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Transcript/ notes from Session 4, “He Redeems My Life from the Pit”

Introduction

Welcome to, Session 4 of the Benefits of the Cross series. This session is entitled, “He Redeems My Life from the Pit.” 

Psalm 103:1-4 – Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name! 2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: 3 Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, 4 Who redeems your life from destruction…

Other versions, such as NASB, say –

Psalm 103:4, NASB – Who redeems your life from the pit…

As I meditated on that, I imagined Jesus coming down into the pit of humanity and lifting us out. We fell into the pit by falling short –

Romans 3:23 – all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Jesus stooped down to lift us out by paying the wages with His own blood. And He brought us up to where He is: heavenly places. 

Ephesians 1:20-21 – He [God] raised Him [Jesus] from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.

Ephesians 2:4-7 – But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, [And why did He save us and raise us up to heaven? So – ] 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 

He raised us up out of the pit to heavenly places to demonstrate and display the exceeding riches of His unmerited favor in His kindness towards us!

We are seated in the heavenly places “in Christ” – not just in heavenly places – but “in Christ.” The angels and demons are in the unseen realm called the heavens, but we are in the highest place “in Christ.” It’s called epouranios. He is above all, therefore, we are above all in Him.

Ephesians 1:3 – Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.

God wants you blessed. Jesus paid for it. Amen?!

Pit

Back to Psalm 103:4 – 

Psalm 103:4, NASB – Who redeems your life from the pit…

“Pit” is the Hebrew word is šaḥaṯ/ shachath (shakh’-ath) and primarily refers to a pit or a place of destruction. It is often used to describe a state of ruin or corruption, both physically, morally, and spiritually.

It can denote a literal pit, such as a cistern or a trap, or it can symbolize the grave or a place of judgment and decay. The imagery of a pit was used to convey the idea of being trapped, lost, or in a state of hopelessness. 

We were in a pit that we could not lift ourselves out of. We cannot redeem ourselves. This has been the state of mankind since the fall of man. We fell short. The Psalmist wrote:

Psalm 49:7-8, ESV – Truly no man can ransom another, or give to God the price of his life, 8 for the ransom of their life is costly and can never suffice, 9 that he should live on forever and never see the pit.

Without Jesus we had no hope. 

Romans 6:23 – For the wages of sin is death, [Whose death? It should have been ours, but the Son of God became the Son of Man so He could die in our place.] but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Redeem

Psalm 103:4, NASB – Who redeems your life from the pit…

“Redeem” is the Hebrew word “gā’al” [gaw-al’] – to ransom, act as kinsman-redeemer, avenge; to buy back or reclaim something or someone, often in the context of familial duty. This term is used to describe the act of a close relative who restores the rights of another and avenges their wrongs. It encompasses both legal and relational aspects, emphasizing the responsibility and privilege of kinship.

Jesus became our Kinsman Redeemer – He became one of us, and we are His next of kin. He avenged our wrong by becoming our sin at the cross.

As our Kinsman Redeemer, Jesus owns the title deed to the earth. He has fulfilled the terms and conditions. He broke the seal of the tomb (Matthew 27:62-66) and overcame death. 

He paid the price in His own blood to buy us out of the slavery of sin and death in eternity and out of destruction and a cursed life today.

Galatians 3:13-14 – Christ has redeemed us [Exagorazō – bought us out from under] from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), 14 that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

We have been redeemed from the curse of the law which includes all kinds of adversity – marriage curses, curses on children, curses on finances, sickness and disease. Man agreed to this contract because of self-righteousness – he believed he could pull his end of the bargain and achieve righteousness on his own.

The law says if we do not obey, if we sin, if we fail, we are cursed. Grace says, Jesus obeyed so that we could be blessed. Blessed how? With the blessing of Abraham. What does that mean? We are blessed because we are righteous by faith, not by our works.

Never accept a cursed life, because stroke by stroke the full force of the entire curse of the law fell on Jesus. There are no generational curses for the family of God because our Kinsmen Redeemer has redeemed our lives from destruction.

Our families are blessed, our finances are blessed, our bodies are blessed, our lives are blessed, not because we are good, but because Jesus is good.

