Questions Without Answers

Amy was 21 or 22. She was about to be married, was engaged to be married to Gary. She's from Georgia, but was in Kentucky with her grandparents because she was picking out a wedding dress with them and they wanted to enjoy doing that with her. She went home that evening. Their house caught fire, it burned to the ground, and she and her grandparents died.

Matt was 23 or 24, newly married, and had just shipped off to his honeymoon, and was in Jamaica. He started not feeling overly good, and when his wife left the room to go down the hall to get some ice, she came back and his heart had exploded and he had died. The same guys who stood up for him in his wedding a week earlier were now his pallbearers.

These are real stories of real people, both of which who were my friends. You can imagine that those that they left behind were asking questions about why. They were asking questions about what happened. How could this have happened? What happened? I was asking the same question, why? I mean these were godly people. Amy, a godly young lady. Matt, a godly young man. Wonderful, incredible people, yet they had tragically died. I asked the question, why?

Now, after many years of what I would call spiritual growth and maturity, and after spending time pondering the nature of who God is, and giving my life to the study of his Word, I've been able to answer that question why with three simple words, I don't know. I don't know if that's comforting to you or not, but it has been to me. There's a place in our lives where I don't know can actually free us, because we get shackled by the fact that we feel like we have to know everything about everything, that somehow we're owed that, that somehow we have to know everything about everything.

We have to be able to unshackle ourselves from that, and a good place to be able to do that is to turn our attention to one of the oldest books in the history of civilization. I'm not just talking about the Bible. I'm talking about one of the oldest books in the Bible, the book of Job. If you have a copy, I would encourage you to turn there. Maybe while you're doing that, someone here can turn off whatever's buzzing back there, the fan or the something. Just turn it off, because I'm going to go nuts standing up here, alright. Thank you. That was quick. That went off immediately. I'm going to ask for other stuff now. Let's have a helipad on top of the church.

See, the book of Job is a much admired book by a lot of people. In particular, poets and authors have marveled at the book of Job. I don't know if you remember the name Alfred Lord Tennyson, who was a poet laureate for Britain. He actually said that Job was the most impactful and most beautiful poem of both ancient and modern times.

Maybe you know the name Victor Hugo, the French author who wrote The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Les Miserables. Listen to what Victor Hugo said in an article that he wrote. He said, "Tomorrow if all literature was to be destroyed and it was left to me to retain one work only, I should save Job."

Startling, huh? Why are they so enthralled? Why are authors, and poets, and others so enthralled with the book of Job? I think here's why. Because what Job does is it answers or it asks a whole lot of questions that are existential, that are deep, that are at the core of why we think what we think and how we try and understand it. It asks questions about suffering, and how does suffering happen to really great people like Job, and what is God's involvement in all of this, and what is evil, and why is it doing what it's doing? We've got all of that kind of put together in this book.

But you know what's interesting about this book, Job? It asks all of those questions, but it doesn't answer them all. That may be frustrating for you, but I think that there's things that we can learn from this book that I'm hopeful in our time together that we'll learn.

Now, I want to go ahead and confess out front that I'm about to bite off more than I can chew, because what I'm going to do is I'm going to basically preach the entire book of Job. Now, that doesn't mean that I'm reading all 42 chapters that are in Job. Job is not a small book. It's got 42 chapters, and I'm not going to read all of it. I'm going to read three-fourths of it. Just kidding. But I am going to summarize the whole book.

We're going to take a jet tour through the book of Job, and here's why. Because you need to understand the beginning from the end. You have to understand the whole thing. it's not one of those books where you just come in and grab a thing here or there. You have to understand all of what's going on.

Now, what Job, how it's structured, it's structured kind of like an ancient epic. When you have an ancient epic, there's a way in literature that these are structured. You have a prologue, and then you have the main point of the book, and then you have an epilogue at the end. Now, the prologue is where people spend the majority of their time in the book of Job, but that's actually not the point, because when you're reading ancient literature in an epic format like this, you have to realize that the prologue is actually trying to get you to the main point. The prologue is the setup. It's not the full meal deal. It's just the setup to get you to what the book is trying to communicate. Then the epilogue says, "And here's what happened after that."

In the prologue here, we're introduced to Job, and here's what it says in Job chapter 1. "In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. He had seven sons and three daughters, and he owned 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen and 500 donkeys, and had a large number of servants." He was wealthy.

