The
Sunday called Septuagesima, or the
third
Sunday before Lent.
The
Collect.
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O
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LORD, we beseech thee favourably to
hear the prayers of thy people; that we, who are justly punished for our
offences, may be mercifully delivered by thy goodness, for the glory of thy
Name; through Jesus Christ our Saviour, who liveth and reigneth with thee and
the Holy Ghost ever, one God, world without end. Amen.
1 But Job answered and
said, 2 How hast thou helped him that is without power? how savest thou
the arm that hath no strength? 3 How hast thou counselled him that hath no
wisdom? and how hast thou plentifully declared the thing as it is? 4 To
whom hast thou uttered words? and whose spirit came from thee? 5 Dead
things are formed from under the waters, and the inhabitants thereof. 6 Hell
is naked before him, and destruction hath no covering. 7 He stretcheth out
the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing. 8 He
bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds; and the cloud is not rent under
them. 9 He holdeth back the face of his throne, and spreadeth his cloud
upon it. 10 He hath compassed the waters with bounds, until the day and
night come to an end. 11 The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished
at his reproof. 12 He divideth the sea with his power, and by his
understanding he smiteth through the proud. 13 By his spirit he hath
garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent. 14 Lo,
these are parts of his ways: but how little a portion is heard of him? but the
thunder of his power who can understand? (Job
26:1-14)
The long discourse of Job begins in this chapter and extends through chapter
31. Job has had enough of the nonsensical ramblings of Bildad and his two
cohorts, and launches out in words and expressions that reveal his developing
sense of God and His purposes. In a court of law, an eyewitness is the very
best of all witnesses; but, if an eye-witness cannot be found, then a material
witness whose knowledge of the matter supports the case would be highly
desirable. Neither Bildad, Zophar, and or Eliphaz are eyewitnesses, nor are
they material witnesses since they have no intimate knowledge of God as Job
has. Allow me to use an illustration from a source of great reliability in
response to God's question to Job in Chap 38:4 – "Where wast thou
when I laid the foundation of the earth?" Two men – Joe and
Charlie – were arguing about Genesis 1:1. Joe said he believed the record of
creation just as it was written. Charlie, on the other hand, was an infidel,
and went to great length in giving his own theory of how the world began and
then developed from a primordial cell through reptiles, monkeys, and up to man.
When he was all through, Joe looked at him and asked, "Were you there,
Charlie?" It was a good question! "Of course, I was not there,"
said Charlie. Joe had the answer. He said, "Well, God was there. He was
the only One there and I'll take the word of an `eye-witness' rather than the
guesses of those who go only by "they say.'" "Were you
there?" What presumption for the creature to question the Word of the
Creator! (Dr. M.R. DeHaan, BREAD FOR EACH DAY).
There meaningful gems of great beauty in this Chapter of Job, and perhaps far
more than we, at present, can understand; but those clear gems stand out as
diamonds on black velvet. Job interrupts Bildad with this longer discourse. It
is easy to understand how Job feels if we will only remember the times when we
have known beyond doubt the truth of an issue, but have listened to a friend
ramble on with inaccuracies and misstatements. After a time, our silence cannot
be maintained. or, perhaps, we have tried to explain to a child why some
greatly desired sweet will not be good for him or her just before bedtime. The
evidence of our faith is manifested in our actions of love. 2 How
hast thou helped him that is without power? how savest thou the
arm that hath no strength? Job asks Mr. Bildad, "If you
are so strong in your convictions, let us have evidence in the things you have
done to help the widow, the orphan, or the beggar by the way?" Pure
religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the
fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from
the world. (James 1:27) What we see missing most from the aggressive
counsels of the three friends is that ONE proof of loving God – LOVE itself! A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love
one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this
shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
(John 13:34-35) I do not believe Christ introduces this `new' commandment as a
new corollary to godliness, but felt the necessity to more forcefully affirm
it. If lack love, we must make effort to love – even the unlovely. When we
perform the requisites of love toward others, it is often discovered that the
love becomes real and not affected.
Job wonders if Bildad has truly counseled others weak in wisdom. If arguments
of right are uttered out of a hateful heart, it ceases to be counseling and
becomes nagging. 3 How hast thou counselled him
that hath no wisdom? and how hast thou plentifully declared the thing
as it is? 4 To whom hast thou uttered words? and
whose spirit came from thee? Did you know that words are
uttered with certain spirit? Holy Words have the credibility of the Holy
Spirit; yet, wicked words of cursing and profanity carry in their bosom the
spirit of the wicked one. Even seemingly righteous words may carry a wrong
connotation if uttered in malice.
5 Dead things are formed from under the waters, and the
inhabitants thereof. 6 Hell is naked before him, and
destruction hath no covering. Do you believe that God is not
present in Hell? Do you know that God is `omnipresent' every place and at every
time. If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed
in hell, behold, thou art there. (Psalms 139:8) It is true that God is
fully aware of all the sufferings of Hell and its inhabitants, but the eyes of
men are blind to this place. We do not even need to be in Hell to stand naked
before God for all who are not clothed in the righteousness of Christ stand
naked in the sins before Him.
Next follows one of the most powerful verses, in my view, of the whole Book of
Job: 7 He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and
hangeth the earth upon nothing. Several years ago, I was teaching
this chapter in a youth Bible study. When we read this verse, I asked (really
referring to the latter part of the verse), "What does this mean?" A
young football player said, "Does it refer to the North Polar cap that is
not supported by a landmass?" I had never considered that possibility, but
perhaps it does mean that. The second part of the verse is a proven scientific
fact even though there remains some on the fringe who may still consider that
the earth is flat! For the first 5,500 years of man's existence, he did not
know what God has clearly stated – that He "hangeth the earth
upon nothing." We have all seen moonshots of the beautiful
blue planet (earth) that hangs in space upon nothing. God told us 3,500 years
ago in this verse what science could not know until "Columbus sailed
the ocean blue."