If there is a blessing in the scriptures, receive it for yourself – not because of YOUR righteousness, but because of His. HE purchased it for you. And He should get what He paid for. 

He redeems “your life”

Psalm 103:4, NASB – Who redeems your life from the pit…

“Life” is the Hebrew word  chay/ ḥay – [khah’-ee].  It means alive, living; appetite, fresh, strong

In the Old Testament, “chay” is often used to contrast with death, emphasizing the dynamic and active nature of life. It can also refer to the quality of life, such as in expressions of well-being or flourishing.

In ancient Hebrew culture, life was seen as a divine gift from God, and the concept of “chay” was deeply intertwined with the covenant relationship between God and His people.

Life was not only a biological state but also a spiritual condition, reflecting one’s relationship with God. The Israelites understood life as a blessing and a sign of God’s favor.

Since “chay” in Psalm 103:4 is used in relation to God redeeming our lives from the pit, “chay” speaks of not only our spiritual lives but also our natural lives in relation to how God takes care of us. When God redeems our lives from the pit, it’s “both temporal and eternal; from deadly dangers and miseries.” (Benson). 

Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He redeemed lives from the pit then, and He redeems our lives now. Why? Because He loves us.

We tend to think there must be a reason for God to love us, but searching for a reason always frustrates the grace of God in our lives. He loves us because He is Love. He is good to us because He is good, not because we are good. He is good and only good and only has good to give.

Job

So last week as I began to consider “He redeems your life from destruction”, I was all over the place. Should I talk about the protection of Psalm 91 or Jesus as our Kinsmen Redeemer in the story or Ruth and Boaz? Or about how Jeremiah, while in prison, purchased the title deed to the land of Judah because he believed the promises of God to redeem Israel? Or Revelation 5 which speaks of the Lamb of God purchasing the title deed to the earth to redeem us?

But God led me in a different direction. He led me to Job and the story of our Redeemer lifting Job out of the pit of destruction and restoring his life.

Before I get started with Job, we have to understand when we talk about Job, he was under a different dispensation. We are now under the New Covenant of grace. But God has always been a God of grace, so under different dispensations He provided that grace through substitutionary atonement and ransom payments that always pointed to Jesus.

Job 1:8 – [God said to the devil -] “…there is none like him [Job] on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil…”

The whole world knows about the suffering of Job. He lost everything, family, possessions, even his body was ravaged. But God wants us to know that he’s not a bad person. He was blameless and upright. He feared God and shunned evil. 

If Job lived today, he would be right here with us, worshipping Jesus Christ. He would be pronounced righteous by the blood of Jesus Christ along with us. So this is a message for us: God Himself says we are the righteousness of God in Christ. We are blameless and upright in His sight because of Jesus.

Job was not perfect, but he was righteous, and the bad things that happened to Job were not God’s doing. They were the devil’s doing. We need to always remember that.

Satan cannot accuse us before God

Another thing I must point out – there is a big difference between the time of Job and the time we are living in as far as satan’s access to God to accuse us. Today – now that the blood of Jesus has been sprinkled on the Mercy Seat, and not only that, but also before the Mercy Seat, the devil cannot accuse you before God.

He can accuse us in our minds with his fiery darts of condemnation. He is called the accuser of the brethren, but he cannot accuse you before God. The blood of Jesus has barred him from access. In Leviticus, we see that the High Priest would – 

Leviticus 16:14-15 – He shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the mercy seat on the east side; and before the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times.

“Before the mercy seat” means in front of. Jesus, our High Priest, and our Lamb of God, sprinkled His own blood on the Mercy Seat in heaven and also before the Mercy Seat seven times, the number of perfection. Perfect love casts out fear. 

That is the place WE go now! Not the accuser. It’s called the throne of grace, and we go there boldly – without fear – to obtain mercy and find grace to help in our time of need. Why? Because we have times of need.

God never gave satan access in the first place. It was Adam who forfeited his position to the outlaw spirit satan in the Garden. King David wrote of God’s original intent:

Psalm 8:6 – You have made him [man] to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet.

But Adam bowed his knee to satan – through self-righteousness, right?— and gave him authority over the earth. 

