Beloved, I am pleased to share with you today the above theme from Job 41:1 onwards. Indeed, in this terrifying image of Leviathan (the Hebrew word liwyatan, designates the crocodile) God discovers in Job his accuser in Job 1:8-12, his enemy in Job 2:1-8 . A fighter must know his opponent so as not to underestimate him. The believer must know the strength of Satan (v. 4), defeated at the cross but still active, whose intentions we are not ignorant of (2 Corinthians 2:10-11). See what characterizes him: his double jaw (v. 5; 1 Pet 5:8-9); His heart as hard as stone (v. 16) because he is absolutely alien to divine love. He is invulnerable to all human strength (vv. 18-21) and he sows terror with his weapon: the death that defeats the strongest men (v. 17).
For this image, borrowed from the mythology of the ancient Near East, is used to evoke the enemy of God, the evil power that hides behind pagan nations hostile to God’s people and manipulates them. This monster sometimes represents the features of a serpent (Psalm 74:14; ESA 27:1; ESA 51.9. Job thus delivers “his” harm to those who possess the most disturbing occult powers. But Satan is also “the liar” and the deceiver; let us beware of his illusions (v. 10; John 8:42-45; 2 Corinthians 11:13-15). It draws souls into the world, that bubbling sea of human passions, presenting its resources as a valid food – the pot – or as a remedy for ailments – the jar of ointment. Under an appearance of wisdom and experience – gray hair – it is to the abyss that he leads, to engulf them, the fools who follow his brilliant wake (vv. 23:24). Finally, let us remember the frightening title given to him: “He is king of all the sons of pride” (1 Tim 3:1-7). Thus, you have to be crazy to attack the crocodile, or to provoke it, because it is too dangerous. How much more true is this of his Creator. But Job accused God and challenged Him. That is why He makes him feel that this attitude is dangerous.
If one stretches out on him with the sword, it cannot be useful. The stinger, the spear and the pointed shaft make no impression on him. He counts iron as straw and brass as rotten wood. The arrow cannot make him flee; Clubs are counted like thatch. The final statement regarding Leviathan is “He is the king of all the sons of pride.” This last word is significant: “He is the King of all the sons of pride, he has a deeper meaning. In Isaiah 27:1 we read, “In that day the Lord, with his hard and strong sword, will punish Leviathan the piercing serpent, even Leviathan the twisted serpent; And he will kill the dragon that is in the sea. Here, Leviathan symbolizes the power of darkness. Both the mastodon and the leviathan are typical of Satan, his character, and his rule. He is king over all the sons of pride. These two beasts are also a good description of the beasts spoken of in Revelation, which at the end of this age will manifest their power and pride as Satan’s masterpieces. And now the deduction that Job could easily make. If he is proud, then he belongs to Leviathan, the king who rules over the sons of pride.
For Job is asked to think about the creation of the visible world or universe. It’s a building firmly established on deep foundations. As if by line and measure, it was put in symmetrical shape according to the archetypal plane; and when the cornerstone was laid as that of a new palace in the great dominion of God, there was joy in heaven. The morning angels began to sing, the sons of the Elohim, raised in the ethereal mansions among the fountains of light and life, cried out for joy. In a poetic vision, the writer contemplates this work of God and these joyful companies: but to himself, as to Job, the question comes: What does man know of the wonderful creative effort he sees in the imagination? This is beyond human reach. The plan and method are also incomprehensible. From this, let Job be assured that the work was not done in vain. It was not for the creation of a world whose history was going to become confused that the morning stars would have sung together. He who has seen all that he has done and declared it very good would not suffer triumphant evil to confuse the promise and the purpose of his labor.
Then there is the great oceanic flood, once confined as in the bosom of primitive chaos, which manifested itself as a living power, a giant from birth. What can Job say, what can any man say about this marvelous evolution, when, shrouded in rolling clouds and thick darkness, with immense energy, the flood of waters rushed in tumult towards the designated place? There is a law of use and power for the ocean, a limit also beyond which it cannot pass. Does man know what it is? Should he not recognize the wise will and benevolent care of the One who keeps the devastating and stormy sea in check? And who controls the light? The morning does not rise by the will of man. He seizes the edge of the earth on which the wicked have stretched out, and as one shakes the dust of a sheet, he shakes them visibly and ashamed. Underneath, the earth is changed, each object is made clear and sharp like figures on clay stamped with a seal. Forests, fields and rivers are seen as the embroidered or woven patterns of a garment.
What is this light? Who sends him on a mission of moral discipline? Isn’t the great God who commands the dawn trustworthy even in darkness? Beneath the surface of the earth is the tomb and abode of darkness below. Does Job know? Does anyone know what lies beyond death’s door? Can anyone tell where the darkness has its headquarters? There is one that is at night as well as in the morning. The mysteries of the future, the mysteries of nature are open to the Lord alone. Atmospheric phenomena, already often described, variously reveal the unfathomable wisdom and thoughtful rule of the Most High. The force that resides in hail, the rains that fall on the desert where no man is, satisfying the wasteland and desolate and growing the soft grass, implies a graceful magnitude of purpose that extends beyond the scope of human life. To whom is the paternity of rain, ice, frost of the sky? Man is subject to the changes they represent; He cannot control them.
