was that God would become an Advocate with Himself on behalf of a man who had lost everything, and was conscious of his need.

     A step further, and he uttered even more remarkable words.

"I know that my Redeemer liveth,

And that He shall stand up at the last upon the earth:

And after my skin hath been thus destroyed,

Yet from my flesh shall I see God:

Whom I shall see for myself."

I would change the word "Redeemer" here to Vindicator ; not that Redeemer is wrong but that our use of it does not accurately convey the thought of the Hebrew word, Goel. The business of the Goel was always that of vindication, when the one to be vindicated was unable to vindicate himself. The vindication might be by ransom or revenge.

     Now said Job, "I know that my Goel liveth," that is my present conviction; " and that He shall stand up at the last -not, in the latter day, but at the end of this conflict. This was the language of the court of justice. Job was making appeal for vindication, and affirmed his conviction that his Vindicator would stand up at the end upon the dust, that is, as a prevailing Advocate. On the basis of this conviction he declared,

"And after my skin hath been thus destroyed,

Yet from my flesh shall I see God."

A question arises here as to whether "from" in this sentence means, in my flesh, or, apart from my flesh. It certainly may mean either. Dr. Davidson gives an illustration from King Lear. When one of his daughters said that it was necessary for her to write a letter "from my home," the context shows that she meant when she was away from home. He holds therefore that Job meant, When I have done with my flesh, I shall see God in my spiritual life. I do not so understand it. Whereas the context in King Lear may demonstrate the fact that by "from my home" his daughter meant when she was away from home, the phrase itself might certainly have meant that she wrote when she was at home; and I personally believe that Job used the word in this sense. It was a tremendous affirmation nominq up out of his spiritual nature, that even though his flesh seemed to be in process of destruction, yet from it, that is as still being in it, he would see God. It is quite true that he immediately added, "My reins are consumed. within me," thus revealing the fact that he passed again into consciousness of the darkness about him. Nevertheless the affirmation was in itself a flash of light out of his essential spiritual nature. I do not suggest that Job could have interpreted it in the full evangelical sense in which we understand it to-day.

     Still later he cried,

"Oh, that I knew where I might find Him,

That I might come even to His seat!

I would order my cause before Him,

And fill my mouth with arguments."

When he said this, his confidence was overshadowed; he was again in the region of despair; he declared the hopelessness of the search; and yet faith in God was tenacious, and he longed to find Him, and stand before His judgment seat.

     Yet again he cried,

"Oh, that I had one to hear me!

(Lo. here is my signature, let the Almighty answer me;)

And that I had the indictment which mine adversary hath written!"

The word "adversary" here was a legal term, indicating an opponent in the case to be tried. He thus challenged God to indict him, and in pride declared that if such an indictment were written he would carry it upon his shoulders, and bind it unto him as a crown, going as a prince into the presence of God.

     Then followed a long period of silence so far as Job was concerned. Elihu spoke, but Job did not answer him. Suddenly, in the process of the speech of Elihu, Jehovah spoke. God challenged him to attend, and then made pass before him visions of His power in the material universe, in His dealings with animate and inanimate creation. In answer to this theophany occurred the next word of Job,

"Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer Thee?

I lay mine hand upon my mouth.

Once have I spoken, and I will not answer;

Yea twice, but I will procered no further."

These words were the outcome of the awaltening of his naked spirit to the sense of the power of God. God had said no word to him about sin. God had uttered not a sentence about his sorrow. He had not spoken a sentence in explanation of the mysteries that had enshrouded him. Rather He made His glory pass before him, He put the universe in relationship to Himself, and made Job spectator. Job answered the unveiling by exclaiming, I am nothing. The word " vile" in our present use of it is a palpable mistranslation. Job meant, I do not count, I have been answering and arguing, I will say no more.

     Then there was a second unveiling of Jehovah, in which with great tenderness and gentle satire He challenged Job to take the seat of government in the universe, giving two illustrations of His purpose and power, those namely of behemoth and leviathan. Then Job exclaimed, "I abhor myself, and repent."

     Let us group these words. We see this man stripped of everything, but left with the certainties of God, himself, and conflict. Out of these circumstances of intense and utter spiritual loneliness he asked for a daysman, for intermediation between himself and God ; suggested the ultimate problem, "If-a man die, shall he live again?" ; uttered a prayer to God that He would argue with Himself about a man; then broke out into a great expression of confidence from the depths of his nature, "I know that my Vindicator liveth." This was almost immediately forgotten, and he proceeded in his quest, "Oh, that I knew where I might find Him." He challenged God to come out of hiding, and to write his indictment. Then suddenly he was brought into a sense of the presence of God in the universe, and said, "I am of small account," I will say no more. At last, without a word about sin or salvation, but only as the result of the unveiling of the power and glory of God, he abased himself and said, "I repent."

     Have these cries of a human spirit ever been answered? The question is important, for if it were possible for us to pass into similar circumstances, these are the things we should say. When all the things upon which men depend are taken away, these are the essential cries of humanity in its alienation and distance from God. First there is the need of a daysman who can put his hand on God and on man. That Daysman has appeared, and we have felt the touch of his hand. "If a man die, shall he live again?" That is the surging, agonized cry of this materialized age. We treat it often with shocking flippancy, but this is only an attempt to hide the agony. We have the answer, He hath "brought life and incorruption to light through the Gospel." Job said, Would that God would argue my case with Himself. Jesus came to declare that God has argued with Himself the case of man. Then in beautiful sequence comes the affirmation, "I know that my Redeemer liveth." We take up Job's language with fuller, richer meaning. Job demanded that he should find his way to God as Judge. God hath appointed One Who shall judge the world, and every man can come to that Throne, and argue his case in the presence of Christ. Job asked that his indictment might be written. That is a most popular challenge to-day. Men are everywhere asking that God will write their indictment, and prove them sinners. The answer of God to that challenge is to be found in the revelation of His law in the ethic of Jesus. In the presence of the revealed glory of God, Job exclaimed, "I am of small account." The answer of Jesus to that consciousness is that He first agrees therewith, and demands that man shall deny himself in order to find himself. He then declares that no man is of small account, but in the estimate of God he is worth the stoop and suffering and dying to save him. Finally Job said, " I repent in dust and ashes." Jesus gives repentance unto life, and lifts out of the dust and ashes into the dignity and glory of partnership with Himself.

     In Job we see a soul stripped naked; and hear the language of challenge, of need, and of enquiry. I turn to the New Testament and I find One Who answers the challenge, meets the need, and replies to the enquiry.

     Tear up your New Testament, and fling it to the winds; crucify the Christ of God, and let there be no resurrection; and the book of Job still lives, the unanswered agony of a soul.

     Retain the New Testament, and the agony becomes an anthem, and the despair merges into ultimate victory.