1 John 5:19 – We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

1 John 3:8 – [But] For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.

Everyone who enters into Jesus’ death through faith in Him as our Savior from sin and believes that He has risen from the dead having washed away our sins in His own blood, we are no longer of this world. We are no longer under the authority of satan. We are children of God.

So that’s a big difference between the time of Job and now. But the thing that isn’t different is that satan is behind the destruction, not God. God wanted Job blessed, and he was blessed – until he wasn’t. And we’ll find out that God redeemed Job’s life from the pit because He found a ransom for Job, just like He found a ransom for us.

So satan wanted to test Job to see if he would still worship God if everything was taken away. I believe the devil still tries the same tactic, and alot of what we experience is simply persecution for the sake of the gospel. Whatever we have left or lost for Jesus’s sake and for the sake of the gospel I believe we will –

Mark 10:29-30 – So Jesus answered and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s, 30 who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life.

Job needed a mediator

Another big difference between the time of Job and the time we are living in is that we have an eternal, everliving, everlasting Mediator before the Father.

Because of sin, man must have a Mediator to approach God – a Mediator who has washed away our sins. We have that in Jesus. But it was not so with Job. 

We’ll see that God did send a temporal mediator with a ransom for Job, but this was before the cross. Jesus had not yet come as Job’s Mediator.

Job 9:32-33, NLT – [Job lamented] “God is not a mortal like me, so I cannot argue with him or take him to trial. 33 If only there were a mediator between us, someone who could bring us together.” [NKJV has the more literal translation: “Nor is there any mediator between us, who may lay his hand on us both.”]

But we do have a Mediator! Jesus, the God-man, has laid His hand on both God and us to bring us together.  

1 Timothy 2:5-6 – For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave Himself a ransom for all… [So our Mediator is also our ransom!]

The Greek word for mediator [mesitēs] means one who intervenes between two persons to restore peace, one who intervenes to ratify a covenant, a go-between, a reconciler.

Jesus is stands in the gap as our intercessor. The Greek word for Intercession means to “strike the mark with an arrow, to hit the bullseye.”  [entygchanō] 

His Intercession is literally the opposite of our sin – harmartia – which literally means to “to miss the mark” by falling short. 

Jesus continually strikes the bullseye for us. Every time we miss the mark, His comforting hand remains on us as our Intercessor, reassuring us that we are still one with Him and the Father. 

Hebrews 7:25, Wuest expanded Translation – [watch the verb tenses] He is able to be saving completely and forever those who come to God through Him, being always alive for the purpose of continually making intercession for them.

Job’s 3 friends 

Back to Job. I don’t want to spend alot of time on Job’s 3 friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, who came to console him, but they only made things worse for Job.

But I want to mention them because their counsel is instructive. It demonstrates what man-centered religion sounds like. Without Jesus we have no hope. If it is up to us, we have no way to pull ourselves out of the pit.

Now, to their credit, they wept with Job, spent time with Job, and didn’t even say a word until they had been with Job for 7 days. That’s commendable, and I’m sure they had the best of intentions.

But when they opened their mouths – even when they spoke truth – it was misapplied. If you read their words in Job 4-25, before you go around quoting them as you would the words of the apostle Paul, be careful. God said they didn’t speak for Him – at least when it came to Job.

Eliphaz

For example, Eliphaz was absolutely certain that Job had done something horrible. He said – 

Job 4:7, NLT – “Do the innocent die? When have the upright been destroyed? 8 My experience shows [not the word of God, but MY EXPERIENCE shows – ] that those who plant trouble and cultivate evil will harvest the same.” [“You reap what you sow!”]

In other words, Job deserved what had come upon him. Eliphaz later said – 

Job 5:17 – “Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects; therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty.”

This is actually scripture which is quoted in the Old and New Testaments in Psalm 94:12, Proverbs 3:11-12, and Hebrews 12:5, but it is misapplied here! Why? Because Job had not done anything wrong! It’s not God’s chastening!

God Himself later said to these so-called friends :

Job 42:7 – “…you have not spoken of Me what is right…”

Job’s friends weren’t speaking for God. Truth in principle, but misapplied is not truth.