"He was the greatest man among all the people of the East. His sons used to hold feasts in their homes on their birthdays." They had birthday parties. "And they would invite their three sisters," which was nice of them, "To eat and drink with them." Some brothers don't do that.

"When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would make arrangements for them to be purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts. This was Job's regular custom."

In other words, we're introduced to Job, and here's what we find out about Job. Job is a great, great guy. He's a wonderful man. He's a wonderful father. He even goes so far as to act as a priest for his home and offer sacrifices in the event that something had come into his kids' minds that shouldn't have. He's actually trying to act as an intermediator on their behalf. Job is a wonderful, godly man who's living in this town in Arabia called Uz, and that's how we're introduced to Job right out of the gate.

But then the scene changes in the prologue, and we find out that not everything that's happening where Job is on Earth is all that's going on. Now we get carted up to basically the Oval Office of heaven, kind of the central control room, and here's what's going on there. It says in verse 6, "One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them. The Lord said to Satan, Where have you come from? Satan answered the Lord, From roaming throughout the Earth, going back and forth on it."

"Then the Lord said to Satan, Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on Earth like him. He's blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. Does Job fear God for nothing? Satan replied. Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face. The Lord said to Satan, Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger. Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord."

You know what happened after that, right? Job's animals, Job's servants, and Job's 10 children, all gone, all of them. Do you know how Job responded? He still faithfully trusted the Lord. This is a godly man we're talking about.

But then something else happens in this control room as we go back to see it. Here's what it says in Job chapter 2 verse 1. It says, "On another day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them to present himself before him. And the Lord said to Satan, Where have you come from? Satan answered the Lord, From roaming throughout the Earth, going back and forth on it."

"Then the Lord said to Satan, Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on Earth like him. He's blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.”

Now, pause right there for just a second. God is saying, "You tried this. You tried taking everything away from him, because what you said, Satan ..." By the way, that term Satan there in the Hebrew, it actually has the definitive article in front of it, the world the, so it's the Satan. It's not just a name like Jerry, or Greg, or John, or Billy, or Carol. It's not just a name. It's not a personal name. It's a descriptor. The word itself means adversary or accuser, and he's being referred to as the accuser or the adversary, not as, "Hey, your name is Satan."

But what this adversary does is he basically says to God, "This guy's only worshiping you and following you because he's got a bunch of stuff. You've blessed him. He's got all of this stuff. You take it away and he's going to curse you to your face." God said, "Have at it. Don't touch him. Have at it." He does. Does Job curse God to his face after losing everything? This is traumatic. After losing everything, Job does not. He's still faithfully follows after God.

The enemy, the adversary, the accuser comes back into the presence of the Lord and says, "Well, if you touch him, this is where it's going to go down," because he says, "Skin for skin! Satan replied. A man will give all he has for his own life. But now stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face."

"The Lord said to the Satan, Very well, then. He's in your hands, but you must spare his life. So Satan, or the Satan, went out from the presence of the Lord and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head."

Amazing. Job actually now is personally afflicted. It's a leprous type of disease. He's got sores all over him. He is struggling. He is finding himself in a horrible place, and guess what his response is? He still trusts God. He's still faithful to God.

But interestingly enough, after some time passes, we find Job in Job chapter 3 basically bemoaning his state and lamenting the day he was born. You know that feeling, don't you? If you've ever been really, really sick or you've had a really, really bad migraine to the point you can't have anything around you, or see anything, or do anything, like it's really, really bad, right? All of a sudden, you're like, "Oh, man. I wish this would go away. I dread the day I was born. I don't want to live like this." It's not that you really dread that day, but you really do.

Job is lamenting in chapter 3 what's happening with him. Then in chapter 4, some of his friends show up. He's got three friends, Eliphaz ... What a great name, man, Eliphaz. That's just a ... Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar. These are some sweet names, right? They show up and they're going to supposedly give Job some wisdom. They're going to sit with him. They first just sit with him and don't talk. They just kind of sit there and they don't talk.

But then, eventually they start talking. Listen to this. From chapter 4 all the way through chapter 31, you have three series of conversations that happened between Job's friends and Job. There's a lot going on here, right? A lot.

