That's a Great Question

Scripture Reading: Job 8-12; Psalm 37

Truly I know that it is so: But how can a man be right before God...There is no arbiter between us, who might lay his hand on us both – Job 9:1,33 -

I confess I find the book of Job difficult—not in its overarching message or purpose, but in the details. The back-and-forth exchanges between Job and his friends can be hard to follow. I often find myself wondering, “What point is being made here?” I suspect this is how some people might feel during one of my sermons (though I hope not too often).

Still, scattered throughout the dialogue are remarkable gems of truth. This is one of them.

Years ago, John Blanchard published a little evangelistic booklet titled Life’s Ultimate Question. That would be an appropriate heading for Job chapter 9.

Yes, the book of Job wrestles deeply with suffering, but here Job pushes beyond temporary pain to eternal concerns. He’s not just thinking about the dust he was sitting in on Monday, but about the dust to which his body would one day return. His question stretches beyond physical affliction to spiritual standing.

One of the many things Job’s friends misunderstood was Job’s position before God. They assumed his suffering must be punishment for some sin. Job denied this—not because he claimed to be sinless, but because he knew he had done nothing to merit the extreme calamity he had endured. Job was a good man by human standards, but he also knew he was a sinner.

That becomes clearest here, when Job asks Life’s Ultimate Question:
“How can a man be right before God?”

That’s the question, isn’t it?

And remarkably, Job also hints at the shape of the answer. He says, “There is no arbiter between us, who might lay his hand on us both.” What Job longed for was a mediator—someone who could bridge the vast gap between a holy God and a fallen man. Someone who could represent God to us and represent us before God.

But who could possibly do that?

We know the answer. If you said, “Jesus Christ,” you are correct.

“For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” (1 Timothy 2:5)

Jesus is the answer to Life’s Ultimate Question. He alone makes it possible for a man to be right before God.