Bildad

Then there’s Bildad. He said –

Job 8:4-10, NLT – “Your children must have sinned against him [God], so their punishment was well deserved. [Now that’s painful to hear!] 5 But if you pray to God and seek the favor of the Almighty, 6 and if you are pure and live with integrity, he will surely rise up and restore your happy home. 7 And though you started with little, you will end with much. 8 Just ask the previous generation. Pay attention to the experience of our ancestors.” [In the good ole days]

Then Bildad starts quoting the poetry of their ancestors and basically accuses Job of being a hypocrite and forgetting God.

It’s so hard to read the speeches of Job’s friends. “Well, from MY experience…, Well, what does tradition say?”

I couldn’t read much of this because I was having déjà vu of all those years of being in a Christian world that wasn’t centered on Jesus. Everything sounded right. You could find a scripture for everything, but it was taken out of context or it didn’t apply.

But none of us knew that. In the end everything pointed to us, getting our act together, and doing more for God. Jesus was only mentioned at the end of a service in the altar call. The rest was up to us.

Job hit the nail on the head, when he responded to Bildad – 

Job 9:2-4, NLT – “Yes, I know all this is true in principle. But how can a person be declared innocent in God’s sight? 3 If someone wanted to take God to court, would it be possible to answer him even once in a thousand times? 4 For God is so wise and so mighty. Who has ever challenged him successfully?”

And imagine that you have done nothing wrong, but you believe that God did this to you? In Job’s response to Bildad, he lays out what he would say in his defense to God if he had the chance.  

Job 10:1-3, NLT – “I am disgusted with my life. Let me complain freely. My bitter soul must complain. 2 I will say to God, ‘Don’t simply condemn me—tell me the charge you are bringing against me. 3 What do you gain by oppressing me? Why do you reject me, the work of your own hands?”

But Job can’t go straight to God to pour out his heart because he doesn’t have a Mediator.

Zophar

In the next chapter, Zophar responds to Job’s situation with vicious legalism – 

Job 11:2-4, 6, 13-17, NLT – “Shouldn’t someone answer this torrent of words? Is a person proved innocent just by alot of talking? 3 Should I remain silent while you babble on? When you mock God, shouldn’t someone make you ashamed? 4 You claim, ‘My beliefs are pure,’ and ‘I am clean in the sight of God.’… 6 Listen! God is doubtless punishing you far less than you deserve!…[That’s helpful isn’t it?] 13 If only you would prepare your heart and lift up your hands to him in prayer! [The legalist loves to bring up the heart because if there is no obvious sin, you can always find sin in the heart. They love to quote Jeremiah 17:9 – “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.” What can you do with a heart that is desperately wicked? Nothing! You need a new one! And that’s exactly what God gives us in Jesus! Zophar goes on – ] 14 Get rid of your sins, and leave all iniquity behind you. 15 Then your face will brighten with innocence. You will be strong and free of fear. 16 You will forget your misery; it will be like water flowing away. 17 Your life will be brighter than the noonday. Even darkness will be as bright as morning.”

“Job, if only you would stop sinning; if only you would do this or do that, then your life would be great.”

With people like that everything is about sin. Sin consciousness. You can never win. Maybe there is some truth in what he says, but it doesn’t apply to this righteous man, Job!

Did you know that after the 3 friends started talking, the devil isn’t mentioned again? With friends like that, the devil’s job is easy!

Job defends himself

So when they finally finished, Job he defended himself. 

Job 29:2-8, NLT – “I long for the years gone by when God took care of me, 3 when he lit up the way before me and I walked safely through the darkness. 4 When I was in my prime, God’s friendship was felt in my home. 5 The Almighty was still with me, and my children were around me. 6 My steps were awash in cream, and the rocks gushed olive oil for me. 7 Those were the days when I went to the city gate and took my place among the honored leaders. 8 The young stepped aside when they saw me, and even the aged rose in respect at my coming.”

For the rest of chapter 29, Job went on to list all the wonderful things he had done and how blessed he was. And it was all true!! He was a GOOD person! He was generous and loved people. He was the BEST!

In the Bible version I read, he mentioned himself 43 times in that one chapter! But he only referred to God 4 times. Job referred to himself 10x more than God. “I, I, I, me, my, myself….” 

Do you know what that is called? Self-righteousness. It bubbles up to the top – I believe this is so that it can be removed. 

