Crucified & Exchanged

In the previous post, we mentioned Job’s wife’s response to Job’s suffering. Give her the benefit of the doubt: she may have only wanted Job’s suffering to end when she told him to curse God and die.

But we can’t really say the same about Job’s three friends of chapter 3 and beyond. They appear to be using Job’s fate as an opportunity for some get back. They seem to be gloating over his misfortunes.

Job’s three friends

• Eliphaz (probably meaning “God of gold”)
• Zophar “Chirping; rising early”
• Bildad: Hebrew, meaning Baal HAS LOVED

When these men speak up and address Job, they present 3 main arguments which are the same arguments we hear today when those who seem to be good, suffer.

Argument # 1: Calamities are from God are for your correction, the guiltless are protected from evil

Argument #2: A logical syllogism:

• God is holy and God must bring suffering on those who sin
• Job is being punished
• Job has sinned.

Argument #3: In order to end the suffering we must perform some act/work/ritual in order to appease God

Now let’s skip ahead to the end of the book. Remember in Job 42:7 God says

7And it was so, that after the LORD had spoken these words unto Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath.

Or as the Message Bible translates it:

7-8 After God had finished addressing Job, he turned to Eliphaz the Temanite and said, “I’ve had it with you and your two friends. I’m fed up! You haven’t been honest either with me or about me—not the way my friend Job has. So here’s what you must do. Take seven bulls and seven rams, and go to my friend Job. Sacrifice a burnt offering on your own behalf. My friend Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer. He will ask me not to treat you as you deserve for talking nonsense about me, and for not being honest with me, as he has.”

So what ever these men say, we ned  to judge. We have to weigh them by other scripture and the Holy Spirit. Not every spirit is the Holy Spirit. The book of Job records truthfully what the 3 friend said but we can not assume that everything these 3 men said was the gospel truth.

I am not saying this: God said it. Look again at Job 42:7,8. These men are speaking some things out of human wisdom, traditions of men. We do it today as well.

Let’s look at the first friend, Eliphaz, His name in Hebrew probably means “God of gold”. He could stand for the word of faith or prosperity gospel of today. Right speech, right action and God is obligated by His word to bless us.

People with the Eliphaz spirit will say that the suffering you are undergoing is punishment from the hand of God. Do  right and God will bless you again.

Chapter 5: sums up this “human wisdom:” do evil, God will punish you. Do good, you will be blessed: you will escape the wrath of God that is poured on the lost.

5:11 he sends water on the countryside. The lowly he sets on high, and those who mourn are lifted to safety.

again around verse 17 if chapter 5

“Blessed is the one whom God corrects;
so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.[a]
For he wounds, but he also binds up;
he injures, but his hands also heal.
From six calamities he will rescue you;
in seven no harm will touch you.
In famine he will deliver you from death,
and in battle from the stroke of the sword.
You will be protected from the lash of the tongue,
and need not fear when destruction comes.
You will laugh at destruction and famine,
and need not fear the wild animals.
For you will have a covenant with the stones of the field,
and the wild animals will be at peace with you.
You will know that your tent is secure;
you will take stock of your property and find nothing missing.
You will know that your children will be many,
and your descendants like the grass of the earth.
You will come to the grave in full vigor,
like sheaves gathered in season.
“We have examined this, and it is true.
So hear it and apply it to yourself.”

The Eliphaz spirit affecting some Word of Faith preachers says that the calamities that fall on the lost won’t hurt us. The Flu pandemics won’t touch touch believers. Failing economies, job losses, home foreclosures, senseless violence, acts of terror, sickness and disease, accidents won’t touch the believer.

Come on! We know this is not true. We all have that mother, aunt, grandmother who was a god-fearing and faithful soul but died of a stroke, or cancer, or accident.   We know of innocent child who died early. But we — because we have heard it over and over say, affirm, and preach what is not true about God.

What is the source of Eliphaz’s revelation? Where does this Eliphaz spirit come from? Chapter 4, starting at verse 12 reads:

12 “A word was secretly brought to me,
my ears caught a whisper of it.
13 Amid disquieting dreams in the night,
when deep sleep falls on people,
14 fear and trembling seized me
and made all my bones shake.
15 A spirit glided past my face,
and the hair on my body stood on end.
16 It stopped,
but I could not tell what it was.
A form stood before my eyes,
and I heard a hushed voice:
17 ‘Can a mortal be more righteous than God?
Can even a strong man be more pure than his Maker?
18 If God places no trust in his servants,
if he charges his angels with error,
19 how much more those who live in houses of clay,
whose foundations are in the dust,
who are crushed more readily than a moth!
20 Between dawn and dusk they are broken to pieces;
unnoticed, they perish forever.
21 Are not the cords of their tent pulled up,
so that they die without wisdom?’