They're having this conversation. What do his friends do? Well, his friends start laying on them their proverbial wisdom that they think that they have, what they understand about the world at this point. It sounds something like this. Job 4, here's what Eliphaz said. "Consider now, who being innocent has ever perished? Where were the upright ever destroyed? As I have observed, those who plow evil and those who sow trouble reap it. At the breath of God they perish; at the blast of his anger they are no more."

In other words, here's what Eliphaz was saying to Job. "You've obviously done something wrong, because those who sow evil, that's what they reap. You're getting whatever you deserve." That's what he's saying.

Then if you fast forward to Job 8, another one of his friends, Bildad, says this. "When your children sinned against God, he gave them over to the penalty of their sin." What a staggering thing to say. His kids weren't necessarily doing anything at that particular time, but he's saying, "Your kids obviously did something wrong."

You see, what's happening in the book of Job is that there are three themes that are going on in the book of Job that are being discussed simultaneously. I'm going to jot them down for you. Forgive my handwriting, alright. Here's the first one, that God is sovereign and good. Alright, that's the first theme that we're wrestling with in Job. The second one is this, is that God rewards good, and then the inverse of that punishes ... This is terrible. Evil. Alright. Then the third is this, that Job is innocent.

I'm going to leave these up here for you, if you can even understand what I just wrote. Those are the three things that are being dealt with. I borrowed those. There was a Hebrew scholar that brought out there, and I massaged them a little bit. His name is really hard to say. God is sovereign and good, God rewards good and punishes evil, and Job is innocent.

Here's the problem though. These three themes are being dealt with in Job, but here's the problem. Only two of the three can be true at the same time. That's why there's this tension in the book. Only two of the three can be true at the same time. You can imagine, here's where Job's friends are landing. They believe God is sovereign and good. Fair enough. They believe God rewards good and punishes evil. Therefore, they don't believe that Job is innocent. They believe Job deserves whatever he's getting. That's what they continue to tell him.

As you can imagine, that begins to weigh a bit on Job. Job's friends obviously thought that he did wrong. The conversation goes all the way through chapter 31. Then we start to see Job's frustration, because here's what Job knows. Job actually knows that he didn't do anything specific to earn whatever's happened to him. He knows that. He believes that. He's been making his case along this line.

Imagine what's running through his head. He's asking himself probably, "Is God really as in control and sovereign as he supposedly says he is? Is God really as good as he says he is? Because I know I haven't done anything specifically to earn this kind of stuff that's happening in my life. Or maybe God doesn't reward the good and he doesn't punish evil. Maybe he punishes good." Could you imagine what's going on in Job's mind?

You can hear the frustration over and over in his mind and in his life. He gets to the place where he starts presenting his case like he's in a courtroom. It's in essence like he puts God on trial, because he's not frustrated because he can't figure out everything about what's happening to him. He knows that he didn't do anything to deserve it so to speak, but he can't put it all together in his mind, so he puts God on trial.

Listen to what he says in chapter number 31. He says, "For what is our lot from God above, our heritage from the Almighty on high? Is it not ruin for the wicked, disaster for those who do wrong? Does he not see my ways and count my every step? If I've walked with falsehood or my foot has hurried after deceit, let God weigh me in honest scales and he will know that I am blameless. If my steps have turned from the path, if my heart has been led by my eyes, or if my hands have been defiled, then may others eat what I have sown and may my crops be uprooted."

"Oh, that I had someone to hear me! I sign now my defense. Let the Almighty answer me. Let my accuser put his indictment in writing." He's saying this to God. "Surely I would wear it on my shoulder. I would put it on like a crown. I would give him an account of my every step. I would present it to him as to a ruler." Job is now putting God on trial and basically saying, "I haven't done anything to deserve what's going on here," and he makes his case like he's an attorney in a courtroom making his case against God.

Well, you know what his friends say? Nothing. They don't say anything. They can't really answer Job. There's this person who now comes into the story named Elihu, another great name. Elihu is younger than these other friends, but he's hearing what's going on and it's starting to make him angry. Look at what it says in Job 32.

He says, "So these three men," the friends of Job, "Stopped answering Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. But Elihu son of Barakel the Buzite," awesome family name, "Of the family of Ram, became very angry with Job for justifying himself rather than God." Jesus was justifying himself rather than God. "He was also angry with the three friends, because they had found no way to refute Job, and yet they condemned him. Now Elihu had waited before speaking to Job because they were older than he, but when he saw that the three men had nothing more to say, his anger was aroused."