Self-sufficiency, self-righteousness, self-preservation gets rooted out when we go through tough times. You don’t even realize it’s there until you go through something. You say, “But I’ve done everything right! Why is this happening to me!?” In other words, “I don’t deserve this.” It’s self-righteousness, and it can lead to bitterness and resentfulness.

But we can skip the bitterness part if you have a revelation of the gospel. We may not understand everything that happens, but we can always fix our eyes on Jesus, our Mediator, and set our minds on things above trusting in God to redeem our lives from the pit.

And we have something Job didn’t have – we have the Holy Spirit inside to remind us constantly that God is good. Do you know how good God is? He’s so good that even if Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar were right, God will still deliver us from even troubles of our own making.

Why? Because Jesus took the place of the offender – He took our guilt – and gave us His righteousness.

So either way, we can skip to the end of the story because we have the Spirit of God inside. We can go to the place of Job’s enlightenment and restoration, which we will talk about in a minute.

Elihu

But first, one more friend for Job. Praise the Lord there was a fourth friend! This man’s name was Elihu. Elihu means “God is Lord.” Finally, a friend who brings truth!

Elihu spoke last. He was the youngest, and out of respect for his elders, he held his tongue. But when they were finished, he exploded in anger – not just at the other three friends, but even at Job – 

Job 32:2 – his wrath was aroused because he [Job] justified himself rather than God. 

Wow! He goes straight to the problem – Job defended himself by his works. When we justify ourselves by our works, in the New Testament Paul called it attempting to be justified by the law.

If you want to use your works to justify yourself, the law will shut your mouth and condemn you. The purpose of the law was so that –

Romans 3:19-20 – all the world may become guilty before God. 20 Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

Galatians 2:16 – knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, [who is Jesus Christ? Our Mediator. You know what Job needed? A mediator! We’ll see about that soon.]…

So Elihu rebukes Job for attempting to justify himself before God, then he expressed his anger towards the other three friends.

Job 32:3 – Also against his three friends his [Elihu’s] wrath was aroused, because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job. [These three spoke from experience and legalism – “You must have done something wrong because we’ve never seen this” and “You deserve much worse than you’re getting.” They did not speak for God.]

But Elihu was a spokesman for God. He’s a type of Christ, or I might say, a picture of what the body of Christ should be. He’s a go-between, and when he spoke, Job was silent and didn’t argue. 

When the other three friends were speaking, it was an endless argument. But then when Elihu spoke, his words cut straight to the heart. They are so weighty, so true, so wise, and even when they come in the form of a rebuke, they are still full of grace, and all Job could do was listen.

What was it about Elihu’s words that caused him to be silent? Finally someone is not talking about sins he surely committed. But here’s the most important part – Elihu didn’t even talk about what Job did right! Finally someone had come with the truth: that it’s not about Job at all! It’s about the goodness and greatness of God.

When friends come to console us, and they talk about even what we did right, there’s really no peace in it. There’s no rest. Because you know in your heart of hearts, you can’t stand in your own righteousness. When you try to take comfort in the things you did right, you feel discomfort in your Spirit. That’s the conviction of the Holy Spirit, right? What did Jesus say about the conviction of the Holy Spirit for the believer?

John 8:10 – [He would convict us] “of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more.”

He convicts us of righteousness – not ours but His gift of righteousness in us! “Convict” means to convince us as in a court of law that we are the righteousness of God in Him.

So Elihu is pointing not to Job and his works, good or bad, but to something else entirely! God’s way of righteousness. And then he brings some very good news!!!!