Water is heavier than air, isn't it? Yet, God is able to cause millions of tons
of water to be held in the air by clouds. 8 He bindeth up the
waters in his thick clouds; and the cloud is not rent under them.
The cloud that holds so many tons of water stays aloft and is not ruptured in
losing all of its moisture before the time of God's choosing. The intricate
meteorological balance required to maintain water in clouds is based on forces
unknown to man until very recent days, but devised by God in eternity past.
What did Caesar, Archbishop Cranmer, or Napoleon know of the "adiabatic
lapse rate?" (The rate of decrease of atmospheric
temperature with increase in altitude). Since warm air is able to
contain more moisture than cold air, as the air mass cools with altitude, the
moisture begins to condense and fall from the clouds as rain. God, who
developed laws of nature and science is truly a greater scientist than those
queer little men wearing white frock coats and boasting that they know more
than God. Of course, they are forced to retract their little theories not long
after that propound them if they differ from God's account in Holy Scripture.
God hides His Throne with thick clouds though He remains, Himself, invisible to
man. Do you ever feel uncomfortable in knowing that God is ALWAYS present and
aware of our thoughts, words, and deeds? That would fall into the "food
for thought" category! 9 He holdeth back the face of his
throne, and spreadeth his cloud upon it.
10 He hath compassed the waters with bounds, until the day and
night come to an end. That word, compassed, means to describe a
circle, or sphere, about the waters. Remember that photo, again, of the bright
blue planet. See how the waters of the sea conform to that compass which the
Lord has placed upon it? His tides obey the limits that God has placed upon
them as well.
11 The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his
reproof. The "pillars of heaven" is a poetic
reference to the great mountains that tremble at the rebuke of God. Earthquakes
and ground-slides are subject to His command. Job uses a sophisticated and
modern technique of personification to say that the pillars of heaven are
astonished at His reproof. Surely, they seem so when they are shaken by great
movements of the earth.
Job continues with his praise of the Mighty God in whom he has trusted. The
poetry of Job may be the most beautiful ever written. 12 He
divideth the sea with his power, and by his understanding he smiteth through
the proud. How is the sea divided? Just as counties and
cities by great highways. Do you remember that there are `paths' in the sea?
Matthew Fontaine Maury, Pathfinder of the Sea, has plotted and mapped these
paths in the sea (Gulfstream and other tropical streams) that prevent Great
Britain from becoming another Iceland. Aquatic life exists in these
"rivers of the sea" which cannot exist fifty feet away outside these
streams in the sea. The temperature may vary as much as 70 degrees Fahrenheit
from the inside to the outside of these streams. The computations Naval Charts
of Maury reduced shipping time by days and weeks, and are still used by naval
ships at sea. He was the proponent and first Director of the US Naval
Observatory and the father of the US Naval Academy at Annapolis. He was
inspired in his research by the 8th
Psalm: "…..whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas."
(Psalms 8:8)
Captain Edward J. Smith, Captain of the Titanic, felt his vessel to be
unsinkable, but it surely was not for it sank to the bottom of the North Atlantic
in the early morning hours of April 15, 1912. "…by his
understanding he smiteth through the proud)
13 By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath
formed the crooked serpent. God is the Master Artist. He has many
Masterpieces to His credit. You are one of those Masterpieces – unique,
beautiful, intricate, and designed to live with Him forever if you have
received Him in your heart. He painted the sunrise, and will paint the sunset
at day's end. I once read of a mother who took her little daughter out to the
garden one beautiful spring day. The sun was just rising with a myriad of
gold's, purples, and greys. The mother said to her daughter, "Suzie, look
at beautiful sunrise – isn't God a wonderful artist?" Why, yes, He is, mother,"
answered Suzie, "and just to think, He did it with His left hand."
"Why, Suzie," responded the mother, "why would you know He did
it with His left hand?" "Because," said Suzie, "Jesus is
sitting on His right hand just as we say in church every Sunday!" Have you
ever considered that there are more than seven billion human beings on earth
today and that there have been untold billions who have lived upon the planet
in the centuries and millennia past? Yet, each person is completely unique and
different from every other. If DaVinci or Michelangelo were called upon to
paint only three hundred different faces, it is unlikely that either of these
great artists could accomplish the challenge. But God has painted, presently,
more than seven billion such faces; and, not only faces, but each with
different DNA, mental facilities, and other personal characteristics. This,
alone, is enough to convince of the certainty of God and His great Power. And,
yes, God made the dragon constellation crooked, but I believe He made the
serpent of the Garden crooked as well once he was found guilty of his great
temptation of Eve.
14 Lo, these are parts of his ways: but how little a
portion is heard of him? but the thunder of his power who can understand?
We only have a faint and rudimentary knowledge of the fullness of God's
Person, yet we are told enough to know our responsibility and duty to Him. We
only know the fringe elements of God's power, and we hear only the portion of
Him that we can digest. The power behind the thunder is lightning, yet the
thunder is an expression of the release of that great power. God thunders in
nature and in our spirits, yet do we hear Him? Just as the old black
spiritual goes: My Lord he calls me, he calls me by the thunder;
the trumpet
sounds within-a my soul." (Steal Away to Jesus) How is the foolish
heart able to deny that Thunder? Because that which may be known of
God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the
invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being
understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so
that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they
glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations,
and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise,
they became fools. (Romans 1:19-22)