He was just mad. You know what happens? For the next six chapters ... I told you I'm buzzing through Job. For the next six chapters, what Elihu does is he basically acts like he is the defense attorney for God. "Job, oh Job, you're going to put God on trial?" Elihu says, "Alright. I'm going to act as a defense attorney for God."

Here's what Elihu says in chapter 35. "Do you think this is just, Job? You say, I'm in the right, not God. Yet you ask him, What profit is it to me, and what do I gain by not sinning? I would like to reply to you and to your friends with you. Look up at the heavens and see. Gaze at the clouds so high above you. If you sin, how does that affect him? If your sins are many, what does that do to him? If you are righteous, what do you give to him? What does he receive from your hand? Your wickedness only affects humans like yourself, and your righteousness only other people."

In other words, he's saying, "God is so much bigger than all of this. What are you doing trying to put him on trial? If you're doing bad, do you think that makes him something different? Nope. If you're doing good, do you think that adds anything to him? Nope. What are you doing, Job?"

Job, you can probably tell, Job is frustrated, but what happens is, is that this defense that Elihu is giving about God is really just setting the table, because someone else is about to enter into the story, God. You see, up to this point, we're 30-something chapters in. God hasn't said a word to Job. Job's been going all through this, and God hasn't said anything to Job. Now, God has heard enough. Job's been complaining. Job's been wrongly looking at who God is. Elihu kind of sets the table, and then listen to what happens in Job 38.

God says this. "“Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man. I will question you, and you shall answer me." "I hear you, Job. You've been bringing all these questions. You've been aiming all this stuff at me." Here's what God says, "You'd better buckle up, son. I'm going to ask the questions around here, and you're going to answer me."

This is where you start going, "Oh, man." What did he start saying to Job? I want you to listen. I'm going to read a larger swath here, because I want you to understand how much God is pouring on Job at this point, because Job has put God on trial, and then God says, "That's enough. Buckle up. Be ready like a man, because I'm about to bring it." Listen to what he says.

“Where were you, Job, when I laid the Earth's foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy? Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness, when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place, when I said, This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt?"

"Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place, that it might take the earth by the edges and shake the wicked out of it? The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its features stand out like those of a garment. The wicked are denied their light, and their upraised arm is broken. Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep? Have the gates of death been shown to you? Have you seen the gates of the deepest darkness? Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth? Tell me, if you know all this."

"What is the way to the abode of light? And where does darkness reside? Can you take them to their places? Do you know the paths to their dwellings? Surely you know, for you were already born! You have lived so many years!"

"Have you entered the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of the hail, which I reserve for times of trouble, for days of war and battle? What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed, or the place where the east winds are scattered over the Earth? Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain, and a path for the thunderstorm to water a land where no one lives, an uninhabited desert, to satisfy a desolate wasteland and make it sprout with grass?"

"Does the rain have a father? Who fathers the drops of dew? From whose womb comes the ice? Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens when the waters become hard as stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen?"

"Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades? Can you loosen Orion's belt? Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead outside the bear with its cubs? Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you set up God's dominion over the earth? Tell me, Job, can you?"

God is just this little piece right here asked 26 questions. It's really more than that, because many of them are compound questions inside of one question. Over the course of a couple chapters, he asks over 60 questions to Job. Do you know what he's getting at? I can summarize all of those questions into one question that God is asking Jesus and here it is. "Who do you think you are? Who do you think you are?"

That's what God says to Job. Job puts God on trial, and God says, "Buckle up, son. I will ask the questions now. Who do you think you are?"

You see, this is a problem that we have, the same problem Job had. Sometimes we think we're somebody we're not when it comes to talking about God and talking to him, as if God owes us an explanation for everything. Who do you think you are, Job?

By the way, God's not done. He didn't just land where I landed. He keeps going. See, he starts with what we call the inanimate universe. He's talking about the constellations, and the seas, and the light and the darkness. He's basically saying, "Oh, do you know what's going on here, Job? Of course you don't!"

But then he moves to the animate world, and he starts talking about the animal kingdom, and he starts talking about, "Hey, do you just watch when the gazelle is having a baby? Do you know when all of that's happening? Do you know why I gave the ostrich wings but it cannot fly? Do you understand all of these things too, Job? Of course you don't! You don't know jack squat!" That's in the Hebrew, literal translation, jack squat.