A mediator provided for Job

Elihu says to Job – 

Job 33:6-18 – “Truly I am as your spokesman before God; I also have been formed out of clay. [“I am human just like you.” Elihu is identifying with him, as Jesus identifies with us.] 7 Surely no fear of me will terrify you, nor will my hand be heavy on you. [In other words, you don’t need to be afraid of me.] 8 Surely you have spoken in my hearing, and I have heard the sound of your words, saying, 9 ‘I am pure, without transgression; I am innocent, and there is no iniquity in me. 10 Yet [you say] He [God] finds occasions against me, He [God] counts me as His enemy; 11 He [God] puts my feet in the stocks, He watches all my paths.’ [In other words, “God has done this to me! Why is God doing this?!” Elihu says – ] 12 “Look, in this you are not righteous. [In other words, you are wrong about this! God did not do this to you!] I will answer you, for God is greater than man. 13 Why do you contend with Him? For He does not give an accounting of any of His words. [In other words, “Why do you say He doesn’t give an account of His words and actions? Why do you complain that He won’t answer your charges?” He actually does – just not always in the language of men.] 14 For God may speak in one way, or in another, yet man does not perceive it. 15 In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls upon men, while slumbering on their beds, 16 then He [God] opens the ears of men, and seals their instruction. 17 In order to turn man from his deed, and conceal pride from man, [God warns us – The Message paraphrase – “God opens their ears and impresses them with warnings to turn them back from something bad they’re planning, from some reckless choice, and keep them from an early grave”] 18 He keeps back his soul from the Pit, and his life from perishing by the sword. [Then in the next few verses, Elihu describes someone in the pit, on the brink of destruction and death, bones sticking out and all – describing Job’s situation – and THEN Elihu says in verse 23] 23 “If there is a messenger for him [this poor man], a mediator, one among a thousand, to show man His [God’s] uprightness,…

Ah! Finally! Someone else speaking of a mediator! Someone who understands Job’s real need! This must have been music to Job’s ears! Elihu speaking of someone who could stand in the gap and reconcile him to God! 

It wasn’t just the suffering – that wasn’t the problem. The problem was being right with God in the midst of the suffering. He didn’t need a judge. He needed a Mediator because then he will be delivered! You can get through anything if you know there’s an end to it!

Elihu says – “If there could be a Mediator who could show Job God’s righteousness” – if there could be a messenger, an interpreter of God who could show you God’s justice – His way of pardoning and justifying man – 

Job 33:24 – Then He [God] is gracious to him, and says, [to the mediator] ‘Deliver him from going down to the Pit; [Why? Because]  I have found a ransom’; 

God delivers us and protects us and heals us because He found a ransom. God searched for a ransom that would pay the price, and the only ransom that was high enough in value was the precious blood of His Son. And He commanded the Mediator to deliver us, and our Mediator obeyed even though it cost Him everything! Because our Mediator is Himself the ransom!

With Job, we don’t know who the mediator was – it may have been an angel. We don’t know specifically what the ransom was, but what we do know is that it all points to Jesus!

Job is the oldest book in the Bible. Even in the oldest book we see the foundations of grace and the same theme that is throughout the scriptures: there must be a Mediator between God and man because of sin. There must be a Redeemer who pays the ransom to redeem us.

And it is not man who provides the ransom. It was not Job who provided his own ransom. It was God who found the ransom. It was not Job’s righteousness that saved him, but the ransom.

Bildad had said to Job – 

Job 8:20, NIV – “Surely God does not reject one who is blameless…”

But that is exactly what God did! He rejected the blameless! He gave His blameless Son for us. Jesus cried, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” He was rejected that we might be accepted.

Hebrews 4:15 – For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Our Mediator is without sin. So all of this points to our need for Jesus. We are absolutely hopeless without Him!

God commanded a mediator for Job and found a ransom. What was the result for Job? Instead of destruction, God restored him. Back to verse 25 –

Job 33:25 – his flesh shall be young like a child’s, he shall return to the days of his youth. 26 He shall pray to God, and He [God] will delight in him, he [Job!] shall see His face [the face of God] with joy, [and what is the face of God? The face of Jesus! He said “If You’ve seen Me, You’ve seen the Father” (John 14:9)] For He restores to man His righteousness.” [God restores His own righteousness through the ransom payment of the Mediator!]

A couple of other versions say that God “accepted” Job in verse 26 instead of “God will delight in him.” But God didn’t just accept Job – He didn’t reluctantly accept Job – He delighted in accepting him.

The Hebrew word for “delight” is rāṣâ/ ratsah. [raw-tsaw’], and it means to be well pleased with, to accept favorably – not just to accept, but to accept with delight and satisfaction. 

God was delighted to deliver Job. Why? Because God is good, and He delights in pardoning us and redeeming our lives from the pit. He delights in healing us. He delights in blessing us. Why? Because He loves us!