This sounds like a night terror. A demonic presence many of us have experienced. We wake up from sleep and sense a presence near us, just out of sight. We are paralyzed. We can move no matter how much effort we exert. Sometimes, we feel pressure upon our chests. We try to scream, but we can’t even open our mouth. Or if we do manage to open our mouth, nothing comes out. This thing only leaves if we cry out to God. The instant we do, it leaves.

This is the source of the Eliphaz spirit. It is demonic. It says, “if God judged us and kicked us out of heaven, he will do the same to you. You are nothing but a back of clay.”

Do we hear this today? Those claiming to be prophets, who see visions, or hear direct words from God about your particular situation. They claim to know why you are suffering and what you need to do to get out from under it. And this despite the fact their lives are in turmoil, they say God is speaking to them about you and your sin and God’s judgment on you and your sin.

What they say has a sound of truth and may contain some truth, but if they claim that God is punishing you for your sins, they are not speaking from the Holy Spirit.

Christ died for our sins 2,000 years ago. He became cursed of God, that we might become the righteousness of God. He took our strips that we might be healed of the sin of Adam, the sinful nature. He washed us, sanctified us, justified us and today intercedes for us. He corrects, chastens, but he does not punish us.

Now let’s look at the second of Job’s so-called friends, Bildad. We are introduced to him in chapter 8. The name, “Bildad,” probably means “the one who Baal loves.” Baal was the god of the Canaanites. Hear the words of the one who the false god loves:

2 “How long will you say such things?
Your words are a blustering wind.
3 Does God pervert justice?
Does the Almighty pervert what is right?
4 When your children sinned against him,
he gave them over to the penalty of their sin.
5 But if you will seek God earnestly
and plead with the Almighty,
6 if you are pure and upright,
even now he will rouse himself on your behalf
and restore you to your prosperous state.

We Christians say that God is a Holy God and He HAS to Judge Sin. He HAS to Judge the Wicked. The Lost have to burn in hell forever and ever and ever or else God is not a Holy God. We apply to God the same principles we work under in this world system. A deterministic view where God must always act according to Law as we understand it.

This view assumes we know what the law of God is. If we believe that he always punishes the wicked, then if we see the wick suffer, the God did it. But this is not the whole truth. As we know from scripture, and from the Holy Spirit. Here is what Paul said in 1 Timothy 1:15

This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

Or John 3:16

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Or Isaiah 53:5

But he [was] wounded for our transgressions, [he was] bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace [was] upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

Or Romans 3:25

God sacrificed Jesus on the altar of the world to clear that world of sin. Having faith in him sets us in the clear. God decided on this course of action in full view of the public—to set the world in the clear with himself through the sacrifice of Jesus, finally taking care of the sins he had so patiently endured. This is not only clear, but it’s now—this is current history! God sets things right. He also makes it possible for us to live in his rightness. The Message Bible

God is not subject to our law and sense of justice. We have none. God has exercised His right to be merciful to His creation. He has the right to forgive. We believers are counting on his mercy and grace.

Finally, we look at Zophar, “the chirper”, in chapter 11 starting at verse 13:

13 “Yet if you devote your heart to him
and stretch out your hands to him,
14 if you put away the sin that is in your hand
and allow no evil to dwell in your tent,
15 then, free of fault, you will lift up your face;
you will stand firm and without fear.
16 You will surely forget your trouble,
recalling it only as waters gone by.
17 Life will be brighter than noonday,
and darkness will become like morning.
18 You will be secure, because there is hope;
you will look about you and take your rest in safety.
19 You will lie down, with no one to make you afraid,
and many will court your favor.
20 But the eyes of the wicked will fail,
and escape will elude them;
their hope will become a dying gasp.”

We all know those church folks who always have “a word,” for us. Like a bird chirping, they are continually quoting scripture or repeating something they heard some preacher say. They spout out words they don’t really understand or believe. They are just “fellowshipping”.

The Zophar spirit is also manifest in those who come with systems, methods, and steps to achieve, “Your best life now” or how to have a “Purposeful life”, 7 Steps to Prosperity. This is what we hear today. You are in mess. If would just follow these 3 steps, God will lift the curse and bless you.

They say:

• God wants to bless you, but you don’t tithe.
• God wants to bless you but you have generational curses and he can’t over come them so you must to a-z to get rid of curses/demons/familiar spirits/ etc.
• God want’s to bless you but you have this sin you cling to.
• God wants to bless you, but you won’t completely submit to church leadership

This has a veneer of truth. Surely, believers need to give. We need to get rid of soul-stealing relationships. And we must live holy.

But there is no plan we need to follow but to confess — live out in word and deed — that Jesus is Lord. We need only to believe and accept that He died for our sins according to scripture and that He forever intercedes on our behalf.

And — and here is the hard part — despite our circumstances, know that God will give us the ability and strength to rise above them all. We can say like Paul that

• We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed;
• we are perplexed by what is going on in our lives at this time, but not in despair;
• that we are persecuted and afflicted by Satan, but not forsaken by God
• that by appearances, we are struck down and they think we will never rise, but we are immortal, indestructible sons and daughters of God.

Amen!