He reminds him he doesn't know anything. He overwhelms him with questions about details that he knows Job doesn't have an answer for. Listen to this. Why did he do that? He wants Job to understand something. Hear me. He wants Job to understand this, that if he cannot understand the natural order of the cosmos and how it operates, how would he ever be able to understand the moral order of the universe and how it operates?

What God does, listen to his, he argues from the lesser to the greater. "You can't even understand the natural order of how everything exists that I have brought into being. How in the world do you think you could understand the moral order, Job?"

Well, he overwhelms Job with details, and so now God wants an answer from Job. Of course, he's asked him, "Who do you think you are?" Here's how Job responds in chapter 40. God begins by saying, "Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him? Let him who accuses God answer him." He's talking to Job. "Then Job answered the Lord. I am unworthy. How can I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth. I spoke once, but I have no answer; twice, but I will say no more."

You might be thinking to yourself, "That's a good answer, Job. You finally got there." Nope. Nope. Because you know what God says after Job says that? "Mm-mm (negative). I'm not done with you. Buckle up, son." Listen to what he says.

"Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm. Brace yourself like a man. I will question you, and you shall answer me. Would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself? Do you have an arm like God's and can your voice thunder like his? Then adorn yourself with glory and splendor, and clothe yourself in honor and majesty. Unleash the fury of your wrath, look at all who are proud and bring them low, look at all who are proud and humble them, crush the wicked where they stand. Bury them all in the dust together. Shroud their faces in the grave. Then I myself will admit to you that your own right hand can save you."

You know what he's saying to Job here? "Not only do you not have the understanding of the universe, you don't have a clue about how the cosmos was made, you don't have a clue about how I formed all the animals of the world, but not only that, you don't even have the power to enact anything. You've got no understanding and you've got no power, yet you want to play God! You want to justify how you think about things rather than I think about things. You can't comprehend and you don't even have any power."

"Try it on. You want to be God for a day? Go for it. Let me see what you've got. Let me see what you've got. Then I'll admit to you, but I know you don't."

Some of you are going, "This is a tough day for Job." For sure. Job finally got it. Listen to what's said in Job 42. "Then Job finally replied to the Lord. I know that you can do all things. No purpose of yours can be thwarted. You asked, Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge? Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. You said, Listen now, and I will speak. I will question you, and you shall answer me. My ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and I repent in dust and ashes."

There's a principle here that I don't you to miss. To say it simply, it would be this. When our eyes finally see God, we will say, "Who do I think I am?" When our eyes finally see who God is in his sovereignty, in his glory, in his majesty, you know how we'll respond? We'll respond by agreeing with him when he was saying to Job through a series of 60-plus questions, "Who do you think you are?" When we finally see God, do you know what we'll say? "Who do I think I am? Who do I think I am putting this God with this understanding on trial, when I don't know anything and I don't have the power to do anything?"

You see, ladies and gentlemen, this lesson for us is really important because we would either be ignorant or arrogant to think that God owes us an explanation for everything. You see, we live in a culture of all about me. We live in a culture of, "What are my rights? I want my voice to be heard." That's why so many of us, we can't help ourselves when we see an article. We've just got to fill up the comment section, because everybody needs to know what we think. Because we can change the world with all of our argumentative comments on articles. How's that working for you by the way? It's not.

But that's the world that we live in. We live in that kind of world, that everybody wants their voice to be heard. My voice is important. My voice is more important. My voice is more important. It's all about my rights. God owes me an explanation for everything that happens in my life. If I don't like it, I'm putting God on trial. It's his fault.

We are either ignorant or arrogant to think that God owes us an explanation for everything. He doesn't. Who do we think we are? But when we see him, when we begin to see how he has revealed himself, we begin to say, "Who do I think I am?" Like Job did, he repented.

You see, it's interesting, because with these three themes that we're talking about here, we know because of how we see the story, Job didn't see it all, but we know how we see the story, that God is sovereign and good. We also know in this story that Job is actually innocent. He's blameless. God says so. All of this that befalls him is not because he sinned or did something wrong. That's why we have to look at the second piece here, where his friends kept hitting. God rewards the good and he punishes the evil.

Listen. Ultimately, that's true. The way everything is going to end up, God is going to reward those who have followed after him, and he is going to punish and finally deal with wickedness. God will do that, but that doesn't always play out in the now.