God speaks to Job and Job responds

When Elihu finishes, God speaks to Job from the whirlwind –

Job 38:2-4 – “Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge? 3 Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me. 4 Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding.”

In chapter 40, from the whirlwind again God says, 

Job 40:7-8- “Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me: 8 Would you indeed annul My judgment? [In other words – “Do you presume to tell me what I’m doing wrong?”] Would you condemn Me that you may be justified?”

You know what God is doing? He is bringing Job to a place of humility. He’s rooting out the self-righteousness. One reason is that He wants to remove the shame from Job’s life. Job is so humiliated.

When you’re self-righteous, you feel humiliation when you go through things, not humility. Humiliation is what Job felt with his so-called friends. Job said to Bildad – 

Job 19:5-6, NLT – “You think you’re better than I am, using my humiliation as evidence of my sin. 6 But it is God who has wronged me, capturing me in his net.”

Our flesh would rather condemn God than allow others to misunderstand us. Flesh would rather justify itself and blame God.

God is helping Job to see this: “Would you condemn Me that you may be justified?” 

In Chapter 42, Job responds to God – 

Job 42:3-6 – “You asked, ‘Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. [“Wonderful” is a Hebrew word that means things that are too marvelous, too surpassing, too extraordinary to comprehend. It’s a word that shows you Job’s humility before God] 4 Listen, please, and let me speak; You said, ‘I will question you, and you shall answer Me.’ 5 I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You. [All this time, Job has had second-hand knowledge of God – theology, doctrine, tradition, but all that was useless to him when he had done everything right and still had trouble. But now he knows the true God. He sees Him with his own eyes. What does he see? His glory and grace. Pure grace. The kindness of God leads us to repentance.] 6 Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”

Godly sorrow.

2 Corinthians 7:10, NASB – For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation.[He redeems my life from the pit]

None of us wants to ever go through suffering, but the devil attacks you because of the gospel and because you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. The devil hates you because you are a child of God, and you worship Him.

But in Jesus we have a Redeemer, a Mediator, and a ransom.

Job 42:7-8, 10, 12, 16-17 – And so it was, after the Lord had spoken these words to Job, that the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is aroused against you and your two friends, for you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has. 8 My servant Job shall pray for you. For I will accept him, lest I deal with you according to your folly”…[This choice of a word to describe these three men is one of the most ironic things I have ever seen in the Bible. The Hebrew word for folly here means senseless to the degree that it’s disgraceful and dishonorable. It was used to describe fools who were religiously and socially unacceptable and brought shame on their families. These high and mighty know-it-all’s who claimed to know everything about God were actually offensive to Him.] 10 And the Lord restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends. [Isn’t that beautiful? God wants us to pray for others who aren’t believing right – even legalistic fools. Why? Because He doesn’t desire that any perish, but that all come to repentance. And I believe Job was so humble at this point that he put his own needs aside and trusted God. And as he prayed for his friends, God restored him.] Indeed the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.”… 12 Now the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning… 16 After this Job lived one hundred and forty years, and saw his children and grandchildren for four generations. 17 So Job died, old and full of days.

God blessed Job in every way possible: His health, His family, His finances. All of it restored – and much more than before!

James 5:11, NIV – As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

I want to say one more thing about Job’s restoration. Before this whole attack of the devil started, Job was really worried about his children because they were partiers. They even had parties that would last several days.  

Job 1:5, NLT – When these celebrations ended—sometimes after several days—Job would purify his children. He would get up early in the morning and offer a burnt offering for each of them. For Job said to himself, “Perhaps my children have sinned and have cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular practice.

I read that this week, and I thought Jesus is the redeemer for our children! We don’t purify them. He does. Self-righteousness says we have to offer sacrifices to God for our children. But there’s no peace in that for us.

Early on in his suffering after his children were gone, Job said – 

Job 3:24-26 – “my groanings pour out like water. 25 For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me, and what I dreaded has happened to me. 26 I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, for trouble comes.”

What brings us peace for our families? Not our sacrifices, but Jesus. He is the One Sacrifice for our sins and the sins of our children FOREVER! And because we are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, the only thing we need to offer God for our children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren is our complete trust in Him.