In Job 38:39 attention is turned from the inanimate nature to the living creatures for whom God provides. With wonderful poetic skill, they are painted in their need and strength, in the urgency of their instincts, timid or indomitable or cruel. The Creator is seen to rejoice in them as his work, and man is bound to exult in their lives and to see in the arrangements made for its fulfillment a guarantee of all that his own bodily nature and spiritual being may require. We particularly notice the close relationship between this part and some of our Lord’s words in which the same argument leads to the same conclusion.
The following verses have been compiled for your edification and grouped for your better understanding.
Any hope of defeating Leviathan alone is deceptive:
- Own justification, the sinner cannot be approved by God
Jb 41.2 Whose debtor am I? I will pay for it. Under the sky everything belongs to me. Psalm 76:8 You are fearsome, O you! Who can resist you, when your anger erupts? Psalm 130:3 If you kept the memory of iniquities, Jehovah Lord, who could stand? Rev. 6:17 for the great day of his wrath has come, and who can stand?
- Divine property, accounting, references to stewardship
Mt 12:36 I say to you, on the Day of Judgment, men will give an account of every vain word they have spoken. Matthew 18:23 Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to give an account to his servants. Luke 12:20 But God said to him, Foolishness, that very night your soul will be asked of you again; and what you have prepared, for whom will it be? 1 Pet 4:4-5 So they find it strange that you do not rush with them into the same outburst of debauchery, and they slander you. 5 They will give an account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.
- Lances, instruments of war
1 Sam. 17:7 The wood of his spear was like a weaver’s spear, and the spear weighed six hundred shekels of iron. The one who carried his shield walked in front of him. 2 Sam. 21:19 There was another battle at Gob with the Philistines. And Elchanan, son of Jaare Oreguim, of Bethlehem, killed Goliath of Gath, who had a spear whose wood was like a weaver’s sleeve. Isa. 2.4 He will be the judge of the nations, the arbiter of many peoples. From their swords they will forge hoyaux, And from their spears pruning hooks: One nation shall no longer draw the sword against another, And war will no longer be learned. John 19:34 but one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately he came out blood and water.
- Do
Num. 31:22 Gold, silver, brass, iron, tin, and lead, Deut 3:11 (Og, king of Basan, had remained alone of the race of the Rephaim. Behold, his bed, a bed of iron, is it not in Rabbath, the city of the children of Ammon? Its length is nine cubits, and its width is four cubits in man’s cubits.) Joshs 8:31 as Moses, the servant of the Lord, had commanded the children of Israel, and as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, it was an altar of rough stones, on which no iron was worn. They offered burnt offerings to Jehovah on this altar, and they presented sacrifices of thanksgiving. Acts 12:10 When they had passed the first guard, and then the second, they came to the iron gate which leads to the city, and which opened itself before them; they went out, and advanced into a street. Immediately the angel left Peter.
From all the foregoing we note that of these passages of the word of God, one in the Old and the other in the New Testament, apparently possess a character different from all the others, having been pronounced, one to effect the last necessary change in the mind of a man whose piety was in other respects perfect; and the other as the first declaration to all men of the principles of Christianity by Christ himself. – that is, the 38th to 41st chapters of the book of Job and the Sermon on the Mount. Now, the first of these passages is, from beginning to end, nothing but a direction of the spirit which was to be perfected, to the humble observance of the works of God in nature. And the other consists only in the inculcation of three things: first, just conduct; second, the search for eternal life; and finally, to trust God through the vigilance of his relationship with his creation. This last point is the one which most closely links the doctrine of Christ and that of the author of Job, and the resemblance is not accidental, but such as to show that both saw the underlying truth in the same way and from the same point of spiritual and human interest. For God reminds Job of his smallness and leads him to abandon his pretensions to accept, in the midst of his intense suffering, to simply trust in this God so great, but also wise and good, without this great question of why his suffering receives an answer. Job is no longer defeated this time, but conquered: he recognizes that he was wrong to demand that God account him for his way of acting. Our prayers are with you all.
PRAYER OF ACCEPTANCE OF JESUS CHRIST AS PERSONAL LORD AND SAVIOR
I now invite anyone who wants to become a new creation by walking in truth to pray with me:
Lord Jesus, I have long walked in the lusts of the world ignoring your love for humans. I acknowledge that I have sinned against you and ask your forgiveness for all my sins, because today I have decided to give you my life by taking you as my personal Lord and Savior. I acknowledge that you died at the cross of Calvary and rose from the dead for me.
I am now saved and born again by the power of the Holy Spirit. Lead me every day to the eternal life you give to all who obey your Word. Reveal yourself to me and strengthen my heart and my faith, so that your light may shine in my life right now.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for accepting me into your divine family, so that I too can contemplate the wonders of your kingdom by walking according to your ways.
I will now choose a nearby waterpoint to be baptized by immersion, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
To you all worship, power and glory, now and for ever and ever. Amen!
I would be happy to respond to any questions and comments you may have, before sharing with you tomorrow “Job’s response to God – Epilogue. (Job 42)
May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you abundantly.
David Feze, Servant of the Almighty God.