That's where we find ourselves confused, right? Because we take the same approach that Job's friends did, and therefore we have a wrong understanding of the nature of who God is, because we think to ourselves, "No. If I do good, Jesus owes me. If I do bad, God punishes me." It's much deeper and richer than that, because you're talking about a God who knows everything all at the same time and you, who are very limited.

Let me put it to you this way. It's like a six-year-old girl who's in her second story bedroom playing with her dolls and whatever else she's doing. In bursting through the door is her dad. He bursts through the door, takes her chair from her little wooden desk where she plays school, and throws it through her second story window. The only thing that that little six-year-old can understand at that moment is that it seems like daddy needs to be in time out for six months. Daddy is being bad. Because that six-year-old knows, "I'm not allowed to break things. I'm not allowed to throw things. I'm not allowed to do any of this." The only thing in her head is, "Daddy must be being a bad daddy."

Except she only knows what she knows. She's six and she's got a really limited knowledge. What she doesn't understand is that the entire house is going up in flames, and daddy has burst into the room, and taken a chair, and thrown it through a window which would be their only way of escape. They go out, and then they jump two stories down.

But wouldn't it be perfectly and properly childish of this six-year-old to be upset with her dad that she got cuts on her arms going through the broken glass and that she has got bruises and maybe a sprain from having to jump with him all the way down? She blames him. "You did this. Your fault. You've been a bad daddy."

It's because she doesn't have all the information. She didn't know what he was up to. But in a few years when she realizes what her dad did, she's going to feel embarrassed about her response.

That's where Job was, and I bet you, you and I have been there from time to time. That we are like six-year-old little girls who are blaming God for being a bad daddy because of things that have happened in our lives, the cuts, the bruises, the sprains, the pain. But we don't see it all. He does.

You see, that's why this book is so important to me and I want it to be important to you, because it answers questions that we have, but maybe not in the way that we think. You see, the way that this book is designed, this isn't the end of the story. See, I told you that Job had a prologue, and then it has a main section, and then it has an epilogue, what happened after that.

Well, what happened after that is that after Job had gone through all of this, Job repents and you know what God does? He restores Job's friends. He restores his family. Job apparently get married again. You know how many kids he has? 10. You know how many he lost? 10. You can't just replace a child one-for-one, so it's actually like he got double the amount of children, because he had 10 that perished and he's got 10 now born after this. Do you know how they were delineated? Seven males, three females, just like they were.

Do you know that God also restored his fortunes? He gave him back, listen to this, double what he ever had. Do you know he was already extremely wealthy, more than anybody in the East? God gave him back double after this. Then he also gave Job, listen to this, a future. He restored his friends, his family, his fortune, and his future.

Why do I know that? Well, look at what the end of Job says. It says, "After this," after all this had happened, right? "Job lived 140 years after this. He saw his children and their children to the fourth generation."

Here's what we believe to have happened. Job lived for 70 years and then Job was afflicted with all of these things. After that, Job was able to live 140 years. What's 140 divided by 2? 70. God doubled his years.

You know what's so interesting about 70? He gave him two 70s in a row. 70 is a combination of 7 times 10. Both of those are very important, symbolic numbers in Hebrew, because they signify completion, fulfillment. In fact, this is what Isaiah was prophesying hundreds of years after Job. Isaiah was prophesying about this new people of God that would eventually be formed in this creation, and listen to what Isaiah said in chapter 61.

He said, "Instead of your shame, you will receive a double portion. And instead of disgrace, you will rejoice in your inheritance. And so you will inherit a double portion in your land and everlasting joy will be yours."

You see, why this entire thing encourages me, why when I read the book that is encourages me is this, and the reason that I took on preaching the entire book to you today, at least in summary form, is for this reason, is because the book of Job is a picture of our destiny for those of us who put our faith in Christ.

There's a prologue. We face things we don't understand. We suffer sometimes and we don't know why. There are reasons why we suffer sometimes, and we should know those. Sometimes we will suffer for doing good. Peter talked about that in his writing, right? We'll be persecuted for doing good in the name of Jesus, and we know where it's coming from. There's other times where we know that we are sinning and we're reaping the consequences of our sin. The whole Bible talks about that. But then there are other times where suffering happens and we just don't know why. We just don't know why.

There's a prologue. There's a body of life that happens, but there's an epilogue. You see, that's why people like James, the half-brother of Jesus, and people like Paul would write some of the statements that they wrote in the New Testament, because they have this backdrop of knowing that we've got this picture in Job of what our destiny is actually going to look like.