Isaiah 26:3 – You will keep him in perfect peace, [Shalom shalom] whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.

I believe that with the humility that came in Job’s restoration – when He saw the grace and glory and mercy and compassion of God – he didn’t worry about his children anymore. Once He saw the face of God, all his fears were gone.

Job lost 7 sons and 3 daughters, and God restored to him 7 sons and 3 daughters. I think that exact number speaks to us today: God will restore your exact family.

Humiliation vs Humility

Humiliation and humility are not the same thing. Humiliation is shame, but humility is Grace’s springboard to honor.

Proverbs 15:33 – The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom, and before honor is humility.

Humility is when you realize you’re nothing without Jesus. But with Jesus as your Source, there are no limits to the grace you can receive.

1 Peter 5:5-7 – …be clothed with humility, for “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” 6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you [when?] in due time, [in the meantime] 7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

Wrestling with all of this self-righteousness is part of the road to humility and brokenness before the Lord.

Then when He restores us with more blessing than we can ask or even imagine, we can handle it because we’ll know the Source.

I wish we could just read about humility in a book and get humility, but it doesn’t work that way, does it? You go through things, and you change. You look at everything differently. You have empathy instead of judgment.

You love people more and have more compassion. Jesus can work through you now. You will present Jesus as the Source because you want people to know Him that way. You thought you knew Him by what you had heard about Him, but now you have seen Him, and you know that He is full of compassion and mercy.

Jesus is full of compassion and mercy for us

And what you have seen, you can never unsee. He knows us better than we know ourselves, and He loves us all the more.

John 4:29, NLT – “Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did! Could he possibly be the Messiah?” [Come and see for yourself – don’t just take my word for it!]

You can trust Jesus because He’s been there.

Hebrews 5:8-9 – though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. [Obedience – hypakoē – from hypakouō – to listen, to harken to. Jesus learned “a listening that leads to action” from the things He suffered.] 9 And having been perfected, [“Perfected” means that He was made in all respects like us – not in the sense of sinfulness, but in the sense of being a human being and sufferings with our sufferings. Sufferings were necessary to the “completeness” of His role as Mediator and Redeemer. And because of this completeness] He became the author [the cause] of eternal salvation [through His suffering and death] to all who obey Him. [Obey is hypakouō – to listen to, be attentive to, to harken to.]

Jesus knows what we are going through because He’s been a man on the earth. He sympathizes and empathizes and has compassion for us. Hebrews 4:15-16 in Young’s Literal Translation:

Hebrews 4:15-16, YLT – for we have not a chief priest unable to sympathise with our infirmities, but [one] tempted in all things in like manner — apart from sin; [the noun – He had no nature of sin. He was blameless by nature, therefore – ] 16 we may come near, then, with freedom, to the throne of the grace, that we may receive kindness, and find grace — for seasonable help. [seasonable means for a season]

Whatever we’re going through, it is seasonal. It will pass because help is on the way! 

Habakkuk 2:3, The Message – If it seems slow in coming, wait. It’s on its way. It will come right on time.

Numbers 23:19, NLT – Has [God] he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through?

Isaiah 30:18, NIV – Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!

Psalm 31:14, NASB – But as for me, I trust in You, Lord, I say, “You are my God. 15 My times are in Your hand…”

Psalm 34 – I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. 2 My soul shall make its boast in the Lord; the humble shall hear of it and be glad. 3 Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together. 4 I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. 5 They looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces were not ashamed. 6 This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. 7 The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them. 8 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him! 9 Oh, fear the Lord, you His saints! There is no want to those who fear Him. 10 The young lions lack and suffer hunger; but those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing. 11 Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. 12 Who is the man who desires life, and loves many days, that he may see good? 13 Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceit. 14 Depart from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. 15 The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry. 16 The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. 17 The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles. 18 The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit. 19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.

Copyright info: All scriptures in the New King James Version unless otherwise noted.

• (NKJV) New King James Version. Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.
• (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
• (NLT) Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
• (NASB) Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)
• (WUEST) The New Testament: An Expanded Translation by Kenneth S. Wuest © copyright Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. 1961. All rights reserved.
• (YLT) Young’s Literal Translation by Public Domain
• The Message, Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
• (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.