Remember what James, the half-brother of Jesus, wrote in James 5. He says, "As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You've heard of Job's perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy." That's why Paul can say this in Romans chapter 8. "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us."

You see, ladies and gentlemen, the book of Job for me is for those of us that are in Christ, it is a picture. I don't know a lot of things. There are a lot of things that I don't know. I don't always know why godly people suffer and face tragedy. I don't always know God doesn't always tell us. I don't always know why God chooses or initiates certain things in the world. I don't always know and God doesn't always tell us, but this I do know, that you and I need to trust God no matter what comes our way, because ultimately God is going to restore all things. That I do know.

For those of us ... Listen to this. For those of us that are in Christ, we continue to trust God no matter what comes our way, because ultimately we may not see it in this life, but ultimately God is going to restore all things. How do I know that? Do I know that just from this book called Job where I go, "This is a picture"? No, no. I know it because Jesus is the perfect embodiment of this, that God with skin on shows us how this works.

You see, Jesus lost his friends. He lost his family. His fortune was set aside. Where he was ruling and had everything, now he sets it all aside and he comes and is born in humility to a family that didn't have much, and he says, "The Son of Man has no place to lay his head."

We seemingly thought Jesus was going to lose his future when he is nailed by his hands and his feet to a wooden cross and publicly displayed for all the world to see. But the God who knows everything about everything at the same time was working a plan for his glory. He raised Jesus from the dead.

Listen to this. You say Jesus wasn't married. Nope, but he got a bride restored to him. He got friends and family back called the body of Christ, the family of God. He now ... Listen to this. Now, everything is for him, and through him, and in him, and he has dominion over all things. His fortune is restored and his future.

Paul says it this way, that, "He became obedient even unto death, the death of a cross. Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee would bow in heaven, and on Earth, and under the Earth, and every tongue would proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Of his kingdom and his dominion there shall be no end." All of it restored.

For those of us that find ourselves in Christ, we can trust God that no matter what comes our way, whether we understand it or we don't, no matter what befalls us, we continue to trust God. Why? Because we've seen him. Who do we think we are? He is God. We are not. He can be trusted because he's sovereign, and wise, and good, and he knows everything about everything. He knows why he's broken the glass. He knows why our arms are cut. He knows why we've hurt ourselves. Because he's got something bigger going on. We trust him no matter what comes our way, because we know that ultimately God is going to restore all things.

That's why there is this thing we call new creation where he will wipe every tear from every eye. This one's getting on me, and this is the second time I've preached it.

This is the beautiful truth of Job. This is the beautiful truth of Job, and that's why we needed to understand the whole book, the whole book in one sermon, so that we could learn to trust God no matter what comes our way. Because ultimately, God is going to restore all things for those who are in him.

I still remember the words of Charles Spurgeon when he said this. "When you can't trace God's hand, trust his heart." God can be trusted even when we don't understand. Let's bow our heads together.

Before we walk out in just a moment, if you're here and you've never before come to a place of surrendering your life to the God who made you, who's given you life and breath, who knows everything about everything, and who loves you so much that he sent his son to die in your place to satisfy his holiness in judging son. Jesus did that so that we could be reconciled to God through faith and through the grace that God has shown us. If you've never come to a place where you've humbled yourself before him, have confessed Jesus as Lord and received him as your Lord and Savior, then when we dismiss in just a moment, I would encourage you, whether you're in this room or in our East Worship Center, to come straight across the atrium into our Fireside Room and talk with somebody about what it means to receive Jesus and to know him personally.

Father, for all of us who claim to be in you, to know you, I know that there have been times in all of our lives where we've asked a lot of questions about why. But God, I pray that today we would have a fresh revelation and vision of who you are, and as a result of that vision of who you are we would say, "Who do we think we are?" That we would understand our place is to trust you, because you know everything all at the same time and we have a six-year-old limited understanding.

May you help us, God, to demonstrate to a world that feels that it is owed an explanation for everything that we can be a people who while being thoughtful and while engaging in deep thinking, we can have a quiet and a confident trust because we know who you are, God. May the world around us be able to see that peace that overshadows us because of our confidence in you, that they might be attracted to what it means to become reconciled to God through your son, Jesus Christ. We pray this in Jesus' name. All God's people said-

Congregation:       Amen.